Biomedical subjects

A Zucker

Publications and source records attributed to A Zucker.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Medical ethics as therapy.

In this paper, the author examines a style of teaching for a medical ethics course designed for medical students in their clinical years, a style that some believe conflicts with a commitment to analytic philosophy. The author discusses (1) why some find a conflict, (2) why there really is no conflict, and (3) the approach to medical ethics through narratives. The author will also argue that basing medical ethics on the use of narratives has problems and dangers not fully discussed in the literature.

Clinical Clerkship↗

PubMed2001

Analysis of laboratory data in acne patients treated with isotretinoin: is there really a need to perform routine laboratory tests?

INTRODUCTION: Isotretinoin has been used to treat acne since 1982. Its current indications in the package insert are limited and many physicians still feel uncomfortable prescribing it because of its side effects. Serum levels of liver enzymes and lipids are carried out as a routine in most clinics both before and during treatment. AIMS: Our objective was to evaluate the effect of isotretinoin on serum lipids, liver function and other laboratory parameters in order to assess the necessity to perform routine laboratory tests. METHODS: Computerized medical files of 1292 patients in private practice that received isotretinoin for acne were analyzed. RESULTS: 907 patients completed a treatment course of 5 to 9 months. Serum levels of liver enzymes were not elevated to a degree necessitating discontinuation of treatment. Only 1.5% of the patients had serum triglyceride levels above 400 mg%. No laboratory abnormalities were a cause for discontinuation of treatment. During a 6-year follow up only 3.5% of patients received a second course of therapy with isotretinoin. CONCLUSIONS: Aside from its teratogenic effect, isotretinoin is a safe and excellent drug for acne therapy. It should be prescribed for any inflammatory acne and in our opinion there is no need for a routine laboratory follow-up in young, healthy patients aside from a pregnancy test in females. At present, isotretinoin should be considered as the drug of choice for moderate to severe acne.

Acne Vulgaris↗

PubMed2000

Bribery and extortion: can restaurants help?

Examples of tipping suggest that the distinction between tipping, bribery and extortion can be questioned. Some well known ideas about bribery will not work if extended to tipping and, indeed, these analyses may founder whether or not tipping, bribery and extortion merge. I suggest that more case study analysis as well as a discussion of the relationship between character and actions are needed.

Ethics↗

PubMed1998

Death and language: some comments on Haussamen.

Brock Haussamen argues inventively that there are features of language that are the source of our belief in an afterlife, that something deep about language prevents us from talking about the dead as if they are really dead. He speaks of "language as forcing." In this response to Haussamen's article, the author attempts to show that Haussamen's arguments and examples are not strong enough to make his point. The major suggestion is that there is more to the "deep structure" of language than Haussamen has assumed. Once this is realized, it is easier to see that it is we who choose to speak of the dead as we do. It is we who choose to believe in an afterlife. Language does no forcing.

Attitude to Death↗

PubMed1996

Hyperbaric oxygenation upregulates rat lung Na,K-ATPase.

Exposure of rats to hyperoxia is associated with increased active Na+ transport in rat lungs and increased Na,K-adenosine triphosphate (ATPase) expression in alveolar epithelial cells. Hyperbaric oxygenation (HBO) has been reported to act as an accelerated model of hyperoxic cell damage. Sublethal and intermittent exposure to HBO, however, has been suggested to upregulate endogenous protective mechanisms. In the present study, we tested whether short-term HBO, prior to inducing lung injury, would upregulate lung Na,K-ATPase. The results show that HBO, either intermittent or single 2.5 h exposure, increased lung Na,K-ATPase alpha-1 and beta-1 messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) transcript levels up to fourfold. Na,K-ATPase activity in lungs of rats exposed to HBO increased twofold during the first 2 h following removal from the hyperbaric chamber, and remained elevated for up to 6 h following HBO. Conceivably, the increase in Na,K-ATPase activity following HBO is due to an increase in activity from a basal to a higher rate, or possibly due to recruitment/translocation of Na,K-ATPases from inner membranes to the plasma membrane.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed1993

Chapman's reflexes: medicine or metaphysics?

