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Biomedical subjects

Y Bar-Dayan

Publications and source records attributed to Y Bar-Dayan.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Use of enalapril to attenuate decline in renal function in normotensive, normoalbuminuric patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. A randomized, controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors attenuate the decline in renal function in diabetic patients with microalbuminuria. However, no data are available on the use of ACE inhibitors to prevent the decrease in renal function in normotensive, normoalbuminuric patients with type 2 diabetes. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of prolonged ACE inhibition on renal function and albuminuria in patients with type 2 diabetes. DESIGN: Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with 6-year follow-up. SETTING: Eight outpatient clinics coordinated by a department of medicine in a university hospital. PATIENTS: 156 patients in whom type 2 diabetes was diagnosed after 40 years of age who had a baseline mean blood pressure less than 107 mm Hg and albuminuria (albumin excretion < or = 30 mg/24 h). INTERVENTION: Enalapril, 10 mg/d, or placebo. MEASUREMENTS: Degree of albuminuria at 24 hours, creatinine clearance, blood pressure, and hemoglobin A1c values. RESULTS: Enalapril therapy decreased albumin excretion from a mean +/- SD of 11.6 +/- 7 mg/24 h to 9.7 +/- 6 mg/24 h at 2 years. This was followed by a gradual increase to 15.8 +/- 8 mg/24 h at 6 years. In the placebo group, albumin excretion increased from 10.8 +/- 8 mg/24 h to 26.5 +/- 10 mg/24 h at 6 years (P = 0.001 for enalapril compared with placebo). Transition to microalbuminuria occurred in 15 of 79 (19%) placebo recipients and 5 of 77 (6.5%) enalapril recipients. Enalapril treatment resulted in an absolute risk reduction of 12.5% (95% CI, 2% to 23%; P = 0.042) for development of microalbuminuria. After 6 years, creatinine clearance decreased from 1.78 +/- 0.13 mL/s to 1.63 +/- 0.12 mL/s (mean decrease, 0.025 mL/s per year) in enalapril recipients and from 1.81 +/- 0.15 mL/s to 1.57 +/- 0.17 mL/s (mean decrease, 0.04 mL/s per year) in placebo recipients (P = 0.040). Hemoglobin A1c values decreased modestly in both groups. Mean blood pressure remained normal (< 107 mm Hg) in all patients. CONCLUSIONS: Enalapril attenuated the decline in renal function and reduced the extent of albuminuria in normotensive, normoalbuminuric patients with type 2 diabetes. Further research is needed to determine whether this treatment forestalls the development of overt nephropathy.

Adult

Clinical characteristics of ruptured chordae tendineae in hospitalized patients: primary tear versus infective endocarditis.

BACKGROUND: Several etiologies have been associated with the rupture of chordae tendineae. The leading causes are infective endocarditis, primary rupture, and the association with various connective tissue disorders. HYPOTHESIS: In order to define the attributes of these patients, a retrospective study was conducted that investigated the medical files of hospitalized patients in the Sheba Medical Center, Tel-Hashomer, Israel. METHODS: Twenty patients (17 men, 3 women) with ruptured chordae were detected. Primary rupture of the chordae tendineae had been diagnosed in 11 patients, while infectious endocarditis was the cause for the tear of the chordae tendineae in 9 patients. The patients who had primary rupture of the chordae were older than the patients with endocarditis (67.4 +/- 11.3 vs. 57 +/- 9.3 years, respectively, p < 0.05). RESULTS: The posterior mitral valve cusp was more commonly involved (15 patients). Six of the patients with posterior mitral valve cusp involvement manifested atrial fibrillation. Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) was detected among seven patients, six of whom belonged to the group with infective endocarditis. CONCLUSION: Primary tear and infective endocarditis are leading etiologies of ruptured chordae tendineae in hospitalized patients. Particularly among the patients with infective endocarditis, concomitant MVP was frequently detected. It is the authors' opinion that this coexistence implies that MVP may predispose to the rupture of chordae tendineae.

Aged

Primary biliary cirrhosis. Is (and how much of) the pathology preventible?

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a chronic, progressive cholestatic liver disease, which is invariably fatal. Circumstantial and indirect evidence suggests that autoimmune mechanisms have a role in the pathogenesis of PBC. Antimitochondrial antibodies (AMA) are highly sensitive and specific markers that can predict the development of the disease in a healthy individual. Long-term administration of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), a naturally occurring bile acid, safely slows the progression of PBC, delays the need for liver transplantation, and postpones death. An effort should be made to identify the patients with PBC in the asymptomatic stage by the presence of AMA and to conduct a clinical trial in order to assess the benefit of long-term administration of UDCA on the prevention of the overt disease in these individuals.

Antibodies

Malignant thymoma associated with autoimmune diseases: a retrospective study and review of the literature.

OBJECTIVES: To determine whether malignant thymoma is associated with high rates of concomitantly occurring autoimmune diseases. METHODS: Sheba Medical Center computer records from 1966 to 1995 were reviewed to identify patients with malignant thymoma, either type I (invasive thymoma) or type II (thymic carcinoma). All patients who had malignant thymoma and autoimmune phenomena were analyzed. The diagnosis of thymic neoplasm was confirmed by two independent pathologists. The diagnosis of autoimmune diseases was based on both clinical and serological findings. RESULTS: Six of 22 (27%) cases of malignant thymoma had an autoimmune disease. Five patients had type I malignant thymoma and either myasthenia gravis (four patients) or Graves' disease (one patient). Only one patient had type II malignant thymoma with Sjögren's syndrome. The diagnosis of autoimmune disease preceded the diagnosis of thymic neoplasm in four cases, and was diagnosed simultaneously in two. CONCLUSIONS: Malignant thymomas are highly associated with autoimmune diseases, as are benign thymomas. To our knowledge, we report the first documented cases of a patient with thymic carcinoma and Sjögren's syndrome, and another with invasive thymoma and Graves' disease.

