Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

R Ferrer

Publications and source records attributed to R Ferrer.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Follow-up of patients resected for gastric cancer.

In this study we used a cost-outcome analysis to evaluate our follow-up protocol for patients who had been resected for gastric cancer. We designed a descriptive cross-sectional trial through consecutive sampling of patients who had undergone resection of gastric carcinoma and were followed in our outpatient department during 1991. Serological (CEA) and or imaging procedures were pathologic at least two months prior to the onset of symptoms in 33% of recurrences. No significant correlation was found between serum CEA levels and CEA tumor tissue staining in patients who recurred. Only 17% of patients who relapsed underwent further treatment (surgery and chemotherapy) with no improvement found in terms of survival. The overall cost per year has been estimated at US$ 6118. Our results show that serological levels of CEA and available imaging techniques for routine follow-up provide little advantage in diagnosing gastric cancer recurrence over clinical surveillance alone.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1995

[Malignant melanoma of the nasal cavity: a case report].

Mucosal malignant Melanomas have worse prognosis than cutaneous melanoma. Elective treatment is surgery, which eradicates the tumor only in a restricted number of cases. The most frequent cause of treatment's failure is recurrence or local persistence of the disease.

Female↗
PubMed1994

Hexose transport across the apical and basolateral membrane of enterocytes from different regions of the chicken intestine.

The properties of hexose transport across the apical and basolateral membranes of chicken enterocytes have been studied in the small and large intestine. Results show that (a) isolated epithelial cells from all segments except the coprodeum can accumulate 3-O-methylglucose (Glc3Me) against a concentration gradient, by a Na(+)-dependent and phloridizin-sensitive mechanism. (b) The cell cumulative capacity for Glc3Me (control/phloridizin-incubated cells) is lower in the small intestine than in the large intestine (rectum = proximal caecum = ileum > jejunum > duodenum). (c) Theophylline enhances the cell Glc3Me cumulative capacity 2.9-fold in the duodenum and 2.4-fold in the jejunum but has no effect in the other segments studied. (d) Analysis of sugar uptake indicates that net hexose influx rates decrease from proximal to distal regions: jejunum > duodenum > ileum = proximal caecum = rectum for the apical transport system (alpha-methyl glucoside as substrate and phloridizin as inhibitor) and duodenum > jejunum > ileum = proximal caecum = rectum for the basolateral system (2-deoxyglucose; theophylline). (e) The duodenum and the jejunum show high apical and basolateral hexose transport rates, which confer a significant capacity for sugar absorption on the proximal intestine. More distal regions, including the ileum, the proximal caecum and the rectum, have transport systems analogous to those of the proximal intestine that keep a considerable potential capability to recover hexoses from the lumen.

3-O-Methylglucose↗
PubMed1993

[The physician-patient relation through a Balint group].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate by means of a contents analysis a Balint Group (BG) after 7 years in operation, to find which type of patients are most disturbing for the General Practitioner and to analyse the sort of feelings they provoke. DESIGN: A retrospective descriptive study which uses qualitative analysis methodology. SETTING: The BG under analysis was created in the heart of the Catalan Society of Family and Community Medicine in 1984. PATIENTS: 21 sessions were analysed, covering 18 patients. INTERVENTIONS: The variables studied were: the motives for presentation, the sort of patient presenting and the doctor's feeling towards them. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Two types of patients stood out: those with somatization disorders and those with a very poor prognosis. The first (12 out of 18) unsettled the professional and caused him/her to lose grip on his/her role. The GP often trivialised their requests or thought they were pretending. Those sessions analysed where patients had a poor prognosis made clear the high degree of empathy shown by the doctor. Questions were raised as to how to tackle the illness both with the patient and his/her family. Feelings of distress, fear, anguish-exhaustion-impotence and rejection-aggression of the doctor towards particular patients were analysed. CONCLUSIONS: The questioning of the doctor's social role or professional identity by particular patients makes it difficult for him/her to maintain a long-term therapeutic relationship with them. The BG was useful for the participants, because of the group dynamic and also because they found out the possibilities and limitations of their treatment.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Morphological study of the caecal epithelium of the chicken (Gallus gallus domesticus L.).

