Reducing lab test use.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to B Chapman.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Chicago's heat wave put its chief medical examiner on the hot seat and underscored the need for a uniform definition of heat-related death.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the hypothesis that synovial fluid (SF) from patients with osteoarthritis (OA) may contain calcium phosphate crystals that are either too small, or too few in number to be identified by conventional light microscopy techniques. METHODS: Twelve SF from 11 patients with established knee OA, five SF from patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and two control samples of SF from patients with pseudogout were subjected to an enzyme/hypochlorite extraction procedure. The patients with OA and RA had no radiographic evidence of chondrocalcinosis, or SF crystals on polarised light microscopy. Extracted material was examined and analysed by analytical electron microscopy (AEM) and x ray powder diffraction (XRD). RESULTS: Mineral was found in 11 of 12 OA samples, ranging from 2-120 micrograms/ml SF. Analytical electron microscopy revealed calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate (CPPD) crystals in five (confirmed by XRD in three) and basic calcium phosphates (BCP) in eight (five on XRD). Two samples with confirmed CPPD contained some rods with a mean length below 100 nm. The majority of BCP clusters were also less than 100 nm in diameter. BCP was detected in 1/5 RA samples. Control samples contained CPPD crystals of the expected size range of 0.42-17.9 microns. CONCLUSIONS: The data indicate that many OA SF may contain CPPD or BCP crystals which are too small or too few in number to be identified by conventional techniques. Crystal deposition is not an 'on-off' phenomenon in OA.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The gene encoding the major envelope glycoprotein of the HIV-SF2 isolate was engineered for the secretion of recombinant gp120 (rgp120SF2) from permanent Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell lines. Cellular production methods were scaled up and a method for purification of the secreted glycoprotein was devised. Mild purification conditions were selected in order to preserve the native structure of the protein. rgp120SF2 exhibits a molecular weight of 120 kDa in reduced or nonreduced SDS gels; thus the polypeptide chain is intact. Deglycosylated rgp120SF2 has the predicted molecular weight of the polypeptide backbone, 54 kDa. Gel-filtration HPLC in a nondenaturing buffer at neutral pH yields a molecular weight estimate of approximately 120 kDa. Purified rgp120 closely resembles authentic viral gp120 by several physical, chemical, and immunochemical tests. rgp120SF2 reacts strongly with human HIV-positive sera, monoclonal antibodies reactive with HIV-SF2 and HIV-MN viral envelope, and a human virus-neutralizing monoclonal antibody that maps to a conserved discontinuous epitope on HIV-1 gp120. Purified rgp120SF2 forms a 1:1 molecular complex with soluble recombinant human CD4 (rCD4) receptor, as demonstrated by gel-filtration HPLC; binding is high affinity (Kd approximately 2 x 10(-9) M).
Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF)-cachectin increases the expression of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), reverses the therapeutic efficacy of zidovudine (ZDV), and may contribute to the wasting syndrome. Pentoxifylline (Trental) decreases TNF activity; in cell culture, it decreases HIV replication and down-regulates expression of the HIV long terminal repeat (LTR). Therefore, pentoxifylline was administered to 25 patients with advanced AIDS in this AIDS Clinical Trial Group study (ACTG #160), the goal of which was to investigate the ability of the drug to decrease TNF expression and HIV replication in this patient population. One patient discontinued drug treatment because of toxicity. Data were analyzed on the 17 patients who completed the 8-week study treatment with pentoxifylline, 400 mg, thrice daily. The median pretreatment CD4+ lymphocyte count was 32 cells/mm3. Fasting serum triglycerides, which have previously been shown to correlate with levels of interferon-alpha and/or TNF, fell on average by 66 mg/dl (p = 0.06). TNF mRNA levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells fell in 10 of 16 patients (p = 0.02). HIV load decreased and increased significantly in four and one patients, respectively, but did not change in the group as a whole. This study demonstrates the safety of pentoxifylline in AIDS patients and its ability to decrease triglycerides and TNF mRNA levels.
The orientation selectivity of cells in ferret primary visual cortex was studied during normal development and in animals deprived of vision or of visual cortical activity. In normal animals from the age when visual responses were first recorded (postnatal day 23) through postnatal week 5, only about 25% of cells showed orientation-selective responses. By postnatal week 7, cortical responses had matured to an adult-like state, with approximately 75% of cells clearly selective for orientation. This development of orientation selectivity was not merely a reflection of the development of cortical cell responsiveness: at all ages studied, there was no correlation between responsiveness and selectivity. Infusion of TTX into visual cortex to silence neuronal activity completely blocked the maturation of orientation selectivity. Visual deprivation by bilateral lid suture impaired but did not completely block the normal development of orientation selectivity. We conclude that the maturation of orientation-selective responses in ferret primary visual cortex requires cortical neuronal activity, and that normal development requires visually driven activity.