Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

G Harris

Publications and source records attributed to G Harris.

At least 217 records · Page 12Linked to original sources
PubMed1968

Antibody production in vitro. I. Single cell studies of the secondary response to sheep erythrocytes.

The effect of high specific activity thymidme-(3)H on proliferation and antibody production, using the hemolytic plaque-forming technique, by spleen cell suspensions in vitro from rabbits killed after a boost of SRC's has been studied. High specific activity thymidine-(3)H inhibited the proliferative ay well as the antibody response to antigen, and it was conduded that this was the result of the incorporation of radioactive (3)H into the nuclei of dividing cells which were synthesizing antibody in these cultures. The stimulation of the rate of DNA synthesis by specific antigen could be correlated with the ability of antigen to maintain antibody production, as measured by the specific hemolytic plaque-forming technique, above levels found in control cultures, incubated without antigen. Radioautographic studies of PFC's in vitro showed that the majority of the cells arose from the DNA-synthesizing population of cells in these cultures, confirming the conclusions from the results of the inhibitory effects of high specific-activity thymidine-(3)H on PFC's. It was found that these PFC's, labeling with thymidine-(14)C, formed only a small proportion of all the cells labeled in this way in these cultures. The postulation was made that antigen, in vitro, provided a stimulation for cell proliferation in the responsive population of rabbit spleen cells, but that only a small proportion of this population could be induced by antigen to synthesize antibody.

Animals↗
PubMed1968

Antibody production in vitro. II. Effects of actinomycin D and puromycin on the secondary response to sheep erythrocytes.

The effects of actinomycin D and puromycin on spleen cell suspensions from rabbits immunized to SRC's were studied. These inhibitors, in high concentration, suppressed PFC's when added initially to recently isolated cells. When such cells were incubated for several days in the presence of both antigen and inhibitor, both actinomycin D and puromycin produced an increase in PFC's after the initial suppression. This recovery effect was best seen with cells from rabbits killed 3 days after boosting with SRC's, and was usually absent when cells were taken from rabbits killed 2 days after boosting. When actinomycin D or puromycin was added after several days in culture in the presence of SRC's, surviving PFC's were found to be not only resistant to these inhibitors, but there was also an increased number of PFC's compared to similar cultures incubated without these agents. Radioautographic studies showed that PFC's stimulated by the presence of actinomycin D or puromycin were not incorporating precursors for RNA or protein synthesis. In view of the known mode of action of these inhibitors, it was postulated that they were stimulating antibody production by PFC's in vitro either by interfering with represser mechanisms or stimulating the completion of antibody molecules, perhaps by causing the release of preformed antibody chains from ribosomes. Since the presence of specific antigens in vitro were necessary for these observed stimulatory effects on PFC's, and since antigens were producing an effect on antibody production on cells which were being suppressed by these inhibitors, added initially, it was further suggested that one role of antigen in the immune response was concerned with the completion of antibody synthesis on the ribosomes, perhaps by acting as an inducer as has been suggested previously (1).

Animals↗
PubMed1966

The effects of antigens and of phytohemagglutinin on rabbit spleen cell suspensions.

Phytohemagglutinin (PHA) stimulated the rate of DNA synthesis in rabbit spleen cell suspensions. Unlike antigens, previous immunization to PHA was not necessary and the specific response could not be transferred by macrophages, although lymphocytes primed by incubation in PHA were able to stimulate other spleen cells not directly exposed to PHA. When rabbits were stimulated by in vivo immunization with antigens, spleen cells proliferating in response to antigen were stimulated to divide by in vitro contact with PHA. Using the technique of specific hemolytic plaque formation by individual cells synthesizing gammaM-antibody to sheep red cells (plaque-forming cells), no evidence was obtained that stimulation of cell division by PHA resulted in specific antibody formation, although the presence of antigen resulted both in stimulation of cell proliferation and the production of plaque-forming cells. The presence of both sheep red cells and PHA in the medium of the same cell suspensions did not enhance the production of plaque-forming cells although there was a summative effect on DNA synthesis.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Factors influencing the uptake of technologies to minimize perioperative allogeneic blood transfusion: an interview study of national and institutional stakeholders.

