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Biomedical subjects

J M Gould

Publications and source records attributed to J M Gould.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Expression of C-reactive protein in the human respiratory tract.

C-reactive protein (CRP) is a normal constituent of human sera synthesized by hepatocytes and induced by proinflammatory cytokines. The function of this acute-phase reactant includes activation of complement and enhancement of opsonophagocytosis. CRP binds to phosphorylcholine (ChoP), a constituent of eukaryotic membranes that is also found on the cell surface of major bacterial pathogens of the human respiratory tract, including Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae. The presence of CRP on mucosal surfaces and role in innate immunity in the human respiratory tract where ChoP-containing organisms reside have not been previously studied. We have shown using a monoclonal antibody to CRP that CRP is present in inflamed (0.17 to 42 microg/ml) and uninflamed (<0.05 to 0.88 microg/ml) secretions from the human respiratory tract in sufficient quantities for an antimicrobial effect. In addition, the CRP gene was expressed in epithelial cells of the human respiratory tract using in situ hybridization on nasal polyps and reverse transcriptase PCR of pharyngeal cells in culture. The complement-dependent bactericidal activity of normal nasal airway surface fluid and sputum against ChoP-expressing H. influenzae was abolished when the secretions were pretreated to remove CRP. In summary, the results indicate that CRP is present in secretions of the human respiratory tract, that human respiratory epithelial cells are capable of CRP expression, and that this protein may contribute to bacterial clearance in the human respiratory tract.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Strontium-90 in deciduous teeth as a factor in early childhood cancer.

Strontium-90 concentrations in deciduous (baby) teeth of 515 children born mainly after the end of worldwide atmospheric nuclear bomb tests in 1980 are found to equal the concentrations in children born during atmospheric tests in the late 1950s. Recent Sr-90 concentrations in the New York-New Jersey-Long Island metropolitan area have exceeded the expected downward trend seen in both baby teeth and adult bone after the 1963 ban on atmospheric testing. Sharp rises and declines are also seen in Miami, Florida. In Suffolk County, Long Island, Sr-90 concentrations in baby teeth were significantly correlated with cancer incidence for children 0 to 4 years of age. A similar correlation of childhood malignancies with the rise and decline of Sr-90 in deciduous teeth occurred during the peak years of fallout in the 1950s and 1960s. Independent support for the relation between nuclear releases and childhood cancer is provided by a significant correlation with total alpha and beta activities in local surface water in Suffolk County. These results strongly support a major role of nuclear reactor releases in the increase of cancer and other immune-system-related disorders in young American children since the early 1980s.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1996

Nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae susceptibility: effect of inoculum size and beta-lactamase production.

The activities of cefixime, cefpodoxime, cefprozil, cefuroxime, loracarbef, and amoxicillin/clavulanate against 72 clinical isolates of nontypeable Haemophilus influenzae were determined by using an agar dilution method. The effects of beta-lactamase production and bacterial inoculum size were investigated. All antimicrobials exhibited a significant inoculum effect, demonstrating the importance of accurately determining inoculum size in the performance of antimicrobial susceptibility testing of H. influenzae.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1995

Smooth muscle tumors associated with X-linked Alport syndrome: carrier detection in females.

X-linked Alport syndrome (AS) associated with diffuse esophageal leiomyomatosis (DL) has been reported to be due to deletions removing the 5' ends of both the COL4A5 and COL4A6 genes, encoding the alpha 5 and alpha 6 chains of type IV collagen, respectively, whereas a variety of mutations in COL4A5 has been identified in patients with AS alone. Here we report three additional DL-AS patients who also display deletions removing the 5' ends of both COL4A5 and COL4A6 genes. Furthermore, we tracked the mutation in 15 females belonging to six DL-AS families by gene copy number determination. We found that, like AS, DL is transmitted as an X-linked dominant trait but, contrary to AS, DL is fully penetrant and completely expressed in females. These results are in agreement with our previous work suggesting that DL could be due to a dominant effect of an abnormal alpha 6 (IV) collagen chain. Finally, we have detected a similar deletion of the COL4A5 and COl4A6 genes in a DL affected female who showed no sign of nephropathy, demonstrating the AS carrier status of this DL patient. These results emphasize the importance of molecular analysis of female DL patients for genetic counseling.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Nuclear fallout, low birthweight, and immune deficiency.

