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Biomedical subjects

L Fitzgerald

Publications and source records attributed to L Fitzgerald.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Overtraining increases the susceptibility to infection.

Recent research studies and other evidence suggest that although moderate exercise is good for the immune system, the demanding training programs of many top athletes may suppress the immune system and thereby increase susceptibility to infections. A number of top athletes have suffered from unusual infections normally associated with immune deficiency, and immune abnormalities have been demonstrated in resting samples from top athletes. Studies from several exercise laboratories have shown that after a single exhausting exercise session there is temporary immune depression, with marked changes in numbers and functional capacities of lymphocytes. These changes, which last for up to several hours, are seen in athletes and untrained individuals. In several studies in the United States, students who were very active in sports have been shown to be more susceptible to infections than their less active colleagues. Exercising hard during the incubation phase of an infection can increase the severity of the illness. This article examines the evidence, discusses possible mechanisms, and considers the implications.

Disease Susceptibility↗
PubMed1991

Serenity: caring with perspective.

It is possible to care too much. Thus, there is a need to assist clients to achieve a state of caring with perspective (i.e., caring that lies in the gray area between excessive caring and not caring). Serenity is a concept that offers direction for attainment of this perspective; the concept of serenity is valued by many clients. Yet, the term is missing in nursing literature and the meaning of serenity in the literature that exists on the topic is vague. This article presents results of a concept analysis of serenity and discusses the relationship of serenity to the concept of caring.

Aged↗
PubMed1990

Eosinophilic meningoencephalitis due to Angiostrongylus cantonensis as the cause of death in captive non-human primates.

Fatal eosinophilic meningoencephalitis due to Angiostrongylus cantonensis is reported in captive non-human primates. A howler monkey (Alouatta caraya) at the Audubon Park and Zoological Gardens, New Orleans, LA, died 21 days after initial clinical symptoms. A white-handed gibbon (Hylobates lar) died at the Ardastra Gardens and Zoo, Nassau, Bahamas, 17 days after onset of symptoms. Both had access to free-ranging gastropods within the zoos. These are the first reported cases of natural infection by A. cantonensis in non-human primates in the western hemisphere.

Alouatta↗
PubMed1989

Murine T helper cell clones secrete granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GmCSF) by both interleukin-2-dependent and interleukin-2-independent pathways.

Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GmCSF) is a lymphokine secreted by class II major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-restricted T cells after lectin or antigen stimulation. To investigate the relationship between interleukin-2 (IL-2) and GmCSF production, we utilized long-term cultures of porcine myelin basic protein (PMBP)-specific T helper cell clones that were maintained with IL-2 in the absence of antigen or irradiated antigen-presenting cells (APC). We have found that supernatants of these T cell clones contained GmCSF activity after IL-2 stimulation. Inhibition of cell proliferation by irradiation failed to stop GmCSF production. When these clones were stimulated with PMBP and irradiated APC in the presence of anti-IL-2 receptor antibody, the T cell supernatants still contained GmCSF activity. These results indicate that (1) GmCSF production by T helper clones after IL-2 stimulation is independent of cell proliferation and (2) antigen/MHC-stimulated GmCSF production by T cell clones can occur by an IL-2-independent pathway.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

An increase in in vitro fertilization ability of low-density human sperm capacitated by multiple-tube swim-up.

Comparison was made of the efficacy of multiple-tube swim-up (MT-SU) and single-tube swim-up (ST-SU) preparations on inducing human sperm fertilization ability in semen samples of less than 60 million motile sperm/ml. Two parallel groups of in vitro fertilization (IVF) patients possessing sperm density of this category had their sperm capacitated by MT-SU or ST-SU. The MT-SU patients' sperm fertilized 71 +/- 6.0% of eggs retrieved in comparison to 39 +/- 7.9% in the parallel ST-SU patients (P less than 0.001). Similarly, MT-SU increased the rate of human sperm penetration into zona-free hamster eggs. The increased fertilization rate of MT-SU sperm was not from acceleration of the acrosome reaction, but may be attributed to the higher efficiency of MT-SU in removing antifertility factors present in the seminal plasma from sperm.

Acrosome↗