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Biomedical subjects

T J Berger

Publications and source records attributed to T J Berger.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1987

Identification of a male-specific histocompatibility protein on preimplantation porcine embryos.

An indirect immunofluorescence assay was used to detect the presence of male-specific protein(s) on various stages of preimplantation porcine embryos. Embryos were collected at slaughter from the reproductive tracts of day-2.5, -4, -5, -6, and -8 (day 0 = first day of estrus) sows and gilts. Embryos were placed in medium containing an anti-male primary antibody, washed, and transferred to culture drops containing a fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labeled secondary antibody. Embryos were classified as either fluorescent (H-Y positive) or nonfluorescent (H-Y negative), transferred to coded drops, and karyotyped to examine sex chromosomes. A total of 91 eight-cell to blastocyst stage embryos were evaluated; of these, 46% were classified as fluorescent and 54% as nonfluorescent. Of readable metaphase spreads (65%) from these embryos, 81% (48 of 59, P less than 0.005) were correctly sexed by immunological detection of the male-specific antigen. Although 13% (2/15) of four-cell embryos evaluated were classified as fluorescent, the accuracy with which embryos at this stage were sexed by detection of H-Y antigen was not different from 50%. Fifty percent of eight-cell embryos were classified as H-Y positive with 78% of embryos correctly sexed. It was concluded that the eight-cell embryo is the earliest stage of development for which there is evidence for expression of H-Y antigen. Detection of the male-specific protein was difficult at the expanded blastocyst stage.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Survival and probability of cure without and with operation in complete atrioventricular canal.

Actuarial analysis based on postmortem examination of patients who had been treated nonsurgically for complete atrioventricular (A-V) canal defect shows that only 54% survive to 6 months of age, 35% to 12 months, 15% to 24 months, and 4% to 5 years of age. Our surgical experience since 1975 in 39 patients confirms the idea that primary repair is feasible in small infants. The highest risk of hospital death is when the operation is done in the early months of life; it falls to 17% by age 12 months. Between 1967 and October, 1976, the five-year survival rate among patients leaving the hospital alive after repair was 91%. The age-specific probability of "surgical cure" of patients operated upon for complete A-V canal (alive five years later with mean pulmonary artery pressure less than 25 mm Hg) is maximal at 73% when the operation is done at about 14 months of age. Urgent earlier repair is frequently necessitated by the life history of the disease.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1978

Primary repair of complete atrioventricular canal in patients less than 2 years old.

Twenty-seven consecutive patients less than 2 years of age underwent primary intracardiac repair of complete atrioventricular (A-V) canal. Three (19 percent) of the 16 operated on after January 1, 1975 died in the hospital, a smaller proportion than the 8 of 11 patients who died in the hospital after operation between 1972 and 1975 (P = 0.005). The date of operation as a continuous variable is also related to the probability of hospital death (P = 0.016). Age at operation was not related to hospital mortality among the total group of 27 infants, nor were the anatomic characteristics of the anterior and posterior bridging leaflets, the location and size of the interventricular communications or the duration or technique of profound hypothermia (total circulatory arrest versus low perfusion flow rate). The improved results in the 16 patients operated on since January 1, 1975 are believed to be primarily the result of an improved ability to construct "mitral" and "tricuspid" valves from the common A-V valve. Fourteen of the 16 hospital survivors are alive and well 5 to 60 months after operation. These results and the natural history of patients with this malformation indicate that there should be no change in the policy of performing elective intracardiac repair before age 2 years and primary repair rather than pulmonary arterial banding when operation is required in the early months of life.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1978

Effect of electrostatic fields on the chromosomes of Ehrlich ascites tumor cells exposed in vivo.

An effect of electrostatic fields on the chromosomes of Ehrlich ascites tumor cells exposed in vivo has been demonstrated. Cells exposed to horizontal electrostatic fields for two weeks had almost a threefold increase in the percentage of abnormal chromosomes when compared to control cells or cells exposed to vertical electrostatic fields for the same period. Extended exposure times of 4--15 weeks resulted in the disappearance of the aberrant chromosomes. It is suggested that the effected cells were incapable of cellular replication resulting eventually in their disappearance via cell death.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

In vivo bioelectrochemical changes associated with exposure to extremely low frequency electric fields.

One hundred seventy-four 21- to 24-day-old Sprague-Dawley rats were continuously exposed to a 60 Hz electric field of 150 V/cm for one month in ten separate experiments. Biological effects observed included depressed body weights, serum corticoids, and water consumption. The findings are tentatively in terpreted as indicating that a power frequency electric field is a biological stressor. The observed effects cannot be a consequence of Joule heating and therefore indicate that electric fields can influence biological systems either at the systemic level, or at the cellular level via electrochemical alteration of the microenvironment.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed1976

Antifungal properties of electrically generated metallic ions.

A qualitative and quantitative investigation was undertaken to study the susceptibility of unicellular eucaryotic organisms (yeasts) to metallic cations generated by low levels of direct current. Results were characteristic of effects obtained previously using clinical and standard bacteria test organisms. The present study demonstrated that anodic silver (Ag(+)) at low direct currents had inhibitory and fungicidal properties. Broth dilution susceptibility tests were made on several species of Candida and one species of Torulopsis. Growth in all isolates was inhibited by concentrations of electrically generated silver ions between 0.5 and 4.7 mug/ml, and silver exhibited fungicidal properties at concentrations as low as 1.9 mug/ml. The inhibitory and fungicidal concentrations of electrically generated silver ions are lower than those reported for other silver compounds.

Antifungal Agents↗
PubMed1975

Valve replacement and myocardial revascularization. Results of combined operation in 59 patients.

Fifty-nine patients (mean age 57 years) underwent aortic valve replacement or mitral valve replacement combined with saphenous vein bypass grafting (39 single, 19 double, 1 triple) between May, 1970 and January, 1974. The hospital mortality for aortic valve replacement was 4.7% (2 of 43 patients) and for mitral valve replacement 6.3% (1 of 16 patients). There was a 21% incidence of postoperative myocardial injury in the patients with aortic valve replacement and a 6.2% incidence in the patients with mitral valve replacement. Variations in operative technique and in the methods of intraoperative myocardial preservation (coronary perfusion or profound hypothermic ischemic arrest) did not affect hospital mortality or the incidence of myocardial injury. Prolonged periods of ischemic arrest (greater than 50 minutes) were not used. The late mortality for aortic valve replacement was 16.3% (seven patients) and for mitral valve replacement 25% (four patients). There was symptomatic improvement in the majority of survivors. Operative mortality rates for the combined procedures are comparable to those from our institution for valve replacement alone.

Adult↗