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Biomedical subjects

M A Abdou

Publications and source records attributed to M A Abdou.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Adenohypophyseal activity in relation to suprarenal function in tuberculosis.

This work was carried out on 150 subjects. They were classified into four groups: group I: Bronchogenic pulmonary T. B. (n = 96); group II: Haematogenous T. B. (n = 15); group III: Healed T. B. (n = 16), group IV: Healthy control (n = 23). Insulin tolerance test was done for each subject to assess the hypothalamo-hypophyseal axis. Glucose, ACTH, cortisol, GH, and PRL levels were estimated during fasting and over three hours after insulin administration. In group I and II the patients exhibited higher fasting levels of anti-insulin hormones and they respond greater than normals to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia. This might indicate early affection of the pituitary gland by TB infection, yet insulin-induced hypoglycaemia assured efficient function of the gland. In healed TB patients, no significant changes were obtained in the different hormonal behaviour, whether in the fasting state or after stimulation. This might be explained by improvement of the health condition of the patients, and relief of the stress induced by TB infection.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
PubMed1992

Plasma catecholamines in pulmonary tuberculosis.

Fifty pulmonary tuberculous patients (minimal; moderate and far-advanced), 18 TB-healed persons and 15 healthy control subjects were examined for plasma levels of adrenaline (AD), noradrenaline (NA), dopamine (DA), ACTH and cortisol. The estimated hormones were found to be increased significantly with the severity of the disease suggesting that the stress of infection plays a role in induction of enzymes responsible for catecholamines synthesis with subsequent stimulation of ACTH and cortisol secretion. Noradrenaline appeared the most effective in this respect.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
PubMed1990

Calcium homeostasis in untreated pulmonary tuberculosis. I--Basic study.

This study has been done to evaluate serum calcium, phosphorus (P), magnesium, parathyroid hormone (PTH), calcitonin (CT), and cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) in recently diagnosed pulmonary tuberculous patient, (n = 61) and the results were compared with the healthy control group (n = 22). Twenty four hours urine was collected for estimation of these electrolytes as well as cAMP. Nephrogenous cAMP (NcAMP) was calculated. Serum Ca and PTH were significantly reduced in TB groups, but CT was elevated. Serum Mg, P and cAMP as well as urinary Ca and Mg in TB groups were similar to that of the control group. Urinary P, cAMP NcAMP were increased in patient groups compared with the control. The reduced serum Ca could be due to impaired intestinal absorption of Ca, or deficient intake as a result of anorexia, decreased plasma albumin, decreased active metabolites of vitamin D or elevated CT. The rise in serum CT in TB might be due to increased CT secreted from the bronchial K-cells. Increased NcAMP might be due to the associated increase in serum antidiuretic hormone (ADH). The elevated urinary P in TB could be attributed to tissue breakdown, decreased serum PTH or increased CT.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Calcium homeostasis in untreated pulmonary tuberculosis II--dynamic study.

Oral calcium tolerance test was done for 17 normal subjects and 26 pulmonary tuberculous patients. Ingestion of 1 gm calcium did not alter serum calcium levels significantly, while urinary calcium significantly increased in normal controls (p less than 0.001) and significantly decreased in tuberculous patients. The decrease in urinary calcium in untreated TB patients may be attributed to the associated decrease in serum concentration of 25-hydroxyvitamin D. Serum PTH and nephrogenous cAMP showed insignificant changes both in controls and TB patients. Meanwhile, these changes are antiparallel to serum calcium, denoting a normal response (function) of parathyroid gland to serum calcium alterations.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Unsuitability of blood culture media containing sodium polyanetholesulfonate for the detection of fastidious microorganism in CSF and other blood-free body fluids.

The suitability of well known conventional blood culture media for the detection of microorganisms in CSF and other blood-free body fluids has been tested. It was demonstrated that such media are unsuitable for the cultivation of fastidious and/or anticoagulant-sensitive microorganisms which are frequently isolated from CSF and other blood-free body-fluids. On the contrary, the recently-developed MOPS electrolyte broth A which proved to be a suitable cultivation and back-up medium for aerobic and facultative anaerobic microorganisms in CSF and other blood-free body fluids is not suitable for the detection of microorganisms in blood, because it is free of anticoagulants.

Aerobiosis↗
PubMed1982

[New culture method for the diagnosis of bacteriurias].

The aim of this study is to check the clinical relevance of a new cultural method for the detection of urinary tract infection especially in urine samples containing residue of antimicrobial agents. The new procedure concerns a urine collecting and cultivating cup (UCCC Biotest Serum Institute), containing a recovery agar (RA5) with incorporated chemotherapeutica antagonists. The efficiency of the UCCC is compared with the familiar dip slide coated with cystein lactose electrolyte deficient (CLED) agar and MacConkey agar. A collective of 305 children is considered in this study. The investigation was carried out before starting, three to five days after starting and three to five days after stopping the chemotherapy. The highest correlation between the microbial count in urine samples and the whole clinical diagnosis was achieved with RA5. The lowest correlation was attained with MacConkey agar. With CLED agar a good correlation was determined before starting therapy, a modest correlation during therapy and very good correlation after stopping therapy. Regarding relapses and reinfections the detection quote of relevant bacteriuria during therapy amounted to 90% as RA5 was used, 62% with CLED agar and 34,5% with MacConkey. RA5 proved very useful for follow-up purposes, especially during treatment with antimicrobial agents and may be considered as a susceptibility testing in vivo.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

[Comparative study with 2 new and 8 known nutrient media for cultivation of fastidious and nonfastidious microbial agents from cerebrospinal fluid and other body fluids].

