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Biomedical subjects

B Bagheri

Publications and source records attributed to B Bagheri.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Systemic antifungal therapy.

Systemic antifungal therapy for superficial mycoses has advanced greatly since the introduction of griseofulvin in 1958. The discovery of the azole antifungal compounds, ketoconazole, itraconazole, and fluconazole, allowed for a broader spectrum of treatment and a shorter treatment duration. Terbinafine, through a unique mechanism of action, has a fungicidal power not seen previously in the other antifungals. It is important to use our knowledge of the pharmacology in combination with clinical experience and cost of therapy in order to select the proper drug. The search to identify new oral antifungal agents should continue, since none of the five currently used drugs fulfill the criteria of the "ideal" antifungal.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed2000

TCR Vbeta expression in the small bowel of patients with dermatitis herpetiformis and gluten sensitive enteropathy. Limited expression in dermatitis herpetiformis and treated asymptomatic gluten sensitive enteropathy.

Dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) is a blistering skin disease characterized by cutaneous deposits of IgA and an associated, most often asymptomatic, gluten sensitive enteropathy (GSE). Gluten sensitive enteropathy is also seen in patients that do not have skin disease or cutaneous IgA deposits, but do have significant gastrointestinal (GI) complaints. Patients with DH and with GSE without skin disease have similar small bowel morphologic changes and HLA associations and both the skin disease and the GI symptoms can be controlled by a gluten free diet. It is not known what factors allow almost all patients with DH to continue to eat gluten and not develop symptomatic gastrointestinal disease. We have examined the expression of the Vbeta T-cell receptor (TCR) in the small bowel of patients with DH (n=11) and of patients with both symptomatic (n=10) and asymptomatic (n=7) GSE without skin disease to determine if differences in the pattern of TCR Vbeta expression are associated with differences in the clinical manifestations of these diseases. TCR Vbeta expression was analyzed using RT-PCR from small bowel biopsies. Patients with DH and those with GSE without skin disease that were on a gluten free diet and asymptomatic were found to express 6.6 and 5.6 out of 20 Vbeta families respectively, with no single family preference. Examination of peripheral blood lymphocytes from these patients did not reveal any restriction of TCR Vbeta family expression. In contrast, patients with symptomatic GSE expressed 12.6 Vbeta families (P< 0.05), with no consistent preferential expression of any single Vbeta family between patients. Patients with DH, who are continuing to ingest wheat, show a more restricted pattern of TCR Vbeta utilization, similar to that of treated patients with GSE without skin disease, and significantly different from GSE without skin disease patients eating gluten. These findings suggest that the restricted nature of the TCR Vbeta expression may play a role in the different clinical manifestations of dermatitis herpetiformis and isolated gluten sensitive enteropathy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Expression of interleukin-4 and interferon-gamma in the small bowel of patients with dermatitis herpetiformis and isolated gluten-sensitive enteropathy.

Although possessing a morphologically similar small bowel abnormality to patients with isolated gluten-sensitive enteropathy (GSE), patients with dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) have few gastrointestinal symptoms and exhibit blistering skin lesions and cutaneous IgA deposits. To determine whether clinical discrepancies between these gluten-sensitive conditions might be the result of different patterns of small bowel cytokine expression, duodenal biopsies were obtained from eight DH patients and nine isolated GSE patients. Biopsies were evaluated for interleukin-4 (IL-4) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) expression by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (message) and immunohistochemistry (protein). In DH patients, most of whom had no gut symptoms, IFN-gamma mRNA expression was significantly less than in isolated GSE patients with symptomatic gut disease. Conversely, IL-4 mRNA expression in DH patients was greater than that found among isolated GSE patients. These findings suggest that the different clinical phenotypes of gluten sensitivity may be caused by variation in cytokine expression in the small bowel response to gluten.

Biopsy↗
PubMed1997

Utility of stress single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) perfusion imaging in predicting outcome after coronary artery bypass grafting.