1. The structure of the chicken caecal epithelium has been investigated at macroscopic and microscopic levels (scanning and transmission electron microscopy). 2. Morphological data distinguish three regions in the caecum: proximal, with well developed villi, but smaller and less numerous than those present at mid-jejunum; medial, with longitudinal folds and small villi, and distal, with longitudinal and transverse folds and small villi similar to those of the medial region. 3. Microvilli of enterocytes from the tip of the villus of the proximal caecum are shorter and thinner than jejunal microvilli; microvilli of medial and distal regions are poorly developed. 4. There is a decrease in microvillus surface area along the villus axis as a result of the progressive decrease of microvillus length from the tip of the villus to the crypt, both in the proximal caecum and jejunum. In tip of the villus, the amplification of apical surface due to microvilli is 24, 12.7 and 14 times in proximal, medial and distal caecum, respectively, while in the jejunum the amplification factor is 33.1. 5. The higher development of proximal caecal apical surface supports the view that this region is better adapted for the absorption of nutrients that the other caecal regions.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

[Incorporation of transferrin into the erythron in anemic and polycythemic conditions].

A ferrokinetic study was performed in 79 patients, 25 with absolute polycythaemia, 19 with relative polycythaemia and 35 presenting anaemia of different aetiology. The incorporation of transferrin into the erythron (ITE) was estimated on each case. The mean ITE values found in absolute primary and secondary polycythaemia and in secondary polycythaemia were, respectively, 281 +/- 85, 181 +/- 99 and 74 +/- 19 mumol/L tb/d (i.e., micromoles per litre of total blood per day). The mean ITE in iron deficiency anaemia was 110 +/- 43 mumol/L tb/d, in haemolytic anaemia this was 274 +/- 151 mumol/L tb/d, and in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes such values was 116 +/- 49 mumol/L tb/d. Significant differences were found for each group of patients with respect to a normal control group. Such findings are in accordance with the pathophysiology of the different pathologies studied. The values found in haemolytic anaemia and myelodysplastic syndromes are similar to those reported by others. The results of this study stress the advantages of evaluating the erythropoietic activity of the bone marrow by means of the ITE.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Modulation of the frequency of glucose-dependent bursts of electrical activity by HCO3/CO2 in rodent pancreatic B-cells: experimental and theoretical results.

The burst pattern of electrical activity recorded from pancreatic B-cells in response to 11 mM glucose shows a large islet to islet variability. The relationship between burst frequency and glucose sensing (the threshold for electrical activity and the graded increase in electrical response to glucose, i.e. active phase %) has not been investigated within the same islet. In this work, we show that low HCO3 (5 mM) Hepes buffered solutions reversibly reduce the frequency of bursts compared to control (25 mM) HCO3 buffered solutions in the same islet. There was no change in the threshold or active phase (%). Using the mathematical model of Sherman et al. 1988, we explored mechanisms for a change in frequency independent of a change in active phase (%). Increased exchangeable calcium pool size and increased cell to cell coupling were the two theoretical treatments which could reproduce the experimental data. We conclude that burst frequency can be modulated independent of the active phase and that alteration of a calcium pool size best fits the experimental data.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

[The effect of the day of parturition in the technological cycle of maternity on the morbidity of diarrhea in lactating piglets].

The study investigated the frequency of piglet diarrhoea from birth to weaning (33rd day) in a farrowing pigsty with 3 rows of boxes during 7 rearing cycles with 240 piglets each, always related to the day of birth in connection with the onset of the cycle. 3 groups were differentiated according to the day of birth: 3 and 4, 5, 6 and 7, based on the disposition of the sow. Also investigated was the position of the litters in the middle or one of the marginal rows of boxes of the pigsty. The germ density of the air during 2 cycles each of the rainy and dry seasons was investigated in the empty pigsty as well as after the 6th day of occupation by means of sedimentation in endo agar. A significant influence was found of the day birth (p less than 0.05) and of the interaction of row of boxes and day of birth (p less than 0.05) as well as the row of boxes and season (p less than 0.05) on the morbidity and mortality due to piglet diarrhoea. The higher levels occurred in the groups of animals born later and housed in the central row of boxes. The number of units forming colonies increased significantly (p less than 0.05) in 10 cm2/min samples on endo agar from the 0th to the 6th day of the cycle and reached 100% of the samples from which also E. coli K 88 was isolated.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1990