Rapid physical, biochemical and immunological methods may be useful in the detection of microbial agents in cerebrospinal fluid and in other body fluids. However, these methods are no substitution for the cultivation of the microbial agents. Microorganisms which are most frequently responsible for meningitis are fastidious in their growth requirements. Their detection with the help of conventional blood culture media which are not supplemented with blood or its components, leads to a high quota of false-negative results. Taking this problem into consideration, the authors developed the following two new media: "MOPS Electrolyte Broth A" for culturing obligate aerobic and facultative anerobic microorganisms, and "MOPS Electrolyte Broth AN" for culturing facultative anaerobic and obligate anaerobic bacteria. Performance tests have been carried out with the two above mentioned media and eight commercially manufactured blood culture media in original bottles. Twenty representative test strains including the most important and fastidious microbial agents of meningitis have been considered in this study. The inoculum size was about 10(2) CFU per culture bottle. The two new media, which were not supplemented with blood or body fluids, proved to be more effective than the conventional blood culture media supplemented with 10% fresh human blood for culturing the considered spectrum of microorganisms.

Aerobiosis↗
PubMed1981

[Effect of anaerobiosis in 6 blood-culture media on the recovery rate of aerobic microorganisms (author's transl)].

Commercially manufactured blood-culture bottles with 6 different culture media have been considered in this study. The bottles were respectively supplemented with 10% fresh human blood and inoculated with obligate aerobic and facultative anaerobic microorganisms known to cause bacteremia and fungemia. The inoculum size ranged from less than 10 to 10(2) CFU per blood-culture bottle. The study was carried out by alternately incubating one set of bottles anaerobically for two days before being vented, while the other set was vented immediately after inoculation. The effect of anaerobic and aerobic atmospheres on growth intensity, recovery rate and survival durability of the 11 microbial strains has been studied. The maintenance of anaerobic atmosphere for 2 days before venting the blood-culture bottles caused: a) 2 to 4 days delay in detecting nonfastidious bacteria and fungi; b) rapid death of acid-sensitive bacteria in poorly buffered culture media; c) inability of fastidious bacteria to grow in any of the 6 culture media. On the other hand venting the blood-culture bottles immediately after inoculation enabled: a) rapid detection of bacteria by an early subculture after 8 hours of incubation; b) diagnostic advantage of at least 2 days with rapidly growing bacteria which make more than 50% of the whole microbial spectrum; c) good growth of fastidious bacteria. Collectively, brain heart dipeptone broth proved to be the most effective culture medium for detection of obligate aerobic microorganisms responsible for bacteremia.

Acinetobacter↗
PubMed1980

Effect of Triiodothyronine on Bronchial Asthma. III.

In two previous communications we demonstrated that triiodothyronine (T3) improved cases of chronic bronchial asthma (CBA). In this communication we administered T3 in a dose of 40 microgram/day for a period of sixty days to twelve cases of CBA aged less than 38 years who had had the condition for more than 5 years and were not on steroids or chromoglycate. All were outpatients. Respiratory functions including vital capacity and timed expiratory volume were tested before and after the period of drug administration. Patients were also advised to record the number of attacks and amount of bronchodilators used. All patients had their % T3 uptake and thyroxine (T4) serum level examined before the experiment. Ten normal persons of matching ages and sexes had their blood examined for % T3 uptake and levels as control. The results have shown that the patients had normal % T3 uptake and T4 levels in blood. Their vital capacity increased by an average of 4.27%, their first-second expiratory volume by 17.58% (P less than 0.0025), their second-second expiratory volume by 13.74% (P less than 0.0025%), and their maximal ventilatory volume by 12.95% (P less than 0.0025). Five cases had an increase of over 20% and 5 cases had practically no increase or a mild reduction. Subjective improvement and reduction in amount of bronchodilators used correlated well with the improvement in ventilation. It is argued that T3 acts through having the capacity to increase cAMP, a main messenger in bronchodilation that is known to be deficient in asthmatics.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

[Blood cultures. Comparative study with 7 known and 2 new nutrient media for the detection of aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms (author's transl)].

