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Biomedical subjects

A Louis

Publications and source records attributed to A Louis.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

An incremental algorithm for Z-value computations.

The Z-value (Comput. Chem. 23 (1999) 333) is an extension of the Z-score that is classically used to compare sets of biological sequences. The Z-value has been successfully used to handle complete genome studies as well as analyze large sets of proteins. The Z-value computation is based on a Monte Carlo approach to estimate the statistical significance of a Smith & Waterman alignment score. Comet et al. (Comput. Chem. 23 (1999) 333) have shown that, in contrast to the alignment score, the Z-value largely reduces the bias due to the lengths and compositions of the sequences. They also described an estimator of the deviation of Z-values, that we extend in this paper in order to optimize Z-values computation. The incremental algorithm described here provides two characteristics which are usually incompatible: (i) it improves the accuracy of Z-values calculation; (ii) it reduces the time complexity (this algorithm has been named incremental because it iteratively adds random sequences to the Monte-Carlo process when needed). Results are presented, originating from the all-by-all comparison of the proteins from Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Escherichia coli.

Algorithms↗
PubMed2002

Deciphering Arabidopsis thaliana gene neighborhoods through bibliographic co-citations.

In the framework of genome annotation, scientific literature is obviously the major source of biological knowledge. The aim of the work described in this paper is to exploit this source of data for the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. The first step has consisted in constituting a relevant bibliographic references dataset for plant genomic research. Genes co-citations have then been systematically annotated in this reference dataset, starting from the simple idea that if genes are cited in the same publication, they must probably share some related functional properties. In order to deal with the synonymous gene name problem, a gene name reference list has been constituted starting from A. thaliana SwissProt entries. This list was used to build clusters of co-cited genes by a single linkage procedure such that any gene in a given cluster possesses at least one co-cited partner in the same cluster. Analysis of the clusters demonstrate the biological consistency of this approach, with only very few fortuitous links. As an example, a cluster including genes related to flowering time is more deeply described in the paper. Finally, a graphical representation of each cluster was performed, which provides a convenient way to retrieve the genes (the nodes of the graphs) and the references in which they were co-cited (the edges of the graphs). All the results can be accessed at the URL http://chlora.Igi.infobiogen.fr:1234/bib_arath/.

Arabidopsis↗
PubMed2001

[Excerpts from the eulogy of Jean-Louis Petit presented during the public session of the Royal Academy of Surgery on May 26 1750 by A. Louis].

Jean-Louis Petit (1674-1750) was first enthusiastic about anatomy, received a master's certificate in surgery in Paris in 1700, became a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in 1715, and was named director of the Royal Academy of Surgery by the king when it was created in 1731. He acquired great notoriety because of his skill and experience, thanks to his case reports of hemorrhage, lacrimal fistula, operation on the frenum, for his treatise on bone diseases and especially for his general treatise on surgical operations on which he worked 12 years and which was finished after his death by F.D. Lesne.

Bone Diseases↗
PubMed2001

Clinical Trials Update: CAPRICORN, COPERNICUS, MIRACLE, STAF, RITZ-2, RECOVER and RENAISSANCE and cachexia and cholesterol in heart failure. Highlights of the Scientific Sessions of the American College of Cardiology, 2001.

This is a synopsis of presentations made at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) in 2001 summarising recent research developments relating to heart failure. Clinical studies of particular interest to physicians with an interest in heart failure and its prevention are reviewed. The COPERNICUS trial lends further support to the use of the beta-blocker, carvedilol, in severe heart failure and the CAPRICORN trial to its use in patients with post-infarction left ventricular systolic dysfunction. The MIRACLE study reinforces the evidence from three smaller trials that cardiac resynchronisation therapy is an effective treatment for the relief of symptoms in patients with severe heart failure and cardiac dyssynchrony. The STAF trial casts further doubt on the wisdom of cardioversion as a routine strategy for the management of chronic atrial fibrillation. The RITZ-2 trial suggests that an intravenous, non-selective endothelin antagonist is effective in improving haemodynamics and symptoms and possibly in reducing morbidity in severe heart failure. Observational studies in heart failure suggest that a moderate excess of body fat and elevated blood cholesterol may be desirable in patients with heart failure, challenging the current non-evidenced-based vogue for cholesterol lowering therapy in heart failure. The RENAISSANCE and RECOVER outcome studies of etanercept, a tumour necrosis factor (TNF) receptor analogue that blocks the effect of TNF, were stopped because of lack of evidence of benefit shortly after the ACC.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗
PubMed2001

Massive sequence comparisons as a help in annotating genomic sequences.

