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Biomedical subjects

M Guerra

Publications and source records attributed to M Guerra.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Using the axis V scale to evaluate therapeutic outcome of psychiatric treatment.

This study examined whether the Axis V scale of DSM-III was a useful instrument for coding and evaluating psychiatric patients' response to treatment. It compared outpatients' functional responses to treatment, measured by the Axis V scale used to assess current functioning, with their symptomatic changes. It found that the Axis V scale provided a different dimension of patients' outcome than the symptomatic one. Overall, only 19% of the patients were rated on Axis V as improved functionally, at discharge, as compared to 55% rated as improved symptomatically. However, as outpatients completed more treatment sessions, increasingly larger percentages were rated as improved on the Axis V scale, ranging from 8.5% improved functionally after completing 1-5 sessions to 44.5% improved after 41+ sessions. Symptomatic ratings plateaued after 6-10 sessions, with 80% of the patients being rated as improved symptomatically after completing treatment, no matter how many more treatment sessions they received before discharge. The report discusses the implications of these findings for assessment of psychiatric patients' treatment needs, goals of their treatment programs, and evaluation of treatment outcomes.

Ambulatory Care↗
PubMed1988

Graves' disease and thyroxine-binding globulin deficiency.

Thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG) deficiency has been frequently described in single patients and in many families. Most people with abnormal TBG concentrations are euthyroid. Cases of Graves' disease and TBG deficit have rarely been reported. We describe the case of a person with Graves' disease and TBG deficiency. Because of this condition, the patient had a misdiagnosis during part of his clinical history, and therefore underwent unnecessary therapy.

Diagnostic Errors↗
PubMed1987

Gonadal influences on spinal cord and brain monoamines in male rats.

Concentrations of norepinephrine (NE), dopamine (DA), 3,4-dihydroxy phenylacetic acid (DOPAC), serotonin (HT) and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (HIAA) were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography-electrical detection (HPLC-ED) in homogenates of lumbosacral spinal cord, mediobasal hypothalamus and cerebral cortex of male rats. The effects of castration and testosterone propionate (TP) (20 micrograms/day X 2 days) were compared. Castrated animals had the highest levels of DA and DOPAC in the cerebral cortex and NE, HT and HIAA in the spinal cord, as well as decreased hypothalamic DOPAC. Testosterone treatment returned spinal cord monoamine concentrations to intact control levels. These findings point to the spinopetal monoaminergic pathways as sensitive targets for androgen action.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Regional changes of brain Na+,K+-transporting adenosine triphosphatase related to ovarian function.

Synaptosomal Na+,K+-transporting ATPase activity of the mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH), the medial preoptic-suprachiasmatic (POSC) region and cerebral cortex was measured in rats at different stages of the estrous cycle and after ovariectomy and estradiol replacement. Enzyme activity of the MBH and POSC showed cyclic changes. In both regions it increased shortly before the proestrus surge of LH. However, the two areas responded to castration and estrogen treatment in an opposite fashion. No changes were detected in enzyme activity in the cerebral cortex. These findings are consistent with previous reports on cyclic changes in electrical activity and suggest that Na+,K+-ATPase activity could be a useful indicator of neural activity for the study of neuroendocrine interactions.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Androgens stimulate preoptic area Na+,K+-ATPase activity in male rats.

This paper describes the effects of castration and testosterone replacement on the Na+,K+-ATPase activity levels of the cerebral cortex (CC), preoptic-suprachiasmatic region (POSC) and mediobasal hypothalamus (MBH) in male rats. Na+,K+-ATPase activity was estimated as the ouabain-sensitive fraction of ADP and AMP generation rate, measured by high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) with UV detection, from a standard incubation mixture containing 3 mM ATP. Orchidectomy, performed 4 weeks before sacrifice, decreased ATPase activity of MBH. Testosterone propionate treatment (50 micrograms/day X 2 days) to castrated animals resulted in a 4-fold increase in enzyme activity in the POSC, an effect that might be related to the behavioral effects of androgens. None of the treatments seemed to influence the enzyme activity of the cerebral cortex.

Aggression↗
PubMed1987

Neurochemical correlates of male sexual behavior.

This report presents evidence of changes in the concentration of monoamine neurotransmitters and their metabolites in homogenates of spinal cord and brain areas of male rats related to specific events of their mating behavior. Intact male rats were allowed to copulate with receptive females and decapitated immediately after either the first intromission or the first ejaculation. Non-mating control animals were exposed to other males, instead of females. The concentration of monoamines (norepinephrine, dopamine and serotonin) and some of their major metabolites (DOPAC and HIAA) in homogenates of discrete brain areas (parietal cortex, preoptic region, mediobasal hypothalamus) and lumbosacral spinal cord were measured by HPLC-ED. Results suggest that sexual arousal is associated with both increased dopaminergic activity in the preoptic region and inhibition of descending monoaminergic signals to the lumbosacral cord, whereas ejaculation is accompanied by increased activity of the serotonergic, as well as dopaminergic, innervation of the preoptic region. These findings give neurochemical support to notions of central monoamines involvement in sexual behavior suggested by previous pharmacological studies.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Involvement of a dopaminergic mechanism in the response of growth hormone to thyrotropin releasing hormone in patients with major depression.

