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Biomedical subjects

A Risberg

Publications and source records attributed to A Risberg.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

Structural analysis of the lipopolysaccharide oligosaccharide epitopes expressed by a capsule-deficient strain of Haemophilus influenzae Rd.

Structural elucidation of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of Haemophilus influenzae, strain Rd, a capsule-deficient type d strain, has been achieved by using high-field NMR techniques and electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) on delipidated LPS and core oligosaccharide samples. It was found that this organism expresses heterogeneous populations of LPS of which the oligosaccharide (OS) epitopes are subject to phase variation. ESI-MS of O-deacylated LPS revealed a series of related structures differing in the number of hexose residues linked to a conserved inner-core element, L-alpha-D-Hepp-(1-->2)-L-alpha-D-Hepp-(1-->3)-[beta-D-Glcp- (1-->4)-]- L-alpha-D-Hepp-(1-->5)-alpha-Kdo, and the degree of phosphorylation. The structures of the major LPS glycoforms containing three (two Glc and one Gal), four (two Glc and two Gal) and five (two Glc, two Gal and one GalNAc) hexoses were substituted by both phosphocholine (PCho) and phosphoethanolamine (PEtn) and were determined in detail. In the major glycoform, Hex3, a lactose unit, beta-D-Galp-(1-->4)-beta-D-Glcp, is attached at the O-2 position of the terminal heptose of the inner-core element. The Hex4 glycoform contains the PK epitope, alpha-D-Galp-(1-->4)-beta-D-Galp-(1-->4)-beta-D-Glcp while in the Hex5 glycoform, this OS is elongated by the addition of a terminal beta-D-GalpNAc residue, giving the P antigen, beta-D-GalpNAc-(1-->3)-alpha-D-Galp-(1-->4)-beta-D-Galp-(1-->4)-D-Glc p. The fully extended LPS glycoform (Hex5) has the following structure. [see text] The structural data provide the first definitive evidence demonstrating the expression of a globotetraose OS epitope, the P antigen, in LPS of H. influenzae. It is noteworthy that the molecular environment in which PCho units are found differs from that observed in an Rd- derived mutant strain (RM.118-28) [Risberg, A., Schweda, E. K. H. & Jansson, P-E. (1997) Eur. J. Biochem. 243, 701-707].

Carbohydrate Conformation

Structural analysis of the lipopolysaccharide oligosaccharide epitopes expressed by Haemophilus influenzae strain RM.118-26.

The structure of the lipopolysaccharide of Haemophilus influenzae mutant strain, RM.118-26, was investigated. Electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry on intact lipopolysaccharide, O-deacylated lipopolysaccharide and core oligosaccharides obtained from lipopolysaccharide after mild acid hydrolysis provided information on the composition and relative abundance of the glycoforms. Oligosaccharide samples were studied in detail using high-field NMR techniques. The structure of the major glycoform containing phosphocholine is identical to the Hex2 glycoform described for H. influenzae RM.118-28 [Risberg, A., Schweda, E.K.H. & Jansson, P.-E. (1997) Eur. J. Biochem. 243, 701-707]. A second major glycoform, containing three hexose residues (Hex3), in which a lactose unit, beta-D-Galp-(1-->4)-beta-D-Glcp, is attached at the O-2 position of the terminal heptose of the inner core element, L-alpha-D-Hepp-(1-->2)-L-alpha-D-Hepp-(1-->3)-[beta-D-Glcp-( 1-->4)-]- L-alpha-D-Hepp-(1-->5)-alpha-Kdo, carries no phosphocholine. Instead this lipopolysaccharide glycoform is partly (40%) substituted by an O-acetyl group linked to the 6-position of the glucose residue in the lactose unit and has the following structure:

Antigens, Bacterial

Structural studies of the cell-envelope oligosaccharide from the lipopolysaccharide of Haemophilus influenzae strain RM.118-28.

The structure of the oligosaccharide part of the Haemophilus influenzae RM.118-28 lipopolysaccharide (LPS) has been investigated. The oligosaccharide was obtained from the LPS by mild acid hydrolysis followed by gel-permeation chromatography, and was studied by methylation analysis, NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. The structure of the major compound, which is a hexasaccharide, is proposed as follows. [formula: see text] In the structure, Kdo is 3-deoxy-D-manno-octulosonic acid, PEtn is phosphoethanolamine, PCho is phosphocholine and L,D-Hep is L-glycero-D-manno-heptose. Electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry on O-deacylated LPS obtained after treatment with anhydrous hydrazine gave evidence for the presence of two minor compounds, which show additional substitution of the main structure with phosphate and PEtn, respectively. These substitutions have not been localized.

