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Biomedical subjects

A McKnight

Publications and source records attributed to A McKnight.

58 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Smoking in pregnancy--a health education problem.

The smoking habits and knowledge and demographic characteristics of 380 pregnant patients in Belfast were investigated. Over half of the women smoked but only 11.5% stopped smoking after becoming pregnant in spite of the fact that almost 65% of them knew that smoking could have an effect on the baby. The study showed that some smokers changed their attitude to smoking before and after delivery and that little effort is being made by general practitioners to dissuade their antenatal patients from smoking. More emphasis on health education for school children is required and also more individual effort on the part of health professionals to dissuade women from smoking, especially when they are pregnant.

Birth Weight↗
PubMedDate not supplied

HIV coreceptors, cell tropism and inhibition by chemokine receptor ligands.

HIV is a persistent virus that survives and replicates despite an onslaught by the host's immune system. A strategy for cell entry, requiring the use of two receptors, has evolved that may help evade neutralizing antibodies. HIV and SIV usually require both CD4 and a seven transmembrane (7TM) coreceptor for infection. At least eleven different 7TM coreceptors have been identified that confer HIV and/or SIV entry. For HIV-1, the major coreceptors are CCR5 and CXCR4, while the role of other coreceptors for replication and cell tropism in vivo is currently unclear. Polymorphisms in the CCR5 gene that reduce CCR5 expression levels, protect against disease progression, suggesting that drugs targeted to CCR5 could be effective. Such therapies however will not work if HIV simply adapts to use alternative coreceptors. In the light of these themes, this review will discuss the following topics: (i) the coreceptors used by primary HIV-1 and HIV-2 viruses, (ii) the properties and coreceptors of HIV-2 strains that infect cells without CD4, (iii) the role of coreceptors in HIV cell tropism and particularly macrophage infection and (iv) the properties of chemokine receptor ligands that block HIV infection.

CD4 Antigens↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Membranous obstruction of the inferior vena cava and invasion of the inferior vena cava by tumour in hepatocellular carcinoma.

A 28 yr old Zulu presented with a painful swelling in the right hypochondrium and severe swelling of the legs of short duration. The serum alpha-fetoprotein concentration was over 2 X 10(5) ng/ml and imaging showed a large hepatic mass-lesion. Radionuclide venography revealed no flow through the inferior vena cava but flow through a large collateral vessel. Contrast venography showed the upper portion of the inferior vena cava to be occluded: large collateral vessels arose from the lower vena cava and the iliac veins. The histological features were those of longstanding hepatic venous outflow obstruction with irregular centrizonal and portal fibrosis: severe acute centrizonal congestion was not seen. This combination of findings indicates the presence of both membranous obstruction of the inferior vena cava, a rare developmental abnormality which predisposes to hepatocellular carcinoma formation, and invasion by the tumour of the inferior vena cava via the hepatic veins, an uncommon complication of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Adult↗