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Biomedical subjects

A Cole

Publications and source records attributed to A Cole.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1996

Phase I trial of a novel matrix metalloproteinase inhibitor batimastat (BB-94) in patients with advanced cancer.

Degradation of basement membrane and extracellular matrix by matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) is believed to be required for tumor invasion, tumor-induced angiogenesis and vascular invasion. A synthetic hydroxamate, batimastat (also known as BB-94), inhibits MMPs by binding the zinc ion in the active site of the MMP. Batimastat inhibits at least 50% of MMP activity at concentrations less than or equal to 10 ng/ml in vitro. Batimastat retarded ascites accumulation and increased survival in mice with human ovarian tumor xenografts. Acute and long-term toxicological studies revealed no major toxicity in animals. Batimastat is poorly soluble and was administered intraperitoneally (i.p.) as a suspension. Previous studies in patients with malignant ascites have shown no major toxicities at doses as high as 1350 mg/m2.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Nucleolar organizer regions in parosteal and central osteosarcomas.

Silver stained nucleolar organizer regions (AgNOR) have revealed differences in the biological behavior of certain entities. This study involves a morphometric analysis of AgNOR in 6 central, classic osteosarcomas and 6 parosteal osteosarcomas. There was a statistically significant difference in the number of AgNOR per nucleus between central and parosteal osteosarcomas. Single AgNOR volume was smaller in central osteosarcomas as compared to parosteal osteosarcomas. However, this difference did not reach statistical significance. The parameter AgNOR number per nucleus revealed a cut off value such that 100% of central osteosarcoma cases lay above this value and 100% of parosteal osteosarcoma cases lay below this value. AgNOR demonstration involves a simple technique which can be performed on formalin fixed, paraffin embedded file material. Thus, it may be prudent to routinely assess AgNOR as a contributor to the determination of the pathophysiology of osteosarcomas.

Bone Neoplasms↗
PubMed1996

Health Management Guide. Disease management.

Disease management has been described as a comprehensive, integrated approach to care and reimbursement based on the natural course of a disease. It requires a management approach which brings together research evidence, best practice and inter-professional and inter-agency working. Starting with the ideal of continuity of care for individual patients, it implies structured co-ordination of care over time and across primary, secondary and tertiary settings. The appeal of disease management is that it promises reduced costs, combined with increased quality of care and patient satisfaction. But the concept is open to different definitions and interpretations and its effectiveness in improving UK healthcare is still largely untested. This Health Management Guide removes the mystique behind disease management and puts it in the context of existing knowledge and practice. Treating it as a concept, rather than a specific technique, it distinguishes between its different potential applications, offers practical guidance on implementation, and reports on how NHS organisations are taking it forward.

Asthma↗
PubMed1995

Health management guide. Ethics and probity.

Changing structures, roles and relationships have thrown many of the old certainties of health service management into question. But whereas clinicians have professional codes to guide them, managers have had to make difficult choices and decisions in the absence of a written and clearly understood ethical framework. More recently, codes of practice for NHS boards and for individuals have started to address this issue. This Health Management Guide aims to provide a practical introduction to the ethics of health service management.

Administrative Personnel↗
PubMed1995

Obturator hernia: diagnosis through medical imaging.

A rare case of obturator hernia is presented in a patient with persistent small bowel obstruction. There was a paucity of specific signs and poor general health which caused a delay in diagnosis. Ultimately delayed films from a barium follow through showed barium-filled bowel in the region of the right obturator foramen: A computed tomography scan then confirmed the diagnosis by demonstrating the barium-filled small bowel herniating through the right obturator foramen. Other imaging modalities such as herniography, barium enemas and ultrasound have also been successfully employed to diagnose obturator hernias.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

The REC2 gene encodes the homologous pairing protein of Ustilago maydis.

Amino acid sequence analysis has established that the homologous pairing protein of Ustilago maydis, known previously in the literature as rec1, is encoded by REC2, a gene essential for recombinational repair and meiosis with regional homology to Escherichia coli RecA. The 70-kDa rec1 protein is most likely a proteolytic degradation product of REC2, which has a predicted mass of 84 kDa but which runs anomalously during sodium dodecyl sulfate-gel electrophoresis with an apparent mass of 110 kDa. To facilitate purification of the protein product, the REC2 gene was overexpressed from a vector that fused a hexahistidine leader sequence onto the amino terminus, enabling isolation of the REC2 protein on an immobilized metal affinity column. The purified protein exhibits ATP-dependent DNA renaturation and DNA-dependent ATPase activities, which were reactions characteristic of the protein as purified from cell extracts of U. maydis. Homologous pairing activity was established in an assay that measures recognition via non-Watson-Crick bonds between identical DNA strands. A size threshold of about 50 bp was found to govern pairing between linear duplex molecules and homologous single-stranded circles. Joint molecule formation with duplex DNA well under the size threshold was efficiently catalyzed when one strand of the duplex was composed of RNA. Linear duplex molecules with hairpin caps also formed joint molecules when as few as three RNA residues were present.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1994

Diagnosis of parathyroid adenomas: efficacy of measuring parathormone levels in needle aspirates of cervical masses.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess the value of measuring parathormone levels in percutaneous needle aspirates of suspicious cervical lesions in patients with hyperparathyroidism to confirm whether the lesion represents abnormal parathyroid tissue. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: The study group consisted of 66 patients with hyperparathyroidism in whom 80 cervical lesions were aspirated and levels of parathormone in the aspirates were measured. CT guidance was used for two patients and sonographic guidance for the remainder. The lesions selected for aspiration were demonstrated on either sonography or CT and had either an unusual position (separate from the thyroid gland or were intrathyroidal) or configuration (irregular shape or atypical heterogeneous sonographic texture). In 15 patients, an indeterminate, posteriorly located intrathyroidal mass was detected and felt most likely to represent a thyroid nodule by sonographic criteria. These masses were aspirated to rule out atypical parathyroid adenomas. In patients who had been previously explored for hyperparathyroidism and presented with persistent or recurrent hypercalcemia, all indeterminate, cervical, potentially parathyroid masses were aspirated for parathormone determination. The level of parathormone in each aspirate was measured by using an immunoradiometric assay. RESULTS: Levels of parathormone were increased in the aspirates in 37 of the 45 patients in whom sonography showed classic lesions suggestive of parathyroid adenoma. This included the 25 patients who had previously undergone exploratory surgery. At surgery, all 37 had parathyroid adenomas in the indicated locations, for a specificity of 100%. In six patients, the results of the aspiration were false-negative. Parathyroid adenomas were suspected on sonograms and confirmed at surgery, but no parathormone was detected in the aspirate. Results of aspiration of indeterminate lesions were true-negative in two patients who had both characteristic and indeterminate lesions on sonography and in the 15 patients who had indeterminate lesions that were felt to be of thyroid origin. Aspirates contained no parathormone, and surgical findings confirmed the lesions were not of parathyroid origin. CONCLUSION: Our results show that increased levels of parathormone in percutaneous needle aspirates of cervical masses in patients with hyperparathyroidism confirm the mass is a parathyroid adenoma. Although absence or low levels of parathormone in the aspirates usually excludes a parathyroid adenoma, this is not absolute as sometimes the needle may miss the mass, rendering the parathormone value invalid (false-negative).

Adenoma↗