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Biomedical subjects

S Berman

Publications and source records attributed to S Berman.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Fenfluramine stimulation of prolactin in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The success of serotonergic reuptake inhibitors in the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has suggested that serotonergic neurotransmission may play a role in the pathogenisis of this disorder. Prolactin responses to a 60-mg oral dose of fenfluramine in 26 medication-free patients with a DSM-III-R diagnosis of OCD were compared with those of 20 controls subjects. Fenfluramine produced a significant elevation of prolactin levels in both OCD patients and controls. Prolactin responses were significantly blunted in OCD patients compared with responses in control subjects. Female subjects in both groups showed greater prolactin responses to fenfluramine than did their male counterparts. There was a significant interaction between sex and the presence of OCD such that female patients had lower prolactin responses than their controls, while the difference between male patients and controls was not significant. Prolactin responses were not correlated with age, weight, drug level, depression, anxiety, or degree of OCD symptoms. The results are consistent with a relative reduction in serotonergic efficacy in the setting of OCD.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Childhood tuberculosis and tuberculous meningitis: high incidence rates in the Western Cape of South Africa.

In recent years higher incidence rates of tuberculosis (TB) have been reported from the Western Cape than from other health regions of South Africa. In contrast to the various pulmonary forms of tuberculosis, tuberculous meningitis (TBM) always requires hospital admission, and can thus be used as an indicator of the extent of the infection in a community, as well as providing a measure of the effectiveness of primary and secondary preventive measures. In the present study an attempt was made to identify all cases of tuberculous meningitis aged 14 years and younger which occurred in the region, by checking notifications and the records of all hospitals, and verifying diagnosis against set criteria. Rates for the entire period were calculated according to updated census data. There was a total of 689 confirmed cases, of which only 55% had been notified. Of the 238 cases confirmed in the 3-years period, 1985-1987, 25.2% were under 1 year, 51.7% under 2 years, and 79.8% under 5 years of age. Age-specific incidence per 100,000 children were respectively 31.5 (0-1 years), 17.1 (1-4 years), 4.8 (5-9 years), and 0.7 (10-14 years). Rates in rural areas were far higher than in metropolitan regions. Utilizing tuberculin test data and total notifications, the following risks could be calculated for 'Coloured' children (of mixed race) aged 0-4 years: 2-3% annual risk of infection; 15.7% risk of TB in infected population; 0.5% risk of TBM in infected population; 0.9% risk of TB in children aged 5-14 years; 0.01% risk of TBM in children aged 5-14 years.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Effectiveness of continuous vs. intermittent amoxicillin to prevent episodes of otitis media.

The effectiveness of continuous compared with intermittent amoxicillin prophylaxis administered to subjects with a history of recurrent otitis media enrolled during the winter respiratory infection season was assessed in a prospective single blinded clinical trial. Patients with three or more chart-documented episodes of otitis media (OM) in the preceding 6 months were enrolled and randomly assigned to each treatment group. Patients in the continuous group received amoxicillin twice a day every day for up to 4 months. During the same period patients in the intermittent group received amoxicillin twice a day only when they developed respiratory symptoms of congestion, runny nose or cough. Among the 30 patients receiving continuous amoxicillin who were followed for at least 3 months, 22 (73%) had no OM episodes and 8 (28%) had one OM episode. Among the 25 patients receiving intermittent amoxicillin for at least 3 months, 13 (52%) had no OM episodes, 8 (32%) had 1 episode and 4 (16%) had 2 episodes. Significantly fewer patients had fewer than 2 OM episodes on continuous compared with intermittent amoxicillin (P less than 0.04). The incidence density was 0.46 episode/120 days at risk in the continuous treatment group compared with 1.10 episodes/120 days at risk for intermittent treatment (P less than 0.03). Among patients 12 months or older the incidence density of OM episodes per 120 days was 3.5 times higher in the intermittent amoxicillin group (0.80) compared with the continuous amoxicillin group (0.23) (P = 0.05). The incidence densities of the continuous vs. intermittent therapy groups did not differ significantly for patients younger than 12 months of age. The findings suggest that continuous amoxicillin prophylaxis may be more effective than intermittent treatment in preventing OM episodes in patients 12 months or older with a history of recurrent otitis media.

