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Biomedical subjects

P Beck

Publications and source records attributed to P Beck.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Peripheral blood lymphocyte subpopulations in multiple myeloma.

Antisera raised against idiotypic determinants of myeloma proteins and macroglobulins have been used to differentiate peripheral blood lymphocytes populations from individual patients. I.D.-positive lymphocytes not resembling plasma cells have been regularly found in peripheral blood in these diseases. This lymphocyte population is heterogeneous with respect to non-tumor-specific surface markers, such as SRBC-, Fc- and C-receptors. Tumor specific idiotypic determinants will thus allow a more correct recognition of the total tumor cell compartment in these diseases.

Animals

Environmental determinants of memory improvement in late adulthood.

Two studies were conducted with nursing home residents to determine whether memory could be improved. This was accomplished by increasing the cognitive demand of the environment and then varying the extent to which residents were motivated to attend to and remember these environmental factors. In Study 1, motivation to practice recommended cognitive activities was manipulated by varying the degree of reciprocal self-disclosure offered by interviewers in a series of dyadic interactions. In Study 2, motivation to practice recommended cognitive activities was manipulated by varying whether positive outcomes were contingent on attending to and remembering these activities, which increased in demand over time. Whether as a function of interpersonal (Study 1) or practical (Study 2) incentives, engaging in cognitive activity resulted in improvement on standard short-term memory tests, including probe recall and pattern recall, as well as in improvement on nurses' ratings of alertness, mental activity, and social adjustment for experimental groups relative to controls.

Aged

Silicone band technique for laparoscopic tubal sterilization in the gravid and nongravid patient.

Laparoscopic tubal sterilization by the Falope ring technique was performed on 196 patients. Sixty-four patients underwent laparoscopic tubal sterilization at the time of gestation termination. One hundred thirty-two patients underwent interval laparoscopic sterilization. The complication and failure rates in the group that had both laparoscopic tubal sterilization and gestation termination was lower than in the group that had laparoscopic tubal sterilization alone. The Falope ring sterilization technique is a safe method when combined with gestation termination, and spares the patient the inconvenience and increased hazard of 2 separate procedures.

Abortion, Induced

Silicone band sterilization with radiographic and laparoscopic evaluation.

Laparoscopic tubal sterilization, using a Silastic band to occlude the tubal lumen, was performed on 224 patients. The incidence of complications was low and only 2 pregnancies occurred. Further evaluation by hysterosalpingography on 97 patients revealed 2 distinct images. The site of tubal occlusion was seen on laparoscopy performed on 7 patients. The radiographic and laparoscopic findings are discussed.

Adult

Recruitment and retention program for minority and disadvantaged students.

Attracting ethnic minority and disadvantaged students to health careers and facilitating their successful completion of training program requirements have been major activities of the University of Colorado Medical Center since 1969. As a result of extensive college campus recruitment efforts, high school and college level preprofessional programs, and the participation of ethnic minority faculty members in the medical school admissions process, the number of applicants to the medical school increased from 45 in 1971 to 265 in 1977. Concurrently, medical school matriculants increased from 12 in 1971 to 24 in 1977, with a maximum of 30 in 1975. However, significantly fewer minority students have shown interest in nursing, dentistry, or allied health professions careers. Because of support programs for matriculants (including preadmission and postadmissions personal, academic, study skills, and test-taking counseling and a prefreshman year summer orientation course), 71 percent of the minority students entering medical school in 1971-73 have received the M.D. degree.

Colorado

Immunological and functional characteristics of peripheral blood and synovial fluid lymphocytes from patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Spontaneous (SCMC) and antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC); mitogenic responsiveness (PHA, Con A, PPD, dextran and pokeweed) as well as lymphocyte subpopulations (E-, EA-, EAC-rosettes, S-Ig) were studied simultaneously in peripheral blood (PBL) and synovial fluid lymphocytes (SFL) of fifteen patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Marked differences were observed in the cytotoxic activity of SFL and PBL. Whereas SCMC activity of SFL was always significantly elevated above the cytotoxic levels of PBL, the reverse was true for the ADCC reaction; here, 50% of the patients showed a decreased cytotoxicity of SFL compared to PBL. Synovial fluid neutrophils (SFN) were found to be inactive in both cytotoxic assays. No differences were found in ADCC activity of PBL between normal controls and RA patients. In SCMC assays a significantly increased activity of control PBL was only observed at L/T ratios of 100:1. Overnight incubation of PBL from RA patients and normal controls resulted in a marked decrease in SCMC and, to a smaller extent, in ADCC activity. SFL from three out of four patients lost less SCMC activity after overnight incubation than the corresponding PBL. In one patient even an increased activity in both cytotoxic systems was obtained. Regarding lymphocyte populations, T-cells were significantly decreased in PBL of RA patients. With the exception of a significantly lowered percentage of C3 receptor positive cells in SFL, no significant differences were recorded in the lymphocyte distribution between the patients' PBL and SFL. In the RA patients, the response to T-cell mitogens was significantly depressed in SFL while PPD and pokeweed reactivity was equal to that of PBL.

Adult

Effect of progestins on glucose and lipid metabolism.