Adult

Massive proteinuria as a main manifestation of primary antiphospholipid syndrome.

Renal involvement in antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is increasingly reported. So far, massive proteinuria as the principal feature of primary APS (PAPS) has not been well documented. We describe 3 patients with PAPS and massive proteinuria. Renal biopsy was performed in all 3, and features consistent with membranous and focal segmental glomerulopathy were disclosed. These histological lesions were not yet reported in PAPS. We conclude that the spectrum of renal lesions in PAPS is diverse and that it should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients with massive proteinuria.

Adult

Parachuting injuries: a retrospective study of 43,542 military jumps.

Parachuting is regarded as relatively safe. This study was conducted to describe the rates and patterns of parachuting injuries at the Parachuting Israeli Training Center to those at other training centers. Data on 43,542 military jumps were collected from accident reports and flight manifests. Two categories of injuries were defined: major (fractures, dislocation, head trauma) and minor (contusion, bruises, sprains). The overall injury rate was 0.89%. The injury rate for major injuries was 0.21%; the most frequent major injuries were ankle fractures and head trauma. The minor injury rate was 0.68%; the most frequent minor injury was ankle sprain. We conclude that our data at the parachuting center matched those at other training centers in terms of injury rate and distribution of injuries.

Ankle Injuries

Thymic aging in ICR female mice is suspended by prolonged hydrocortisone exposure.

Age-related decline of the thymus in ICR female mice was studied following long-term (three month) weekly exposure to hydrocortisone acetate. When examined one week after cortisone injections, the well-known thymic atrophy was observed. Five weeks after 12 hydrocortisone injections, the cortical volume fraction (Vc), cortical/medullary ratio (C/M), the number of thymocytes and CD4/CD8 profiles were in the range that characterizes younger mice, compared with PBS-injected mice, uninjected controls, or mice given a single hydrocortisone injection 5 weeks earlier. It seems as if thymic involution with age was suspended during the period of glucocorticoid exposure.

Aging

Successful treatment of early secondary myelofibrosis in SLE with IVIG.

Myelofibrosis has been reported as a rare cause of pancytopenia in patients with autoimmune diseases. We describe a 54y old female patient who was admitted with severe anemia subsequently found to be due to marrow fibrosis. During the course of her hospitalization, relying both on her clinical symptoms as well as the results of a wide range of laboratory tests and diagnostic procedures, the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus was established. The patient was treated with high dose steroids, but improvement of her clinical symptoms as well as normalization of her peripheral blood count were achieved only after high dose intravenous therapy with gamma globulin (IVIG) was instituted. Along with the improvement in the peripheral blood parameters normalization of the bone marrow architecture was recorded on a repeated bone marrow biopsy. IVIG therapy should be considered in extreme cases of bone marrow suppression in SLE.

Biopsy

Squamous cell carcinoma of the cervix with psoas abscess-like metastasis in an HIV-negative patient.

A psoas abscess-like metastasis of squamous cell carcinoma of uterine cervix was diagnosed in a 50-year-old, HIV-negative woman. While there was complete regression of the primary tumor, the psoas cystic lesion grew in size during chemotherapy, with iliac bone destruction and invasion to the gluteus muscle. A computed tomography-guided bone biopsy was done and histopathologic examination revealed squamous cell carcinoma consistent with the primary lesion. Intratumoral injection of cisplatin and radiotherapy resulted in partial relief of symptoms. This form of aggressive, bone destruction metastasis was hitherto reported only in association with AIDS.

Biopsy, Needle

The effect of a rapid kit for detection of streptococcal pharyngitis on the accuracy of the physicians' diagnoses.

BACKGROUND: In the last decade, the accuracy of rapid tests for detection of group A streptococcal antigen was evaluated in laboratory and clinical settings, and the tests were suggested as an alternative to the traditional throat culture. METHODS: We evaluated 19 patients with a preliminary diagnosis of nonstreptococcal pharyngitis and 13 patients with a preliminary diagnosis of streptococcal pharyngitis. The physician performed a rapid latex agglutination test (Detect A Strep), took throat culture from all of the patients, reconsidered the preliminary diagnosis, and made a working diagnosis. A clinical score was calculated for each patient during data analysis. The accuracy of the physicians' preliminary diagnoses was compared with the accuracy of the scoring system, with the accuracy of the latex agglutination test, and with the accuracy of the physicians' working diagnoses. RESULTS: The scoring system, the physicians' preliminary diagnoses, the latex agglutination test, and the physicians' working diagnoses correlated significantly with throat culture results (p < or = 0.05). The efficiency of the physicians' preliminary diagnoses was 75% compared with an efficiency of 69% of the clinical scoring system, an efficiency of 66% of the latex agglutination test, and an efficiency of 69% of the physicians' working diagnoses. The physician changed the preliminary diagnosis only for two patients as a result of the latex agglutination test results; ironically, however, the preliminary diagnosis was correct in both of these cases. CONCLUSION: The use of a rapid test for the diagnosis of group A streptococcal antigen under normal working conditions did not improve the accuracy of the physician's diagnosis, so the use of the latex agglutination test in this study was not cost-effective.

Adult