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Biomedical subjects

M Katz

Publications and source records attributed to M Katz.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Frontostriatal disorder of cerebral metabolism in never-medicated schizophrenics.

We scanned 18 patients with schizophrenia who had never received neuroleptic medication and 20 age- and sex-matched controls by positron emission tomography with 18-F-fluorodeoxyglucose (fludeoxyglucose F 18) as a tracer of glucose metabolism. Subjects performed the Continuous Performance Test during 18-F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake. Scan results were converted to metabolic rates, and computer algorithms were used to identify cortical regions. Previous reports of relative hypofrontality in schizophrenia were confirmed, indicating that this finding is not an artifact of previous treatment. Significantly reduced ratios of inferior and medial frontal regions to occipital cortex were found, together with diminished metabolism in the basal ganglia. This suggests the presence of a combined frontostriatal dysfunction in schizophrenia.

Adult

1,25-Dihydroxy-vitamin-D3 enhances antiproliferative effect and transcription of TGF-beta1 on human keratinocytes in culture.

Both TGF-beta and 1,25-dihydroxy-vitamin-D3 (1,25(OH)2D3) have been reported to decrease the proliferation of normal human keratinocytes. The effect and expression of TGF-beta in keratinocytes treated with 1,25(OH)2D3 was investigated. Human keratinocytes were grown in the presence of various concentrations of TGF-beta and/or 1,25(OH)2D3 prior to enumeration. TGF-beta, alone, has a half maximal dose of inhibition (ED50) of approximately 750 pg/ml after seven days in culture in Keratinocyte Growth Medium (KGM; Clonetics) supplemented with 1.5 mM calcium. When 1,25(OH)2D3 (10(-7)M) was also added to cultures with various concentrations of TGF-beta, the ED50 shifted an average of 2-fold less. The presence of TGF-beta (10 pg/ml) augmented the potency of 1,25(OH)2D3 by at least 10-fold. In keratinocyte cultures, the antiproliferative effect of the two compounds together is synergistic. In keratinocytes grown for 1 week in the presence of 1,25(OH)2D3 at 10(-6)M, the TGF-beta 1 message increased approximately 5-fold. An increase is detected within 2 hours of exposure to 1,25(OH)2D3. There was only a 50% increase in the levels of TGF-beta 2 and no detection of TGF-beta 3. When keratinocyte cultures were treated with 1,25(OH)2D3 and neutralizing antibodies to TGF-beta, the induced-antiproliferative activity was blocked by more than 50%. The keratinocytes produced more active than latent TGF-beta after growth with high doses of 1,25(OH)2D3.

Antibodies

Flow velocity analysis of umbilical and uterine artery flow in pre-eclampsia treated with propranolol or pindolol.

In a double blind study, 20 gravidas with pre-eclampsia were randomly allocated to treatment with either propranolol 120 mg/day or pindolol 15 mg/day for 7 days. Flow velocimetry was performed before and after treatment to assess the influence of these two regimens of beta blocker on the feto-placental circulation. A continuous wave Doppler unit was used to measure umbilical and uterine artery flow velocity waveforms. The systolic/diastolic (A/B) ratio and the systolic minus diastolic divided by systolic (A-B)/A ratio (resistance index) were used as indexes of blood flow resistance in the umbilical and uterine arteries, respectively. A resistance to flow in the uteroplacental circulation was significantly less in patients treated with pindolol compared to those treated with propranolol (P less than 0.01). The same pattern was also found in umbilical velocimetry, although the statistical significance was borderline (P = 0.06). Although both drugs were equally effective in reducing blood pressure at rest, their effect on the peripheral resistance was different. Pindolol appears to act in part through a peripheral vascular mechanism. Our data support this assumption because the flow in the uteroplacental bed, as reflected by a decrease in resistance index, improved when patients were treated with the drug pindolol.

Adult

Enzymic memory. Steady state kinetic and physical studies with ascorbate oxidase and aspartate aminotransferase.

Enzymic memory is a kinetic phenomenon observable in double displacement mechanisms. The defining feature of enzymic memory is the occurrence of different rates of transfer for a common transferable group from the substituted enzymes obtained with different donor substrates. Memory behavior was previously demonstrated for both the bovine and human liver rhodaneses (EC 2.8.1.1). Steady state kinetic tests for enzymic memory have now been done with ascorbate oxidase (EC 1.10.3.3) and aspartate aminotransferase (EC 2.6.1.1). The results were positive with ascorbate oxidase, which showed an oxygen reactivity ratio of 1:20:300 for the reduced enzymes obtained with reductate, araboascorbate, and ascorbate, respectively. Results were negative for the aminotransferase tested with the alternate donors glutamate and cysteine sulfinate, with oxaloacetate as the common acceptor. The structural basis of the ascorbate oxidase results was probed by comparison of both the ultraviolet absorption and fluorescence spectra of the oxidized enzyme with those of the reduced forms obtained with ascorbate and reductate. The results are consistent with a conformational basis for the memory phenomenon.

