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Biomedical subjects

M Lotan

Publications and source records attributed to M Lotan.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Physical activity for adolescents with intellectual disability.

Numerous studies have described an association between participation in physical activity and an enhanced sense of well-being. These findings have been documented in both genders across the lifespan. Connections between exercise and positive physical, psychological, emotional and educational outcomes have also been found. New findings indicate that is an ongoing and increasing tendency for sedentary lifestyles across age groups and gender in many countries. In addition, there are many factors that work together to contribute to a sedentary lifestyle in individuals with intellectual and developmental disability (ID/DD). These findings are concerning, and indicate that people with ID/DD are at relatively high risk for the development of multiple negative consequences of physical inactivity. This review presents current literature that addresses the question of physical activity in adolescents with ID/DD. In addition, this review presents the connection between higher levels of physical fitness and better health in youths with ID/DD. Strategies to promote physical activity in the adolescent population with ID/DD are presented. The available evidence base strongly supports the high need for the establishment of community based, easily accessible physical activity programs for children and adolescents with ID/DD.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2004

Improving functional skills and physical fitness in children with Rett syndrome.

BACKGROUND: To investigate the feasibility of a physical exercise programme with treadmill for persons with Rett syndrome (RS) in order to promote fitness and health. METHODS: A daily training programme on a treadmill was designed for four females with RS over a period of 2 months with tests performed in three intervals, at time 1, 2 and 3, 2 months apart with intervention taking place between tests 2 and 3. Participants were four girls with RS aged 8.5-11 years (mean: 10 years) attending the educational facility Beit Issie Shapiro, Raanana, Israel, all with independent mobility and with typical characteristics of RS stage III. The training took place at the educational facility, on a 1400 model treadmill (Trimline, capable of very low speeds < 0.5 k/h), with very long side rails. Special low side rails were adapted to the treadmill in order to fit the height of the children and velcro straps were added to assist in safely placing the hands. Pulse was monitored constantly during exercise by an A3 polar pulse belt. Pulse measurements at rest during training were considered as evaluators of aerobic physical condition. Functional measurement was based on a scale specially established for the present study. The scale was a 31-item motor-functioning tool that measures the ability of participants to knee walk and knee stand, to get up to a standing position, duration of walking different paths, and to go up and down stairs and slopes. RESULTS: The study showed that physical fitness of the children at the end of the training programme had improved considerably (P < 0.05). Tests showed that general functional abilities had improved considerably (P < 0.0001). Although all items of the functional ability measure showed impressive positive change, some of the 31 items on it showed statistically significant improvement (knee walking, going up and down stairs and speed of walking for 25 m. Pearson correlation showed high linkage (r = -0.76) between functional improvement and change in physical fitness. CONCLUSIONS: Physical fitness programme executed on a daily basis is capable of improving functional ability of children with RS. Nonprofessional personnel can execute such a programme under supervision of a qualified physical therapist.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1995

Interleukin-2 transcripts in human and rodent brains: possible expression by astrocytes.

Cytokines have been suggested to be involved in the cross talk between the immune and the nervous systems, under normal and pathological conditions. For example, the cytokine interleukin-2 was suggested to be involved in response to CNS trauma and spontaneous regeneration. Here, we examined whether mammalian CNS has an intrinsic potential to produce interleukin-2 and, if so, what its cellular origin is. mRNA sequences encoding for interleukin-2 were detected in brains of humans and rodents. Northern blot analysis revealed the presence of several interleukin-2 transcripts of different sizes in the brain, all recognized by lymphocyte-derived interleukin-2 cDNA probes. One of the transcripts, a high molecular weight form of approximately 5 kb, appeared to be unique to the brain. Reverse transcription and amplification by PCR of human fetal brain mRNA revealed one cDNA product that, upon sequence analysis, showed a high degree of homology with the human lymphocyte-derived interleukin-2 coding sequence. To identify the possible cellular source of the interleukin-2 transcripts within the mammalian brain, we similarly analyzed mRNA of rat brain cells in culture. Northern blot analysis revealed that astrocytes contain transcripts that hybridize with interleukin-2 cDNA probe. These findings point to the astrocytes as a possible source of brain interleukin-2.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Cytokines modulate the inflammatory response and change permissiveness to neuronal adhesion in injured mammalian central nervous system.

