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At least 1,045 records · Page 58Linked to original sources
PubMed2000

Brainstem origin for a new very slow (1mHz) oscillation in the human non-REM sleep episode.

The time-courses of power in the different frequency bands (1-40 Hz) within the non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM) episode of the human sleep electroencephalogram have provided for many years a fascinating window into the sleep process. Here our analysis of the slow-wave band (1-4 Hz) reveals a hitherto unrecognized very slow oscillation of power with mean period ~15 minutes, an instability that appears to be an integral characteristic of the early NREM episode. The neuronal transition probability (NTP) model has already given a mechanism explaining how power in the spindle band peaks consistently before that of slow wave activity. Here we show that an extension of the model, with the hypothesis of a population of sleep neurons alternating between two steady probability states, can simulate the very slow oscillation. In doing so it gives not only the time course of power in the slow wave band, but also the simultaneous time-courses in the spindle and in the fast frequency bands. Animal data suggest that a brainstem neuronal population, toggled by an external switching source, generates these time-courses and dictates them to the thalamus and thence to the cortex. The discovery of the very slow oscillation and the success of the NTP model in interpreting the overall NREM structure may have important implications for both clinical and fundamental sleep research.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

[Airborne dust particles in indoor environment and allergy].

BACKGROUND: The overall aim of this study was to investigate how airborne house dust particles may contribute to an allergic immune response, and thereby also to asthma and allergic diseases. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Using transmission electron microscopy, we quantified and characterized airborne house dust particles, with regard to elemental and size distribution. Furthermore, an immunogold labelling technique was used to study whether some common allergens were present on the surface of airborne house dust particles. Finally, a mouse model was used to study the adjuvant activity of airborne house dust on the IgE antibody response. RESULTS: A vast majority of the airborne particles samples from homes in Oslo were found to be less than 2.5 microns in diameter, thus they are liable to penetrate deep into the respiratory tree. This PM2.5 fraction contained, in addition to sulphur aerosols and silicates, many soot particles, most of them being less than 1 micron in diameter. These soot particles were found to carry allergens on their surface. We also found that diesel exhaust particles, which is probably a main soot component of airborne house dust, absorbed several wellknown allergens in vitro. Furthermore, the airborne house dust particles were found to elicit a local lymph node response, and to have an adjuvant activity on the production of IgE antibodies to ovalbumin as a model allergen. INTERPRETATION: These results show that indoor suspended particulate matter contains a lot of potential allergen carriers, i.e. soot particles (carbon aggregates), most of them being less that 1 micron in diameter and thereby able to transport allergens deep into the airways. In addition, our results indicate that suspended particulate matter may have an adjuvant effect on the production of IgE to common environmental allergens, and also may provoke a local inflammatory response.

Air Pollutants↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis: a pediatric case study.

Pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) is a rare, debilitating, sometimes fatal disease of uncertain etiology and pathophysiology. The medical literature defines the illness and describes current theories related to its pathophysiology. Little nursing literature addresses PAP. This case study describes and discusses nursing interventions utilized in the home management of a young, female adolescent with this illness. A retrospective analysis of the chart reveals investigative treatment involving daily subcutaneous injections of bacterially synthesized, granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. Communication and collaboration among health care providers and identification of diverse issues influencing the health of the client resulted in the development of effective nursing interventions. Leininger's Theory of Transcultural Care Diversity and Universality provides a model for interpretation and generalization of nursing interventions. PAP can be managed successfully in the home, but more information on the illness and ethnic and age-specific responses to treatment is needed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Degradation of wine distillery wastewaters by the combination of aerobic biological treatment with chemical oxidation by Fenton's reagent.

The degradation of wine distillery wastewaters by aerobic biological treatment has been investigated in a batch reactor. The evolution of the chemical oxygen demand, biomass and total contents of polyphenolic and aromatic compounds was followed through each experiment. According to the Contois model, a kinetic expression for the substrate utilization rate is derived, and its biokinetic constant is evaluated. The final effluents of the aerobic biological experiments were oxidized by Fenton's reagent. The evolution of chemical oxygen demand, hydrogen peroxide concentration and total contents of polyphenolic and aromatic compounds was followed through each experiment. A kinetic model to interpret the experimental data is proposed. The kinetic rate constant of the global reaction is determined.

