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Biomedical subjects

T Schweizer

Publications and source records attributed to T Schweizer.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Decreased sedation by xylazine and high blood pressure in cows with BSE.

Fifteen cows with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and 90 healthy cows were given xylazine intramuscularly at a dosage of 0.15 mg/kg bodyweight. The onset of sedation and of drooling was recorded, and the heart and respiratory rates and the systolic and diastolic blood pressure were measured every five minutes for 40 minutes. All the healthy cows but only five of the 15 cows with BSE became sedated, and the period between the administration of xylazine and the onset of sedation was twice as long in the cows with BSE than in the healthy cows (15.0 [7.5] and 7.6 [2.6] minutes). Throughout the observation period, the blood pressure of the cows with BSE was significantly higher than that of the healthy cows, and the blood pressure of the healthy cows, but not of the cows with BSE, decreased significantly towards the end of the observation period.

Adrenergic alpha-Agonists↗
PubMed1998

[182 offspring of cows with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in Switzerland. 1. Clinical findings].

This study involved 182 calves, heifers and cows that were the first generation progeny of cows with bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). All animals underwent clinical and neurological examinations. Blood, milk, urine, ruminal fluid and cerebrospinal fluid samples were examined. Each cow underwent a specific examination for BSE which included assessment of behaviour, sensitivity and locomotion. This examination was performed twice, and there was very good agreement between the results. The most common symptom was nervousness (14 animals). In the first examination, 68 animals were mildly to moderately sensitive to touching of the head, 44 animals were hypersensitive to a halogen light and 35 animals were hypersensitive to a camera flash. Twenty-four animals reacted by kicking when the hindlimbs were touched with a broom. None of the animals had disturbances in locomotion. Based on the interpretation of all findings and the comparison of the results of the first and second examinations, 173 animals were diagnosed as free of BSE. In 9 animals, the disease could not be ruled out; however, it could not be confirmed in any of them. Histological and immunohistochemical examinations of the brain of all animals were negative for BSE (see Part 2 of the study for details). The results of this study indicate that abnormal clinical findings may occur in clinically healthy cattle. However, none of the progeny of cows with BSE exhibited clinical signs typical of BSE, such as disturbances in behaviour; sensitivity and locomotion.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Influence of processing and cooking of carrots in mixed meals on satiety, glucose and hormonal response.

The influence of processing and cooking on the metabolic response to carrots in mixed meals was explored in two consecutive harvest years. The contribution of dietary fibre (4.4 g 1989 and 6.6 g 1990) from carrots was chosen to be different in order to compare effects with varying doses. The meals, composed of carrots, creamed potatoes, meat balls, lingonberry jam, white bread and light beer, were served in the morning after an overnight fast to 10 healthy male volunteers. Carrots were investigated raw, processed (blanched and frozen) and variously cooked (thawed, boiled and microwaved). The amount of dietary fibre from the vegetable, and the content of energy, digestible carbohydrates, fat and protein were similar in the meals compared. Significantly lower glucose, insulin and C-peptide responses and higher satiety scores were elicited with raw carrots than with microwaved ones, harvest year 1989. The next year, with a higher dietary fibre intake from carrots, there were significant effects of processing only on the glucose response. Plasma beta-carotene levels tended to be higher postprandially with raw carrots than with microwaved ones. Hence, ordinary processing and cooking of vegetables can affect the metabolic response to a mixed meal. However, the influence seems to be varying and of minor importance in ordinary meals. Increasing vegetable portions entailing a higher soluble fibre content and a higher viscosity could further reduce the influence of processing.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Structural features of resistant starch at the end of the human small intestine.

Structural features of in vivo resistant starch were assessed using the ileal contents of four humans. Two of the latter were collected by ileostomy after ingestion of bean flakes or potato flakes and the other two were collected by an intubation technique after ingestion of retrograded high-amylose maize starch or complexed high-amylose maize starch. The degree of polymerizations (DP), solubility and crystallinity were assessed. For all samples, starch fractions which escaped digestion in the small intestine were composed of three populations of alpha-glucans with proportions differing according to the substrate. Small quantities of oligosaccharides made up the first population, illustrating a limitation of absorption in the small intestine. The second population, the main resistant fraction, was comprised of retrograded amylose of mean DPn of about 35 glucose units with a melting temperature at 150 degrees C and exhibiting a B-type pattern. Finally high molecular weight semi-crystalline alpha-glucans were attributed to fragments of starch. This study showed that some potentially digestible starch could reach the colon and crystalline fractions constituted only part of the starch that escaped digestion in the human small intestine.

Crystallization↗
PubMed1990

[The alcoholic patient in general practice--problems without solution?].

Caring for an alcoholic is not an easy task for the physician. Firstly, he is confronted with a patient, who is not or only marginally aware of his medical, psychological and social problems. This is not surprising, as alcoholism is--in most cases--much more than a bad habit. It is the (failed) attempt of coping with life. Secondly, our attitude towards alcoholism is very ambivalent, and doctors are often ill at ease concerning this problem.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1989

Tetanus toxoid complexed with heterologous antibody can induce germinal centre formation and B cell memory in mice without evoking a detectable anti-toxin response.

Fluid free tetanus toxoid (FTT) alone or FTT complexed in vitro at equivalence (EQ) or in antibody excess (ABEX) with anti-toxin contained in a human gammaglobulin preparation (HGG), or HGG alone, were injected into the hind leg footpads of mice. Anti-toxin titres of mouse serum were measured and compared with proliferative reactions in popliteal lymph nodes, based on combined 3H-thymidine autoradiography and planimetry, as a function of time. FTT in complex with HGG in ABEX failed to elicit a measurable anti-toxin response but caused, of all the materials tested, the most marked numerical increase of germinal centres. This finding is in accord with results of earlier studies indicating that the same heterologous antigen-antibody complexes at EQ or in ABEX can prime the animals, usually without eliciting antibody production detectable by serum titration. The model system used in the present experiments is thus well suited for a separation of the two principal arms of the dichotomous humoral immune response, i.e. by inducing germinal centre and B cell memory development but not specific antibody formation.

Animals↗