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Biomedical subjects

J Skinner

Publications and source records attributed to J Skinner.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

Forecast accuracy of Australian subnational population projections.

The authors assess demographic projections made over the last 20 years for Australia. "This paper first considers the role of accuracy amongst other objectives of projection activity. Accepting accuracy as a legitimate goal, we then assess the performance of 48 sets of population projections and forecasts for states and territories of Australia prepared since 1970. Projection accuracy is assessed by reference to length of forecast horizon, population size and rate of growth. We also examine the main sources of forecast error in selected projections for each state and compare the performance of past projections with alternatives based on simple extrapolation of contemporary population trends."

Australia↗
PubMed1992

Occupational injury and disease among patients presenting to general practitioners in a community health centre.

A prospective survey was conducted of all patients presenting over a six-month period to the primary medical care unit of a community health centre in an urban industrial area to determine the number and types of work-related injuries and disease, the causes, and details of the injured workers and their workplaces. Two-hundred and eighty-three patients, 7.2 per cent of the total number of patients attending, were diagnosed as having a work-related injury or disease; 250 patients had occupational injuries and 33 had occupational diseases. The most common injuries were open wounds, sprains and strains, contusions and eye injuries; the most frequent diseases were musculoskeletal strain syndromes, dermatitis and respiratory conditions. Most of those injured were skilled tradesmen or labourers from small (less than 30 employees) or medium-sized (30 to 99 employees) manufacturing workplaces. In five of the local medium-sized workplaces, more than 10 per cent of the workforce presented with occupational injury or disease in the six months. The mechanisms of injury for common injuries such as back strain and eye injuries are described. Most patients were managed totally within the primary care setting. Thirty per cent of all patients surveyed received a worker's compensation certificate. It is possible that occupational diseases were underdiagnosed and that worker's compensation was underutilized. The information obtained from the survey is being used in planning prevention.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed1990

The leukocyte-common antigen (CD45) complex and B-lymphocyte activation.

In view of the changes reported in expression of the different members of the leukocyte-common family of antigens by T cells as they are activated, B cells were examined with monoclonal antibodies against p220-180 (CD45), p220,205 (CD45R), and p180 (UCHL1). Resting tonsil B cells reacted with CD45 and CD45R antibodies, but not with UCHL1. Activation of B cells by anti-IgM and IL-4 and culture of activated B cells with factors which induce proliferation (B-cell growth factor) and differentiation (IL-6) led to only minor changes in the expression of CD45, CD45R, and p180 antigens. Activation with phorbol ester led to minor increases in reactivity with CD45 and CD45R antibodies and led to a weak reactivity with UCHL1. The results suggest that the functional relationship previously described in T cells between p180 and p220,205 is not seen in B cells. p180 is induced, but only at low levels and only with nonphysiologic activation. CD45R is not lost under the same conditions. However, in terminally differentiated B cells, and in some chronic lymphocytic leukemias, p180 expression was seen, often coexpressed with CD45R.

Antibodies, Anti-Idiotypic↗
PubMed1990

Memory and pain: tests of mood congruity and state dependent learning in experimentally induced and clinical pain.

The associative network theory of memory [2] is outlined along with the concepts of mood congruity and state dependent learning. Two experiments are reported which investigate the occurrence of these effects where memory for pain is concerned. In experiment 1 the performance of 25 chronic pain patients was compared with that of 25 non-patient controls on a test involving both immediate and delayed recall of a mixed list of stimulus words of 3 types: pain-related, negative or neutral. No significant group differences were found in overall rates of immediate recall. As predicted, however, pain patients recalled more pain-related words than non-patient controls (P less than 0.001). On delayed recall the same significant group x word-type interaction was obtained (P less than 0.02), but in addition the non-patient controls recalled significantly more words overall (P less than 0.02). These results provide some evidence for the occurrence of a mood congruity effect. Experiment 2 investigated state dependent learning and mood congruity effects in experimentally induced pain. Twenty volunteer subjects were allocated to 1 of 4 conditions in which a wordlist (as in experiment 1) was presented following either a painful stimulus (cold pressor test) or a non-painful one (warm water) and was then recalled immediately following further exposure to stimulus conditions which were congruent with the original stimulus (warm/warm and cold/cold conditions) or non-congruent (warm/cold and cold/warm conditions). A 3-way split plot ANOVA yielded no significant main effects for group or word-type, but a significant interaction emerged between state at encoding and at recall (P less than 0.04).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1990

The macrosatellites of the Toulouse goose: the major tandemly repetitive DNA in the toulouse goose genome.

