PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

K Spindler

Publications and source records attributed to K Spindler.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

The CORE-OM in an older adult population: psychometric status, acceptability, and feasibility.

There is a need to extend and test the feasibility and acceptability of mental health outcome measures in the older population (i.e., aged 65-100). We present data on the CORE-OM (Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure) on a sample of 118 people aged 65-97 presenting for mental health treatment and 214 people aged 65-94 drawn from a non-clinical population. Results show the CORE-OM to be a reliable measure in both samples when the overall mean item is used but the reliability is not as high for the specific domains as psychometrically stable structures. The CORE-OM showed large overall differences between the non-clinical and clinical samples indicating that it is equally as sensitive to these differing populations across this older age band as with working-age adults. However, the norms for the clinical sample were consistently lower than the equivalent clinical norms for a working-age sample. These findings suggest that the collection and compilation of age-specific norms is crucial in ensuring that appropriately referenced norms are used rather than assuming that norms are generalizable across the whole adult life-span.

Aged↗
PubMed2001

[The man in the ice under special consideration of paleo-pathological evidence].

Dealing with archaeological findings, the physical condition of the 5000-year-old Man in the Ice will be discussed. Several research projects with autoscopical, radiological, computertomographical and laparoscopical methods present an overview of the state of health of the Tyrolean Iceman. The vascular network at the lower brain shows a slight hardening of the arteries. On the right side of the thorax the sixth and seventh ribs are fractured without callus formation. On the left side serial rib fractures can be seen which had healed well. The twelfth ribs are absent on both sides. The Iceman was suffering from arthrosis of the right hip of medium severity. Osteolysis of the little toe is indicative of frostbite. Some ecto- and endoparasites were found (Pulex irritans, Trichuris trichiura). The Iceman has a number of skin markings on various places. The location of these tattoos matches the X-ray findings of discrete to medium arthrotic changes in the corresponding joints. It seems reasonable to assume that the markings were applied for a therapeutic reason. The combination of thickening of the arteries, arthrosis of the joints, the healed fractures and frostbite lesions illustrates the hard life to be endured by the Man in the Ice and by Late Stone Age man in general.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Follicular phase hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis function in women with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: Fibromyalgia (FM) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) are clinically overlapping stress associated disorders. Neuroendocrine perturbations have been noted in both syndromes, and they are more common in women, suggesting abnormalities of gonadal steroid hormones. We tested the hypothesis that women with FM and CFS manifest abnormalities of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) hormonal axis. METHODS: We examined the secretory characteristics of estradiol, progesterone, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), and luteinizing hormone (LH), including a detailed analysis of LH in premenopausal women with FM (n = 9) or CFS (n = 8) during the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle compared to matched healthy controls. Blood was collected from an indwelling intravenous catheter every 10 min. over a 12 h period. LH was assayed from every sample; pulses of LH were identified by a pulse-detection program. FSH and progesterone were assayed from a pool of hourly samples for the 12 h period and estradiol from samples pooled over four 3 h time periods. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in FSH, progesterone, or estradiol levels in patients versus controls. There were no significant differences in pulsatile secretion of LH. CONCLUSION: There is no indication of abnormal gonadotropin secretion or gonadal steroid levels in this small, but systematic, study of HPG axis function in patients with FM and CFS.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Mouse adenovirus (MAV-1) expression in primary human endothelial cells and generation of a full-length infectious plasmid.

Using RT-PCR, we show that mouse adenovirus type I (MAV-1) is capable of infecting and expressing in various cell types, specifically human endothelial cells. The capability of MAV-1 to infect and express in human endothelial cells makes it a potentially useful alternative to the use of human adenoviruses type 2/5 (Ad2/5) in virus-based gene therapy, although presently MAV-1 can only be produced at lower titers than Ad2/5. In this report, we present methods for the purification of MAV-1 DNA and use of this DNA along with a modified bacteria-based homologous recombination protocol to generate a full-length plasmid clone of MAV-1 DNA. Using various transfection procedures, we show that this plasmid MAV-1 DNA can generate plaques of MAV-1 virus, albeit at low efficiencies (about 0. 2 p.f.u./microg DNA). Furthermore, the construction of an MAV-1 plasmid along with its capability to express in human cells justifies the full development of MAV-1 into a system of gene therapy.

Adenoviridae↗
PubMed1999

Isolation and characterization of insect PC2-like prohormone convertase cDNA.

Endoproteolytic processing of large precursor molecules at basic amino acid residues plays an important role in the maturation of many hormones, neuropeptides and other regulatory proteins. Enzymes performing these reactions are designated as prohormone or proprotein convertases and belong to the subtilisin family of serine proteases. The screening of a larval cDNA library of the sheep blowfly Lucilia cuprina resulted in the isolation of two cDNAs encoding a PC2-like prohormone convertase. The predicted 675 amino acid preproprotein (LcuPC2) exhibits its highest identity to invertebrate and vertebrate prohormone convertase 2 homologues, and a noticeably lower identity to the so far known insect furin-like prohormone convertases of Drosophila melanogaster and Aedes aegypti. In Northern blot experiments a signal at 2.5 kb could be detected.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1988

Direct extracellular electrical stimulation influences density dependent aggregation of fetal rat cerebrocortical neurons in vitro.

Cells isolated from fetal (E17) rat cerebral cortex form aggregates in a density-dependent manner. Direct current electrical stimulation influences the formation of neuronal aggregates by promoting neuronal survival at a calculated current density of 15 nA/cm2 (with an average calculated field strength of 1 microV/cm), and inhibiting neuronal survival at calculated current densities of both 1 nA/cm2 and 150 nA/cm2. Electrical stimulation had no observable effect on neuronal aggregation independent of its effect on cell survival.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Enhanced survival of rat neonatal cerebral cortical neurons at subatmospheric oxygen tensions in vitro.

In vitro tissue culture experiments are routinely performed at atmospheric oxygen tension (21%), although most cells experience lower oxygen tensions in vivo. The optimal oxygen tension for the survival of neurons and synthesis of neurofilament (NF) was determined using dissociated neonatal rat cerebral cortex and monoclonal antibodies to the 68 kDa and 200 kDa subunits of NF. Maximum production of each subunit determined by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbant Assay occurred at 9% O2. Neuronal survival determined by immunohistochemistry was also maximal at 9% O2. CNS neurons are highly sensitive to oxygen tension and grow best at levels approximating capillary rather than atmospheric pO2.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Rapid evolution of RNA genomes.

RNA viruses show high mutation frequencies partly because of a lack of the proofreading enzymes that assure fidelity of DNA replication. This high mutation frequency is coupled with high rates of replication reflected in rates of RNA genome evolution which can be more than a millionfold greater than the rates of the DNA chromosome evolution of their hosts. There are some disease implications for the DNA-based biosphere of this rapidly evolving RNA biosphere.

Animals↗