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Biomedical subjects

A López Gil

Publications and source records attributed to A López Gil.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

[Toxic megacolon presenting as Crohn's disease].

We introduce a young patient, without history of inflammatory bowel disease (I.B.D.) who started with an acute gastroenteritis, which in the following days progressed to a toxic megacolon. The patient had come to hospital with nausea, vomiting, fever and liquid, explosive diarrhoea without pathologic products. There was no clinical remission with astringent diet, hydroelectrolitic reposition and antidiarrheic opiates. The patient was admitted in hospital when he had blood in the diarrhoea. This progressed to a toxic megacolon in three days and the patient had to be operated on urgently. The surgeons found perforations in the colon and the pathologists diagnosed Crohn disease. Even without previous E.B.D. history we reached the diagnosis from the clinical and analytical data and the plain abdominal radiology. It was impossible to confirm the diagnosis with a colonoscopy because of the high risk of perforation. In cases like this, early surgery may save the life of the patient.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

[Bacteremia during the course of Salmonella gastroenteritis].

OBJECTIVE: Salmonella is the most frequent cause of bacterial acute gastroenteritis (AGE) in our setting. Usually its course is self-limited, but it sometimes can lead to bacteremia, principally in young infants and malnourished or immunosuppressed children. Bacteremia is less frequent in healthy people and in those over one year of age. This study was carried out to assess the incidence of bacteremia during Salmonella GE and to detect parameters that could lead to bacteremia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective study of positive stool cultures in our hospital between 1991 and 1993 was performed. Data about the epidemiology, clinical features cultures and analytical procedures were drawn from clinical records. Data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney test and Fisher's exact test. RESULTS: During this period of time, 860 cases of AGE were observed with 86 stool cultures positive for Salmonella (10%). Six of them also had positive blood cultures (7%). All 6 patients with bacteremia were healthy previously and five were over 12 months old. The outcome was good in all cases, without focalizations of the bacteremia. We could not detect any differences between patients with positive blood cultures and the patients without bacteremia. CONCLUSIONS: Bacteremia during Salmonella AGE is not infrequent and is not limited to young infants or patients with underlying diseases. None of the parameters analyzed were useful in predicting the possibility of bacteremia.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Ultrastructural study of the distribution of calcium in the pineal gland of the rat subjected to manipulation of the photoperiod.

Using the pyroantimoniate technique, a study was conducted at electron microscope level on the distribution of the calcium ion in the pineal glands of normal adult Sprague-Dawley rats with initial weights of 150-200 g subjected to a 12:12 light dark cycle and others under the same conditions were subjected to modifications in the noradrenergic signal, such as continuous illumination over 7 days, blinding by bilateral enucleation (7 or 90 days) before sacrifice and bilateral superior cervical gangliectomy at 21 days before sacrifice. All the animals were sacrificed by decapitation, half of them at midday and the other half at midnight. Abundant fine precipitations of calcium were found in the intercellular spaces of the pineal glands of the normal rats. By contrast, in the gangliectomized animals subjected to constant illumination and chronic binding these precipitations were few in number. Additionally, two types of pinealocytes were observed regarding the distribution and concentration of intracytoplasmic calcium in both the normal and experimentally manipulated animals. Type I correspond to the classic light pinealocytes, with an absence of intracytoplasmic precipitations, although in the normal and gangliectomized animals sacrificed at midnight it was possible to observe fine deposits inside the mitochondrial matrix. Type II correspond to the classic dark pinealocytes, with a dense cytoplasmic matrix and numerous deposits of intracytoplasmic and intranuclear calcium; these were never seen in the type I pinealocytes.

Adrenergic Fibers↗
PubMed1989

Biochemical and ultrastructural approaches to the onset of the pineal melatonin rhythm in the rat.

To determine the pineal gland content of melatonin during rat development and the onset of the circadian rhythm, a biochemical and ultrastructural experimental model was designed. Body and pineal gland weights and DNA and protein contents of the pineal glands increased rapidly during ontogenic development. No significant differences in the values of these parameters were observed when the data were obtained during the day or at night. Pineal melatonin content as expressed by pineal gland or by micrograms of DNA, was very small in 21-day-old fetuses and 5- and 10-day-old suckling rats and the values determined were similar for both day and night. However, in 20-day-old suckling and adult rats higher melatonin concentrations and significant differences between the values obtained during the day and at night were observed. The onset of the circadian melatonin rhythm coincided with the time at which the components involved in melatonin synthesis reached adult levels and pinealocytes adopted an adult morphological appearance as observed with the electron microscope. These results indicate that the appearance of a circadian melatonin rhythm in the rat pineal gland is delayed until the end of the suckling period, although the transfer of melatonin from the mother to the pups may be important for postnatal reproductive and somatic development.

Animals↗