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Biomedical subjects

B Evans

Publications and source records attributed to B Evans.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources

Persistent lymphadenopathy in homosexual men: a clinical and ultrastructural study.

Ultrastructural changes (tubuloreticular structures and tube and ring shaped forms) previously described in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) are described for the first time in the lymph nodes and circulating lymphocytes of patients with persistent lymphadenopathy. These observations support the view that the persistent lymphadenopathy syndrome and AIDS are caused by the same transmissible agent(s).

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

Cyclosporine--a model for the testing of bio-immunological reaction modifiers in man.

Cyclosporine is a member of a new family of drugs which interfere and modify the biological regulation of the immune system without being cytotoxic and has now been tested extensively in man. Observation of its toxicity in a homogeneous group of 72 patients with acute myeloblastic leukaemia receiving bone marrow transplants serves to illustrate some of the new and unexpected problems that may be seen when BIRM agents start to be tested in the clinic.

Adolescent↗

Naltrexone: a clinical perspective.

The narcotic antagonist naltrexone was studied in over 300 opiate addicts. Patient selection was a major factor in determining retention and treatment outcome. Treatment time ranged from 1 week to over a year (mean = 2 months). A quarter of the study patients had multiple treatment episodes. Stabilized patients had few side effects, except for occasional nausea and abdominal cramps. Almost half the subjects tested naltrexone by using opiates at least once; all reported satisfactory narcotic blockade. Very few subjects switched to nonopiates to get high, although several did increase their alcohol consumption during the first weeks of therapy. One-third of subjects contacted in a follow-up study were opiate-free 6 months after stopping naltrexone, indicating a successful short-term treatment modality.

Adult↗

Inactivation of cathepsin B by active site-directed disulfide exchange. Application in covalent affinity chromatography.

The ability of cystamine, bis-N-aminoethyl disulfide, to inactivate cathepsin B by disulfide exchange is considerably enhanced by the addition of hydrophobic residues which apparently occupy secondary binding sites in the extended active center of the protease. For example, a peptidyl cystamine derivative such as symmetrical Gly-Phe-cystamine is substrate-like and promotes the disulfide exchange by affinity labeling. The effectiveness of this type of reagent is dependent on the peptidyl sequence. The inactivation is more rapid with increasing pH in the narrow range studied, pH 5-7, and is completely reversed by added thiols. Immobilization of the peptidyl cystamine derivatives provided an effective and rapid procedure for the covalent chromatography of cathepsin B following ammonium sulfate fractionation of beef spleen or pork liver homogenates, replacing the need for ion exchange chromatography. Pork liver cathepsin B thus obtained was a mixture of single chain and double chain forms as found by other methods.

Animals↗

Free amino acid concentrations in spinal tissue from patients dying of motor neuron disease.

Because some investigators have reported abnormal concentrations of amino acids (AA) in fluids and tissues of patients with motor neuron disease (MND), we examined the AA content of frozen anterior horn spinal cord tissue taken from seven patients dying of MND and compared the results with those found in 12 control patients. Ammonia (21 +/- 8.1 vs. 12.7 +/- 6.9 mumol/g, P = 0.036) and ornithine (0.41 +/- 0.3 vs. 0.16 +/- 0.09, P = 0.036) were elevated in spinal tissue of motor neuron disease patients. Correlation analysis showed ammonia levels inversely related to duration of illness (r = -0.714, P = 0.036). We concluded that metabolic abnormalities exist in MND. Ammonia and ornithine may be adversely affecting motor neuron function, or alternatively they could be metabolic markers of a more generalized energy-deficient state in motor neuron disease.

Adult↗

Pornographic imagery and prevalence of paraphilia.

The authors classified 1,760 heterosexual pornographic magazines according to the imagery of the cover photographs. Covers depicting only a woman posed alone predominated in 1970 but constituted only 10.7% of the covers in 1981. Bondage and domination imagery was the most prevalent nonormative imagery and was featured in 17.2% of the magazines. Smaller proportions of material were devoted to group sexual activity (9.8%), tranvestism and transsexualism (4.4%), and other nonnormative imagery. The authors suggest that pornographic imagery is an unobtrusive measure of the relative prevalence of those paraphilias associated with preferences for specific types of visual imagery and for which better data are lacking.

Epidemiologic Methods↗

Learned responses to movement in neonates.

Numerous previous reports have pointed to the importance of movement (vestibular) stimulation in early infancy. Nevertheless, we have currently no clear understanding of these effects. The present paper looks at the role of movement stimulation in the modification of inborn organized patterns of response. Two laboratory experiments are reported in which newborn infants were presented with a cue (movement stimulus) which was either paired with dextrose presentation (experimental group) or not paired (control group). The experimental and control groups differed on the pattern of suckling in extinction, indicating an effect due to the contiguous presentation of movement and dextrose. Those experiments provide an analog for some naturally occurring conditions in early infancy and support some Soviet observations on the development of the earliest conditioned responses.

Conditioning, Classical↗

Spinal evoked potential in the cat: effects of asphyxia, strychnine, cord section and compression.

Averaged evoked potentials to sciatic nerve stimulation and to direct stimulation of the cervical spinal cord were recorded from the dura and skin over the spinal cord and cauda equina in bipolar and common reference leads in cats and compared. Response waveform and conduction characteristics are described. The effects of increasing stimulus intensity, asphyxia and strychnine on these potentials are related. Alterations in these potentials produced by spinal cord at one or two levels are also described. These potentials are compared to similar potentials which have been recorded in man and the possible clinical application of some of these methods is discussed.

Animals↗

A case of Ebola virus infection.

In November 1976 an investigator at the Microbiological Research Establishment accidentally inoculated himself while processing material from patients in Africa who had been suffering from a haemorrhagic fever of unknown cause. He developed an illness closely resembling Marburg disease, and a virus was isolated from his blood that resembled Marburg virus but was distinct serologically. The course of the illness was mild and may have been modified by treatment with human interferon and convalescent serum. Convalescence was protracted; there was evidence of bone-marrow depression and virus was excreted in low titre for some weeks. Recovery was complete. Infection was contained by barrier-nursing techniques using a negative-pressure plastic isolator and infection did not spread to attendant staff or to the community.

Democratic Republic of the Congo↗

Negative-pressure plastic isolator for patients with dangerous infections.

A negative-pressure plastic isolator is effective for dealing with patients suffering from dangerous infections. So far it has been used to treat seven patients suspected of having infections due to Lassa, Marburg, or Ebola viruses. One patient spent 32 days in the isolator. The isolator was proved comfortable and acceptable to patients, and it gives the nursing and medical attendants a high degree of protection. All routine nursing and medical procedures can be carried out with minimal interference by the physical barrier, though it is not practicable to undertake artificial respiration or haemodialysis.

Atmospheric Pressure↗