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Biomedical subjects

K Blanchard

Publications and source records attributed to K Blanchard.

36 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1998

Improving women's access to emergency contraception: innovative information and service delivery strategies.

Barriers to widespread use of emergency contraception (EC) include lack of knowledge on the part of women and providers, lack of support for the method from providers, and lack of a dedicated product in many countries. This article reviews strategies to improve women's access to EC launched by national or regional health authorities, clinicians, grass-roots health organizations, and women's groups. Information campaigns have targeted women to improve their knowledge of EC and providers to improve their comfort with it. Local groups and individual providers have also provided leaflets or designed innovative service strategies in order to improve women's access to the method. Expanding the scope or number of these programs and introducing them in areas where women do not currently have adequate knowledge of or access to EC will insure that more women will be able to use this method.

Contraceptives, Postcoital↗
PubMed1995

Effect of lymphokines on 35sulfate uptake by the glomerular basement membrane.

We have previously shown that lymphocytes from idiopathic minimal-lesion nephrotic patients produce a lymphokine (supernatant factor) that increases the 35sulfate uptake in the glomerular basement membrane (GBM). The purpose of this report was to further characterize the supernatant factor by studying the effects of interleukins (IL) 2-4, 6, and 8, granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor, and tumor necrosis factor on the 35sulfate incorporation by rat glomeruli in vitro. A significant increase in GBM 35sulfate uptake was only seen when the glomeruli were cultured with the addition of IL-8 as compared with control cultures: 10.8 +/- (SEM) 1.7 and 7.9 +/- 1.4 cpm/micrograms GBM protein, respectively (p < 0.005). IL-8 reproduces the effect of the reported supernatant factor on the GBM 35sulfate uptake. Because IL-8 was detected in the supernatant of peripheral mononuclear cell cultures from idiopathic minimal-lesion nephrotic syndrome patients in relapse and because the increased GBM 35sulfate incorporation induced by the supernatant factor has been abolished by the addition to the culture media of anti-IL-8 neutralizing antibodies, we postulate that IL-8 is the previously described supernatant factor.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

A 57-year-old man with bruising and joint pain.

The differential diagnosis for a 57-year-old man with joint pain, bruising, and diarrhea is discussed in the setting of a Clinical Pathological Conference at Louisiana State University Medical Center in Shreveport, La. The pathophysiology and etiology of malabsorptive states are presented.

Diagnosis, Differential↗
PubMed1993

Do the right thing.

Management by values is essentially practicing what you preach. The statement is simple, yet in real life, solutions aren't so clear. What are some insights on making that task a little easier? The renowned management consultant and author offers helpful guidance.

Ethics, Institutional↗
PubMed1990

Analysis of cytokine mRNA and DNA: detection and quantitation by competitive polymerase chain reaction.

The expression of two cytokines, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and interleukin 3 (IL-3), has been investigated in MLA-144 cells before and after induction with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate. We describe an adaptation of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for highly accurate quantitation of mRNA or DNA from a small number of cells. Aliquots of the PCR mixture containing cDNA copies of the RNA to be assayed were added to serial dilutions of a competitor DNA fragment that differed from the cDNA of interest by having either a small intron or a mutated internal restriction enzyme site. Therefore, the same primers were used to coamplify the unknown and the competitor. The ratio of products remains constant through the amplification and can be readily quantitated. In unstimulated cells, no GM-CSF or IL-3 mRNA could be detected. However, with appropriate induction, mRNA for both cytokines was detected and quantitated in as few as 200 cells. Competitive PCR was also used to accurately quantitate the copy number of the human GM-CSF gene in normal human cells, in a clonal population of cells from a patient with 5q- syndrome, and in a human-hamster cell line known to have only one copy of the human GM-CSF gene.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1987

Management power.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Administrative Personnel↗
PubMed1987

Management power.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Administrative Personnel↗
PubMed1984

Mosaic hexasomy 21.

Cases in which there are more than three copies of a sex chromosome, and rarely of an autosome, have been reported, but to our knowledge hexasomy has never been described except in tissue undergoing neoplastic change. This report describes a female infant with multiple malformations in whom we found a mosaic hexasomy 21. This was first detected in amniotic fluid cells and subsequently in skin fibroblasts.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗
PubMed1979

Prophylactic cesarean section antibiotics: maternal and neonatal morbidity before or after cord clamping.

