Biomedical subjects
C Pinto
Publications and source records attributed to C Pinto.
Helping kids quit. Hospitals offer smoking cessation programs for teens.
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1998 construction design survey.
Healthcare construction and design firms are discovering new worlds of opportunity--some domestic, some international and some unconventional. Emergency room renovation and construction work is drawing more attention, as are overseas projects and facilities designed with alternative medicine in mind. The number of projects rose 11% in 1997, but the overall cost of completed projects stayed flat compared with the previous year.
Embracing change. The only thing you can count on in healthcare is that nothing will stay the same.
From more woes for managed-care firms to continued hospital mergers, particularly among not-for-profits, the staff of Modern Healthcare makes its predictions for the healthcare industry in the new year. And--which should come as no surprise to seasoned executives--1998 should turn out to be memorable, possibly invigorating and most certainly full of change.
Measurement of glutamine and glutamate by capillary electrophoresis and laser induced fluorescence detection in cerebrospinal fluid of meningitis sick children.
OBJECTIVES: Cerebrospinal fluid glutamine and glutamate concentrations were measured by CZE-LIFD in normal and meningitis sick children. DESIGN AND METHODS: A derivatization procedure for glutamine was optimized using CZE-LIFD. Cytochemical and bacteriological analysis were made to 152 CSF from children suspicious of suffering meningitis. RESULTS: CSF-glutamine concentration was lower in children with viral and bacterial meningitis. In addition, the group infected with Haemophilus influenzae had the lowest concentrations. By contrast, glutamate concentration was higher in children with meningitis. Glutamine concentration increased as the clinical condition of the patient improved. CONCLUSIONS: Lower concentrations of glutamine in children with bacterial meningitis might be due to the use of this amino acid for bacterial growth while higher concentrations of glutamate might be due to cell destruction. The results indicate that CZE-LIFD is an alternative tool for the determination of amino acids in CSF.
Neuroleptic malignant syndrome.
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["White-coat hypertension": variation of normality or of hypertension?].
INTRODUCTION: Previous studies have demonstrated a high prevalence of "white coat" hypertension (20%), but it is still controversial if it implies an increase in cardiovascular risk. PATIENTS: Between 1992 and 95 we prospectively studied 175 untreated hypertensive patients aged over 18 years (V Joint National Committee's stage I-II), and 91 controls. DESIGN AND METHODS: The subjects were submitted to clinical evaluation, ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, 24-hour Holter monitoring, signal-averaged ECG, echocardiography/Doppler and ergometry. "White coat" hypertension was defined as mean daytime (6.00-22.00 H) ambulatory blood pressure < 136/87 mm Hg (males) and < 131/86 mm Hg (females). RESULTS: "White coat" hypertension was present in 29 patients (18%). "White coat" hypertension patients had an identical prevalence of smoking, family history of cardiovascular disease, abnormal ECG and retinopathy (> Keith-Wagener II) as patients with daytime hypertension. Ambulatory blood pressure values (24 hour, 6.00-22.00 h, 22.00-6.00 h, sleep, blood pressure load, heart rate) were all significantly different from controls (p < 0.03 to 0.0007). In patients with daytime hypertension, only 24 hour and daytime diastolic ambulatory blood pressure (p < 0.005) were different from "white coat" hypertension patients. Exercise testing blood pressure values (6 min exercise, maximal, 3 min recovery) were significantly different between "white coat" hypertension patients and the control group (n = 70) (p varying from 0.05 to 0.005) but not between "white coat" hypertension and daytime hypertension (n = 33) patients. Diastolic function was studied only in 39 daytime hypertension patients, 10 individuals with "white coat" hypertension and 34 controls (for technical reasons and because we only analyzed individuals younger than 55 years). E velocity and E/A ratio were similar in "white coat" hypertension and daytime hypertension, but only in daytime hypertension patients they reached a significant difference from controls (p = 0.04; p = 0.01), probably due to the small number of patients. CONCLUSIONS: These data (clinical, ambulatory blood pressure, ergometric, diastolic function) suggest that "white coat" hypertension might not be a benign entity.
Results of long-term experimental carcinogenicity studies of the effects of gasoline, correlated fuels, and major gasoline aromatics on rats.
Unleaded gasoline, with high aromatic content, leaded gasoline, gasoil (diesel), kerosene, toluene, xylenes, ethylbenzene, and 1,2,4-trimethyl-benzene were submitted to long-term experimental carcinogenicity bioassays. The mixtures and the compounds were administered by stomach tube, in olive oil, once daily, 4 days weekly, for 104 weeks, to male and female Sprague-Dawley rats. The animals were kept under control until the end of the experiments. With varying degrees of evidence, all the tested materials were found to increase the total number of malignant tumors and of some site-specific tumors. They must therefore be considered carcinogenic. On the basis of our results the rank of carcinogenic potency of the tested aromatic hydrocarbons increases in the following order: 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, ethylbenzene, xylenes, toluene (benzene).
Results of three life-span experimental carcinogenicity and anticarcinogenicity studies on tamoxifen in rats.