Amoxicillin↗
PubMed1992

A developmental event-related potential study of picture matching in children, adolescents, and young adults: a replication and extension.

Event-related potentials were recorded in a developmental study of picture matching using an adaptation of Posner's (1978) letter-matching tasks. Subjects ranging in age from 6-39 were asked to decide whether two line drawings, presented sequentially, were the same or different on the basis of physical (physical identity), nominal (name identity), or categorical (category identity) criteria. The amplitude of a negativity at 400 ms (Neg400) increased as the number of dimensions on which the two line drawings differed increased. This effect held for all age groups, and was interpreted as reflecting the degree of semantic and/or physical relationship between the two pictures. However, one finding for Neg400 did suggest a qualitative difference in processing mode between the younger and older subjects. Both Neg400 and P3b latencies showed highly significant linear age trends, decreasing with increasing age. These age-related changes were interpreted as demonstrating quantitative speed of processing differences among age groups. The latencies of both Neg400 and P3b increased as the matching criteria became more complex. Moreover, P3b latency increased as the number of dimensions on which the two pictures differed increased, and this did not interact with age. Although both Neg400 and P3b showed age-related changes in scalp distribution, the fact that each was related to the experimental variables in similar fashion in all age groups suggested that they were homologous components across the age range studied. Taken as a whole, the data support continuity of information processing during these tasks across a wide age range.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Effect of exercise training on glomerular filtration rate of mice with various degrees of renal mass reduction.

We studied the effect of repeated heavy physical activity on glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in healthy, uninephrectomized and experimentally uremic mice. Exercise consisted of running uphill in the inner surface of a rotating cylinder in ideal environmental temperature. In the control groups, no extra physical activity was imposed. In sham-operated and nephrectomized mice, GFR rose significantly following training. By contrast, GFR did not change significantly in the exercised mice with experimental renal failure 24 h following the last exercise session. During the same period, no significant change was observed in GFR of any of the control groups. Following training in each experimental group, mean aortic blood pressure as well as fractional kidney weight (kidney weight/body weight) were not different from the respective controls. Our results indicate that the capacity to augment GFR by physical training is dependent upon the amount of remaining functional renal tissue.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Postnephrectomy mesangial cells secrete a factor(s) that stimulate(s) tubular cell growth in vitro.

Rat kidney mesangial cells were procured from 5 sham-operated and 10 previously uninephrectomized rats. They were grown in cell culture medium supplemented with 20% fetal calf serum. Cell free conditioned medium was collected on the 10th day. Tubular cell cultures were then prepared from 18 normal unoperated 3-week-old rats. Tubular cells from each separate kidney sample were grown in pooled-mesangium conditioned medium from sham-operated or from nephrectomized rats, supplied with 20% pooled serum from either sham-operated or nephrectomized animals. 3H-thymidine incorporation of normal tubular cell cultures grown in nephrectomy mesangium conditioned medium supplemented with sera from nephrectomized animals proved to be significantly greater than that of any of the other three experimental variations. No statistically significant difference was evident when either preconditioned medium of postnephrectomy mesangial cells or postnephrectomy serum were used alone.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Skull dysfunction.

Individuals commonly report a multitude of factors or triggers as the cause for the onset of a headache or facial pain. The challenge has always been to understand the many triggers, the diverse symptoms, the chronological characteristics, and the variability of location associated with headache and facial pain. Part I of this article presents theories and hypotheses proposing that the etiology of the final common pathway of headache and facial pain is from pain signals generated within the skull's joints. The model proposes to explain the variability in the triggers, symptoms, chronological aspects, and location known to be associated with headache and facial pain. The evidence to support these theories is clinical and anecdotal at this time. These theories need controlled investigation. A review of the anatomy of the skull's joints is provided. Part II of this article is a step-by-step description of the use of a nasal balloon device for the treatment of skull joint dysfunction. A review of the history and use of this and other methods of skull joint treatment is provided.

