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Biomedical subjects

R Hess

Publications and source records attributed to R Hess.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

[The gestrinone (R-2323) treatment of endometriosis].

Results of medical treatment with gestrinone are evaluated in 29 women with minimal (10), mild (9) and moderate (7) endometriosis. After a diagnostic laparoscopy, patients started gestrinone 2.5 mg/day 2 times a week per 6 months. Clinical evaluations and blood samples were performed at the end of the ist, 3rd and 6th month of treatment. A second look laparoscopy, in 26 out of the 29 patients, was performed within a month after discontinuation of the drug. Nineteen patients (73.1%) showed a diminishing in endometriosis score. Moreover, 2 of them presented with a normal pelvis at the time of the 2nd laparoscopy. Overall post treatment scores were significantly lower than pre treatment scores (6.1 +/- 6.9 versus 11.3 +/- 10.2 respectively, p < 0.025). Nineteen out of the 26 patients had amenorrhea, most of them (18) since the second month of treatment. Nineteen patients presented with dysmenorrhea at the beginning of the treatment and in 13 of them it disappeared during the first 3 months of the drug. Reversible elevation in serum transaminases was observed in 4 patients. Red blood cells count and platelet concentration increased at the end of the treatment. A clear pituitary suppression to basal levels was seen. No significant changes on androgen levels were appreciated. Seven patients achieved a spontaneous pregnancy, out of 22 that desired fertility (31.8%), all of them were clinical pregnancies.

Adult

Polarized intestinal hybrid cell lines derived from primary culture: establishment and characterization.

A cell culture system has been developed that produces stable gastrointestinal (GI) polarized cell lines capable of maintaining hormone secretion. A spontaneously transformed rat mucosal epithelial cell was selected for hypoxanthine/guanine phosphoribosyltransferase deficiency and transfected with a plasmid conferring hygromycin resistance (BRIE 291 cells). Fusion of these cells with dispersed small intestinal epithelia cells resulted in hybrid cell lines that retained characteristic properties of the native GI cell more effectively than the transformed tumorigenic parental cell line. Hybrid hBRIE 380 cells are uniformly cuboidal with microvilli, contain villin, are contact inhibited, are anchorage dependent, require serum supplementation for growth, and are more sensitive to virus infection than the parental BRIE 291 cells. Fusion of BRIE 291 with dispersed pancreatic islet cells has resulted in a variety of pancreatic-hormone-producing cell lines. One of these, hybrid hBRIE 291-i2, forms confluent monolayers capable of synthesizing insulin-like immunoreactivity. These studies demonstrate that functionally polarized GI cells can be generated from primary cultures of nondividing committed epithelial cells by somatic cell hybridization and make feasible the selection and maintenance of specific GI epithelial cell types in confluent monolayer cultures.

Animals

Photodynamic therapy with chlorins for diffuse malignant mesothelioma: initial clinical results.

Four patients underwent intraoperative photodynamic therapy after surgery with meso-tetra-(hydroxyphenyl)-chlorin (mTHPC-PDT) for diffuse malignant mesothelioma. Preliminary procedures were performed in two patients in order to establish the efficacy of mTHPC-PDT and to optimise its tumoricidal effect. The tumoricidal effect was related to the mTHPC dose, light dose and the time interval between sensitation and activation. 0.3 mg kg-1 mTHPC activated after 48 h with 10 Joules cm-2 of non-thermal laser light at 650 nm resulted in a 10 mm deep tumour infarction, due to tumour vessel necrosis and thrombosis. The mTHPC tissue concentration was up to 14 times higher in the tumour than in normal tissues. Skin photosensitivity was mild, dose dependent and occurred 3 to 10 days after administration of mTHPC. According to the results obtained, intraoperative mTHPC-PDT was performed following pleuropneumonectomy in two, pleurectomy and lobectomy in one and pleurectomy in one patient. Ten Joules cm-2 were delivered to the diaphragm and the costophrenic sulcus and 5 Joules cm-2 to the remaining thoracic cavity. The postoperative course was marked by loss of appetite, fluid retention, hypoproteinemia and severe chest pain. One patient succumbed from aspiration pneumonia. The remaining patients developed no neural or vascular alterations and no bronchial stump insufficiency during follow-up. mTHPC-PDT following surgical tumour resection deserves further evaluation in good risk patients with diffuse malignant mesothelioma.

Combined Modality Therapy

Contribution of immunohistochemistry toward the diagnosis of tumors of laboratory rats.

A polyclonal antibody detecting S-100 protein (S-100) and a monoclonal antibody demonstrating epithelial cell (Lu-5) were used in addition to routine, hematoxylin-eosin stain to improve the identification of tumors of neural or epithelial origin diagnosed in conventionally treated tissue from rat bioassays. Among 108 lesions tested for S-100, 51 reacted positively; they included benign and malignant schwannoma, endomyocardial disease, some cases of benign and malignant thymoma, and renal tubular adenoma. S-100 protein is considered particularly useful for discriminating of neoplasms of Schwann cell origin from mesenchymal tumors. 31 of 51 lesions tested for Lu-5 reacted positively: they comprised adenoma, carcinoma, benign and malignant thymoma and atriocaval node tumor of the heart. Lu-5 was especially useful to distinguish epithelial from mesenchymal neoplasms and was capable of identifying epithelial elements in lymphocyte-rich thymomas as well as in dedifferentiated or autolytic tumors. The binding of both antibodies in neoplastic tissue was compared with a complete set of anatomically normal rat tissues.