Bacteria, Aerobic↗
PubMed2004

Context-based task ontologies for clinical guidelines.

Evidence-based medicine relies on the execution of clinical practice guidelines and protocols. A great deal of effort has been invested in the development of tools which can automate the representation and execution of the recommendations contained within such guidelines, by creating Computer Interpretable Guideline Models (CIGMs). Context-based task ontologies (CTOs), based on standard terminology systems like UMLS, form one of the core components of such models. We have created DAML+OIL-based CTOs for the tasks referred to in the WHO guideline for hypertension management, drawing comparisons also with other, related guidelines. The advantages of CTOs include: contextualization of ontologies, tailoring of ontologies to specific aspects of the phenomena of interest, division of the complex tasks involved in creating ontologies into different levels, and provision of a methodology by means of which the task recommendations contained within guidelines can be integrated into the clinical practices of a health care set-up.

Humans↗
PubMed1992

[Self-attention of psychosomatic patients].

In the present study, based on the theory of objective self-attentiveness, a sample of psychosomatic patients was compared with persons in good health in a control group. It was established that psychosomatic patients had a significantly lower habitual tendency then healthy persons to reflect upon relevant, in particular emotional, self aspects; that they had a considerably higher habitual inclination to reflect upon social appraisals and the fulfilling of social standards; furthermore, they showed a distinctly higher social anxiety and lower self-acceptance. The findings have been discussed on the background of previous findings relating to alexithymia, and to enable the findings to be interpreted a model of a self stabilizing system was proposed.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Implementing a new diabetes resource for Wisconsin schools and families.

BACKGROUND: Diabetes is one of the most common diseases in the nation. Students with diabetes face the daily task of balancing food, physical activity, and medication to survive. Teachers and school personnel often lack the knowledge needed to assist them. CONTEXT: An estimated 2647 schoolchildren in Wisconsin have diabetes. The Wisconsin Diabetes Prevention and Control Program frequently receives anecdotal reports from parents and diabetes educators on the care of children with diabetes in the schools; the program also manages requests for information on new diabetes-related equipment from school personnel. METHODS: A statewide workgroup convened to develop Children with Diabetes: A Resource Guide for Wisconsin Schools and Families, aimed at improving the school staff's knowledge of diabetes and its management and their awareness of the benefits of maintaining glucose control. Training sessions for school professionals were developed and conducted around the state. All attendees were asked to complete an evaluation of the training. In addition, the workgroup included an evaluation form with each guide distributed and conducted a follow-up survey on the impact of the guide and changes to school policies. CONSEQUENCES: Of the 762 people who attended training sessions, 631 (83%) completed the evaluation form. On questions about the training session's content, quality, organization, and appropriateness, responses averaged 4.42 points on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). More than 9713 resource guides were distributed to more than 1359 individuals; 58 recipients responded to the evaluation form included with the resource guide, with 57 (98%) of these indicating that they would recommend the guide to others. Preliminary results of the follow-up impact survey show that many positive changes have been implemented to improve the school environment for children with diabetes since the resource guide was implemented. INTERPRETATION: This model of working with school professionals, health care practitioners, parents, and community organizations to create a resource guide with accompanying training sessions can be used in other states to accomplish similar goals of increasing knowledge about diabetes and improving social and policy environments.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Intracellular mechanics and mechanotransduction associated with chondrocyte deformation during pipette aspiration.