Animals

Fetal blood and tissue pH with moderate bradycardia.

Eleven patients with moderate fetal bradycardia in labor were studied by fetal scalp blood pH, continuous tissue pH, and umbilical arterty pH at delivery. The neonatal outcomes and biochemical data demonstrated that moderate fetal brdycardia does not indicate fetal distress.

Female

The relationship of heart rate patterns and tissue pH in the human fetus.

The relationship between different FHR patterns and fetal tissue pH in 68 high-risk gravidas in labor was analyzed. A tissue pH electrode was placed in the fetal scalp and tissue pH recorded on a fetal monitor every 15 seconds along with uterine contractions and continuous fetal heart rate. The tissue pH changes correlated with the FHR patterns in a manner consistent with current concepts of fetal stress. Trend monitoring of fetal tissue pH in labor may prove useful in the management of high-risk patients in labor.

Apgar Score

[Bone lesions in hairy cell leukaemia (author's transl)].

Between 1959 and 1978, 150 patients with tricholeucocytic leukaemia were seen, 5 having radiological bone lesions. This has been reported only once in the literature, its significance and therapeutic consequences remaining ill-defined. One of the commonest sites of bone involvement is the neck of the femur. The usual appearances are those of demineralisation, lysis and pathological fracture. The true prevalence of such lesions could be determined only by routine studies for the presence of such lesions.

Adult

Pituitary and ovarian function in women receiving hormonal contraception.

A study was performed to further evaluate pituitary-ovarian function in women receiving an oral contraceptive preparation. Basal hormone levels (follicle stimulating hormone, luteinizing hormone, estradiol and prolactin) and gonadotropic response to gonadotropic releasing hormone were studied in 12 healthy, regularly ovulating women in the early follicular and mid-luteal phases of their menstrual cycle (non-treatment control period). These same women were then given NORDETTE (ethinyl estradiol 30 microgram +d-Norgestrel 150 microgram) cyclically for 3 months. In the third month of treatment, the tests were repeated on day 21, i.e. after 21 active pills, and on day 28, i.e. after 21 active and 7 inactive tablets. On active preparation, basal luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone and estradiol and gonadotropin response to gonadotropin releasing hormone were significantly suppressed. However, by day 28 (after completion of the inactive tablets), basal gonadotropin and estradiol concentrations and the gonadotropic response to gonadotropic releasing hormone were not significantly different to their pretreatment levels. No consistent change in prolactin concentration occurred as a result of oral contraceptive therapy. These results indicate that the 'active' component of even a relatively low-dose pill causes considerable suppression of pituitary-ovarian function but that after 7 days of placebo, pituitary function and basal estradiol secretion have virtually returned to normal.

Adolescent

Menstrual disturbances in chronic renal failure.

Twelve female patients undergoing intermittent hemodialysis (HD) and 5 females posttransplantation (PT) were studied. All the HD patients had menstrual disturbances and 5 had galactorrhea. The mean basal LH level was significantly elevated (p less than .05) in patients on HD compared to normal controls, but the mean LH response to luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LRH) was not significantly different from the control group. Mean basal FSH and the FSH response to LRH was normal. In the PT pateints the LH response to LRH was significantly greater at 120 min when compared to normal females. In the HD group the serum 17B estradiol, progesterone and testosterone levels were significantly lower than in the controls but in the PT group only testosterone levels were significantly lower. These results differ from those previously found in uremic males. Elevated prolactin levels were found in the patients on hemodialysis and correlated well with the presence of galactorrhea. These was no correlation between the elevated prolactin levels and amenorrhea in the patients on hemodialysis but one PT patient with amenorrhea had elevated prolactin levels.

Adolescent

Testicular function in patients with spinal cord damage.

Vaying degrees of testicular dysfunction are found in men with traumatic spinal cord damage. Eighteen paraplegic men have been studied and the gonadotropin response to luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LRH) measured. Basal serum testosterone estimations were made and in eight of the patients testicular testosterone reserve was assessed by the testosterone response to human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). Testicular biopsies were performed in seven cases. In three of these patients, the testicular biopsies were abnormal. Five of the patients had elevated Follicle stimulating hormone levels and abnormalities of Luteinizing hormone kinetics were found in the same five patients. There was no significant difference between the plasma testosterone levels of the paraplegic patients when compared to the control group. In all the patients tested, there was an adequate testosterone reserve, and this included the three patients with the abnormal testicular biopsies. No relationship was found between the level of cord lesion and any of the hormonal parameters measured. This study confirms the primary nature of the seminiferous tubular damage which occurs in some patients with paraplegia.

Adult

Pituitary-gonadal dysfunction in low-output cardiac failure.

Diminished cardiac output and digoxin therapy appear to have opposing effects on testosterone, oestradiol and luteinizing hormone concentrations. Depression of the levels of these hormones was significantly correlated with a decrease in cardiac index and elevation was noted by digoxin therapy of long duration. The effect of cardiac output is most marked on testosterone and that of digoxin on oestradiol.

Adult