Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

J Robinson

Publications and source records attributed to J Robinson.

At least 451 records · Page 25Linked to original sources

Hairy cell leukemia and a fatal periarteritis nodosa-like syndrome.

We studied a patient with hairy cell leukemia (HCL) in whom periarteritislike lesions of multiple medium-sized arteries developed. There were many aneurysms distributed through the visceral organs. One ruptured into the abdomen, causing death. A previous study suggested that HCL may predispose to periarteritis nodosa, but recently a reversed temporal sequence of vasculitis and HCL was postulated. Our patient's course lends further support to the concept that HCL predisposes to vasculitis and periarteritislike lesions.

Adult↗

Chronic low back pain: predicting response to nonsurgical treatment.

The effectiveness of several measures in predicting response to conservative treatment for chronic low back pain was studied. The measures included pretreatment demographic variables, the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), patient ratings of pain caused by daily activities as measured by the Activities Discomfort Scale (ADS), and physician ratings. The subjects consisted of 135 patients treated at a university hospital back clinic who completed questionnaires six months or more after the initiation of treatment. The only significant predictor of how successful treatment had been in relieving pain was the MMPI hypochondriasis scale. The best predictor of patient-rated average pain intensity at follow-up was the ADS. Physicians' predictions of pain relief and return to normal activities, the ADS and the hypochondriasis scale each was associated significantly with patient ratings of return to normal activities after treatment, and to about the same extent. In general, statistical combinations of pretreatment variables did not increase the power of prediction. The ADS appears to be a promising predictor of patient-rated pain intensity after treatment, and may be useful in identifying poor risk patients.

Activities of Daily Living↗

Deafness.

Deafness is a major community health problem to which doctors must remain alert. As many as 20 per cent of children are estimated to suffer a hearing loss sufficient to handicap development by the age of 10. Mild to moderate and fluctuating hearing loss is often difficult to detect in children and discovered only after development of a medical, language or educational problem.

Child↗

Aeromonas-associated gastroenteritis.

Enterotoxigenic Aeromonas spp. were isolated from 118 (10.2%) children with diarrhoea and 7 (0.6%) of those without diarrhoea in a prospective, year-long study of 1156 children with gastroenteritis and the same number of age and sex matched controls. In Perth, Western Australia, aeromonas-associated diarrhoea is distinctly seasonal with a sharp summer peak. The disease most commonly presents in children under two years of age as watery diarrhoea of short duration and mild fever which require no specific treatment. In more than one-third of patients diarrhoea lasted for over 2 weeks and in almost one-quarter there was a dysentery-like illness. In some patients with aeromonas-associated diarrhoea the clinical features could be regarded as suggestive of ulcerative colitis.

Aeromonas↗

Tubulin polymerization in dimethyl sulfoxide.

The self-assembly of tubulin devoid of microtubule-associated proteins (MAPs) has been studied using a MES buffer containing dimethyl sulfoxide (Me2SO). Between 6% and 12% v/v Me2SO, the tubulin forms polymers which resemble microtubules in their morphology and chemical properties. These Me2SO microtubules, like normal microtubules, require GTP for assembly and are sensitive to cold, calcium ions, colchicine, and hydrostatic pressure. The polymerization shows a critical concentration which is dependent on the concentration of Me2SO. 8% Me2SO was found to be the optimum concentration for microtubule assembly. In these conditions, a linear Van t'Hoff plot is obtained, with delta H0/kJ . mol-1 = 26.5 over the range of 10-35 degrees C, and delta S0/J . K-1 . mol-1 = 186, in contrast to the assembly with MAPS or glycerol. The kinetics of polymerization shows that the apparent stoichiometry coefficient of nucleation has the value of 2. Ultracentrifugation analysis shows that there are no oligomers present at low temperatures in the absence of free nucleotide, while in identical conditions, tubulin with MAPs does form oligomers. Although the solvent conditions used supported propagation of assembly, nucleation was found to be very dependent on the transiently locally high Me2SO concentrations formed when Me2SO was added to initiate assembly. It is concluded that Me2SO preferentially stabilizes the lateral interactions.

Animals↗

Home sweet hospital.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Health Facility Environment↗

2-bromopalmitate inhibition of stimulatory effect on LH in isolated luteal cells.

The effect of 2-bromopalmitate, an inhibitor of fatty acids oxidation, on progesterone synthesis in isolated luteal cells was studied. Incubation of the cells with increasing concentrations (0 - 2 mM) of the inhibitor resulted in an initial enhancement of progesterone synthesis, both in the presence and absence of LH (1 microgram/ml). In the LH-treated cells, this stimulation in steroid synthesis becomes markedly impaired at 2 mM 2-bromopalmitate. In the control cells, however, progesterone synthesis was sustained at the elevated level. At high concentrations of 2-bromopalmitate, the stimulatory effect of LH (relative to the controls) on steroidogenesis was progressively diminished, until it was completely abolished at an inhibitor concentration of 2 mM. The oxidation of labelled palmitic acid by luteal cells was also effectively inhibited by 2-bromopalmitate (1 mM). The results indicate that the steroidogenic effect of LH is mediated, in part, by fatty acid oxidation, and were explained in terms of the interaction between carbohydrate and fatty acid oxidation in supporting ovarian steroidogenesis.

