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Biomedical subjects

J Taylor

Publications and source records attributed to J Taylor.

At least 289 records · Page 16Linked to original sources
PubMed1996

Distinct effects of recombinant tenascin-R domains in neuronal cell functions and identification of the domain interacting with the neuronal recognition molecule F3/11.

We have identified distinct domains of the rat extracellular matrix glycoprotein tenascin-R using recombinant fragments of the molecule that confer neuronal cell functions. In short-term adhesion assays (0.5 h), cerebellar neurons adhered best to the fragment representing the fibrinogen knob (FG), but also the fibronectin type III (FN) repeats 1-2 and 6-8. FG, FN1-2 and FN3-5 were the most repellent fragments for neuronal cell bodies. Neurites and growth cones were strongly repelled from areas coated with fragments containing the cysteine-rich stretch and the EGF-like domains (EGF-L), FN1-2, FN3-5 and FG. Polarization of morphology of hippocampal neurons was exclusively associated with FG, while EGF-L prevented neurite outgrowth altogether. The binding site of the neuronal receptor for tenascin-R, the immunoglobulin superfamily adhesion molecule F3/11, was localized to EGF-L. The combined observations show distinct, but also overlapping functions for the different tenascin-R domains. They further suggest the existence of multiple neuronal tenascin-R receptors which influence the response of neurons to their extracellular matrix environment.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Outcomes after seizure recurrence in people with well-controlled epilepsy and the factors that influence it. The MRC Antiepileptic Drug Withdrawal Group.

PURPOSE: To determine the risk of further seizures and probability of further remission after a first seizure recurrence in patients in remission of their epilepsy, and to examine the prognostic factors influencing this risk. METHODS: Continued follow-up of a cohort of 409 patients with a recurrence of seizures after randomization to the Medical Research Council (MRC) Antiepileptic Drug Withdrawal Study. RESULTS: By 3 years after a seizure, 95% of patients have experienced a further 1-year remission of their epilepsy and by 5 years 90% of patients have experienced a further 2-year remission. The most important factors contributing to the risk of further seizures after a first seizure after randomization were the previous seizure-free interval, having partial seizures at recurrence, and having previously experienced seizures while receiving treatment. There was no evidence that the group of patients who had discontinued or reduced treatment before the occurrence of their first seizure after randomization had a different outcome from those patients who continued treatment. CONCLUSION: Our results provide no evidence that discontinuation of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) modifies the long-term prognosis of a person's epilepsy, although it does increase the risk of seizures in the 1- to 2-year period after discontinuation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Risk of accidents in drivers with epilepsy.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the risks of road traffic accidents over a period of three years in drivers with a history of single seizures or epilepsy, and to compare them with a cohort of drivers followed up by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL). DESIGN: A retrospective survey of driving and accident experience by self-completion questionnaire. SUBJECTS: 16,958 drivers with a previous history of epilepsy responding to the survey and 8888 non-epileptic drivers responding to a TRL survey. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The risk of any accident, any accident producing an injury, and any accident producing a serious injury, over a three year period. RESULTS: After adjustment for differences in age, sex, driving experience, and mileage between the two populations there was no evidence of any overall increase in risk of accidents in the population of drivers with a history of epilepsy. However, there was evidence of an increased risk of more severe accidents in the population with epilepsy. The risk was increased by about 40% for serious injuries and there was evidence of a twofold risk of increase in non-driver fatalities. These increases seem largely explicable by the occurrence of seizures in this population during the three years of driving that the survey covered. CONCLUSIONS: The acceptability of driving for people with a history of epilepsy should be determined by an acceptable risk of accidents resulting in injury or serious injury rather than overall accident rates. As people with epilepsy can now drive after a 12 month seizure free period rather than the required two year period when this survey was undertaken, it is important to ascertain whether there is any increased risk of injury associated accidents with this policy.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1996

The Camden schizophrenia surveys. II. High prevalence of schizophrenia in an inner London borough and its relationship to socio-demographic factors.

