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Biomedical subjects

A Hanna

Publications and source records attributed to A Hanna.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Screening studies for fatigue and laboratory correlates in cancer patients undergoing treatment.

BACKGROUND: To understand the pathogenesis of fatigue in cancer, we conducted a cross-sectional study using Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI) and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Fatigue (FACT-F) instruments to measure fatigue and assessed laboratory studies. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 174 patients with cancer, who had undergone treatment within the last six months, answered the questionnaires and the Brief Version Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (BZSDS). Blood samples were drawn for hemoglobin, albumin, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), dehydroepiandrosterone-sulfate (DHEAS) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF- alpha). Testosterone levels were checked in male patients. RESULTS: Clinically significant fatigue with BFI > or =4 was present in 52.0% of patients. Measurement of laboratory parameters revealed the following: DHEAS levels <80 mcg/dl in males and <36 mcg/dl in females=54.1%; BZSDS scores > or =27=20.1%; testosterone levels <200 ng/dl=26.4% of male patients. Significant correlations were noted between BFI and FACT-F, albumin levels, hemoglobin levels and BZSDS scores. In addition, for male patients BFI correlated with DHEAS and testosterone levels. In multiple linear regression, hemoglobin, BZSDS scores and current opioid use were associated with response BFI. For male patients, DHEAS <80 mcg/dl, increased BZSDS and testosterone <200 ng/dl were associated with increased BFI. CONCLUSION: Fatigue is common in this population and BFI correlates with more extensive measurements. Abnormalities such as decreased testosterone and DHEAS may lead to interventions that can be therapeutically exploited.

Cross-Sectional Studies↗
PubMed2001

Predictors of conversion of atrial fibrillation after cardiac operation in the absence of class I or III antiarrhythmic medications.

BACKGROUND: Although risk factors for the development of atrial fibrillation (AF) after cardiac operations have been studied extensively, predictors of conversion to sinus rhythm within 24 hours of onset have not been examined. METHODS: Eleven hundred consecutive adults undergoing cardiovascular operations from July 1997 to June 1998 were screened for new onset AF after operation. Patients with chronic persistent preoperative AF or those who died within 48 hours of the operation were excluded. RESULTS: Three hundred fifty-three patients develop

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗
PubMed2001

Complications of fluoroscopically guided caudal epidural injections.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the incidence of complications of fluoroscopically guided caudal epidural injections. DESIGN: A retrospective cohort design study in which chart review was performed on patients, who presented with radiculopathy and received fluoroscopically guided caudal epidural steroid injections. All injections were performed consecutively over a 12-mo period. An independent observer reviewed medical charts, which included a 24-hr post procedure telephone call by an ambulatory surgery center nurse, who asked a standardized questionnaire about complications after the injections. Physician follow-up office notes 1 to 3 wk after injection along with epidurograms were reviewed. RESULTS: The charts of 139 patients, who received 257 injections, were reviewed. Complications per injection included 12 episodes of insomnia the night of the injection (4.7%), 9 transient nonpositional headaches that resolved within 24 hr (3.5%), 8 increased back pain (3.1%), 6 facial flushing (2.3%), 2 vasovagal reactions (0.8%), 2 episodes of nausea (0.8%), and 1 increased leg pain (0.4%). No dural punctures occurred. CONCLUSIONS: No major complications occurred. The incidence of minor complications was 15.6% per injection. All reactions resolved without morbidity and no patient required hospitalization.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

[Expanding mature pineal teratoma syndrome. Case report].