An all-by-all comparison of all the publicly available protein sequences from plants has been performed, followed by a clusterization process. Within each of the 1064 resulting clusters-containing sequences that are orthologous as well as paralogous-the sequences have been submitted to a pyramidal classification and their domains delineated by an automated procedure à la. This process provides a means for easily checking for any apparent inconsistency in a cluster, for example, whether one sequence is shorter or longer than the others, one domain is missing, etc. In such cases, the alignment of the DNA sequence of the gene with that of a close homologous protein often reveals (in 10% of the clusters) probable sequencing errors (leading to frameshifts) or probable wrong intron/exon predictions. The composition of the clusters, their pyramidal classifications, and domain decomposition, as well as our comments when appropriate, are available from http://chlora.infobiogen.fr:1234/PHYTOPROT.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2000

[Germain Pichaut de Lamartinière. Eulogy presented to the Royal Academy of Surgery during the public session on April 22, 1784].

G. Pichaut de Lamartinière (1696-1783) accompanied the king during his campaigns and, in 1747, then succeeded La Peyronie as first surgeon to the king and President of the Royal Academy of Surgery. "He devoted his talent as an organizer in favour of surgeons. He did everything to proclaim the independence of surgery and to protect it from the tyranny of the Faculty of Medicine of Paris". He did not leave behind any scientific or academic works.

France↗
PubMed1999

Preparation of the cerebroside sulfate activator (CSAct or saposin B) from human urine.

The purification of cerebroside sulfate activator (CSAct) or saposin B from pooled human urine is described. Urinary proteins are concentrated by ammonium sulfate precipitation. A suspension of the precipitate is heat-treated and the heat-stable proteins are fractionated through a series of chromatographic steps. An initial concanavalin A column retains little of the CSAct activity, but is important for subsequent purification. Passing the Con A effluent directly onto an octyl Sepharose column removes the protein of interest which is recovered by affinity elution with octyl glucoside. Subsequent ion-exchange and gel filtration chromatographies yield a protein of 80-90% purity, although it is sometimes necessary to repeat one or more steps. A small amount of CSAct can sometimes be recovered from the initial Con A Sepharose column by methyl mannoside elution and purified by a parallel chromatographic protocol. Mass spectral analysis suggests that the final material is a mixture of two major and several minor glycoforms of a 79 amino acid protein with the structure predicted from the human prosaposin cDNA by truncation of both N- and C-terminal regions. Sugar analysis revealed the presence of glucosamine, mannose, and fucose, consistent with the major isoforms bearing a five-sugar Man(2)GluNac(2)Fuc or a single GluNac substituent. The human urinary material is similar to the previously characterized pig kidney protein in most respects, but varies in some details.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1999

Drug consumption in workers in France: a comparative study at a 10-year interval (1996 versus 1986).

This study compared drug consumption and associated social factors in workers in France between 1986 and 1996. The same transversal survey was performed in 1986 and 1996 using the same methodology by means of an anonymous questionnaire given to the subject and answered in the presence of an occupational physician. The 1996 population (2674 subjects) was found to be older (37.0 +/- 9.8 versus 35.7 +/-10.2 years) and to take more drugs (+5.1%) than the population of 1986 (2221 subjects). There were fewer manual workers in the 1996 population. In both periods, women used significantly more drugs in general and more psychoactive (mainly anxiolytic), cardiovascular, endocrine metabolic, and homeopathic drugs than men. The mean value of estimated difficulty of work was higher in subjects taking drugs in general, and especially those taking hypnotic, anxiolytic, psychoactive, antiinflammatory, and digestive drugs in 1986 as well in 1996. In 1986 as well as in 1996, manual workers took no more drugs than did nonmanual workers in general, except for analgesic and antiinflammatory drugs. Nonmanual workers used homeopathic drugs more than manual workers. The presence of extraprofessional problems was associated with an increase in consumption of drugs in general and psychoactive, hypnotic, anxiolytic, antiinflammatory, cardiovascular, digestive, and endocrine metabolic drugs in particular, in 1986 as well as in 1996. After adjustment for variables linked to drug use, there was no significant change in total drug consumption in general but a significant decrease in psychoactive (-49%) (mainly hypnotic [-71%]), and digestive (-39%) drug consumption in this population between 1986 and 1996. In contrast, analgesic use significantly increased (+36%). This study underscores the high level of drug consumption in workers (more than 40% of the subjects were taking drugs). Although there were no quantitative changes, marked qualitative modifications were found with a decrease in consumption of psychoactive (and mainly hypnotic) and digestive drugs and an increase in analgesic drug use between 1986 and 1996. Thus, specific drug information programs designed to reduce psychoactive drug consumption and to favor analgesic drugs for better pain management seem to have been (at least partly) followed. The study also underscores the importance of some social factors associated to general and specific drug use (mainly difficulty of work and presence of extraprofessional problems, and to a lesser extent, kind of work). Their weight remained similar in 1986 and 1996.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

The development of the Louis MACRO (Mother and Child Risk Observation) forms: assessing parent-infant-child risk in the presence of maternal mental illness.

