Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R Martini.
The imaginal pore plates of Hymenoptera apocrita so far examined embody five or six envelope cells respectively. In early developmental stages, however, supernumerary envelope cells have been found. The results are discussed in the context of cell death as a developmental phenomenon.
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Severe arterial hypertension in children constitutes a high-risk situation requiring rapid and effective therapy. We have assessed the clinical value of sodium nitroprusside as a rapidly acting antihypertensive agent. Twenty children admitted with hypertensive crises of renal origin were treated with intravenous infusion of sodium nitroprusside at an average rate of 1.4 mug/kg/min. Desired levels of blood pressure were reached in all patients within one to 20 minutes. Rapid improvement of cardiac failure was observed in all patients, and neurologic signs of distress disappeared in 16 of the 20 children within 24 to 48 hours of treatment, permitting substitution of oral medication. One patient died of cerebral hemorrhage without improvement of encephalopathy. There were no undesirable effects of therapy or deterioration of renal function in any patient.
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The rat hepatic microsomal aldehyde dehydrogenase (mALDH) metabolizes aliphatic and aromatic aldehydes to the corresponding acids with NAD as the optimal cofactor. However, dehydrogenation of the aliphatic compounds is substantially more efficient. In the present study, a series of aromatic aldehydes was evaluated as substrates of the purified mALDH so that the physicochemical factors that contribute to substrate affinity could be evaluated. Substitution of the aromatic system in the 3- and 4-positions produced relatively good substrates, but 2-substituted congeners did not undergo dehydrogenation. However, aldehydes with hydrophilic substituents in the 3- or 4-positions and those with extremely bulky substituents at both positions (e.g., 3,4-dibenzyloxy) were also poor substrates for the enzyme and dehydrogenation was undetectable. A quantitative structure-activity relationship was determined that related the logarithm of the Michaelis constants for 27 substituted aromatic aldehydes with the zero-order connectivity function of the molecule (0 chi), the shapes of the 3- and 4-substituents (kappa), and the electronic nature of the 4-substituent (sigma). In this equation, 81% of the data variance was explained. From a consideration of the dimensions of 3-phenoxybenzaldehyde, which was a relatively good substrate, the mALDH possesses a narrow cleft within the active site that is at least 7.5 angstroms wide and extends at least 12 angstroms from the catalytic residue (probably cysteine). Previously established relationships between connectivity functions and molecular polarizability suggest that dipolar interactions within the active site, as well as dispersion forces, may play a role in substrate specificity. Although optimal shapes for carbocyclic substituents were not provided by the analysis, the unfavorable effect on dehydrogenation from hydrophilic and large substituents suggests that the active site of the mALDH is relatively rigid and that the orientation of the substrate in relation to the catalytic cysteine and the cofactor binding site is critical.
Occupational therapy is now consistently described as a profession concerned with enabling occupation. A crucial step in enabling occupation is understanding the occupational performance of our clients. Dynamic Performance Analysis (DPA) is a new approach to occupational analysis that focuses on the client's actual performance. DPA, acknowledging that optimal performance is the product of the interaction of person, environment, and occupation, and thus highly individualistic, places the client and his or her occupation, in interaction with the environment, at the center of the analysis process. Embedded in a top-down framework, DPA is a dynamic, iterative process, carried out as the client performs the occupation. The purpose of DPA is to identify where performance breaks down and test out solutions. In this article, the rationale, origins, and basic assumptions of DPA are discussed, and a detailed description of the DPA process together with two clinical examples is presented.
We report two patients with alobar holoprosencephaly and cebocephaly: one, a fetus at 20th week of gestation; the second, a new born who died at seven days of age. Its very important U.S.G. in the prenatal diagnosis. Patients with holoprosencephaly and extracephalic malformation warrant chromosome analysis, because the incidence of chromosomal anomalies is very high. In the first foetus the brain and the face anomalies were associated with omphalocele, ureteropathy, bifid and horned uterus. In the second child karyotype analysis was normal. Cranial C.A.T. scan is important in the new born for the differential diagnosis holoprosencephaly from hydranencephaly, ventriculomegalia and Dandy-Walker cyst. The encephalon autopsy of both patients showed the presence of a single ventricule, the absence of interhemispheric fissure, of the corpus callosum and arrhinencephalia. This malformation complex is causally heterogeneous group. Chromosomal, autosomal recessive, autosomal dominant, and multifactorial mechanism have been invoked in humans; in animals it can be produced easily by a multitude of teratogenic agents. The two children reported are the first observation in the family. The etiology is presently unclear.
The authors report two cases of Kawasaki disease, in which both the classic symptomatology and an increase in the beta 2 thromboglobin were present. The antigens of histocompatibility do not appear similar either to those which are more frequent in the Japanese population or in the patients suffering from arterial occlusive disease and Takayasu arteritis. The prognosis for these patients appears to be favourable: vascular and heart damages have not been shown. The therapy by means of antiaggregating agents has given good results showing a regression of the symptoms and a normalization of the laboratory tests within a few months.
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