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Biomedical subjects

W Weiss

Publications and source records attributed to W Weiss.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

Asbestos-related pleural plaques and lung cancer.

The English-language literature was reviewed to evaluate a possible relationship between asbestos-related pleural plaques and lung cancer in the absence of parenchymal asbestosis. There were six cohort studies in which the comparison group was limited to unexposed persons or the general population, four lung cancer case-control studies, and three autopsy studies. Of the 13 investigations, only 3 supported the hypothesis that lung cancer risk is elevated among persons with pleural plaques over the risk in unexposed people: 2 cohort studies from the same city in England with much the same data and 1 case-control study. These three studies had the most defects in design. The other ten studies failed to confirm the hypothesis. Thus, the weight of the evidence favors the conclusion that persons with asbestos-related pleural plaques do not have an increased risk of lung cancer in the absence of parenchymal asbestosis.

Asbestosis↗
PubMed1993

Comparison of hCG versus GnRH analog for releasing oocytes following ultra low-dose gonadotropin stimulation.

Previous data have suggested there is a higher incidence of luteinized unruptured follicle (LUF) syndrome (defined as failure to release any oocyte as determined by sonography) in gonadotropin-treated patients following human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) versus the gonadotropin releasing hormone agonist (GnRH-a) leuprolide acetate. The present study was designed to determine if an ultra low-dose gonadotropin regimen, designed not to raise the serum estradiol level much above normal for non-stimulated cycles, might result in a decrease in LUF following hCG treatment, and even reduce the rate to that seen following leuprolide acetate. The hypothesis tested was that the higher estradiol levels might suppress the pre-ovulatory follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) surge which, in turn, would inhibit plasmin production, thus preventing detachment of the oocyte from the follicle. The data did show a reduced rate of LUF incidence with either hCG or leuprolide acetate in ultra low-dose human menopausal gonadotropin-(hMG-) treated patients compared to data from previous studies with conventional hMG/hCG therapy. Pregnancy rates were also similar following hCG or leuprolide acetate for release in low-dose hMG-treated patients. Preliminary data show that leuprolide acetate is superior to hCG for causing oocyte release when stimulation is with low-dose purified FSH, and possibly also that low-dose hMG is superior to low-dose purified FSH for producing superior pregnancy rates.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

[Digitoxin-induced thrombocytopenia].

A 82-year-old woman was admitted to hospital because of heart failure, vomiting, and pain in the right upper abdomen. During the past three months she had received treatment with 0.07 mg digitoxin twice daily. The ECG showed sinus bradycardia with intermittent complete sinoatrial block. On the basis of the history, clinical presentation and ECG findings digitalis intoxication was suspected. Digitoxin level was 65.23 ng/ml--far beyond the therapeutic range. Laboratory examinations revealed a marked thrombocytopenia (25,000/microliters). The patient was placed on cholestyramine (4g three times daily) to accelerate intestinal excretion of digitoxin. As there were no life-threatening complications there was no indication for treatment with digitalis-specific antibodies. On the 6th day after discontinuation of digitoxin treatment the platelet count showed a marked rise and returned to normal values as from the 12th day.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

Two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, with immobilized pH gradients in the first dimension, of barley seed proteins: discrimination of cultivars with different malting grades.

The suitability of high-resolution two-dimensional gel electrophoresis for barley cultivar discrimination and for classification with respect to their malting properties was studied. Seed proteins of 14 barley cultivars with different malting qualities were extracted with urea/dithiothreitol/Nonidet P-40 buffer and subjected to two-dimensional gel electrophoresis with immobilized pH gradients in the first dimension (IPG-DALT). The results of IPG-DALT were compared to the protein patterns obtained by a standard technique, sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of hordeins. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-gel electrophoresis yielded seven different "B" and four different "C" hordein patterns; "A" and "D" hordein patterns were uniform in all cultivars tested. Four cultivars could be distinguished unequivocally, the others were classified into three groups containing between two and five cultivars. In contrast to these findings. IPG-DALT yielded three different "A", eight different "B", four different "C" and two different "D" hordein patterns. When the "A", "B", "C" and "D" hordein patterns were combined, ten cultivars exhibited unique hordein patterns whereas the remaining ones were classified into two groups containing two cultivars each. Moreover, when albumin and globulin proteins were used for evaluation in addition to the hordeins, all cultivars could be discriminated by IPG-DALT. IPG-DALT, performed on small-scale and/or ready-made gels, proved to be an ideal complementary system to one-dimensional electrophoretic methods for routine seed testing purposes because of its speed, reliability, and simplicity. IPG-DALT was also applied to study the relationship between the different polypeptide patterns and the malting quality. Although cultivars with identical one-dimensional protein patterns but different malting quality could be successfully differentiated by IPG-DALT, a direct correlation between specific protein spots or protein patterns to the malting quality was not found within the cultivars tested.

Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional↗
PubMed1992

[Therapy of peptic ulcers with famotidine. Report of experiences with an open clinical study].

In a two center open uncontrolled clinical trial, the efficacy of a single evening dose of 40 mg famotidine (Ulcusan) was studied in a total of 37 patients (20 with chronic duodenal ulcers, 9 with recurring and 8 with acute gastric ulcers). 35 patients completed the study. In all 35 cases, endoscopic examination confirmed that ulcers had healed. All but one gastric ulcer healed within 4 weeks (80%) or 8 weeks (94.3%) of therapy. The cumulative rate of recovery for gastric ulcers was 87.5% and for duodenal ulcers 100%. During the first 4 weeks of therapy, vanishing of symptoms occurred and additional intake of antacids diminished progressively. Day-time symptoms tended to disappear earlier than nocturnal symptoms during the course of treatment. No objective or subjective side-effects were reported. A temporary exanthema appeared in 1 case after 4 weeks of treatment but could not be identified as causally related to famotidine. In this study famotidine turned out to be very effective in ulcer healing and was free of side effects. Thus, this preparation may be recommended also for "low-dose long-term prophylaxis" of chronic peptic ulcers.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

[Time of famotidine administration and healing of duodenal ulcer: is 18.00 o'clock of importance?].

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled two centre trial, the effect of a 40 mg oral dose of famotidine administered at 6 p.m. to the same dose given at 10:00 p.m. was studied in 38 patients with duodenal ulcers. After 2 weeks 61% of the ulcers had healed; this had risen to 89% by the end of week 4. The statistically non-significant trend to better results following administration later at night (which apparently contradicts other published results) may have been due to a delay in adsorption caused by food ingestion and the related nocturnal pH levels.

Dose-Response Relationship, Drug↗
PubMed1991

Barley cultivar discrimination: I. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and glycoprotein blotting.

Two different methods of detecting electroblotted glycoproteins after sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of Tris-buffer soluble barley seed proteins were examined for their applicability for barley cultivar discrimination. These are the highly specific, lectin-based concanavalin A/peroxidase method and the more general periodate/danyslhydrazine method. The results of the periodate/dansylhydrazine method enabled us to divide the 20 examined cultivars into three groups, whereas the more sensitive concanavalin A/peroxidase method revealed six different glycoprotein patterns. In comparison, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and silver staining of the alcohol-soluble barley seed proteins (hordeins) gave nine different banding patterns. A combination of hordein electrophoresis together with glycoprotein staining by the concanavalin A/peroxidase method made it possible to classify the cultivars into twelve groups, the largest of which contained four cultivars. The qualitative expression of the glycoprotein patterns seemed to be independent of growth conditions, whereas the band intensities obviously were not. As a whole, glycoprotein blotting is a valuable supplement to sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of hordeins in barley cultivar discrimination.

Concanavalin A↗
PubMed1991

Barley cultivar discrimination: II. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and isoelectric focusing with immobilized pH gradients.

Isoelectric focusing performed with immobilized pH gradients was found superior to other commonly used electrophoretic methods for discrimination of 55 European winter and spring barley cultivars. Hordeins, the alcohol-soluble proteins, yielded 32 different patterns, allowing identification of 22 cultivars and classification of the remaining ones into ten groups of two to eight cultivars each. Only 21 different hordein patterns were observed using horizontal sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, followed by silver staining. Twelve cultivars exhibited unique hordein patterns, the remaining nine groups contained 2-11 cultivars. Resolution of isoelectric focusing with immobilized pH gradients was further enhanced in some cases when the patterns of urea/dithiothreitol-soluble proteins were used instead of the hordein patterns. However, evaluation was more complicated because of the larger number of protein bands detected.