Animals

[Echographic imaging of absence of follicular rupture. Endocrinologic aspects].

Since Jewelewicz in 1975 first described the luteinization of an unruptured follicle (LUF), clinical evidence for the importance of this syndrome has been given by various groups of investigators. Luteal phase of 14 cycles with ultrasound evidence of unruptured follicles were studied with plasmatic determination of levels of FSH, LH, prolactin, 17 B estradiol and progesterone each one day. Two groups were defined. One, with "ovulatory ranges" of progesterone, probably LUF syndrome and another, with "anovulatory levels", probably follicular cysts.

Estradiol

[Intramyoma intrauterine device].

This article describes a cases of "missing strings" of a Zipper IUD embeded in an intracavitary myoma. Two attempts with classical procedures failed to remove it and the diagnosis was done after a hysteroscopy complicated with uterine perforation. It is very difficult to assure if the myoma grew around the IUD or it was perforated at the time of its insertion. Histological evidences lead to the first option.

Adult

[Recurring loss of conciousness with middle brain symptoms in migraine].

A 49-year-old woman subject to frequent migraine attacks since childhood was seen for repeated episodes of confusion followed by loss of consciousness lasting for several hours. EEG during the acute stages showed marked slowing with bifrontal monorhythmic delta waves. After each episode, both the clinical and EEG findings subsided within hours. A similar course is described in a man who died at the age of 69 after preterminal mental deterioration. Autopsy showed evidence of bilateral damage to the hippocampal regions, apparently due to frequent impairment of perfusion in the last years of life. Atherosclerotic changes were within the normal range for his age. In both cases, the ischemic episodes are interpreted as consequences of constriction of the basilar artery, and it is assumed that the underlying mechanism is at least akin to that of migraine.

Aged

Responses of single cells in cat's lateral geniculate nucleus and area 17 to the velocity of moving visual stimuli.

Neuronal responses to moving visual stimuli were recorded in the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) and area 17 of cats. Response duration (DE), number of spikes (NT), and mean frequency (FM) were estimated from the response histograms and analysed for their dependence on stimulus velocity. In the LGN, for about 2/3 of cells these response parameters changed monotonically with velocity up to about 100 degrees/s. In 1/3 of the cells, the response frequency was tuned to velocity. The speed at which individual cells reached a peak or plateau firing rate was correlated with their receptive field size. In area 17, most neurones were tuned to velocity. Nine out of 59 cells were insensitive to stimulus speed in that they responded equally well at stimulus velocities up to about 10 degrees/s. The results suggest that at higher levels in the nervous system information about velocity is represented in discrete groups of neurones. It is pointed out that different response parameters may be relevant for different perceptual phenomena associated with movement. The significance of integrational properties and lateral inhibition of nerve cells for the development of complex response properties is discussed.

Animals

Clioquinol and 2,5-hexanedione induce different types of distal axonopathy in the dog.

The central distal axonopathy induced in dogs by the administration of high doses of clioquinol is contrasted with the central-peripheral distal axonopathy precipitated by intoxication with 2,5-hexanedione. Mature, pure-bred Beagle dogs received a daily oral dose of 400 mg/kg of clioquinol for up to 7 months, or 1 ml per animal (approximately corresponding to 110 mg/kg) of 2,5-hexanedione for up to 5 months. Intoxicated and control animal were killed and perfused at monthly intervals, so that the spatial-temporal development of the lesion could be followed and correlated with clinical symptoms. During the treatment, dogs intoxicated with 2,5-hexanedione developed symptoms of peripheral neuropathy consisting of flaccid weakness, muscle atrophy, hind-limb foot-drop and areflexia. By contrast, the dogs surviving clioquinol intoxication exhibited a stiff-legged gait, hyperreflexia but no muscle atrophy. Light and electron microscope examination of central and peripheral nervous tissue from dogs intoxicated with 2,5-hexanedione revealed giant axonal swelling and distal axonal degeneration. By contrast, dogs receiving clioquinol showed a distal axonal degeneration confined to the optic tract and the long spinal cord tracts, without any visible involvement of peripheral nerves.

Animals

Differential susceptibility of peripheral nerves of the hen to triorthocresyl phosphate and to trauma.

The nerve fibres of largest diameter and of greatest length are considered to be the most vulnerable to triorthocresyl phosphate (TOCP). In this study, the differential vulnerability of the particular sciatic nerve branches was determined in the course of TOCP neuropathy and of Wallerian degeneration. The branch innervating the lateral gastrocnemius muscle, made up predominantly of large-diameter fibres, proved most susceptible to TOCP. By contrast, after proximal sciatic-nerve transection, degeneration commenced in the lateral nerve of the third digit, containing long nerve fibres of small diameter.

Animals