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Biomedical subjects

R Rangel

Publications and source records attributed to R Rangel.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

Exercise training in post-myocardial infarction patients: comparison of results with high risk coronary and post-bypass patients.

Measurements were made before and following 3 to 6 months of exercise therapy in 24 patients who had had myocardial infarction (group MI), in 16 patients having positive test and/or multiple risk factors for coronary heart disease (Group CHD), and in 10 patients who had undergone coronary artery bypass surgery (Group CAB). All patients were men and had a mean age of 51.6 years. Exercise training was conducted 3 times per week for a duration of 20 to 40 minutes per session. Walking and jogging both on a treadmill and a track and stationary cycling were used as training modalities. A paired t test was used to determine significance of differences between pre- and post-treatment results for each group. Percent body fat decreased in each group and aerobic capacity increased significantly (p less than 0.01) in all 3 groups (6.2 ml/kg . min-1 in MI, 7.0 ml/kg . min-1) in CHD, and 8.0 ml/kg . min-1 in CAB). Changes in other exercise related variables were found not to be statistically significant. Analysis of variance yielded no difference among the 3 groups for any of the variables evaluated. The results clearly indicate that the trainability of the MI patient is equivalent to that of the cardiac patient who has not suffered an infarct and to that of the post-CAB patient.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Is anti-Pseudomonas therapy warranted in acute respiratory exacerbations in children with cystic fibrosis?

A controlled study was designed to clarify the indications for antibiotic therapy in children with advanced cystic fibrosis hospitalized with respiratory exacerbations. Twenty-two children with severe CF and signs of acute lower respiratory infection were randomly assigned to receive either cloxacillin or carbenicillin plus gentamicin administered intravenously for ten days. Other aspects of therapy were constant. The groups were comparable in all respects and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was the predominant sputum pathogen in most patients. Clinical improvement, chest radiograph changes, evidence of airway obstruction, and bacteriologic flora of sputum were no different regardless of the regimen used. These results suggest that the use of anti-Pseudomonas medication in these children may not always be necessary. These observations need to be confirmed by blind-controlled studies in larger numbers of patients with mild as well as severe respiratory involvement.

Carbenicillin↗
PubMed1977

Effects of varied durations of training on improvement in cardiorespiratory endurance.

Twenty-nine subjects trained for 6 weeks for the purpose of comparing the effects of various durations of exercise. All subjects trained three days per week at 75% of maximum heart rate. Training durations were 5 min (N = 10), 15 min (N = 10) and 25 min (N = 9) with over 80% of the training sessions consisting of monitored treadmill walking on a grade. Pre and post-testing consisted of a maximal treadmill walk and a submaximal bicycle ride for the three training groups and a control group (N = 10). The improvements in treadmill time were 7.7%, 14.7% and 20.2% for the three training groups, all significant. The improvement for the 5 min group was not different than that of the control or 15 min groups. Improvement in the 25 min group was significantly greater than the control and 5 min groups, but not the 15 min group. The same differences were noted when estimated maximal oxygen uptake changes were analyzed. The results indicate that at least 15 and preferably 25 min of exercise is necessary to produce optimal endurance improvement with the training intensity and frequency used in this study.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Depression and the severity of substance abuse.

BACKGROUND: Psychosocial factors have been considered important in the initiation of drug abuse and seem to affect its clinical course and outcome. Several studies have reported psychopathology, namely depression, to be consistently high in addiction. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the prevalence of depression and its relationship to the severity of drug abuse in a Portuguese sample of drug addicts. METHODS: Two hundred and eighty-five drug addicts (23 women and 262 men, aged between 16 and 41 years old), diagnosed according to the DSM-IV criteria, were contacted during their first visit for treatment at public health centres. Social, demographic and behavioural characteristics of the study sample were obtained by interview using a structured questionnaire. The severity of drug abuse was evaluated using a Portuguese version of the Drug Abuse Screening Test, and depression was assessed by the Zung self-rating depression scale. RESULTS: The prevalence of depression was 51.2% and was higher in females than males (77.8 vs. 48.7%, p = 0.034). A significant correlation was also found between the severity of drug abuse and depression scores, which was also stronger in females (r = 0.53 vs. r = 0.24). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed a high prevalence of depression in drug addicts, regardless of the type and duration of drug abuse, and a significant association between depression and severity of drug addiction.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumors].

INTRODUCTION: The dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumors tend to occur in young patients, with partial complex partial seizures which is refractory to medical treatment. These are stable lesions, with defined histological features, specially with clinical data corroboration. CLINICAL CASES: The clinical, imagiological, operative, and histopathological data of six patients with proved dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumors were reviewed. All patients had seizures with age at onset ranged from 7 to 27 years. Five lesions were located in the temporal lobe and one in the parietal lobe. Common features included cortical to subcortical location, low density in CT-scan, very low signal intensity on T1-weighted images and high signal on T2-weighted images. Calcification occurred in two lesions, and three showed contrast enhancement. Complete resection of the tumor was performed in three cases, and subtotal resection in other three cases. Pathological features included oligodendroglial-like cells, glioneural component, and few cases showed dysplastic cortical disorganization. The postoperative period of follow-up ranged from 2 to 18 months. Four patients were seizure free, two of which had subtotal resection of the lesion. The remaining two patients maintained seizures. CONCLUSIONS: The clinical, imagiological and histopathological data of the six cases presented are generally compatible with those of the reports reviewed by the authors. The imagiological features are nonspecific. Surgical treatment permits histological diagnosis and epilepsy control.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Generation of memory CD4+, CD8+, CD45RO+ and CD16- lymphocytes activated with IL-2, INF-gamma, and TNF-alpha with specific cytotoxicity against autologous cervical cancer cells in a mixed leukocyte-tumour cell culture.

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) specific against autologous human cervical cancer cells were generated in vitro from peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL) from four patients with non-keratinized epidermoid carcinoma. For this purpose, these patients' PBL were co-cultured for 28 days either with IL-2 or a mixture of IL-2, IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha in the presence of autologous tumour cells (ATC). Our results showed that these CTL were highly cytotoxic for ATC, weakly cytotoxic for heterologous cervical cancer tumour cells, and not cytotoxic for carcinoma cell lines, normal cervix cells nor autologous PBL. Proliferation and cytotoxicity against ATC were greater when the PBL were activated with the three cytokines. These CTL had a CD4:CD8 ratio of 1:1, were CD16- and CD45RO+ and their killing activity was inhibited by antibodies against CD3, CD8 and MHC-class I but not by antibodies against CD4, CD16 or HLA-class II. The possibility of generating specific CTL in long term cultures for cervical cancer therapy is also discussed.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