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Biomedical subjects

E Handler

Publications and source records attributed to E Handler.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

Loss of RT6 message and most circulating T cells after thymectomy of diabetes prone BB rats.

T cells expressing the RT6 surface alloantigen perform important immunoregulatory functions in the rat. Diabetes prone (DP) BB rats are deficient in circulating RT6+ T cells and develop spontaneous autoimmune diabetes mellitus. Transfusions leading to engraftment of RT6+ T cells prevent the disease. Coisogenic diabetes resistant (DR) BB rats do circulate RT6+ T cells and are free of disease. We investigated the basis for the deficiency of RT6+ T cells in the DP-BB rat and made the following observations. 1. Thymectomy causes the rapid loss of most peripheral T cells in the DP-BB rat. 2. Concomitant with the loss of T cells is the total loss of mRNA encoding RT6. 3. In contrast to the effects observed in peripheral lymphoid tissues, thymectomy does not lead to a detectable loss in RT6+ protein found in the small intestine. We conclude that the deficiency of RT6+ peripheral T cells in the DP-BB rat is due either to their short life span or to their reduced proliferative capacity following release from the thymus.

ADP Ribose Transferases↗
PubMed1992

Preferential elevation of protein kinase C isoform beta II and diacylglycerol levels in the aorta and heart of diabetic rats: differential reversibility to glycemic control by islet cell transplantation.

In the present study, we have measured protein kinase C (PKC) specific activities and total diacylglycerol (DAG) level in the aorta and heart of rats, which showed that after 2 weeks of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes, membranous PKC specific activity and total DAG content were increased significantly by 88% and 40% in the aorta and by 21% and 72% in the heart, respectively. Hyperglycemia was identified as being a causal factor since elevated glucose levels increased DAG levels in cultured aortic endothelial and smooth muscle cells. Analysis by immunoblotting revealed that only alpha and beta II PKC isoenzymes are detected in these two tissues and vascular cells among those studied. In STZ-induced diabetic rats, beta II isoenzyme is preferentially increased in both aorta and heart, whereas PKC alpha did not change significantly. The increases in membranous PKC specific activity and DAG level are observed in both spontaneous diabetes-prone diabetic BB rats as well as in STZ-induced diabetic BB and Sprague-Dawley rats, which persisted for up to 5 weeks. After 2 weeks of diabetes without treatment, the normalization of blood glucose levels for up to 3 weeks with islet cell transplants in STZ-induced diabetic BB rats reversed the biochemical changes only in the heart, but not in the aorta. These results suggest that PKC activity and DAG level may be persistently activated in the macrovascular tissues from diabetic animals and indicate a possible role for these biochemical parameters in the development of diabetic chronic vascular complications.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

The complexities of managed care: operating a voluntary system.

The implementation of state-sponsored voluntary case management programs for public assistance recipients creates provider and recipient recruiting problems that are unique to the state's economic environment, its political climate, its historic relationship with providers, its program goals, and its implementation strategies. This implementation study discusses the factors that influenced the operationalization of the Massachusetts managed care program for AFDC families. The issues of provider recruitment and recipient enrollment are examined in relation to the formal program goals of cost containment and access. The operational and bureaucratic problems the state Medicaid staff has experienced in maintaining the program evokes questions of who should administer the programs, who the best types of providers are in light of program goals, and how recipients can be enrolled in a voluntary program.

Aid to Families with Dependent Children↗
PubMed1984

Percutaneous treatment of small bowel obstruction due to a gastrostomy tube.

Inadvertent transmigration of a gastrostomy tube through a gastrostomy stoma occurred in a patient with a chronic neurological disorder. This led to small-bowel obstruction by the 30 ml balloon of the catheter. Percutaneous transabdominal puncture of the balloon was performed under fluoroscopic control using a long 22-gauge needle with immediate relief of the obstruction and subsequent passage of the catheter.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Building a network of aftercare services.

When a state hospital in New York began returning long-term psychiatric patients to community living in Westchester County in 1974, the staff of the hospital, local community mental health providers, administrators of a private proprietary home for adults that received many of the patients, and local citizens worked to develop an integrated system of aftercare services. The local mental health council served as the umbrella group for the coordination of the various providers and consumers. The council's aftercare committee investigated several troubling aspects of the deinstitutionalization process including patient selection, the program and staffing of the home, transportation for residents, the physical structure of the home, and its licensing. The authors report the committee's findings and resolutions of some of the problems, and discuss some of the financial difficulties of residents in the home. While some problems remain, the authors feel that the council structure was a crucial element in facilitating a coordinated network of aftercare services.

Aftercare↗
PubMed1980

Educating deinstitutionalized patients about fiscal realities.

Because of a previous misinterpretation of Social Security regulations, deinstitutionalized clients in a mental health clinic's rehabilitation center were faced with a decrease in Supplemental Security Income benefits, which meant that the adult home in which they lived did not receive full room-and-board fees. The home threatened to remove clients from the center. In the process of resolving the dilemma, the mental health clinic and the state hospital established a training program to enable clients to make their own financial decisions; it covered such topics as fees at the home and the center and what clients should expect from those facilities, the effect of sheltered workshop earnings on other benefits, and other options for housing and employment. The group leaders encountered problems in trying to get accurage information about benefits and restrictions and with the sometimes conflicting goals of the group home as a business interest. However, clients' interest in and comprehension of the material was high, and by the end of the course they were manifesting more independent behavior.

Deinstitutionalization↗