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Biomedical subjects

R Wilcox

Publications and source records attributed to R Wilcox.

35 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Polyneuropathy due to glue exposure: case report and 16-year follow-up.

Polyneuropathy resulting from industrial exposure to solvent n-hexane is widely recognized and reported in the medical literature. We report a case followed for 16 years with a series of electromyographic and nerve conduction studies. A 63-year-old man was exposed to glue fumes in a cabinet-making factory. This exposure resulted in polyneuropathy affecting the upper and lower extremities with more severe involvement of the legs. Electrodiagnostic examination revealed mixed-type, predominantly motor polyneuropathy. Intensive medical treatment and physical rehabilitation failed to retard the progression of the disease and the patient never fully recovered. He was fitted with short leg orthoses with Klenzak joints, adjustable springs, and stirrups attached to orthopedic shoes. Only with the help of the braces could he ambulate and stay functionally independent. There was good correlation between electromyographic and nerve conduction findings and the clinical picture.

Adhesives↗

Severe carpal tunnel syndrome with sparing of sensory fibers.

The authors review 111 cases of electrodiagnostically confirmed carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and find that only three patients with moderately to severely advanced CTS have relatively intact sensory fibers. The three cases are presented and described.

Aged↗

Phorbol ester inhibits myoblast fusion and activates beta-adrenergic receptor coupled adenylate cyclase.

Primary cultures of myoblasts, derived from embryonic chick pectoral muscle, were treated with phorbol ester (TPA) for 8-96 h. TPA treatment blocked the fusion of myoblasts along with the expression of the MM form of creatine kinase. Interestingly, TPA treatment markedly increased the activity of beta-adrenergic receptor coupled adenylate cyclase (AC) activity. The study suggests that TPA treatment augments the functional interaction between a coupling Ns protein and catalytic unit of AC. The likely significance of these results is briefly presented.

Adenylyl Cyclases↗

Sitting orthosis for patient with bilateral hip disarticulation.

A special sitting orthosis was designed and fitted for a 59-year-old patient with right-side hemiplegia and expressive aphasia who underwent bilateral hip disarticulation due to peripheral vascular disease involving both lower extremities. The orthosis prevented the patient from sliding down in the wheelchair and allowed him to sit comfortably and safely with even weight distribution that prevented formation of pressure sores. Without the orthosis, the patient was unable to sit in a wheelchair without hazardous sliding. It also helped him sitting in bed. The orthosis, strapped to the back of an amputee wheelchair equipped with an antitipping extension aid, permitted the patient to sit safely upright in a relaxed position, wheel himself more easily, use a desk arm if desired to feed himself, read, or perform other activities. The patient, when secured in the orthosis, also could be lifted easily and placed into any chair, bed, or even on the floor.

Activities of Daily Living↗

Precocious in vitro development of satellite cells from dystrophic chicken muscle.

Satellite cells, liberated from pectoral muscle of juvenile dystrophic chickens by sequential treatment with collagenase, hyaluronidase, and trypsin and preplated to remove fibroblasts and cultured on gelatin proliferated rapidly, fused and formed confluent muscle cultures within 6 d in vitro with minimal contamination by fibroblasts. When identical isolation and culturing techniques were applied to muscle from age-matched normal chickens proliferation and differentiation were slower, contamination with fibroblasts was much greater, and only a small number of myotubes were formed. After injection of the myotoxic anesthetic marcaine into normal pectoral muscle for 5 consecutive days, myotube formation was accelerated in satellite cell cultures, but the rate of differentiation was not as rapid as that occurring in cells from dystrophic muscle.

Animals↗

Gradient-echo perfusion imaging of musculoskeletal abnormalities with contrast-enhanced two-dimensional fat-saturation FLASH.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the utility of MR perfusion imaging of various musculoskeletal lesions with a contrast-enhanced two-dimensional fat saturation fast low angle shot (FLASH) sequence and to assess the potential of this technique for distinguishing malignant from benign conditions. Thirty-six musculoskeletal lesions were studied at 1.5 T. The signal intensity of the lesions, adjacent artery, muscle, bone marrow, and fat were plotted against time. The time to peak enhancement, time to maximum signal intensity, percent enhancement, rate of peak enhancement, and rate of enhancement parameters were calculated. Because of a significant overlap between malignant and benign conditions, accuracy rates were lower than reported previously. The best parameter based on these values was the rate of peak enhancement (sensitivity, 84.6%; specificity, 65.2-66.6%; positive predictive value, 57.8-68.7%). Fat saturation gradient-echo MR perfusion imaging allows for a rapid assessment of the vascularity of musculoskeletal pathology; however, a significant overlap persists between malignant neoplasms and several benign conditions.

Adipose Tissue↗

Omega-conotoxin increases sleep time following ethanol injection.

omega-Conotoxin and ethanol produce similar actions on in vitro calcium channel functions. The present study was designed to determine their possible behavioral interaction. omega-Conotoxin injected ICV at either 0.1 microgram or 0.3 microgram, produced an increase in spontaneous and evoked tremor activity in male Sprague-Dawley rats. The tremor was present at 30 min and continued at least 4 h after injection. At 4 h post ICV injection, animals were given an IP injection of ethanol (3 g/kg body weight). Although no blood alcohol differences were observed between groups, rats injected with omega-conotoxin showed a concentration-dependent increase in sleep times: Saline controls slept for an average of 84.7 +/- 16.7 min, 0.1 and 0.3 microgram conotoxin treated animals slept for 121.3 +/- 16.2 and 211.1 +/- 30.7 min, respectively. These results extend the class of calcium channel blockers capable of producing a behavioral interaction with ethanol.

Animals↗

Building communities that create health.

Typically, public health policy, program design, and resource allocation are based on issue-specific, targeted interventions directed at specific populations or sub-populations. The authors argue that this approach fails to meet the goal of public health-to improve health for all--and that the key to health improvement is to create a social context in which healthy choices are the norm. The authors present as case studies two Pennsylvania cities that used multisectoral approaches to achieve community health improvements.

Adolescent↗

Experimental febrile convulsions in epileptic chickens: the anticonvulsant effect of elevated gamma-aminobutyric acid concentrations.

The high seizure susceptibility in epileptic chickens is due to an autosomal recessive mutation. In 3-day-old chicks homozygous for the epilepsy gene (epileptics), elevation of body temperature using microwave diathermy evoked an initial febrile seizure resembling the clonic seizures evoked in epileptic chicks by photic stimulation. After complete recovery, this was followed by a clonic-tonic seizure. In nonepileptic heterozygote hatchmates (carriers) of the same age, only the latter seizure pattern was observed. In 16- to 17-day-old chicks of either phenotype, both seizure patterns were observed during hyperthermia. In all cases, the temperature at which seizures occurred was significantly lower in epileptic than in nonepileptic chicks, indicating a lower threshold for febrile seizures when there is an inherited predisposition to convulse. The occurrence of seizures was dependent on the body temperature and not on the rate of rise of temperature. Elevation of the brain gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) concentrations by administration of the GABA transaminase inhibitor gamma-vinyl GABA reduced the incidence of the initial febrile seizures and increased the latency in those birds that were not fully protected.

Aminocaproates↗