The growth promoting properties of seven commercially manufactured and two recently developed culture media are compared according to a standardized method. The study is carried out alternately without and with the addition of 10% fresh human blood to the culture media. The carefully selected test strains include 20 species of bacteria and 2 species of yeasts which represent obligatory aerobic, facultative anaerobic and obligatory anaerobic microorganisms with quite different nutritional and atmospherical requirements. The 9 tested media are good enough for the purpose of culturing nonfastidious bacteria. However, most of the commercially prepared media failed to detect small inocula of very fastidious microbial agents, especially when no blood is added. Collectively, thiol broth is the most noneffective medium. The last but one is thioglycollate medium. Three culture media based on brain heart infusion formula prove to be effective. Those are the commercial brain heart dextrose and the two media recently developed by the authors, namely brain heart dipeptone (BHD) and brain heart dipeptone cysteine (BHDC). BHD is the most suitable medium for the detection of obligatory aerobic and facultative anaerobic fastidious microorganisms. BHDC detects anaerobic fastidious bacteria quite effectively. The other media, namely Columbia, trypticase soy, trypticase soy sucrose, and Rosenow are of limited value with regard to the detection of small inocula of fastidious microorganisms. The causes of the unsatisfactory results with different commercial media are discussed in detail. The authors point out to the possible use of hypertonic media in special cases. Properties that should be fulfilled by blood culture media are proposed.

Anaerobiosis↗
PubMed1979

[Urinary tract infections. Therapeutic failures and course monitoring (author's transl)].

The proportion of reinfections and relapses in urinary tract infections amounts to about 35-70%. Hydrokinetic conditions (e.g. size of bladder, frequency of micturition, rate of multiplication of the pathogens, adhesiveness of bacteria) not seldom lead to a discrepancy between the in vivo response of the pathogen to the chemotherapeutic agent and the corresponding MIC determined in vitro. Ten causes for the therapeutic failure are discussed in greater detail. Monitoring the course in good time with due regard to the risks is essential. A scheme for microbiological monitoring investigations before beginning therapy, during treatment and after discontinuing the medicament, as well as for long term therapy is suggested.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1977

[Urinary tract infections. Sensitivity and specificity of previous screening methods (author's transl)].

The frequency of symptomatic and unapparent bacteriuria in infants and children of preschool age is estimated to be 1 to 2%. Ca. 5% of all girls and less than 0.5% of all boys between the ages of 6 and 19 years undergo bacteriuria. Women suffer from it to 5 to 15% during pregnancy and diabetics of about 10 to 20%. The sensitivity and specificity of different screening processes are evaluated with reference to numerous publications. It appears that the agar slide, which is in use all over the world, is markedly superior to all other methods with respect to price, handling and sensitivity, The only weakness of this method is frequent failure in the presence of inhibitors in the urine sample.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

[Approach to a practical method for screening and identifying microorganism genera from urine (author's transl)].

In this study the author reported upon a practical new system for screening and identifying the microbial agents causing urinary tract infections. This system is composed of a combination of 3 screening procedures (pH-value + nitrite-test + catalase-test) and 8 selective culture media for the purpose of genus identification within 24 hours (Uripret-G). A total of 130 cultures was investigated. The employed microorganisms were mainly recovered from urine samples. They included the following species: Candida albicans, Citrobacter freundii, Enterobacter aerogenes, Enterobacter cloacae, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus inconstans, Proteus mirabilis, Proteus morganii, Proteus rettgeri, Proteus vulgaris, Serratia liquefaciens, Serratia marcescens, Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus faecalis and Streptococcus faecium. Employing coded cultures not only monoinfections but also multiinfections in urine samples were simulated. Under the circumstances of investigation it was possible with the help of the new system to reidentify the genera of all but two of the 130 employed microorganisms.

Bacteriological Techniques↗
PubMed1975

[Synthetic medium for testing of susceptibility. II. Susceptibility of bacteria to sulphonamides (author's transl)].

A comparative study of 9 media for testing the susceptibility of bacteria to 7 sulphonamides has been carried out. The evaluated culture-media included 4 "Mueller Hinton" media (MH), 4 others based on the formula of the "Diagnostic Sensitivity Test" agar base (D.S.T.) and a "Synthetic Medium" (SM) which has been developed in our laboratory. MH and D.S.T. culture-media have been supplied by 4 manufacturing companies in Europe and USA. A total number of 21 bacterial cultures have been employed. The included species belong to the gram negative genera Citrobacter, Escherichia, Klebsiella, Proteus, Salmonella, Serratia and Shigella, and to the gram positive genus Streptococcus. Sulphafurazole, sulphasomidine, sulphamethoxazole, sulphamethoxypyridazine, sulphadimethoxine, sulphaphenazole and sulphamethoxydiazine have been investigated. SM proved to be clearly superior to the other 8 culture-media mentioned above. Just one MH afforded good results. The 3 other MH and 2 D.S.T. media were not quite satisfactory. The two remaining D.S.T. media were unsuitable. Moreover, the activity of the tested sulphonamides was not equally high against the concerned bacteria. The author discussed the significance of the inoculum-size and of competitive and noncompetitive sulphonamide-antagonists in commercial culture-media and the difficulties they raise by the interpretation of the results.

Bacteria↗