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Biomedical subjects

R Edelman

Publications and source records attributed to R Edelman.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

[Determination of the inhibitory effect of a biologically active preparation on the reproduction of micro-organisms from the intestines of ruminants].

A procedure for the production of biologically active substances from pine and spruce needles was worked out within the research project Utilization of Tree Verdure. The product was referred to as a biologically active preparation. The fields of its possible uses include agriculture (animal production-feeding), cosmetics (production of pastes, soaps, etc.), pharmaceutical industry (after additional conditioning the product can be used for manufacturing medicinal drugs for the control of inflammatory diseases and the like). The biologically active preparation, i. e. the pine needle extract, was studied as to its effect on some of the most numerous microorganisms in the intestines of ruminants. As found, this preparation has a partial inhibitive action on the growth and reproduction of microorganisms. The biologically active preparation is an extract isolated from the needles by means of 0.3% sodium hydroxide. Besides extractive substances it also contains the residues of organellae of cellular nature (which got into the extract through the filter during the process of preparation) and a small amount of fibre (0.33%). The chemical composition of the biologically active preparation is varied: until now about 220 substances, many of which are biologically active, have been found to be present in the product.

Animals↗

Influence of the degree of metabolic control on physical fitness in type I diabetic adolescents.

Seventeen type I male diabetic adolescents and 17 control subjects matched for age, height, and weight were submitted to maximal exercise on a bicycle ergometer. The diabetic subjects were divided into two groups according to their degree of metabolic control using total glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1): group 1, diabetics with HbA1 less than 8.5% (n = 9) and group 2, diabetics with HbA1 greater than 8.5% (n = 8). Oxygen uptake, pulmonary ventilation, and heart rate were recorded at rest and at maximal load. Glucose, lactate, and free fatty acids were determined in blood before and after exercise. Maximal work load and oxygen uptake were significantly lower in the two diabetic groups than in the healthy controls. An inverse relationship was observed between HbA1 concentration and the maximal work load (r = -0.63; P less than 0.01). It can be concluded that diabetic adolescents should obtain the best possible degree of metabolic control to improve their performances.

Adolescent↗

Experimental inoculation of Peromyscus spp. with Borrelia burgdorferi: evidence of contact transmission.

In order to determine if Peromyscus spp. could become infected with the Lyme disease spirochete (Borrelia burgdorferi) by direct inoculation and to determine the duration of spirochetemia, 4 P. leucopus and 5 P. maniculatus were inoculated by the intramuscular, intraperitoneal, and subcutaneous routes with an isolate of B. burgdorferi obtained from the blood of a trapped wild P. leucopus from Camp McCoy, Wisconsin. All of the mice developed antibodies to B. burgdorferi which reached a peak indirect immunofluorescent (IFA) geometric mean antibody titer of 10 log2 21 days post-inoculation. B burgdorferi was recovered from the blood of 1 P. maniculatus 21 days post-inoculation. One uninfected Peromyscus of each species was housed in the same cage with the infected Peromyscus as a contact control. Both of the contact controls developed IFA B. burgdorferi antibodies by day 14, indicating contact infection. To determine if B. burgdorferi was being transmitted by direct contact, 5 uninfected P. leucopus and 5 uninfected P. maniculatus were caged with 3 B. burgdorferi infected P. leucopus and 3 infected P. maniculatus, respectively. Each of these contact-exposed P. leucopus and P. maniculatus developed antibodies to B. burgdorferi, and B. burgdorferi was isolated from the blood of 1 contact-exposed P. maniculatus 42 days post-initial contact. These findings show that B. burgdorferi can be transmitted by direct contact without an arthropod vector.

Animals↗

Prevention and treatment of infectious diarrhea. Speculations on the next 10 years.

The next decade should explode with exciting schemes and novel agents for the prevention and treatment of infectious diarrhea. The development of oral, nonabsorbed antibiotics will continue, but new antidiarrheal drugs, such as gastrointestinal hormone analogues and alpha-adrenergic agonists, will be added to our therapeutic armamentarium. Improved oral rehydration solutions, such as glycine in electrolyte solution, promise to revolutionize the management of diarrhea by diminishing diarrheal stool volume to the point where losses are too small to be clinically relevant. Infant formulas and adult oral solutions fortified with antibodies raised against selected enteropathogens may provide a way to prevent infectious diarrheas in infants and travelers. Advances in genetic engineering will usher in a new era of experimental and licensed enteric vaccines, including those against cholera, Escherichia coli, Shigella, typhoid fever, and rotavirus.

Animals↗

From the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Summary of the 19th United States-Japan Joint Cholera Conference.

Classical cholera has reappeared in Asia after a 20-year hiatus, reminding us that we still have much to learn about the epidemiology of this disease. The unexpected recovery of V. cholerae from nonendemic estuarine waters suggests that the continued occurrence of clinical cholera may not be entirely dependent on repeated contamination of environmental waters by man. Of critical importance has been the discovery and partial characterization of new enterotoxins produced by V. cholerae and ETEC, a finding that further complicates the already complex problem of fully elucidating the virulence mechanism of these organisms. The recent purification of Shiga toxin is beginning to provide clues as to its structure, function, and possible pathogenic role in EPEC-related hemorrhagic colitis and diarrhea. The conversion of virulent V. cholerae into less virulent strains by genetic engineering provides hope for the ultimate development of safe and effective live oral cholera vaccines. Intestinal Peyer's patches process living and killed enteropathogens differently, and this discovery may afford insights into ways to improve antigen potency. Enterotoxins differ fundamentally in their biochemical effects, and not all of them evoke active electrolyte secretion by altering cyclic-nucleotide levels in mucosal cells. Finally, the mucosal response to a protein toxin may be under some genetic control. The complete proceedings of this conference will be published by KTK Publishers (Tokyo). The next Joint Conference on Cholera has been scheduled for early November 1984 in Nara, Japan.

