Biomedical subjects

J Heitz

Publications and source records attributed to J Heitz.

21 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1976

Cystic fibrosis: normal volumes of red cells. Model experiments on the pathomechanism of the disease.

Normal values of mean cell volume (M.C.V.) and of distribution of single cell volumes (S.C.V.) have been observed in erythrocytes of patients with cystic fibrosis using an electronical particle-volume analyzer (sheath flow detector). From these results a strong defect in red cell salt transport seems improbable. Valinomucin induces shrinking (by increase of K+ permeability) and gramicidin D induces swelling (by increase of Na+ permeability) of normal erythrocytes. Addition of C.F. sweat to normal erythrocytes induces no volume change. From this result no influence of the "C.F. factor" on passive ion permeability is concluded.

Cystic Fibrosis↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Cerebrospinal fluid indices in cryptococcal and tuberculous meningitis: the spider web coagulum and its diagnostic significance.

The differentiation between a chronic cryptococcal meningitis and a chronic tuberculous meningitis may cause problems for the clinician only if standard microbiological methods are not applied to the diagnosis of both infections. In a male non-AIDS patient (50 y), 11 years after a suggested diagnosis of "tuberculous meningitis", meningoencephalitis with hydrocephalus was diagnosed and treated accordingly without success. Mycobacterium tuberculosis was never found. Because fibrin fibres of a spider web coagulum in the CSF resembled Aspergillus mycelium, the patient was then treated with amphotericin B + flucytosine. Finally, a mycological examination led to the true diagnosis: (1) In the CSF, resembling Aspergillus hyphae were found to be spider web coagulum fibres. (2) Cryptococcal meningoencephalitis based on the detection of Cryptococcus neoformans in CSF and its antigen in serum and CSF. - At post-mortem, cryptococcal meningoencephalitis was established as cause of death. Residual signs of tuberculosis could not be detected in the brain and the meninges. Common clinical similarities of cryptococcal and tuberculous meningitis and the possibility of a double infection are discussed. A comparison of the presence of Cr. neoformans in the meninges of non-AIDS and AIDS patients is made. The formation of spider web coagulum in the CSF is discussed. Proposals for the diagnosis, therapy and prophylaxis of cryptococcal meningitis are made.

Cryptococcosis↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Serum lipoprotein levels during long-term treatment of hypertension with indapamide.

The beneficial effect of antihypertensive pharmacotherapy in decreasing morbidity and mortality in hypertensive patients may be counteracted by metabolic and biochemical disturbances, such as hypokalemia, hyperglycemia, hyperuricemia, and hyperlipoproteinemia, that occur with the administration of thiazides and related diuretics. Antiatherogenic high-density lipoprotein cholesterol may be unchanged, whereas the potentially atherogenic low-density lipoprotein cholesterol may be increased by long-term therapy with thiazide diuretics. Indapamide is a methylindoline antihypertensive diuretic with a considerable peripheral vasodilatory effect. At a low dose of 2.5 mg daily, it did not alter total circulating cholesterol, in contrast to chlorthalidone. High-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels increased significantly in 20 hypertensive men after 6 months of therapy with indapamide, resulting in a significant fall of the low-density lipoprotein/high-density lipoprotein ratio, an atherogenic risk factor, regardless of preexisting lipid disorders.

Adult↗