PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

J R Ricoy

Publications and source records attributed to J R Ricoy.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

[Evaluation of the results of the research funded by the Health Research Fund in 1988].

BACKGROUND: To analyse the scientific product of research projects funded by Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria in 1988 emphasizing its relation to money granted. METHODS: 270 out of 610 projects were evaluated in relation to the amount granted. The number of papers published to each project and the impact factor assigned to the journals where these papers were published; we also assessed the mean cost of papers and impact factor units. These projects were coded following UNESCO classifications, and papers as per ISI standards. RESULTS: A total of 95 projects out of the 270 analysed produced no papers; the other 175 projects yielded 471 articles (2.7 per project); the mean cost of each article was 1.1 million pesetas, or 0.8 million if only the productive projects were considered. These papers reached a total of 818,709 impact factor units; the mean cost of the impact factor unit is 660,796 pesetas, or 459,626 pesetas if only productive projects are considered. CONCLUSIONS: Non productive projects were those that received less funding. 33% of projects produced papers published in journals with an assigned impact factor equal or inferior to one. There are evident differences among areas of knowledge in terms of impact factor. This study must be completed with a statistical analysis of reported data.

Evaluation Studies as Topic

Carnitine in muscle, serum, and urine of nonprofessional athletes: effects of physical exercise, training, and L-carnitine administration.

Efficient utilization of fatty acids to sustain prolonged physical efforts is thought to be dependent on the carnitine shuttle of muscle. A study has been carried out in 24 athletes (13 long-distance runners and 11 sprinters). These subjects received placebo or L-carnitine (1 g/orally b.i.d.) during a 6-month period of training. In endurance athletes, training induced lowering of total and free muscle carnitine. Increase of esterified muscle carnitine was also observed. Post-exertional overflow of acetylcarnitine and long-chain acylcarnitine, as well as reduction of the free fraction was also noticed in the blood. Fasting plasma carnitine levels, however, were not affected in carnitine-treated athletes at rest. These changes were likely related with the significantly increased urinary excretion of esterified and total carnitine which occurred after physical exercise. In the sprinters only, a decrease in free and total carnitine of muscle was detected after training. Both these potentially unfavorable effects were prevented by oral administration of L-carnitine. Our data suggest that training in endurance athletes, and to a lesser extent, in sprinters, is associated with a decrease in free and total carnitine of muscle, due to an increased overflow of short-chain carnitine esters in urine.

Adult

[Hypothyroid myopathy. Clinico-pathologic study of 20 cases].

20 patients afflicted with primary hypothyroidism were studied in order to evaluate the association of clinical or sub-clinical myopathy, detected by neurophysiological (electromyography) (EMG) or neuropathological methods (muscular biopsy with enzymatic study). 70% of the patients had muscular weakness (moderate in 30% and severe in 40%) of the scapular and pelvic muscles. 60% of the patients had muscular cramps. There was no myodema nor muscular atrophy or hypertrophy. Seric CPK was high in 70% of the cases. EMG was myopathic in 65%. All cases with weakness registered EMG alterations. The histological findings were import findings were important. The enzymatic techniques showed alterations of the fiber subtypes in 90% of the cases. The type I fibers had sarcolemmal and mitochondrial accumules in 85% and 70% had areas without oxidative activity, similar to "core". In this study, we did not find any correlation between the evolution time of hypothyroidism, hormonal levels, CPK increase, and muscular weakness. The EMG was myopathic in cases with severe weakness, however, in patients with moderate weakness it could also prove abnormal. There was no correlation between the electric myopathic pattern, CPK levels and thyroid hormones.

Adult

[Thyroid myopathy. Effect of treatment with thyroid hormones].