The present study utilised pipette aspiration and simultaneous confocal microscopy to test the hypothesis that chondrocyte deformation is associated with distortion of intracellular organelles and activation of calcium signalling. Aspiration pressure was applied to isolated articular chondrocytes in increments of 2 cm of water every 60 seconds up to a maximum of 10 cm of water. At each pressure increment, confocal microscopy was used to visualise the mitochondria and nucleus labelled with JC-1 and Syto-16, respectively. To investigate intracellular calcium signalling, separate cells were labelled with Fluo 4, rapidly aspirated to 5 cm of water and then imaged for 5 minutes at a tare pressure of 0.1 cm of water. Partial cell aspiration was associated with distortion of the mitochondrial network, elongation of the nucleus and movement towards the pipette mouth. Treatment with cytochalasin D or nocodazole produced an increase in cell aspiration indicating that both the actin microfilaments and microtubules provide mechanical integrity to the cell. When the data was normalised to account for the increased cell deformation, both actin microfilaments and microtubules were shown to be necessary for strain transfer to the intracellular organelles. Mitochondria and nucleus deformation may both be involved in chondrocyte mechanotransduction as well as cellular and intracellular mechanics. In addition, pipette aspiration induced intracellular calcium signalling which may also form part of a mechanotransduction pathway. Alternatively calcium mobilisation may serve to modify actin polymerisation, thereby changing cell mechanics and membrane rigidity in order to facilitate localised cell deformation. These findings have important implications for our understanding of cell mechanics and mechanotransduction as well as interpretation and modelling of pipette aspiration data.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

[Disorders of pain perception in schizophrenia].

Starting from a case of marked pain insensitivity in a patient suffering from catatonic schizophrenia we state in this paper that analgesia seems to be an ubiquitous phenomenon which is not only caused by physical disorders of the central nervous system. Different models of interpretation as to be found in scientific literature are reviewed. On the basis of today's physiological knowledge, five hypotheses on causal explanation of pain insensitivity in schizophrenics are discussed: Hypalgesia and analgesia are an expression of motorial inability to react; a consequence of a disorder of consciousness; an analgetic effect of neuroleptic drugs; a basic deficit in schizophrenia and; a result of a disturbed psycho-physiological development.

Humans↗
PubMed1990

Influence of analytical quality and preanalytical variations on measurements of cholesterol in screening programmes.

In screening programmes one should distinguish between the traditional bimodal distributions of results and a unimodal distribution as the basis for interpretation. A model for evaluation of the effects of biological within-subject and preanalytical variation as well as analytical variation is described. It is concluded that bias from blood sampling and analytical performance influences the outcome of screening programs significantly. At least three blood specimens are needed for estimating the homeostatic set point of cholesterol in individuals.

Chemistry, Clinical↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Psychobiological basis of hypnosis. Neurophysiologic and psychosomatic considerations].

On the basis of the psychosomatic model, an interpretation of hypnositherapy is proposed in the psychobiological context as an applicative example of oneness. With this technique a particular state of awareness, which hypnosis is, correlated biologically with considerable subcortical neurophysiological modifications in the individual, is added, as a facilitating context, into the activation of patients psychotherapy. Thereafter the neurophysiological characterisation of the hypnotic state such as activation of the right hemisphere, similarities between transhypnosis and synchronous sleep and the activation of subcortical mechanisms compared to the cortical are considered. In the hypnotic situation, two very special conditions which are extremely important in the biological context, operate: on the one hand the special physician/patient relationship, on the other the important psychosomatic implication deriving from the possibility of direct action on mesolimbic and hypothalamus following the reduced cortical activity. After examining the context of the physician/patient relationship in the clinical implication of the placebo, or non-pharmacological effect of the drug implied, the psychosomatic activation mechanisms that can be the reason for modifications in the symptom, including its improvement or actual cure are considered. In this context, the psychosomatic evaluational parameter inherent in cognitive evaluation to which the cortical filter is correlated, the emotional activation to which activation of the limbic system is correlated and, finally, the set of psychophysiological variations correlated to this limbic activation underlying behavioural and somatic modifications are reviewed.

Humans↗
PubMed1987

The temperature-dependent reaction between alpha 2-macroglobulin and streptokinase-plasmin(ogen) complex.

