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Biomedical subjects

D Schaeffer

Publications and source records attributed to D Schaeffer.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

[Prevention and health promotion in chronic patients as a responsibility of treatment institutions].

The tasks of prevention and health promotion involve more than lowering the probability that healthy people will fall ill. In view of the increase in chronic diseases, more must be done than presently customary to apply them not only to health assurance, including the preservation and augmentation of resources, but also to prevention of the probability that poor states of health will spread or grow worse. Implementation there of presupposes that curative institutions will cultivate preventive potentials. This article reflects on how that could be done: what prevention and health promotion in the case of chronic illness mean as tasks for curative institutions and how they can be conceptualized. To conclude with, the article shows what inhibitory conditions presently stand in the way of curative institutions attending to preventive and health-promotion tasks and what changes will be necessary to eradicate them.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1991

Changes in linear dimensions of the heart, relative to body weight, as measured by M-mode echocardiography in growing dogs.

The growth of the heart, relative to body weight, was measured by M-mode echocardiography in dogs during the first year of life. Echocardiographic measurements were obtained from 16 English Pointers at 1, 2, 4, and 8 weeks of age and at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months of age. Left atrial (LA), aortic (AO), left and right ventricular internal dimensions, interventricular septal and left ventricular wall thickness measurements increased in curvilinear fashion relative to increasing body weight. Least-squares regression analysis, performed on logarithmically transformed data, was used to develop power-law equations describing the relationship of echocardiographic measurements to body weight. Linear dimensions of the LA, AO, left and right ventricular internal dimensions and interventricular septal and left ventricular wall thickness changed proportionally to slightly differing exponential powers of body weight (BW), varying from 0.31 to 0.45 (BW0.31 to BW0.45). Fractional shortening and the LA to AO ratio decreased slightly, but significantly, as body weight increased. Indexing echocardiographic measurements to BW1/3 was more appropriate than indexing such measures linearly to body weight, offering a practical method for developing accurate normative graphs or tables for M-mode echocardiographic dimensions in growing dogs.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Vitamin C deficiency in captive nonhuman primates fed commercial primate diet.

Scurvy was diagnosed in 19 rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) and four squirrel monkeys (Saimiri sciureus) from a colony of nonhuman primates maintained on a commercial diet. Signs of weakness, reluctance to move, gingival hemorrhage, bruising, proximal and distal metaphyseal fractures, weight loss and anemia appeared in juvenile and young adult rhesus monkeys over a 2 week period. Clinical signs subsided after 5 days of vitamin C therapy. At the same time, cephalohematomas and weakness developed in squirrel monkeys, which failed to respond to treatment. These cases were associated with manufacturer's admitted error in preparation of the commercially prepared monkey diet.

Anemia↗
PubMed1990

Effect of an aqueous extract of black walnut (Juglans nigra) on isolated equine digital vessels.

An aqueous extract was made from black walnut (Juglans nigra) heartwood obtained in the fall of the year. Ten hours after nasogastric administration of 5 L of the extract, a 550-kg, 13-yr-old Quarter Horse gelding experienced Obel grade-3 laminitis. The effect of aqueous extract of black walnut on vascular contractility was then tested, using isolated equine digital arteries and veins. The vessels were maintained in Krebs bicarbonate buffer with 95% oxygen at 37 C. The extract did not induce a direct contractile effect. It did, however, reversibly enhance the vasoconstriction induced in the isolated vessels by administration of epinephrine potentiated with hydrocortisone. In contrast, aqueous extracts made, using the same techniques, from the shavings of eastern white pine (Pinus strobus), eastern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana), and pin oak (Quercus palustrus) had no effect on epinephrine-induced digital vessel contractions.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Cross-reactive antibody in immunity to colisepticemia in calves.

Cattle were immunized with a uridine diphosphate galactose epimerase deficient mutant of Escherichia coli to prepare antiserum cross-reactive with different serotypes of E. coli. Hypogammaglobulinemic calves were given bovine anti-J5 serum before oral challenge with virulent E. coli derived from a septicemic calf. Passively immunized calves had delayed and decreased bacteremia compared with calves given saline before challenge. Calves given antiserum also lived longer than control calves. A second experiment using ampicillin and antibody to treat colisepticemia also showed increased survival in anti-serum-treated calves. Decreased bacteremia was probably not due to the killing of the challenge strain by antibody and complement, as the strain was serum-resistant. However, anti-J5 serum did increase phagocytosis of the challenge strain of E. coli (JL9) by bovine neutrophils. Thus, partial protection by antiserum was probably due to increased clearance of bacteria as well as neutralization of endotoxin.

Ampicillin↗
PubMed1986

[Significance of self-help groups for psychosocial rehabilitation in cancer].

Experiences of cancer patients' self-help groups can provide impulses for the programming of rehabilitation measures. Exemplary is the information work (information procurement and distribution) of these groups. Problems emanating from disturbed interpersonal relationships and the stigma of the disease are dealt with implicitly rather than explicitly, with only certain patients, however, benefitting selectively from this kind of coping, depending on the stage of the disease and on their social context. The groups succeed in substituting missing or disturbed interpersonal relationships, they sometimes however find it difficult to ward off those aspects of isolation that have arisen with the onset of the disease. These difficulties weigh on other parts of the informal network, especially on the families.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1983

Thresholds for carcinogenesis and their significance to medical practice.

The Delaney Amendment covering the addition of carcinogens to foods, the Toxic Substances Control Act governing the release of carcinogens into water, and other regulations are based on a "no-threshold" concept. That is, they assume that any level above zero will induce cancer in an exposed population. The threshold concept holds that zero risk occurs at or below some finite exposure which is greater than zero. This paper shows that thresholds for carcinogenesis are in accord with common medical experience, and discusses the medical implications of thresholds.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Cutaneous mucinosis associated with thyroid dysfunction.

An unusual case of pruritic, papular cutaneous mucinosis in conjunction with hypothyroidism is described. Resolution of this disorder followed thyroid hormone supplementation. The various cutaneous mucinoses and the pathogenesis of mucin deposition are reviewed.

Adult↗