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A Evers

Publications and source records attributed to A Evers.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

The new Long-Term Care Insurance Program in Germany.

The article describes the new Long-Term Care Insurance Program (LTCI), which has been operational in Germany since 1995, as well as the policy issues leading to its enactment. After discussing similarities and differences with the traditional German social insurance-centered welfare system and some of the major weaknesses of the new program, two issues are discussed in more detail: (1) entitlement criteria and reimbursement rules and the ways they influence the conditions and quality of the professional care delivered; (2) the impact of cash as an alternative choice to services. The descriptive and evaluative sections use existing materials and reports; the second section is based, in addition, on a pilot study by the author, which looks at the reasons why so many people entitled to LTCI choose the cash alternative.

Aged

Assessment of female sexual arousal: response specificity and construct validity.

Specificity of vaginal pulse amplitude and vaginal blood volume in reaction to visual sexual stimuli was investigated by comparing responses to sexual, anxiety-inducing, sexually threatening, and neutral film excerpts. Subjective sexual arousal, body sensations, emotional experience, skin conductance, and heart rate were monitored along with the genital measures. Self-report data confirmed the generation of affective states as intended. Results demonstrated response specificity of vaginal vasocongestion to sexual stimuli. In terms of both convergent and divergent validity, vaginal pulse amplitude was the superior genital measure. Skin conductance discriminated among stimuli only to a small degree, whereas heart rate failed to discriminate among stimuli altogether.

Adolescent

Diacylglycerol metabolism in phospholipase C-treated mammalian cells.

Treatment of cultured cells with phospholipase C causes increased rates of hydrolysis of cellular phosphatidylcholine and increased rates of incorporation of choline into phosphatidylcholine. The fate of the diacylglycerol produced by the phospholipase C hydrolysis was examined in two cell lines, Chinese hamster ovary and HeLa. In the former cells, turnover of the glycerol moiety of phosphatidylcholine was not enhanced by phospholipase C treatment, indicating that the phospholipase C-generated diacylglycerol was recycled into new phosphatidylcholine. In HeLa cells, turnover of the glycerol backbone of phosphatidylcholine was enhanced by phospholipase C treatment, and the increased rate of turnover of the glycerol moiety was similar to that of the phosphate moiety. Thus, the fate of diacylglycerol generated at the plasma membrane was demonstrated to differ in these two cell lines. Incorporation of precursors of diacylglycerol into phosphatidylcholine was not enhanced by phospholipase C treatment in either cell line.

Cell Line

A unique cardiac cytosolic acyltransferase with preferential selectivity for fatty acids that form cyclooxygenase/lipoxygenase metabolites and reverse essential fatty acid deficiency.

The rabbit heart contains a cytosolic enzyme which selectively incorporates polyunsaturated fatty acids into phosphatidylcholine. This unique acyltransferase is selective for fatty acids, thus far tested, that are substrates for cyclooxygenase or lipoxygenase (i.e., arachidonic, eicosapentaenoic, linoleic and dihomo-gamma-linoleic acids) or which reverse the symptoms of essential fatty acid deficiency (columbinic acid). On the other hand, palmitic, oleic, 5,8,11-eicosatrienoic (n-9, Mead acid), and docosatetraenoic acid (n-6, adrenic acid) were not incorporated in phospholipids by the cytosolic acyltransferase. No such fatty acid selectivity was exhibited by the cytosolic acyl-CoA synthetase or by the acyltransferase activities present in cardiac microsomes and mitochondria.

Acyltransferases

A functional membrane repair system in Duchenne muscular dystrophy fibroblasts.

Experiments have been performed to determine if fibroblasts from patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) are defective in a process of membrane repair. Normal and DMD fibroblasts were treated with phospholipase C from Clostridium perfringens to degrade plasma membrane phosphatidylcholine, and then phosphatidylcholine synthesis was measured as the incorporation of [3H] choline into lipid. Phosphatidylcholine synthesis was stimulated by phospholipase C treatment to a similar extent in normal and DMD fibroblasts. The activity of CTP: phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase, the enzyme regulating phosphatidylcholine synthesis in phospholipase C-treated mammalian cells, was also stimulated to the same extent in both cell types. The subcellular location of the cytidylyltransferase was changed by phospholipase C treatment from mostly cytosolic to mostly particulate in both normal and DMD fibroblasts. It appears, therefore, that at least one type of membrane repair system functions normally in DMD fibroblasts.

Cell Membrane

Membrane perturbation: studies employing a calcium-sensitive dye, arsenazo III, in liposomes.

A metallochromic dye, arsenazo III [2,7-bis-(2-arsonophenylazo)-1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene-3,6-disulfonic acid], has been incorporated into the aquenous interspaces of multilamellar liposomes. multilamellar liposomes. Addition of Ca produced no shift in the absorbance spectrum of dye captured by liposomes, whereas disruption of liposomes by Triton X-100, followed by Ca, produced the spectrum chracteristic of the dye-Ca complex: evidence of latency. Addition of excess ethyleneglycol-bis(beta-aminoethyl ether)-N,N'-tetraacetic acid (EGTA) reversed the spectal shift. Differences between spectra obtained in this sequence yielded dye efflus. To measure Ca efflux, difference spectra (+/-EGTA) were obtained from cationic liposomes containing Ca after detergent lysis (sensitivity less than 10 mmol/ml). Since liposomes were impermeable either to dye or Ca until perturbed, it was possible to test a variety of membrane-active steroids (diethylstilbesterol, deoxycorticosterone, etiocholanolone) for their capacity to provoke dye efflux from liposomes; preincorporation of cortisol stablized liposomes against dye leak. Immunoglobulin-coated liposomes containing dye were taken up by phagocytes of Mustelus canis, and phagocytic vacuoles stained red-purple after ingestions. Liposomes containing the calcium-sensitive dye constitute a simple, accurate means for determining membrane perturbation and Ca fluxes; their uptake by cells or organelles remains to be exploited further.

Animals

[Healing waters].

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