Alcohols↗
PubMed1991

Cigarette smoking and small irregular opacities.

A survey of chemical workers by chest roentgenograms was designed to determine whether exposure to acrylic dust and/or cigarette smoking was associated with diffuse abnormalities suggestive of pneumoconiosis. The films were examined without knowledge of dust exposure or smoking habits. The International Labour Office (ILO) classification and standard films were used. Workers with exposure to asbestos were excluded. There was no relation between prevalence of abnormalities and exposure to dust. Among 181 workers 28 had s and/or t small irregular opacities with profusion of 0/1 (23), 1/0 (three), or 1/1 (two). These findings were present in 20% of smokers compared with 2.2% of non-smokers. The prevalence increased with increasing age to 31.6% among smokers aged 50-64. Prevalence was 10% among ex-smokers of cigarettes. Among current cigarette smokers, prevalence was 5.3% in those who smoked less than one pack per day, 31.3% in heavier cigarette smokers, and 52.9% in 17 heavy cigarette smokers aged 50-64. Profusions of 0/1 and 1/0 are classified as "suspect" pneumoconiosis according to the ILO guidelines. The data in this study indicate that such abnormalities are directly related to age and smoking habits among workers not exposed to hazardous dust.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

A placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized, two-center, pilot trial of Cop 1 in chronic progressive multiple sclerosis.

We found Cop 1 to be effective and relatively safe in a previous (exacerbating-remitting) clinical trial. This current trial involves 106 chronic-progressive patients. The major end point, confirmed progression of 1.0 or 1.5 units (depending on baseline disability) on the Kurtzke Expanded Disability Status Scale, was observed in nine (17.6%) treated and 14 (25.5%) control patients. The differences between the overall survival curves were not significant. Progression rates at 12 and 24 months were higher for the placebo group (p = 0.088) with 2-year probabilities of progressing of 20.4% for Cop 1 and 29.5% for placebo. We found a significant difference at 24 months between placebo and Cop 1 at one but not the other center. Two-year progression rates for two secondary end points, unconfirmed progression, and progression of 0.5 EDSS units, (p = 0.03) are significant.

Chronic Disease↗
PubMed1990

Asbestos and colorectal cancer.

Reports in the literature on 21 cohorts of workers exposed to asbestos were reviewed and analyzed to determine whether there is a causal association between asbestos and colorectal cancer. The latest report up to 1988 was used for each cohort. The end point was the standardized morbidity or mortality ratio as the measure of relative risk. Two additional cohorts using mortality as the end point were excluded because the authors failed to use comparable diagnostic methods for the asbestos-exposed populations and controls. The summary standardized morbidity or mortality ratio for all 21 cohorts was 0.97 (P greater than 0.05), and there was no dose-response relationship in the two studies with such data. The evidence does not meet the established criteria for making a judgment that there is a causal relationship between asbestos and colorectal cancer.

Asbestos↗
PubMed1990

Irradiated sporozoite vaccine induces cytotoxic T lymphocytes that recognize malaria antigens on the surface of infected hepatocytes.

The observation that protective immunity induced by immunization with radiation attenuated Plasmodium berghei and Plasmodium yoelii sporozoites is dependent on CD8+ T lymphocytes in some strains of mice led us to speculate that immunization with sporozoites induces cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) that recognize malaria antigens on the surface of malaria-infected hepatocytes. In this report we summarize a series of experiments that confirm this hypothesis. We first showed that when immune mice are challenged with live sporozoites they develop malaria-specific, CD8+ T cell-dependent infiltrates in their livers. Next we demonstrated that spleen cells from immune mice eliminate malaria infected hepatocytes from in vitro culture in an antigen specific and genetically restricted manner, indicating that these immune cells recognize malaria antigens on the surface of infected hepatocytes. Finally we defined a CTL epitope of the P. yoelii CS protein, and demonstrated that CTL against this 16-amino-acid peptide (PYCTL1) eliminate infected hepatocytes from culture in an antigenic specific, and MHC restricted manner, indicating that this 16-amino-acid peptide from the CS protein is present on the surface of the infected hepatocytes. We are currently working on constructing vaccines that induce protective CTL against PYCTL1, and identifying additional pre-erythrocytic stage targets of CTL mediated protective immunity.

Animals↗