Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J Martin.
A child presented with raised intracranial pressure for which no cause was established. Five months later a further cerebrospinal fluid examination showed lymphoblasts expressing the common acute lymphoblastic leukaemia phenotype. Bone marrow infiltration was not present. This case illustrates the difficulties that may be encountered in establishing the diagnosis of central nervous system leukaemia.
Serological responses of Icelandic sheep experimentally infected with visna virus (vv) were contrasted with responses in American Targhee sheep naturally infected with progressive pneumonia virus (PPV). Precipitating antibodies assayed by immunodiffusion were compared with the neutralising and complementing fixing antibody response. In experimental infections with vv, complement fixing and neutralising antibodies appeared early after infection and rose to high levels in all sheep, while precipitating antibodies were detected only at minimal titre. In natural infections with PPV, immune responses were less consistent and precipitating antibodies were detected more frequently than complement fixing or neutralising antibodies against PPV. These results may suggest important biological differences between the lytic fibroblast-tropic virus strains used for experimental infection of Icelandic sheep and the nonlytic macrophage-tropic strains of PPV circulating in nature. Lytic strains evoke a brisk response against the viral glycoprotein with high titre neutralising antibody while nonlytic strains induce a less consistent response to the glycoprotein.
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As part of the "National Research Program 1A" (PNR 1A) on the prevention of cardiovascular disease, a study was made of changes in blood cholesterol levels in the populations of two intervention cities (Nyon and Aarau) with a community health education program, and two reference cities (Vevey and Solothurn). A fall in cholesterol levels was noted in both the intervention and reference cities, with no difference in between the cities. However, a clear, statistically significant (p less than 0.05) fall was recorded in a group of women who participated in prevention activities concerned with nutrition, in comparison with a group of non-participating women, in the two intervention cities.
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The metabolic alterations induced, in the isolated rat heart, by graded ischaemia and reperfusion, were evaluated both by 31P-NMR spectroscopy and by biochemical analysis. The relative changes in phosphorylated compound contents measured by both methods were well correlated for ATP (r = 0.94) and Pi (r = 0.88), but less for PC (r = 0.72). These results demonstrate that the data drawn from the 2 methods compare well, for the assessment of the effects of ischaemia on the isolated heart. In order to characterize the extent or energetic alterations caused by ischaemia and reperfusion from the data drawn from a single NMR spectrum various indices have been calculated. A simple index (Formula: see text) seems to this regard, as discriminative as the adenylate charge or the phosphorylation potential.
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Four patients with important and disabling atopic dermatitis persisting during adulthood have presented leucodermia in certain areas of eczema. As melanosomes and melanocytes have totally disappeared in these regions, this depigmentation corresponds thus to an achromia. Clinically, we noted macular achromia with hyperpigmented border of special topography since touching pleat regions initially present eczema lesions: anterior face of wrists and footnecks. Slight lichenification is noted in achromic regions. In spite of many analogies with vitiligo, we differentiate this achromia from vitiligo on the basis of absence of familial post-history and absence of new localisations after 5 to 6 years cause. A review of depigmentations described during atopic dermatitis does not show similar facts. Depigmentation induced by local steroid therapy does not give such clinical and ultrastructural aspects. In 3 patients, there was no local application of depigmenting agent. In one case, 8-oxyquinoleine was applied transiently. Vitiliginous achromias of pleat regions initially presenting important atopic dermatitis are probably due to multifactorial factors: possible factors are inflammation and secondary epidermal modification due to local steroid therapy and may be some excipients. Being a rare situation in atopy, we have registered it only 14 times in 860 followed atopic dermatitis. The study of series of atopic dermatitis followed on a long-term basis should allow to evaluate the frequency of such incidents and the respective role of aetiological factors with we suspect.
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Glycogen synthesis from D-[1-13C]glucose was observed in the perfused rat heart by 13C-NMR spectroscopy at 62.9 MHz. The glycogenogenesis was stimulated by pretreatment of the animals with isoprenaline. Whereas in hearts from control rats the incorporation of D-[1-13C]glucose into the glycogen remained below the detection threshold, 5 min proton-decoupled 13C-NMR spectra revealed, in hearts from treated rats, a significant labelling of the glycogen within the first minutes of the perfusion and a further linear increase of the glycogen resonance for up to 25 min. This model was used to monitor the appearance of 13C-labelled lactate during ischemia.