Air Pressure↗
PubMed1991

Visual performance at video display terminals--effects of screen color and illuminant type.

A limited set of illuminants and phosphor colors are commonly used in video display terminal (VDT) working environments. This study attempts to identify any combinations of such conditions that influence performance on a visually demanding counting task. Experiments were performed to test whether the phosphor color, ambient lighting spectrum, or temporal frequency characteristics of the display and ambient lighting could alter performance. Under conditions where potentially contaminating variables such as reflectance level and screen glare patterns were equalized, no significant differences in performance were produced by the particular sets of stimulus conditions tested. The results suggest that displays and illuminant types that are in common use allow substantially equivalent visual performance.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Respiratory rate: measurement of variability over time and accuracy at different counting periods.

The respiratory rates/minute of 97 children were monitored every 10-15 minutes over one hour, by an observer and by pneumogram, at which times two 30 second and one 60 second counts were obtained. The children were under 5 years of age with lower respiratory tract infections (n = 20), upper respiratory tract infections (n = 34), or controls without acute respiratory infection (n = 43). The difference between respiratory rate count determined simultaneously by observation and pneumogram in relation to their mean count was analysed for the 60 second counting period, 30 plus 30 second period, and the 30 second period doubled. The mean difference for the 60 second period was 1.79, for the 30 plus 30 second period 1.42, and for the 30 second period doubled 1.72. The variability between respiratory rate counts determined by observation and pneumogram was significantly lower in counts obtained when the subject was sleeping and higher when agitated compared with obtaining a count when the subject was awake and calm or feeding. The variability was also significantly lower in subjects with lower respiratory tract infections compared with those with upper respiratory tract infections and control subjects without respiratory symptoms. In the same patient, over the one hour, 50% of the 60 second counts varied by up to 14 breaths/minute and 75% by up to 21 breaths/minute. The least variability was seen in children with a lower respiratory tract infection, who tended to maintain their rapid breathing in contrast to those with an upper respiratory tract infection and controls without respiratory symptoms. About 10% of initial 30 second counts, 12% of 60 second, and 16% of initial and repeat 30 second attempts to obtain accurate counts failed. Failures occurred more frequently in children <2 months of age and those agitated. The data from this study suggest that one minute's counting either at a stretch or in two blocks of 30 second intervals is better than counting the respiratory rate for 30 seconds, when the child is either awake and calm or when asleep.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1991

Participation of Colorado pediatricians and family physicians in the Medicaid program.

The Pediatric Health Policy Group of the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center (Denver) surveyed 650 family physicians and 296 pediatricians in 1988, with 50% of family physicians and 48% of pediatricians responding. Half of the pediatricians in private practice and 35% of family physicians in private practice accepted all children who were Medicaid beneficiaries into their practice; 42% of pediatricians and 50% of family physicians accepted all non-Medicaid patients but only some new Medicaid patients; and 8% of pediatricians and 15% of family physicians accepted new non-Medicaid patients but no Medicaid patients. Practice location was associated with the level of Medicaid participation for these primary care physicians: Significantly more rural pediatricians and family physicians than those with urban practices accepted Medicaid patients. The average reimbursement level for these physicians was shown to be an important determinant of whether physicians would accept Medicaid patients. Nonparticipatory physicians were more concerned about excessive paperwork compared with physicians with limited participation. Among physicians with limited participation, family physicians and pediatricians both cited problems of excessive paperwork, reimbursement delays, and retroactive denials of payment as important deterrents to accepting Medicaid patients.

Colorado↗