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Biomedical subjects

P Hubert

Publications and source records attributed to P Hubert.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Enantioseparation of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs by capillary electrophoresis using mixtures of anionic and uncharged beta-cyclodextrins as chiral additives.

Nine nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) were enantioseparated by capillary electrophoresis using an anionic cyclodextrin derivative (sulfobutyl ether beta-cyclodextrin or carboxymethyl-beta-cyclodextrin) in combination with a neutral cyclodextrin as chiral additives to a pH 3 phosphoric acid-triethanolamine buffer. In the presence of a negatively charged cyclodextrin, the analytes were given an appropriate mobility but relatively low enantioselectivities were generally obtained when such a cyclodextrin was the only selector added to the buffer. The addition of an uncharged cyclodextrin, such as the native beta-cyclodextrin or one of its derivatives (dimethyl-, trimethyl- and hydroxypropyl-beta-cyclodextrin), to this kind of buffer containing an anionic cyclodextrin, was found to give rise to considerable improvement in chiral resolution for all compounds studied. Resolution and analysis time were optimized by varying the nature and concentration of the two cyclodextrins. The best compromise was usually achieved by the simultaneous addition of sulfobutyl ether beta-cyclodextrin and trimethyl-beta-cyclodextrin. Under optimum conditions, the enantiomers of all NSAIDs examined could be completely separated (most often with resolution values higher than 5) in short analysis times (generally lower than 15 min).

Anions↗

Assessment of high-frequency neonatal ventilator performances.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy and reliability of neonatal high-frequency ventilators. DESIGN: Bench evaluation of neonatal high-frequency ventilators. SETTING: Physiology department and university hospital neonatal intensive care unit. INTERVENTIONS: HFV-Babylog 8000 (Dräger Medical), OHF 1 (Dufour), and SensorMedics 3100A (Sensor-Medics) ventilators were connected to a neonatal test-lung. Tidal volume, peak-to-peak pressure amplitude, and mean airway pressure were measured for several ventilator settings, endotracheal tube sizes, and lung compliances. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Increasing peak-to-peak pressure resulted in a linear increase in tidal volume delivery in the 0-30% range of maximum amplitude. No significant increase in tidal volume was observed with the HFV-Babylog 8000 when pressure amplitude was above 50%. The maximum tidal volume delivered was substantially smaller with the HFV-Babylog 8000 than with the OHF 1 or SensorMedics 3100A. Tidal volume increased with endotracheal tube size with all three ventilators. Increasing test-lung compliance resulted in lower tidal volumes only with OHF 1. Decreasing mean airway pressure was responsible for a decrease in tidal volume delivery with HFV-Baby-log 8000. CONCLUSION: We found that under our test conditions two of the three ventilators delivered adequate tidal volumes at the usual frequency of 15 Hz, regardless of the size of the endotracheal tube and of the mechanical properties of the respiratory system. When lung compliance increased or mean airway pressure decreased, both of which are common events during the recovery phase of hyaline membrane disease, we found that the intrinsic properties of two of the ventilators tested were responsible for a decrease in tidal volume. This decrease may account for some cases of heretofore unexplained hypercapnia.

Critical Care↗

Enantioselective determination of oxprenolol in human plasma using dialysis coupled on-line to reversed-phase chiral liquid chromatography.

A fully automated method for the determination of the enantiomers of oxprenolol in human plasma was developed, involving dialysis through a cellulose acetate membrane, clean-up and enrichment of the dialysate on a short precolumn and subsequent chiral liquid chromatographic (LC) analysis. All sample handling operations were executed automatically by a sample processor equipped with a robotic arm (ASTED system). The trace enrichment column (TEC) was packed with octadecylsilica. After conditioning of the TEC with the LC mobile phase and pH 3.0 acetate buffer. After the enrichment step, the analyte was transferred by the LC mobile phase to the analytical column by means of a switching valve. The influence of different parameters of the dialysis process on the recovery of oxprenolol was first investigated using achiral LC conditions. The volume as well as the aspirating and dispensing flow rates of the acceptor solution were the main parameters studied. Oxprenolol was separated on a C18 stationary phase used for the enantioseparation of oxprenolol was a Chiralcel OD-R column which contained cellulose tris (3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) coated on silica as chiral selector. The corresponding mobile phase consisted of a mixture of pH 6.0 phosphate buffer containing NaClO4 at 0.45 M concentration and acetonitrile (70:30 v/v). UV detection was performed at 273 nm. The method developed was validated. Recoveries for each enantiomer of oxprenolol were about 80%. The method was found to be linear in the 50-2500 ng ml-1 concentration range (r2 = 0.999 for both enantiomers) and good results with respect to intra- and inter-day reproducibility as well as accuracy were obtained.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗

Determination of six water-soluble vitamins in a pharmaceutical formulation by capillary electrophoresis.