We present a case of growing teratoma syndrome of the pineal region. To our knowledge, this is the fourth case reported in the literature. A 13-year-old boy was referred for intracranial hypertension and bilateral papillary edema. CT scan showed a pineal region tumor with obstructive hydrocephalus. After CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) shunting, MRI showed that the tumor had a heterogenous signal enhancement. The tumor marker HCG (human chorionic gonadotrophin) was elevated in CSF and serum. After three cycles of chemotherapy, MRI showed an important increase in tumor size with morphologic modifications. However, HCG in CSF and serum returned to normal. Surgical resection was performed and histological examination of the whole specimen showed mature teratoma. On postoperative MRI, there was a small area of signal enhancement of the left thalamus. Radiotherapy was given. The child was in complete remission 15 months after the diagnosis. Growing teratoma syndrome is a mixed germ cell tumor with a secreting portion that responds to chemotherapy and a non secreting portion of mature teratoma that continues to grow under chemotherapy. The treatment should include chemotherapy for the malignant secreting portion and surgery for the mature teratoma.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Anterior screw fixation of odontoid fractures.

BACKGROUND: Anterior screw fixation is the best treatment for odontoid fractures when the fracture line is horizontal or oblique downward and backward, as it preserves atlantoaxial mobility, especially axial rotation. Some details regarding patient positioning and operative technique need to be stressed to obtain the best results and avoid complications. METHODS: Between 1989 and 1997, we treated 17 cases of odontoid fracture by anterior screw fixation. Only two patients presented with motor neurologic deficit. Fracture line was horizontal in 3 cases and oblique downward and backward in 14 cases. RESULTS: Adequate reduction and fixation was obtained in all cases except one, where posterior displacement of the screw occurred without neurologic complications. Functional result was satisfactory in all cases except two, where we noted significant limitation of cervical rotation. CONCLUSION: Successful anterior screw fixation gives the best anatomical and functional results for odontoid fractures. Correct installation is very important for operative success.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Correlation of pseudohypoxemia and leukocytosis in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Pseudohypoxemia has been reported in leukemic patients with extreme leukocytosis, and it is characterized by a low oxygen saturation on arterial blood gas analysis despite normal saturation on pulse oximetry. We report the case of a 51-year-old man with chronic lymphocytic leukemia and an elevated white blood cell (WBC) count after splenectomy, his progressive postoperative pseudohypoxemia gradually improved as the leukocytosis was lowered by chemotherapy. We believe this is the first report to show a statistically significant correlation between the WBC count and the degree of pseudohypoxemia in a patient with leukemia.

Antibiotics, Antineoplastic↗
PubMed1996

The representation of color and form in long-term memory.

Color and form are elementary stimulus encoding dimensions that have effects on the representation of visual stimuli at early processing stages. Little is known, however, about their effects on visual long-term memory. In three experiments we investigated whether color is part of the memory representation, whether color and form are bound in the memory representation, and the effect of color context on memory performance. Experimental results suggest that color is part of the memory representation and that color and form can be represented separately in memory and accessed independently. We suggest that the binding of color and form is a deliberate strategic act that requires focal attention, not a natural consequence of processing visual stimuli. We compare our results with the predictions of two computational memory models regarding feature binding. The effect of color context was not straightforward; however, results are consistent with the encoding specificity principle.

Color Perception↗
PubMed1993

A model for conceptual processing of naturalistic scenes.

Are there fundamental differences in the way in which a list of pictures and a list of words are processed? We report three experiments that examine serial position effects for rapidly-presented naturalistic scenes. The experiments provide a basis for comparison with the U-shaped serial position curve and list-length effect which typically result from verbal learning experiments. In contrast to the U-shaped verbal serial position function, our results show a flat function at the beginning serial positions and a recency effect which is small and limited to the last serial position. There is a set-size effect. Results suggest that the processing leading to a memory representation for visual stimuli such as pictures and linguistic stimuli such as words is qualitatively dissimilar. The findings can be accounted for by a serial processing model whose main parameter is the probability that the subject will switch attention from one picture to the next.

Attention↗
PubMed1992

Coexistent sarcoidosis and HIV infection. A comparison of bronchoalveolar and peripheral blood lymphocytes.