Previous studies have examined the predictors of outcome in medically treated patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). There is limited information on predictors of outcome after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). This study examined the predictors of outcome of 255 patients with CAD, at a mean time of 5 years after CABG for angina pectoris. The 255 patients underwent coronary angiography and stress single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) myocardial perfusion imaging after CABG. During a mean follow-up of 41 +/- 28 months after stress testing, there were 34 hard events (24 cardiac deaths and 10 nonfatal myocardial infarctions). The hemodynamics during stress testing, and age and gender were not predictors of events. The SPECT variables of multivessel perfusion abnormality, perfusion deficit size, and increased lung thallium uptake were predictors of death and total events by uni- and multivariate survival analysis. There were 14 events in 45 patients (31%) with multivessel abnormality and increased lung thallium uptake, 14 events in 101 patients (14%) with either multivessel abnormality or increased lung uptake, and 6 events in 109 patients (6%) with neither of these 2 variables (p = 0.0001). The annual mortality and total event rates were 7.5% and 9.5% with both variables, 3.4% and 4.3% with either variable, and 0.6% and 1.7% with neither of the variables (p = 0.01). Thus, stress SPECT perfusion imaging is useful to stratify patients after CABG into low, intermediate, and high risk groups for future cardiac events.

Adenosine↗
PubMed1997

Prediction of outcome of patients with life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias treated with automatic implantable cardioverter-defibrillators using SPECT perfusion imaging.

BACKGROUND: In the present study, we examined the predictors of outcome of 103 patients with coronary artery disease and left ventricular dysfunction who had life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias and were treated with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators with the use of single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). METHODS AND RESULTS: During a mean follow-up of 29 months, there were 29 cardiac deaths. In comparison with patients who died, survivors had less diabetes mellitus (45% versus 19%, P < .007), higher left ventricular ejection fraction (23 +/- 9% versus 27 +/- 11%, P = .04), and fewer perfusion defects as determined with stress SPECT (15 +/- 5 versus 12 +/- 5, P < .004). Most of the perfusion defects were fixed, indicative of scarring; the extent of reversible defects did not differ (2 +/- 3 in survivors and 3 +/- 4 in nonsurvivors). Multivariate Cox survival analysis identified the number of fixed defects as the only independent predictor of death (chi 2 = 10, P = .002). There were six deaths among 42 patients (14%) with < 8 fixed defects compared with 23 deaths among 61 patients (38%) with > or = 8 defects (P = .005). The 4-year survival was better in patients with < 8 segmental fixed defects than in those with > or = 8 fixed defects (80% versus 36%) (chi 2 = 8, P = .005). CONCLUSIONS: The myocardial perfusion pattern is an important determinant of outcome in patients with life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias who are treated with a implantable cardioverter-defibrillator. The extent of scarring separates patients into high- and low-risk groups with a 2.7-fold difference in death rate.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Prognostic value of stress myocardial perfusion single photon emission computed tomography imaging in patients with left ventricular bundle branch block.

BACKGROUND: Left bundle branch block (LBBB) may occur with or without structural heart disease. In patients with coronary artery disease the presence of LBBB is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events. METHODS AND RESULTS: This study examined the outcome of 293 medically treated patients with LBBB and symptoms who were undergoing stress thallium-201 single photon emission computed tomography imaging. One hundred seventy-three men and 120 women with an age range of 67 +/- 9 years and a pretest probability of coronary artery disease of 77% +/- 28% were studied. During a mean follow-up of 33 months 58 hard cardiac events (death or nonfatal myocardial infarction) and 112 total events (hard events, coronary angioplasty, coronary bypass surgery, or cardiac transplantation) occurred. Univariate and multivariate Cox survival analysis with clinical, stress, hemodynamic, and single photon emission computed tomography variables identified the perfusion defect size (chi square = 27, p = 0.0001) and increased lung thallium uptake as the most important independent predictors of hard or total cardiac events. The hard event-free survival rate was 91% in patients with no or small defects (<15% of left ventricular myocardium) and 72% in patients with large defects (p = 0.0001, RR = 3.2, 95% CI 1.7 to 5.9). The total event-free survival rate was 81% in patients with small defects and 48% in patients with large defects (p = 0.0001, RR = 2.7, 95% CI 1.9 to 4.0). The total event rate was 54% in patients with large perfusion defects and increased lung uptake and 17% in patients with no or small abnormality and normal lung thallium uptake (p = 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Single photon emission computed tomography perfusion imaging is useful in predicting outcome in patients with LBBB and intermediate pretest probability of coronary artery disease. The size of perfusion abnormality and lung thallium uptake stratified patients into high and low risk groups with a threefold difference in hard and total cardiac events.

Aged↗