A method was developed for the quantitative analysis of six water-soluble vitamins (thiamine, nicotinamide, riboflavine, pyridoxine, ascorbic acid and pantothenic acid) in a pharmaceutical formulation, using free solution capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) in uncoated fused silica capillaries and UV detection. The influence of different parameters, such as the nature of the buffer anionic component and buffer concentration on the CZE separation of vitamins was investigated using four vitamins of the B group as model compounds. A good compromise between resolution, analysis time and analyte stability was obtained by use of a 50 mM borax buffer of pH 8.5. This CZE method was found to be very useful for the separation of more complex samples, a mixture of ten water-soluble vitamins being completely resolved in about 10 min. However, cyanocobalamine could not be separated from nicotinamide in this CZE system, the two compounds being in uncharged form at the pH used. These two compounds could easily be resolved by micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC), the anionic surfactant dodecylsulfate being added to the running buffer at 25 mM concentration. In the pharmaceutical formulation, some excipients were found to be adsorbed to the capillary surface, giving rise to a progressive decrease of the electroosmotic flow and consequently to a simultaneous increase of analyte migration times. A capillary wash with sodium hydroxide had to be made between successive runs in order to minimize these effects. Good results with respect to linearity, precision and accuracy were obtained in the concentration range studied for the six vitamins, using nicotinic acid as internal standard.

Ascorbic Acid↗

Continuous venovenous haemodiafiltration in the acute phase of neonatal maple syrup urine disease.

Maple syrup urine disease results in accumulation of leucine and its metabolites, which may lead in the long term to neurological dysfunction. In acute neonatal crises, large amounts of leucine may be removed by continuous venovenous haemofiltration. This extracorporeal technique has its risks and hazards, which increase with duration of treatment. We report three neonates in life-threatening conditions due to maple syrup urine disease, treated for not more than 12 h with various continuous venovenous techniques: continuous haemofiltration, haemodiafiltration and haemodialysis. The efficiency of and tolerance to these techniques was evaluated. For all three patients, plasma leucine levels decreased dramatically from 2186, 3818 and 2536 mumol/L to 1131, 1275 and 488 mumol/L, respectively. Leucine clearance obtained was 4.28 ml/min in haemodiafiltration. Their patients' neurological status improved rapidly and they have a normal developmental quotient at 22 months, 13 months, and 11 months of age, respectively. Tolerance was good except for hypothermia and drop in haematocrit in all cases. Haemodiafiltration management was more cumbersome and time consuming because it required continual adjustment of the substitution fluid flow rate to precisely balance inflow and outflow rates. We recommend continuous venovenous haemodialysis as the therapy of choice. It might be anticipated that improvement of this technique, by increasing dialysate flow rate and blood flow rate, will allow leucine concentration to be decreased below 1000 mumol/L within 6-8 h, whatever the initial level.

Acute Disease↗

Craniofacial anomalies and malformations in respiratory chain deficiency.

We report on facial anomalies including round face, high forehead, flat philtrum, apparently low-set ears, and short neck in 4 unrelated patients with mitochondrial respiratory enzyme deficiency. Pre- and postnatal growth retardation with microcephaly, brachydactyly, and hypoplasia of distal and middle phalanges was present in all 4 cases. The diagnosis of respiratory chain deficiency was confirmed by enzymatic and molecular studies. The combination of facial anomalies, prenatal growth failure, and malformations is suggestive of antenatal expression of the disease, and raises the question of the part that respiratory chain deficiencies play in human malformations.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗

Tyrosine phosphorylation and recruitment of ZAP-70 to the CD3-TCR complex are defective after CD2 stimulation.

CD2 has been described as an alternative transduction pathway sharing the same biochemical cascade as CD3. The T cell-specific protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) ZAP-70 is believed to play a key role in early tyrosine phosphorylations of cellular proteins induced by CD3 stimulation. We show in the present report that ZAP-70 is insignificantly tyrosine phosphorylated and recruited to CD3 after CD2 stimulation in Jurkat T cells. The same result is obtained for p72syk, a PTK structurally and functionally related to ZAP-70. Several studies have suggested a model in which p56lck would be responsible after CD3 triggering for the phosphorylation of particular tyrosine residues in the immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motifs of the CD3 chains, inducing the recruitment and the tyrosine phosphorylation of ZAP-70. In Jurkat cells, p56lck is required for CD3- or CD2-induced tyrosine phosphorylations and clearly activated after CD2 cross-linking. However, we find that the CD3 complex, and especially its zeta-chain, are faintly tyrosine phosphorylated after CD2 triggering. By contrast, CD2 induces PLCgamma-1 tyrosine phosphorylation as efficiently as CD3, with a correlated inositol phosphate production and intracellular calcium increase, and even a higher production of IL-2. Interestingly, the SH2 domains of PLCgamma-1 associate with ZAP-70 upon CD3 stimulation while they bind, in CD2-activated cells, to a heavily tyrosine-phosphorylated 62-kDa protein. Altogether, these findings suggest that CD2 could bypass the PTK ZAP-70 for PLCgamma-1 activation and involves a preferential cascade comprising p56lck and a p62 protein, possibly acting as an anchor molecule.

