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Biomedical subjects

J Gomez

Publications and source records attributed to J Gomez.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Thallium poisoning presenting with abdominal colic, paresthesia, and irritability.

A case of acute thallium poisoning presenting with sudden abdominal pain, paraesthesiae and irritability is described. The peripheral nervous system was later affected along with loss of hair and the development of streaks (Mee's lines) on the nails of the hands and feet. The diagnosis was established by thallium assays of blood and urine. Thallium was undetectable in the blood by day 70. The manifestations cleared in six months with symptomatic treatment only. We review the characteristics and differential diagnosis of thallium poisoning and stress the importance of a high index of clinical suspicion.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Effects of pelleting, lactose level, polyethylene glycol 4000, and guar gum compared to pectin on growth performances, energy values, and losses of lactose, lactic acid, and water in chickens.

Five mash and two pelleted diets were tested in broiler chickens (7 to 19 d). Mash diets consisted of a basal fraction diluted with either .5% pectin or .5% guar gum. Mash pectin and guar gum diets contained either 3% lactose (PL3m and GL3m diets, respectively) or 6% lactose (PL6m and GL6m diets, respectively). Compositions of pelleted diets (PL3p and GL3p) were those of PL3m and GL3m diets, respectively. All diets contained .5% polyethylene glycol 4000 (PEG) except the PL3m0 diet. The latter diet differed from PL3m diet by the PEG content, only. The real applied viscosities of pectin and guar gum diets were 1.48 and 4.94 mL/g, respectively, No effect of PEG was detected on growth performances, and excreta losses of lactose, lactic acid, and water. No negative effect of guar gum compared to pectin was observed on body weight (19 d), except with pelleted diets (P < .05). Feed:gain ratios for guar gum diets were 7% higher (P < or = .001) that those of pectin diets. The AMEn values of guar gum diets were 4% lower (P < or = .001) than those of pectin diets. For mash diets, lactose digestibilities were lower (P < .05) with guar gum than with pectin. Increasing lactose level from 3 to 6% did not affect (P > .05) AMEn values, feed: gain ratios, and body weights (19 d) but reduced (P > .001) lactose digestibilities from 78 to 64%. The positive effects of pelleting on body weights (19 d) were much less pronounced with guar gum than with pectin (P < .05). The AMEn values of pelleted diets (PL3p) and GL3p) were, on average, 2.5% lower (P = .005) than their mash counterparts (PL3m and GL3m). Water losses related to feed intake were greater with guar gum than with pectin (P < .001) and with 6% lactose than with 3% (P = .001) but were not affected (P > .05) by pelleting. Lactic acid losses related to feed intake were increased by guar gum compared with pectin (P < .001), with more pronounced effects induced by high lactose level (P < .05) and pelleting (P < .05). In many respects, the effects of guar gum seemed similar to those observed in an acid liquid diarrhea.

Animal Feed↗
PubMed1994

Phosphorylation of the gamma chain of the high affinity receptor for immunoglobulin E by receptor-associated protein kinase C-delta.

The gamma chain of the high affinity receptor for immunoglobulin E is a member of the T-cell antigen receptor zeta chain family and a functional subunit common to both T-cell and Fc receptors. Here we report that the gamma chain is phosphorylated on threonine in response to protein kinase C activation. Furthermore, the threonine phosphorylation of the gamma chain correlates with the endocytosis of this receptor. We identified a receptor-associated kinase as the calcium-independent protein kinase C-delta and found that it associates with the carboxyl-terminal cytoplasmic domain of the beta chain. In addition, protein kinase C-delta was the only isozyme capable of phosphorylating the gamma chain in vitro. These findings provide evidence for the functional role of protein kinase C-delta in early signal transduction events in the mast cell and suggest a more general mechanism of activation for receptors that share subunits of the zeta chain family.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Maternal IgG1 and IgA antibody to V3 loop consensus sequence and maternal-infant HIV-1 transmission.

Maternal-infant transmission of HIV-1 occurs in 13-40% of pregnancies. Studies on transmission of maternal immunity to HIV antigens have used antigens from viruses not representative of clinical isolates and have been conflicting. Using a consensus peptide sequence based on HIV isolates found in Haiti, we found that Haitian mothers who transmitted infection to their offspring had significantly higher mean concentrations of IgG1 antibodies to the V3 loop of the primary neutralising domain of the viral envelope (gp 160) than non-transmitters (p = 0.02). Concentrations of IgA antibody to this domain were similar in transmitters and non-transmitters.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1994

Antimicrobial resistance of Shigella isolates causing traveler's diarrhea.

Shigella isolates were identified as a cause of traveler's diarrhea in 67 (10%) of 675 patients and were tested for resistance to seven antimicrobial agents in a comparative study with those causing nontraveler's diarrhea in Spain. Ampicillin and chloramphenicol resistance was more frequent in Shigella flexneri (60 and 46%, respectively) than in Shigella sonnei (32 and 18%, respectively) and in travel-related isolates (P < 0.05 and 0.04, respectively). Of S. sonnei isolates from patients with traveler's diarrhea, 73 and 54% showed tetracycline and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole resistance, respectively, compared with only 8% of isolates from patients without a history of travel to developing countries (P < 0.007 and P < 0.0002). Low-level resistance to cephalosporins was found, whereas quinolone-resistant strains were not detected among travel-related Shigella isolates. Thus, quinolones may be an effective alternative therapy for travel-related shigellosis.

