Ethos of custodial care lingers on.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to L Thomas.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
An 18-year old girl developed acute fulminating meningococcaemia with meningitis, coma, shock, coagulation disorders and extensive purpura. Measurement of intracranial pressure showed severe intracranial hypertension. After medical treatment of shock and intracranial hypertension had failed, external drainage of the cerebrospinal fluid was performed in the lumbar region, using a 16 G silicone catheter. This controlled the intracranial hypertension; also the state of shock regressed and the patient became fully conscious. The lumbar drainage was maintained for 12 days during which 3180 ml of blood-stained cerebrospinal fluid were evacuated. The fluid was sterilized by antibiotics as early as the 1st day of the disease, but it remained positive for bacterial antigen up to the 9th day. Cure was obtained without neurological sequelae, thanks to the lumber drainage which controlled intracranial hypertension and removed large amounts of microbial toxins.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
A case of ureteral intussusception caused by a low-grade papillary transitional cell carcinoma of the ureter is described. This is the first case of ureteral intussusception resulting from a malignant tumor of the ureter. The patient presented with weight loss and vague pain in the right lower abdominal quadrant. Right ureterovesical junction obstruction was seen in the retrograde pyeloureterogram. Right nephroureterectomy including a cuff of adjacent bladder wall was performed.
Despite the fact that penetrating abdominal wounds in late pregnancy are becoming increasingly common, there are few such reports in the medical literature. We report the case of a Cambodian woman injured in the border fighting between the Vietnamese and Khmer troops in 1980. Our case is unique in that the fetus survived with a relatively minor fragment wound in the leg. To our knowledge, this is the first report of such a case.
The major histocompatibility complex of the mouse imparts to each mouse an odor that reflects its genetic constitution at this region of chromosome 17. Sensory recognition of these differential odors influences reproductive behavior and evokes neuroendocrine responses critical to the maintenance of pregnancy. To determine whether other parts of the mouse genome contribute to individual scent marking, and so may similarly exert a selective force on loci other than the major histocompatibility complex, mice differing genetically only in their X and/or Y chromosomes were tested for individuality of scent in the Y-maze system previously employed to investigate major histocompatibility complex-related scent distinctions. It is shown that the X and Y chromosomes each confer individually of scent related to genotype.
In mice, pregnancy is often terminated when the stud male is removed and the pregnant female is exposed to the presence or scent of an unfamiliar male. It is reported here that the incidence of such blocking of pregnancy was higher when the stud and unfamiliar male differed by mutation of the H-2K class I gene of the major histocompatibility complex than when the stud and unfamiliar males were genetically identical. Thus, the olfactory distinction of mice differing by mutation of the H-2K gene, previously demonstrated after training of mice in a Y maze, can spontaneously influence neuroendocrine communications affecting reproduction.
The in vitro activity of ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin against 33 strains of mycobacteria was investigated in a comparative study. The resulting MIC values were compared with serum levels, measured in a cross-over study. Possible therapeutic application of these substances in mycobacterial infections are being discussed. We found the antimycobacterial activity of ciprofloxacin to be insufficient for its clinical application, whereas the corresponding MIC values for ofloxacin could be achieved in vivo. Further animal and clinical studies appear justified.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
A multicentre double blind trial is underway to evaluate aminoglutethimide (AG) (Orimeten, Ciba) 1.000 mg/day with hydrocortisone (HC) 20-40 mg/day versus placebo for adjuvant treatment of post menopausal patients with histologically confirmed stage II breast cancer. An interim analysis in February 1985 indicates that of 338 patients randomised 165 received AG + HC and 173 received placebo. At this time 143 AG + HC patients and 141 placebo patients were eligible and assessible for analysis. Of those who received AG + HC 41 have developed metastases and 27 died compared to placebo patients, 53 of whom have developed metastases (p = 0.04) and 34 have died (p = 0.21). These results are similar to the reported advantages for adjuvant tamoxifen given for stage II breast cancer.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
A series of experiments revealed that humans can use olfaction to discriminate closely related strains of mice, differing genetically only at the major histocompatibility gene complex (H-2). In Experiment 1, subjects were asked to distinguish between the whole-body odors of live mice. In Experiments 2 and 3, the odor source was mouse fecal pellets, and in Experiments 4 and 5, the odor source was mouse urine.
From 1941, estrogens are usually used in the treatment of prostatic carcinoma, wrongly in case of adjuvant hormonotherapy and exceedingly because of cardiovascular toxicity from over dosages. A recall of their mechanism of action and toxicity allows to argue about the palliative treatment and to look to their use for the locally advanced cancers in order to get a tumoral reduction before radiotherapy. A pilot study realised by the authors shows that this hormono-radiotherapic protocol is achievable.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Of 3 alcoholic patients with severe lactic acidosis, one had shoshin beriberi; the second--a beer drinker--presented with convulsions associated with hyponatraemia and complicated by rhabdomyolysis and was not thiamine-deficient; the third patient had convulsions associated with Korsakoff's syndrome and was thiamine-deficient. In all three patients treatment with thiamine administered alone corrected the lactic acidosis within less than 4 hours. In patient 1, this result was obtained after symptomatic treatment of shock and lactic acidosis had failed and more than 24 hours before the haemodynamic disorders were corrected. In patient 2, who had no haemodynamic nor haematosis disorders, the lactic acidosis was corrected within 2 hours, i.e. more than 24 hours before neurological improvement developed. In patient 3, the lactic acidosis was also corrected within 2 hours. These results suggest that thiamine should figure among the treatments of lactic acidosis in alcoholic patients. Since thiamine alone is capable of correcting severe lactic acidosis, at least in some of these patients, it deserves to be tried in other types of lactic acidosis.
Radiation chimeras were made by restoring lethally irradiated inbred mice with bone marrow cells of F1 hybrid mice of crosses between that inbred strain and an H-2-congenic strain. The urine of these chimeras was tested by the Y maze method, and shown to have acquired a scent indicative of the reconstituting donors' H-2 type. Thus, cells of the hematopoietic system contribute to the H-2-related odorant properties that enable mice to distinguish one another according to their H-2 types.