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Biomedical subjects

R R Engel

Publications and source records attributed to R R Engel.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Thyroid function in preterm infants with respiratory distress syndrome.

Thyroid function was evaluated in premature infants 30 to 35 weeks EGA with severe RDS and was compared to that of healthy control subjects of similar EGA. The infants with RDS had significantly lower serum levels of T3, T4, and FT4I during the first 60, 90, and 30 days, respectively, and had elevated T3UR during the first 10 days. The mean (+/- SD) postdelivery TSH peak was lower in the RDS group (32.8 +/- 9.6 muU/ml) than in the control group (60.9 +/- 21.8 muU/ml; P less than 0.005). After TRH injection the increment in serum TSH was inversely related to the basal FT4I in the control infants but not in the infants with RDS.

Gestational Age↗
PubMed1978

Essential fatty acid deficiency in neonates: inability to reverse deficiency by topical applications of EFA-rich oil.

Correction of essential fatty acid deficiency by transcutaneous absorption of topically applied EFA-rich oil has been reported. We measured serum EFA levels in two groups of neonates receiving fat-free total parenteral nutrition: nine control patients after 16 and 25 days of TPN, and six patients before and 12 days after beginning cutaneous application of 100 mg/kg/day of linoleic acid as sunflower seed oil. Progressive biochemical EFA deficiency occurred in all but one of the control patients. Of the six patients receiving 100 mg/kg/day of linoleic acid, one patient with mild deficiency improved, but progressive EFA deficiency occurred in the other five patients. Serum EFA levels were also measured in four patients following 76 days of TPN and daily application of high doses of topical safflower oil, all of whom had severe biochemical EFA deficiency. The topical application of EFA-rich oil cannot be assumed to be uniformly effective in reversing or preventing EFA deficiency. The transcutaneous absorption of essential fatty acids must be documented by appropriate measurements of EFA in serum lipids.

Administration, Topical↗
PubMed1978

Effect of phototherapy on serum bilirubin levels and red blood cell survival in congenitally jaundiced Gunn rats.

Although phototherapy with blue fluorescent light effectively lowered the serum bilirubin concentration in congenitally jaundiced Gunn rats, no effect on red blood cell surivival as determined by chromium-51 labeling of homologous red blood cells and carboxyhemoglobin concentration was observed. Furthermore, attempts to demonstrate metabolic stress to the red blood cells failed to show increased glucose consumption. No oxidant damage to red cells as reflected by methemoglobin production and Heinz body formation was observed. Thus the anticipated hemolysis secondary to oxidant damage to red blood cells from phototherapy was not found.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Host heme catabolism in drug-sensitive and drug-resistant malaria.

Chloroquine resistance has arisen in both human and murine forms of malaria. CR Plasmodium berghei in mice does not produce the malaria pigment which is characteristic of the CS form. Determinations of carbon monoxide production (i.e., host heme catabolism) by individual mice revealed that those infected with CS P. berghei produce only one fourth as much carbon monoxide as do CR infected mice at all levels of infection. These observations confirm the idea that malaria pigment is composed of precipitated host cell hemoglobin and suggest that drug resistance is accompanied by a basic alteration in parasite-mediated hemoglobin catabolism.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Influence of amylase assay technique on renal clearance of amylase-creatinine ratio.

The influence of amylase assay technique on the renal amylase/creatinine clearance measurement was determined by analysis of serum and urine specimens obtained from 10 normal subjects. CAm/CCr averaged 2.19 +/- 0.18% with a saccharogenic technique, 1.52 +/- 0.2% with an iodometric technique, and 0.80 +/- 0.08% with a chromogenic technique. Each of these values differed significantly (P less than 0.05) from the other two. Recovery studies were carried out by adding partially purified human salivary or pancreatic amylase to human newborn serum or urine (which contain minimal endogenous amylase). Equal amylase activity was recovered from serum and urine by the saccharogenic technique whereas recovery from urine was less than 50% of that from serum using the iodometric and chromogenic techniques. The accuracy of the chromogenic technique is markedly improved by the addition of albumin to the urine assay system. Although it appears that only the saccharogenic method provides an accurate estimate of CAm/CCr, each assay technique distinguished the elevated CAm/CCr of patients with pancreatitis from the normal range established for that technique. Accurate clinical interpretation of CAm/CCr measurment requires knowledge of the amylase assay technique used.

Amylases↗
PubMed1976

Low thyroid hormones and respiratory-distress syndrome of the newborn. Studies on cord blood.