BACKGROUND: Investigation of the geographical distribution of schizophrenia and its relationship to socio-demographic factors is useful for planning services. METHOD: Individuals with schizophrenia (n = 980) were identified by key informants within an inner London borough and point prevalence calculated for broad, Feighner and DSM-III-R schizophrenia. The distribution of cases was tested for significant variation using the Poisson process model. Regression models using the Jarman-8 score and its component variables were tested for their ability to predict the prevalence of schizophrenia. RESULTS: A high point prevalence of schizophrenia (5.3 per 1000 resident population) was demonstrated. Case distribution showed a marked and significant variation associated with socio-demographic factors. The prediction of prevalence was more accurate for broad than for narrower definitions of schizophrenia; unemployment rate performed best. CONCLUSIONS: Unemployment rates and Jarman-8 scores may provide crude estimates for resource allocation in planning mental health services, highlighting the need for additional services in deprived inner city areas.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Four behavioural syndromes of schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: A complementary approach to defining symptomatic subtypes of schizophrenia is to identify characteristic patterns of 'problem behaviours' associated with the capacity of patients to function in the community. METHOD: In a large epidemiological survey, patients fulfilling Feighner criteria for schizophrenia were identified by key informants and assessed using the MRC Social Behaviour Schedule (SBS) and the Manchester Scale. An exploratory factor analysis was used to extract behavioural syndromes from the SBS data in order to compare the syndrome profiles in community, acute and long-stay subgroups and to examine their associations with symptoms and social functioning. RESULTS: Four behavioural syndromes were identified: 'Thought disturbance', 'Social withdrawal', 'Depressed behaviour' and 'Anti-social behaviour', which distinguished between the patient subgroups and had significant differential relationships to symptoms and social functioning variables. CONCLUSIONS: The evaluation of disability in schizophrenia and effectiveness of treatment interventions is incomplete without an assessment of problem behaviours.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Comparison of the CardioGlide, CrossWalk, and treadmill walking in development of cardiovascular endurance, dynamic strength, and flexibility in middle-aged men and women.

The purpose of this study was to estimate association of exercise on the CardioGlide, CrossWalk, or treadmill with changes in cardiovascular endurance, dynamic strength, and flexibility and to ascertain if there was any advantage of training with one type of equipment compared to the others. 67 sedentary men and women participated. Fitness components were assessed at baseline and following the intervention. Subjects trained three days per week increasing exercise duration and intensity to 30 minutes at 80% of age-predicted maximum heart rate. Analysis showed that training was associated with significant improvements in all of the measured components of fitness; however, there was no advantage to using one exercise machine over the others.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Lateralization of parathyroid adenomas by intra-operative parathormone estimation.

A simple method for intra-operative lateralization of parathyroid adenomas by venous sampling for intact parathormone (PTH [1-84] is described. After induction of anaesthesia, percutaneous right and left internal jugular and arm vein PTH [1-84] was estimated within 30 minutes by a modification of the Allegro PTH [1-84] assay. Twenty-three patients with primary hyperparathyroidism due to adenoma were explored, 21 with one adenoma and two with two adenomas. Intraoperative jugular PTH [1-84] correctly lateralized 16 (76%) of the single adenomas (P < 0.006), and the side of the neck with the greater weight of parathyroid adenoma in 18 (78%) patients (P < 0.004). Two patients with previous failed neck explorations were correctly lateralized. Thallium/technetium scanning lateralized 41%, significantly less then jugular PTH [1-84] (P < 0.02). Adenomas of 1 g or less were more likely to be lateralized by PTH [1-84] than thallium/technetium scanning (P < 0.05). Intraoperative jugular PTH [1-84] was superior to thallium/technetium scanning for parathyroid adenoma lateralization.

Adenoma↗
PubMed1996

Parents' opinions concerning possible causes of cerebral palsy.

This study surveys parents of children with cerebral palsy. The purpose of the study is to report the parents' opinions concerning possible causes of cerebral palsy. All parents of children with cerebral palsy who attended the United Cerebral Palsy centers in North Carolina were asked to respond to a survey concerning their opinions of possible causative factors related to cerebral palsy. Parents of children with cerebral palsy participating in this study reported agreement with several possible causative factors of cerebral palsy. Though the opinions of these parents largely reflect knowledge that is consistent with the literature, there is also confusion concerning some factors that have been associated with cerebral palsy. There is a need for more study of causative factors related to cerebral palsy.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Factors associated with admission to hospital following emergency psychiatric assessment.

