Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J Santos.
We report a case of a 48-year-old woman who had a 4 years history of bilateral blepharospasm. CT-scan showed multiple intracranial calcifications (two of them in the left thalamus) corresponding to neurocysticerosis, and a lacunar infarction in right internal capsule area. To our knowledge this case is the first one reported in the literature of blepharospasm associated with (and perhaps symptomatic of?) neurocysticercosis.
Quinsy cases following tonsillectomy are very rare indeed, as proved by the scarce publications related to the subject. And all of them presented after a long term of years elapsed. From the perusal of the bibliography done by the AA. none of the cases presented close to the operation. The chance to see and treat one case starting from the fourth postoperative day compelled the AA. to report it.
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In cases of severe coronal destruction, conventional dentistry must resort to complex techniques and combinations of prosthetic materials. In addition, execution and placement of the restoration results in more destruction of sound dental tissue. This paper presents an alternative technique that utilizes the adhesive capabilities of new materials in combination with strategic placement of parts of extracted human teeth to achieve better esthetics and more conservation of sound dental tissue.
We report the case of a woman suffering from complex partial seizures who developed Parkinson's disease at the age of 58. Parkinsonian symptoms improved transitorily after complex partial seizures. Although this has been reported after generalized seizures, this case is, to our knowledge, the first description of improvement of parkinsonian symptoms following a complex partial seizure.
We describe a 37-year-old man with spinal segmental myoclonus characterized by symmetric, rhythmic contractions of the abdomen with a frequency ranging between 100 and 150/min. The combination of sodium valproate and L-5-hydroxytryptophan was useful to control the myoclonus. We comment on the possible role of the serotonergic system in this syndrome.
A prospective study of 3 years' duration on the etiology of late onset epilepsy was carried out in a rural health area with a population of 135,000. Eighty patients were included. History, neurological physical examination, electroencephalogram, cranial computed tomographic scan (CT) and general laboratory investigations were carried out. The cause of epilepsy was unknown in 51.3% of cases. The most commonly identified causes were cerebrovascular disease (20%), chronic alcohol abuse (10%), tumors of central nervous system (6.3%), neurocysticercosis (6.3%) and post-traumatic epilepsy (2.5%). Our data are compared with those from the previous literature, and the value of cranial CT in the investigation of this clinical condition is discussed.
The presence and distribution of neural cell adhesion molecule (N-CAM) was examined by light and electron microscopical immunocytochemistry in the descending thoracic aorta, the superior mesenteric artery and mesenteric arteries from fetal and adult rats (embryonic day 15 to post-natal day 90). In embryonic and early post-natal rats, N-CAM immunoreactivity was localized in perivascular nerves, in the smooth muscle cell plasma membrane and basal lamina. In nerves, N-CAM-immunoreactive sites were found associated with both the axon and Schwann cell membranes. N-CAM immunoreactivity was also found associated with the surface of adventitial fibroblast-like cells and with collagen fibrils, in regions where these fibrils were in contact with smooth muscle cells. In mature vessels N-CAM immunoreactivity was found to be restricted to the perivascular innervation and the surface of fibroblast-like cells. These observations indicate that N-CAM is expressed transiently in rat vascular tissues during development and is localized not only on the surface of smooth muscle cells but also in association with extracellular matrix components.
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In order to evaluate the possibility of intrafamilial transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a serological follow up of 104 household family members of HIV seropositive subjects with whom they were not having sexual contacts (SC) was carried out. The coexistence of other risk factors in the studied subjects was excluded. Of the initial seropositive patients (SP), 87.5% showed clinical and immunological alterations that could be attributed to the HIV infection. 32.6% of the SC lived in poor sanitary conditions with their respective SP. 3.8% of the SC shared toothbrushes with the group 29.8% shared shaving blades and 81.7% shared combs o hair brushes. After a 12.35 +/- 5.42 month follow up, none of the SC seroconverted. The results obtained suggest that the possibility of HIV transmission to household family members of HIV infected subjects is extremely unlikely if not impossible.
A case of a patient with haematogeneous infection by listeria monocytogenes, involving the basal and brainstem is reported. Clinically the disease manifested by fever and brainstem syndrome of acute onset. The microscopic examination revealed foci of suppurative encephalitis in the brainstem and basal ganglia. The possible pathogenic mechanisms are discussed. It is emphasized that the association of a febrile syndrome with brainstem dysfunction should raise the possibility of infection of the nervous system by listeria monocytogenes.
The present study examined the effectiveness of a group language training procedure for directly increasing and generalizing the rate of verbal interaction among four elderly, socially isolated, moderately mentally retarded men. A withdrawal of treatment design was used to examine the effect of the procedure that used verbal prompts. behavioral rehearsal, and contingent social praise. Changes in behavior were examined in two generalization settings, one similar to the training environment (Generalization I) and the other arranged as part of the subjects' daily routine (Generalization II). Baseline data indicated no verbal interaction among the subjects. During treatment the training procedure increased the rate of subjects' verbal interactions not only in the training situation, but also in the two generalization settings. An analysis of the data obtained during the Generalization II situation indicated that subjects' verbal interaction increased not only among themselves, but with nonsubject peers present in this setting. Follow-up data showed that increases in rates of verbal interaction were maintained four months after the cessation of training. The implications of the results for program generalization and work with the language deficient individual is discussed.
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The status of concanavalin A (Con A)--nonspecific suppressor cell function and histamine-receptor--carrying mononuclear cells in 19 allergic and 27 nonallergic individuals was investigated. No differences were detected between the two groups with respect to suppression by Con A--activated suppressor cells of polyvalent Ig biosynthesis, IgG secretion, or mitogen-induced proliferative responses. Histamine-receptor--carrying cells of the allergic subjects were numerically equal to those of the nonallergic subjects. Mononuclear cells from the allergic group, however, required a higher dose of histamine than did those for the nonallergic group to induce suppression in vitro (p less than 0.02 for 10(-4) M histamine and p less than 0.05 for 10(-3) M histamine). Plasma from the allergic group contained higher levels of histamine activity (p less than 0.05). Plasma from either allergic or normal groups did not affect histamine activity in vitro. There are no apparent functional abnormalities of antigen-nonspecific mononuclear cells in the allergic patients with respect to non--IgE-mediated in vitro parameters. The demonstrated dysfunction of histamine-receptor--carrying cells could be attributed to high levels of circulating histamine that could result in receptor modulation in vivo. More work is needed to clarify the status of antigen-nonspecific and antigen-specific suppressor cells that regulate IgE biosynthesis in allergic states.
Lymphoblastic leukaemia in a 3-year-old child was complicated by rhinopulmonary mucormycosis. This was successfully treated by surgical resection of the nasal mass, pulmonary lobectomy, combined with amphotericin.
Parachute deformity of the tricuspid valve was observed with a severe form of Fallot's Tetralogy with pulmonary atresia in a newborn. Signs of tricuspid stenosis (peripheral oedema, right atrial dilatation, hepatomegaly and conduction defects) were associated with the clinical signs of the principal malformation (severe hypoxaemia). To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of parachute deformity of the tricuspid valve.
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