Recurrent urinary tract infections in the presence of intravesical suture material after vaginal hysterectomy and anterior colporrhaphy.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R Langer.
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A procedure was developed for detecting heparinase activity on heparin agar plates. The method is based on the differential precipitation of heparin and heparinase-generated heparin fragments by protamine sulfate. Heparinase activity is detected by the presence of clear zones against a white background. This method can be used to screen for the expression of recombinant heparinase and to identify Flavobacterium heparinum mutants expressing heparinase constitutively.
A prospective and randomized study was undertaken to determine the safety and efficacy of low price and discouraging bacterial resistance agents, given for 12 hours versus 72 hours, as prophylaxis at cesarean section. Ninety six patients received penicillin (ten million units) intravenously and tetracycline (0.25 g) intramuscularly at cord clamping and 12 hours postoperatively (table I). Among them 14% of febrile morbidity was recorded (table II). Eighty seven patients received the same treatment followed by oral ampicillin (2 g) and tetracycline (1.5 g) per day, for a further 60 hours (table I). Maternal febrile morbidity was not further reduced by the oral additional treatment (table II). This regiment prophylactic effect is comparable to previous reported data concerning other protocols, and even better, while expenses are reduced and efficacy for important pathogens such as chlamydia and mycoplasma is obtained. No side effects of the drugs were recorded.
The effect of intraperitoneal application of prostaglandins F2 alpha and E2 on adhesion formation was studied in the rat after traumatizing to the uterine serosa. Prostaglandins applied locally were found to increase intraperitoneal adhesion formation at the injury site, in comparison with controls. The effect of intraperitoneal application of prostaglandins F2 alpha and E2 on fibroblastic proliferation was examined in vitro, by fibroblastic cell culture of rat kidney, human kidney and human prepuce. No direct effect of prostaglandins on fibroblast proliferation could be demonstrated. It is concluded that prostaglandins play an important role in the process of adhesion formation. This effect is not related to fibroblast proliferation.
The value of imaging modalities in abdominal malignancies is discussed. Ultrasound is the first method to perform in hepatic tumors--HCC and liver metastases--, followed by CT and/or MRI. CT and ERCP are the diagnostic procedures of choice in pancreatic cancer. MRI is inferior to bolus-enhanced CT. CT and MRI are still equal in colorectal cancers for differentiating between scar and local recurrence after abdominal-perineal amputation.
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Sixty-nine premenopausal and 53 postmenopausal women had a colposuspension operation for urinary stress incontinence. A significant postoperative reduction (p less than 0.001) of symptoms of frequency, nocturia, urgency and urge incontinence was obtained in both groups. Postoperatively, 88.4 per cent of the premenopausal women were found to be dry compared with 66 per cent in the postmenopausal group (p less than 0.01). No differences were found preoperatively and postoperatively in the cystometric values or in the urethral pressure profiles at rest in both groups and between the groups. The pressure transmission ratios were significantly improved postoperatively in both groups. The postoperative transmission ratios in the premenopausal women were found to be significantly higher than those in the postmenopausal group, at the middle two-quarters of the urethra. Although surgical treatment for urinary stress incontinence in postmenopausal women results in lower cure rates than in younger women, it should be considered.
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to elucidate the mechanism of polymer degradation and drug release in polyanhydride microspheres. Three different fabrication methods--solvent removal, solvent evaporation, and hot melt microencapsulation--were used to prepare polyanhydride microspheres containing a variety of drugs. The morphology of these microspheres releasing drug in vitro and in vivo was studied by SEM and compared with degradation and release data measured by conventional methods. Microspheres prepared by the three techniques were shown to have distinctive morphological characteristics induced by the nature of the fabrication method. In addition, SEM analysis could be used to explain the drug release profiles and polymer degradation behavior seen in vitro as well as the in vivo effects of insulin-loaded microspheres on diabetic rats. This study has shown SEM to be an important and powerful tool for analyzing the effects of microsphere fabrication method on drug release.
Our study covers angiographic pretransplant evaluation from 9/88-4/90. 57 out of 73 patients (78%) underwent pretransplant angiography. In all cases aortography, angiographies of the coeliac axis, the superior mesenteric artery, the splenic artery, and portograms were obtained. The arterial studies evaluated the arterial blood supply of the liver, the diameter of the common hepatic artery, aneurysms and a steal effect of the splenic artery. Portography revealed the exact venous collateralisation. Thus angiography remains a valuable procedure for pretransplant evaluation besides ultrasongraphy.
It is necessary to determine the safety of polymeric materials through laboratory and animal testing before biomedical use can become more widespread. This article describes many of the methods used in analyzing the toxicology and biocompatibility of potentially important biomedical polymers. The study method used in the development of an important new class of polymeric materials for human use, the poly(anhydrides), is presented from laboratory bench to human clinical trials.
