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Biomedical subjects

M Hammer

Publications and source records attributed to M Hammer.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources
PubMed1983

CSF and plasma vasopressin concentrations in dementia.

In 16 patients with primary degenerative dementia mean CSF vasopressin concentration was lower (0.9 +/- 0.1 pg/ml (mean +/- SEM)) than in 28 control patients (1.3 +/- 0.1 (mean +/- SEM)) (p less than 0.01). In 18 patients with normal pressure hydrocephalus and potentially reversible dementia mean CSF vasopressin concentration (1.2 pg/ml +/- 0.1 (mean +/- SEM)) was not different from that found in controls. Several of the demented patients had inappropriate plasma vasopressin concentrations suggesting a defect in osmoregulation. These findings encourage further clinical trials of vasopressin in patients with primary degenerative dementia, but it is emphasised that the low CSF vasopressin concentration in these patients might be only a nonspecific phenomenon due to the diffuse loss of cells within the central nervous system.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Cancer in cystic lesions of the thyroid.

We reviewed the records of 341 patients who underwent thyroidectomy for the suspicion of cancer between 1975 and 1980. Cancer of the thyroid was found in 14% of them. Although cysts of the thyroid (pathologic finding of a fluid-filled cavity greater than 1 cm in diameter) were encountered in 35% of the patients, cysts were similarly distributed among patients with benign conditions (27%) or with cancer (33%). Most of the thyroid cysts in patients with carcinoma measured 2 to 4 cm in diameter. The cancer was found within the cystic cavity. The cysts in patients with cancer appeared to originate from necrosis of the tumor. B-mode ultrasonography was not reliable in differentiating cystic and solid lesions. The demonstration of the cystic nature of a thyroid nodule does not rule out the diagnosis of cancer of the gland.

Adenoma↗
PubMed1982

Parenthood and social networks. A preliminary view.

Data from several samples in the United States and England are drawn upon to examine how and to what extent the social networks of parents differ from those of men and women without children. The social contact patterns found to be associated with parenthood involve (1) a shift in the composition of the networks, and especially an increased emphasis on kin connections; (2) a shift in the frequency with which people are seen; and (3) an absolute reduction in network size for non-working mothers in the lowest social class. The paper briefly considers the health-related implications of these network differences, with special reference to several recent studies that have found exceptionally high rates of depression among women with young children.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Defects in osmoregulation of vasopressin secretion. A report of four cases.

Four patients are presented, all having pathologic responses in plasma vasopressin concentration to changes in plasma osmolality. Clinically, three of them had the syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion (SIADH). The fourth had diabetes insipidus associated with an increased threshold for plasma osmolality. Two of the patients with SIADH had lowered thresholds for ADH secretion and one of these also had increased sensitivity to increments in osmolality. The latter patient, like another earlier reported similar case, had a defective blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier. The third SIADH patient had no response at all to changes in osmolality from 230 to 305 mOsm/kg and had a small cell carcinoma of the lung. These examples illustrate that both the setting and the sensitivity of osmoreceptors and AVP-secreting neurons probably are under complex control from the CNS, and that CNS diseases can affect one or several of these pathways thereby affecting the setting of the osmoreceptor-vasopressin system.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Vasopressin in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with normal pressure hydrocephalus and benign intracranial hypertension.

We have studied plasma and cerebrospinal fluid vasopressin (CSF-AVP) and osmolality in 28 patients with cervical or lumbar pain syndromes (control patients), 11 patients with normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) and in 5 patients with benign intracranial hypertension (BIH). Vasopressin concentration in lumbar CSF to a high extent reflected the actual ventricular CSF-AVP concentration. In all groups CSF-AVP was lower than plasma AVP. Mean CSF-AVP in the control group was 1.3 pg/ml +/- 0.1 (SEM). In the NPH patients, who all suffered from severe dementia, CSF-AVP level was not different from that found in the control group (1.4 pg/ml +/- 0.2). In contrast to the findings in the two other groups CSF osmolality in BIH patients was higher than plasma osmolality (P less than 0.0). CSF-AVP in the BIH patients, characterized by an elevated intracranial pressure (ICP), was higher than in the control group (2.7 pg/ml +/- 0.4, P less than 0.001).

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Episodic secretion of vasopressin in man.

The plasma arginine vasopressin concentration (pAVP) was measured in blood samples obtained from an internal jugular vein of 8 patients who underwent surgery for a carotid artery stenosis. Ten blood samples were taken with 1 min interval during the operation. Arterial pAVP was measured in 10 simultaneous samples from a radial artery and the brain venoarterial difference of pAVP was calculated. The venoarterial difference was 0-3 pg/ml in 7 of the patients, while it increased to 35 pg/ml upon baroreceptor stimulation in one patient. A pulsatile pattern was found in the veno-arterial difference of pAVP both at low and higher peripheral pAVP levels. This appeared to reflect a discontinuous release of AVP from the neurohypophysis. The described method results in a more accurate picture of ongoing secretory activity than can be obtained by measurements of peripheral pAVP alone. The general usefulness of the method, however, is restricted by the need of a multitude of samples and the difficult approach to the internal jugular vein.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Effect of human fibroblast interferon (INF-beta) on hepatitis B virus DNA in serum.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA was measured by a hybridization technique in the sera of three patients with HBsAg-positive chronic active hepatitis treated with fibroblast interferon (INF-beta). Although DNA polymerase activity was undetectable in all patients 2-4 weeks after the beginning of the treatment, HBV-DNA was always present in two patients and disappeared in the only patient who showed marked clinical and histopathological improvement of the liver disease after INF treatment. This suggests that serum HBV-DNA is a valuable marker to monitor during therapeutic trials of chronic HBV infection.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

Social supports, social networks, and schizophrenia.