An investigation of the mortality rates of young adults born in the postwar period of large-scale atmospheric nuclear testing (1945-1965) in the United States and other western industrial nations reveals an increasingly anomalous rise in mortality from its previous secular decline. Beginning in the late 1970s and particularly since 1983, the deterioration in the health of the 25-44 age group is related to in utero exposure to fission products in the milk and diet, associated with an unprecedented rise in underweight births and neonatal mortality known to be accompanied by loss of immune resistance. The 1945-1965 rise in the percentage of live births below 2500 grams is highly correlated with the amount of strontium-90 in human bone, both peaking in the mid-1960s. In the 1980s, for the baby boom generation (those born between 1945 and 1965), cancer incidence and mortality due to infectious diseases associated with a rising degree of immune deficiency, such as pneumonia, septicemia, and AIDS, increased sharply. This process of increasing immune deficiency appears to have been exacerbated by continuing secondary exposures to accidental reactor releases and by an acceleration of radiation-induced mutation of pathogenic microorganisms increasingly resistant to drugs.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Breast cancer: evidence for a relation to fission products in the diet.

To establish the possible relation between breast cancer mortality and low doses of radiation due to fission products in the environment, the mortality rates in the nine census regions of the United States for the years 1984-1988 were correlated with the cumulative airborne releases from all the nuclear plants in each region for the period 1970-1987. A high correlation coefficient of 0.91 was obtained for a logarithmic dependence on the total releases, consistent with an indirect action via free-radical oxygen at very low dose rates, in contrast to a direct action on DNA at high dose rates, explaining the wide differences in risk per unit dose obtained in earlier studies. The recent temporal changes of breast cancer rates in the New York metropolitan area including nearby Connecticut, Westchester, and Long Island were examined in relation to the releases from nearby nuclear plants and found to be consistent with a dominant role of short-lived fission products in drinking water and fresh milk. The results support a major role for nuclear plant releases in industrial countries in the recent rises of breast and other forms of cancers not related to smoking, especially among older persons, and strongly support the need to replace nuclear reactors with more benign ways to generate electricity.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Adhesion of an Amylolytic Arthrobacter sp. to Starch-Containing Plastic Films.

Cells of the amylolytic bacterium KB-1 (thought to be an Arthrobacter sp.) adhered ( approximately 70%) to the surface of plastic films composed of starch-poly (methylacrylate) graft copolymer (starch-PMA), but did not adhere (<10%) to films composed of polymethylacrylate (PMA), polyethylene (PE), carboxymethyl cellulose, or a mixture of PE plus poly (ethylene-coacrylic acid) (EAA), starch plus PE, or starch plus PE and EAA. About 30% of the cells adhered to gelatinized insoluble starch. Dithiothreitol (5 mM), EDTA (5 mM), and soluble starch (1%, wt/vol) had little effect on the adhesion of KB-1 cells to starch-PMA films. However, glutaraldehyde-fixed cells, azide-treated cells, and heat-killed cells did not bind to starch-PMA plastic, suggesting that the observed adhesion required cell viability. Culture supernatant from 5-day-old KB-1 cultures contained a proteolytic enzyme that inhibited cell adhesion to starch-PMA plastics. Trypsin-treated KB-1 cells also lost their ability to bind to starch-PMA plastic. When washed free of trypsin and suspended in fresh medium, trypsin-treated bacteria were able to recover adhesion activity in the absence, but not in the presence, of the protein synthesis inhibitor chloramphenicol. These results suggested that adhesion of KB-1 to starch-PMA plastic may be mediated by a cell surface protein. Although KB-1 bacteria bound to starch-PMA plastic, they did not appear to degrade starch in these films. Evidence of starch degradation was observed for starch-PE-EAA plastics, where <10% of the bacteria was bound, suggesting that cell adhesion may not be a prerequisite for degradation of some starch-containing plastics.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1988

Effects of alkaline hydrogen peroxide treatment of cotton and wheat straw on cellulose crystallinity and on composition and site and extent of disappearance of wheat straw cell wall phenolics and monosaccharides by sheep.