Animals↗

Activation and transport of fatty acids in ovarian mitochondria: effect of Lh.

Enzymes of fatty acid activation and transport were studied in luteinized rat ovaries. Luteal mitochondria were found to contain high levels of palmitoyl-CoA synthetase and carnitine palmitoyl-transferase activities. In addition, studies on the effect of palmitate concentration on palmitoyl-CoA synthetase activity revealed the possible existence of two forms of the enzyme: Km values of 0.34 mM and 21.33 mM, with Vmax of 3.64 and 66.67 nmoles/min/mg mitochondrial protein respectively, were obtained for the two activities. Similar kinetic data for carnitine palmitoyl-transferase activity in intact mitochondria are a Km of 21 microM and a Vmax of 18.2 nmoles/min/mg mitochondrial protein. Only one activity of this enzyme could be detected in luteal mitochondria. It appears that the activities of both enzymes were not affected by prior administration of LH in vivo. The possibility that this negative finding was due to the experimental procedures employed, rather than a reflection of the situation in vivo, could not be discounted, although its more likely that these two enzymes are probably not locus of LH stimulation. The results indicate that fatty acid oxidation is an important metabolic capability of luteal mitochondria, and support the view regarding the lipid nature of the respiratory fuel of ovarian tissue.

Acyltransferases↗

Braxton-Hicks contractions and fetal breathing movements.

Fetal breathing movements were observed for periods of approximately 100 minutes in 10 women at 36-42 weeks' gestation. Simultaneous recordings of uterine activity were made using an external tocograph. Fetal breathing movements were present at the onset of 82 Braxton-Hicks' contractions. There was a significant change in the rate of fetal breathing with a trough before the acme of the contraction, followed by a peak as uterine activity decreased. It is suggested that these changes are related to pressure on the fetus during the contraction and probably are unrelated to changes in fetal oxygenation.

Female↗

Biochemical characteristics of enterotoxigenic Aeromonas spp.

Biotypes of Aeromonas spp. correlated well with enterotoxin production in a study of 174 strains. Using biochemical characteristics determined by conventional methods and multitest systems, we correctly classified 93% of the strains with regard to enterotoxin production. Most of the enterotoxigenic strains were Voges-Proskauer (VP) positive and did not hydrolyze arabinose, but VP-positive strains which hydrolyzed arabinose were mainly non-enterotoxigenic. Aeromonas punctata subsp. caviae, which is VP negative and does not oxidize gluconate or produce gas from glucose, was non-enterotoxigenic. Although the number of other VP-negative strains was small, most were enterotoxigenic. Discrimination was improved so that 97% of the strains were correctly classified if the hemolysin assay was used either for all strains or for only the VP-positive, arabinose-positive and VP-negative, non-A. punctata subsp. caviae strains. Because the proposed classification system does not require facilities for carrying out in vivo assays such as suckling mouse or ileal loop methods, the identification of enterotoxigenic Aeromonas strains should be possible in diagnostic laboratories and will facilitate epidemiological studies of the role of these organisms in acute diarrhea.

Aeromonas↗

Changes in cell surface antigen expression during hemopoietic differentiation.

Human bone marrow cells were separated on a fluorescence activated cell sorter (FACS) according to their binding of a series of monoclonal antibodies; the positive and negative fractions were cloned for erythroid burst and colony-forming units (BFU-E and CFU-E) and myeloid colony-forming units (CFU-GM), and cytocentrifuge slides were prepared for microscopy of maturing precursors. The pattern of antigen expression on hemopoietic progenitor and precursor populations has been established using antibodies defining blood group (A, I/i), HLA-associated (*A, B, C, DR, DC1), lineage specific, and transferrin receptor antigens. Like monomorphic HLA-DR, the antigen defined by monoclonal antibody OKT10 is expressed on the earliest progenitors and lost during differentiation, suggesting a role in interactions regulating the differentiation of these cells. The HLA-linked DC1 determinant, in contrast to HLA-DR, is not expressed at a detectable level on progenitor cells. Although a lineage-specific early antigen has not been identified, the transferrin receptor is expressed on the majority of erythroid progenitors, but only weakly on myeloid progenitors, and may provide an approach to isolating erythroid progenitors. These and earlier studies with monoclonal antibodies against HLA-DR and glycophorin now provide a detailed "map" of antigen expression during hemopoietic differentiation.

ABO Blood-Group System↗

Immunological cross-reactivity of enterotoxins of Aeromonas hydrophila and cholera toxin.

Pre-incubation with anticholera toxin (ACT) significantly reduced intestinal secretion induced by cell-free broth preparations of heat-labile toxins (LT) of Escherichia coli and Aeromonas hydrophila in jejunal perfusion experiments in rats in vivo. Pre-incubation with ACT also prevented cytotoxicity by E. coli LT in the Y1 cell culture system. Pre-incubation had no effect on cytotoxicity in Y1 and L132 cell lines or on haemolytic activity with cell-free preparations of A. hydrophila. In another series of experiments rats were immunized with cholera toxin given as an intraperitoneal priming dose followed 12 days later by intraduodenal boosting. Immunization significantly protected against net intestinal fluid secretion induced by enterotoxigenic E. coli and A. hydrophila and by cholera toxin.

Aeromonas↗