This article considers the meaning of "social support" and its relationship to social networks, and discusses a structural approach to analysis of social connections in the study of schizophrenia. The concept of social supports is seen as methodologically more problematic and less strategic than the more structurally oriented concepts of social networks and social connections. It is argued that in terms of research strategy, if social connections are studied structurally as they change and develop over time, the impact of the specifically social processes can be better separated from that of the personal characteristics of the focal individual than seems possible with other approaches. Analysis of the properties of the networks around the focal individual, independently of that individual's own social behavior, can help to disentangle the interwoven complex of causes, characteristics, and consequences of schizophrenia.

Dependency, Psychological↗
PubMed1980

ACTH, ADH, and calcitonin concentrations as markers of response and relapse in small-cell carcinoma of the lung.

The ectopically produced polypeptide hormones ACTH, ADH, and calcitonin were investigated as tumor markers in patients with small-cell carcinoma of the lung (SCC). Plasma ADH concentrations were evaluated separately as well as in relation to concomitantly obtained plasma osmolality levels. No significant nor consistent changes of marker concentrations caused by lysis of tumor cells were found immediately after administration of cytotoxic drugs. After tumor regression, plasma ACTH and serum calcitonin concentrations and inappropriate ADH secretion (plasma ADH levels inappropriately high compared with plasma osmolality) became normal in most cases; however, progressive disease was not followed consistently by changes in plasma ACTH concentrations and occurrence of inappropriate ADH secretion. Contrary to this, among 12 patients with disease progression, serum calcitonin levels increased in ten patients and plasma ADH levels increased in 11 patients. In most cases, however, these changes were only moderate, and serum calcitonin concentrations were found to be increased after tumor regression in patients who had normal pretreatment levels. It is concluded that decisions on treatment of patients with SCC cannot exclusively be based on changes in the concentrations of the polypeptide hormones that might be of ectopic origin.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
PubMed1980

Traumatic hyphema. Failure of steroids to alter its course: a double-blind prospective study.

Forty-three patients with traumatic hypema were studied prospectively in a controlled, double-blind study. Twenty-three patients received prednisone and 20 received a lactose placebo. Secondary hemorrhages occurred in 16% of all patients. There was no significant difference in the incidence of secondary hemorrhage between the two groups (P = .85). There is no evidence that prednisone (40 mg/day) decreases the incidence of secondary hemorrhage. There was no significant difference in final visual acuities between the two groups. Patients with initially larger hyphemas do not appear to have worse final visual acuities. Hyphemas without secondary hemorrhage had a uniformly good prognosis. Although final visual acuities were worse in eyes with secondary hemorrhage, associated ocular injuries rather than blood-related complications accounted for the decreased visual acuity.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Relationship between plasma osmolality and plasma vasopressin in human subjects.

The relationship between plasma osmolality (pOsm) and plasma vasopressin (pAVP) was studied in 13 human subjects during dehydration. The fit of linear, log-linear, parabolic, and exponential models was tested. For all of the data, the nonlinear models had the best fit. However, when individual differences in either gain or threshold were allowed for, the linear models were better than log-linear models. Finally, analyses were made with individual data points. Linear models had the best fit in half of the subjects, whereas for the others the parabolic model gave the best fit. For those subjects investigated in the low range of the osmoregulatory curve, a linear relationship was found, whereas, for those having the most pronounced increase in pOsm, the most significant improvement was found with the parabolic model. This finding indicates that the relationship is not stable during dehydration in the whole range and that hypovolemia probably can influence the secretion rate and/or metabolic clearance rate and thereby the relationship.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Calcium-stimulated vasopressin secretion in uremic patients: an effect mediated via parathyroid hormone?

The effect of whole blood ionized calcium levels on vasopressin (AVP) secretion has been studied in 12 uremic hemodialysis patients (6 nephrectomized and 6 nonnephrectomized), 6 healthy subjects, and a sprue patient, first while she was hypocalcemic and again after her blood calcium had normalized. Changes in whole blood ionized calcium were induced by calcium infusion (3.15 mg Ca/kg BW h-1). In uremic patients, an increase in plasma AVP took place during infusion, and the changes in AVP were correlated to the changes in whole blood ionized calcium. In normals, no changes in AVP were found. In the sprue patient, an increase in plasma AVP correlated to whole blood ionized calcium was found in the hypocalcemic state, but this could not be demonstrated after treatment. Parathyroid hormone has been shown to facilitate calcium entry into cells, and it is proposed that the pathophysiological effect of calcium on AVP secretion in uremic patients is caused by the elevated parathyroid hormone level found in these patients.

Adult↗