Axonal injury of peripheral nerves has been shown to be followed by rapid and massive invasion of the nerves by macrophages, which appear to play an important role in the subsequent ability of these nerves to regenerate. In contrast, macrophage invasion of injured nerves of the central nervous system is limited, and the relationship between the post-traumatic inflammatory response of central nervous system nerves and their poor ability to regenerate is not fully understood. We used the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-alpha and the macrophage growth factor, colony stimulating factor-1, to examine whether the inflammatory response can be augmented in the optic nerve following injury, and whether such augmentation is accompanied by regeneration-associated changes. It appeared that the two cytokines caused a significant increase in the number of macrophages invading the optic nerve immediately after injury. Interestingly, however, in the nerve treated with tumor necrosis factor-alpha (but not in the nerve treated with colony stimulating factor-1) this increase was accompanied by an increased permissiveness of the nerve to neuronal adhesion, which we examined in vitro using longitudinal sections of the nerve on which PC12 cells were seeded. The results are discussed with respect to the ability of tumor necrosis factor-alpha to modify the nonpermissive nature of central nervous system white matter.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Cross talk between the immune system and the nervous system in response to injury: implications for regeneration.

The central nervous system has long been regarded as an immunologically privileged site. Accumulating evidence suggests, however, that the privilege is not total, and that certain immune functions involving immune components and resident glial cells can operate in the central nervous system. The nervous and immune systems interact during normal development, but in the mature brain their interaction is restricted mainly to cases of pathogenic infections and traumatic lesions. The focus of this review is on bidirectional interactions between immune and neuroglial components in response to nerve injury. The macrophage is the most ubiquitous of the immune-derived cell types associated with injury. Its role, as in any other organ, is tissue remodeling and promotion of healing. Macrophage activities include removal of dead tissue and debris by phagocytosis, lipid recycling, and secretion of a wide spectrum of cytokines possessing trophic, mitogenic, and chemotactic properties. These activities affect the behavior of resident cells in the vicinity of the wound. We discuss the possible association of these cytokines with the ability of injured nerves to regenerate. Finally, we consider the apparently conflicting effects of posttraumatic inflammation on the recovery of function.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Identification of an interleukin 2-like substance as a factor cytotoxic to oligodendrocytes and associated with central nervous system regeneration.

Axons of the central nervous system in adult mammals do not regenerate spontaneously after injury, partly because of the presence of oligodendrocytes that inhibit axonal growth. This is not the case in lower vertebrates (e.g., in fish), where regeneration of the optic nerve does occur spontaneously and has been correlated with the presence of factors cytotoxic to oligodendrocytes. The present study provides evidence that the substance originating from the fish optic nerves, which is cytotoxic to oligodendrocytes, is an interleukin 2-like substance.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Postinjury changes in platelet-derived growth factor-like activity in fish and rat optic nerves.

The poor regenerative ability of the CNS of mammals has been attributed, at least in part, to the presence of mature oligodendrocytes, which have been shown to inhibit axonal growth. Proliferation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells in the rat optic nerve during development, and thereby the timing of oligodendrocyte differentiation, has been shown to depend on a factor derived from type 1 astrocytes, later characterized as platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF). In the present study we examine whether injury to the optic nerve induces changes in the levels of PDGF in spontaneously regenerating systems, compared with nonregenerating systems. Soluble substances, derived from nonneuronal cells surrounding injured fish and rat optic nerves, were prepared and examined for the presence of PDGF immunoreactivity and biological mitogenic activity on PDGF-responsive cells. The results suggest that PDGF-like mitogenic activity and immunoreactivity are present in both fish and rat optic nerves. However, in the rat optic nerve PDGF levels increased after axonal injury, whereas in the fish optic nerve injury was accompanied by an apparent decrease in PDGF-like levels. The results are discussed with respect to the possible role of PDGF in regeneration.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Conservative treatment of ectopic pregnancy and its effect on corpus luteum activity.

Corpus luteum activity was monitored in 15 women undergoing nonsurgical management of ectopic pregnancy with local methotrexate injection followed by alternating oral methotrexate and citrovorum factor (group A, n = 8) or local methotrexate injection alone (group B, n = 7). All patients initially demonstrated a viable corpus luteum (plasma progesterone ranged from 1.4 to 19 ng/ml). The treatment was successful in 14, with the exception of one whose tube ruptured 11 days after local administration of methotrexate, despite a continuous decrease in beta human chorionic gonadotropin, 17 beta-estradiol and plasma progesterone levels. There seems to be no correlation between the success of the treatment and the behavior of beta human chorionic gonadotropin, 17 beta-estradiol and plasma progesterone. Three patients from group A and two from group B displayed an initial rise in beta human chorionic gonadotropin following the initiation of the therapy, but the corpus luteum response differed. In group B patients, 17 beta-estradiol and plasma progesterone levels increased in parallel with beta human chorionic gonadotropin. Group A patients displayed a continuous decrease in 17 beta-estradiol and plasma progesterone levels despite the elevation of beta human chorionic gonadotropin, suggesting a possible effect of the systemic methotrexate on corpus luteum activity.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Normal pregnancy complicated by vaginal ectopic trophoblastic implantation; a case report.

