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Biomedical subjects

C Cramer

Publications and source records attributed to C Cramer.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

[Long-term results of elective percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. A clinico-angiography study of 289 consecutive patients].

289 consecutive patients (255 male, 34 female, 50 +/- 6 years) had an elective single-vessel-PTCA between October 1978 and March 1983. A clinical long-term follow-up was obtained after 4.7 (3-10) years. The PTCA success-rate was 73% with a non steerable balloon catheter being used in 95% of the cases. For 271/289 patients with follow-up (94%), the 56-month-survival rate was 96%, the incidence of non-fatal myocardial infarctions 11%, and the need for a second intervention (PTCA and/or bypass surgery) was 39%. The most favorable long-term outcome was observed in patients without need of a second intervention (97% survival, 7% non-fatal myocardial infarction, 83% without cardiac complaints during everyday life), and in patients with elective bypass surgery after an unsuccessful PTCA (100% survival, 5% myocardial infarction). 32/138 (23%) of patients without a second intervention during follow-up underwent an angiographic control after an average of 4.7 years. In comparison with the first follow-up angiogram 6 months after PTCA, the mean residual stenosis at the PTCA-site showed a slight decrease. It is concluded that PTCA offers good clinical and angio-graphic long-term results in single-vessel disease, with an excellent prognosis of patients without need for a second intervention.

Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary

Preoperative care unit. An alternative to the holding room.

Health care reimbursement practices are contributing to a decreased length of hospital stay. Subsequently, the time frame for surgical preparation has been reduced, and the hospital admission process has been considerably accelerated. The patient admitted the same day of surgery can experience a hurried sequence of events. Within hours the patient is interviewed by admitting department personnel, assessed by medical-surgical unit nursing staff, evaluated by "holding room" nurses, assessed by anesthesia staff, and introduced to the operating room personnel. This rushed environment may lend to a negative surgical experience and increased surgery-related stress. In contrast, establishing a preoperative care unit can increase surgical preparation time alotted to the patient by minimizing the number of personnel involved in the admitting process and decreasing physical transfer of the patient.

Facility Design and Construction

Influence of cation supplements on activity of netilmicin against Pseudomonas aeruginosa in vitro and in vivo.

In vitro studies were performed with 74 Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates which were collected during a multicenter trial. The isolates were obtained from 70 patients who had been treated with netilmicin as the only antipseudomonal antibiotic. Clinically, 83% of the patients were cured or improved, and 64% of the Pseudomonas isolates were eliminated by chemotherapy. The 74 clinical isolates and 38 additional isolates with known mechanisms of aminoglycoside resistance were tested in three separate laboratories by disk diffusion methods and by microdilution tests with three broth media (Mueller-Hinton broth with full, half, and no cation supplements). Isolates that responded to netilmicin therapy and those that failed to respond were all susceptible by the disk test, and most were susceptible by microdilution tests with unsupplemented broth. However, over half of the clinical isolates appeared to be resistant when cations were added to the broth medium. Strains capable of producing enzymes that inactivate netilmicin were resistant by all methods tested. Broth dilution and agar dilution results were most comparable when half of the recommended cation supplements was added to Mueller-Hinton broth. Further consideration should be given to reducing the concentration of cations that are added to Mueller-Hinton broth when netilmicin susceptibility tests are being performed. However, additional studies with other aminoglycosides are needed before appropriate testing conditions can be standardized.

Adult

Actinlike material in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

Actinlike material was obtained from disrupted Pseudomonas aeruginosa cells by a modification of the method of Hancock and Nikaido (J. Bacteriol. 136:381-390) for isolating outer membrane vesicles. Pelleted membranes were dissolved in Laemmli sample buffer and electrophoresed in parallel lanes with purified rabbit skeletal muscle actin. The bacterial preparation migrated similarly to rabbit skeletal muscle actin. A doublet band was detectable by affinity-purified antiactin antibody in a passive transfer immunoblot. Molecular weight of the actinlike protein doublet was 60,000 to 63,000 as determined by linear regression analysis of Bio-Rad low-molecular-weight standards run on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Transmission electron microscopy of the actinlike material in high salt concentrations revealed 10- to 14-nm filaments of various lengths. Despite its ability to form filaments and to react with a polyclonal rabbit antiactin antibody, the bacterial filaments did not bind the S-1 fragment of heavy meromyosin.

Actins

Pseudomonas aeruginosa induced ocular infection. A histological comparison of two bacterial strains of different virulence.

The purpose of this study was to compare and characterize histopathologically the virulence of two bacterial strains in a naturally susceptible animal host. One of the strains Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 19660, routinely used in this laboratory, produces endopthalmitis and phthisis bulbi in C57BL/6 mice within 3-4 weeks. The other bacterial strain, a clinical isolate from a 70-year-old patient with Pseudomonas corneal infection was found to be less virulent in the patient and thus was examined for virulence in the susceptible mouse model. The strain also proved to be less virulent in the normally susceptible mouse when compared with ATCC 19660. In general, when comparing the histopathological response of the mice to the two bacterial strains, it was found that in contrast to ATCC 19660, fewer polymorphonuclear neutrophils migrated into the cornea at 24-72 h, endothelial and epithelial necrosis was delayed, few free bacteria were observed in the cornea and animals recovered corneal clarity by 21-25 days following infection.

Animals

Regulatory mutants at the his1 locus of yeast.

The his1 gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae codes for phosphoribosyl transferase, an allosteric enzyme that catalyzes the initial step in histidine biosynthesis. Mutants that specifically alter the feedback regulatory function were isolated by selecting his1 prototrophic revertants that overproduce and excrete histidine. The prototrophs were obtained from diploids homoallelic for his1--7 and heterozygous for the flanking markers thr3 and arg6. Among six independently derived mutant isolates, three distinct levels of histidine excretion were detected. The mutants were shown to be second-site alterations mapping at the his1 locus by recovery of the original auxotrophic parental alleles. The double mutants, HIS1--7e, are dominant with respect to catalytic function but recessive in regulatory function. When removed from this his1--7 background, the mutant regulatory site (HIS1-e) still confers prototrophy but not histidine excretion. To yield the excretion phenotype, the primary and altered secondary sites are required in cis array. Differences in histidine excretion levels correlate with resistance to the histidine analogue, triazoalanine.

Alleles

Effect of melatonin on the basal and stimulated gonadotropin levels in normal men and postmenopausal women.

The effect of melatonin on LH and FSH secretion in basal conditions and after stimulation with synthetic LHRH was studied in 3 volunteer normal men and 3 women two to five years after menopause. During the first three days of study, blood samples were obtained at 8 AM. On the second day, an iv injection of 50 mug LHRH was performed; on the third day, 2 ml of 0.9% saline were injected. In both cases, blood samples were obtained 30 and 60 minutes after the injection. On the fourth day, the subjects began melatonin (10 mg daily im for 13 days). Blood samples at 8 AM were obtained after 5, 11, and 13 days of administration of the drug. On days 5 and 11 of the treatment, iv injections of 50 mug LHRH were performed and on day 13 an iv injection of saline 0.9% was given. Blood samples were obtained 30 and 60 minutes after each injection. In each sample LH and FSH levels were determined by radioimmunoassay. Melatonin treatment did not cause any significant change in basal or post-stimulation LH and FSH levels either in men or in post-menopausal women. These results do not support previous findings of an insults do not support previous findings of an inhibitory effect of melatonin on gonadotropin secretion, even with the same dose as the one used in this study. Further studies with higher doses of melatonin are needed to clarify the action of this drug on gonadotropin secretion.

Adult