This paper examines the principal classes of repetitive DNA of the Toulouse goose (Anser anser) genome. There are four major classes and they are tandem repeats of less than 200 base pairs (bp). The longest repeat (class A) is 190 bp long and starts with a HinfI site. Class B is 43 bp long, commencing with a FokI site. Classes A and B show no extensive homology to DNA sequences held on a current data base (Genbank) but were confirmed to exist as major repeats in another strain of goose, the Emden goose (Anser anser) genome. Classes C and D are 5-bp repeats of 5' GAGAG 3' and 5' GGGAA 3', respectively. The macrosatellites C and D were compared with a current data base (Genbank) and were found to exist in a variety of other organisms as satellites.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Lung immunoglobulins in the sudden infant death syndrome.

The incidence of the sudden infant death syndrome parallels that of respiratory tract infections in the paediatric community. On the basis that the aetiology of the sudden infant death syndrome may lie in an unusual response to a trivial intercurrent respiratory infection a necropsy study was carried out investigating pulmonary immunoglobulins in 16 victims of the syndrome and a series of infants (controls) who had died of non-pulmonary causes. Compared with the controls victims of the sudden infant death syndrome had grossly raised concentrations of IgG, IgM, and to a less extent IgA in lung lavage samples. In addition, pulmonary interstitial and terminal airway cells expressing these immunoglobulins were identified far more often in victims than controls. The study failed to determine whether the increased immunoglobulin concentrations were a consequence of an unusual response to a trivial infection or an expression of otherwise altered immunological control in the respiratory tract. Epidemiological evidence and the findings of this study suggest that the respiratory tract is the prime target organ in the sudden infant death syndrome.

Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid↗
PubMed1989

Co-morbidity: lessons learned about post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from developing PTSD scales for the MMPI.

Results from efforts to develop and validate PTSD measures are promising, but a "gold standard" has not been achieved. Keane, Malloy, and Fairbank (1984) have developed an MMPI PTSD subscale that has been cross-validated with clinicians' classification of PTSD at acceptable levels of agreement, specificity, and sensitivity. There is, however, room for improvement. Empirical evidence is presented that indicates that the next round of efforts to increase reliability and validity of PTSD measures must account for the presence/absence of co-morbidity (i.e., the simultaneous occurrence of other psychiatric disorders). For example, differences are noted in MMPI group profiles and PTSD scales between psychiatric patients and substance abusers. Second, different MMPI items emerge as indicative of PTSD; these vary as a function of the presence of other Axis I disorders among groups of Vietnam combat veterans who seek treatment for substance abuse. Results substantiate that different MMPI items for classifying PTSD occur with groups that differ in co-morbidity. Improvements in PTSD scale development are more likely when the contributions of pre-existing or subsequently co-occurring psychiatric disorders are taken in account, as well as variations in level of personality maturity. The evidence suggests that a "family" of PTSD scales need to be developed that take into account co-morbidity differences.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1988

Human satellite-III DNA: an example of a "macrosatellite" polymorphism.

Human satellite III DNA contains a complex polymorphism, which appears to be TaqI-specific. Its likely cause is a two-step point mutation in the pentameric repeat TTCCA, typical of satellite III. Hybridization of the satellite-III sequence-related probe that demonstrates this polymorphism is directly attributable to clusters of "pure" pentameric TTCCA repeats in the genome. The sites of such repeats include the 3.4-kb fragment specific to the Y chromosome and a limited number of autosomes. The polymorphism arises from the latter and is likely to include chromosomes containing so-called K domain satellite III sequences found, for example, in chromosomes 9 and 15. Segregation of the polymorphic fragments appears to follow orthodox genetics.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

The effect of hydrochlorothiazide on the composition of renal papillary interstitial fluid in the rat.

The effect of chronic hydrochlorothiazide administration on the composition of renal papillary interstitial fluid was investigated in the rat. Hydrochlorothiazide alone had no effect on papillary composition. However, when the sodium depletion that usually accompanies thiazide treatment was minimized by allowing the rats access to hypertonic NaCl solution, hydrochlorothiazide administration resulted in significant reductions in papillary osmolality, and sodium and potassium concentrations. It is suggested that the effects of hydrochlorothiazide on the renal papilla might be mediated by thiazide-induced hypokalaemia, and that under normal circumstances these effects are masked by the concomitant sodium depletion.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Immunocytologic characterization using monoclonal antibodies of lung lavage cell phenotype in infants who have died from sudden infant death syndrome.

