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Biomedical subjects

J F Grutsch

Publications and source records attributed to J F Grutsch.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Circadian function in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer.

This study aimed to evaluate whether patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer experience disrupted rest-activity daily rhythms, poor sleep quality, weakness, and maintain attributes that are linked to circadian function such as fatigue. This report describes the rest-activity patterns of 33 non-small-cell lung cancer patients who participated in a randomised clinical trial evaluating the benefits of melatonin. Data are reported on circadian function, health-related quality of life (QoL), subjective sleep quality, and anxiety/depression levels prior to randomisation and treatment. Actigraphy data, an objective measure of circadian function, demonstrated that patients' rest-activity circadian function differs significantly from control subjects. Our patients reported poor sleep quality and high levels of fatigue. Ferrans and Powers QoL Index instrument found a high level of dissatisfaction with health-related QoL. Data from the European Organization for Research and Treatment for Cancer reported poor capacity to fulfil the activities of daily living. Patients studied in the hospital during or near chemotherapy had significantly more abnormal circadian function than those studied in the ambulatory setting. Our data indicate that measurement of circadian sleep/activity dynamics should be accomplished in the outpatient/home setting for a minimum of 4-7 circadian cycles to assure that they are most representative of the patients' true condition. We conclude that the daily sleep/activity patterns of patients with advanced lung cancer are disturbed. These are accompanied by marked disruption of QoL and function. These data argue for investigating how much of this poor functioning and QoL are actually caused by this circadian disruption, and, whether behavioural, light-based, and or pharmacologic strategies to correct the circadian/sleep activity patterns can improve function and QoL.

Aged↗
PubMed2005

Prognostic significance of Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) in advanced colorectal cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prognostic significance of Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) in advanced colorectal cancer and create statistically distinct prognostic groups of colorectal cancer patients based on clinical and nutritional variables. DESIGN: A retrospective clinical epidemiologic study. SETTING: A private tertiary care American Cancer Center. SUBJECTS: In total, 234 colorectal cancer patients aged 29-82 y treated at Cancer Treatment Centers of America at Midwestern Regional Medical Center between January 1995 and March 2001. INTERVENTION: SGA Questionnaire. SGA A-well nourished; SGA B-moderately malnourished; and SGA C-severely malnourished. Malnutrition was defined as either SGA B or SGA C. RESULTS: The prevalence of malnutrition in this patient population, as determined by SGA, was 52% (113/217). The median survival of patients with SGA A was 12.8 months (95% CI; 9.1-16.5), those with SGA B was 8.8 months (95% CI; 6.7-10.9) and those with SGA C was 6 months (95% CI; 3.9-8.1); the difference being statistically significant at P=0.0013. Regression tree analysis identified prior treatment history, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and SGA to be important predictors of survival for our patient cohort. Patients with no prior treatment history (newly diagnosed disease), low LDH scores, and SGA A had the best overall survival of 40.4 months (95% CI; 30.45-50.4), whereas patients with prior treatment history (progressive disease), high LDH scores, and SGA B/C had the worst overall survival of 4.5 months (95% CI; 2.22-6.76). CONCLUSION: The SGA provides useful prognostic information in patients with advanced colorectal cancer.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

The preservation of hearing and facial nerve function in a consecutive series of unilateral vestibular nerve schwannoma surgical patients (acoustic neuroma).

Between January 1981 and February 1992, 102 non-NF-2 patients underwent removal of a unilateral vesitbular schwannoma. There were 54 women and 48 men. Eighty-six percent of patients with normal facial function preoperatively retained normal function (House score 1 or 2) postoperatively. Of the 64 patients with a functional cochlear nerve preoperatively, five had normal hearing (PTA < 25 dB, SB > 70%), five had near normal hearing (PTA < 45 dB, SD > 70%), four patients had preserved hearing (PTA < 50 dB, SD > 50%), and three patients had preserved cochlear nerve function (PTA > 50 dB, SD < 50%) after surgery. Hearing preservation was obtained in patients whose tumors were larger than 3 cm. Radiological follow-up revealed 10 patients with recurrent tumor, all but one asymptomatic.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Signs and mechanisms of chlordane intoxication.

