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Biomedical subjects

J Miller

Publications and source records attributed to J Miller.

At least 1,063 records · Page 59Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Segmental pancreatic transplantation in pigs.

Segmental pancreatic allotransplants were performed intraperitoneally in pigs with and without ligation of the duct. Exocrine pancreatic function was suppressed by the administration of glucagon. All recipients also received high doses of methylprednisolone for the first 10 days after transplant as well as cyclophosphamide until death or sacrifice. Some animals received antilymphocyte globulin (ALG) in addition. Diabetes was induced by total panreatectomy. Allotransplantation in pancreatectomized animals was successful in preventing hyperglycemia for up to 33 days of observation. ALG in the dosage used did not show any beneficial effects and varying degrees of rejection occurred in the majority of these unmatched animal pairs. Grafts without ligation of the duct seemed to show the best preservation of tissue because of absence of obstructive damage following duct ligation. Of significance is the fact that no intraperitoneal inflammatory or infectious complications occurred in recipients of either duct-ligated or unligated grafts, presumably because of suppression of exocrine function with glucagon and the reabsorptive capability of the peritoneal surface. We speculate that this is a satisfactory physiological model for continued trials in pancreatic transplantation, although antirejection therapy was far from satisfactory.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Protein quality of several multi-component, commercially prepared foods.

Eleven commercial food products that may be considered by consumers to be major sources of protein were evaluated. Most of these items contained significant amounts of carbohydrate in the form of cereal products or purified sugars. Seven of the products were at least equal to casein in protein efficiency ratio (PER). Canned spaghetti and meat balls, the TV dinner, canned chicken-and-vegetable baby food, and food bars had PER values between 91 and 73 per cent of that of casein, while PER values for ground beef and high-protein cereal were significantly higher than casein.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Cognitive influences on perceptual processing.

These experiments investigate the influence of frequency of occurrence of a visual stimulus (stimulus probability) on encoding processes, in an attempt to discover what sorts of mechanisms allow cognitive processes to modify perceptual processes. Experiments 1 and 2 show that frequently occurring visual letters do not facilitate encoding of visually similar letters. This implies that stimulus probability does not directly affect the feature detectors used in encoding the letters. Four more experiments provide evidence that stimulus probability has its effect on the availability of an abstract code that is generated by the encoding process from the visual input. Results from the experiments with letter stimuli could be interpreted using a model similar to the logogen model of Morton. Experiments with nonsense forms suggest that subjects use abstract codes in dealing with the forms only when the stimuli are constructed from a set of orthogonal features. A secondary finding was that visual quality has an effect that extends past the feature analysis stage and into a stage in which the visual input activities an abstract code. This result calls into question the common practice of interpreting the interaction of a factor with visual quality as evidence that the factor affects visual feature analysis.

Cognition↗
PubMed1978

Single unit responses in the inferior colliculus of the awake and performing rhesus monkey.

1. The activity of single units in the inferior colliculus of unanesthetized monkeys was recorded during performance in an auditory reaction time task. Stimulus intensity and frequency were varied. 2. Spontaneous rate of unit discharge varied from 0 to 78.2 discharges per second, with a mean of 14.7 discharges/sec. 3. Both broadly and narrowly tuned units were encountered in the central nucleus of the inferior colliculus. The temporal discharge pattern of most units varied with changes in stimulus frequency; onset bursts and/or sustained discharge suppression dominated the unit discharge at the edges of receptive fields. 4. Half of the units examined at several intensity levels displayed nonmonotonic relationships between evoked discharge rate and stimulus intensity, with most nonmonotonic units showing a distinct "best intensity". The temporal response pattern of almost all units varied with changes in stimulus intensity, with onset bursts and discharge suppression increasing in occurrence with increasing intensity. 5. Units recorded in the external nucleus of the inferior colliculus displayed spontaneous rates which were similar to those of central nucleus units, and were affected by variation in stimulus intensity in the same fashion. However, the average initial latency of such units to intense stimuli was no longer than the latency of central nucleus units. 6. Variations in unit discharge with changes in stimulus frequency and intensity are consistent with an interaction of excitatory and inhibitory inputs with different initial latencies, dynamic ranges and receptive fields. In particular, our data suggest that inhibitory inputs have longer initial latencies and higher thresholds. Inhibition is stronger at the edges of a unit's receptive field, and dominates at high frequencies in units with low characteristic frequency. 7. Our data are not consistent with previous reports that single units in the unanesthetized animal display uniformly monotonic intensity functions and uniformly broad frequency responses.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1978

