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Biomedical subjects

C Normand

Publications and source records attributed to C Normand.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

Cost of surfactant replacement treatment for severe neonatal respiratory distress syndrome: a randomised controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the cost of treating babies with severe respiratory distress syndrome with natural porcine surfactant. DESIGN: Retrospective controlled survey. SETTING: Regional neonatal intensive care unit, Belfast. PATIENTS: 33 Preterm babies with severe respiratory distress syndrome who were enrolled in a European multicentre trial during 1985-7. 19 Babies were treated with surfactant and 14 served as controls. INTERVENTIONS: Treatment with natural porcine surfactant. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Cost associated with surfactant replacement treatment per extra survivor in the treatment group and cost per quality adjusted life year for each extra survivor. RESULTS: Fifteen (79%) of the 19 treated babies and five (36%) of the 14 control babies survived. On average, the control babies required 20 days in hospital compared with 61 days for the treated babies (or 95 [corrected] days per extra survivor in the treatment group). The cost per extra survivor in the treatment group was pounds 13,720, with the cost per quality adjusted life year estimated at pounds 710. CONCLUSION: These costs compare favourably with those of established forms of treatment in adults. Thus surfactant replacement treatment for severe respiratory distress syndrome is fairly inexpensive and cost effective.

Combined Modality Therapy↗
PubMed1986

Long-term maintenance of hepatocyte functional activity in co-culture: requirements for sinusoidal endothelial cells and dexamethasone.

Sinusoidal cells isolated from adult rat liver have been established in primary culture and in cell line. The presence of factor VIII R:Ag and peroxidatic/phagocytosis activities were the criteria used to distinguish in freshly isolated cells the endothelial cells from the Kupffer cells and suggested the endothelial origin of the cell line. Using a co-culture system, the effect of sinusoidal liver cells on hepatocyte functional activity was characterized. A plateau in which the state of differentiation was stabilized could be generated for co-cultured hepatocytes isolated from adult rat and a disappearance of the initial expression of alpha 1-fetoprotein (AFP) and the increase and/or maintenance of albumin secretion were measured with co-cultured hepatocytes isolated from suckling rat. The presence of dexamethasone was required for such beneficial effect. The hepatocyte-stabilizing activity was also produced by a pulmonary endothelial cell line.

Cell Communication↗
PubMed1986

Tumor-like massive thymic hyperplasia in childhood: a possible defect of T-cell maturation, histological and cytoenzymatic studies of three cases.

Contrary to the transitory, enlarged thymic shadow commonly observed in babies, tumor-like Massive Thymic Hyperplasia (MTH) is seldom encountered in infancy and even more rarely in children over 4 years. We present three cases of MTH affecting 10, 5 and 11 years old girls in whom the tremendous enlargement of the thymus (3 to 4 times the normal) led to consideration of a diagnosis of a genuine tumoral process and to either biopsy or surgical removal of the thymic mass. Optical histological examination showed a perfectly normal thymic tissue and indicated that MTH was linked with a simple and homogeneous hyperplasia of the lymphoid cells. Using the dot-like acid alpha-naphtyl acetate esterase (ANAE) as a marker of mature T cells, quantitative and comparative cytoenzymatic studies revealed a definite reduction of ANAE +, mature T cells in the cortical and medullary areas in MTH (p less than or equal to 0.001). These findings suggest that MTH represents an intrathymic accumulation of immature T cells, a condition which may express a failure of cell differentiation perhaps connected with some thymic hormonal insufficiency.

Cell Differentiation↗
PubMed1980

Action of intensive cigarette smoke inhalations on the rat lung. Role of particulate and gaseous cofactors.

The action of high doses of cigarette smoke alone or combined with coal dust or acrolein was investigated in noninbred Sprague-Dawley rats. Inhalation occurred up to six sessions per day (Hamburg machine), the animals being subjected to a treatment with oxygen after each inhalation session to reduce the carbon monoxide level in the blood. The amount of tar found in the lungs depended on the number of inhalation sessions per day rather than on the total number of inhalations. Smoke inhalation caused emphysematous lesions, the extent of which depended on the total dose of smoke inhaled. No lung tumors were observed. Only a hyperplasia of the alveolar lining involving type II alveolar cells and, at a later stage, areas of metaplasia generally limited to the bronchial area were found. The association of coal dust with cigarette smoke did not alter the specific effects of smoke and resulted in effects peculiar to the action of dust: alveolitis of the macrophage type, fibrosis of the reticulin type, limited hyperplasia, and ciliated metaplasia. When smoke was combined with acrolein, the effects due to smoke were not appreciably altered.

Acrolein↗