CD2 Antigens↗

Automated determination of verapamil and norverapamil in human plasma with on-line coupling of dialysis to high-performance liquid chromatography and fluorometric detection.

A fully automated method for the simultaneous determination of verapamil and its main metabolite norverapamil in human plasma is described. This method is based on on-line sample preparation using dialysis followed by clean-up and enrichment of the dialysate on a precolumn and subsequent HPLC analysis with fluorometric detection. All sample handling operations were performed automatically by a sample processor equipped with a robotic arm (ASTED system). The plasma samples were dialysed on a cellulose acetate membrane (cut-off: 15 kD) and the dialysate was purified and enriched on a short pre-column filled with cyanopropyl silica. Before starting dialysis, this trace enrichment column (TEC) was first conditioned with the HPLC mobile phase and then with pH 3.0 acetate buffer. 370 microliters of plasma sample spiked with the internal standard (gallopamil) were dialysed in the static-pulsed mode. The solution at the donor side was pH 3.0 acetate buffer containing Triton X-100 while the acceptor solution was made of the same acetate buffer. When dialysis was discontinued, the analytes were desorbed from the TEC by the HPLC mobile phase and transferred to the C18 analytical column by means of a switching valve. This mobile phase consisted of a mixture of acetonitrile, pH 3.0 acetate buffer and 2-aminoheptane. The influence of different parameters of the dialysis process on the recovery of verapamil and norverapamil has been studied. The effect of the volume, the aspirating and dispensing flow-rates of the dialysis solution has been investigated. The recoveries of verapamil and norverapamil in plasma were close to 75% and the limits of quantification were 5 ng/ml for both analytes. The method was found to be linear in the concentration range from 5 to 500 ng/ml (r2: 0.9996 for both analytes). The intra-day and inter-day reproducibilities at a concentration of 100 ng/ml were 2.3% and 5.6% for verapamil and 1.7% and 5.1% for norverapamil, respectively.

Calcium Channel Blockers↗

Antibacterial activity of secretolytin, a chromogranin B-derived peptide (614-626), is correlated with peptide structure.

Amongst the chromogranin B (CGB) derived fragments naturally generated in bovine chromaffin granules and detected in the extracellular space, we recently identified a major peptide corresponding to the 614-626 sequence of CGB. This peptide, named secretolytin, shared an interesting sequence homology with the lytic domain of cecropins and displayed a potent antibacterial activity. The aim of the present study was to determine the structural features of secretolytin necessary for this biological activity. Our results suggest that an alpha-helical amphipathic structure common to secretolytin, cecropins and pig myeloid antibacterial peptide may account for the antibacterial activity.

Animals↗

The C-terminal bisphosphorylated proenkephalin-A-(209-237)-peptide from adrenal medullary chromaffin granules possesses antibacterial activity.

The chromaffin granules have been shown to be an excellent model to study the processing of proenkephalin-A and chromogranins. Recently, we reported a study dealing with the processing of chromogranin B/secretogranin I and the occurrence of the C-terminal chromogranin B-derived peptide 614-626 which was shown to have antibacterial activity [Strub, J.M., Garcia-Sablone, P., Looning, K., Taupenot, L., Hubert, P., Van Dorsselaer, A., Aunis, D. & Metz-Boutigue, M.H. (1995) Eur. J. Biochem. 229, 356-368]. We also observed that this new antibacterial activity present in chromaffin granules was associated with other endogenous protein-derived fragments yet to be characterized. The present study reports the isolation and characterization of a peptide which possesses antibacterial activity and which corresponds to the C-terminal 209-237 sequence of proenkephalin-A. A detailed study using microsequencing and matrix-assisted-laser-desorption time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALD-TOF MS) allowed us to correlate the antibacterial activity of this peptide named enkelytin (FAEPLPSEEEGESYSKEVPEMEKRYGGFM) with post-translational modifications. Endogenous bisphosphorylated proenkephalin-A-(209-237) was active on Micrococcus luteus and Bacillus megaterium killing bacteria in the 0.2 - 0.4 microM range but was inactive in similar conditions towards Escherichia coli. Enkelytin shares sequence and structural similarities with the antibacterial C-terminal domain of diazepam-binding inhibitor. According to this similarity, a prediction of secondary structure is proposed for enkelytin and discussed in relationship to its biological activity.