OBJECTIVE: The theoretical framework and psychometric properties of the MACRO (Mother and Child Risk Observation) 1 and 2 forms (age 0 to 4 year) are presented. The MACRO forms provide ratings on five domains--three related to parenting, two on infant (or child) characteristics and maternal mental state. Case vignettes illustrate their clinical utility. METHOD: Ratings on the MACRO of 110 mother-infant and 85 mother-toddler consecutive admissions to a South Australian psychiatric in-patient mother-infant unit provided data on internal consistency, interrater, and test-retest reliability. RESULTS: Internal consistency was between .79 and .95 for all MACRO domains. Item-total correlations were between .39 and .90 with the exception of one item. Social Support. Distributions of item scores indicated acceptable discrimination. Interrater reliability was .79 or above for all domains. Test-retest reliability after 7 days was .71 or above. CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary psychometric investigations of the MACRO was favorable. Should further validity investigations prove satisfactory, the MACRO will provide a valuable clinical and research tool. The MACRO offers a convenient framework for assessing risk and interpreting the impact of maternal mental illness upon children within a context that permits consideration of factors such as illness severity, parenting practices, and child contribution to outcome.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

A longitudinal study of psychotropic prescriptions in a teaching nursing home.

This study clarifies the methodological pitfalls of using cross-sectional data to characterize episodic and continuous patterns of prescribing psychotropic medications in nursing homes. Although more than half of the residents in a teaching nursing home received a psychotropic drug during their 5 years of residence, less than one-quarter were continuously medicated. The authors conclude that although the rates of psychotropic prescriptions are an important entry point for concerns about quality and appropriateness of psychotropic administration to older nursing home residents, longitudinal studies including the prescribing pattern, indications, and efficacy are needed to determine more clinically meaningful indicators of quality care.

Aged↗
PubMed1986

Penicillinase-producing Neisseria gonorrhoea as a cause of neonatal and adult ophthalmia.

A retrospective analysis of 80 cases of gonococcal ophthalmia revealed six (7.5%) to be due to penicillinase-producing Neisseria gonorrhoeae (PPNG), five neonatal cases and one adult. All six cases were finally cured, but best results were obtained with topical chloramphenicol and single-dose spectinomycin (40 mg/kg) given intramuscularly. All gonococcal isolates should be tested promptly for penicillinase production, and if this is present systemic treatment, modified to spectinomycin or penicillinase-stable cephalosporin, should be given as single-dose treatment.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Leber's disease and dystonia: a mitochondrial disease.

We studied a kindred in which 8 members had the neuroretinopathy of Leber's disease; 14 had a progressive, generalized dystonia attributed to striatal degeneration; and 1 had both disorders. The mode of inheritance was compatible with maternal transmission. This neurologic disorder may be a mitochondrial disease.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

[Not Available].

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Botany↗
PubMed1982

Clinical and prognostic significance of portohepatic gradient in patients with cirrhosis.

As the clinical significance of hemodynamic parameters remains controversial, the portohepatic gradient has been measured in 89 patients with cirrhosis by a transjugular approach. Relationships between portohepatic gradient and clinical, roentgenologic and prognostic patterns were studied with a maximum follow-up period of 36 months. Portohepatic gradient was not related to the rate of occurrence or rate of recurrence of digestive tract bleeding. Portohepatic gradient was related to the size of esophageal varices, p less than 0.01. Observation of large varices at endoscopy was associated with a higher risk of digestive tract bleeding. Portohepatic gradient was related to the number of portosystemic shunts opacified at portography, p less than 0.01. Portohepatic gradient was found to be related to these aspects of prognosis: the mean portohepatic gradient was higher in patients who died than it was in survivors, p less than 0.05. When patients were separated into two groups according to portohepatic gradient values--greater than or equal to 20.8, less than 20.8 millimeters of mercury--the actuarial survival rate was inversely related to portohepatic gradient at one, p less than 0.02, and at 12, p less than 0.02, months of follow-up study. This relationship could be demonstrated in the entire group of patients with cirrhosis and in the group of patients with digestive tract bleeding. This pattern seemed to be related to the risk of hemorrhage. In groups of patients and within a 24 month observation period, the survival rate was significantly related to the range of portohepatic gradient in each group.

Aged↗