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Biomedical subjects

J Steiner

Publications and source records attributed to J Steiner.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Influenza A virus in Swiss pig herds with respiratory disease: Seasonality and age dependence.

Influenza A virus (IAV) is an important respiratory pathogen in pigs and poses a zoonotic risk to humans in close contact. While IAV epidemiology has been extensively studied in large-scale production systems, data from Switzerland - characterized by small herds and limited live pig imports - remain scarce. This exploratory nationwide cross-sectional study aimed to assess the association between herd-level IAV detection and reported respiratory disease in pig herds, and to explore associations with husbandry-, animal-, and human health-related factors. Between November 2023 and April 2025, 25 Swiss pig herds with caretaker-suspected respiratory symptoms were investigated. In each herd, five nasal swabs were collected and analyzed by quantitative PCR. Herd managers completed an interview, and clinical examinations were performed. Overall, 56 % (95 % CI: 37,1 - 73,3) of herds tested positive for IAV, comparable to reports from other European countries. The estimated intra-herd detection rate was 49,6 % (95 % CI: 31,2 - 68,0). Respiratory disease outbreaks associated with IAV detection showed indications of seasonal variation, with no positive herds identified during summer. Across age groups, pigs aged 11-14 weeks had a higher likelihood of IAV detection, with 15,79-fold increased odds (95 % CI: 1,50 - 860,4), although with considerable uncertainty. The interpretation is limited by the small sample size, heterogeneous data, and reliance on single time-point qPCR detection. The results suggest that IAV detection in clinically apparent respiratory outbreaks may follow seasonal patterns in Swiss pig herds. Weaners and newly introduced fattening pigs may play a role in such respiratory outbreaks and could represent relevant targets for IAV surveillance in Switzerland. Continued monitoring and the implemen tation of appropriate control measures remain important given the virus's zoonotic potential and impact on pig health.

Animals

Beta-glucosidase from Penicillium purpurogenum: purification and properties.

beta-Glucosidase was purified from the culture supernatant of Penicillium purpurogenum. The purified enzyme was homogeneous on both nondenaturing and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The enzyme is a monomeric glycoprotein with M(r) of 90,000 as determined by gel filtration on Bio-Gel P-300 and SDS-polyacrylamide gels. Two enzyme forms were resolved by chromatofocusing and isoelectric focusing, and the pI values obtained with both methods were 4.2 (major form) and 6.0. The major form was characterised further. Enzyme activity was optimal at pH 3.5 and at 60 degrees C. The enzyme was stable in the pH range 2.5-9.5 for 24 h at 4 degrees C. Kinetic analysis gave Kms of 0.8 mM for cellobiose and 85 microM for p-nitrophenyl-beta-D-glucopyranoside. The enzyme hydrolyses a wide range of substrates including aryl-beta-glucosides, cellobiose, and amygdalin. Glucose inhibits competitively and glucono-delta-lactone is a mixed inhibitor of the enzyme.

Cellobiose

Initial and steady state pharmacokinetics of cilazapril in congestive cardiac failure.

Twenty one patients with NYHA class II-III congestive heart failure received single ascending doses of 0.5, 1.25 and 2.5 mg cilazapril daily followed by the minimum effective dose for six weeks. Fifteen patients completed the study, but the data from only 11 were sufficiently complete for kinetic evaluation. The pharmacokinetics of the metabolite, cilazaprilat, after a single dose of 0.5 mg cilazapril were similar to previous observations in healthy volunteers at identical dosage. Repeat administration, however, led to greater accumulation than previously observed in volunteers at the higher dosages of 1.25 or 5 mg given for 8 days. Seven patients experienced adverse events. Four were severe, leading to withdrawal of the patients from the study, but only one event was related to cilazapril. Of the other three, one suffered a myocardial infarction and subsequently died due to worsening congestive heart failure. One other patient was withdrawn with two adverse events probably related to cilazapril. No other deaths occurred amongst the study population, and there were no significant abnormalities in haematology or blood chemistry.

Adult

A psychotic organization of the personality.

Clinical material is presented to illustrate the difference between psychotic and non-psychotic organizations of the personality. It is suggested that the psychotic part of the personality strives to possess and control its objects because it needs them to repair a damaged ego. The nonpsychotic part on the other hand is able to face reality sufficiently to relinquish its objects and mourn them. The interaction between the two parts in the same patient is discussed.

Humans

Pathological organizations as obstacles to mourning: the role of unbearable guilt.

A patient is described who made moves to face his internal and external reality only to find that this put him in touch with an internal world in a horrific state. The horror resulted from his view of damaged and imprisoned objects which arose from the way his defences were organized into a pathological organization of the personality which controlled his objects with ruthlessness and cruelty. As he began to loosen his dependence on the organization and to face his internal situation, depressive anxieties became prominent and of these he found guilt particularly unbearable. In order to escape from guilt he retreated once more to the protection of the organization and it is this which prevented him mourning his lost objects. It is argued that it is in the process of mourning that lost parts of the self are regained and it is specifically this process which was interfered with by the pathological organization.

Defense Mechanisms

An assessment of tenoxicam, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug of long half-life, in patients with impaired renal function suffering from osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis.

