Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

C Thompson

Publications and source records attributed to C Thompson.

At least 343 records · Page 19Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

An electrodiagnostic study in chronic alcoholic subjects.

Electrodiagnostic tests were performed on 16 alcoholic subjects and 15 age-matched controls. The tests were done to determine whether nerve conduction parameters differentiate between healthy and alcoholic subjects, and if so, which of these are most useful. Significant differences between alcoholic subjects and controls were found in the following variables: median nerve motor velocity; median nerve sensory latency, amplitude and velocity; ulnar nerve motor amplitude and velocity; ulnar nerve sensory amplitude, latency and velocity; sural nerve sensory amplitude and velocity; and peroneal motor amplitude and velocity. The combination of ulnar and sural sensory conduction velocity tests identified 85% of the chronic alcoholic subjects by stepwise discriminant analysis. Tibial nerve H-reflex latencies were either absent or prolonged in 63% of the subjects. Bilateral facial nerve amplitudes and latencies were normal. The ulnar sensory amplitude and ulnar sensory velocity inversely correlated with the duration of excessive alcohol drinking.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Human steroid receptors and erb-A gene products form a superfamily of enhancer-binding proteins.

Steroid hormones exert potent effects on development and differentiation, and their actions are mediated as a consequence of their interaction with specific, high-affinity binding proteins referred to as receptors. To initiate the analysis of the molecular mechanisms by which steroid receptor molecules regulate transcription, we have recently cloned the human glucocorticoid receptor cDNA. The structural analysis of receptor clones reveals 2 protein forms termed 'alpha' and 'beta' which differentiate their carboxy termini. The alpha-receptor is equivalent to the major form of the human glucocorticoid receptor and appears to be the molecule that confers transcriptional control. This protein contains a cysteine-rich region which we believe defines the DNA-binding domain. Structural analysis reveals the receptor to be related to a novel family of proto-oncogenes termed 'erb-A'. To examine this relationship, we have cloned certain members of the erb proto-oncogene family which reveals strong relatedness to the DNA-binding domain of the glucocorticoid receptor. Based on these homologies, we proposed that erb-A protooncogenes are transacting factors that may be candidates for enhancer sequence binding proteins. The unexpected indication from this study is that the steroid receptors and the erb-A proto-oncogenes share a common primordial archetype and therefore appear to be members of new super family of regulatory proteins.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1987

AIDS and dementia.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1987

AIDS phobia.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1986

Dioxin treatment of rats results in increased in vitro induction of sister chromatid exchanges by alpha-naphthoflavone: an animal model for human exposure to halogenated aromatics.

Recent reports have shown that alpha-naphthoflavone (alpha-NF) in vivo enhances the sister chromatid exchange (SCE) frequency in lymphocytes from human populations exposed to cigarette smoke or polychlorinated biphenyls and dibenzofurans. In this study, female Sprague-Dawley rats (9-11 weeks old) were administered a single oral dose of 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD) and killed 6 days after treatment. Blood cultures were established with or without alpha-NF. The baseline and alpha-NF-induced SCE frequencies were assessed in lymphocytes after a 72-hr culture period. No effect on the SCE baseline frequency (cultures without alpha-NF) was detected in rats exposed to 0-30 micrograms TCDD/kg. However, the SCE frequencies from cultures incubated in the presence of alpha-NF were significantly higher in lymphocytes from rats treated with TCDD. Moreover, delta SCE values (SCE alpha-NF minus SCE baseline) were significantly higher in lymphocytes from rats treated with TCDD than in controls. A dose-dependent increase in delta SCE values was observed between 0 and 3 micrograms TCDD/kg, followed by a plateau at higher doses. This induction pattern closely resembled the induction of the liver microsomal aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity by TCDD. In contrast to TCDD, phenobarbital treatment of rats (75 mg/kg/day) had no effect on alpha-NF-induced SCE frequencies in lymphocytes. Liver microsomes from TCDD-treated rats metabolized alpha-NF at a rate much faster than that of control microsomes. These studies indicate that TCDD-exposed rats provide a useful model to investigate the mechanism of enhanced in vitro induction of SCE frequency in lymphocytes from humans exposed to toxic halogenated aromatics or cigarette smoke.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Evidence for a defect in "switch" T cells in patients with immunodeficiency and hyperimmunoglobulinemia M.