A case of pulmonary sarcoidosis diagnosed in an human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected man is reported. The transbronchial lung biopsy specimen revealed noncaseating granuloma. A comparison of the lymphocyte subsets in both peripheral blood and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid revealed a pattern more typical of HIV infection than of classic sarcoidosis. A course of prednisone led to improvement in symptoms, roentgenographic findings, lung volumes, and diffusion capacity.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Pathologic features of diabetic thick skin.

Skin thickening simulating scleroderma, or progressive systemic sclerosis, has previously been reported in children and adults with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. We have studied eighty-nine patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and twenty-five normal control subjects. Clinical evidence of skin thickening (diabetic thick skin) was found in 22% of patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and in 4% of control subjects (p less than 0.05). Full-thickness skin biopsy specimens were taken from the forearm of nine patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and diabetic thick skin, four patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and clinically normal skin, four patients with progressive systemic sclerosis, and four normal control subjects. The sections stained with hematoxylin and eosin showed increased thickness of the dermis of the forearm skin in all diabetic patients. In diabetic thick skin the collagen bundles were large, disorganized, and separated by clear spaces. Small amounts of acid mucopolysaccharides were present in the upper reticular dermis of five patients with diabetic thick skin. Electron microscopy of the dermis showed capillary basement membrane thickening in Groups 1, 2, and 3. All patients with diabetic thick skin showed active fibroblasts and extensive collagen polymerization in the rough endoplasmic reticulum. Occasional collagen flowers were noted in all patients with diabetic thick skin. Measurements of 100 collagen fibers in the upper and lower reticular dermis of each biopsy specimen showed predominance of large fibers (greater than 60 nm) in Groups 1 and 2. Unlike scleroderma, diabetic thick skin resulted in small fiber sizes (less than 60 nm) only rarely, and bimodality of fiber sizes was not seen.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1981

An epidemiological study of urinary tract infections in Benghazi, Libya.

Two groups of patients comprised 100 males and 100 females were investigated. All patients were more than 15 years of age and presented to the medical outpatient department with urinary tract symptoms. Fifty six male and female patients had no significant bacteriuria despite symptoms similar to those observed in 144 bacteriuric patients. Pyuria was observed in both bacteriuric and non-bacteriuric patients. Escherichia coli was the most common pathogen isolated from clinical specimens and was followed by Proteus sp. and Staph epidermidis. Escherichia coli was the main cause of acute urinary tract infection in adult females, while Proteus sp. caused a significantly greater proportion of symptomatic infections in males. Streptococcus faecalis was isolated only from males, and irrespective of chemotherapy. Infections with Staph epidermidis resembled the coliform ones, especially in the nature and severity of symptoms and in the degree of pyuria. Although E. coli and Proteus sp. were more predominant in our patients a wider range of resistant bacteria was involved. This development of resistance to antibacterial agents may be due to the frequent prescription of these agents by the general practitioners in public health clinics, dispensing of antibiotics by private pharmacies to the general public without medical prescriptions, and the misusage of these antibiotics by the general population.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Serum enzyme changes due to trace amounts of some transition metal ions on the induction of experimental diabetes.

The intravenous injection of zinc chloride immediately before and 15 minutes after alloxan or dithizone prevented the usual hyperglycaemia observed 24 hours after induction of diabetes. The intravenous injection of manganese chloride prevented any marked rise of blood glucose, while chromium and cobalt chlorides lowered the blood glucose level to a certain extent. In alloxan diabetic rats, serum GOT and GPT levels were significantly higher than normal. The serum GOT levels were higher in animals injected with chromium than cobalt, zinc and manganese; while serum GPT levels were higher in cobalt than in chromium, zinc and manganese. In dithizone diabetes, serum GOT and GPT were increased in animals injected with cobalt than chromium, zinc and manganese. Alloxan diabetic rats showed lower serum alkaline phosphatase levels and higher in animals injected with cobalt than chromium, zinc and manganese. For dithizone, there are statistically significant differences in all cases. In alloxan diabetes, coeruloplasmin was higher than normal, while intravenous injection of dithizone was without effect on serum coeruloplasmin.

Alanine Transaminase↗