[Mortality by crushing in domestic pigs: study of the causes and their relationship to the time and the month of the year in the climatic conditions of Cuba].

In the course of 3 years a complex of 25,000 pigs were investigated once per week for the dead among the 398 sucking piglets, and in the case of losses due to crushing to death the type of lesions and the connection with diseases was investigated. Of the piglets investigated, 88 were crushed to death (21.2%), among them 65 (73.8%) diseased--mainly infected by coli bacilli (60 = 68.2%)--and 23 (5.8%) healthy animals. The losses due to crushing to death were highest in January and differed from all other months of the year (p less than 0.05). Another peak of losses in July was only significant (p less than 0.05) as compared with the values of April and November. January and July also exhibited the highest proportion of coli-infected piglets. The most frequent lesions were edema and cyanosis of the skin, of the mucous membrane, and the hypodermic tissue, haemothorax and haemoperitonaeum, liver cracks, lung cracks, kidney cracks, stomach cracks, large intestine cracks, and multiple fractures of the ribs and of the skull. It is concluded that the losses due to crushing to death can be related to the decrease in vitality of the piglets due to diseases, caused in winter by decreased vitality and in summer by pressure caused by coli infection.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

External auditory canal temperature and reaction time relationship during long performances.

In order to study the relationship between body temperature and reaction time (RT), and check the hypothesis proposed by Kleitman (Sleep and Wakefulness, University Press, Chicago, 1963) about a 'Basic Rest-Activity Cycle' (BRAC), RT tasks were delivered to 24 subjects at 10-min intervals for 320 min, while simultaneously registering bilateral ear canal temperatures. Time series analyses in frequency and time domains were applied to the data. Our results did not show a 90-100 min ultradian rhythmicity in the performance of RT tasks, but 6 of the 24 subjects presented significant periods within limits of BRAC in temperature.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Ultradian cyclicity in auditory and visual reaction time during long performance.

24 subjects were tested to check the hypothesis proposed by Kleitman about a "basic rest-activity cycle". Reaction time tasks were delivered at 10-min. intervals for 320 min. Spectral density function analyses showed no significant periods within the limits of the cycle. Discussion concerns fulfilling assumptions of spectral analysis and Fisher's test.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Relation between alpha-methyl-D-glucoside influx and brush border surface area in enterocytes from chicken cecum and jejunum.

We have investigated the possible relation between the phloridzin-sensitive influx of alpha-methyl-D-glucoside (concentration 5 mmol/l) and the brush border surface area, in chicken isolated enterocytes. The intestinal regions studied were: jejunum and proximal cecum (both with high affinity sugar transport sites), medial cecum (with a low affinity transport system) and distal cecum (which lacks any transport ability). Cell apical surface measured by electron microscopy gave the following results; jejunal cells (0.41 micron 2) greater than proximal cecal cells (0.23 micron 2) greater than medial cecal cells (0.15 micron 2) = distal cecal cells (0.14 micron 2). This parameter is mainly determined by the length of microvilli. Sugar influx studies showed that the concentration of the substrate in cell water (in mmol/l) was jejunum (7.1) greater than proximal cecum (2.9) greater than medial cecum (1.7) greater than distal cecum (not different from zero). The decline in influx rate from proximal to distal cecum may be explained both by changes in surface and by the different carriers involved (different Km). Results of sugar concentration in the distal cecal cells do not correlate with the other segments studied since the substrate enters in these cells by a passive process. It is concluded that the degree of development of microvilli should be taken into account when estimating nutrient transport rates in different intestinal segments.

Animals↗