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Biomedical subjects

M Reiss

Publications and source records attributed to M Reiss.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1999

[Some aspects of sensorial asymmetries].

The present review shows the variability assessing sensoric asymmetries. There are preference and performance tests. Sensoric asymmetries are strongest and most manifest for eyedness (eye preference and performance), descending through earedness and other less known asymmetries. A vast range of testing techniques have been used to assess eyedness. Sighting dominance and self-report are two of the most popular techniques. Other preference measures include observation of how people use tools and questionnaires. Performance test assess speed and accuracy in tasks stressing sensoric dexterity. Although questionnaires are generally thought to be reliable and valid instruments, there is a disagreement as to the nature, the number and weighting of the items to be included.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

[Some aspects of tinnitus].

Tinnitus is the sensation of sound, a sensation generated by the auditory system because of a pathology, without any external acoustic or electrical stimulation. Most often, it is associated with a sensorineural hearing loss. Tinnitus is still one of the most frequent symptoms encountered by the otorhinolaryngologist and other doctors. Diagnosis and therapy are demanding due to complex etiology and secondary symptoms. Tinnitus is a symptom and not a disease. Therefore a thorough diagnosis is necessary. First of all one has to evaluate whether there is a treatable underlying organic disease possibly responsible for symptoms like tinnitus. The evaluation of the patient includes the history, ENT-status, audiological and vestibular findings, investigative imaging and examinations by other specialists. The therapeutic aim is the compensation of tinnitus. There is no universal medical or surgical treatment. Acute tinnitus is treated like sudden deafness. For chronic forms, the analysis of the causes is particularly important for developing an individual consultation and therapy plan. Providing information to the patient is the first step for a sensible treatment of the symptoms. Supportive therapy includes a psychosomatic therapy and the use of medication or instrumentation.

Humans↗
PubMed1999

[Unusual complications of a bilateral peritonsillar abscess].

Bilateral peritonsillar abscesses with complications in the region of the neck are extremely rare. The case of a 60 year old women with an additional abscess of the right parotid gland/neck is reported. Diagnostic and therapeutic problems are discussed.

Female↗
PubMed1999

Structural alterations of transforming growth factor-beta receptor genes in human cervical carcinoma.

The development and progression of invasive uterine cervical carcinomas appear to be associated with the progressive loss of sensitivity to transforming growth factor-beta (TGFbeta)-mediated cell cycle arrest. In order to identify possible molecular mechanisms responsible for TGFbeta resistance, we screened the 7 exons of the type II (TbetaR-II) TGFbeta receptor and the 9 exons of the type I (TbetaR-I) TGFbeta receptor genes for mutations in 16 paraffin-embedded primary invasive cervical carcinoma specimens. In one of these carcinomas, we found a novel G-->T transversion in exon 3 of TbetaR-II that introduces a premature stop codon (E142Stop) and presumably results in the synthesis of a truncated soluble exoreceptor. In one tumor, a silent A-->C transversion mutation that may affect mRNA splicing was present in exon 6 of TbetaR-I. In addition, 7 of 16 cases were heterozygous for a G-->A polymorphism in intron 7 of TbetaR-I. Finally, we identified a 9 base pair in-frame germline deletion in exon 1 of TbetaR-I resulting in loss of 3 of 9 sequential alanine residues at the N-terminus in 6 of 16 cases. Analysis of specimens from case-control studies indicated that carriers of this del(GGC)3 TbetaR-I variant allele may be at a increased risk for the development of cervical carcinoma (p=0.22). Furthermore, the response of cells expressing the variant receptor to TGFbeta was diminished. Our results support the notion that diverse alterations in the TGFbeta signaling pathway may play a role in the development of cervical cancer.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

[Some aspects of prebyphonia].

Vocal disorders are a common dysfunction associated with aging that can have a significant effect on the quality of life. Advancing age produces physiologic changes that may alter voice. Some of these changes are inevitable; others may be avoidable or reversible. An appreciation for the causes of vocal dysfunction in the elderly is a first step to providing better care for the geriatric patient with complaints about voice dysfunction.

Aged↗
PubMed1999

[Otorhinolaryngologic causes of headache].

Headache is very common and it has many different causes. It can be a challenging, difficult, and interesting diagnostic problem. The knowledge of the complex sensory innervation of the ear, nose and paranasal sinuses is important. Heterotopic or referred pain must be differentiated from homotopic pain that is experienced at the point of injury. The nervous pathways of heterotopic otalgia are shown. From the otolaryngologist's point of view, there are multiple causes for the frequent symptom of facial pain and headaches: headaches due to ear diseases: pain extending to the ear region, with special regard to "referred otalgia" involving the cranial nerves V, IX, X; facial pain due to temporomandibular dysfunction; rhinological causes of facial pain and headaches, including posttraumatic trigeminal neuralgia and "facial sympathalgies"; the syndrome of the elongated styloid process. The quality of pain of the most common rhinological and otological diseases is reported. A detailed history and a carefully performed and focussed physical and laboratory evaluation will aid in the complex differential diagnosis.

Headache↗
PubMed1999

[Tuning-fork tests--outdated?].

