McGill University Thèses et mémoires publiés en 1982

In the rat, catecholamine conjugates, particularly dopamine conjugates, are widely distributed in cerebrospinal fluid, sympathetically innervated tissues, plasma, erythrocytes and urine. Sulfoconjugated dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine are detected in small quantities, whereas glucuronoconjugation seems to occur only in dopamine, and is by far the predominant form of dopamine conjugation. On the other hand, in man, sulfoconjugation is normally the sole form of catecholamine conjugation. Glucuronoconjugated dopamine constitutes the bulk not only of dopamine, but also of total catecholamines in rat cerebrospinal fluid, plasma and urine, which sharply contrasts with the composition of catecholamines in peripheral tissues where the bulk of …  Lire la suite

Concentrated solutions of hydroxypropylcellulose in aqueous and in polar organic solvents form lyotropic liquid crystalline phases. The critical concentration of hydroxypropylcellulose needed for anisotropic phase separation is dependent upon the solvent and is much greater than that expected for rod-like species in solution. The flexibility of the cellulosic chains in a particular solvent is believed to be the main factor governing the critical hydroxypropylcellulose volume fraction at phase separation. The anisotropic phase exhibits birefringence, iridescence, and very high optical activity, properties characteristic of cholesteric liquid crystals. The helicoidal pitch for most of these cholesteric samples in water and organic solvents …  Lire la suite

A painful shoulder can be a major obstacle to progress in the rehabilitation of the hemiplegic patient. Pain if often associated with the appearance of spasticity in the muscles with retract and depress the scapula. Accordingly, it can be hypothesized that by decreasing spasticity, pain may be reduced and range of movement improved. A study was conducted to assess the effect of electromyographic (EMG) biofeedback on pain and range of movement in the hemiplegic shoulder complex. Twenty hemiplegic subjects were included in a randomized cross-over design. Each patient received a program of conventional physiotherapy plus a week of biofeedback treatment …  Lire la suite

A study was conducted to determine the effects of interdisciplinary team care on acute hospitalized stroke patients. After obtaining baseline process and outcome information on 42 stroke victims who received traditional care in a general hospital, 130 stroke patients were stratified and randomly assigned to a Traditional or a Team care group. Assessments by independent evaluators, permitted comparisons between Team and Traditional groups with reference to patient survival, motor and functional abilities. Data obtained from charts and treatment logs allowed the care process across groups to be compared. Results demonstrated that Team and Traditional patients fared similarly in survival and …  Lire la suite

Interactions between serum lipoproteins and human cells in the secretion of glycosaminoglycans (GAG) were investigated in cultures of arterial smooth muscle cells (SMC) and fibroblasts. Lipoprotein free serum (LFS) supported cell proliferation but caused a dose-dependent decrease in GAG secretion and cell cholesterol. Addition of low density lipoproteins (LDL) to 10% LFS in the medium caused increases in GAG secretion and cell cholesterol but a net decrease in cell population. LDL effects were positively correlated with the rate of cell proliferation independent of serum concentration. High density lipoproteins (HDL) decreased GAG secretion in slowly but not in actively proliferating cultures; …  Lire la suite

The main function of a blood cell's surface is to receive information the environment. Recently, experiments have indicated that the cell membrane plays a vital role in the life, development, and regulation of cells. However, there is no existing method to quantify the observable changes in membrane shape that occur in locomotion. To achieve this objective using automatic techniques of digital image processing, the main goal of this research is to develop an image interpretation system capable of analyzing the structural changes in the morphology of a non-rigid moving object from a sequence of pictures. […]  Lire la suite