Immunodeficiency with hyperimmunoglobulinemia M is a syndrome characterized by normal to elevated serum levels of IgM and low levels or absence of IgG and IgA. The defect in this syndrome is thought to reside within the B lymphocyte, which may be unable to undergo a "switch" in immunoglobulin class from IgM to IgG or IgA. To address this question more directly, we cultured B cells from nine patients with this syndrome with pokeweed mitogen and either "switch" T cells or normal control T cells. In cultures with normal T cells, only IgM was secreted, whereas in cultures with switch T cells, IgG as well as IgM, or IgM, IgG, and IgA were secreted. Furthermore, analysis of the immunoglobulin heavy-chain genes in these B cells by means of genetic probes of constant and switch regions revealed normal gene patterns. These data suggest that B cells from patients with hyperimmunoglobulinemia M may not be abnormal, as previously proposed, and that, at least in some patients with this syndrome, a defect in switch T cells may be pathogenic.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Neuroendocrine and other studies of the mechanism of antidepressant action of desipramine.

It is not known whether in depressed patients antidepressant treatment increases or reduces monoaminergic neurotransmission. Clinical studies are therefore reviewed that investigate adaptive changes at adrenoceptors in depressed patients treated with desipramine, and the net effect of these changes upon neurotransmission. Although in animals chronic desipramine treatment enhances the responsiveness of alpha 1-adrenoceptors to phenylephrine, no such effect could be demonstrated in patients upon the responsiveness of pupil diameter to phenylephrine. However, in keeping with animal studies, clinical evidence of altered responsiveness of alpha 2-adrenoceptors could be demonstrated after chronic desipramine treatment. The alpha 2-mediated growth hormone response to clonidine was increased after one week's treatment with desipramine and then reduced during the second and third weeks of treatment. No clinical measure of the responsiveness of central beta-adrenoceptors is available. However, the secretion of melatonin is a measure of neurotransmission at noradrenergic terminals in the pineal with alpha 1-, alpha 2- and beta 1-adrenoceptors. In normal volunteers the secretion of melatonin was increased by the noradrenaline uptake inhibitors desipramine and (+)-oxaprotiline; (-)-oxaprotiline had no effect. In depressed patients melatonin secretion was increased after three weeks' treatment with desipramine. These and other clinical studies suggest that antidepressant treatments increase noradrenergic neurotransmission in depressed patients.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Modulation of the immune response by immunoglobulin for intravenous use. II. Inhibitory effects of sera from treated patients.

Sera were collected from patients with common varied immunodeficiency (CVI) prior to and following intravenous gamma-globulin (IVGG) infusion. Cultures of pokeweed mitogen (PWM)-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells from normal donors in medium containing post-IVGG infusion sera generated significantly fewer plaque-forming cells (PFC) than those cultures in medium containing the corresponding pre-IVGG infusion sera. However, preinfusion CVI sera were found to be similar to normal sera in their capacities to support PWM-induced PFC generation, despite the disparity in Ig levels between the two groups of sera. Furthermore, serum collected from a CVI patient 24 hr or more after IVGG infusion no longer possessed the same inhibitory capacity as serum collected 10 min after IVGG infusion despite elevated IgG levels compared to baseline. These studies suggest that IVGG infusion may induce an immunosuppressive effect which is transient in nature, raising the possibility of in vivo counterbalancing homeostatic mechanisms responding to this immune perturbation.

Antibody-Producing Cells↗
PubMed1986

No effect of naloxone on plasma oxytocin in normal men.

The role of endogenous opiates in the control of the secretion of oxytocin in the basal state in healthy male volunteers was investigated with the opiate antagonist naloxone. There was no change in plasma oxytocin levels, assessed for a 120 min period following the intravenous administration of naloxone (10 mg). Although there was no effect of opiate receptor blockade with naloxone in this basal situation, further studies are needed to evaluate the possible role of opioid regulation of oxytocin during lactation and parturition.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Suppurative bacterial pyelonephritis as a cause of acute renal failure.