Gestamimetic amounts of progesterone enhance basal and glucose-stimulated insulin production. Contraceptive doses of synthetic progestins cause a moderate increase or no change in glucose-stimulated insulin production, depending on route of administration and species tested. Estrogens potentiate the insulinotropic effects of progesterone and the synthetic progestins. Basal serum triglyceride concentrations are generally unaffected by progesterone or 17 alpha-acetoxyprogesterone treatment but may decrease during 19-nortestosterone administration. Glucose tolerance does not change during treatment with gestamimetic doses of progesterone alone but may improve in rats and monkeys during concurrent estrogen administration. By contrast, deterioration of glucose tolerance is observed in women treated concurrently with synthetic estrogen plus 19-nortestosterone derivatives and, occasionally, with 19-nortestosterone derivatives alone. No consistent changes in glucose metabolism have been observed after treatment with 17 alpha-acetoxyprogesterone derivatives alone. The cause of the species-related differences in glucose metabolism during 19-nortestosterone treatment is obscure.

Animals

Effect of contraceptive steroids on arginine-stimulated glucagon and insulin secretion in women. III. Medroxyprogesterone acetate.

The effect of medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) on basal circulating lipids, arginine-stimulated glucagon and insulin secretion, and glucose tolerance was studied in normal women. After 5 days of oral MPA treatment (10 mg/day), there was a small but significant decline in basal circulating triglycerides. No changes were observed in fasting plasma concentrations of cholesterol, free fatty acids, glucagon, insulin, or glucose; in the plasma glucagon, insulin, or glucose responses during L-arginine infusion; or in the plasma insulin or glucose responses during oral glucose tolerance tests. There was no correlation of any of these parameters with the observed decline in fasting plasma triglyceride concentrations. These results confirm previous reports of no consistent changes in lipid or glucose homeostasis in women using derivatives of 17alpha-acetoxyprogesterone derivatives for contraceptive purposes, and suggest that MPA may be a suitable alternative for those women who develop hyperlipemia or glucose intolerance when they use contraceptive agents which contain derivatives of ethinyl estradiol and nortestosterone.

Adult

The impact of government insurance on a psychiatric clinic.

This paper considers the impact of a state medical insurance system on the structure of psychiatric services. The tendency of the upper socioeconomic classes to use private practitioners, and the lower classes to use public clinics, is examined before and after the imposition of the medical insurance system in Quebec in 1970. Data from one public clinic reveal a significant rise in the socioeconomic status of patients after Medicare. Alternative interpretations for the change in the clinic population are explored.

Hospitals, Psychiatric

Induction of labor with intravenous prostaglandin.

The present study utilizing an open label design evaluates the efficacy of prostaglandin F2alpha in the induction of labor in normal and complicated primigravid and multigravid pregnancies and in particular in patients with an unripe cervix. The results reveal that labor was successfully induced in 33 of 38 (86.8 per cent) normal patients in the 0 to 5 Bishop group and in 17 of 18 (94.4 per cent) in the 6 to 13 Bishop group. In the complicated pregnancies (abnormal group) 26 to 28 (84 per cent) in the 0 to 5 Bishop group and 13 of 13 (100 per cent) in the 6 to 13 Bishop group were successfully induced. There were two cesarean sections for obstetric indications. Hypertonus occurred only four times and responded to dose reduction. The most common problem--nausea and vomiting (29 per cent)--was easily controlled. Prostaglandin when judiciously used appears to be a safe drug for the induction of labor at term in normal as well as complicated pregnancies and in patients with low inducibility scores.

Adolescent

Serum prolactin concentrations in women treated with chlormadinone acetate.

Serum prolactin concentrations were measured serially in eight normal women who used continuous chlormadinone acetate treatment (500 mug per day) for six months as part of an investigational new drug contraceptive study. Circulating prolactin was also measured in women using several additional oral contraceptive steroid preparations including a sequential mestranol-mestranol + chlormadinone acetate regimen. No increase in basal serum prolactin concentration was produced by chlormadinone acetate treatment, either alone or when added to estrogen therapy. These results suggest that chlormadinone acetate may not alter human mammary tissue through a prolactin mechanism.

Breast

Effect of contraceptive steroids on arginine- stimulated glucagon and insulin secretion in women. II. Carbohydrate and lipid physiology in insulin-dependent diabetics.

The effect of contraceptive steroids on aminogenic glucagon secretion was studied in six insulin-dependent diabetic women. After 2 wk treatment with combined mestranol (80 mug) plus norethindrone (1 mg) daily, the mean peak plasma glucagon response to arginine infusion was suppressed to one-fourth of control levels. This was associated with a small but significant decrease in mean basal plasma cholesterol concentrations. There were no changes in basal plasma triglyceride, free fatty acid, glucose, insulin, or alpha-amino nitrogen concentrations or in daily insulin requirements during mestranol plus norethindrone treatment. These results confirm previous reports of no consistent changes in the insulin requirements of insulin-dependent diabetic women using contraceptive steroids and suggest that these women may not experience dramatic changes in their lipid metabolism during contraceptive therapy.

Adolescent

[Pseudo-pseudo-hypoparathyroidism (PPH) in a family: rheumatic manifestations in 3 cases, one of which associated with a tricho-rhino-phalangial syndrome (Giedion)].

Three cases of familial pseudo-pseudohypoparathyroidism (PPH) are described. Two patients presented the essential features of this rare syndrome, while the third had the signs of PPH associated with those of tricho-rhino-phalangeal dysplasia (GIEDION). All of our patients had spondylolisthesis of L5 as well as arthrosis of the hips (secondary to coxa plana in two subjects and to coxa vara in one). The phosphocalcic metabolism and determinations of serum immunoreactive parathyroid hormone were normal. The autosomal dominant genetic transmission is in agreement with observations in the literature.

Female