In an ongoing prospective study at 2 hospitals, 114 cesarean section patients were studied to determine whether giving ampicillin after umbilical cord clamping is as effective as perioperative ampicillin in reducing maternal postoperative morbidity. The same patients have also been studied to determine the effect of prophylactic cesarean section ampicillin on the newborn. Results have shown that prophylactic ampicillin initiated after cord clamping is as effective in reducing maternal morbidity as ampicillin initiated prior to the surgery. There is also no evidence from our study that the transplacental passage of prophylactic ampicillin increases immediate or delayed neonatal infections.

Ampicillin↗
PubMed1978

Systemic and uterine hemodynamic responses to dopamine in pregnant and nonpregnant sheep.

The systemic and uterine hemodynamic effects of dopamine were studied in nonpregnant and near-term pregnant, unanesthetized, chronically instrumented sheep. Dopamine was administered by constant intravenous infusion in doses ranging from 2 to 40 microgram per kilogram per minute. A hypertensive effect was consistently observed when doses greater than 5 microgram per kilogram per minute were given. The rise in pressure was accompanied by a rise in the systemic vascular resistance and an increase in the cardiac output; the increment in the latter was greater in the pregnant than in the nonpregnant animals. Uterine blood flow increased consistently despite some rise in uterine vascular resistance; uterine fraction of cardiac output either remained unchanged or increased slightly. Venomotor construction, reflected by a rise in central venous pressure, occurred at all dose levels. These hemodynamic properties of dopamine may be explained partly on the basis of its combined beta- and alpha-mimetic action, as well as through redistributions of flows and resistances among various regional vascular beds.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Bacteria with defective rho factors suppress the effects of N mutations in bacteriophage lambda.

A prediction based on the model for N-gene function of bacteriophage lambda proposed by Roberts (1971) is confirmed by showing that a lambdaN- double mutant is able to grow in strains of E. coli with defective rho transcription termination factors. The burst sizes for lambdaN- in these strains range from 5 to 24% the burst sizes for lambdaN+ in the same strain. This low level of suppression is also evident in the levels of synthesis of the lambda exonuclease and is consistent with other evidence that the defect in the rho factors of these strains is only partial. These strains do not suppress the effects of mutations in genes O, P and Q of lambda nor in genes 30 and 43 of bacteriophage T4. The lack of suppression of lambdaQ- is significant because the Q-gene product, like the N-gene product, is believed to function as an anti-terminator of lambda transcription but at termination sites that may not require rho factor action.

Coliphages↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Primary endoluminal stenting of transplant renal artery stenosis from cadaver and non-heart-beating donor kidneys.

This study evaluated the efficacy of primary endovascular stenting in cases of transplant renal artery stenosis (TRAS) from cadaver and non-heart-beating donor kidneys. Patients with TRAS (n = 13) from a single-centre transplant population (n = 476) were treated by primary percutaneous angioplasty and endovascular stenting. The short-term efficacy of this intervention is demonstrated in terms of serum creatinine, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) biochemical, anti-hypertensive medications and mean arterial blood pressure control. Stenting for TRAS was performed in male (n = 10) and female (n = 3) recipients. The median age at transplantation was 55 yr (range 10-67 yr). Stenting occurred at a median duration of 410 d post-transplantation (range 84-5799 d). Mean serum creatinine (pre, 247 micromol/L; post, 214 micromol/L; p = 0.002), GFR (pre, 82.6 mL/min; post, 100.9 mL/min; p < 0.001), arterial blood pressure (pre, 104 mmHg; post, 97 mmHg; p = 0.036) and the number of anti-hypertensive medications required (pre, 3.4; post, 3.0; p = 0.002) showed significant improvement after post-endovascular therapy. There were no serious complications encountered. Primary endovascular stenting of TRAS produces a significant improvement in biochemical parameters of renal graft function and in blood pressure stability, with the benefit of low patient morbidity and single arterial puncture. Primary endoluminal stenting of TRAS is a safe and effective procedure for the treatment of TRAS.

Adolescent↗