Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

J Robinson

Publications and source records attributed to J Robinson.

At least 487 records · Page 27Linked to original sources

Mitotic EBNA-positive lymphocytes in peripheral blood during infectious mononucleosis.

Infectious mononucleosis (IM) is usually a benign lymphoproliferative disease caused by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Although EBV induces a state of continuous proliferation in infected B lymphocytes in vitro, the most prominent lymphoproliferation during IM is of activated, or atypical, T lymphocytes presumably responding to the virus or virus-infected cells. However, EBV genome-carrying cells are known to be circulating during IM, as cultured peripheral blood leukocytes from patients with the disease give rise to continuous lymphoblastoid cell lines, each cell of which contains the EBV genome and expresses the EBV determined nuclear antigen (EBNA). The proposal that EBV-infected cells in IM blood are not endowed with enhanced growth potential but are merely latently infected is supported by demonstrations that cells infected in vivo enter a viral replicative cycle when placed in vitro and that most cell lines derived from cultured lymphocytes of IM patients are infected by virus released in vitro. However the cells could also be capable of proliferation in vivo, since virus production and transformation are not mutually exclusive properties of EBV-transformed cells. Recently, EBNA has been detected in a very small fraction of peripheral blood lymphocytes of IM patients after T cells were first removed and this has been interpreted to indicate that cell transformation occurs in vivo during IM. The isolation of colonies of EBNA-positive cells from IM blood leukocytes cultures in soft agar suggests that at least some infected cells are capable of direct outgrowth into transformed cells. We report here direct evidence that circulating EBV-infected cells exhibit increased growth properties during IM.

Antibodies, Viral↗

A review of 17 IV-S neuroblastoma patients at the children's hospital of philadelphia.

The records of 207 neuroblastoma patients seen at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia between 1944 and 1977 were reviewed to study some of the features associated with the unusually good prognosis found in patients with Stage IV-S neuroblastoma. Initially, 22 patients appeared to fit the criteria of small primary tumor and distant disease in liver, skin, and/or marrow without evidence of bone metastases; 5 patients were subsequently rejected as being incorrectly staged. The remaining 17 patients had abdominal primary tumors and hepatic disease; in 12 of the 17, an enlarged liver was the presenting sign. Six patients had skin lesions, 4 had disease in the marrow on routine smear, and additional sites of spread were pancreas and bowel serosa. The treatment given was not systematic, and it was not possible to correlate any specific form of therapy with a satisfactory outcome. Eleven of 17 patients survived; 6 of 11 survivors had spontaneous regression of all or part of their diseases, 5 of 6 who died received irradiation, chemotherapy, or both. Death usually occurred in the first month as a complication of the local disease; 1 patient succumbed to radiation nephritis. This study establishes that the special pattern of widespread neuroblastoma termed Stage IV-S does exist, and that is associated with a good prognosis. Careful consideration should be given before selecting treatment for the Stage IV-S child because spontaneous regression is likely to occur in most of them. In patients with rapidly enlarging livers, renal or pulmonary complications may develop because of liver bulk or coagulopathies. Treatment should be directed to the liver in these cases because distant metastases seldom supervene. Low-dose irradiation, mild chemotherapy, and possibly surgical release of intraabdominal pressure using a silastic patch have all been effective. Unfortunately, patients occasionally succumb to local disease in spite of these and more aggressive measures.

Adrenal Gland Neoplasms↗

Education and training for computer-based reference services: review of training efforts to date.

This article raises several questions regarding training for computer-based reference services, including who is to be trained and who is responsible for training. It discusses these issues and then provides a summary of the training provided to date by search service suppliers, database suppliers, library schools and extension programs, library cooperatives, and professional organizations. The available training materials are also discussed. Some projections are made of likely future activities.

Information Systems↗

Transfection of human lymphoblastoid cells with herpes simplex viral DNA.

The "calcium/dimethyl sulfoxide shock" method of transfection was adapted for use in human lymphoid cell cultures. One microgram of herpes simplex virus type 1 DNA regularly initiated virus replication in four lymphoblastoid cell lines. Per 10(5) cells exposed to 1 microgram of DNA, 0.5--5 cells formed an infectious center. The minimal infective dose of DNA was approximately 500 ng.