Tuning fork tests have accompanied us from the beginning of otology. Various methods of striking have been used during the century and the efforts to attain standardisation appear to have been forgotten since audiology became available. But the use of tuning forks is very important. Some physical principles of the Weber- and Rinne-tuning fork test are described. Furthermore some hints in their interpretation are stressed. The necessary control of pure tone audiometry by tuning forks is pointed out. The essential need for tuning forks in daily clinical practice is emphasised by examples and the special advantages of tuning forks are detailed.

Audiometry↗
PubMed1999

[When do ear drops help, when are they harmful?].

Current knowledge concerning the use of eardrops is discussed under clinical and pharmacological aspects. The role of topical ear drops as a possible cause of ototoxicity is reviewed. Although experimental data confirm the presence of ototoxicity due to topical ear drops, the clinical relevance still remains debatable. The fact that currently used ear drops may produce a sensorineural hearing loss should not be ignored.

Administration, Topical↗
PubMed1999

[Cooperation between clinicians and pathologists].

The present review demonstrates, how co-operation between clinicians and pathologists may be improved. In the present work the problems of artefacts introduced in biopsy specimens are discussed. The circumstances that can result in artefacts include: errors by the surgeon or assistant in handling the tissue at the time of biopsy, an improper fixation and faulty tissue processing. Different types of artefacts are described and illustrated and clinical and technical suggestions are given to prevent alterations of normal morphologic and cytologic features that can compromise an accurate diagnosis. In order to avoid diagnostic errors also anamnestic details and rare lesions must be known. The fate of patients suffering from carcinoma is influenced by the stage of the tumour at the time of diagnosis. It may be impossible to diagnose the tumor with the first biopsy even though clinical and macroscopic aspects suggest malignancy. In such a case a new representative biopsy is necessary as rapidly as possible to preserve the organ.

Biopsy↗
PubMed1999

Earedness and handedness: distribution in a German sample with some family data.

There are only few data on the relative contribution of genetical factors to ear preference ("earedness"). We studied the distribution of earedness and handedness in a sample of 292 families and 36 offspring pairs. The incidence of nonright-earedness was found to be 35% and was not related to age or gender. In the same sample the incidence of nonright-handedness amounted to about 9% and was characterized by a significant prevalence in men. The distribution of handedness did not differ significantly between parents and children. We found that children's earedness and handedness were related to parental preferences. However, no paternal or maternal effect was found. The frequency of left-earedness and left-handedness of children is directly proportional to the number of left-sided parents. These results suggest that the direction of ear preference and handedness is genetically determined. But there is no genetic association between handedness and earedness.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

TGF-beta and cancer.

The relationships between transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) and cancer are varied and complex. The paradigm that is emerging from the experimental evidence accumulated over the past decade or so is that TGF-beta can play two different and opposite roles with respect to the process of malignant progression. During early stages of carcinogenesis, TGF-beta acts predominantly as a potent tumor suppressor and may mediate the actions of chemopreventive agents such as retinoids and nonsteroidal anti-estrogens. However, at some point during the development and progression of malignant neoplasms, bioactive TGF-betas make their appearance in the tumor microenvironment and the tumor cells escape from TGF-beta-dependent growth arrest. In many cases, this resistance to TGF-beta is the consequence of loss or mutational inactivation of the genes that encode signaling intermediates. These include the types I and II TGF-beta receptors, as well as receptor-associated and common-mediator Smads. The stage of tumor development or progression at which TGF-beta-resistant clones come to dominate the tumor cell population in different types of neoplasm remains to be defined. The phenotypic switch from TGF-beta-sensitivity to TGF-beta-resistance that occurs during carcinogenesis has several important implications for cancer prevention and treatment.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Laterality of hand, foot, eye, and ear in twins.

Information on handedness, footedness, eyedness, and earedness was collected from 33 monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs and 67 dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs. The incidence of nonright-sidedness in the twins is not higher than that reported in the literature for singletons. Similar results are found for the other lateralities. The results of assessing handedness with preference tests do not differ from those carried out with performance tests. There are no differences in incidence of nonright-sidedness between MZ and DZ twins. The concordance of lateralities is similar in MZ and DZ twins. The proportions of Right-Right, Right-Nonright, and Nonright-Nonright pairs in both groups of twins show a binomial distribution. The present results do not confirm a genetic hypothesis of determination of sidedness in humans and are comparable with the results obtained by other twin studies.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1999

Brachydactyly type B: clinical description, genetic mapping to chromosome 9q, and evidence for a shared ancestral mutation.

Autosomal dominant brachydactyly type B (BDB) is characterized by nail aplasia with rudimentary or absent distal and middle phalanges. We describe two unrelated families with BDB. One family is English; the other family is Canadian but of English ancestry. We assigned the BDB locus in the Canadian family to an 18-cM interval on 9q, using linkage analysis (LOD score 3.5 at recombination fraction [theta] 0, for marker D9S938). Markers across this interval also cosegregated with the BDB phenotype in the English family (LOD score 2.1 at straight theta=0, for marker D9S277). Within this defined interval is a smaller (7.5-cM) region that contains 10 contiguous markers whose disease-associated haplotype is shared by the two families. This latter result suggests a common founder among families of English descent that are affected with BDB.

Activin Receptors, Type I↗