Animals↗

Incidence and cumulative frequency of endemic Lyme disease in a community.

We conducted an epidemiological study of the cumulative frequency and incidence of Lyme disease in a summer community on Fire Island, New York, an area endemic for the disease. Fifteen (7.5%) of 200 persons studied in the community in 1982 reported a history of Lyme disease. An indirect immunofluorescent antibody assay showed that seventeen (9.7%) of 176 persons had serological evidence of exposure to the Lyme spirochete, including six of the 15 persons with a history of Lyme disease. Seven (0.7%-1.2%) of 600-1,000 persons in the community developed clinical symptoms and serological evidence of Lyme disease during the summer season, including two (1%) of the 200 persons in the study group. Four (3.1%) of 129 persons who had sera collected before and after the summer season demonstrated fourfold or greater rises in IgG antibody titers to the Lyme spirochete, including 2 (1.6%) persons without symptoms of Lyme disease. We conclude that the incidence of Lyme disease can be appreciably higher in endemic areas than previously recognized and that subclinical or inapparent seroconversion may occur after infection.

Adolescent↗

Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli of classic serotypes associated with infant diarrhea: epidemiology and pathogenesis.

A series of O:H serotypes of E. coli were incriminated by epidemiologic studies in the period 1945-1960 as a cause of epidemic diarrhea in infant nurseries as well as a major cause of sporadic infant diarrhea in the community. The term enteropathogenic E. coli was coined to refer to these infant diarrhea-associated serotypes. In the early 1970s, with the advent of laboratory tests to assess heat-labile and heat-stable enterotoxin production and enteroinvasiveness of E. coli, the classic serotype enteropathogenic E. coli strains were found to lack those particular properties. These observations led some to question their pathogenicity. However, since 1978, enteropathogenic E. coli have come to be appreciated anew as a separate class of diarrheagenic E. coli that cause diarrhea by distinct pathogenic mechanisms. The pathogenesis of these strains, which have been shown to cause diarrhea in volunteers, appears to involve both an enteroadhesiveness step and production of a toxin identical to Shigella toxin. A 55- to 65-Mdalton plasmid is involved in the attachment of enteropathogenic E. coli to intestinal mucosa which results in a pathognomonic histopathologic lesion visualized by electron microscopy. The lesion involves dissolution of enterocyte microvilli by the bacteria, effacement of the enterocyte outer membrane, and formation of a pedestal around the bacterium at point of contact with the outer membrane of the enterocyte. Case-control epidemiologic studies carried out since 1975 document that enteropathogenic E. coli remain an important cause of sporadic infant diarrhea in the community with up to 30 per cent of cases of acute diarrhea in young infants in Brazil and South Africa being attributed to these pathogens. Although nursery epidemics of enteropathogenic E. coli diarrhea have virtually disappeared from industrialized countries, some sporadic enteropathogenic E. coli diarrhea in infants in the community continues to occur. The relative importance of enteropathogenic E. coli as a cause of sporadic diarrhea in both industrialized and developing countries needs to be reassessed. New diagnostic techniques are awaited to simplify this task.

Adult↗

Spirochetes isolated from the blood of two patients with Lyme disease.

We isolated spirochetes from the blood of 2 of 36 patients in Long Island and Westchester County, New York, who had signs and symptoms suggestive of Lyme disease. The spirochetes were morphologically similar and serologically identical to organisms recently found to infect lxodes dammini ticks, which are endemic to the area and have been epidemiologically implicated as vectors of Lyme disease. In both patients, there was a rise in specific antispirochetal antibodies in paired specimens of serum. We conclude that the l. dammini spirochete has an etiologic role in Lyme disease.

Adult↗

From the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Summary of the National Institutes of Health workshop on group B streptococcal infection.

Group B streptococci remain a serious cause of morbidity and mortality in neonates. GBS vaccine or immunoglobulin administered iv may enhance neonatal GBS immunity. Likewise, intrapartum antibiotic therapy of colonized mothers appears to reduce vertical transmission of group B streptococci and to prevent both maternal and neonatal GBS disease. However, the safety and effectiveness of routine penicillin prophylaxis less than or equal to 1 hr after birth remain in question. For example, penicillin prophylaxis appears to be of little value in infants with low birth weights (less than 2,000 g) who become symptomatic shortly after birth; however, it may reduce the incidence of disease in larger, full-term infants who acquire the group B streptococci at delivery or in the few hours immediately thereafter. The potential harm of administering penicillin to all neonates must also be considered, since routine antibiotic therapy may alter the incidence of both neonatal infections due to penicillin-resistant pathogens and possible later penicillin allergy. Theoretically, a single injection of penicillin at birth may suppress GBS disease in some neonates but not effectively treat it, allowing the disease to progress prior to diagnosis and therapy. The decision to use penicillin routinely in neonates to prevent GBS disease must therefore be made with caution. Presently, this decision must be made on a situational basis, with institutions having a high incidence of early-onset GBS disease electing to use penicillin only if the potential benefits outweigh the risks.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