PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

V Stroescu

Publications and source records attributed to V Stroescu.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

A heterologous radioimmunoassay system for human osteocalcin. Applications in performance sports girls.

Taking into account the involvement of the measurement of osteocalcin, a protein-containing gamma-carboxyglutamic acid (Gla), in investigating the physiopathology of bone and calcium metabolism, a radioimmunoassay (RIA) method useful in human clinics was developed. The reagents for the RIA of human osteocalcin namely, the radioiodination preparation, the reference preparation and the antiserum were obtained starting from bovine bone on account of the structure similarities between bovine and human osteocalcin. The reagents were incubated at 4 degrees C for 48 h followed by the polyethylene-glycol (PEG) separation technique. The sensitivity of the osteocalcin RIA method is 2.0 ng/ml, the intraassay precision is 3-5% and the interassay precision, 8-12% (coeficient of variation). Osteocalcin was measured in the sera of 3 groups of performance sports girls under basal conditions and being of more or less similar ages: rowing girls (n = 10, mean age 16 yr 6 mos), gymnast girls (n = 13, mean age 14 yr 8 mos) and table tennis girls (n = 9, mean age 16 yr). The same samples were used for the measurement of myoglobin. Osteocalcin quantification showed similar levels in the rowing and the table tennis girls, i.e. 11.91 +/- 3.39 ng/ml (X +/- SD) and 9.50 +/- 4.15 ng/ml, respectively. By contrast, in the gymnast girls, the osteocalcin levels were about 4 times higher (44.31 +/- 7.27 ng/ml) than in the other two groups. Myoglobin measurements showed lower levels in the gymnast group, than in the rowing and the table tennis groups, the latter two having similar levels. The multiplicative increase of osteocalcin in the gymnast girls is interpreted and commented in relation to their age and sexual development.

Adolescent↗

Dexamethasone isonicotinate aerosol therapy in patients with chronic bronchial asthma.

Dexamethasone isonicotinate aerosols were used for the management of 106 patients (33 men, 73 women) with bronchial asthma (mean age 32.7 years); 62 of the patients were steroid-dependent (maintenance dose 1 to 25 mg prednisone/day for 0.5 to 11 years) at the start of the study. A diary of symptoms (including consumption of antiasthmatic drugs) was kept; physical examination and measurement of pulmonary function (peak flow rate, forced expiratory volume in one second) were performed during a one-to-four week control period, as well as at various intervals (up to 14 months) after the start of corticosteroid aerosol therapy. Clinical subjective and objective improvement was accompanied by a significant increase in ventilatory function indices (e.g. the FEV1.0 rose from a control average of 55.5% of predicted to 72% after 4 weeks and 85% after 12 months). The antiasthmatic drug consumption decreased markedly. Administration of systemic steroids could be withdrawn in 49 of the 62 steroid-dependent patients (79%); in the remaining 13 the dose was only lowered. The side-effects were minor (hoarseness of the voice, oropharyngeal candidosis), and limited to a few cases. It is concluded that bronchial asthma can be successfully controlled in four fifths of the patients by very low doses of dexamethasone isonicotinate aerosols, with practically no systemic effects.

Adolescent↗

The entrapment of biological active substances into liposomes. II. Effects of oral administration of liposomally entrapped insulin in normal and alloxanized rats.

Insulin (I) was entrapped into liposomes of various lipid compositions. After oral administration, some of the normal rats treated with neutral liposomes (c) and (d) having egg yolk lecithin, prepared with 2 or 4 mg I/ml respectively, showed a decrease in blood glucose at 2 and 4 hrs. In alloxanized rats (75 mg alloxan/kg body weight) the positive liposomes (f) have induced in some animals a decrease in blood glucose at both time intervals after oral treatment. When neutral liposomes (c) were administered to diabetic rats (125 mg alloxan/kg body) the blood glucose decreased in 9 of 12 animals from 391 to 125 mg/100 ml blood, at 3 hrs after oral treatment. At 1 h, the effect had appeared in 3 of 14 animals. The neutral liposomes (g) having synthetic lecithin, induced a decrease in blood glucose in 5 of 10 animals. A good correlation was observed between decreased glucose and increased insulin levels with the same variability throughout the treated group. No increased insulin levels were observed in diabetic control and normal rats. By the RIA method, the insulin entrapment was 8%. Histological studies have shown that at 35 min after oral administration, neutral liposomes (c) penetrate deeply into the intestinal wall of alloxanized rats as compared both to the neutral liposomes with synthetic lecithin (g) or to the positive ones (f).

Administration, Oral↗

Comparative experimental research into the nootropic action of procaine and pyracetam.

Procaine exerts a positive influence in different tests that prove its nootropic effects: it improves the learning process in small animals, increases the resistance to hypoxemia induced by curarization and hypobarism, augments the effort endurance. The effect is clearly shown at the dose of 5 mg/kg b.w. in subchronic treatment (five to eight days). A higher dose of procaine--25 mg/kg b.w.--does not influence significantly these tests, but ensures a partial protection against gastric ulcers induced by contention. The efficiency is inferior to pyracetam. Neither procaine nor pyracetam succeeds in protecting against supramaximal electroshock or in influencing EEG changes due to hexobarbital. As shown by EEG, the two substances have different mechanisms of action: procaine triggers cortical inhibitory effects while pyracetam manifests itself by activating phenomena.

Animals↗

Dexamethasone-isonicotinate aerosol in the long-term treatment of steroid-dependent asthmatic children.

Dexamethasone-isonicotinate aerosol (DIA) was administered to twenty-nine steroid-dependent children with chronic perennial asthma, in an open trial during one year. An attempt was made to withdraw systemic corticosteroid therapy. As judged by clinical results, inhaled dexamethasone-isonicotinate controlled the asthma quite as well as did previous therapy. Oral corticosteroids were withdrawn in 27 patients, and the dosage considerably reduced in another two. Cushingoid features subsided. There was a statistically significant improvement in most pulmonary function parameters (airway obstruction and lung hyperinflation were reduced towards normal). Reduction of systemic steroid dosage resulted in the appearance of previously suppressed manifestations such as hay fever, eczema, and nasal polyps. There was no increased tendency to the occurrence of respiratory tract infection; routine examination showed Candida albicans in about 37% cultures.

Adolescent↗

Effect of nifedipine on electrical activity of the brain in rat.

Effect of calcium channel blocker nifedipine on the electrical activity of the brain in anaesthetized rats was studied. The electoencephalographic signals were registered on a computer as series of data and thereafter they were decomposed by Fourier analysis in very narrow fields of frequency. The electrical activity of the brain of the control rats was asymmetrical, with a more important activity in the left brain hemisphere, particularly between 20-30 Hz when the electrical activity of the brain was globally more important. The nifedipine increased the electrical activity of the brain between 0.5-4 Hz and 20-30 Hz in a dose-dependent manner. The drug also increased the interhemispheric asymmetry. Some possible explanations of these effects are analyzed.

Analysis of Variance↗