Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

J Miller

Publications and source records attributed to J Miller.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed2003

Comparison of real-time PCR and EIA for the detection of outbreaks of acute gastroenteritis caused by norovirus.

We compared real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and a newly developed enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for the detection of noroviruses (NoV) in 70 stool samples taken from outbreaks and sporadic cases of acute gastroenteritis. The real-time PCR classified more samples as positive than the EIA (26 versus 10) and detected more outbreaks of NoV (six versus two). Real-time PCR offers rapid and sensitive diagnosis for both sporadic cases and outbreaks of NoV gastroenteritis and, by comparison, the reduced sensitivity and specificity of the EIA will result in negative samples having to be tested by PCR. This delay might undermine current infection control procedures, lead to further dissemination of infection and increase healthcare costs.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2003

Monitoring the coral disease, plague type II, on coral reefs in St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands.

In July 1997, conspicuous white patches of necrotic tissue and bare skeleton began to appear on scleractinian corals in several bays around St. John, US Virgin Islands. Analysis of diseased coral tissue from five different species confirmed the presence of a Sphingomonas-like bacterium, the pathogen for plague type II. To date, 14 species of hard corals have been affected by plague type II around St. John. This disease was monitored at Haulover and Tektite Reefs at depths of 7-12 meters. The study site at Tektite Reef has > 50% cover by scleractinian corals with 90% of hard corals being composed of Montastraea annularis. Monthly surveys at Tektite Reef from December 1997 to May 2001 documented new incidence of disease (bare white patches of skeleton) every month with associated loss of living coral and 90.5% of all disease patches occurred on M. annularis. The frequency of disease within transects ranged from 3 to 58%, and the area of disease patches ranged from 0.25 to 9000 cm2. The average percent cover by the disease within 1 m2 ranged from 0.01% (+/- 0.04 SD) to 1.74% (+/- 9.08 SD). Photo-monitoring of 28 diseased corals of 9 species begun in September 1997 at Haulover Reef revealed no recovery of diseased portions with all necrotic tissue being overgrown rapidly by turf algae, usually within less than one month. Most coral colonies suffered partial mortality. Very limited recruitment (e.g., of Agaricia spp., Favia spp. and sponges) has been noted on the diseased areas. This coral disease has the potential to cause more loss of live coral on St. John reefs than any other stress to date because it targets the dominant reef building species, M. annularis.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Co-immunisation with a plasmid DNA cocktail primes mice against anthrax and plague.

The protective antigen (PA) of Bacillus anthracis and the V antigen of Yersinia pestis are potent immunogens and candidate vaccine sub-units. When plasmid DNA encoding either PA or V antigen was used to immunise the Balb/c mouse, a low serum IgG titre was detected (log (10)1.0 or less) which was slightly increased by boosting with plasmid DNA. However, when mice immunised with plasmid DNA were later boosted with the respective recombinant protein, a significant increase in titre (up to 100-fold) was observed. Mice primed with a combination of each plasmid and boosted with a combination of the recombinant proteins, were fully protected (6/6) against challenge with Y. pestis. This compared favourably with mice primed only with plasmid DNA encoding the V antigen and boosted with rV, which were partially protected (3/6) against homologous challenge or with mice primed and boosted with plasmid DNA encoding the V antigen which were poorly protected (1/6). Combined immunisation with the two plasmid DNA constructs followed by boosting with a combination of the encoded recombinant proteins enhanced the protective immune response to Y. pestis compared with priming only with plasmid DNA encoding the V antigen and boosting with rV. This enhancement may be due to the effect of CpG motifs known to be present in the plasmid DNA construct encoding PA.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

After 10 years and 1903 inguinal hernias, what is the outcome for the laparoscopic repair?

