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Biomedical subjects

L Goldberg

Publications and source records attributed to L Goldberg.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Acyclovir treatment of varicella in otherwise healthy adolescents. The Collaborative Acyclovir Varicella Study Group.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To determine whether orally administered acyclovir is of therapeutic benefit for varicella in otherwise healthy adolescents, and to compare the severity of the disease in adolescents with that in younger children. DESIGN: Multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial. SETTING: Patients' homes and university hospital clinics. PATIENTS: Sixty-eight adolescents between 13 and 18 years of age with varicella entered the study. Of the 62 adolescents with laboratory-confirmed varicella who were included in the final analysis, 31 received acyclovir and 31 received placebo. INTERVENTIONS: Placebo or an 800 mg acyclovir tablet was given orally four times daily for 5 days, beginning within 24 hours of onset of rash. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Acyclovir recipients had significant reductions in times to cessation of new lesion formation (p less than 0.001), maximum number of lesions (p = 0.019), and defervescence (p = 0.045). Mean constitutional illness score was significantly reduced on day 4 (0.5 vs 1.5, p = 0.05), as was the mean number of residual hypopigmented lesions present on 28-day follow-up examination (22.7 vs 92.7, p = 0.018). Two complications, both bacterial superinfections, occurred in placebo recipients. Adverse experiences and varicella-zoster virus antibody titers measured 28 days after enrollment were similar in both treatment groups. Comparison of placebo recipients with children 2 to 12 years of age participating in a companion study indicated that varicella is more severe in adolescents: mean maximum total lesions (421 vs 347, p = 0.003), mean maximum constitutional illness score (3.1 vs 2.2, p = 0.032), and mean number of residual lesions (92.7 vs 33.2, p = 0.01) were all greater in the adolescent population. CONCLUSIONS: Oral acyclovir therapy is safe and effective for treatment of varicella in otherwise healthy adolescents; this may be an appropriate subgroup for treatment with antiviral drugs because the disease is more severe in them than in younger children.

Acyclovir↗
PubMed1992

Parental values, reinforcement, and young children's prosocial behavior: a longitudinal study.

In this study, the authors assessed the relation of parental reinforcement and parental values to young children's prosocial behaviors. Parents' dyadic interactions with their 1- to 2-year-old children were videotaped in the home on two occasions approximately 6 months apart. The children also were videotaped playing with a peer at 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 years of age. Parental reinforcement of the children's prosocial behaviors was coded, as were the children's prosocial behaviors with the peer. The frequency of girls' spontaneous prosocial behaviors decreased in the early years; modest consistency was observed for boys (but not girls) across the two parental sessions. No relation existed between the frequency of children's prosocial behaviors with their parents and their behaviors with peers. Both maternal and paternal valuing of compliance were negatively related to the mothers' use of reinforcement for children's spontaneous prosocial behaviors. Parental reinforcement of compliant prosocial behaviors was negatively related to children's compliance with a peer's request for prosocial behavior and positively related to defensive behavior with the peer. Fathers' valuing of prosocial behavior was associated with children's compliance with the peer's requests for prosocial action. Parents who valued compliance had children who exhibited low levels of compliant prosocial behaviors with the peer, possibly because of the depressed level of peer interaction.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1992

DSM-III-R as a taxonomy. A cluster analysis of diagnoses and symptoms.

While there have been many applications of cluster analysis in psychiatric classification research, there are no studies in which cluster analysis is used to discover the taxonomic structure implicit in the DSM-III itself. In order to do so, the symptom index in the DSM-III-R manual was summarized in a two-way matrix of disorders by symptoms and then analyzed using a hierarchical classes model and companion algorithm (HICLAS) that permits overlap among classes. A novel feature of this model is that superordinate-subordinate relationships among diagnostic and symptom classes are explicitly represented. The HICLAS analysis revealed that there are several discrete symptom classes in DSM-III-R and that many psychiatric disorders can be modeled as combinations of one or more of these classes. The disorders associated with these symptom classes tend to fit the hierarchical classes model relatively well, particularly the mood disorders and the psychotic disorders. However, disorders such as adjustment, personality, and sexual disorder fit the model poorly or not at all. The results are in line with the conjecture that the taxonomic model implicit in DSM-III-R is a hybrid of discrete symptom classes and some other structure, perhaps a dimensional one.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1991

Collagenase synthesis by cloned rabbit pulp cells--molecular and immunological identity of pulp cell and fibroblast enzyme.

