PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A Wetzel

Publications and source records attributed to A Wetzel.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

[Rehabilitation processes and sustainability: first results of a rehabilitation study of geriatric stroke patients].

A rehabilitation care management oriented towards the severity of the disease, the individual competence and the patient's needs essentially improves the effectivity and the sustainability of inpatient rehabilitation. The Institute of Gerontology of the University of Heidelberg is developing an assessment for elderly stroke patients to optimize placement decision by an early rehabilitation prognosis. Data concerning functional, cognitive and psychological status were collected in 267 patients participating in a postacute rehabilitation program on admission, after two weeks and on discharge and six weeks later. In this article are presented the study design and patients' characteristics during the rehabilitation process. The first assessment at admission gives important information about the sustainability of the ADL-competence after discharge. Severe stroke, premorbid ADL-competence, cognitive impairment, communication problems, depression and higher age were found to be predictors for the outcome of the rehabilitation process.

Aged↗

Controlled subperiosteal tissue expansion to facilitate GBR for the placement of endosseous dental implants.

The success of endosseous dental implants is enhanced when sufficient bone is present to stabilize the implant. If adequate bone for full coverage of the implant is not possible, then the use of guided bone regeneration to regenerate the missing bone has been shown to be a predictable solution. Defect size can often limit the amount of soft tissue available for coverage of the membrane, which is essential in obtaining an optimal result when using regenerative and osseointegrative principles. The treatment philosophy demonstrated in this case report uses controlled subperiosteal tissue expansion to facilitate the incorporation of guided bone regeneration with the subsequent placement of endosseous dental implants. This treatment modality provided a successful treatment for an otherwise compromised case.

Adult↗

Plant biochemistry of xenobiotics: isolation and characterization of a soybean O-glucosyltransferase of DDT metabolism.

The insecticide DDT is metabolized in soybean and wheat cell cultures to the acylglucoside of 2,2-bis-(4-chlorophenyl)-acetic acid (DDA) (M. Arjmand and H. Sandermann, 1985, Pesticide Biochem. Physiol. 23, 389-397). An enzyme catalyzing the conjugation reaction has been highly purified from the soluble enzyme fraction of cultured soybean cells. After the initial ammonium sulfate fractionation, quercetin and pentachlorophenol were preferentially glucosylated. In the course of 367-fold purification, DDA became the preferred substrate. The purified enzyme was unstable. A molecular weight of approximately 50 kDa was estimated for the native enzyme (gel permeation chromatography) as well as the denatured protein (sodium dodecyl sulfate-gel electrophoresis). The isoelectric point for the enzyme was near pH 4.9. Apparent Km values of about 170 microM were determined for UDP-glucose as well as DDA. The maximal velocity was 257 microkat/kg protein, corresponding to a conjugation capacity of 855 micrograms DDA/h/g fresh weight of cells.

Chromatography, Affinity↗

Efficiency of air filter sets for the prevention of airborne infections in laboratory animal houses.

Air filter sets (classes EU6 and EU9, or EU6 and S) were tested for their efficiency in protecting laboratory animals against potential airborne infections. Flexible-film isolators were used as a smaller scale model. In the first experiment, lasting 7 months, it was tested whether minute virus of mice (MVM) was able to penetrate the air filters between one isolator containing experimentally infected mice and another with MVM negative mice. In the second experiment we tested whether microorganisms in the incoming air were able to penetrate air filter sets. To assess this gnotobiotic mice in an isolator were monitored for 9 months for changes of their microbial flora. In both experiments a combination of EU6 and EU9 air filters proved to be sufficient to maintain the microbiological status of the animals. The same combination of medium efficiency filters (EU6 and EU9) is used on the air supply to 4 SPF-barrier units in which infections with MVM occurred repeatedly soon after the initial stocking. After a thorough disinfection no reinfection has been detected to date. This demonstrates that the relatively low efficiency of the air filters was not the cause of the repeated infection. The procedure for disinfection is described.

Air Conditioning↗

[Celiac plexus block. Modeling study using images of computerized tomography].

To determine possible risks of the blind approach to the coeliac plexus, a method for simulating Bridenbaugh's "blind" coeliac plexus block by CT slices and scoutviews was employed. This mathematical simulation of the blind approach to the coeliac plexus was applied to CT images of 50 patients suspected of upper abdominal tumours. This simulation revealed that the following organs would have been punctured inadvertently: Spinal nerves, liver, kidney, aorta, aortic wall, pancreas, lymphomas. The total percentage of misdirected punctures according to this simulation would have been 41%. The importance of the coeliac plexus block in patients with chronic pain is stressed. Literature studies and the results of the present study indicate that CT-guided or ultrasound-guided techniques should be preferred in coeliac plexus block whenever the facilities are available.

Abdominal Neoplasms↗

Calcinogenic activity of vitamin D3 and vitamin D3 palmitate in rat and rabbit.

Experimental hypervitaminosis D was produced in rabbits by feeding 25,000 I.U. vitamin D3 or the corresponding amount of vitamin D3 palmitate per kg of diet. Hypercalcemia and hyperphosphatemia was accompanied by increased CaBP activity and reduced weight gain in the vitamin D3 group as well as in the vitamin D3 ester group. The degree of calcification in the aorta and in the kidney also was similar in both groups. Increasing the vitamin intake by giving 10,000 I.U. vitamin D3 or vitamin D3 palmitate per day resulted in earlier and more widespread calcific deposits. In rats, receiving 50,000 I.U. vitamins D3 or vitamin D3 palmitate per kg of diet, calcification in soft tissue was much less extensive than in rabbits. But again, no difference was seen between vitamin D3 and vitamin D3 palmitate. These results indicate, that vitamin D3 esters are not suitable as a less calcinogenic form of vitamin D3.

Animals↗

Motor effects of cortical stimulation after chronic lesion of medullary pyramid in the dog.

In dogs with unilateral pyramidal lesions the motor cortex on both hemispheres was stimulated under Nembutal anesthesia to study the effects of pyramidotomy upon cortically induced movements. Pyramidal lesions resulted in an almost complete abolition of foretoes flexions and marked reduction of wrist ventriflexions. Other movements were not noticeably affected, except for their increased thresholds. The increase in the thresholds of movements elicited from the affected hemispheres diminished as a function of the length of postoperative survival period, so that 6 mo after pyramidotomy the thresholds on the operated side approximated the values obtained on the normal hemispheres.

Animals↗