Cell Line↗

Surface markers and size of lymphocytes in human umbilical cord blood stimulated into deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis by Epstein-Barr Virus.

We characterized subpopulations of lymphocytes in human umbilical cord blood which are stimulated into deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis by Epstein-Barr virus. Lymphocytes were examined simultaneously for deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis by autoradiography and for surface markers by rosette formation with sheep erythrocytes or erythrocytes coated with antibody and mouse complement (EAC). The subpopulation which incorporated [3H]thymidine after exposure to virus consisted mainly of cells which formed rosettes with EAC. Lymphocytes were enriched or depleted of thymus-derived lymphocytes (T cells), null cells, or cells forming rosettes with EAC. The extent of sensitivity of the cells to stimulation by Epstein-Barr virus correlated with the proportion of the population which formed rosettes with EAC. When mononuclear cell populations were depleted of T lymphocytes and then fractionated by size, small lymphocytes showed higher rates of deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis after virus exposure and higher transformation frequency than did larger cells or unfractionated cells. Thus, the cells which are stimulated into deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis by Epstein-Barr virus appear to be the same as cells which are ultimately transformed.

DNA↗

Functional luteolysis in the pseudopregnant rat: effects of prostaglandin F2 alpha and 16-aryloxy prostaglandin F2 alpha in vitro.

The present work concerns the luteolytic effects of prostaglandin (PG) F2 alpha and its analogue, 16-aryloxy PGF2 alpha, upon isolated luteal cells. Varying doses of these two prostaglandins were incubated with cells in the presence or absence of an optimum stimulatory dose of LH (1 microgram/ml). The total contents of progesterone and 20 alpha-dihydroprogesterone in flasks were determined after the incubation periods by radioimmunoassay. Both prostaglandins inhibited basal synthesis of progesterone and 20 alpha-dihydroprogesterone, maximum inhibition occurring at concentrations of either PG of between 250 and 500 ng/ml. In this dose range both prostaglandins were found to abolish LH-stimulated progestogen synthesis completely. These effects were discernible within 5 min of incubation. The studies demonstrated that the onset of PG-induced luteolysis in vitro is characterized by an inhibition of the biosynthesis of both progesterone and its weakly progestogenic metabolite, 20 alpha-dihydroprogesterone; induction of 20 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase activity by either PG was not found in incubations extending up to 60 min. In contrast to their relative potencies in vivo, PGF2 alpha and 16-aryloxy PGF2 alpha were essentially equipotent in this in-vitro system.

20-alpha-Dihydroprogesterone↗

Progesterone, 20alpha-dihydroprogesterone and PGF; interrelated hormonal changes during pseudo-pregnancy in the rat.

Ovarian and uterine tissue concentrations of progesterone, 20alpha-dihydroprogesterone (20alphaOHP) and prostaglandin F (PGF) were measured during hormonally-induced pseudopregnancy, as were plasma levels of progesterone and 20alphaOHP, in hysterectomised and sham-operated rats. Elevated levels of PGF in uterine and ovarian tissues were coincident with declining concentrations of progesterone and increasing concentrations of 20alphaOHP in the sham-operated rats. Maximum PGF concentrations were apparent in uterine tissue 14 days after hCG injection, coincident with the plasma, ovarian and uterine nadir concentrations of progesterone. A small but statistically significant increase in ovarian PGF was apparent at this time in sham-operated rats. This elevation of ovarian PGF was abolished by hysterectomy.

20-alpha-Dihydroprogesterone↗

Antibody deposition in the pleura: a finding in drug-induced lupus.

Pleural tissues from a group of 36 consecutive patients comprised of 15 malignancies, 3 tuberculous, 2 rheumatoid arthritis, 3 procainamide-induced systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) syndromes, 1 infectious mononucleosis, and 12 nonspecific pleural effusions undergoing needle biopsy were studied by immunofluorescent techniques for antibody deposition. Specific nuclear fluorescence was detected only in procainamide-induced SLE and was characterized by in vivo staining with either IgG, IgM, and in one case, also C3. C1q could not be detected. Two other patients who had antinuclear antibodies (ANA) in their peripheral blood did not have detectable in vivo antinuclear staining in their pleural tissue. The presence of in vivo fixation of ANA in the pleura may be of etiologic and diagnostic significance in procainamide-induced SLE syndrome.

Antibody Formation↗