Effects of alkaline hydrogen peroxide (AHP) treatment on cellulose crystallinity and cell wall phenolic monomer and monosaccharide composition were measured using cotton and wheat straw (WS). Two WS treatments were used in this study, Type I WS, for which pH is not regulated during AHP treatment, and Type II WS, for which pH is regulated at 11.5 +/- .2 during AHP treatment. Wheat straw had a lower degree of cellulose crystallinity than cotton, but no differences occurred between treated and untreated substrates. Alkali-labile and nitrobenzene-extractable phenolic monomer concentrations were generally lower for Type I and Type II WS compared with untreated WS. Concentrations of glucose were higher and xylose and arabinose lower in Types I and II WS than in untreated WS. Disappearance of alkali-labile phenolic monomers and cell wall monosaccharides by wethers fed diets containing Type I (Exp. 1) or Type II (Exp. 2) AHP-treated WS were determined. Apparent digestibility of glucose and xylose before the duodenum, and of glucose, xylose and arabinose in the total tract, was greatest (P less than .05) when sheep were fed AHP-treated WS diets in both experiments. In Exp. 2, disappearance of alkali-labile phenolic monomers was greatest (P less than .05) before the duodenum and in the total tract when sheep were fed AHP-treated WS diets. Treatment of WS with AHP modified cell wall composition and increased cell wall monosaccharide digestion by sheep.

Animal Feed↗
PubMed1987

Effects of treating wheat straw with pH-regulated solutions of alkaline hydrogen peroxide on nutrient digestion by sheep.

An experiment using a 4 X 4 Latin square design was to determine effects of treating wheat straw with pH-regulated (pH = 11.5) solutions of hydrogen peroxide on site and extent of nutrient digestion in multiple-fistulated sheep. Regulating reaction pH at 11.5 prevented solubilization of some cell wall hemicelluloses, resulting in improved retention of DM. Diets fed to sheep contained 33 or 70% wheat straw either untreated or treated with alkaline hydrogen peroxide. Sheep fed diets of treated wheat straw digested more DM, NDF, ADF, and cellulose anterior to the duodenum and in the total tract than when fed diets of untreated wheat straw. Apparent CP digestion before the duodenum was highest when sheep were fed the treated 33% wheat straw diet and untreated 70% wheat straw diet. Treatments did not affect apparent nutrient digestibilities in the large intestine. Ruminal pH was lower when sheep were fed the alkaline hydrogen peroxide-treated or diets containing 33% wheat straw. Ruminal ammonia concentrations were highest when sheep were fed the untreated 70% wheat straw diet. Molar proportions of ruminal acetic and propionic acids were unaffected by diet. Alkaline hydrogen peroxide treatment substantially increased susceptibility of structural carbohydrates of wheat straw to microbial degradation in the gastrointestinal tract of sheep.

Animal Feed↗
PubMed1986

H2O2-dependent decolorization of Poly R-481 by particulate fractions from Phanerochaete chrysosporium.

A cell-free preparation from Phanerochaete chrysosporium culture medium decolorized the polymeric dye Poly R-481. The majority of this decolorization activity sedimented when centrifuged at 150,000 X g, indicating that it was associated with a particulate body. The activity was sensitive to heat, azide and cyanide, was stimulated by exogenously added H2O2, and was optimal around pH 4. Electron micrographs of the sedimented culture medium fraction showed the presence of numerous particulate structures. A similar dye decolorization activity from sonicated mycelium also sedimented at 150,000 X g.

Azides↗
PubMed1986

Effects of alkaline hydrogen peroxide treatment of wheat straw on site and extent of digestion in sheep.