The reactions of alpha 2-macroglobulin (alpha 2M) with plasmin or streptokinase-plasmin(ogen) (SkPl) were studied as a function of temperature. alpha 2M and plasmin reacted relatively rapidly at all temperatures. The initial rates of reaction were identical at 24 and 37 degrees C. At 4 degrees C, the initial reaction rate was somewhat slower; however, the reaction was 90% complete in 2 min. The reaction of alpha 2M with SkPl was markedly temperature-dependent. Initial rates of reaction at 0 and 24 degrees C were only 3 and 40% of the rate of 37 degrees C, respectively. When these reactions occur, only the plasmin moiety is incorporated in the alpha 2M molecule. These data explain the inconsistencies in previous reports of SkPl interactions with alpha 2M, since experiments have been performed at different temperatures in various studies. In the present work, we present a model which interprets the data in terms of a possible high-energy transition state in the alpha 2M-SkPl reaction.

Fibrinolysin↗
PubMed1989

Suicide across the adult life-span: an archival study.

This archival study, concerning the demographic variable of age, involved the assessment of 8 identified classifications (clusters) as possible predictors of suicide notes and, by implication, suicide. The possible predictors, derived from the theoretical work of 10 suicidologists, were as follows: unbearable psychological pain, interpersonal relations, rejection-aggression, inability to adjust, indirect expressions, identification-egression, ego, and cognitive constriction. Independent judges noted the incidence of contents corresponding to 36 specific protocol sentences, constituting the 8 clusters, in 60 suicide notes--20 notes written by individuals in Young, Middle, and Late Adulthood. An analysis was able to discriminate the age groups on a number of clusters, notably in regard to Young Adults, although considerable commonalities were noted across the adult life span. The results indicate that a life-span perspective is essential when one is constructing a model to interpret suicide of adults.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

[Hemoglobin glycosylation in prolonged hyperglycemic episodes. Interpretation of results using mathematical modeling].

Using a mathematical model, the authors analyze the relationship between glycemia and glycated haemoglobin concentration (GHb). This relationship is more complex that it seems at first sight as GHb concentration in erythrocytes is the outcome of two processes: glucose binding to haemoglobin and continuous turnover of erythrocytes in blood. Old erythrocytes carry information on glycemia of longer duration than do the younger ones. The result is that hyperglycemias which occurred immediately before to GHb estimation have a greater effect on GHb concentration than those that occurred former. Due to the fact that behind a certain value of GHb different hyperglycemic periods can be hidden, the compensation of a patient with diabetes mellitus cannot be assessed only on the basis of GHb concentration. The assessment can only be made when using criteria which take into consideration glycemia, glycated plasmatic protein, and glycated haemoglobin values in a complex way.

Erythrocytes↗
PubMed1988

[Stress as an explanatory model for spontaneous abortions and recurrent spontaneous abortions].

In this reviews uterine article stress shall be outlined as a possible psychobiological model for interpretation of spontaneous and recurrent spontaneous abortions by emphasis on physiological explanation theories. Results refer to the fact that stress can cause via neuro-endocrinologic processes in the uteroplacental area a rejection of the fetus. The role of neurotransmitters adrenaline, noradrenaline and acetylcholine on uterine vascularization and contractility and fetal oxygenation and the influence of progesterone, glucocorticoids and other hormones have been discussed. Stress induces in loading situations a changing action of elevated stress hormones adrenaline, noradrenalin++ and cortisol on the metabolism of other hormones, e.g. a decrease of serum progesterone and an increase of estrogen and thyroxine-level. Therefore the physiological balance of the organism is disturbed. Because informations of the nervous system are transmitted to the utero-placental unit in this way there are disturbances e.g. reduction of fetal oxygenation, advancement of uterine contractility and possible stimulation of labor. Troubles of the immunologic protection of pregnancy by stress have been considered. Nevertheless the question for the reason of elevated abortion tendency caused by stress is still open. Constitutional factors as motility and other uterine and feto-placental factors may be explanations for interindividual differences in this area. Additionally stress modulation factors like efficient stress coping and social support are able to reduce stress effects.

Abortion, Habitual↗
PubMed1986

Nursing care and nursing products: revenue or expenses?

Top level nursing administrators must clearly conceptualize professional nursing activities in a corporate context. The accounting and marketing practices utilized in established corporate entities provide a model for interpreting nursing activities. Definition of product and determination of nursing as revenue or expense centers are explored with an established non-nursing corporation as a source for comparison.

Economics, Nursing↗