Fifty-eight patients, aged 48-87 years, with impaired renal function and mean initial creatinine clearance of 52.1 mls/min were recruited to a 12-week open study of tenoxicam 20 mg/day for osteoarthrosis or rheumatoid arthritis. Renal function was measured before and after a brief run-in period when patients discontinued all nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, taking paracetamol alone, prior to monthly monitoring thereafter. Fifty-four % of patients completed the study, the others being withdrawn from lack of efficacy (17%), adverse events (24%) or both (5%). During the run-in period the mean creatinine clearance of 28 patients completing the trial improved to 64.7 mls/min and then dropped to 57.9 mls/min during the course of 12 weeks treatment with tenoxicam. Serial analysis of haematological and biochemical safety parameters showed no drug-induced change of significance. Twenty-three% of patients felt worse and 45% better at the end of treatment. Seventeen patients withdrew because of adverse events. These were normally gastrointestinal and always unrelated to further deterioration in renal function. Tenoxicam, 20 mg/day, can be given safely for a period of at least three months in patients with mild or moderate renal impairment.

Aged

A pharmacokinetic study of cilazapril in patients with congestive heart failure.

1. The pharmacokinetics of cilazapril and the inhibition of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) were investigated in 10 patients with congestive heart failure, NYHA class II-III, receiving diuretics with or without digoxin. 2. Patients received 0.5 mg and 1 mg cilazapril on the first 2 days, followed by 0.5 mg or 1 mg daily for the next 8 weeks, in a single-blind study. Plasma cilazaprilat concentrations and plasma ACE activities were measured by radioenzymatic methods up to 24 h after the first and last doses. 3. After the initial 0.5 mg dose of cilazapril, a mean maximum plasma concentration of cilazaprilat of 6.8 ng ml-1 was observed at 2.3 h. Concentrations declined up to 8 h with a mean half-life of 5.8 h, followed by slower decrease to 24 h. Total clearance, based on data to 24 h, was estimated at 8.5 l h-1, with three-fold inter-individual variation. Mean maximum plasma ACE inhibition was 87%, decreasing to 65% at 24 h. 4. In the multiple dose phase of the study, four patients received cilazapril 0.5 mg daily, and six patients 1 mg daily. Cilazapril accumulation for the 0.5 mg group averaged 77%, but steady state concentrations for the 1 mg group were less than double those of the 0.5 mg group. ACE inhibition profiles at steady state were similar for both groups, and they differed from first dose data only in a somewhat lower inhibition at 24 h. 5. Historical comparison of the first-dose data with those for healthy young volunteers at identical dosage revealed only minor differences in kinetic parameters.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Aged

Cyclic AMP-dependent phosphorylation of a brain inositol trisphosphate receptor decreases its release of calcium.

We report the stoichiometric phosphorylation of an inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor-binding protein from rat brain by the cAMP-dependent protein kinase but not by protein kinase C or Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase. This phosphorylation event does not markedly alter [3H]inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate-binding characteristics. However, inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate is only 10% as potent in releasing 45Ca2+ from phosphorylated, as compared with native, cerebellar microsomes. Phosphorylation of the inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate-binding protein by the cAMP-dependent protein kinase may provide a biochemical substrate for second-messenger cross talk.

Animals

[Isolation of a cellulase hyperproducer Trichoderma pseudokoningii mutant].

The present study describes the production of cellulases by a native strain of Trichoderma pseudokoningii in the presence and absence of a catabolic repressor. We report a plate assay for selecting fungal mutants capable of synthesizing the cellulase enzymes under conditions of catabolite repression. This method was used for the selection of catabolite repression-resistant mutants. One mutant, B-1, secreted 3.3 times the extracellular protein and 3 times the endoglucanase and filter paper activity in submerged cultures when compared with the wild type strain. The cellobiase activity remained at similar levels in both strains. Although this mutant was isolated as i cellulase producer in the presence of 500 mM glycerol on agar plates, in liquid medium containing the repressor B-1 it exhibits only partial derepression of the cellulase complex.

Cellobiose

The interplay between pathological organizations and the paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions.

I have presented clinical material to illustrate how a pathological organization can be considered to exist in an equilibrium with the paranoid-schizoid and depressive positions. While making use of paranoid-schizoid mechanisms such as primitive splitting and projective identification, the defensive structure is highly organized and held together by narcissistic intrapsychic relationships in which perverse gratification plays an important role. This organization of defences seems to be designed to produce a place of real or illusionary safety from the anxieties experienced in the other two positions. All individuals fluctuate in the defences they employ and hence can be thought of as moving between these organizations and the other two positions. They consequently demonstrate some evidence of paranoid-schizoid level function and also of the existence of pathological organizations even if they may function in a relatively mature way at other times and in other settings. In some patients however the pathological organization dominates the personality and leads to analyses which become fixed and stuck. It is argued that a recognition of these organizations of defences enables the analyst to orient himself more accurately to the clinical material and hence to address himself to the patient at a level he can understand.

Adult

Invasive infrared sensor for the determination of the cell number in a continuous fermentation of hybridomas.

A new and simple device for the on-line determination of the total cell count in fermentation vessels is presented. It is based on fibre optic techniques, produces a constant infrared signal and determines the cell count via the scattered light. The linear range between the cell count and the infrared response lies between 1 X 10(5) and more than 2 X 10(6) cells per ml. This sensor shows good correlation between the cell count and the infrared response in fermentations with cell viability of more than 80%. The feeding pumps in these fermentations can be controlled via this sensor to get fermentation with stationary cell counts.

Animals