Two experiments (4 X 4 Latin squares) were conducted, using four multiple-cannulated wethers (mean body weight, 65 kg), to determine effects of treating wheat straw (WS) with alkaline solutions (pH 11.5) of hydrogen peroxide (AHP; .26 g hydrogen peroxide/g WS) on site and extent of nutrient digestion in sheep. Diets contained either 33 to 37% (low WS) or 70 to 72% (high WS) AHP-treated (T) or non-treated (C) WS. Treatment of WS with AHP resulted in increased acid detergent fiber and cellulose concentrations and decreased acid detergent lignin (ADL) concentrations compared with non-treated WS. In Exp. 1, intakes were held constant at approximately 1,044 g dry matter (DM)/d. When fed AHP-treated WS diets, wethers digested more (P less than .05) DM, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and cellulose in the stomach (54.8, 47.4, 51.6 and 20.0%; 65.6, 68.8, 51.5 and 37.2%; 66.6, 74.2, 45.2 and 40.7% of intake, respectively, for low WS-T, high WS-T, low WS-C and high WS-C diets) and in the total tract (83.0, 74.8, 68.4 and 50.0%; 81.8, 81.0, 53.9 and 42.1%; 85.2, 86.9, 50.2 and 47.6%, respectively, for the low WS-T, high WS-T, low WS-C and high WS-C diets), and had lower (P less than .05) ruminal pH than when fed the non-treated WS diets. In Exp. 2, the same wethers were fed diets similar to those fed in Exp. 1, but at ad libitum intake. Wethers consumed less (P less than .05) feed when fed the high WS-C diet than when fed the other three diets (2,234, 2,526, 2,271 and 1,297 g/d for the low WS-T, high WS-T, low WS-C and high WS-C diets, respectively). Digestibilities of DM, NDF and cellulose were higher (P less than .05) when sheep were fed the treated WS diets than when fed the non-treated WS diets (82.7, 70.7, 68.4 and 58.0%; 78.6, 72.9, 49.4 and 51.6%; 78.0, 84.0, 53.8 and 37.5%, respectively, for the low WS-T, high WS-T, low WS-C and high WS-C diets). Fluid and particulate dilution rates in the rumen were higher (P less than .08) when wethers consumed AHP-treated WS diets compared with non-treated WS diets (8.21, 8.56, 6.96 and 6.81%/h; 6.06, 6.73, 4.05 and 3.15%/h, respectively, for the low WS-T, high WS-T, low WS-C and high WS-C diets). The AHP treatment was successful in overcoming the major barriers to microbial degradation of WS in the gastrointestinal tract of wethers.

Animal Feed↗
PubMed1985

Congenital trypanosomiasis in a child born in London.

A female infant of 22 months was referred to the Hospital for Sick Children, London, because of delayed psychomotor development. Extensive investigations revealed no cause, but eventually trypanosomiasis was diagnosed. The infant had not been outside the UK, but her mother came from Zaire, where the disease is endemic, but had lived in Kinshasa, where there is no sleeping sickness. It is thought, that the mother may have been asymptomatically infected by a fresh-blood transfusion four years earlier, since no other source of infection was apparent.

Democratic Republic of the Congo↗
PubMed1984

Fatty acyl-coenzyme A oxidase activity and H2O2 production in Phanerochaete chrysosporium mycelia.

Mycelia of the lignin-degrading fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium consume O2 and produce extracellular H2O2 when incubated with fatty acyl-CoA substrates, even in the presence of mitochondrial respiratory chain inhibitors such as antimycin A and cyanide. These results suggest the possibility that peroxisomal fatty acyl-CoA oxidase activity in P. chrysosporium mycelia may be an important metabolic source for the extracellular H2O2 believed to be involved in lignin biodegradation.

Acyl-CoA Oxidase↗
PubMed1984

Electrogenic symport of glucose and protons in membrane vesicles of Phanerochaete chrysosporium.

The white rot fungus, Phanerochaete chrysosporium, is one of the few organisms with documented ability to degrade lignin. Protoplasts from P. chrysosporium were disrupted by osmotic shock and membrane vesicles were isolated from the cell debris. The vesicles exhibit active glucose transport that is consistent with a glucose/H+ symport mechanism. An artificial gradient of H+ (outside greater than inside) stimulates glucose uptake. Conversely, a glucose gradient (outside greater than inside) results in the accumulation of H+ by the vesicles. Glucose uptake is not stimulated by either a Na+ or a K+ gradient. Furthermore, glucose transport is electrogenic, since glucose uptake may be driven by a membrane potential (negative interior) created by K+ diffusion mediated by valinomycin.

Biological Transport↗