Multidimensional same--different judgments: evidence against independent comparisons of dimensions.

Commonly discussed models of performance in the multidimensional same-different task are based on the assumption that independent same-different decisions are reached for each of the stimulus dimensions used in an experiment. In these models, a higher level mechanism examines th outcome of these independent decisions in order to determine whether the stimuli are the same or different overall. Previous evidence indicating that these models are inconsistent with results from same trials is summarized, and a new test of the above assumption using data from different trials is proposed. Detailed analysis of reaction times from different trials is shown, at least for some pairs of dimensions, to be incompatible with the view that separate same-different decisions are reached for each dimension. The major finding is that there are more relatively fast responses in a condition with two dimensions different, compared with the two conditions with only one of the dimensions different, than any processing model treating the dimensions separately could predict. The results suggest that partial information may be combined across dimensions in order to reach a "different" judgment.

Color Perception↗
PubMed1978

Effects of dietary corn on hematological response of anemic rats to ferrous sulfate.

Anemic rats were fed diets containing adequate quantities of all required nutrients, except iron, which was supplied by ferrous sulfate and/or corn grain. Diets were supplemented with the inorganic salt and corn in such a pattern that regression of hematological response on increments of ferrous sulfate intake could be calculated for 0, 25%, 50% and 75% dietary corn. Corn was added to the diets at the expense of starch which served only as a source of energy. Slopes of the regression lines for response (hemoglobin iron gain or final hemoglobin concentration) to ferrous sulfate intake were not altered significantly by inclusion of up to 75% corn in the diets. Results indicate that corn does not contain an inhibitor of iron absorption. Poor iron absorption from diets or meals in which corn provides a significant portion of the total food supply is probably due to a nutritional inadequacy of the corn, possibly its amino acid imbalance.

Anemia, Hypochromic↗
PubMed1978

Diagnosis of pneumococcal pneumonia by antigen detection in sputum.

Pneumococcal polysaccharide was detected by counterimmunoelectrophoresis in the sputum of 20 of 26 (77%) adults with community-acquired pneumonia and a positive sputum culture for Streptococcus pneumoniae. The test was negative in 29 pneumonia patients with negative sputum culture for S. pneumoniae. Pneumococcal antigen was also detected in the sputum of six of nine adults with chronic bronchitis and a positive sputum culture, but was not detected in expectorated respiratory secretions of 22 pneumococcal carriers with colds. Pneumococcal antigen could also be detected in sputum by immunodiffusion; antigen titers varied from 1:2 to 1:256. These results strongly suggest that the detection of pneumococcal antigen in respiratory tract secretions indicates infection caused by S. pneumoniae.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Lithium erythrocyte/plasma ratio as a predictor of response.

The authors measured RBC/plasma lithium ratios in 33 patients with primary diagnoses of unipolar depression (N=20), bipolar depression (N=9), schizo-affective psychosis (N=2), and alcoholism (N=2). Subjects rated as having marked or moderate improvement at follow-up (average = 17.1 months) tended to have high ratios (greater than or equal to .41), whereas all 9 patients rated as minimally improved were in the low-ratio group. Although further research with larger samples, controls, and longer follow-up is necessary, the results suggest a predictive value for the RBC/lithium ratio.

Alcoholism↗