BACKGROUND: The procedure of choice for inguinal hernia repair has remained controversial for decades. The laparoscopic approach has now been utilized for more than 10 years, and a significant volume of patient outcomes is now available for review. METHODS: The hospital and office records of 1388 patients who underwent 1903 laparoscopic inguinal hernia repairs at Atlanta Medical Center during the past 10 years were retrospectively reviewed in order to determine demographics, recurrence rate, and complications. In addition, 123 hernia repairs were prospectively studied in 71 patients during this time period in order to accurately evaluate postoperative pain and return to activity. RESULTS: Two hundred fifty-five (13.4%) hernias were recurrent and 1648 (86.6%) were primary. Five hundred and fifteen (37.1%) hernias were bilateral. The total extraperitoneal approach was utilized for 1561 (82.0%) of the 1903 repairs. The average operative time was 75.4 (14-193) minutes. Estimated blood loss was 22.0 (0-250) ml. Seventeen patients (1.2%) were converted to an open form of hernia repair. Minor complications occurred in 83 (6.0%) patients and major complications occurred in 18 (1.3%) patients. CONCLUSIONS: The laparoscopic approach is a safe form of inguinal hernia repair that offers the patient a shorter and less painful recovery with an extremely low recurrence rate.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Complexity of biomedical data models in cardiology: the Intranet-based AF registry.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia and is associated with major complications. Ongoing research is focused on new pacing devices for alternative treatment of this disease. The objective of an AF registry is to store prospectively all relevant data covering clinical information, quality of life and device parameters and by this means provide a platform for long-term follow-up. For statistical analysis, categorical and numerical items are required, thus a high-granular data structure must be defined and implemented in the clinical setting. Facing the limits of formalization, we developed an XML-based documentation scheme consisting of 619 items in eight tables and implemented it with state-of-the-art Intranet technology. At present detailed information on 88 patients is recorded. The pacing device generates per patient and follow-up visit a file consisting of approximately 400-500 parameters provided on a floppy disk, which are transferred by means of a specific interface into the database. Success factors for integration of a complex research database into the routine workflow of a busy university hospital are interfaces between data sources to enable non-redundant data entry, intensive fine tuning by iterative software engineering and benefit for the clinical users in form of clinical reports and patient-specific summaries. Data quality must be assured by plausibility checks. To get an overview of this complex dataset we developed a dedicated visualization tool. Due to the high number of items a large patient collective must be recruited for statistical evaluation. Interinstitutional cooperation is required for a consensus on common minimal documentation schemes to enable pooling of data.

Atrial Fibrillation↗
PubMed2002

Monte Carlo transport model comparison with 1A GeV accelerated iron experiment: heavy-ion shielding evaluation of NASA space flight-crew foodstuff.

Deep-space manned flight as a reality depends on a viable solution to the radiation problem. Both acute and chronic radiation health threats are known to exist, with solar particle events as an example of the former and galactic cosmic rays (GCR) of the latter. In this experiment Iron ions of 1A GeV are used to simulate GCR and to determine the secondary radiation field created as the GCR-like particles interact with a thick target. A NASA prepared food pantry locker was subjected to the iron beam and the secondary fluence recorded. A modified version of the Monte Carlo heavy ion transport code developed by Zeitlin at LBNL is compared with experimental fluence. The foodstuff is modeled as mixed nuts as defined by the 71st edition of the Chemical Rubber Company (CRC) Handbook of Physics and Chemistry. The results indicate a good agreement between the experimental data and the model. The agreement between model and experiment is determined using a linear fit to ordered pairs of data. The intercept is forced to zero. The slope fit is 0.825 and the R2 value is 0.429 over the resolved fluence region. The removal of an outlier, Z=14, gives values of 0.888 and 0.705 for slope and R2 respectively.

