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Biomedical subjects

P Lievens

Publications and source records attributed to P Lievens.

47 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Skin microcirculation responses to severe local cooling.

When skin is exposed to cold, cutaneous blood flow is initially restricted due to sympathetic vasoconstriction. Prolonged exposure to cold has a secondary protective vasodilator effect. In the present study, the effects of severe and prolonged local cold on the cutaneous microcirculation were assessed. In 10 young healthy subjects, laser Doppler skin flux and flux motion were measured at the calf during 20 min of local ice cooling and 15 min subsequent recovery. In the 6th minute of cooling, mean skin flux decreased to 58 +/- 6% of the resting value (p < 0.05), then increased and reached 129 +/- 10% of the resting value at the end of the cooling period, followed by a phase of reactive hyperemia with a maximum of 225 +/- 24% (p < 0.05). Mean flux motion frequency, spontaneously present at rest with a frequency of 2.6 +/- 0.2 cycles/ min decreased rapidly during the first minutes of cold exposure, was absent during the 6th to the 10th minute, reappeared and started to increase from the 11th minute and reached 4.4 +/- 0.3 cycles/min during the recovery period (p < 0.05). This study seems to indicate that the phenomenon of protective increase of cutaneous microcirculatory blood flow consists of an initial phase of vasodilation, followed by a phase of active and enhanced microvessel vasomotor activity.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The use of cryotherapy in sports injuries.

The use of cold therapy in acute sports injuries as well as in the rehabilitation of the injured athlete has become a generally accepted treatment method. Various cooling modalities are used to apply cold to the injured area, e.g. ice packs, ice towels, ice massage, frozen gel packs, ethyl chloride and other vapocoolants, chemical reaction devices and inflatable splints using refrigerant gas. Most clinical studies report that the use of cryotherapy has a positive effect on pain reduction and on the recovery of various injuries. When the physiological processes produced by cryotherapy are examined in experimental situations, some of these reactions differ from expectations. Skin, subcutaneous, intramuscular and joint temperature changes depend on application method, initial temperature and application time. Intramuscular temperature continues to drop after the cooling modality has been removed. Results of various studies are consistent on the effects on neuromuscular and pain processes. Results of studies on cold and blood flow vary considerably, however it appears that blood flow increases with superficial cold application and decreases when cold is applied to large skin surface areas. Motor performance is affected by temperature with a critical temperature being around 18 degrees C, above and beneath which muscle performance decreases. There is also a critical temperature for the application of cold with inflammation and oedema increasing at temperatures below 15 degrees C. Precautions should be taken because prolonged application at very low temperatures could have deleterious effects.

Athletic Injuries↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Operative colonoscopic endoscopy.

There are several conditions where operative colonoscopy is useful. Acute colonic pseudo-obstruction or Ogilvie's syndrome is characterized by a acute distension of the colon. Although medical management may be sufficient in many cases, endoscopic decompression must be performed when colonic distension is greater than 12 cm. Insertion of decompression tube to avoid rapid recurrence seems to be adequate. In case of massive lower intestinal hemorrhage, colonoscopy seems to be more accurate than mesenteric angiography. Such endoscopic examination requires an experienced endoscopist. Colonoscopic polypectomy has become the standard method for removal of colonic polyps. Factors influencing the rate of complications have been studied. While the number of complications was very low, we have observed that all the major hemorrhages were immediate when the blended current was used, but delayed when the pure coagulation current was applied. Endoscopic laser photocavitation is a valuable palliative method treating rectal adenocarcinoma in well selected patients. Indeed, if the patients survive sufficiently long after initial therapy, it becomes increasingly difficult to achieve persistent palliation with laser therapy.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Minimal brain dysfunction in adolescents (clinical study)].

Description of the adolescent minimal brain dysfunction (M.B.D.) syndrome (DSM III, Attention deficit disorder, residual type), not easily recognised during adolescence, because the symptomatology of the child hyperkinetic syndrome becomes chiefly social and manifests itself within relationships. But the attention disorders remain. The whole stresses the psychological features of the adolescent: lowering of self-esteem, powerless feelings, paranoid defences, identity, autonomy and authority problems, higher frequency of delinquent behaviour. Biochemical aspects are briefly discussed. The author describes a psychopathological explaining model which allows the understanding of the behavioural symptoms and shows that a same structure underlies the child hyperkinetic syndrome and the M.B.D. syndrome of the adolescent. The M.B.D. is not to be considered as a disease but rather as a psychic handicap in the domains of the intellect, action and affect, which psychosocial expression is determined by the importance of the disorder, the environment, the intelligence quotient, the tolerance of the relative and peers, and the personal history. Three cases are reported.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Experimental evidence for motoric rehabilitation in lymphoedema (author's transl)].

The authors distinguish three modalities of lymphtransport in lymphoedema. 1. Enhanced evacuation by existing lymphatics. 2. Enhanced evacuation by regenerated lymphatics. 3. Enhanced evacuation by lympho-lymphatic anastomoses. Experiments with 500 white mice indicate that the resorption of lymphoedema is increased by guided compression, although some manipulations must be performed with care, especially when regenerated lymphatics are present. The lymphatic flow in a limb is also enhanced by a special drainage technique at the proximal part of it. Likewise the lymph can be manipulated into the opposite limb by anastomotic channels after unilateral lymphadenectomy.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Reflections on the concepts of anguish and anxiety].

After a phenomenological analysis, the author demonstrates that anxiety is a bodily sensation (in the sense of lived body) as well as a state of consciousness that results from the activation of a fundamental mechanisms of which we always observe but a part. That mechanisms works immediately when the subject has to face a new situation that needs a mental reorganisation (separation or growth anxiety). The physiological variables do not allow to give the characteristics of the anxiety without the subject's speech. He reminds the distinction in french between anxiety and "angoisse", the distinction between anxiety-state and anxiety-trait and gives the way to make the difference between normal anxiety and pathological one. Having reminded the mechanisms of defense against anxiety, he makes a clinical description of the anxious personality.

Adaptation, Psychological↗