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Biomedical subjects

B J Hill

Publications and source records attributed to B J Hill.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Rapid detection of infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to demonstrate the presence of infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) antigen in cell cultures and in fish. Virus antigen could be detected in infected cell cultures before visible cytopathic effect (c.p.e.) was evident and cell cultures showing complete viral c.p.e. produced intense colour reactions. Virus antigen was detected in infected fry during and immediately after an epizootic, but although IPNV-carrier fish could be detected by the ELISA technique, the sensitivity of detection was not as great as that of isolation of the infectious virus in cell culture. The major IPNV serotypes, Sp, Ab and Vr, crossreacted at only a low level and it was shown that the ELISA technique could be used to serotype IPNV strains rapidly. None of 10 other fish pathogenic viruses reacted with plates sensitized for IPNV detection. The time taken to perform the technique was reduced to 1 h 35 min at room temperature and this still allowed the results to be readily assessed visually as antigen-positive or antigen-negative.

Animals

Biophysical and biochemical characterization of five animal viruses with bisegmented double-stranded RNA genomes.

Infectious pancreatic necrosis virus of fish, infectious bursal disease virus of chickens, Tellina virus and oyster virus of bivalve molluscs, and drosophila X virus of Drosophila melanogaster are naked icosahedral viruses with an electron microscopic diameter of 58 to 60 nm. The genome of each of these viruses consists of two segments of double-stranded RNA (molecular weight range between 2.6 x 10(6) and 2.2 x 10(6), and the virion, capsid proteins fall into three size class categories (large, medium, and small; ranging from 100,000 to 27,000) as determined by polyacrylamide slab gel electrophoresis. The hydrodynamic properties of the five viruses are similar as determined by analytical ultracentrifugation and laser quasi-elastic, light-scattering spectroscopy. The calculated particle weights range between 55 x 10(6) and 81 x 10(6). Tryptic peptide comparisons of 125I-labeled virion proteins showed that five viruses are different from each other, although there was considerable overlap in the peptide maps of the three aquatic viruses, indicting a degree of relatedness. Cross-neutralization tests indicated that drosophila X, infectious pancreatic necrosis, and infectious bursal disease viruses were different from each other and from oyster and Tellina viruses. The same test showed oyster and Tellina viruses to be related. The biochemical and biophysical properties of the five viruses cannt be included in the family Reoviridae or in any of the present virus genera.

Animals

Relationship of a virus from Tellina tenuis to infectious pancreatic necrosis virus.

The physicochemical and serological properties of a virus isolated from the bivalve mollusc, Tellina tenuis, have been examined. The virus has a diam. of 59 nm, sediments at 430S in sucrose gradients and bands at a density of I-32 g/ml in CsCl. The virus contains RNA with a mol. wt. about 2-8 X 10(6) as extimated by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis but in sucrose gradients the RNA sediments at 14S. The virus RNA is resistant to ribonuclease under conditions in which ribosomal RNA and the single stranded Mengo virus RNA are completely hydrolysed. Two major polypeptides, mol. wt. 67 and 40 X 10(3), and minor polypeptide, mol. wt. 110 X 10(3), are present in the virus particle. These properties are similar to those found in different serotypes of infectious pancreatic necrosis (IPN) virus. Although there was only a very low level of cross-neutralization between Tellina virus and IPN virus. there was some cross-reaction in immune electron microscopy tests and in immunofluorescence tests with infected tissue culture cells. This cross reaction, together with the close similarity in morphology and physiochemical properties, suggests that Tellina virus and IPN virus belong to the same virus group.

Animals

The importance of the stomach in mediating histamine-induced hypocalcemia in the rat.

The effect of histamine on serum calcium homeostasis was studied in the rat. After the intravenous administration of 0.5-1.0 mg histamine base to fasted Holtzman rats weighing 80-100 g, a significant lowering of serum calcium (Ca) level occurred 30 min after injection (decrease in Ca, 1.4-1.9 mg/100 ml), but normocalcemia returned at 60 min. Repeat intravenous injections of histamine 1.0 mg resulted in repeated lowering of the serum Ca level. Hypophosphatemia did not accompany the hypocalcemia. Thyroparathyroidectomy (TPTX) did not eliminate the calcium-lowering effect of histamine in acute TPTX animals but did so in more chronic TPTX animals in which the mean serum Ca was 7.6 mg/100 ml or less. Gastrectomy, however, completely eliminated the calcium-lowering effect of histamine given in doses of up to 2 mg/rat (20 mg/kg of body weight), despite the presence of an intact thyroid gland. These studies support the role of a gastric factor and not the thyroid secretion of calcitonin in mediating this response in the rat.

Animals

Cineradiography of the braced normal cervical spine. A comparative study of five commonly used cervical orthoses.

Five orthotic devices were selected for a study of their effectiveness in immobilizing the cervical spine. These orthoses were fitted to subjects with a normal range of motion of the cervical spine. Motion pictures were made from a lateral view while the patient actively flexed and extended his cervical spine as well as from the frontal view with the patient rotating to each side and bending to each side. The soft cervical collar offers very little immobilization. The firm plastic Thomas collar restricts about 75 per cent of flexion-extension, rotation and lateral bending. The four-poster orthosis gave 80 to 85 per cent restriction of flexion-extension and lateral bending but only restricted 60 per cent of rotation. The long two-poster cervical orthosis caused 90 to 95 per cent restriction of all motions. The Guilford two-poster cervical orthosis restricted 90 per cent of all motions.

Braces

Physico-chemical and serological characterization of five rhabdoviruses infecting fish.

Viruses isolated from fish with viral haemorrhagic septicaemia (VHS), infectious haematopoietic necrosis (IHN), spring viraemia of carp (SVC), swim-bladder inflammation (SBI) and pike fry disease (PFD) have been grown to high titre in fathead minnow cells. While our preparations of the IHN, SVC, SBI and PFD viruses showed typical rhabdovirus morphology with bullet-shaped particles and distinct surface projections, the VHS virus preparations had a less typical rhabdovirus morphology but were pleomorphic with a preponderance of flexuous rods. Using virus labelled with [-3H]-uridine, it was shown that each virus contained RNA which sedimented at 38 to 40 S and was hydrolysed by very low concentrations of ribonuclease. The viruses of SVC, PFD and SBI had a polypeptide composition similar to that of vesicular stomatitis virus, the prototype rhabdovirus, but the IHN and VHS viruses gave a pattern similar to that of rabies virus. In serum neutralization tests the SVC and SBI viruses were indistinguishable. VHS virus showed no serological relationship with the other four viruses but there was a low level of cross-reaction between the PFD, IHN and SVC-SBI viruses.

Animals