To investigate the relation between thyroid function and respiratory-distress syndrome we determined thyroid hormone in cord serum from 39 term and 120 premature newborns. In groups matched for gestational age (33 to 37 weeks) and body length, after exclusion of newborns with birth asphyxia, maternal diabetes and delivery by cesarean section, the newborns with respiratory distress syndrome had significantly lower cord tri-iodothyronine index, higher ratio of thyroxine to tri-iodothyronine and higher thyrotropin concentration than those without syndrome (P less than 0.05 or less). Conversely, the frequency and severity of respiratory-distress syndrome were higher in newborns who had low cord tri-iodothyronine and thyroxine concentration, low free tri-iodothyronine index and high thyrotropin levels. These observations show an association between low thyroid activity at birth and respiratory-distress syndrome and are in accord with animal studies showing accelerated lung maturation due to thyroxine administration.

Birth Weight↗
PubMed1976

[Direct quantitative measurement of tremor: first results of a new mesuring procedure in patients under lithium therapy].

The use of a new piezoresistive minature accelerometer as part of an electronic measurement system for the direct quantification of human finger tremor in physical units is described. The system was designed to yield digital values for the mean tremor amplitude in a given period of time. Reliability coefficients were computed for a smaple of 34 patients under lithium therapy. Coefficients ranged between 0.75 and 0.94 for test-retest intervals between 30 min and several days. Some of the usual indirect methods for the assessment of tremor showed very low correlations to the true tremor amplitude and seemed to be only of limited usefulness. It was further demonstrated that situational factors play a dominant role independently of the particular method of measurement.

Fingers↗
PubMed1975

Failure to demonstrate degradation of (4-14C) cholesterol to volatile hydrocarbons in rats and in human fecal homogenates.

The inability of previous workers to recover completely the radioactivity from ingested [4-14C] cholesterol has led to the hypothesis that the colonic flora of some individuals degrade the sterol nucleus to volatile hydrocarbons, particularly CH4. In the present investigation, the production of radioactive volatiles was measured following incubation of [4-14C] cholesterol with 8 human fecal homogenates or after instillation of the labeled sterol into the cecum of 3 rats housed in a closed rebreathing system. Three of the 8 homogenates and each of the 3 rats produced copious CH4. However, analysis by combustion demonstrated no radioactivity above background in the volatile headspace of the homogenates or the gas space of the closed system housing the rats, indicating that less than 0.001% of the number 4 carbon of [4-14C] cholesterol could have been converted to volatile hydrocarbons. This study, therefore, provides no support for the concept that volatile products account for the incomplete recovery of ingested sterols observed in certain subjects. However, this hypothesis can not be excluded entirely until similar results are obtained with subjects who can be shown to degrade cholesterol.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Physical and mental status at 4 years of age of survivors of the respiratory distress syndrome. Follow-up report from the collaborative study.

Fifty-eight survivors of the respiratory distress syndrome were evaluated at age 4 years for deficits in neuromotor performance and physical growth in a prospective study. Comparisons between RDS survivors and 290 matched controls plus 35,198 unmatched controls demonstrated that for each group the neuromotor performance was adversely affected by either low birth weight or low socioeconomic standing. Except for infants with birth weights above 2.5 kg, the RDS survivors performed as well as the two control groups. Comparisons with siblings failed to reveal a decrement in the RDS survivors. Hypothyroidism was more frequent among the RDS survivors than among the control subjects in the highest category of birth weight.

Birth Weight↗
PubMed1975

Necrotizing enterocolitis.

The clinical course of 54 patients with necrotizing enterocolitis has been compared to a matched group of 98 control patients. On the day of life that NEC occurred, all 54 NEC patients and 63% of controls were receiving standard formula feedings, both at 80/cal/kg/day. Stool cultures at the time revealed a significantly increased frequency of Klebsiella in NEC as compared to control patients. Our data suggest that the combined presence of certain intestinal bacteria and enteric feedings, perhaps requiring a background of mucosal ischemia, may be of etiologic significance in the development of NEC and its radiologic hallmark, pneumatosis intestinalis.

Birth Weight↗
PubMed1975

Intestinal gas.

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Animals↗
PubMed1975

Carboxyhemoglobin concentrations in normal cattle.

Percentage carboxyhemoglobin (HbCO) values were determined in 29 cows and 24 bulls in Minnesota during the summer of 1973. Results indicated that, in normal cattle, the HbCO value was 0.3%. Individual and daily variations in these values were recorded in 2 calves.

Animals↗