We describe a rare case of ectopic placental tissue, presenting as a vaginal tumor during normal intra-uterine pregnancy. Its clinicopathological features, and its possible relation to placental site trophoblastic tumors are discussed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case to be reported in the English literature of such a lesion occurring at this site.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Fertility impairment and improved fetal survival induced by a tumor cell line in mice.

The BL6-T2 tumor, a regressor melanoma line in C57BL/6J mice shown by us previously to be abortifacient, has been cloned in vitro. Clones obtained have been tested in vivo for tumorigenicity and effect on gestations, in order to correlate the immunogenicity of the tumor and its effect on fetal survival. Results demonstrate that high immunogenicity and impairment of fertility do not occur in the same tumor clones. We also show that this tumor produces and secretes GM-CSF and CSF-1 and that trophoblast cells express in situ mRNA encoding for the CSF-1 receptor. We consequently hypothesize that this tumor exerts its abortifacient effect not via its strong immunogenicity but via cytokines it secretes.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗
PubMed1988

Ovarian abscess following cesarean section. A case report and review of literature.

Ovarian abscess is presented although such a finding is an unusual gynecologic complication. It is difficult to distinguish from a tubo-ovarian abscess. Its presence may be suspected in a patients after surgery, carrying IUD, having intraperitoneal infection and pregnancy. If an abscess is present, a tubo-ovarian abscess is much more common, except in pregnancy. For the last 110 years only 120 cases of ovarian abscesses have been reported in the Literature.

Abscess↗
PubMed1987

Vaginal preparation with povidone-iodine before abdominal hysterectomy. A comparison with antibiotic prophylaxis.

Two groups of women were prepared before total abdominal hysterectomy. The first by povidone-iodine tampons that remained in the vagina until the end of the operation, the second group by administration of a prophylactic antibiotic. We found statistically significant decreases both in infectious morbidity and in the percentage of positive cultures from the cervix and vagina, at the time of the operation in the povidone-iodine group as compared with the antibiotic group. Therefore, it is our impression that prophylactic antibiotic therapy for patients undergoing abdominal hysterectomy should be reserved for the patient with compromised defence mechanisms if it is used at all, and recommend local preparation of the vagina with povidone-iodine as an effective alternative.

Administration, Intravaginal↗
PubMed1987

Recurrent hematuria during multiple pregnancies.

A 33-year-old woman presented left ureteral gross hematuria under two conditions: before the second trimester of her last three gestations, and after therapy with an oral contraceptive. We believe that left renal vein varicosities, influenced by mechanical and hormonal factors, produced the hematuria.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Gonadotropin-releasing hormone activates a rapid Ca2+-independent phosphodiester hydrolysis of polyphosphoinositides in pituitary gonadotrophs.

Addition of gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) to pituitary cells prelabeled with [32P]Pi or with myo-[2-3H]inositol, resulted in a rapid decrease in the level of [32P]phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (approximately 10 s), and in [32P]phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (approximately 1 min), followed by increased labeling of [32P]phosphatidylinositol and [32P]phosphatidic acid (1 min). GnRH stimulated the appearance of [3H]myo-inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (10 s), [3H]myo-inositol 1,4-bisphosphate (15 s), and [3H]myo-inositol 1-phosphate (1 min) in the presence of Li+ (10 mM). Li+ alone stimulated the accumulation of [3H]myo-inositol 1-phosphate and [3H]myo-inositol 1,4-bisphosphate but not [3H]myo-inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate, but had no effect on luteinizing hormone release. The effect of GnRH on inositol phosphates (Ins-P) production was dose-related (ED50 = 1-5 nM), and was blocked by a potent antagonist [D-pGlu,pClPhe,D-Trp]GnRH. Elevation of cytosolic free Ca2+ levels ([Ca2+]i), by ionomycin and A23187 from intracellular or extracellular Ca2+ pools, respectively, had no significant effect on [3H]Ins-P production. GnRH-induced [3H]Ins-P production was not dependent on extracellular Ca2+ and was noticed also after extracellular or intracellular Ca2+ mobilization by A23187 or ionomycin, respectively. The effect of GnRH on [3H]Ins-P accumulation was not affected by prior treatment of the cells with the tumor promoter phorbol ester 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate or with islet-activating protein pertussis toxin. These results indicate that GnRH stimulates a rapid phosphodiester hydrolysis of polyphosphoinositides. The stimulatory effect is not mediated via an islet-activating protein-substrate, is not dependent on elevation of [Ca2+]i, neither is it negatively regulated by 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate which activates Ca2+/phospholipid-dependent protein C kinase. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that GnRH-induced phosphoinositide turnover is responsible for Ca2+ mobilization followed by gonadotropin release.

Animals↗