Biomedical subjects

I Hermans

Publications and source records attributed to I Hermans.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

Refractory ocular hypertension secondary to intravitreal injection of triamcinolone acetonide.

PURPOSE: to report a case of severe ocular hypertension occurring as a complication after a single intravitreal injection of triamcinolone acetonide for the treatment of a diabetic cystoid macular edema. METHODS: interventional case report. RESULTS: a 63-year-old pseudophakic diabetic woman developed a severe and relatively sudden IOP increase to 50 mm Hg one month after receiving a single 4-mg intravitreal injection of triamcinolone acetonide for a chronic progressive macular cystoid edema. Previously the patient who did not develop corticosteroid-induced glaucoma secondary to her cataract surgery was treated with topical beta-blockers for a mild chronic bilateral ocular hypertension. A deep sclerectomy had to be performed in emergency to avoid optic nerve damage and allowed to successfully control the IOP with a 5 month follow-up. Concomitantly visual acuity could be increased from 0.05 before the intravitreal injection to 0.4. CONCLUSIONS: Although unfrequent in the literature, this observation confirms the risk of occurrence of a severe ocular hypertension after intravitreal injection of triamcinolone. A close monitoring of IOP is mandatory after intravitreal injection, especially in patients with altered trabecular function. This potentially devastating complication has to be weighed up with the benefices of intravitreal injection of triamcinolone for improving visual acuity in patients with clinically significant diabetic macular edema.

Diabetic Retinopathy↗

PubMed2003

[Structural adjustment, cultural adjustment?].

Over the last two decades, multiple studies have been conducted and many articles published about Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs). These studies mainly describe the characteristics of SAPs and analyse their economic consequences as well as their effects upon a variety of sectors: health, education, agriculture and environment. However, very few focus on the sociological and cultural effects of SAPs. Following a summary of SAP's content and characteristics, the paper briefly discusses the historical course of SAPs and the different critiques which have been made. The cultural consequences of SAPs are introduced and are described on four different levels: political, community, familial, and individual. These levels are analysed through examples from the literature and individual testimonies from people in the Southern Hemisphere. The paper concludes that SAPs, alongside economic globalisation processes, are responsible for an acute breakdown of social and cultural structures in societies in the South. It should be a priority, not only to better understand the situation and its determining factors, but also to intervene and act with strategies that support and reinvest in the social and cultural sectors, which is vital in order to allow for individuals and communities in the South to strengthen their autonomy and identify.

Cultural Characteristics↗

PubMed1996

Functional comparison of spleen dendritic cells and dendritic cells cultured in vitro from bone marrow precursors.

We have compared dendritic cells (DC) isolated from mouse spleen, or generated in vitro from bone marrow (BM) precursors cultured in granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and interleukin-4 (IL-4), for the ability to process and present soluble antigen and stimulate major histocompatibility complex (MHC) Class II-restricted T cells. DC from spleen or BM cultures were equally able to stimulate the in vitro proliferation of allogeneic T cells or of antigen-specific T-cell receptor (TCR)-transgenic T cells. Both DC populations also induced comparable levels of IL-2 secretion by a T-cell hybridoma. Therefore, splenic and BM-derived DC express comparable levels of (Antigen + MHC Class II) ligands and/or costimulatory molecules and have comparable ability to stimulate T-cell responses. When presentation of a native protein antigen, rather than peptide, was evaluated, BM-derived DC were at least 50 times better than splenic DC at stimulating the proliferation of TCR-transgenic T cells. The antigen processing ability of the two populations was similar only when splenic DC were used immediately ex vivo. Therefore, unlike spleen DC, BM-derived DC maintain the capacity to process protein antigen for MHC Class II presentation during in vitro culture. Due to these characteristics, BM-derived DC may represent a useful tool in immunotherapy studies, as they combine high T-cell stimulatory properties with the capacity to process and present native antigen.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Amineptine, response timing, and time discrimination in the albino rat.

Experiment 1 recorded the effects of single (doses of 1, 5, 10, and 20 mg/kg) and repeated intraperitoneal injections (10 mg/kg) of amineptine (a tricyclic antidepressant drug) on the performance of albino rats in differential reinforcement of low rate (DRL) of 30 s, fixed-interval (FI) of 60 s, and signalled continuous reinforcement (CRF-SD) schedules. In the second experiment, the effects of repeated (10 mg/kg) and single injections (20 mg/kg) were assessed on the discrimination of the duration of auditory stimuli (2 and 8 s). A dose-related increase in response rates was observed in FI and DRL, correlating with a dose-related impairment in the temporal regulation of performance. However, the drug remained without effect on duration discrimination. In other respects, decreases in response latency in CRF-SD or duration discrimination tended to indicate that the drug improved vigilance and reactivity to extraneous significant stimuli. Interpretations in terms of sensitization, tolerance, or dependency could be discarded. Our data support the hypothesis that drug effects on temporal regulation in FI and DRL are secondary to a nonspecific activation of motor activity. They question the plausibility of an antidepressant effect of the drug in humans via modulation of a timing mechanism.

Acoustic Stimulation↗