The phenotype of cells obtained from pulmonary lavage in infants who have died from sudden infant death syndrome were examined and compared with cells from control subjects. The only striking difference between the groups was a lack of reactivity of lavage cells with antibody of the CD14A cluster in the sudden infant death syndrome subjects, while antibodies of the CD14B cluster reacted strongly with cells from both the sudden infant death syndrome group and controls. Major histocompatibility complex class II antigens were expressed on approximately 95% of lavage cells, with DQ expressed more frequently than DR or DP. The majority of the lavage cells was macrophages, yet they reacted with CD3 (OKT3) and CD8 (OKT8) antibodies. No interleukin 2 was found in the lavage fluid.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗
PubMed1987

Two tests in rats for antianxiety effect of clinically anxiety attenuating antidepressants.

The effects of mianserin, trazodone, amoxapine, maprotiline, and doxepin were assessed in punishment and pentylenetetrazol drug discrimination paradigms. These two procedures are used to identify antianxiety activity in rats. In the punishment procedure, misanserin produced an inverse dose-related increase in punished responding. The magnitude of the increase in punished responding with mianserin was comparable to that observed with the anxiolytic, buspirone. This effect was not observed with any of the other antidepressants tested. None of the antidepressants were found to be active in antagonizing the discriminative stimulus effects of pentylenetetrazol. In fact, at high doses there was a suggestion that the antidepressants may generalize to the pentylenetetrazol discriminative stimulus. Therefore, several antidepressants with purported clinical antianxiety activity, were not active in two procedures that detect antianxiety activity in rats.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

The influence of dietary potassium on the renal tubular effect of hydrochlorothiazide in the rat.

The influence of dietary potassium on the natriuretic effect of hydrochlorothiazide was investigated in conscious rats which had access to 0.46 M NaCl solution; the intake of saline was used as an index of the natriuresis. Control rats drank very little saline (less than 1 mmol 24 h-1), whereas animals given hydrochlorothiazide in the food (35 mg kg-1 dry weight) increased their saline intake to approximately 10 mmol 24 h-1. In a third group of rats, on a high-potassium diet (360 mmol kg-1 dry weight vs 60 mmol kg-1 dry weight), the same dose of hydrochlorothiazide increased the saline intake to only 2 mmol 24 h-1. In order to investigate the renal mechanisms involved in these effects, animals were anaesthetized and prepared for micropuncture. Collections were made from late surface convolutions of proximal tubules and from early and late regions of distal tubules. Total glomerular filtration rate, single-nephron filtration rate, and the delivery of sodium to the end of the proximal tubule and to the beginning of the distal tubule were similar in the three groups of rats. In rats on a normal diet, hydrochlorothiazide treatment was associated with an increased delivery of sodium to the end of the distal tubule. No such increase was seen in thiazide-treated rats on a high potassium intake. It is concluded that a high potassium intake reduces the natriuretic effect of hydrochlorothiazide as a result of interference with thiazide-induced inhibition of sodium reabsorption in the distal tubule. The effect of potassium does not depend on changes in sodium handling in other nephron segments. The possible roles of aldosterone and distal tubular potassium secretion in mediating this effect are discussed.

Aldosterone↗
PubMed1985

An immunocytochemical study of malignant melanoma and its differential diagnosis from other malignant tumours.

A series of 41 fresh and 36 routinely processed malignant melanomas were immunostained with a panel of 12 monoclonal antibodies reactive against a range of epithelial, lymphoid, and melanoma associated antigens. The aim of the study was to determine whether this panel of antibodies would be useful in diagnostically difficult cases for differentiating melanomas from other tumours, particularly carcinomas and lymphomas. The results confirmed that most unequivocal malignant melanomas can be identified by positivity for S100 protein and for the antigen recognised by antibody NK1/C3, and by negativity for epithelial and lymphoid antigens. The incidence of melanomas expressing cytokeratin antigens was higher, however, particularly in cryostat sections than has previously been reported. It is therefore suggested that a panel of antibodies with more than one marker in each category should be used for identifying melanomas in clinical practice.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