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Biomedical subjects

F Ferrer

Publications and source records attributed to F Ferrer.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1996

[Economic costs of autotransplantation of hematopoietic progenitors].

BACKGROUND: A comparative analysis of the economic costs of the different methods of autologous transplantation was carried out. METHODS: A series of 22 patients was retrospectively studied: 8 treated with autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT), 9 treated with peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) transplantation and 5 in whom mixed transplantation of bone marrow and peripheral blood hematopoietic progenitors was performed. The expenses derived from pretransplant studies and from the collection of hematopoietic progenitors and from the autologous transplantation procedure itself were evaluated. RESULTS: The pretrasplant study and the collection of hemopoietic progenitors were significantly more expensive in the PBSC than in the ABMT (p = 0.04 and p = 0.007, respectively). Nonetheless, the costs of the transplant procedure were lower in the PBSC than in the ABMT group although the differences were not statistically significant. The estimated costs of these procedures in the Hematology Unit of the General Hospital of the University of Murcia, Spain, is of 3 million pesetas for the ABMT and 2.5 million for the PBSC. The greatest cost observed in the ABMT was due to these patients requiring longer hospitalization, greater transfusion support and longer antibiotic treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Although the collection of hematopoietic progenitors and pretransplant evaluation are less expensive in autologous bone marrow transplantation, the early morbidity is higher than that of peripheral blood stem cell transplantation or mixed autotrasplanted of bone marrow and circulating progenitors thus resulting in higher costs.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Quality assurance of interstitial brachytherapy technique in lip cancer: comparison of actual performance with the Paris System recommendations.

This study takes a quality assurance approach to assessing staff application of Paris System recommendations for brachytherapy. Between 1988 and 1992, 72 patients were treated with brachytherapy for cancer of the lip at Hospital Clinic in Barcelona. Because of the relatively high number of total local recurrences (11%) and the fact that several radiotherapists had come from other hospitals to join the staff, we analysed the technique actually used compared with the recommendations of the Paris System. Results indicate our staff did not, in fact, use the active length prescribed by the Paris System in 71% of cases but that the discrepancies had no observable impact on the actuarial local control in the short follow-up period (28 +/- 15 months). When we compared, in time sequence, the first 35 patients treated between 1988 and 1989 (Early group) with the last 37 treated between 1990 and 1992 (Later group), we saw that staff members had improved their application of the therapy by more often using the recommended length of active lines. Staff performance in the Later group was still far from ideal, however, as the actual length used differed from the length recommended in 51% of the cases. At present we are insisting on stricter application of the Paris System guidelines for lip brachytherapy. Our study suggests that auditing performance is worthwhile and we recommend that radiotherapists apply this analytical quality assurance method, especially when several new physicians join a department.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

Ultrastructural study of the early development of the sheep embryo.

An ultrastructural study of the different stages of pre-implantation in sheep was carried out, analysing the changes brought about mainly in the morula and blastocyst stages. The analysis of the embryos obtained showed a series of common characteristics in all stages, most noticeable being the presence of a high number of vesicles distributed in a uniform way in the cytoplasm, and also the presence of numerous electron-dense mitochondria in many varied forms. The most important ultrastructural modifications took place at the 16-cell stage and affected, principally, the nucleus, which presented numerous condensations of chromatin distributed along the nucleoplasm. The nucleoli adopted a reticular morphology, abandoning the compact aspects presented in the previous stage. These changes might be involved in the synthesis of embryonic RNA, and, accordingly, in the activation of the genome of this species. These data indicate that this stage is critical to the embryonic development and might be related to the blockage produced in the development of cultivated sheep embryos at the point of transition from 8 to 16 cells. Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that the first signs of modifications in the aspect of the nucleus are observed at the four-cell stage, being characterized by the appearance of vacuolated areas in the nucleolus, indicating the first signs of embryonic nucleic activity, which would anticipate the main change in the control of the protein synthesis.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

A multi-centre, double-blind comparative study of the efficacy and safety of aceclofenac and diclofenac in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.

A long term multi-centre, double-blind, parallel group study was undertaken to investigate the efficacy and safety of aceclofenac (170 patients, 100 mg b.i.d. and placebo once daily) in comparison to diclofenac (173 patients, 50 mg t.i.d.) given for 6 months to patients of both sexes with active rheumatoid arthritis. Efficacy was evaluated in 131 aceclofenac and 130 diclofenac patients at 15 days, 1, 2, 4 and 6 months. Although both treatment groups showed significant improvement in all evaluations of pain and inflammation (assessed by a Visual Analogue Scale and the Ritchie Index) and a progressive reduction in morning stiffness, there were no significant differences between the groups. There was, however, a trend towards greater improvement in hand grip strength with aceclofenac (22% improvement) than diclofenac (17% improvement). Adverse events in both groups were minor, predominantly gastro-intestinal, and fewer patients tended to experience gastro-intestinal events on aceclofenac (13%) than on diclofenac (17%). The overall assessment of tolerance, however, did not differ significantly between groups. In summary, this study supports a therapeutic role for aceclofenac in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, and suggests it is an effective and safe NSAID for the treatment of this disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

[Brachytherapy in the treatment of prostatic carcinoma].