Acylation

Electrophonic hearing and cochlear implants.

It has been difficult to explain the good speech understanding obtained by some cochlear implant patients fitted with a single-channel electrode and analog transmissions of the speech signal (Vienna/3M implant). It has also been difficult to explain the variation in results reported by different groups using the same implant. One hypothesis asserts that the above differences can be explained by the observation that electric stimulation with an implanted electrode might result in two different auditory sensations, the first resulting from the stimulation of the remaining hair cells (electrophonic component) and the second from the electric stimulation of the auditory nerve (electro-neural component). The two sensations are very different. As a result of different definitions of total deafness (functional or threshold definition), patients with remaining hair cells are operated on by some groups, but not by other groups. Some published results from different studies are discussed with reference to the above hypothesis and the possible consequences for the selection of the patients, the use of extra- or intracochlear electrodes, and the selection of the speech coding strategy are discussed.

Audiometry, Pure-Tone

A case material with post lingual severe hearing loss and communication handicap.

The analyses have given some general clues to the therapeutic handling of these patient categories: 1. The A and B groups can be labelled "hearing" with clearly useful residual hearing. 2. The patients in the C group, as a rule, are utilizing very little from acoustic speech stimulation, mostly the prosodic information. Several patients in this group are possible implant candidates, and it is reasonable to expect that (with a suitable stimulus device and a suitable application of this) the patients could get an additional support during speech reading, so that they function as the B group. Tactile devices are also an alternative or a supplement for this group, and a pilot study on six patients is in progress in the department in cooperation with the Department of Speech Communication at the Royal Institute of Technology. 3. The patients within the A and B groups will in the first place be offered additional functional training programmes (prosodic training, audio-visual training and possibly vibration training) and, as an ultimate alternative a social activation in group therapy may be considered. Some patients in these groups might also be candidates in the future for an extra cochlear implant.

Hearing Aids

Rehabilitative procedures in sensorineural hearing loss. Studies on the routine used.

The effect of different treatment programs in audiological rehabilitation was evaluated. The speech intensity at which subjects with high frequency hearing loss correctly perceived 50% of the key words in sentences was measured in quiet and in noise, with and without a hearing aid and with and without simultaneous speech reading. No statistically significant difference in audiovisual speech perception ability was found between subjects receiving no training, subjects receiving a 6-hour information course, or a 3-week intensive training in auditory and audiovisual speech perception. Large differences in the degree of hearing aid usage was found, however, between the three treatment groups. An analysis of the individual results from the speech test used showed that some subjects improved with the use of a hearing aid, whilst others deteriorated. The degree of hearing aid usage was considerably influenced by the measured effect of the hearing aid treatment. Our findings stress the need for an objective test by which to measure the effect of hearing aid fitting. As a result of the reported study a series of experiments have been started with the aim of obtaining a better understanding of the audiovisual speech perception process. These studies are based on an information-processing model for speech perception. Particular attention is devoted to the importance of the prosodic information in the auditory speech signal.

Adult

Requirements on speech processing hearing aids for the profoundly deaf, some preliminary remarks.

Many severely hard of hearing and profoundly deaf persons seem to get very little help from an ordinary hearing aid. This observation has prompted the development of tactile speech processing aids. These aids should however only be used if it can be shown that the subject has no useful residual hearing. In the case of a profound hearing loss the audiogram might in some cases show tactile sensations in the ear. To get a better estimation of the remaining auditory capacity experiments have been made with frequency discrimination measurements, and with speech tests consisting of rhyming word pairs. Results from these different tests are summarized in relation to an audiogram classification system. Two tactile speech processing aids are described. Evaluation studies with these aids show positive results but these results must be compared with the results that can be obtained with ordinary hearing aids and different types of auditory speech processing hearing aids. The possibility to use extreme auditory recording must also be studied. In this case the transmitted signal is not speech-like and it is possible that this limits their usefulness. Experiments with this type of aids might however give valuable information about how the human perceptual systems process signals derived from the original speech signal.

Audiometry