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Biomedical subjects

R Hesse

Publications and source records attributed to R Hesse.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

[HIV study of German Red Cross blood banks in Germany and Berlin].

In the HIV study of the German Red Cross blood banks the overall rate has remained constantly low, with less than two Western blot positive donors in 100,000 donors since 1987. However, the rate of HIV positivity tends to increase in male first time and in male repeat blood donors. Despite this fact, the overall rate stays constant since the number of young first time donors has decreased with increasing donations by women. Therefore the blood banks once again have to take newly intensified but also sophisticated measures to guarantee further as well a sufficient number of blood products as their HIV safety.

Berlin

[The metabolism of organ cultures of cornea in TC 199 with added dextran 500 or hydroxyethyl starch 450].

Pig corneas were stored at room temperature for 20 days in TC 199 culture medium supplemented with 10% pig blood serum, antibiotics, and to reduce swelling with 10% Dextran 500 or 10% hydroxyethyl starch HAES 450. The high molecular weight of these additions, 500,000 and 450,000 Daltons respectively, prohibited swelling by their osmotic pressure. The water content of the cultured corneas was 80.6 +/- 0.5% with HAES 450 and 76.4 +/- 2.0% with Dextran 500. The epithelial cells of the cultured cornea rounded and desquamated after 12 to 16 days of culture. The endothelium showed vacuoles. The metabolism of the cultured corneas was measured by glucose and lactate levels in the epithelium, the stroma, and the medium as well as by the glycogen, ATP, and ADP content in the corneal epithelium. The cultured corneas consumed reasonable amounts of glucose and produced lactate. The glycogen content and the ATP levels decreased slightly, but the ATP/ADP ratio showed a good energy state. In the cultures containing HAES 450 the entire system was flooded with glucose released from hydroxyethyl starch. The Dextran 500 culture system could prove suitable for culturing human donor material without swelling.

Adenosine Diphosphate

Risk of HIV infection from former blood donations of donors found to be HIV antibody-positive in blood bank routine testing. "Look-back" study in German Red Cross Blood Banks in the FRG.

Recipients of blood given by 52 repeat blood donors found to be positive by Western blot analysis for anti-HIV from April 1985 to December 1987, among a total of 1.6 million blood donors in the German Red Cross Blood Banks in the FRG, were investigated. Of 149 recipients identified, 76 (51%) had died. Ten recipients refused to be tested. Of those recipients who were tested at least 5 months after transfusion, 46 were HIV antibody negative and 17 were Western blot-positive. In 14 of the HIV antibody-positive recipients, transfusion was given during the period from 1982 to the begin of routine testing in 1985. Three recipients of HIV antibody-negative donations were subsequently identified as HIV positive. The blood had been donated a median of 3 months before HIV antibodies were detected in the donors. From a total of 3 million donations since testing has been introduced, the risk of HIV transmission in tested blood is 1:1 million in our donor population where the HIV antibody prevalence (in Western blot) is about 1 per 100,000 donations/donors.

AIDS Serodiagnosis

[HIV study of the German Red Cross of West Germany 1985-1989: prevalence/incidence and mode of infection, retrospective studies].

All German Red Cross Blood Banks in the FRG cooperate in a study on prevalence and epidemiology of HIV-antibodies in blood donors. The prevalences of 1 to 2 Western blot positive donors per 100,000 donors/donations quarterly since 1987 are constantly low. The measures undertaken to defer persons at risk seem to be effective. The "look back" data confirm the "rest risk" of HIV-infections by blood products in the FRG which is estimated to be about 1:1 million on the basis of the epidemiologic data. More than 90% of the donors infected are members of risk groups of heterosexual partners to persons at risk. Until today, in blood donors there is no indication of an increasing number of unaware heterosexually acquired HIV-infections.

Blood Banks

[Current data on the prevalence and epidemiology of HIV from the HIV study by the German Red Cross of West Germany].

From the multicenter study of the Red Cross Blood Banks in the FRG HIV-antibody prevalences and incidences are documented since July 1985. Constantly low prevalences and incidences since 1987 of less than 2 Western blot (Wb)-positive donors and less than 1 Wb-positive donor per 100,000 donors respectively confirm our estimate of the rest risk of an HIV-infection by blood products of 1:500,000 to 1:3 million donations. In the epidemiologic details there seems to be a trend to an increase of the incidence in male repeat blood donors. The modes of HIV-infection in blood donors have changed to an increasing number of infections acquired in heterosexual contacts to persons at risk.

AIDS Serodiagnosis

[Epidemiology of HIV in blood donors in West Germany].

Of a total of 5.6 million blood donations by 1.6 million German Red Cross donors between July, 1985 and December, 1987 tested for HIV antibodies 210 were found to be positive in at least one Western blot. Calculated per quarter, the prevalence (for first-time donors) of 10 per 100,000 in 1985 decreased to 4 per 100,000 in 1986, while the incidence (for multiple donors) was a constant 2 per 100,000 for each quarter in 1987. This indicates that new HIV infections were rare in blood donors and there was no exponential increase. Further analysis revealed that over 90% of those with confirmed Western blot positive results were members of risk groups or their direct contacts. The age and sex distribution conformed to the known pattern for AIDS cases in the Federal Republic of Germany. The data demonstrate that there is at present no indication of a rapid spread of HIV infections transmitted heterosexually among blood donors.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

[Prevalence of HIV antibodies in blood donors in the West Germany and West Berlin].