Cultures of cloned rabbit pulp (RP) cells without stimulation produced collagenase of a concentration as high as reference rabbit skin fibroblast cultures which were stimulated with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA, 100 ng/ml). The RP cell collagenase was compared with reference fibroblast collagenase in Western blot analysis using monoclonal antibodies prepared against RP cell collagenase and a polyclonal antibody prepared against rabbit fibroblast collagenase. Both enzyme preparations revealed, with either antibody, identical bands of approximate molecular masses 57,000, 52,500, and 45,000. These antibody preparations variously inhibited RP cell collagenase activity. Intracellular collagenase in RP cells in culture was demonstrated by the indirect immunofluorescence antibody technique using polyclonal anti-fibroblast collagenase antibody. RNA samples from RP cells hybridized with rabbit fibroblast collagenase cDNA (clone H9) and showed a distinct band at 2.7 kb. Both control and PMA-stimulated RP cells and PMA-stimulated reference skin fibroblasts demonstrated strong cytoplasmic hybridization between H9 and collagenase mRNA. The results indicate that RP cell collagenase is identical to rabbit fibroblast collagenase, and that the RP cell line provides a useful in vitro reference system for the study of collagenolysis in the rabbit model.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Exercise training reduces intraocular pressure among subjects suspected of having glaucoma.

The effect of exercise conditioning on elevated intraocular pressure has not been previously described among sedentary individuals. We prospectively observed intraocular pressure for nine sedentary subjects suspected of having glaucoma before and after 3 months of aerobic exercise training. Mean (+/- SEM) aerobic capacity, as assessed by maximal oxygen uptake, increased 6.3 +/- 1.6 mL.kg-1.min-1 (30%) (P less than .02). Mean intraocular pressure decreased 4.6 +/- 0.4 mmHg (20%) (P less than .001) at the end of the conditioning period. With cessation of exercise and subsequent detraining, intraocular pressure returned to elevated preconditioning levels by 3 weeks. Regular aerobic exercise is associated with a reduction in elevated intraocular pressure and may represent an effective nonpharmacologic intervention for patients suspected of having glaucoma.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Psychophysics of muscle tension in psychiatric inpatients.

Twelve psychiatric inpatients and 16 control subjects each took part in a psychophysics experiment in which the method of production was used to study the perception of tension in the frontalis and forearm extensor muscles. Subjects tensed each muscle between 0% and 50% maximum effort, with 25% effort repeated every third trial, and used as a reference stimulus. Patients showed significantly lower correlations between frontalis EMG and percent effort than the control subjects, but no between-groups differences were found for forearm. Correlations were higher for differences between successive trials than for absolute values because of apparent baseline shifts in perception and/or production of muscle tension. The performance among the patients was not correlated with severity of psychiatric symptoms, antipsychotic medication, abnormal movements, or parkinsonian symptoms, although the n was small. Analysis of the regression of EMG on percent effort revealed approximately equal descriptive strength for three functions: a linear relationship, Stevens' power function, and Fechner's law. The implications of these findings for self-regulation therapies are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Management of suspected iron deficiency: a cost-effectiveness model.

Iron deficiency is frequent among physically active women. Several diagnostic and therapeutic strategies have been advocated. We determined how women's preferences for care varied with their risk of iron deficiency and/or anemia. The women's strength of feelings (utilities) and management costs were used to assess: 1) no evaluation or therapy; treatment based on a 2) complete blood count (CBC) or 3) ferritin level; and 4) empiric iron therapy. The analysis was applied to groups with differing iron deficiency prevalence. Women (N = 22) were adverse to the risk of both anemia and iron deficiency without anemia, and their preferences did not correlate with age, running mileage, years of running, or vitamin supplement use. Because of women's desire to avoid undiagnosed deficiency, the benefits of no evaluation, complete blood count assessment, and, to a less extent, serum ferritin decreased as the prevalence of iron deficiency increased. Ferritin level was more effective per cost than a CBC. However, empiric therapy had the highest effectiveness per cost. These results suggest a strategy that combines both patient concerns and the clinical suspicion of disease in choosing management for physically active women at risk for iron deficiency.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Gaucher disease: heterologous expression of two alleles associated with neuronopathic phenotypes.

