Comment on Weitzner and Meyers.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to T Karlsson.
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OBJECTIVE: To examine the consequences for close family members of patients on a waiting list for possible coronary revascularization. BACKGROUND: An increasing number of patients with symptomatic ischemic heart disease require evaluation for possible revascularization. Many of these patients must wait a long time before receiving treatment. The negative consequences of this long wait for patients and their relatives have not been satisfactorily evaluated previously. DESIGN: Cross-sectional descriptive study. SETTING: All hospital in Southwestern Sweden. STUDY POPULATION: One hundred relatives of patients referred for possible revascularization and a sex- and age-matched reference group. The convenience sample consisted of 85% (n = 76) women and 15% (n = 13) men. OUTCOME MEASURES: Frequency of cardiovascular and psychosomatic symptoms. EVALUATION: One hundred relatives and 100 members of the control group were sent a questionnaire to evaluate their clinical condition; working situation; use of tobacco, alcohol and sedatives; and cardiovascular and psychosomatic symptoms. RESULTS: Family members had a significantly higher frequency of anxiety, depression, and irritability compared with the control group. Furthermore, family members reported sleeping disorders, including difficulty waking, tiredness due to lack of sleep, and restless sleep, more frequently than did the control group. CONCLUSION: Close family members of patients waiting for coronary revascularization have particular difficulties, and these difficulties should receive more attention.
To describe the impact of a history of diabetes mellitus on the improvement of symptoms and various aspects of quality of life (QoL) during 5 years after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Patients who underwent CABG between 1988 and 1991 in western Sweden were approached with an inquiry prior to surgery and 5 years after the operation. QoL was estimated with three different instruments: Physical Activity Score (PAS), Nottingham Health Profile (NHP) and Psychological General Well-Being (PGWB) index. 876 patients participated in the evaluation, of whom 87 (10%) had a history of diabetes. Symptoms of dyspnea and chest pain improved both in diabetic and non-diabetic patients. Diabetic patients scored worse than non-diabetic patients both prior to and 5 years after CABG, but without any major difference in improvement between the two groups with all three measures of QoL. PAS tended to improve more in non-diabetic than in diabetic patients, whereas improvement in NHP and PGWB was similar regardless of a history of diabetes. Diabetic patients differ from non-diabetic patients having an inferior QoL both prior to and 5 years after CABG. Both diabetic and non-diabetic patients improve in symptoms and QoL after the operation. In some aspects improvement tended to be less marked in the diabetic patients but on the whole improvement was similar compared to non-diabetic patients.
Retinoic acid, vitamin D3 and triiodothyronine regulate keratinocyte proliferation and differentiation--processes that are disturbed in psoriatic skin--via binding to nuclear receptors for retinoic acid (RAR-alpha,-gamma), vitamin D3 (VDR), thyroid hormone (TR-alpha,-beta) plus the common heterodimer partners, the 9-cis-retinoic acid receptors (RXR-alpha,-beta). By using a new quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assay, the expression of these receptors and three housekeeping genes (cyclophilin, GAPDH and beta-actin) was studied in psoriatic skin. The expression of housekeeping genes was consistently 2.7-4.3 times higher in lesional than in non-lesional skin. When the beta-actin expression was used to normalize the receptor mRNA values, the RARalpha, RXRalpha and TRalpha transcripts were found to be 58-75% lower in lesional vs. non-lesional skin and the RXRalpha:RARgamma ratio was reduced from 3.2 to 1.5. Topical treatment for 4 days with 0.025% all-trans-retinoic acid or calcipotriol under occlusion did not normalize the altered mRNA expression of RARs, RXR and VDR in lesional skin. The results suggest that retinoid and thyroid hormone signalling is abnormal in lesional psoriatic skin, but how this relates to the pathogenesis of the disease is still unclear.
Younger adults (mean age = 19.6), 73-year-olds and 82-year-olds were examined on free recall of verbal materials varying in datedness (i.e., names of people who attained their fame during the 1930s or the 1980s). The main result was an interaction between age and type of materials. Whereas younger adults performed better for "new" than for "old" items, both elderly groups recalled more old than new items. A highlight of these data is that activation of pre-experimental knowledge structures appears to improve episodic recall in both young-old and old-old adults.
During a floor-pen study on anticoccidial programs for layer-replacement pullets, there was a natural outbreak of infectious bursal disease (IBD). The interaction of coccidiosis and IBD was characterized by: excessive deaths from coccidiosis; and apparent failure of some anticoccidial drug treatments. Immunity to coccidiosis was not blocked by the IBD infection, although immunity was less in some treatments than would be expected with the degree of coccidiosis exposure.
New combinations of techniques were employed for comparing the development of immunity of Eimeria tenella in chickens being medicated with 12 different anticoccidials. Broiler-type birds in batteries received a daily measured dose of E. tenella oocysts for 15 consecutive days while the drug was administered at the manufacturer's recommended level. Two or more tests of each drug gave the following ratings: strong suppression, monensin (121 ppm), salinomycin (80 ppm), lasalocid (75 ppm); moderate suppression, monensin (100 ppm), decoquinate (30 ppm), clopidol (125 ppm), and narasin (80 ppm); slight suppression, arprinocid (70 ppm), nicarbazin (125 ppm), and amprolium (125 ppm + ethopabate (4 ppm); no effect, robenidine (33 ppm), zoalene (125 ppm), and aklomide (250 ppm).