Biomedical subjects

S Pappas

Publications and source records attributed to S Pappas.

22 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1985

A comparison of pneumonia caused by gentamicin, methicillin-resistant and gentamicin, methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus: epidemiologic and clinical studies.

We investigated an outbreak of nosocomial pneumonia due to gentamicin, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (GMRSA). We compared the predisposing factors for pneumonia due to GMRSA to those for pneumonia due to gentamicin, methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (GMSSA). Seventeen of 29 patients with staphylococcal pneumonia were infected with GMRSA. Risk factors and associated diseases which selected for infection with GMRSA as opposed to GMSSA included prior antibiotic therapy for a prolonged period of time (p = 0.0001), number of risk factors per patient (p = 0.0001), days hospitalized prior to diagnosis of pneumonia (p = 0.002) and number of associated diseases per patient (p = 0.002). Despite the epidemiologic differences between GMSSA and GMRSA pneumonia, there were no differences in the clinical presentation, course of illness, complications, response to appropriate therapy or outcome between the two groups. Survival was adversely affected by age only among the GMSSA patients (p = 0.02) and by the number of associated diseases (p = 0.005).

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

PubMed1983

Hemopoietic progenitors, stimulating factors, and hemoglobin switching.

Studies with murine hematopoietic cells have characterized three separate molecular species acting at some point on the erythropoietic lineage (GM-CSF, BPA, Epo). These studies have been performed mainly with adult tissues, and during the embryonic phase of murine development only macrophage colony-stimulating factor and an activity capable of stimulating CFU-E can be detected in yolk sac fluid. Multipotential or erythroid-committed progenitor cells (BFU-E) obtained from 9-day murine embryos produce only adult hemoglobins when stimulated with an adult source of BPA. Studies with human cord blood erythroid progenitor cells have failed to detect a human equivalent of murine BPA. Clone transfer experiments suggest that erythropoietin alone is required to stimulate human cord blood BFU-E. Experiments of similar design are required to determine the role of various hemopoietic regulatory factors in adult human erythropoiesis.

Animals↗

PubMed1982

Factors affecting haemoglobin synthesis in the mouse.

The effect of various forms of haematopoietic stress on haemoglobin production was studied in mice. During acute anaemia, recovery from polycythaemia or irradiation, there was an increase in the number of reticulocytes, and this was associated with a marked increase in the total protein synthesis. The specific activity in reticulocytes increased up to 20-fold from the normal. The maximum specific activity usually preceded the maximum peak of reticulocytosis. The proportion of minor haemoglobin increased by up to 30%, and there was a significant correlation between the specific activity in reticulocytes and the proportion of minor haemoglobin synthesized. These results indicate that erythropoietic stress results in the release of a new population of reticulocytes that are very active in protein synthesis as measured by markedly increased specific activity, and that this coincides with an increase in the proportion of minor haemoglobin produced.

Anemia↗

PubMedDate not supplied

ABPM comparison of the anti-hypertensive profiles of telmisartan and enalapril in patients with mild-to-moderate essential hypertension.

In this multicentre, prospective, randomized, open-label, blinded-endpoint (PROBE) study, the efficacy of 12 weeks' treatment with once-daily telmisartan 40-80 mg and enalapril 10-20 mg was evaluated using ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) in 522 patients with mild-to-moderate essential hypertension. Patients were titrated to the higher dose of study drug at week 6 if mean seated diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was > or = 90 mmHg. The primary endpoint was the change from baseline in ambulatory DBP in the last 6 h of the 24-h dosing interval after 12 weeks' treatment. Telmisartan and enalapril produced similar reductions from baseline in DBP and systolic blood pressure (SBP) over all ABPM periods evaluated (last 6 h, 24-h, daytime and night-time). Telmisartan produced a significantly greater reduction in mean seated trough DBP, measured unblinded with an automated ABPM device in the clinic, amounting to a difference of -2.02 mmHg (P < 0.01). A significantly greater proportion of patients achieved a seated diastolic response with telmisartan than enalapril (59% versus 50%; P < 0.05), also measured with the same ABPM device. Both treatments were well tolerated. Compared with telmisartan, enalapril was associated with a higher incidence of cough (8.9% versus 0.8%) and hypotension (3.9% versus 1.1%). Therefore, telmisartan may provide better long-term compliance and, consequently, better blood pressure control than enalapril.

Adult↗