Biomedical subjects

C Knauer

Publications and source records attributed to C Knauer.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

[Blindness in Germany--today and in 2030].

Due to demographic developments in Germany, it is inevitable that the number of age-related diseases will grow. The aim of this survey is to forecast the extent of this development in ophthalmology. How many people will be blind or visually impaired in 25 years from now? According to the German Federation of Blind and Visually Impaired People, the number of blind people in Germany is about 145,000 and the number of the partially sighted people can be estimated at approximately 500,000. These figures are based on the legal definitions of blindness and visual impairment, which are stricter in Germany than in other countries. Due to the ageing population, there will be one third more blind people and about 60% more new cases of blindness in 25 years time. In particular, the incidence rate of blindness due to age-related macular degeneration will rise sharply, but the number of blind people and new cases of blindness are only the top of the "iceberg". The number of people suffering from age related eye diseases in future will be even larger. This large number of future patients already should be part of health economic considerations.

Age Distribution↗

PubMed2004

Morphometric relationships between tooth and face shapes.

The shape of a patient's face is commonly used as a reference to select the shape of the maxillary central incisors in edentulous patients. The validity of this relationship has not been proved. The objective of this clinical study was to determine whether a relationship exists between maxillary central incisors and face shapes. Casts were made of the maxillas of 50 men and 50 women. A standardized digital photographic procedure was used to record frontal views of each subject's face and of the maxillary central incisors of the dental casts. The shapes of the maxillary central incisors were compared with the face forms. Shape matches were evaluated according to their Hausdorff distance (HDD). The function h(A,B) is called the directed HDD from shape A to shape B (this function is not a true distance). It reflects the distance of the point of shape A that is farthest from any point of shape B and vice versa. The similarity of both shapes is given as a non-negative number. The value 0.0 indicates that the figures are identical (after scaling and shifting). Higher values indicate that shapes differ more substantially. Significant differences on the 5% level were calculated using the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests. The face shape from the chin margin to the eyebrow line (superior edges of the eyebrows) produced a better match than the one from the chin to the hairline (P < 0.0001). On average, the maxillary central incisors displayed a variability (0.084 +/- 0.028) that was higher by a factor of 1.9 than the face shapes (chin margin to the eyebrow line, 0.045 +/- 0.015). In the interindividual comparison, the shapes of the maxillary central incisors of women displayed a significantly smaller HDD than the ones of the men (P < 0.0001).

Adolescent↗

PubMed1997

Distinct loci mediate the direct and indirect actions of the anesthetic etomidate at GABA(A) receptors.

Most general anesthetics produce two distinct actions at GABA(A) receptors. Thus, these drugs augment GABA-gated chloride currents (referred to as an indirect action) and, at higher concentrations, elicit chloride currents in the absence of GABA (referred to as a direct action). Because a beta subunit appears to be required for the direct action of intravenous anesthetics in recombinant GABA(A) receptors, site-directed mutagenesis of the beta3 subunit was performed to identify amino acid residues that are critical for this action. In HEK293 cells expressing a prototypical GABA(A) receptor composed of alpha1beta3gamma2 subunits, mutation of amino acid 290 from Asn to Ser dramatically reduced both etomidate-induced chloride currents and its ability to stimulate [3H]flunitrazepam binding. By contrast, the ability of etomidate to augment GABA-gated chloride currents and GABA-enhanced [3H]flunitrazepam binding was retained. The demonstration that the direct, but not the indirect, actions of etomidate are dependent on beta3(Asn290) indicates that the dual actions of this intravenous anesthetic at GABA(A) receptors are mediated via distinct loci.

Anesthetics, Intravenous↗

PubMed1996

Social support and patterns of adjustment to breast cancer.

The effect of marital support and support from other adults on the emotional and physical adjustment of 128 women with breast cancer was examined. Role function and satisfaction with health care also were evaluated as predictors of adjustment. Intact data series were obtained at 7-10 days, at 1, 2, 3, and 6 months, and 1 year postsurgery. Emotional adjustment could be predicted by satisfaction with a spouse's response to interactional and emotional needs and by support from other adults. The relationships were significant at concurrent times, across contiguous times, and predicting from the 7-10 day postsurgical period to both the 6-month and 1-year end points. Physical adjustment was not predicted by support but satisfaction with health care was predictive of perceived overall health status. Functional status in vocational, domestic, and social roles was significantly related to emotional and physical adjustment at all phases with few exceptions.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1990

Axillary lymphadenectomy. A prospective, randomized trial of 13 factors influencing drainage, including early or delayed arm mobilization.

Greater amount and duration of postoperative wound drainage after lymphadenectomy impede healing. We evaluated the influence of early vs delayed initiation of shoulder mobilization on postoperative drainage. Fifty-seven women with clinical stage I or II breast cancer were randomized to either early (postoperative day 2) or delayed (postoperative day 5) shoulder motion. Early vs delayed time of exercise initiation had no effect on total amount or duration of drainage, either as an inpatient or outpatient. The two groups were determined to be homogeneous as to age, breast size, weight, height, obesity, previous biopsy, excision of pectoralis minor, excision of thoracodorsal complex, level of axillary dissection, total number of lymph nodes, number of positive lymph nodes, lymphatic vessel invasion (with negative lymph nodes), and whether the dominant hand was on the side operated on. The two factors predicting greater drainage were large numbers of positive lymph nodes and no previous surgical biopsy (as in one-step procedure).

Arm↗