In an attempt to establish whether, in patients with major depression, dopaminergic receptors are involved in the release of growth hormone (GH) induced by thyrotropin releasing hormone (TRH), eleven subjects were tested with TRH (200 micrograms in an i.v. bolus) with or without concomitant treatment with domperidone (10 mg in an i.v. bolus 10 min before TRH), an antidopaminergic agent which does not readily cross the blood-brain barrier. In 7 out of the 11 patients, TRH strikingly increased GH levels (responders) (the mean peak level was 9 times higher than basal value), whereas it was without effect in the remaining 4 patients (non-responders). When the responders were treated with domperidone before TRH injection, TRH-induced GH increase was still present, but it was significantly lower (the mean peak level was 5.3 times higher than basal value) than in the TRH test (p less than 0.02). These data suggest that the paradoxical response of GH or TRH in patients with major depression involves a dopaminergic mechanism active at sites situated outside the blood-brain barrier.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Lysine-vasopressin does not affect basal and LH-RH-stimulated LH and FSH release during the menstrual cycle of normal women.

In order to test possible effects of lysine-vasopressin (LVP) on basal and LH-RH-stimulated LH and FSH release, an intravenous bolus of LVP (0.06 IU/kg body weight) was injected alone or 10 min before LH-RH (100 micrograms i.v.) in 33 normal women in the follicular, periovulatory and luteal phase of their menstrual cycle. The administration of LVP modified neither the basal secretion of the gonadotropins nor the LH-RH-induced LH and FSH release. These data suggest that in humans, vasopressin is not involved in the control of gonadotropin release at the level of the anterior pituitary.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Galactose metabolism in suckling and adult isolated rat hepatocytes.

The metabolism of galactose during the postnatal developmental period has been examined in isolated parenchymal cells of livers from fasted rats aged 7, 14, 21, 28, and 42 days, by measuring the disappearance of 1 and 4 mM 1-[14C]galactose from the incubation media as well as [14C]galactose conversion to [14C]glucose and [14C]lactate and oxidation to [14CO2]. Cells from 7- and 14-day-old suckling animals consistently utilized galactose more rapidly (4 times greater) than those of adult. Hepatocytes of suckling rats also converted greater amounts of galactose to glucose and oxidized galactose 2-3 times faster than the adult. The conversion to glucose by suckling cells occurred with minor recycling of labeled C-1 galactose to C-6 of glucose. A comparison with [1-14C]glucose as substrate showed that oxidative rates by the young cells were 3 times faster for galactose than for glucose. This was not due to the presence of a direct galactose oxidative pathway as assessed by the [14CO2] yield from C-1 and C-2 labeled galactose. Incubation of hepatocytes with galactose appeared to augment the production of glucose from endogenous precursors, 33 nmoles/mg cells in 30 min. The enhanced glucose output from endogenous sources in isolated suckling hepatocytes incubated with galactose contrasts with the sugar's suppression of glucose output observed in isolated perfused liver even though galactose metabolism in both preparations are similarly greater in the suckling than in the adult.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

[Characterization of corn proteins of the cultivars Venezuela-1, Arichuna, Obregon and Venezuela-1 Opaque-2].

A study is presented on the protein composition of the Venezuelan corn cultivars Venezuela-1, Arichuna, Obregón and Venezuela-1 Opaque-2. The proteins were isolated and analyzed for their molecular weight and lysine and tryptophan content. Protein fractionation showed significant differences between normal corn cultivars and Opaque-2. The latter showed a low level of zein and a high content of alcohol-insoluble reduced glutelins (AIG), albumins and globulins in relation to the normal kernel. The relative increase of these protein fractions, rich in lysine and tryptophan, results in a higher concentration of these amino acids in the Opaque kernel, as revealed by the analysis of these compounds carried out in different cultivars. Electrophoretic analysis showed only small differences in the number and intensity of bands from the protein fractions of the maize cultivars under study.

Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel↗
PubMed1981

[Detection of lymphocytotoxic HLA-A, B, C antibodies in the blood of married female blood donors. I. Serological study].

Bleedings from 1.843 blood donors married women have been checked, according to NIH standard technique, against panels of 17-20 samples of lymphocytes from random healthy HLA-A, -B, -C typed individuals of the Turin population. Lymphocytotoxic activity has been found in 209 sera, but only 90 of them showed strong reaction(s) (at least 60-80% of killed lymphocytes) and 20 of these were HLA typing (or easily transformable in HLA typing) sera. Very few sera killed only 20-50% of lymphocytes in some samples and this cytotoxic activity remained even if dilutions as far as 1:16 and, sometimes, 1:32 were made. Bleedings from blood donors married women give a small yield (1%) of ;typing sera, but these sera are easily available and, practically, without problems of quantity.

ABO Blood-Group System↗