The pedicled pelvic bone graft is a new operative technique for the treatment femoral head necrosis. 29 femoral head necroses were examined by i.a. DSA before a pedicled pelvic bone graft was implanted. 11 pedicled pelvic bone grafts were investigated postoperatively. The pre- and postoperative findings are presented. I. a. DSA is a valuable method for the evaluation of the vascularisation of the femoral head before and after surgery.
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Tubal patency was investigated by hysterosalpingography in 21 of 37 patients with unruptured tubal pregnancy treated by local methotrexate injection at laparoscopy. 18 of the 21 patients had bilateral tubal patency, and the only tube of a patient with a single fallopian tube was also patent. 6 subsequent intrauterine pregnancies have so far been recorded. Local methotrexate injection into the tubal pregnancy may provide an efficient and safe alternative to surgery in early unruptured ectopic pregnancy.
The biotransformation of heparinase-derived heparin fragments was examined via a combined approach using 35S-labeled heparin fragments as well as unlabeled chemically defined heparin fragments. Rats dosed with either [35S]di-, tetra-, hexa-, or octasaccharide fragments (2 mg/kg body weight, intravenously) excreted 63-69% of the injected radioactivity into the urine within 24 h with two-thirds being excreted during the first 6 h. Gel permeation chromatography of the urinary material shows that the tetra- and octasaccharides have undergone minor (approximately 5%) depolymerization whereas no change was observed for the di- and hexasaccharides. No N-desulfation was demonstrated for any of the substances. The hexa- and octasaccharide metabolites present in the urine 24 h after dosing exhibited the same antifactor Xa activity as that of the injected material. A chemically defined trisulfated disaccharide and a hexasulfated tetrasaccharide were prepared and dosed in a similar manner. Only one metabolite was recovered from animals dosed with disaccharide. This compound was characterized by anion exchange chromatography, proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, and mass spectrometry and shown to be identical to the injected disaccharide. Five metabolites were isolated from the urine of rats dosed with the hexasulfated tetrasaccharide. The major metabolite, consisting of at least 65% of the total, was characterized as described for the disaccharide and shown to be identical to the injected compound. The remaining material appeared to be disaccharides and, possibly, a tetrasaccharide conjugate. Taken together, our results show that the heparinase-derived heparin fragments are very resistant to biotransformation compared with heparin and endogenous heparin fragments. These fragments may therefore be useful in defining structure activity relationships in vivo.
Intracerebral microdialysis was used to evaluate the long-term in vivo release of dopamine from ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVAc)-dopamine copolymer matrix discs for up to 65 days following striatal implantation. Dopamine release occurred through a single cavity present on one side of the disc, which was otherwise fully coated with an additional, impermeable layer of EVAc. At 20 days following implantation of the device, extracellular concentrations of dopamine within the striatum reached micromolar levels, over 200-fold greater than control values. Release of dopamine was shown to be stable and maintained for the 2-month duration of the experiment. Histological examination confirmed the biocompatible nature of the implant. There are potential applications of this technology to the treatment of Parkinson's disease and other neurological and psychiatric disorders.
Seven cases in which an unknown intrauterine contraceptive device in situ was the cause of infertility were referred to our infertility Clinic after each patient had been told by her physician that she no longer had an intrauterine contraceptive device. In some cases, there were lapses in the infertility workup that might explain how the cause of infertility of an intrauterine contraceptive device in situ was missed. In other cases, a thorough investigation was made and infertility treatment was started without the existence of an intrauterine contraceptive device in situ being diagnosed.
Twenty seven patients with unruptured tubal pregnancy were selected for nonsurgical treatment with the use of one injection of 12.5 mg of methotrexate into the ectopic site at laparoscopy. No adverse reactions were observed. In three patients (11%), a laparotomy was performed because of rising beta-human chorionic gonadotropin titers. In the other patients, serum beta-human chorionic gonadotropin levels decreased to the nonpregnant range with no further intervention, and the patients recovered uneventfully. This method is suggested as an alternative to surgery in selected cases of early unruptured tubal pregnancy.
A biocompatible polymeric matrix system for the long-term controlled release of dopamine has been developed. Solid particles of this bioactive agent were encapsulated in ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer (EVAc). Following immersion in an aqueous buffer solution, the release rate of dopamine from the polymer matrix was found to depend on the initial concentration of dopamine in the polymer. After coating the matrix devices with an additional impermeable layer of EVAc, constant rates of release were obtained by creating a cavity in this impermeable layer. The observed experiments are consistent with a diffusion-limited model of dopamine release; all the in vitro experimental results were therefore correlated by the effective diffusion coefficient of dopamine through the porous polymer network. These results are discussed in terms of potential design modifications to achieve desired release characteristics for a variety of neuroactive substances, including neurotransmitters or their precursors.