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Biomedical subjects

M Falk

Publications and source records attributed to M Falk.

115 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Etanercept treatment of renal amyloidosis complicating rheumatoid arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis and juvenile arthritis represent the commonest diseases complicated by AA amyloidosis in developed countries. Up to 5% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis will develop AA amyloidosis, with renal failure being the commonest cause of mortality. To date, treatment of this condition has focused on suppressing the underlying inflammatory condition with drugs such as cyclophosphamide and chlorambucil, but both these drugs are associated with myelotoxicity, leukaemia and sterility. Tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is thought to be involved in amyloid deposition. The efficacy of anti-TNF-alpha therapy (etanercept) in the treatment of renal amyloidosis complicating rheumatoid arthritis is demonstrated here and the current scientific data on this subject are presented.

Amyloidosis↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Positive expiratory pressure (PEP-mask) physiotherapy improves ventilation and reduces volume of trapped gas in cystic fibrosis.

To investigate the lung function during positive expiratory pressure (PEP) physiotherapy in cystic fibrosis, the resistance tube of the PEP-mask was inserted into the expiratory outlet of our lung function equipment. This enabled us to measure a variety of lung function variables, while the lung function equipment functioned as a PEP-mask. We studied 12 patients and found that during PEP-mask physiotherapy functional residual capacity (FRC) increased significantly (p less than 0.02). There was a decrease of washout volume (WOV) (p less than 0.05), lung clearance index (WOV/FRC) (p less than 0.001) and volume of trapped gas (p less than 0.05), whereas total lung capacity, vital capacity, tidal volume and residual volume did not change significantly. It is concluded that in cystic fibrosis PEP-mask physiotherapy evens the intrapulmonary distribution of the ventilation and opens up regions, that are otherwise closed off. The results support the clinical observation that PEP-mask physiotherapy increases the transcutaneous tension of oxygen and the expectoration of sputum.

Adolescent↗