A newborn child was noted to have an ulcerated lesion on the vertex of her scalp, which was diagnosed as aplasia cutis congenita. As this disorder is relatively rare and frequently misdiagnosed, this case is reported and the relevant literature reviewed.
Environmentally induced mutations, especially those involving large scale genetic damage such as deletions and chromosome loss, are of central importance in the production of human genetic disease and cancer. We have developed a methodology, the AL assay, that permits detection of such extensive genetic changes which often escape detection in other systems in which they are lethal. The AL assay employs a human-Chinese hamster ovary cell hybrid that retains a single human chromosome, number 11. A set of specific cell surface antigens result from genes located on opposite arms of this chromosome. Exposure to mutagens produces mutants which form colonies in the presence of complement and specific antiserum that kill nonmutant cells. The frequency and pattern of marker loss provides a measure of single gene mutation, large and small deletion, and loss of the entire chromosome 11. We have employed the indirect fluorescein conjugated isothiocyanate (FITC) technique and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) to remove spontaneous mutants from the initial population. The 100-fold reduction in background thus far achieved should allow accurate analysis of mutation by ionizing radiation at doses of less than 10 rad.
Oxfenicine (S-4-hydroxyphenyl glycine) has been shown to protect the rat and dog heart from experimentally induced myocardial ischaemia probably as a result of its ability to divert myocardial metabolism from fatty acid to carbohydrate utilization with a consequent reduction in oxygen consumption. When various dose levels of oxfenicine were administered to dogs for periods of up to 1 year and rats for periods of up to 2 years, dose-related increases in cardiac weight were observed. No increases in cardiac weight were observed in the rat after only 3 months of treatment but increases were observed in the dogs after a similar treatment period. Macroscopic, light, histochemical and electron microscopic examination of the myocardium revealed that the increase in heart weight was due to uniform myocardial fibre hypertrophy involving all cardiac chambers. Individual muscle fibres were increased in size but there was no clear disproportion of mitochondria and myofibrils. Although intracellular lipid was increased, vacuolated lysosomal structures were only occasionally observed. No histochemical differences in lysosomal enzyme activity were observed between the treated and the control rats. The structural changes were fully compatible with myocardial hypertrophy due to the decreased energy forming capacity of heart muscle resulting from inhibition of fatty acid oxidation by oxfenicine.
A study of karyotypes and neutrophil alkaline phosphatase (NAP) was carried out for 66 parents (33 couples) of trisomy 21 children and for 60 control parents (30 couples). Enzyme activity was determined simultaneously by biochemical and cytochemical techniques. In the mothers of trisomy 21 children we found: (a) by biochemical techniques, a significant increase of NAP activity in polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) homogenates (P less than 0.01) and a lower supernatant/pellet ratio (P less than 0.01); (b) by cytochemical techniques (with or without thermal and urea treatments) NAP activity was significantly higher (P less than 0.001) than in control mothers; in the fathers, the two techniques gave normal NAP activity results.
With the aim to achieve a more equitable budgetary allocation to nursing homes, an instrument for the evaluation of the patients' dependency has been developed and tested in 55 institutions, for a total of about 23000 observations. Statistical analyses show that the internal validity of the gathered data is quite good. The tool criteria are judged relevant by experts, and the tool performance is adequate: its use should permit the constitution of groups (clustering) of nursing homes homogeneous from the point of view of their nursing care load.
Health care-almost exclusively a private affair in earlier times-is now more and more influenced by public administration. The role of the private organizations and with it the role of the health leagues has changed, but their importance remains. Motivation is stronger among volunteers, and services are more easily adapted to specific needs. Personal-also financial-engagement is a needed basis for many preventive actions, and public interventions should ideally be kept to a necessary minimum. Finally, private organizations are more ready and able to try new approaches and respond to changing needs. Their potential for innovation and flexibility will guarantee the persistence of their action within the Swiss health system, also in a future characterized by increasingly rapid change.
The intestinal morphology of rats given one, 10 or 100 cysticercoids of hymenolepis diminuta was examined by scanning electron microscopy. The presence of this tapeworm causes extensive villous atrophy and fusion. The most extreme changes in mucosal architecture were observed adjacent to the mature proglottides of the worm and in these areas the villi were reduced either to flattened plate-like structures or to low irregularly shaped undulations. The presence of one large H. diminuta resulted in more severe pathological damage than caused by several smaller worms. Colonization of the upper region of the ileum by long filamentous bacteria was also observed in rats infected with H. diminuta.