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Biomedical subjects

V Li

Publications and source records attributed to V Li.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1996

The role of somatosensory evoked potentials in the evaluation of spinal cord retethering.

Early detection of clinically significant spinal cord retethering is of paramount importance for the preservation of neurologic function in patients with repaired spinal dysraphic lesions. We retrospectively analyzed 90 children who were followed with serial peroneal somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) after a repair of their spinal dysraphic lesions with the objective of evaluating whether SEPs were a useful way of monitoring these children to facilitate early detection of clinically significant retethering. Three hundred and nine studies were performed on these children yielding a mean of 3.4 studies per patient. The median time between SEP studies was 13 months. A clinical examination was performed at the time each SEP was done. Sixty-one patients (68%) had a myelomeningocele; 25 (28%) had a lipomyelomeningocele while other types of dysraphic lesions were found in the remaining 4%. Nineteen patients (21%) had no change in serial SEPs; 7 of these 19 (37%) had a deterioration in clinical status while the SEPs were stable. Twenty-six patients (29%) showed improvement in serial SEPs, however, 3 of the 26 had clinical worsening at the time SEPs improved. SEPs deteriorated in 45 patients (50%); 13 of the 45 had an associated clinical deterioration, and the remaining 32 were stable clinically. Twenty-three patients (26%) had a clinical deterioration; of these only 13 had a corresponding deterioration in SEPs, 7 patients had stable SEPs while 3 had improvement in SEPs at the time of clinical deterioration. This results in a false-positive rate of 71% and a false-negative rate of 43%. We conclude that serial SEPs do not correlate well with clinical status and are not a useful modality for monitoring patients at risk for retethering.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

[Can early recurrent hemorrhage in gastroduodenal ulcer be predicted?].

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate clinical, biological and endoscopic predictive factors of early recurrent bleeding from gastric or duodenal ulcers. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Seventy six patients (26 females and 50 males) with a mean age of 65.9 years (SD = 17.2) were included in a prospective study. Among the 76 patients, there were 39 NSAIDs users (51.3%). An endoscopy was performed systematically until 12 hours after admission. Treatment modalities were identical for all patients. The predictive value of 11 factors was evaluated through an univariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: Three factors had independent significant predictive value: a) the number of blood units used to treat a shock and to increase the haemoglobin level up to 100 g/L (P < 0.05); b) "high endoscopic risk" of recurrent bleeding including Forrest Ia, IIa and IIb ulcers (P < 0.05); c) a non steroidal anti-inflammatory treatment was associated with no recurrent bleeding contrary to the other factors (P < 0.05). Based on a second multivariate analysis including clinical factors only, a predictive score was calculated: 5 + number of blood units -5 x (NSAID = 0/1). The cut off point with maximum discrimination was 6 (specificity = 79.6%; sensitivity = 77.2%). CONCLUSION: A combination of clinical and endoscopic factors is useful to predict ulcer recurrent bleeding. Our clinical predictive score is interesting because of its simplicity. Its predictive value is of interest but have to be evaluated in another sample of patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

[Churg-Strauss syndrome with rectal localization and exudative enteropathy].

The authors report the case of a 61-year old patient with a Churg-Strauss syndrome revealed by abdominal pain. Investigations showed a diffuse inflammatory digestive tract involvement, documented by endoscopy associated with protein-losing enteropathy. Deep rectal biopsy revealed vasculitis in an otherwise macroscopically normal rectum. Faced with acute and life-threatening course of disease, emergency medical treatment with steroids and cyclophosphamide led to rapid regression of clinical, biological and radiological abnormalities.

Barium Sulfate↗
PubMed1993

Image cytometry of hepatocellular carcinoma: comparison with alcoholic cirrhosis and normal liver.

Image cytometry can provide valuable information for the prognosis of patients with malignant tumours. This study was performed on three cell populations: hepatocellular carcinoma (n = 30), alcoholic cirrhosis (n = 12) and normal liver (n = 2). The results showed that hepatocellular carcinoma cell populations contained more hyperploid and aneuploid cells than cirrhosis and normal liver cell populations; two groups of hepatocellular carcinoma were separated, called A and B. The values of group A cytometric parameters were close to those of cirrhosis whereas group B nuclei had a much higher DNA content and were more often hyperploid or aneuploid. These two groups were also different according to biological (alpha-foetoprotein) or clinical (survival time) variables. Since group A seemed to be made up of patients with better prognosis than group B, cytometric analysis of hepatocellular carcinoma could be a tool for prognosis and clinical management of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Chronic intestinal pseudoobstruction with myopathy and ophthalmoplegia. A muscular biochemical study of a mitochondrial disorder.

