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Biomedical subjects

L Moral

Publications and source records attributed to L Moral.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Time dependence of breakdown in a global fiber-bundle model with continuous damage.

A time-dependent global fiber-bundle model of fracture with continuous damage is formulated in terms of a set of coupled nonlinear differential equations. A first integral of this set is analytically obtained. The time evolution of the system is studied by applying a discrete probabilistic method. Several results are discussed emphasizing their differences with the standard time-dependent model. The results obtained show that with this simple model a variety of experimental observations can be qualitatively reproduced.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1998

Familial progressive sensorineural deafness is mainly due to the mtDNA A1555G mutation and is enhanced by treatment of aminoglycosides.

Hearing loss involves both genetic and environmental factors. A mutation (A1555G) in the mtDNA has been associated with aminoglycoside-induced and nonsyndromic sensorineural deafness. The pathological significance of this mutation in Caucasoid families has not been established, and its relationship with antibiotic treatment is not well understood. We studied 70 Spanish families with sensorineural deafness (36 congenital and 34 late onset) for the mtDNA A1555G mutation. The A1555G mutation was found in 19 families with maternally transmitted deafness but not in the other 51 families or in 200 control subjects. In 12 families all the patients with the A1555G mutation who received aminoglycosides became deaf, representing 30.3% of the deaf patients in these families. None of the deaf patients from seven other families received aminoglycosides. Overall, only 17.7% of the patients with deafness and the A1555G mutation had been treated with aminoglycosides. The age at onset of deafness was lower (median age 5 years, range 1-52 years) in those treated with aminoglycosides than in those who did not receive antibiotics (median age 20 years, range 1-65 years) (P < .001). The mtDNA of these families belongs to haplotypes common in Europeans. These data indicate that the A1555G mutation accounts for a large proportion of the Spanish families with late-onset sensorineural deafness, that the A1555G mutation has an age-dependent penetrance for deafness (enhanced by treatment with aminoglycosides), and that mtDNA backgrounds probably do not play a major role in disease expression.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Infectious myositis. A tropical disease steals out of its zone.

Infectious myositis is an acute infection of skeletal muscle that is increasing in prevalence with the increased incidence of HIV disease. Typical presentation is asymmetric swelling of an isolated muscle, with exquisite pain and fever. Results of laboratory studies are usually nonspecific, but magnetic resonance imaging of the affected area suggests the diagnosis. Muscle biopsy and direct identification of the pathogen on tissue culture are required, because the list of potential pathogens is long. With prompt treatment, most patients achieve complete resolution and return to their preinfection level of health.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Unsuspected rheumatic heart underlying group B streptococcal endocarditis at the age of 20 months.

The case is reported of a 20-month-old girl admitted to our centre for group B streptococcal endocarditis who died of complete atrioventricular block after a week of treatment. There was no history pointing to the presence of a heart disorder. Necropsy disclosed the surprising existence of a vast rheumatic carditis involving essentially the aortic and mitral valves, with bacterial superinfection of the former. The double rheumatic and infectious lesion in such a young patient with infective pseudo-aneurysms of the sinuses of Valsalva makes this an exceptional case.

Aortic Aneurysm, Thoracic↗
PubMed1991

Clozapine and jaw dyskinesia: a case report.

No convincing case of tardive dyskinesia has been associated with clozapine. We briefly discuss a case of clozapine-induced reversible initial dyskinesia described in the German literature, and we report a case of jaw dyskinesia in a 49-year-old female schizophrenic. The dyskinesia appeared 2 weeks after the patient started clozapine treatment, did not respond to anticholinergic medication, and has continued for more than 1 year while the patient has remained on clozapine treatment. The patient had taken haloperidol (less than or equal to 5 mg/day) for 5 weeks before starting clozapine treatment. These are the only two cases of dyskinesia associated with clozapine use that are known to us. They raise the possibility that clozapine can induce dyskinesia.

Biperiden↗
PubMed1989

Lithium-induced headache.

A 23-year old woman developed headache and papilledema due to benign intracranial hypertension (BIH) while taking lithium carbonate for only seven months because of manic-depressive disease. Having discarded other causes, drug ingestion was the most likely etiology of the syndrome since it was observed that symptoms improved upon lithium withdrawal and worsened when the treatment was restarted. This report shows that BIH may appear as a side-effect of relatively short-term therapy with lithium and, therefore, funduscopic exams should be performed in every patient receiving this drug.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A leishmanin skin test survey in the human population of l'Alacantí region (Spain): implications for the epidemiology of Leishmania infantum infection in southern Europe.