Radiotheraphy of prostatic cancer began using brachitherapy. In 1910 Paschkis and in 1911 Pasteau reported treatment of prostatic carcinoma with radium needles. In 1952, Flocks began implanting a colloidaly radioactive gold-198 solution into the prostate after surgical exploration. This approach was optimized by Carlton in 1965 using solid gold-198 implants combined with external beam therapy. In 1972 Withmore et al reported the use of iodine-125 seeds for interstitial irradiation. In 1977 Court and Chassagne introduced after loading techniques using iridium-192. This technique has been developed further by Syed et al. In these settings interstitial radiotherapy is used as localized boost in combination with external beam therapy. Prostate brachytherapy can be divided into temporary implantation using high activity sources, or permanent brachytherapy using the interstitial implantation of iodine-125 or palladium-103 sources. We reported an overview.

Brachytherapy↗
PubMed1994

A newly designed partial subperiosteal implant and the classical design: a comparative study.

Seventy two partial subperiosteal implants were inserted in 52 patients. Thirty six of these implants had a classical design in which the submerged structure had thick primary and secondary connectors. Thirty six implants had a newly designed submerged structure consisting of long and thin primary connectors with grooves along their outer surfaces designed to stop or delay the downgrowth of epithelial mucosa. A six year evaluation revealed a 92.5% success of the newly designed implants and an 84% success for the classical design. A 10 year statistical projection revealed a 50% cumulative success for the classical design and a 92.5% success for the new design.

Actuarial Analysis↗
PubMed1985

A simple nonequilibrium thermodynamic description of some inhibitors of oxidative phosphorylation.

We propose a macroscopic description of some inhibitors of oxidative phosphorylation based on a simple modification of the phenomenological coefficients appearing in the constitutive equations of linear irreversible thermodynamics. In this theoretical model, we consider protonophores, some ATPase inactivators and some electron-chain inhibitors, and we provide quantitative expressions for their consequences on the protonmotive force, oxidation flux and phosphorylation flux as well as on heat generation.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed1985

Non-local thermodynamic effects and efficiency of oxidative phosphorylation.

A non-equilibrium thermodynamic model of oxidative phosphorylation is formulated, which allows us to take into account some non-local effects. In this way, we compute the influence of the tangential resistivity of the inner mitochondrial membrane to proton current, as well as that of the distance between active sites, on the stoichiometry and efficiency of energy conversion.

Biological Transport↗
PubMed1980

[Pseudo-tumoral haematoma of the iliac fossa in haemophiliacs (author's transl)].

Pseudo-tumoral blood collections in haemophiliacs are uncommon but must be borne in mind because of their severity and of the need for timely and appropriate treatment. Surgical excision appears to be required as soon as the tendency towards enlargement is recognized and before the volume and complications of the tumour increase the difficulties, particularly in the iliac fossa. Other treatments, especially puncture-aspiration, seem to be ineffective and/or dangerous. A better knowledge of the pathogenic processes involved might lead to new therapeutic approaches.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[GEOPTE Scale of social cognition for psychosis].

INTRODUCTION: Despite the large number of scales to assess cognitive function, these are rarely used in clinical practice, both because of the time they require and because they do not give useful information to the clinician. The aim of this article is to present the characteristics and psychometric properties of a scale which aims, with its simplicity of use and design, to be of use in the clinical practice for measuring social cognition in psychosis. METHODS: The new GEOPTE Scale gathers information from two sources: the patient's subjective perception of his/her deficits and that of the informant or caregiver. It consists of 15 items (7 for basic cognitive functions and 8 for social cognition). The scale was applied to 87 patients with a diagnosis of psychosis (according to DSM-IV), and general clinical data, clinical global impression, mood and degree of insight were gathered. RESULTS: The GEOPTE Scale presented excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha 0.84 for patient and 0.87 for informants). Factorial analysis identified two factors which explained a total variance of 39%. The first factor was related to the basic cognitive function items and the second to the social cognition items. Regarding the validity of the construct, the scores on the scale are closely related to clinical global impression, degree of insight and depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The GEOPTE Scale for measuring social cognition in psychosis has an excellent psychometric behavior both in the degree of internal consistency and in correlation with clinical global variables, mood and degree of insight.

Cognition Disorders↗