Biomedical subjects

C Markou

Publications and source records attributed to C Markou.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1998

[Voice rehabilitation after total laryngectomy. Voice prostheses or esophageal replacement voice?].

BACKGROUND: During the last years tracheoesophageal fistula has a well established role and in several units is now the principal means of speech rehabilitation following laryngectomy. The purpose of this study is to present the long term results after using the Provox voice prosthesis and to compare the phonetic results obtained with this means of speech rehabilitation with esophageal speech. PATIENTS, METHODS, AND RESULTS: During the last 7 years, 265 laryngectomy patients were trained in our Department in an effort to develop esophageal speech. One hundred and twelve of them developed comprehensive speech of various quality. In another group consisting of 35 patients, a Provox low-resistance, self-retaining prosthesis was fitted. Twenty-nine of them developed a very good voice. Ten patients of each group were tested in order to estimate the quality of voice of the two methods. Three measurements were obtained from each patient: the maximal intensity, the maximal phonation time, and the number of syllables with one breath. CONCLUSION: All the results confirmed the better quality of the tracheo-esophageal speech. The main two advantages of the prosthesis are the effortless speech due to the low resistance of the valve and the simple maintenance by the patient. The most important disadvantage is the cost and the need to occlude the stoma during phonation. Conclusively each method of speech rehabilitation should be selected individually according to the needs, desire, and abilities of every patient.

Adult↗

PubMed1996

Localizing antithrombotic and vasodilatory activity with a novel, ultrafast nitric oxide donor.

Reaction of nitric oxide (NO) with L-proline in methanolic sodium methoxide yields a diazeniumdiolate product, C5H7N3O4Na2.CH3OH (PROLI/NO), that can be stabilized in basic solution but that dissociates to proline (1 mol) and NO (2 mol) with a half-life of only 1.8 s at pH 7.4 and 37 degrees C. This kinetic behavior has allowed the generation of highly localized antiplatelet and vasodilatory effects. By infusing solutions containing 4 microM PROLI/NO in 0.1 M sodium hydroxide at the rate of 1 nmol.min-1 immediately upstream from a polyester vascular graft in the unheparinized baboon circulatory system, for example, platelet deposition at the normally thrombogenic graft surface was substantially reduced relative to controls receiving only 0.1 M sodium hydroxide. In a second study, infusion of PROLI/NO into the right atrium of sheep with induced pulmonary hypertension selectively dilalated the lung vasculature, dose-dependently reducing the pulmonary arterial pressure by as much as 9 mmHg with no observable effect on the systemic arterial pressure at an infusion rate of up to 24 nmol.kg-1.min-1. PROLI/NO could also be formulated as an insoluble polymer blend that released NO smoothly for prolonged periods. The results suggest that localized delivery of diazeniumdiolates such as PROLI/NO which generate NO with extreme rapidity on entering the blood stream may hold considerable promise for inhibition of thrombus formation, selective dilation of the vasculature, and other research and clinical applications.

15-Hydroxy-11 alpha,9 alpha-(epoxymethano)prosta-5↗

PubMed1996

Thyroid function and immune profile in rheumatoid arthritis. A controlled study.

The aim of our study was to determine the prevalence of thyroid dysfunction and autoimmune abnormalities in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to further investigate the possible association between D-penicillamine and autoimmune thyroiditis. For this purpose, one hundred and one unselected consecutive patients with RA and 70 age and sex matched controls were studied prospectively. Evaluation included a complete history and physical examination with special attention to symptoms suggestive of thyroid pathology, routine laboratory and serologic immune profile, plus determination of serum levels of thyroxine (T4), triiodothyronine (T3), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), antibodies to thyroid peroxidase (AbTPO) and TSH receptor antibodies (TRAB). Serum thyroxine binding globulin (TBG) was measured in all subjects with high thyroid hormone levels, whereas free T3 and T4 concentrations were determined in all individuals with abnormal T3, T4, TSH or TBG. Six patients with hyperhyroidism, 3 with hypothyroidism and 1 with the euthyroid hyperthyroxinemia (EH) syndrome were found, whereas four of the controls had hyperthyroidism. Thirteen patients and 6 controls had high AbTPO levels whereas no one had high TRAB. No association was detected between thyroid abnormalities and any serologic RA finding. Furthermore, no correlation between thyroid dysfunction and elevated AbTPO's was found. A relatively high prevalence of thyroid dysfunction (9,9%) and subclinical autoimmune thyroiditis (12,9%), the latter indicated by elevated AbTPO's, was found in our RA patients. These figures were higher than those in the control group (5,7% and 8,6% respectively), but the difference did not reach statistical significance. Of further interest may be our finding that, despite anecdotal reports blaming D-penicillamine for cases of autoimmune thyroiditis, the incidence of the latter was similar among recipients and nonrecipients of the drug. Similarly, TRAB were not detected in any patient treated with D-penicillamine.

Adult↗