BACKGROUND: Alternatives to allogeneic blood transfusion exist and are being used to varying extents in Australian hospitals. Evidence on effectiveness and cost-effectiveness is generally inconclusive and provides a suboptimal basis for policy development. AIM: To describe the influences on uptake of transfusion technologies as perceived by national and institutional stakeholders. METHODS: Qualitative interview study. Interview transcripts were coded and analysed independently by at least two researchers. Participants had opportunity to comment on their transcript and the manuscript. RESULTS: A total of 71 interviews were conducted with representatives of the media, specialist medical societies, consumer special interest groups, the Australian Red Cross Blood Service (ARCBS), government, private health insurers, technology manufacturers, prominent clinicians in the area and a sample of clinicians drawn from hospitals with variable use of blood-saving technologies. Technical advances and acceptance of lower transfusion triggers were identified as the main influences on the decrease in use of allogeneic blood transfusion in the past decade. Participants indicated that patients were most aware and supportive of autologous predonation. Participants noted that 'enthusiasts' were involved in educating about the need for alternatives, negotiating resourcing and maintaining the use of a technology. Funding mechanisms were seen as main barriers to use of alternatives. A discrepancy was noted in the rigour of evaluation and regulation of pharmaceuticals and devices/procedures. CONCLUSIONS: Uptake of blood transfusion technologies by institutions was dependent mostly on funding arrangements and the presence of an 'enthusiast'. Critical review of the evidence for effectiveness or cost-effectiveness of these technologies was rarely mentioned. Opportunities exist for evidence-based medicine principles to play a greater role in policy decisions in this area.

Blood Donors↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Use of outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy in a health maintenance organization.

Outpatient parenteral antibiotic therapy in a health maintenance organization (HMO), as carried out at the Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been effective for ambulatory patients (who received their injections at one of the HMO facilities) and for nonambulatory patients (who were visited in their homes by members of the HMO's home health care team). Over a 17-month period, implementation of these procedures resulted in savings of as much as 73% per day over the costs for similar treatment of similar infections in hospitalized patients. The savings derived from treating nonambulatory patients were slightly less than those from treating ambulatory patients because of the costs for home health care personnel.

Ambulatory Care↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Improving tissue classification in MRI: a three-dimensional multispectral discriminant analysis method with automated training class selection.

PURPOSE: To improve the reliability, accuracy, and computational efficiency of tissue classification with multispectral sequences [T1, T2, and proton density (PD)], we developed an automated method for identifying training classes to be used in a discriminant function analysis. We compared it with a supervised operator-dependent method, evaluating its reliability and validity. We also developed a fuzzy (continuous) classification to correct for partial voluming. METHOD: Images were obtained on a 1.5 T GE Signa MR scanner using three pulse sequences that were co-registered. Training classes for the discriminant analysis were obtained in two ways. The operator-dependent method involved defining circular ROIs containing 5-15 voxels that represented "pure" samples of gray matter (GM), white matter (WM), and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), using a total of 150-300 voxels for each tissue type. The automated method involved selecting a large number of samples of brain tissue with sufficiently low variance and randomly placed throughout the brain ("plugs"), partitioning these samples into GM, WM, and CSF, and minimizing the amount of variance within each partition of samples to optimize its "purity." The purity of the plug was estimated by calculating the variance of 8 voxels in all modalities (T1, T2, and PD). We also compared "sharp" (discrete) measurements (which classified tissue only as GM, WM, or CSF) and "fuzzy" (continuous) measurements (which corrected for partial voluming by weighting the classification based on the mixture of tissue types in each voxel). RESULTS: Reliability was compared for the operator-dependent and automated methods as well as for the fuzzy versus sharp classification. The automated sharp classifications consistently had the highest interrater and intrarater reliability. Validity was assessed in three ways: reproducibility of measurements when the same individuals were scanned on multiple occasions, sensitivity of the method to detecting changes associated with aging, and agreement between the automated segmentation values and those produced through expert manual segmentation. The sharp automated classification emerged as slightly superior to the other three methods according to each of these validators. Its reproducibility index (intraclass r) was 0.97, 0.98, and 0.98 for total CSF, total GM, and total WM, respectively. Its correlations with age were 0.54, -0.61, and -0.53, respectively. Its percent agreement with the expert manually segmented tissue for the three tissue types was 93, 90, and 94%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Automated identification of training classes for discriminant analysis was clearly superior to a method that required operator intervention. A sharp (discrete) classification into three tissue types was also slightly superior to one that used "fuzzy" classification to produce continuous measurements to correct for partial voluming. This multispectral automated discriminant analysis method produces a computationally efficient, reliable, and valid method for classifying brain tissue into GM, WM, and CSF. It corrects some of the problems with reliability and computational inefficiency previously observed for operator-dependent approaches to segmentation.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

New techniques for changing compliance in diabetes.

The low compliance by diabetic patients to professional recommendations is a major therapeutic challenge today. Patient education programs have been promoted as a remedy, but those developed to date need careful evaluation to see if they change health behavior. The knowledge-action gap has been well demonstrated in a number of chronic disorders. The early evaluation of our program in Sydney indicates that the educational intervention does change health behavior, especially in the difficult area of dietary compliance. This paper describes the evolution and the essential characteristics of the program. On completing the course, the diabetic patient is encouraged to use the home measurement of blood glucose by Eyetone meter to continue self-evaluation of control and monitor the effect of his compliance.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