Chlordane is a cyclopentadiene-derived insecticide that exerts its toxic action on the nervous system. In experimental animals the characteristic signs of acute toxicity are hypothermia, hyperexcitability, tremors and convulsions. In human, signs of acute chlordane toxicity are tremors and convulsions. There have been many different signs of acute toxicity attributed to chlordane, however, there is no substantiation within the primary literature for them. The literature indicates a convulsive chlordane serum level of 3 ppm and fatal serum level exceeding 5 ppm in human. Chlordane toxic action is rapid, appearing within two hours of an acute dose with improvement and recovery after 24 hours. Chlordane intoxication does not result in delayed neurotoxic effects. There is discussion of the mechanism of action of chlordane's toxicity in the central nervous system.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Chlordane: thirty-month tumorigenicity and chronic toxicity test in rats.

Groups of 80 Fischer 344 specific-pathogen-free rats of each sex were fed 0, 1, 5, and 25 ppm chlordane for 130 weeks. The rats were examined for hematological, biochemical, urinary, and pathological changes at 26, 52, and 130 weeks of exposure. The original pathologist found statistically significant dose-related changes only in the liver. At 25 ppm chlordane in the diet there were increases in bilirubin levels, liver weight, liver cell volume (centered at the lobules), hepatic necrosis (only in animals found dead or killed in extremis), and hepatocellular nodules (only after 105 weeks of exposure). A peer review of the pathology for all tumors observed on test were spontaneous and unrelated to treatment. From the original pathologist the no-observed-effect level (NOEL) for chlordane in the diet of Fischer 344 rats was found to be 5 ppm. From the peer review data the NOEL in males is 25 ppm and in females is 1 ppm.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Chlordane: 24-month tumorigenicity and chronic toxicity test in mice.

Four groups of 80 ICR SPF mice of each sex were fed 0-12.5 ppm technical chlordane for 104 weeks. Male and female mice were examined for hematological, biochemical, urinary, and pathological changes at 52 and 104 weeks of exposure. Serum AST (= SGOT) and ALT (= SGPT) were elevated in treated males and females, liver weights were increased in the 12.5-ppm groups, and masses were seen in the livers of 12.5-ppm males. Increased liver cell volume was seen in 5- and 12.5-ppm males and females, while hepatocyte degeneration and necrosis were seen only in treated males. Hepatic hemangiomas and hepatocellular adenomas typically occurred together and were significantly increased in 12.5-ppm males. No other significant changes were detected. However, the incidence of tumors in the 12.5-ppm males was within the range of historical controls. Accordingly, there was no evidence that chlordane induced tumors in the ICR mice. A long-term no-observed-effect level (NOEL) of 1 ppm chlordane in the diet was found.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Biphasic responses, quantal signals and cellular behaviour.

It is commonplace to think of thresholds in biological systems. Biphasic responses, with both thresholds and upper limits, or lintels, are also surprisingly common. In this paper we show that they are found in many systems in which an aspect of cellular behaviour is controlled by chemical signals. In some cases the biphasic response can lead to the partitioning of a tissue into regions expressing different behaviours and, therefore, in principle able to take different developmental and evolutionary paths within the same organism. Several other features are common; these include brief, all-or-nothing responses and the expression of different behaviours evoked by a signal of a single chemical species in one or more cell types, but over different concentration ranges. Such behaviour is illustrated very clearly by the differentiation of cells in the mammalian immune system as well as by developing slime mould cells, so the underlying principle is widespread. We suggest that the interaction of unitary behaviours with chemical signals showing such non-linear concentration dependences will account for the complexity of development.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Legal standards of causation in chemical exposure litigation.

A discussion of the legal process that resolves disputes involving the questions of causation of exposure to chemical substances is presented. Toxicologists and pharmacologists called upon to testify in private litigation of whether or not exposure to a particular chemical caused an illness will have a clearer view of the law's notion of causation by the examples cited. The trends in the law on this subject are reviewed and ways are offered for scientists to influence future chemical exposure litigation.

Chemical Industry↗
PubMed1978

Cyclic adenosine monophosphate production by embryonic chick cells.

Cells dissociated from 1-day-old chick embryos produce a pulse of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cyclic AMP) when stimulated with cyclic AMP. There is a stimulus threshold concentration of about 10(-8) molar cyclic AMP and an upper limit, above which the response is suppressed, of about 6 X 10(-6) molar. The response occurs within 5 seconds of stimulation and corresponds to an average pulse size in the range of 10(7) molecules per cell.

Animals↗