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Biomedical subjects

E Mata

Publications and source records attributed to E Mata.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

Isolation from a polyvalent antivenom of antibodies to a myotoxin in Bothrops asper snake venom.

Antibodies against Bothrops asper myotoxin were purified from a polyvalent antivenom by affinity chromatography. These antibodies neutralized most of the myotoxic activity of crude B. asper venom, as judged by histologic evaluation of skeletal muscle and determination of plasma creatine kinase levels in mice. When tested by immunoelectrophoresis, purified antibodies formed two superimposed bands of precipitation against an homogeneous (by SDS-PAGE analysis) preparation of B. asper myotoxin, as well as against crude B. asper venom. Ouchterlony immunodiffusion analysis of purified antibodies showed two precipitation bands with a pattern of complete immunologic identity between samples of crude B. asper venoms from specimens collected in the Atlantic and Pacific regions of Costa Rica. In addition, these antibodies precipitated when reacted against venom of newborn B. asper specimens from the Pacific region, but not against venom of newborn specimens from the Atlantic region. Purified antibodies were tested by immunodiffusion against eleven different snake venoms from Costa Rica. Only the venom of B. schlegelii cross-reacted, indicating the presence in this venom of components immunologically related to B. asper myotoxin. Analysis of purified antibodies to B. asper myotoxin by agarose electrophoresis and by SDS-PAGE suggests the presence of both IgG and IgM on the basis of electrophoretic position and molecular weight of the bands. Results obtained in neutralization experiments suggest that this myotoxin is a major factor in the development of local myonecrosis induced by crude B. asper venom.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Public health structures in Spain: a changing panorama].

In the last years the health care system in Spain has undergone very important transformations. However, the public health services have not followed a comparable process. Until 1979 public health structures were based in central services and their provincial units, on one side, and in the resources of local governments on the other. From then on began the process of transferring responsibilities and resources to the regional governments of Autonomous Communities (AC), which today manage most public health services, while the central government keeps as its responsibility the development of basic norms, the administration of public health services at borders and customs, and the general health coordination. The situation in 1995 resembles that of a Federal Country, although the Kingdom of Spain is not formally defined as such. The role of central government services is visibly reoriented towards coordination and the building of consensual and shared structures for health information, for need evaluation, and for policy formulation and evaluation. Although the General Health Law of 1986 considered public health as a main axis for all health agencies, its actual development has been more patchy. Several AC with an Autonomous Health Service have kept public health services separated from it. Besides, many public health functions and activities are developed today from other structures. The processes of change reveal two contradictory aspects. On one side, structures have been upgraded after decentralization, and teams reinforced, with trained and full-time staff. However, there is some dilution of public health responsibility in the periphery, and a lower visibility of the health authority.

Epidemiologic Methods↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Epidemiologic study of an outbreak of clenbuterol poisoning in Catalonia, Spain.

In an investigation of 113 cases of clenbuterol poisoning in Catalonia, Spain, in 1992, more than 50 percent of those affected were found to have had symptoms of nervousness, tachycardia, muscle tremors, myalgia, and headache. There was no significant difference in the distribution of symptoms according to sex (P = 0.97). The period of incubation varied between 15 minutes and 6 hours and the duration of symptoms between 90 minutes and 6 days. Clenbuterol was detected in 47 urine samples in amounts ranging from 11 to 486 parts per billion. No traces of clenbuterol were found in serum samples. Intoxication occurred in association with the ingestion of veal liver, irrespective of the way in which the liver had been cooked. The association between consuming liver and falling ill was statistically significant (P < 0.0001). In one family, the suspected source of intoxication was meat (veal tongue) and in another canneloni. None of the patients died as a result of the intoxication. The findings reinforce the need to uphold the prohibition of the use of clenbuterol in cattle farming in those countries and communities where it already exists and to contemplate a stricter regulation of its therapeutic use.

Adolescent↗