Tamoxifen was submitted to carcinogenicity bioassays on Sprague-Dawley rats (of the colony used at the Cancer Research Center in the Castle of Bentivoglio of the European Ramazzini Foundation of Oncology and Environmental Sciences) at the dose of 3.3 mg/kg b.w., by stomach tube, in three experiments. In the first experiment the drug was administered once daily, 6 days a week to male and female rats, 8 weeks old at start for their life span. In the second experiment, the drug was administered to female rats, 12 weeks old at start, once daily for 8 consecutive days every 8 weeks for their life span. In the third experiment the drug was administered to female rats, 56 weeks old at start, 6 times weekly for 40 weeks; and then the animals were kept alive for their life span. In the first experiment, a mild increase in hepatocarcinomas with low grading was detected. In the first and second experiments, a borderline increase in uterine malignancies was found. No carcinogenic effect was observed in the third experiment. In the three experiments, tamoxifen showed a strong, long-lasting chemopreventive effect on mammary benign tumors and cancers. The presented data also indicate that tamoxifen treatment reduces the incidence of other tumors: pituitary adenomas, adrenal pheochromocytomas, islet cell pancreatic tumors, Leydig cell testicular tumors, and polyps of the uterus.
Theriogenology question of the month. Rupture of the prepubic tendon with additional tearing of the abdominal tunic.
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Ovarian torsion associated with granulosa-theca cell tumor in a mare.
A 12-year-old Morgan mare was examined because of stallion-like behavior of 45 days' duration. Palpation per rectum and transrectal ultrasonographic examination revealed a large left ovary with multiple cystic areas and crepitus. A granulosa-theca cell tumor was suspected. During hospitalization for further evaluation of the affected ovary, the mare developed signs of abdominal pain. Exploratory surgery revealed a large left ovary, which was black with a necrotic and friable surface, and a 720 degrees clock-wise torsion of the ovarian pedicle. Torsion was corrected, and oophorectomy was performed. The mare recovered satisfactorily from surgery. Histologic diagnosis was granulosatheca cell tumor with marked diffuse necrosis. To our knowledge, torsion of the ovarian pedicle has not been reported in the veterinary literature. However, it is not uncommon in women. Ovarian torsion seems to develop in association with neoplasia, cysts, and ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome. Ovarian torsion should be considered as a differential diagnosis for mares with a known ovarian pathologic change such as neoplasia or abscess if signs of abdominal pain are evident.
1997 Design Awards.
One word sums up the winners of this year's healthcare design awards: simplicity. Of the 11 winners in the competition sponsored by Modern Healthcare and the American Institute of Architects' Academy of Architecture for Health, at least half were chosen, in part, because the projects provide simple integration of a complex set of diverse functions. Many winners also were chosen for their simple, noninstitutional interiors.
1997 construction & design survey.
Managed care might seem to be putting a damper on healthcare construction, but in fact it's one of several industry changes creating opportunities for architectural and design firms. One example of a trend toward making surroundings as pleasant as possible is the west campus expansion at East Texas Medical Center in Tyler (left). Designed and built by Ellerbe Becket and completed in 1995, the project, including a nine-story medical office building, features artwork and rooftop gardens.
Outlook 1997. Batten down the hatches. Execs need to prepare for scrutiny of deals by citizens, regulators and the media.
Our reporters make their prognostications for a dozen major segments of the healthcare industry in 1997. A common thread runs through them: as mergers and consolidations continue to sweet through the industry, communities and regulators are becoming increasingly concerned about whether the public interest is being served. And, our reporters say, scrutiny of such deals is going to get even more intense.
Pulmonary response to inhaled antigen: neuroimmune interactions promote the recruitment of dendritic cells to the lung and the cellular immune response to inhaled antigen.
Dendritic cells (DCs) play a critical role in capturing and presenting inhaled antigens to T lymphocytes. We report that pulmonary DCs in the Lewis rat are normally located in the lung in immediate proximity to nerve fibers that contain immunoreactive substance P (SP). Functionally, pulmonary DCs bound 125I-SP and displayed increased motility in vitro in response to graded concentrations of SP. However, SP had no effect on the accessory cell activities of DCs. To examine the role of neural influences on the pulmonary immune response to inhaled antigen, Lewis rats were pretreated with capsaicin (CAP), which damages small nerves and depletes neuropeptide stores, and then challenged intratracheally (i.t.) with hen egg lysozyme (HEL). The number and antigen-presenting cell activities of pulmonary DCs in the CAP-treated rats were comparable to those of controls up to day 14. T lymphocytes harvested from the regional lymph nodes draining the lung were effectively sensitized to HEL in both groups. However, when CAP-treated rats sensitized to HEL i.t. at day 0 were rechallenged with HEL i.t. at day 14, the lungs showed decreased numbers of OX-6+ DCs and diminished pulmonary lymphoid infiltrates compared with controls. We suggest that CAP interferes with a neural-mediated response that contributes to the accumulation of inflammatory cells during the efferent limb of the pulmonary-cell-mediated immune response in vivo.
Going natural by design. Annual design awards show facilities are emphasizing integration of the indoors with the outdoors.
Modern Healthcare's annual Design Awards Competition finds that healthcare is bringing nature indoors. Several of the 12 winning facilities featured indoor courtyards and gardens, a reflection of the healing role of nature.
Theriogenology question of the month. Unilateral scrotal hydrocele.
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