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Biomedical subjects

J Symoens

Publications and source records attributed to J Symoens.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Ketanserin in the treatment of peripheral vascular disease or hypertension in patients with diabetes mellitus: a review.

The available data on the use of ketanserin in diabetes mellitus have been reviewed. Ketanserin does not worsen glucose tolerance or destabilize diabetic control. Ketanserin can improve impairment of peripheral blood flow, and especially skin blood flow; the healing of cutaneous ulcers is improved; trophic skin changes are fewer; and there is a trend towards less limb amputations. Walking distance in diabetic claudicants is unaltered by ketanserin. Controlled trials in hypertensive diabetics have provided variable results, with a significant fall in arterial pressure in only one of five studies. As in nondiabetics, ketanserin generally lowers serum cholesterol. The electrocardiographic QTc interval is prolonged. Symptomatic side effects in diabetics are as those in nondiabetic subjects.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

[Immunopharmacology of levamisole].

Levamisole, a simple chemical, first introduced as a broad spectrum anthelmintic, is an immunotherapeutic agent with anti-anergic properties. It is the first member of a potential new class of immunologically active, probably thymomimetic compounds. The present knowledge from studies on isolated cells, experimental animals, healthy volunteers and patients with various diseases shows that levamisole behaves physiologically as a thymus hormone and restores to normal the functions of phagocytes and T-lymphocytes in compromised hosts and induces T-cell differentiation. The biochemical mechanism of action remains still unclear. The various mechanisms by which levamisole might act are not mutually exclusive. Levamisole is well tolerated in doses of 2,5 mg/kg. Side-effects are markedly more frequent in patients with rheumatoid arthritis than with other diseases. The only potentially fatal adverse reaction is agranulocytosis.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

The role of Pityrosporum pachydermatis in otitis externa of dogs: evaluation of a treatment with miconazole.

The bacterial and mycotic flora were assessed in 158 ears of dogs with otitis externa and in 101 ears of healthy control dogs. Pityrosporum pachydermatis occurred in 57 per cent of ears with otitis externa and in 17 per cent of clinically healthy ears. Staphylococci and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were the predominant bacteria in otitic ears, micrococci and Bacillus spp were the most frequent isolates from clinically healthy ears. P pachydermatis, Ps aeruginosa and Candida tropicalis occurred in monoculture in a significant number of mainly chronic cases of otitis externa. A combination preparation, containing miconazole, polymyzin B and prednisolone, was highly effective in controlling the clinical signs of otitis externa and eliminating flora from the affected ears. The data presented suggest that yeasts, and especially P pachydermatis, may be significant pathogens in otitis externa and that antimycotic treatment is an essential part of the treatment of otitis externa in dogs.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

The host and the parasite.

The role of the host in the management of patients with mycotic infection is considered. In vivo studies with ketoconazole indicate the importance of the host and the possibility of stimulating host immune mechanisms by an immune modulator.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Adverse reactions to levamisole.

The adverse reactions mentioned in 267 reports on levamisole are analyzed. Significant adverse reactions are agranulocytosis, skin rash, and febrile illness. They occur in a small subpopulation of patients only, predominantly those with rheumatoid arthritis. Other side effects rarely necessitate discontinuation of treatment. Levamisole did not appear to cause renal or liver toxicity. By means of a questionnaire, cases of blood dyscrasia were analyzed in detail. Agranulocytosis (less than 20% neutrophils) occurs most frequently in patients with rheumatic diseases, in women, and in HLA B27 genotypes. It is spontaneously reversible when treatment is discontinued. The bone marrow is not damaged. Thrombocytopenia has a course similar to that of agranulocytosis but it is very rare. Leukopenia (less than 3000 cells/mm3 but greater than 20% neutrophils) seems to differ from agranulocytosis in a number of ways and is not an indication to discontinue treatment. It is concluded that, if used under the close supervision of a physician, for those clinical situations in which levamisole has proven efficacy, the potential benefit to the patient outweighs the hazards and justifies its use.

Agranulocytosis↗
PubMed1978

Levamisole in rheumatoid arthritis--a multivariate analysis of a multicentric study.

Statistical analysis of the data from a multicentric study of six months of treatment with levamisole in rheumatoid arthritis involved two steps. In a first step, the differences between observations before and after treatment have been made independent of their initial values. Differences after treatment have been transformed into responses to treatment using a proportionality factor that is related to the initial values before treatment. The second step involved a reduction of the various responses into a single global response by means of a discriminant analysis between two classes. Class membership has been defined by the type of treatment (either placebo or drug) predicted by the investigators at the end of treatment and before breaking of the code of the double-blind study. This method of analysis allows for the combination of multiple clinical observations with a subjective evaluation. Its results can be easily represented graphically and tested for statistical significance. The use of global responses to treatment is illustrated with a comparison of placebo and drug treatments and can be extended to comparisons between investigators or between different dose and time regimens.

Arthritis, Rheumatoid↗
PubMed1978

Degree of responsiveness to levamisole and factors influencing responsiveness and adverse reactions.

The individual response to treatment, and factors influencing this response, were evaluated by means of Lewi's mathematical model in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Patients showed a graded response to anti-inflammatory agents ranging from deterioration through moderate to marked improvement. Levamisole was superior to anti-inflammatory agents in preventing deterioration or inducing marked improvement. Patients in an early stage of disease were the best responders and had fewest idiosyncratic reactions. The responses were independent of the treatment schedule used. A threshold dose of levamisole exists, but it is not critically dependent on body weight.

Anti-Inflammatory Agents↗
PubMed1977

[Hypothesis for the use of levamisole in rheumatic diseases (author's transl)].

For years the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis has been based on the assumption that the autoimmune processes and bone lesions occuring in rheumatic patients are due to inflammatory and immune reactions. Treatment was aimed at restricting these reactions. But various investigators have come to the conviction that the primary factor is not an immunological hyperreactivity but an immunodeficiency in autoimmune diseases. The immunotherapeutic use of transfer factor, BCG and levamisole in patients with rheumatoid arthritis is based on this hypothesis. From the fact that a therapeutic effect is demonstrable in such patients treated with levamisole, the theory that rheumatoid arthritis is an immunodeficiency disease should be accorded greater importance.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Clinical and experimental evidence on miconazole for the treatment of systemic mycoses: a review.

Intravenous treatment with miconazole brought about the recovery of 90% of patients with gastrointestinal or systemic candidosis. Miconazole given by the same route has also been found effective in the treatment of cryptococcosis, coccidioidomycosis, and paracoccidioidomycosis. Cryptococcal and coccidioidal meningitis have been cured by combined intravenous and intrathecal instillation, although treatment of aspergillosis has presented difficulty. Oral treatment was effective in curing dermatophyte skin infections and systemic mycoses caused by sensitive organisms such as paracoccidioides, blastomyces and histoplasma. The question of blood levels following oral and intravenous administration is discussed. Side effects of the drug were few, and included chills, dizziness, skin rash, itching and diarrhoea. Thus miconazole can safely be given to seriously ill patients. Its behaviour in the body is not influenced by renal insufficiency and no drug induced resistance has been reported.

Animals↗