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Biomedical subjects

M Zimmerman

Publications and source records attributed to M Zimmerman.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

The effect of furoyl saccharin, a novel non-peptidic acylating protease inhibitor, on experimental emphysema in the hamster.

Furoyl saccharin was evaluated for its ability to prevent the development of emphysematous lesions produced in hamsters by the exposure to aerosolized papain (3% for 3 h). Pretreatment with intratracheal furoyl saccharin (at the doses of 0.3, 1, 3 mg) reduced the appearance of papain-induced emphysema as evaluated by both physiologic (static compliance) and histologic (mean linear intercept and internal surface area of the lungs) methods. Inhibition was dose-related with maximal reduction of changes in static compliance (74%), mean linear intercept (84%) and internal surface area (65%) observed after a dose of 3 mg. This is the first time that a non-peptide acylating inhibitor of serine proteases is reported to be affective in preventing the development of experimental emphysema.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

The electrical stimulation of bone using a filamentous carbon cathode.

Filamentous carbon fiber is an extremely compatible biomaterial. It does not corrode and elicits almost no foreign body response. In addition, this material is an efficient electrical conductor in vivo. These desirable characteristics suggest that carbon fiber may be of use as an electrode material for the stimulation of bone and/or soft tissue growth. This possibility has been investigated in a well established laboratory animal model. When used as a cathode material in conjunction with an implantable constant direct current device, carbon fiber was shown to be an effective electrode material for the stimulation of bone and fibrous tissue within the medullary canal of the tibia of the rabbit. Further, adjustment of current levels appear to allow some selectivity in terms of the amount and type of tissue produced. Currents in the 1 microA range produced a maximum amount of bone, whereas a 20 microA current produced a maximum amount of fibrous tissue. Intermediate current levels produced a proportional mix of bone and soft tissue.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

The implications of DSM-III personality disorders for patients with major depression.

We studied 78 inpatients with DSM-III major depression. Forty-one (53%) had a concurrent personality disorder (PD) according to a detailed structured interview for DSM-III personality disorders. The patients with depression plus PD differed from patients with depression alone on numerous measures. The PD patients had earlier onset; higher HRS scores; poorer social support; more life stressors; more frequent separation and divorce; more frequent nonserious suicide attempts, less frequent dexamethasone nonsuppression; poorer response to antidepressant medication; and higher risk for depression, alcoholism and antisocial personality among first-degree relatives. The PD subgroup shares many attributes with Winokur's subtype of depression spectrum disorder and Akiskal's character spectrum disorder. An attempt to identify a subgroup of personality disorders which might be an atypical affective disorder was inconclusive. However, patients in DSM-III cluster III were similar to the patients with no-PD on the dexamethasone suppression test, response to treatment, and familial risk for depression and antisocial personality.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Symptom contamination of life event scales.

One hundred and seventy postpartum women completed the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The point-biserial correlation between each item on the SRRS and the BDI was calculated. The four items identified by Lehman (1978) as being symptoms rather than life events per se were more highly correlated with the BDI than the remaining items. However, the correlation between the life event scale and the BDI was not significantly lowered after these items were removed. It is concluded that while life event scales should not include such symptom-like items, the contention made by some critics of the life event literature that all research using the Holmes and Rahe instrument is undermined soley because of the inclusion of these items, may be inappropriate.

Depression↗
PubMed1984

The clinical and neuroendocrine features of psychotic depression.

The authors compared 65 patients with major depression and psychotic features to 192 patients with major depression and no psychotic features in terms of clinical features, family history, and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis function. In accord with other studies, patients with psychotic depression were more likely to have bipolar depression, psychomotor disturbance, a family history of schizophrenia, and a more severely disordered hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis. Whether psychotic depression is best considered apart from nonpsychotic depression or as simply a more severe form of depression remains unsettled. Nevertheless, research to date does give the diagnosis of psychotic depression a practical significance which is enhanced by its simplicity.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Outcome following ECT for primary unipolar depression: a test of newly proposed response predictors.