Since 1985 all donor blood in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and West Berlin (WB) have been routinely tested for HIV antibodies. The blood donor services of the German and Bavarian Red Cross have pooled their anti-HIV test data for the first year of operation (July 1985-June 1986) to obtain information on the prevalence of HIV antibodies in blood donors and in donated blood. Of 2.27 million units of blood, donated by 1.33 million donors, 218 were anti-HIV positive in the Western Blot Test, i.e. a prevalence rate of 10 per 100,000 donors. The prevalence was, as expected, higher in males than females. During the test period the anti-HIV prevalence fell, both as a total and in all subpopulations. In the second quarter of 1986 it had decreased to 6 per 100,000 donated units.

Antibodies, Viral

Tolerability of timolol and betaxolol in patients with chronic open-angle glaucoma.

Twenty-four patients with bilateral chronic open-angle glaucoma received three treatments: (1) artificial tears (control) in both eyes, (2) artificial tears in one eye and one drop of timolol (0.05%) in the other, and (3) artificial tears in one eye and one drop of betaxolol (0.05%) in the other. Twelve patients always received the test medication in the left eye and 12 in the right eye. The patients were examined and questioned about ocular symptoms at the time of drug administration and at 1, 5, 30, and 60 minutes. Irritation was noted in five treated eyes after artificial tears, in three after timolol, and in 11 after betaxolol. The incidence of irritation after initial treatment was significantly lower than expected for timolol than for artificial tears or betaxolol (P less than 0.01).

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists

[Acromegaly and colorectal proliferations].

Hypersomatotropism causes not only the typical acromegalic symptoms but also very often a splanchnomegaly with participation of the enteron. We performed a colonoscopy in 16 patients with a persistent active acromegaly in spite of full used therapy possibilities. Only in four cases (25%) we could find a polyp. They were distributed on the colon transversum (one), descendens (one) and sigmoideum (two). Three of them (histology: tubular adenoma) had a diameter of less than 5 mm. Only one adenoma had an extent of 3.5 x 3 x 2.5 cm (histology: tubular-villous adenoma). Not any polyp showed signs of malignity. There existed no relations between the coloscopic findings, the degree of activity and the duration of illness. Localisation, histology, frequency and age distribution of the found out polyps of our patients were in the range of real frequency of the occurrence of colorectalic neoplasms. We conclude: Acromegaly is correlated not more than accidentally with colorectalic neoplasms (benign, malignant). Therefore preventive medical examinations of acromegalic patients are not rich in meaning.

Acromegaly

DNA probes for identification of clinically important Bacteroides species.

Conventional procedures for identifying gram-negative anaerobes such as Bacteroides spp. are cumbersome and time-consuming. A simpler approach would be to use DNA probes to identify these organisms. Since many different species of gram-negative anaerobes are isolated from clinical specimens, the most useful DNA probes would be probes that identify a few clinically significant groups of anaerobes. To obtain such probes, we cloned HindIII-digested chromosomal DNA from various Bacteroides species and then screened these probes, labeled with 32P by nick translation, for hybridization to DNA from various species of Bacteroides, Fusobacterium, and other gram-negative bacteria. We identified three DNA probes (pBFII-4, pBFII-5, and pBFII-6) that hybridized specifically to DNA from Bacteroides fragilis, the species that accounts for about half of all isolates from clinical specimens containing anaerobes. We identified one DNA probe (pBE-3) that hybridized to all members of the B. fragilis group, a group of species that resemble B. fragilis with respect to fermentation pattern and antibiotic resistances. We also identified one probe (pBO-21) that hybridized to DNA from all Bacteroides sp. strains as well as to DNA from strains of Fusobacterium necrophorum and Fusobacterium nucleatum. pBO-21, but not pBE-3, cross-hybridized with a cloned Bacteroides sp. 16S rRNA gene. The limit of detection for these probes was 10(6) bacteria. The probes could detect B. fragilis in blood culture medium and in mixed cultures with other gram-negative bacteria. Attempts to use biotin-labeled DNA probes instead of 32P-labeled probes were not successful because the Bacteroides sp. extracts contained material that bound the streptoavidin-peroxidase detection reagent.

Animals

[Experiences with endoscopic sclerosing of esophageal varices].

In this paper is reported on endoscopic sclerotherapy in 35 patients, which have been treated from March 1980 to March 1983. The efficacy of submucosal (paravascular) wall sclerosis wasn't sufficient. We achieved better results in the prevention of esophageal variceal bleeding with combined para- and intravascular injections of sclerosant.

Esophageal and Gastric Varices

Effects of stress and exercise on plasma corticosterone, plasma cholesterol, and aortic cholesterol levels in rats.

Rats, fed a 1% cholesterol diet, were subjected to either predictable, controllable shock; unpredictable, uncontrollable shock; or no shock for 30 days (51-min daily sessions). Half of the rats in each condition were allowed access to a running wheel for 3 hr immediately after each stress session except for the final stress session. Immediately following the final stress session, animals were sacrificed and blood and aorta samples were taken. Stressed animals allowed to run showed lower plasma corticosterone levels than stressed animals not allowed to run. Overall, stressed animals had lower levels of aortic cholesterol than nonstressed animals. Whereas running resulted in decreased levels of plasma cholesterol, aortic cholesterol levels were higher for the running animals than for the nonrunning animals.

Animals

[Echography of the upper abdominal vessels (author's transl)].

The newer generation of real-time ultrasonic equipment with its high resolution capacity permits not only visualization of the large abdominal vessels like the aorta and inferior vena cava, but in addition the tracing smaller visceral branches. The celiac trunk with its branches, the common hepatic artery and the splenic artery, the superior mesenteric and the two renal arteries can be visualized in 60-80% of all echographically examined patients. Consequently the new possibilities of abdominal echography with regard to assessment of the variations of vessels from the norm and intravascular processes such as thromboses are opened up. Changes in the courses of vessels permit conclusions on the seat and direction of growth of tumors.

Abdomen