We studied 20 patients afflicted with primary hypothyroidism and treated with thyroid hormone replacements, with the aim of evaluating the clinical, biochemical, EMG and anatomo-pathological effects. Cramps, as well as subjective and objective proximal muscular weakness, disappeared. Seric CPK was normalized in all cases after 1-8 weeks of treatment. EMG myopathic patterns faded away in all cases. Anatomopathological changes took longer to observe; 5 cases with new biopsy showed an isolate atrophy of type II fibers, one of them after 18 months in treatment; type I fibers had mitochondrial accumula without change compared to the initial biopsy. There was a clear tendency for the destroyed fibers to become normalized and for the structures similar to the "core" to vanish.

Adult

Effects of L-carnitine, L-acetylcarnitine and gangliosides on the regeneration of the transected sciatic nerve in rats.

Three pharmacological agents, L-carnitine, L-acetylcarnitine and gangliosides, were tested for their ability to enhance the regeneration of the rat sciatic nerve following transection and microsurgical repair. The drugs were administered intraperitoneally at the dose of 50 mg/kg/d for 28 and 56 d postoperatively. At the end of treatment, the motor function recovery of the peroneal component of the sciatic nerve was assessed and the regenerated nerves were analysed morphometrically on histological semi-thin sections. Also, the reinnervated extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles were studied histochemically using the adenosine-triphosphatase (ATP-ase) technique 56 d after surgery. Motor function assessment at 56 d after nerve repair revealed that L-acetylcarnitine-treated animals recovered a clinical grade significantly higher (p less than 0.05) than the control animals. Twenty-eight days after nerve repair, the number of myelinated fibres was significantly higher (p less than 0.05) in L-acetylcarnitine and ganglioside-treated animals than in control animals. However, 56 d after nerve repair the number of regenerated fibres in all the drug-treated groups was not significantly different from that of the control group. The EDL muscles of the drug-treated animals did not show significant differences from those of control animals with respect to fibre composition and fibre diameter although the L-acetylcarnitine-treated animals exhibited a significantly lower (p less than 0.05) degree of muscle atrophy than did the control animals. The results of the present work seem to indicate that L-acetylcarnitine and to a lesser extent gangliosides exert some favourable effect on the regeneration of the transected sciatic nerve in rats.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Acetylcarnitine

Chromatolytic changes in the central nervous system of patients with the toxic oil syndrome.

Five patients died of a severe neuromyopathy months after the ingestion of adulterated rapeseed oil. These patients were selected for this study due to the presence of striking chromatolytic lesions in symmetric and scattered nuclei of the brain stem, including the locus coeruleus, midline raphe, lateral reticular nuclei of the medulla and cuneate nuclei. Two of the five cases, in addition to these topographic levels of involvement, had remarkable chromatolysis, vacuolar degeneration and heavy silver impregnation of the swollen perykarya and proximal dendrites in the nuclei of the basis pontis. In this paper we analyze the features of the chromatolytic lesion and suggest that the neuronal pathology observed in these cases is an example of irreversible chromatolysis involving vacuolization and filamentous proliferation as final events of the chromatolytic process. The cause of the cell degeneration in the toxic oil syndrome (TOS) is yet undetermined. Chromatolysis in this disease may be the result of a neurotoxic action of the toxic factor in the adulterated oil.

Brassica

Neurocutaneous melanosis. Report of a case and review of the literature.

A case of neurocutaneous melanosis in a 15 year old male is described. A primary malignant meningeal melanoma caused the death of the patient in six months. The skin lesions were benign. The literature is reviewed, and the nature of the disease and its relationship with other phakomatoses is discussed.

Adolescent

Dissemination with malignant changes from a pineal tumor through the corpus callosum after total removal.

Within the germinal neoplasms of the central nervous system, the embryonal carcinoma is a very rare tumor. The authors report such a lesion arising on the corpus callosum in a child 8 months after a differentiated teratoma was totaly removed from the pineal region. The classification of the germ cell tumors of the central nervous system and their relation with similar tumors of the gonads are discussed. The treatment of the pineal tumors is also discussed.

Adolescent

[Ischemic neuropathy].

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Arteriosclerosis