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Biomedical subjects

C Lai

Publications and source records attributed to C Lai.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

Use of specific antibody for rapid clearance of circulating blood background from radiolabeled tumor imaging proteins.

A major problem that arises when radiolabeled serum proteins are used for tumor imaging is the presence of a large amount of circulating background activity that persists for several days. This delays imaging for at least 2 days following injection and necessitates computer subtraction of simulated background (second radiopharmaceutical injection) which introduces artifacts that are difficult to control. We propose here the injection of specific antibody immediately before imaging as an alternate way of reducing blood background through clearance of the immune complex by the liver. 111In-alkyl human transferrin and IgG were injected IV in BALB/c tumor mice, and followed in 18 h by anti-human transferrin and anti-human IgG antibody IV. Two hours later, the tumor and organ distribution of activity was compared with control mice not receiving antibody. 111In-transferrin blood activity was reduced to 1/48 of control with no decrease in tumor concentration: as a result, the tumor to blood ratio increased from 1.4:1 to 78:1. 111In-IgG blood activity was reduced to 1/17 of control, again with no decrease in tumor. The tumor to blood ratios increased from 0.7:1 to 17:1. The liver picked up most of the blood activity with none of the complex going to spleen, bone marrow, or kidney. Dog experiments showed clearance of blood was 90% complete in less than 15 min following antibody injection. Simultaneous scintillation images showed complete clearance of activity from the heart and great vessels in the chest and neck, and over the abdomen, with a concomitant increase in liver activity but no increase in spleen, kidney, or bone marrow activity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Brain-specific genes have identifier sequences in their introns.

The 82-nucleotide identifier (ID) sequence is present in the rat genome in 1-1.5 X 10(5) copies and in cDNA clones of precursors of brain-specific mRNAs. One brain-specific gene contains more than one ID sequence in its introns. There is an excess of ID sequences to brain genes, and some ID sequences appear to have been inserted as mobile elements into other genetic locations. Therefore, brain genes contain ID sequences in their introns, but not all ID sequences are located in brain gene introns. A brain ID consensus sequence has been obtained by comparing 8 ID nucleotide sequences.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1980

Endogenous and exogenous ocular and systemic silver deposition.

The ocular distribution of particulate silver after prolonged ingestion and the topical application of an organic silver compound (argyrol) are described and compared with the distribution after long-term occupational contact with refined silver. The deposits appear to be inert and to cause no functional visual deficit.

Aged↗
PubMed1980

Conductive coatings studied on inflated lung in the frozen-hydrated and freeze-dried states.

Evaporative coatings of platinum-carbon and gold on freeze-fractured mouse lung, preserved in frozen-hydrated and freeze-dried states, are studied in secondary emission mode by low temperature scanning electron microscopy. Unfixed, inflated frozen lung is freeze-etched in high vacuum, metal coated and observed frozen-hydrated and freeze-dried, to demonstrate sample shrinkage and coating deformation upon drying the sample. Buckling and cracking of the coatings occur as a result of freeze-drying. Correlative TEM thin film analysis of the coatings is used to estimate film thickness and reticularity. Freeze-drying biological samples is a common SEM preparative technique which causes morphological artifacts due to both freezing and drying. Frozen-hydrated low temperature-SEM investigation can selectively study these artifacts morphologically to distinguish between freezing and drying artifacts.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Meige disease: striatal dopaminergic preponderance.

A dopamine agonist (apomorphine) and a cholinomimetic drug (physostigmine) were administered to five patients with blepharospasm and oromandibular dystonia (Meige disease). The effects of haloperidol and levodopa were also assessed. Apomorphine lessened and physostigmine aggravated the facial dyskinesias in all patients, while placebo injections had no consistent effect. Levodopa did not modify the symptoms, but haloperidol attentuated the facial dystonia. Dysfunction of the basal ganglia, characterized by a state of striatal dopamine preponderance, probably underlies the dystonic spasms in Meige disease. The prominent cholinergic enhancement of facial dyskinesias may distinguish this disorder pharmacologically from tardive dyskinesia, a differentiation which has practical therapeutic implications.

Aged↗
PubMed1978

Characteristics of individual repetitive sequence families in the sea urchin genome studied with cloned repeats.

Cloned repetitive sequences from the S. purpuratus genome a few hundred to approximately 1000 nucleotides long were used to investigate the characteristics of individual repetitive sequence families. They wer terminally labeled by the kinase procedure and reacted with sheared S. purpuratus DNA. Repetition frequencies were measured for 26 individual families and were found to vary from a few to several thousand copies per genome. Estimates of sequence divergence were made for 18 cloned repeat families by measuring thermal stability of the heteroduplexes formed between the genomic DNA and the cloned fragments, compared with that of the renatured cloned fragments. The difference was less than 4 degrees C for three of the 18 families, and less than 10 degress C for 13 of the 18 families. These 13 repetitive sequence families lack any detectable highly divergent sequence relatives, and the results reported are shown not to change when the renaturation criterion is lowered below 55 degrees C in 0.18 M Na+. Five of the 18 cloned families displayed greater sequence divergence. The average sequence divergence of the total short repetitive sequence fraction of S. purpuratus DNA was found to match closely the average of the divergences of the cloned repeat sequences.

Base Sequence↗