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Biomedical subjects

H Whitney

Publications and source records attributed to H Whitney.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Structural insights into the evolution of the pantothenate-biosynthesis pathway.

Pantothenate is synthesized in bacteria, fungi and plants, and as vitamin B5 is a dietary requirement in animals. The three-dimensional structures of the four Escherichia coli enzymes involved in the production of pantothenate have been determined. We describe the use of comparative analyses of the sequences and structures to identify distant homologues of the four enzymes in an attempt to understand the evolution of the pathway. We conclude that it is likely to have evolved via a patchwork mechanism, whereby the individual enzymes were recruited separately.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2000

Effects of upper respiratory tract illnesses on mood and performance over the working day.

The present study examined whether volunteers with common colds showed impairments in objective and subjective indicators of alertness over the course of the working day. All the volunteers (n = 21) were tested when healthy to provide baseline data for simple and choice reaction time tasks, visual search tasks and ratings of mood. These measures were taken before work (08.30 hours), at lunchtime (13.00) and after work (17.30). When participants developed a cold (n = 6) they repeated the procedure. Volunteers (n = 15) who remained healthy were recalled as controls and also repeated the procedures. The results showed that those with colds had significantly slower simple and choice reaction times, and felt less alert, more tense and less sociable. The effects of having a cold on simple reaction time, alertness and anxiety increased over the day. This extends earlier research and shows that some of the effects of upper respiratory tract illnesses on mood and performance will depend on when assessments are made. These results also imply that performance and well-being at work will be impaired by upper respiratory tract illnesses.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

After-effects of the common cold on mood and performance.

The present study examined whether volunteers who had recently had common colds showed impairments in mood and performance in the weeks following the illness. All volunteers (n = 24) were tested when healthy to provide baseline data for simple and choice reaction time tasks, attention and memory tasks and ratings of mood. When participants developed a cold (n = 13) they returned to the laboratory so that the illness could be verified. When they were symptom free they returned to the laboratory and repeated the procedure. They then completed the study with a final session 1 week later. Volunteers (n = 11) who remained healthy over 10 weeks were recalled as controls and also repeated the procedures. The results showed that those who had recently had colds showed few impairments in mental performance and mood. Taken together with the results of previous studies, this suggests that after-effects of viral infection are largely restricted to severe illnesses such as infectious mononucleosis and influenza. After-effects of colds may occur but these probably reflect poor learning at the time of the illness.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Salmonellosis in songbirds in the Canadian Atlantic provinces during winter-summer 1997-98.

From winter 1997 to summer 1998, an epizootic of salmonellosis affected several species of songbirds over a large area of the eastern North American continent. This article describes the details of this epizootic in the Canadian Atlantic provinces, based on laboratory examination of dead affected birds and on suspected but unconfirmed cases of salmonellosis reported by members of the public. The common redpoll (Carduelis flammea) was the species most often affected, followed by pine siskins (C. pinus), purple finches (Carpodacus purpureus), evening grosbeaks (Coccothraustes vespertinus), and American goldfinches (Carduelis tristis). A poor body condition and necrotizing and fibrinopurulent esophagitis and ingluvitis were the most common gross lesions in these birds. Thirty-four of 35 isolates of Salmonella recovered from these birds were identified as phage type 40. Despite the magnitude of this and previous epizootics of salmonellosis among North American songbirds, the sources of these epizootics and the precise influence of environmental factors on their occurrence remain poorly understood.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Moral hypocrisy: appearing moral to oneself without being so.

How can people appear moral to themselves when they fail to act morally? Two self-deception strategies were considered: (a) misperceive one's behavior as moral and (b) avoid comparing one's behavior with moral standards. In Studies 1 and 2 the authors documented the importance of the 2nd strategy but not the 1st. Among participants who flipped a coin to assign themselves and another participant "fairly" to tasks, even a clearly labeled coin that prevented misperception did not produce a fair result (Study 1). Inducing behavior-standard comparison through self-awareness did (Study 2). Study 3 qualified the self-awareness effect: When moral standards were not salient before acting, self-awareness no longer increased alignment of behavior with standards. Instead, it increased alignment of standards with behavior and produced less moral action. Overall, results showed 3 different faces of moral hypocrisy.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Caffeine and the common cold.

An experiment was carried out to determine whether caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee removed the malaise (reduced alertness, slower psychomotor performance) associated with having a common cold. One hundred volunteers were tested when healthy and 46 returned to the laboratory when they developed colds. Those subjects who remained healthy were then recalled as a control group. On the second visit subjects carried out two sessions, one pre-drink and another an hour after the drink. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of the following three conditions, caffeinated coffee (1.5 mg/kg caffeine/body weight), decaffeinated coffee or fruit juice. Subjects with colds reported decreased alertness and were slower at performing psychomotor tasks. Caffeine increased the alertness and performance of the colds subjects to the same level as the healthy group and decaffeinated coffee also led to an improvement. These results suggest that drugs which increase alertness can remove the malaise associated with the common cold, and that increased stimulation of the sensory afferent nerves may also be beneficial.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Midcycle levels of sex steroids are sufficient to recreate the follicle-stimulating hormone but not the luteinizing hormone midcycle surge: evidence for the contribution of other ovarian factors to the surge in normal women.

The midcycle surge of LH and FSH is critical for final oocyte maturation and ovulation. In normal women, this gonadotropin surge follows a gradual increase in estradiol levels (E) and is concomitant with a small increase in progesterone (P) levels. However, whether sex steroids alone are sufficient to induce the complex neuroendocrine interactions underlying this switch from negative to positive feedback is unknown. In this study, physiological midcycle levels of E, with and without periovulatory levels of P (E+P and E, respectively) were infused into 18 normally cycling women in their early to midfollicular phases. The resulting sex-steroid-induced gonadotropin responses were then compared with 118 spontaneous midcycle surges in 81 normal women. The sex steroid levels achieved by the infusions were within the normal ranges for the spontaneous midcycle surge. However, neither women who received E alone nor those who received E+P had LH responses that achieved those of spontaneous LH surges in the normal menstrual cycle (NMC) [82.7 +/- 16.23 IU/L E (mean +/- SEM), 69.7 +/- 12.01 IU/L E+P vs. 121.7 +/- 6.23 IU/L NMC, P < 0.05 E and P < 0.005 E+P vs. NMC]. In contrast, peak FSH levels evoked by E and P matched the spontaneous FSH peaks (19.0 +/- 2.1 IU/L E, 24.5 +/- 4.0 IU/L E+P vs. 23.3 +/- 0.9 IU/L NMC, P = 0.07 E and P = 0.71 E+P vs. NMC). In conclusion, sex steroids alone do not seem to be sufficient to stimulate the normal midcycle LH surge. We hypothesize that other ovarian factors, which are missing in the midfollicular phase, are required for the generation of the normal midcycle surge of LH.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1935

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Journal Article↗