Clinical medicine is a pragmatic discipline. Because of its aim to alleviate pain and suffering as well as to foster well-being, its practitioners can be lulled into thinking that there are times when basic science is irrelevant to the practice of medicine. This attitude is evaluated by comparing a 19th century medical curiosity, the nasogenital reflex, to a set of reflexes, the little used and little known Chapman's reflexes. We must always attempt to substantiate the principles of clinical medicine.

Female↗

PubMed1992

Baby marrow: ethicists and privacy.

A family had a child in large part to use its marrow in the hopes of saving the life of an older child afflicted with leukaemia. Public response from medical ethicists was negative. This paper argues that what the family did was not clearly wrong and that the ethicists should not have made public pronouncements calling the morals of the family into question.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1990

Zona pellucida-binding of boar sperm acrosin is associated with the N-terminal peptide of the acrosin B-chain (heavy chain).

Recently, it has been shown that boar acrosin exhibits a carbohydrate-binding activity with a specificity to fucose, by which it can bind to the oocyte zona pellucida. By limited autoproteolysis of a high-molecular mass acrosin (55/53 kDa), designated as alpha-acrosin, a 15 kDa fragment was generated which interacts strongly with the porcine zona pellucida. Zona-binding was demonstrated on protein blots and by the solid-phase zona-binding assay utilizing biotinylated zona proteins. The zona-binding peptide was isolated by reversed-phase HPLC and analyzed for amino acid sequence. Its single N-terminal sequence corresponded to that of the acrosin B-chain (heavy chain). These data indicate that the zona-binding properties of acrosin are associated with the N-terminal peptide of the acrosin heavy chain.

Acrosin↗

PubMed1990

Cell biology of acrosomal proteins.

Acrosin is a multifunctional enzyme combining several functional properties within a single molecule: the catalytic triad of the proteinase, hydrophobic domains responsible for the special membrane-associating character of the enzyme and the carbohydrate binding sites by which the molecule can bind to the zona pellucida. Acrosin occurs in the sperm acrosome as an inactive precursor, proacrosin, with a molecular mass of 53-55 kDa. Proacrosin is activated by a single proteolytic clip between Arg23 and Val24 generating the high molecular mass acrosin. The activation of proacrosin to the biologically active enzyme which occurs concomitantly with the acrosome reaction appears to be regulated on and by the zona pellucida. It is hypothesized that alternating cycles of binding to the zona, digestion of the zona and release from the zona together with the forward motility of the spermatozoon would be required to achieve penetration.

Acrosin↗

PubMed1990

Is sperminogen a modified proacrosin? Isolation, purification, and partial characterization of low-molecular-mass boar proacrosin.

Low-molecular-mass zymogen was extracted from boar spermatozoa together with proacrosin using 10% acetic acid supplemented with 10% glycerol, and was purified by the sequential use of gel filtration on Sephadex G-75 and (FPLC) reversed-phase chromatography. LMM zymogen represented approximately 5% of the latent trypsin-like activity present in the sperm extract. SDS-PAGE indicated a molecular mass of 33 kDa. The zymogen reacted with both mouse monoclonal and rabbit polyclonal antibodies to boar acrosin. Determination of the N-terminal sequence of 34 amino-acid residues revealed its identity with the known N-terminal sequence of boar proacrosin.

Acrosin↗

PubMed1989

Bioethics laws.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Bioethics↗

PubMed1988

Freud, Fliess, and the nasogenital reflex: did a look into the nose let us see the mind?

Wilhelm Fliess, a Berlin nose and throat surgeon, and Sigmund Freud, the father of psychoanalysis, collaborated to treat one of Freud's earliest patients, Emma Eckstein. The basis for the treatment was their belief in the "Nasogenital Reflex," a widely accepted theory that has disappeared from the literature of otolaryngology. The outcome of Emma's treatment may have profoundly altered the history of psychiatry, by suggesting the role of the unconscious and the existence of the Oedipus complex.

Austria↗

PubMed1987

Moral issues arising from genetics.

Gene therapy, pre-natal diagnosis, genetically altered bacteria, patenting new life forms: these are all outgrowths from the development of genetics. Our focus will be on the moral issues engendered by some of the genetic techniques which are now so well integrated into clinical medicine. The section on genetic counseling is meant to show the most frequent moral problems encountered as they might really occur. Genetic screening is presented as a mix of preventive medicine and aid for genetic counseling. Genetic engineering is discussed in the context of evolution and human needs and desires.

DNA, Recombinant↗

PubMed1986