The association of chronic intestinal pseudoobstruction with ophthalmoplegia has been reported previously in visceral myopathies. We report a case of this association in which muscle mitochondria had a crystalline appearance, a dense core, and decreased cytochrome c oxidase and succinate cytochrome c reductase activities. The absence of evident mitochondrial DNA deletion in the skeletal muscle of this patient does not exclude the possibility of localized deletion or mutation of mitochondrial DNA in digestive muscle.

Chronic Disease↗
PubMed1992

[Barrett's esophagus, gastroesophageal acid reflux and duodenogastric reflux during the digestive and postprandial period].

Pathologic gastroesophageal acid reflux appears to be involved in the pathogenicity of Barrett's esophagus. The possible pathogenic role of duodenogastric reflux, however, has been suggested by several studies. The aim of this prospective study was to assess the prevalence of acid or duodenogastric reflux in patients with Barrett's esophagus. Nine patients with histologically proven Barrett's esophagus (mean length: 7.7cm; range: 2-13 cm) were studied by esophageal manometry and 24 hour pHmetry. Duodenogastric reflux was measured in the interdigestive period by aspiration and during the postprandial period using an isotopic method. The results of these different investigations were compared with healthy volunteers (n = 20 to 27). Three patients had complicated Barrett's esophagus (Barrett's ulcer: n = 2, high-grade dysplasia: n = 1). The results of the different investigations showed that a) all patients had abnormal acid exposure and an esophageal motor dysfunction (decrease in lower esophageal sphincter pressure, amplitude and duration of contractions and increase in percentage of peristaltic dysfunction); b) none of the patients had any pathologic duodenogastric reflux neither in the interdigestive nor in the postprandial period. These results a) confirm the high prevalence of acid reflux in patients with Barrett's esophagus, b) show that bile or pancreatic secretions are not involved in the pathogenicity of Barrett's esophagus.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

A nebulizer chronolog to monitor compliance with inhaler use.

The Lung Health Study is a 10-center 5-year clinical trial sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to evaluate the effectiveness of early intervention in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The specific objectives of the trial are to determine whether the accelerated decline in lung function characteristic of COPD and morbidity due to COPD can be reduced by special intervention at a relatively early stage in the evolution of the disease. Special intervention consists of a smoking-cessation program and the use of an inhaled bronchodilator to suppress airway hyperreactivity. The use of the inhaler canister is monitored every 4 months by canister weighing and, at two of the 10 centers, by an electronic recording device, the Nebulizer Chronolog. Among trial participants assigned the latter device, results from the first 4 months of the study indicate that only 52% of trial participants who were uninformed as to the nature of the chronolog used their inhaler at least twice daily as measured by the chronolog, compared with 87% as determined by self-report. Satisfactory or good compliance was achieved by 52% of these subjects as measured by the chronolog compared with 85% as assessed by canister weighing. Eighteen percent of uninformed participants "dumped" their inhalers within a 3-hour time period, contributing to the inaccuracy of canister weights as an indicator of compliance. Feedback of information to the participants from the chronolog improved the level of compliance and eliminated the "dumping" phenomenon. We conclude that, when accurate determinations of compliance are important, as in a drug trial, objective medication monitors should be considered. Electronic monitoring of inhaler use can provide valuable feedback, which encourages improved compliance.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

An M13 vector library for cloning DNA with four nucleotide 3' overhangs.

A flexible M13 vector library incorporating the BstXI site has been developed. DNA cut by any currently commercially available restriction endonuclease that generates a 4-nucleotide (nt) 3' overhang can be ligated into a specific clone of the library. The BstXI enzyme recognizes a 6-bp bipartite palindromic sequence. The central nucleotides are not specified, and form a 4-base, 3' overhang when cut by BstXI. 5' CCANNNNN NTGG GGTN NNNNNACC 5' Since the 4-base overhang formed is not part of the BstXI recognition sequence, it is possible to generate a library of 256 different clones by introducing the BstXI site, 151 of the possible 256-member library have been isolated, including all 13 M13BF clones in which the overhang formed by BstXI digestion is complementary to those formed by currently available restriction endonucleases. Of these 13 vectors, BstXI digestion of six clones results in nonpalindromic cohesive ends and should facilitate in vitro tandem gene amplification. The BstXI site is adjacent to the four codons corresponding to the factor Xa recognition sequence. Hence the vector library could facilitate the expression of a fusion protein that could be proteolytically cleaved by factor Xa.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1988

New techniques for the grafting of cultured human epidermal cells onto athymic animals.

Cultures of human epidermal cells may be used to generate epidermis on athymic recipients. We describe two novel techniques for grafting such cultures. Both techniques permit the generation of typical human epidermis within 7 d. Both techniques result in less graft contraction than conventional grafting, and there is no difficulty in distinguishing the human epidermis generated by the graft from the epidermis of the recipient animal. Starting with a single human biopsy, epidermis may be generated on a great many experimental animals; such grafts should therefore provide uniform material for investigation of the properties of human epidermis.

Animals↗