A study of leishmanin skin test reactors was carried out in 1997 and 1998 in an endemic region in southeast Spain, to estimate the magnitude of and the factors related to subclinical Leishmania infantum infection. In the main focus of leishmaniasis in the region, 11.5% of the children and 52.8% of the adults reacted to the skin test. Among the adults, the response was significantly greater for males and for those who had resided in the area for > or = 15 years. In the whole region, 3.7% 14-year-old students reacted to the skin test, with no gender differences. The main factors related to a positive skin test result were having a parent or sibling recovered from leishmaniasis (relative risk = 14) and living in the rural periphery of the region as opposed to the metropolitan area (relative risk = 4). These results indicate a high frequency of subclinical leishmaniasis in the region. We postulate that the decline in childhood visceral leishmaniasis in southern Europe in the second half of the 20th century is related to social changes, which gave rise to a less frequent exposure at a young age as well as a lowered susceptibility to disease through nutritional and immune improvements.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Variation in medical practice. Apropos of the use of CAT and NMR in INSALUD].

OBJECTIVE: In this study the variability on the utilization of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and computerized tomography (CT) scan among hospitals and provinces in the INSALUD (Spanish National Health System) is evaluated as well as the role of the availability of resources in the variability. METHOD: Data on availability of resources, its use and the reference population for each hospital were obtained from the Specialized Care Information System (SIAE) for the years 1996-1997. The units of analysis were the hospitals and the provinces in the INSALUD territory. The independent variables were the ratio of technologies and professional per inhabitant. Also the waiting list and the economical level of the province were used. Data analysis included the extremal quotient and multiple linear regression. RESULTS: The ratio of the highest to lowest rate of CT and NMR use is 15 and 27 among hospitals and 3 and 4 among provinces, respectively. The number of neurosurgeons, number of CT apparatus, waiting list for CT and rate of NMR use, all standardized per population, explains 61% of CT variability among hospitals. Among provinces, the number of CT apparatus explains 31% of all variability. For NMR use among hospitals, the number of neurosurgeons, number of orthopedic surgeons and CT use, all variables standardized per population, explains 42% of variability. The amount of equipment is not associated with NMR rate among provinces. CONCLUSIONS: The variation found in the INSALUD territory for the two procedures is high and ecologically associated to the availability of resources. It would be convenient to perform an observational study to confirm the findings and evaluate the possible contribution of inappropriate use to the variation.

Databases, Factual↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The use of x-ray fluorescent spectroscopy to study the influence of cationic polymers on silicone oil deposition from shampoo.

In this study, x-ray fluorescent spectroscopy was employed, in a non-destructive way, to analyze the influence that water-soluble, cationic hydroxyethylcellulose (i.e., polyquaternium-10) has on the deposition of silicone oil (dimethicone) onto hair. Virgin brown hair tresses were washed with various model shampoos that contained emulsified dimethicone. The shampoos were modified only by the addition or absence of polyquaternium-10. The results indicate that the cationic polymers do influence silicone oil deposition onto hair during the shampooing process. In the absence of cationic polymer, the silicone oils deposit readily, but appear to show "build-up" phenomena upon repeated washings. When a cationic polymer is present in the continuous phase of the shampoo, the build-up phenomena is significantly diminished, and silicone oil deposition remains relatively constant in repeated washings. In addition, we have noted that the molecular weight of the cationic polymer can have a strong effect on silicone oil deposition. It appears that the higher the molecular weight of the polyquaternium-10, the greater the amount of silicone deposition onto the surface of the hair. To demonstrate that the analysis technique has potential applications in commercial shampoos, we examined a commercial "2-in-1" shampoo that contains dimethicone and polyquaternium-10 and found that the data for our simple model shampoos and the commercial shampoo correlated closely.

Cations↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Liposarcoma of pleural cavity with recurrence as malignant fibrous histiocytoma.

The case of a 54-year-old male, with a massive right pleural liposarcoma weighing over 3200 g, is presented. The tumor was found by light and electron microscopy to be of well-differentiated and pleomorphic subtypes, and it apparently represents the sixth reported case of liposarcoma primary to the pleura. Two years after excision of the primary tumor, it recurred as a neoplasm with histologic and ultrastructural features characteristic of malignant fibrous histiocytoma. The histogenetic and pathologic implications of the above findings are discussed, and the literature regarding intrathoracic liposarcoma and malignant fibrous histiocytoma is reviewed.

Cell Nucleus↗