To investigate the molecular basis for the distinct neuronopathic phenotypes of Gaucher disease, acid beta-glucosidases expressed from mutant DNAs in Gaucher disease type 2 (acute) and type 3 (subacute) patients were characterized in fibroblasts and with the baculovirus expression system in insect cells. Expression of the mutant DNA encoding a proline-for-leucine substitution at amino acid 444 (L444P) resulted in a catalytically defective, unstable acid beta-glucosidase in either fibroblasts from L444P/L444P homozygotes or in insect cells. This mutation was found to be homoallelic in subacute neuronopathic (type 3) Gaucher disease. In comparison, expression of the mutant cDNA encoding an arginine-for-proline substitution at amino acid 415 (P415R) resulted in an inactive and unstable protein in insect cells. This allele was found only in a type 2 patient with the L444P/P415R genotype. The substantial variation in the type 3 phenotype (L444P homozygotes) suggests the complex nature of the molecular basis of phenotypic variation in Gaucher disease. Yet, the association of neuronopathic phenotypes with alleles producing severely compromised (L444P) or functionally null (P415R) enzymes indicates that the effective level of residual activity at the lysosome is likely to be a major determinant of the severity of Gaucher disease.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1979

Concealed quadrigeminy and quintageminy.

Electrocardiographic rhythm strips were analyzed from three patients who had frequent unifocal extrasystoles. Parasystole was excluded in all three cases. Analysis of the distributions of the numbers (S) of conducted sinus beats between extrasystoles revealed that the distributions conformed to two variants of concealed quadrigeminy (namely, the "S = 4n" and "S = 4n - 2" variants) and to one variant of concealed quintageminy (namely, the "S = 5n - 2" variant). The binomial theorem was used to test the likelihoods that these patterns of distribution of extrasystoles could occur on the basis of chance alone; the probabilities were all extremely small.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

The effect of bacterially produced vitamin B12 analogues (cobamides) on the in vitro absorption of cyanocabalamin.

An incubation system containing rat jejunoileum was used to determine whether analogues of cyanocabalamin (CNCbl) inhibited the in vitro absorption of CNCbl. The naturally occurring analogues "pseudo B12," "factor A," and the nonnaturally occurring analogue desdemethyl B12, were produced by guided biosynthesis with Propionibacterium arabinosum. Factor B was produced by acid cleavage of cyanocabalamin. Inhibition of Co57-CNBbl uptake was demonstrated for cold CNCbl and for desdemethyl B12, although statistical significance was achieved only for cold CNCbl at 40X and 100X the molar quantity of the radiolabeled CNCbl. However, a trend towards progressive inhibition of specific CNCbl binding was shown as increasing concentrations of CNCbl or desdemethyl B12 were used. No inhibition of specific CNCbl binding could be demonstrated for any of the naturally occurring cobamides tested.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Effects of a sugar mixture on blood alcohol parameters and impairment in the intact rat.

The effects of a sugar mixture containing 43% glucose and 36% fructose on ethanol metabolism and on ethanol-induced impairment were studied in intact rats. When ethanol was given orally mixed with the sugars there was a significant reduction in the area of the blood alcohol time curve accompanied by a decrease in the peak ethanol concentration and a slowing in the rate of ethanol absorption. The whole curve followed a lower course and the time for complete removal of ethanol from the body was markedly reduced even though the slope of the elimination phase (beta) was not significantly increased. Ethanol-induced impairment as measured using a tilting plane device was significantly less when ethanol was given mixed with the sugars and paralleled the reduced area and duration of the blood alcohol curve. The magnitude of the effect observed on blood alcohol levels and impairment was dependent on the dose of sugars administered in relation to the alcohol dose. When the sugars were given orally after absorption and distribution of ethanol were complete the slope of the elimination phase (beta) was increase by 30%. These findings point to an increased rate of ethanol metabolism in rats in the presence of sugars. The action of the sugars prevails only for the first few hours after administration thereafter the rate of ethanol metabolism returns to normal.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1979

Isolation of meningococci in meningococcal endophthalmitis.

We describe a case of bilateral hypopyon in a 7-year-old African male receiving systemic antibiotic therapy for meningococcal meningitis. Aqueous from paracentesis of the left eye contained intra- and extra-cellular Gram negative diplococci. We believe this is the first report of isolation of the organism since the advent of antibiotic treatment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Remarks on transference-countertransference in psychotic states.

Clinical material of patients in psychotic states indicates that in those states the transference is directed into the therapist's body. The emotional experience thus created in the therapist, which is usually called countertransference in its broad meaning, should rather be seen as very early forms of object relationships. The complexities of the above easily influence the analyst in her role of interpreter. Therefore in the actual work with these patients the verbal interpretation, which represents an elaboration of the transference, in the author's view should be seen as countertransference.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Immune complexes in retinoblastoma.

Thirteen patients with retinoblastoma were tested for circulating immune complexes using the Raji cell radioimmunoassay. Eight of 13 patients had statistically significantly increased levels of immune complexes.

Antigen-Antibody Complex↗