Biomedical subjects

L Nicol

Publications and source records attributed to L Nicol.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1990

[Immunoscintigraphy of malignant melanoma].

This work is part of a multicentric European evaluation of the monoclonal antibody 225.28s targeted against malignant melanoma and its metastases. Twenty-eight patients (12 males, 16 females, mean age: 53 yrs), who had initially been treated by resection of the primary tumour, were included in the study. Twenty-three of the 26 metastases more than 1 cm in diameter were visualized by immunoscintigraphy. The sensitivity of the procedure (88%) is limited however by the small size of the lesions and their depth, as well as by background noise caused by circulating antibodies. Immunoscintigraphy enables non-invasive investigation of the whole body and can detect lesions that other conventional complementary explorations fail to identify.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗

PubMed1986

Non-kinetochore directed autoantibodies in scleroderma/CREST. Identification of an activity recognizing a metaphase chromosome core non-histone protein.

Three scleroderma/CREST sera possessing anti-kinetochore autoantibody were tested by indirect immunofluorescence for reaction with isolated Chinese hamster metaphase chromosomes and histone-dissociated chromosome "scaffolds". All three sera revealed kinetochore staining on both whole chromosomes and histone-dissociated chromosomes, and confirmed previous reports that the kinetochore is part of the chromosome scaffold. Unexpectedly, one serum also recognized a non-centromere-located chromosomal antigen which is retained at the axial non-histone protein core following histone dissociation. The antigen is exclusively nuclear in origin, does not appear to be DNA or residual histone, and seems to correspond to a major component of the chromosome core. The existence of this antigen has important implications in terms of chromosome structure. Another CREST serum was shown to possess autoantibody against a cytoplasmic structural component, in addition to anti-kinetochore activity. The presence of anti-kinetochore and other autoantibody activities in CREST patient sera is discussed in relation to disease processes.

Animals↗

PubMed1986

[Evaluation of aortocoronary bypass using exercise myocardial thallium 201 scintigraphy].

The surveillance of aortocoronary bypass grafts is a difficult problem. Clinical examination and exercise testing are unable to give a complete evaluation of the operative results and cardiac catheterisation with radiological opacification of the grafts are not without risk and cannot be repeated periodically. Therefore, radioisotopic methods have been proposed as a means of assessing aortocoronary bypass grafts. The aim of this study was to evaluate postoperative myocardial perfusion by Thallium 201 scintigraphy. The authors compared pre and postoperative scintigraphies in 37 patients undergoing aortocoronary bypass surgery (36 men and 1 woman, average age: 53.9 years). Preoperative coronary angiography showed 9 cases of single vessel disease, 11 cases of double vessel diseases and 17 cases of triple vessel disease. Seventy one bypass grafts were performed (average 1.92 grafts/patient): 37 on the LAD, 15 on the circumflex, 10 on the diagonal and 9 on the right coronary. All patients were submitted to the same protocol before surgery and during the third postoperative month; Clinical examination, ECG, exercise stress testing and Thallium 201 myocardial scintigraphy. The results confirm the improvement in myocardial perfusion after coronary bypass surgery. The percentage of pathological scintigraphic segments fell from 42 per cent before surgery to 27 per cent after surgery (p less than 0.01). The total Thallium perfusion index improved significantly after surgery from 9.3 +/- 2 to 7.7 +/- 1.9 (p less than 0.01). Thallium 201 scintigraphy was superior to clinical examination and exercise testing in the assessment of graft patency, identifying 2 postoperative infarctions inapparent on clinical examination, excluding postoperative non-anginal chest pain and evaluating myocardial perfusion in patients who had sub maximal postoperative exercise stress tests. The relatively non traumatic character of Thallium 201 scintigraphy makes it the best non-invasive method of assessing aortocoronary bypass graft patency.

Adult↗

PubMed1981

Study of respiratory effect of short- and long-term cotton gin exposure.

No excess of obstructive airway disease was found in a group of 265 cotton gin workers when compared with other San Joaquin Valley agricultural workers. After an average of eight weeks' employment in San Joaquin Valley cotton gins, 125 workers showed no appreciable deterioration of pulmonary function compared with pre-employment measurements. In studies of pulmonary function during a workshift, cotton gin workers showed slightly greater mean decrements than control agricultural workers. These differences did not reach a level of statistical significance and were lower than those usually found in byssinosis. The unusual temporal pattern of employment in cotton gins in California precludes a simple approach to diagnosis by symptoms. No correlation was found in this study between symptoms of byssinosis and objective decrements in FEV1. The questionnaire as proposed by the Cotton Dust Standard was found to be of no value in detecting reactors in this study of gin workers.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1971