Cosmic Radiation↗
PubMed2002

Rescue percutaneous coronary intervention for failed thrombolysis: results from a district general hospital.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the outcome of a policy of emergency percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with acute myocardial infarction and electrocardiographic (ECG) evidence of failed reperfusion after thrombolysis. DESIGN: Observational study. SETTING: District general hospital. PATIENTS: A total of 109 consecutive patients with acute myocardial infarction who underwent emergency angiography and angioplasty for failed reperfusion diagnosed on the basis of standard ECG criteria. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: In-hospital mortality; death, infarct territory reinfarction, and reintervention by PCI or coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) during follow up; in-lab resource utilisation. RESULTS: At initial angiography, 76 patients had Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) trial 0/1 flow and 33 had TIMI 2/3 flow. Fourteen patients were in cardiogenic shock. TIMI 3 flow was established or maintained in 93 patients (85%). Overall in-hospital mortality was 9%. It was 3% in non-shock patients, 50% in shocked patients, and 40% when the procedure was unsuccessful (TIMI 0/1 flow post-procedure). Over a mean follow up of 30 months (>12 months of follow up in all patients) there were 19 further events (one death, five reinfarctions, and 13 revascularisations (nine CABG and four PCI)). The cost of rescue PCI was not significantly higher than comparable elective interventions. CONCLUSION: A policy of emergency angiography and PCI for failed reperfusion in acute myocardial infarction can be carried out in a hospital without on-site surgical backup with good medium term clinical outcomes.

Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary↗
PubMed2002

The response of a spherical tissue-equivalent proportional counter to iron particles from 200-1000 MeV/nucleon.

The radiation environment on board the space shuttle and the International Space Station includes high-Z and high-energy (HZE) particles that are part of the galactic cosmic radiation (GCR) spectrum. Iron-56 particles are considered to be one of the most biologically important parts of the GCR spectrum. Tissue-equivalent proportional counters (TEPCs) are used as active dosimeters on manned space flights. These TEPCs are further used to determine the average quality factor for each space mission. A TEPC simulating a 1-microm-diameter sphere of tissue was exposed as part of a particle spectrometer to (56)Fe particles at energies from 200-1000 MeV/nucleon. The response of TEPCs in terms of mean lineal energy, y(F), and dose mean lineal energy, y(D), as well as the energy deposited at different impact parameters through the detector was determined for six different incident energies of (56)Fe particles in this energy range. Calculations determined that charged-particle equilibrium was achieved for each of the six experiments. Energy depositions at different impact parameters were calculated using a radial dose distribution model, and the results were compared to experimental data.

Cosmic Radiation↗
PubMed2001

Subcellular localization of presenilin 2 endoproteolytic C-terminal fragments.

Mutations in the genes that encode the presenilin 1 and 2 (PS1 and PS2) proteins cause the majority of familial Alzheimer's disease (FAD). Differential cleavage of the presenilins results in a generation of at least two C-terminal fragments (CTFs). An increase in the smaller of these two CTFs is one of the few changes in presenilin processing associated with FAD mutations in both PS1 and PS2. Interestingly, the phosphorylation of PS2 modulates the production of the smaller, caspase-derived PS2 CTF, which indicates that the generation of this fragment is a regulated, physiologic event. To date, there is no data concerning the subcellular distribution of the caspase-derived PS2 CTF. Because this fragment is normally present at levels that are difficult to detect, we have used cell lines in which the production of wild-type or N141I mutant PS2 is controlled by a tetracycline-regulated promoter in order to assess the subcellular localization of the caspase CTF in relation to the larger, constitutive PS2 CTF and to PS2 holoprotein. We have found that when levels of PS2 are low, the constitutive CTF colocalizes with markers consistent with localization in the early Golgi-ER-Golgi intermediate compartment (ERGIC) while the caspase CTF colocalizes with markers for the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Following induction of wild-type or mutant PS2, when the levels of PS2 are high, the primary localization of the constitutive CTF appears to shift from the early Golgi-ERGIC in addition to the ER. Interestingly, while the induction of wild-type PS2 resulted in the localization of the caspase CTF primarily in the ER, the induction of mutant PS2 resulted in the localization of the caspase CTF to both the ER and the early Golgi-ERGIC. In summary, these data suggest that the two presenilin 2 CTFs have different patterns of subcellular localization and that the N141I PS2 mutation alters the localization pattern of the PS2 caspase fragment.

Alzheimer Disease↗