This study considered dexamethasone suppression test (DST) results, Winokur 's familial subtyping, and the presence or absence of melancholia according to DSM-III criteria as potential predictors of response to ECT. Familial subtype and DST results independently predicted outcome after ECT, but melancholia did not. Relationships between outcome and several other traditional items tested for comparison generally agreed with those in earlier studies. The pattern of significant predictors varied considerably depending on outcome measure--Hamilton depression score at discharge, global rating at discharge, or symptom score during a 6-month follow-up--which may explain some of the discrepancies between results of earlier predictor studies.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Using personal scalings on life event inventories to predict dysphoria.

The predictive ability of subjective weights of life events was examined. The focus of this study was the event 'doing very poorly on an important exam.' Two days before taking their midterm in an introductory psychology class, 164 students rated 120 life events as to the degree of negative impact on their life they believed the event did have (if it previously occurred) or would have (if it had not occurred). The subjects also filled out the Depressive Adjective Checklist (DACL) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). One week later, on the day the grades were returned to the students, the second testing session was held. One hundred thirty-two subjects returned to again complete the two measures of depression. Thirty-three of the students were identified as having experienced the event. The results of a hierarchical multiple regression showed that the subjective rating of negative impact was a significant predictor of post-exam DACL scores but not post-exam BDI scores. Previous experience with the event was not associated with either post-exam depression measure. It is suggested that the perception of life events is an important variable in life event research and that subjective weights can be utilized as markers of individuals who are vulnerable to the effects of stress.

Achievement↗
PubMed1983

Weighted versus unweighted life event scores: is there a difference?

Life events researchers differ in their opinions as to whether weighted life event indices are more strongly associated with measures of pathology than a simple count of the number of experienced events. In the present review, it was found that across 18 studies the average correlation between weighted and unweighted totals was .94. In 16 of 19 studies, weighted scores did not improve the stress-illness correlation.

Humans↗
PubMed1983

Human plasma kallikrein releases neutrophil elastase during blood coagulation.

Elastase is released from human neutrophils during the early events of blood coagulation. Human plasma kallikrein has been shown to stimulate neutrophil chemotaxis, aggregation, and oxygen consumption. Therefore, the ability of kallikrein to release neutrophil elastase was investigated. Neutrophils were isolated by dextran sedimentation, and elastase release was measured by both an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and an enzymatic assay using t-butoxy-carbonyl-Ala-Ala-Pro-Val-amino methyl coumarin as the substrate. Kallikrein, 0.1-1.0 U/ml, (0.045-0.45 microM), was incubated with neutrophils that were preincubated with cytochalasin B (5 micrograms/ml). The release of elastase was found to be proportional to the kallikrein concentration. Kallikrein released a maximum of 34% of the total elastase content, as measured by solubilizing the neutrophils in the nonionic detergent Triton X-100. A series of experiments was carried out to determine if kallikrein was a major enzyme involved in neutrophil elastase release during blood coagulation. When 10 million neutrophils were incubated in 1 ml of normal plasma in the presence of 30 mM CaCl2 for 90 min, 2.75 micrograms of elastase was released. In contrast, neutrophils incubated in prekallikrein-deficient or Factor XII-deficient plasma released less than half of the elastase, as compared with normal plasma. The addition of purified prekallikrein to prekallikrein-deficient plasma restored neutrophil elastase release to normal levels. Moreover, release of elastase was enhanced in plasma deficient in C1-inhibitor, the major plasma inhibitor of kallikrein. This release was not dependent upon further steps in the coagulation pathway, or on C5a, since levels of elastase, released in Factor XI- or C5-deficient plasma, were similar to that in normal plasma, and an antibody to C5 failed to inhibit elastase release. These data suggest that kallikrein may be a major enzyme responsible for the release of elastase during blood coagulation.

Blood Coagulation↗
PubMed1983

The dexamethasone suppression test and ECT outcome: a six-month follow-up.

In an earlier report, the dexamethasone suppression test (DST) predicted globally rated outcome at discharge in 42 patients treated with ECT. To determine the predictive value of the DST following discharge we reevaluated these patients 6 months after admission. Suppressors and nonsuppressors did not differ in any of the follow-up measures; DST results added very little to the variance accounted for by diagnosis, age, and episode duration. Surprisingly, patients whose DST had converted at discharge from abnormal to normal were less likely to have sustained remission during follow-up than were patients whose DST had remained abnormal.

Depressive Disorder↗