Developing Countries↗
PubMed1994

Digestibility of water-soluble pectin and organic acid losses in intact or cecectomized adult cockerels.

Two experimental diets consisting of a basal diet either undiluted or diluted with 1% pectin-based gelling agent were given to intact or cecectomized adult cockerels for a balance experiment. The digestibilities of the water-soluble added pectin were 83.2 and 61.4% in intact and cecectomized birds (P < .05), respectively. Lactic acid excretion varied from 407 to 2,692 mg/kg, acetic acid from 790 to 1,214 mg/kg, propionic acid from 108 to 240 mg/kg, and butyric acid from 50 to 90 mg/kg dry matter intake. Organic acid excretions were the lowest for intact birds fed the basal diet and the highest for cecectomized birds fed the pectin diet. Addition of pectin induced an increase (P < .001) in organic acid excretion, especially for lactic acid in cecectomized birds. Organic acid excretion was greater (P < .001) in cecectomized than in intact cockerels. The increase in organic acid excretion induced by pectin addition amounted to 9 and 62% of the digested fraction of pectin in intact and cecectomized cockerels, respectively. The results showed the water-soluble nonstarch polysaccharides to be digested both in ceca and upper tract. It was also shown that the major part of organic acids produced from fermentation are absorbed in the ceca.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Pseudothrombophlebitis in an adolescent without rheumatic disease. A case report.

Pseudothrombophlebitis syndrome is the occurrence of calf pain and swelling caused by extrinsic compression of the popliteal vessels by an enlarging Baker's cyst or by calf inflammation that occurs as the result of a ruptured Baker's cyst. Few cases of pseudothrombophlebitis syndrome have been reported in patients less than 18 years of age, and nearly all these young patients had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Reported here is the case of a 17-year-old male patient without rheumatic disease who presented to the outpatient clinic with a 1-week history of an increasingly painful swelling of the right calf without any history of precipitating factors for a deep vein thrombosis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Molecular cloning and expression of GRK6. A new member of the G protein-coupled receptor kinase family.

G protein-coupled receptor kinases (GRK), such as the beta-adrenergic receptor kinase (beta ARK) and rhodopsin kinase, specifically phosphorylate the activated form of G protein-coupled receptors. To identify additional members of the GRK family, we screened a human heart cDNA library by low stringency hybridization using the catalytic domains of two beta ARK isoforms. Here we report the isolation of a cDNA that encodes a 576-amino-acid protein kinase, termed GRK6, that has significant homology with GRK5 (70.1% amino acid identity), IT11 (68.5%), rhodopsin kinase (47.1%), and beta ARK (37.4%). RNA blot analysis of GRK6 with selected human tissues reveals two distinct mRNAs of 3 and 2.4 kilobases with a distribution very similar to that of beta ARK (i.e. brain, skeletal muscle > pancreas > heart, lung, kidney, placenta > liver). GRK6, overexpressed in Sf9 insect cells using the baculovirus system, was able to phosphorylate both the beta 2-adrenergic receptor and rhodopsin in a stimulus-dependent fashion, although it was significantly less active then beta ARK on these substrates. These data extend the family of GRKs and suggest that GRK6 may have a substrate specificity quite distinct from beta ARK and rhodopsin kinase.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1993

Phase II evaluation of recombinant alpha-2a-interferon and continuous infusion fluorouracil in previously untreated metastatic colorectal adenocarcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Thirty-nine patients with advanced measurable metastatic colorectal carcinoma were entered in a clinical trial of recombinant alpha-2a-interferon (r alpha-2a-IFN) and continuous-infusion 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). Patients had not been treated previously with chemotherapy and had bidimensionally measurable disease. METHODS: A course of therapy consisted of a 5-day continuous infusion of 5-FU, 750 mg/m2/day, with r alpha-2a-IFN, 9 x 10(6) IU, subcutaneously, on days 1, 3 and 5 of the 5-FU infusion. A course of therapy was repeated every 15 days, and patients were examined for response after receiving four courses of therapy. RESULTS: One patient had a complete response, and 11 patients experienced partial responses, for an overall response rate of 31% (95% confidence interval [CI], 17-48%). The median duration of response was 7.5 months (range, 2-13 months). Fifty-two percent of the patients entered in this trial are alive at time of this writing, with a median follow-up duration of 12.2 months (range, 6-24 months). Grade 3-4 toxicities included mucositis (nine patients), diarrhea (two patients), granulocytopenia (two patients), and fatigue (three patients). CONCLUSION: This regimen of 5-FU with r alpha-2a-IFN administration does not appear to be superior to previously published schedules of 5-FU with r alpha-2a-IFN or to other methods that modulate 5-FU.

Abdominal Neoplasms↗
PubMed1993

Molecular karyotype variation in Leishmania (Viannia) peruviana: indication of geographical populations in Peru distributed along a north-south cline.

Forty-one Leishmania peruviana isolates were selected along a north-south transect which crossed areas endemic for uta in three different biogeographical regions in the Peruvian Andes. The isolates were analysed by molecular karyotyping and hybridization with three chromosome-derived DNA probes. All the isolates could be distinguished from L. braziliensis by their pLb-134 hybridization patterns. However, the patterns with the other probes (pLb-168 and -22) could be used to cluster the Peruvian isolates in discrete groups (karyodemes) which varied in their level of similarity with L. braziliensis. The geographical distribution of these karyodemes supports the hypothesis that eco-graphical isolation has contributed to the heterogeneity of L. peruviana.

Animals↗