Adrenal Medulla↗

Clinical outcome and long-term management of 17 patients with propionic acidaemia.

UNLABELLED: A retrospective study was performed on the clinical outcome and long-term treatment of 17 patients with propionic acidaemia diagnosed during the last 20 years in our hospital. The study group consisted of 12 patients with early onset type of disease and 5 patients with late onset. Seven (41%) patients died, five with early onset and two with late onset. The deceased early onset patients had a median survival of 0.4 years while the deceased late onset patients died at the age of 2.8 and 4 years respectively. Median age of the living early onset patients was 5.2 (1-9.25) years, the late onset patients were 4, 7 and 23 years old. Patients were all treated with natural protein restriction and in most cases carnitine and metronidazole were added. The early onset patients were almost all treated with daily home tube feeding. The mean natural protein intake of early onset patients (6.3 +/- 1.5 g/day) was significantly lower than the natural protein intake of late onset patients (17.6 +/- 5.3 g/day). Supplemental protein intake was higher in early onset patients. The general neurological outcome of our study group was satisfactory with a better outcome for early onset patients. As to growth, many patients showed a failure to thrive, this was particularly for height. The strong protein restriction during the first years of life probably contributed to this. CONCLUSION: The prognosis for patients with propionic acidaemia appeared to be satisfactory in terms of survival and outcome characteristics such as neurological and mental development. Despite these results the authors feel that the prognosis and quality of life of these patients might be improved with liver transplantation or possibly somatic gene therapy in the future.

Adolescent↗

[Pulse oximetry and methemoglobinemia].

BACKGROUND: Cyanosis associated to low oxygen saturation may reveal hemoglobin pathology. CASE REPORT: A 3 year-old child had a nephroblastoma with pleural effusion. He suddenly developed persistent cyanosis despite pleural effusion drainage; transcutaneous and measured oxygen saturations were low and PaO2 on arterial blood gases was high. Methemoglobinemia was diagnosed, due to prilocaine-lignocaine cream used for local anesthesia, associated to partial G6PD deficiency. The methemoglobinemia disappeared after methylene blue treatment. CONCLUSION: Cyanosis with low oxygen saturation and high or normal PaO2 should lead to the search of a hemoglobin pathology, especially methemoglobinemia, by appropriate methods.

Anesthetics, Local↗

[Isolated neonatal dysfunction of brainstem].

BACKGROUND: Brainstem dysfunction in newborns (BDN) is an association of symptoms originally described in the Pierre-Robin sequence. BDN is thought to result from a deficiency of the sucking and swallowing embryonic organization. POPULATION AND METHODS: Between 1983 to 1993, 48 infants without cleft palate were referred for suck and swallow abnormalities. They were considered to have BDN because they presented three of the four following criteria: neonatal suck and swallow difficulties; pharyngeo-oesophageal uncoordination with abnormal oesophageal manometria; upper airway obstruction, either clinically obvious or detected on laryngoscopy; vagal overactivity, either clinically obvious or detected during Holter recording with ocular compression. RESULTS: Among these 48 infants, 30 were affected with polymalformative syndrome often involving embryonic fields derived from the neural crest. Three infants had a conotruncal cardiac malformation and 15 had no associated malformation. These latter 15 infants presented with facial dysmorphic features including reciding chin, glossoptosis. U-shape palate and a vertical tongue. From birth or the first weeks of life, they had suck and swallow difficulties with various functional symptoms: slow baby bottle intake, cough or velo-pharyngeal incoordination, upper airway obstruction or apparent life threatening events (ALTE). Diagnosis was confirmed by both clinical observation and three simple investigations namely: laryngoscopy, oesophageal manometria and Holter recording with ocular compression. Ten children were nasogastric tube or gastrostomy fed, one had a tracheostomy and one had a nightly O2 supplementation. While the overall functional prognosis was good whatever the initial symptoms, 50% of these children had mental retardation, mostly moderate. CONCLUSION: Examination of short-term follow-up in these children has stressed that BDN requires a specific management of both nutritional and respiratory troubles. Finally, BDN should lead to the active search of an underlying polymalformative syndrome and to an accurate neurologic evaluation.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