Acute oliguric renal failure associated with bacterial pyelonephritis is a rarely recognized clinical entity. We report a woman with an ectopic pregnancy who developed acute renal failure requiring dialytic support. The renal biopsy revealed focal microabscess formation and leukocyte interstitial infiltration compatible with suppurative pyelonephritis. Although her renal function improved gradually with antimicrobial treatment, the process was incomplete and renal dysfunction persisted at a 10-week follow-up, suggesting permanent renal damage.

Acute Kidney Injury↗
PubMed1986

Memory selectivity and unilateral cerebral dysfunction.

The relative speed of recall of pleasant and unpleasant experiences was investigated in patients with unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy and after unilateral temporal lobectomy. Indications have been obtained that right, but not left, temporal lobe dysfunction may impair hedonic aspects of memory selectivity.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

A developmentally stable chromatin structure in the human beta-globin gene cluster.

The DNase I-hypersensitive sites in the human embryonic beta-globin gene region have been mapped in erythroid-enriched fractions of disaggregated fetal livers, in adult nucleated red blood cells, and in fetal brain tissue. Our analysis of a region extending 11 kilobases (kb) 5' of the epsilon-globin gene reveals many minor nuclease-hypersensitive sites and one major site located 6.1 kb upstream of the epsilon-globin gene. All of these hypersensitive sites are erythroid-specific, and the major site is stable throughout erythroid development. As assayed by nuclear runoff transcription, little or no epsilon-globin gene expression is detectable in fetal or adult erythroid cells. Thus, the presence of the major hypersensitive site 5' of the epsilon-globin gene in both fetal and adult erythroid cells demonstrates that this site is not specifically correlated with transcription of the gene or with a particular stage of development. Rather, this site may reflect an early event in erythroid differentiation. In addition, DNase I has been used to probe the overall sensitivity of epsilon-globin chromatin in fetal erythroid cells. Our findings indicate that the epsilon-globin gene as well as the other genes in the beta-globin cluster reside within the chromatin domain that is more DNase I-sensitive than "bulk" chromatin.

Brain↗
PubMed1986

Can the cost savings of eliminating urine microscopy in biochemically negative urines be extended to the pediatric population?

The authors determined the value of performing urine microscopy on biochemically negative urine specimens in a pediatric population. Four reactions of the Chemstrip-9TM (Biodynamics, Inc., Indianapolis, IN) were used as biochemical indicators, namely, protein, occult blood, leukocyte esterase, and nitrite. Out of 1,016 urine specimens thus studied, 310 were true positive. Eleven specimens reacted biochemically in the absence of significant microscopic findings (false positive), 668 specimens were negative by the Chemstrip-9 and were either negative microscopically or had less than five white blood cells (WBCs) per high power field (HPF) and were considered true negatives. Twenty-seven specimens had negative biochemical indicators, in spite of positive microscopy; of these specimens, only seven had more than ten WBCs per HPF, 17 had five to ten WBCs per HPF, and three had five to ten red blood cells per HPF. The sensitivity of the four parameters for predicting significant microscopy of urinary sediment is 91% and the specificity is 98%. The predictive value of a negative result is 96.1%, and that of a positive result is 96.5%. The authors therefore conclude that urine microscopy is unnecessary in biochemically negative urine specimens from pediatric patients who are asymptomatic for urinary tract disease.

Child↗
PubMed1986

Expression of blood group antigens by cultured human epidermal cells.

The presence of blood group antigens on the surface of cultured human epidermal cells has been demonstrated using monoclonal antibody supernatants in indirect immunoperoxidase and immunofluorescence tests. An isoantigen pattern, consistent with the blood group of the donor infant, was detected in cultures derived from 10 different foreskin specimens, and in sections of the epidermis of 5 of these specimens. The A, B, and H antigens were found on the surface of cultured keratinocytes which resembled those of the spinous and granular cell layers of the in vivo epidermis. These antigens were readily detectable throughout the majority of the lifespan of the cells in vitro. This finding may be of relevance to those contemplating allograft transplantation of cultured human epidermis.

ABO Blood-Group System↗