Psychiatric emergencies account for a large proportion of total referrals and admissions yet there has been little research in the United Kingdom into factors associated with admission after emergency psychiatric assessment. We conducted a one year prospective study of all emergency referrals from Borders Region in Scotland. Four hundred and eighty-seven emergencies were assessed and 153 (31%) of these were admitted. The main predictors of admission after stepwise logistic regression analysis were: risk to self (odds ratio 1.76 for each point increment on a five point scale, 95% confidence intervals 1.43 to 2.15), current contact with the psychiatric services (2.46; 1.52, 3.98) and psychotic diagnosis (2.38; 1.47, 3.87). Compared to subjects assessed at home, those assessed at the psychiatric hospital were more likely to be admitted (3.73; 1.99, 6.99) and self-referrals were less likely to be admitted than General Practitioner referrals (0.22; 0.08, 0.55). Our results suggest that future studies of emergency services should investigate and control for both clinical and service variables.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Control of neuronal morphology in vitro: interplay between adhesive substrate forces and molecular instruction.

Among the factors which influence neuronal morphology, the degree of substrate adhesivity has been suggested to play an important role in the growth and guidance of neurites. The present study was undertaken to investigate apparently contradictory results relating substrate adhesivity to the extent of neurite outgrowth. By using substrates coated with different concentrations of polyornithine to vary adhesivity, we could show that intermediate levels of neuron-to-substrate adhesive strength favored neurite outgrowth more than substrates of high or low adhesivity. However, when neurons were plated on substrates derived from the extracellular matrix, the strength of neuron-to-substrate adhesion was important for the growth of dendrite-like minor neurites, but not for the extension of axon-like major neurites, which grew independently of adhesive forces. On substrates of the cell adhesion molecule L1, growth of both major and minor neurites was adhesion-independent. Finally, in the presence of tenascin added to the culture medium, neurite growth was inhibited irrespective of the adhesivity of the substrate and the presence of substrate-bound extracellular matrix molecules or L1. These observations suggest that intermediate forces of adhesivity favor neurite growth in general, but that purely adhesive forces can be dominated by specific molecular instructions which differentially affect growth of major and minor neurites in positive and negative ways.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Structure of the hepatic control region of the human apolipoprotein E/C-I gene locus.

The specificity of expression in the liver of the human apolipoprotein (apo) E/C-I gene locus is determined by a hepatic control region (HCR) that is located 15 kilobases downstream of the apoE gene. DNase I footprint studies of this sequence using nuclear extracts identified a region of the HCR that is enriched in nuclear protein-binding sites. Nuclease analysis of chromatin revealed liver-specific DNase I-hypersensitive sites that were associated with this region, and additional liver-specific nuclease-sensitive sites associated with the apoE gene were identified. The HCR domain has a limited binding affinity for the nuclear scaffold. The specific domain required for liver expression was tested by ligating subfragments of the HCR to the apoE gene and examining their activity in transgenic mice. A segment of 319 nucleotides that contained several potential regulatory sequences was required for full activity of liver-specific transcription with shorter segments yielding much lower levels of expression in the liver. All constructs that contained a fully active HCR were expressed in approximately a copy-dependent manner, suggesting that transgene expression was independent of integration position. Taken together, the properties of the HCR are consistent with its function as a locus control region for the liver-specific expression of the apoE gene.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Ten-year results in 1070 patients with stages I and II breast cancer treated by conservative surgery and radiation therapy.

BACKGROUND: One thousand seventy patients treated conservatively for Stages I and II breast cancer between the years 1982 and 1994 were reviewed. The median follow-up was 40 months with a maximum follow-up of 152 months. METHODS: All patients had a wide local excision and lower lymph axillary node dissection followed by radiation therapy. The entire breast received an external beam dose of 4500 cGy at 180 cGy/5 days/week. An additional boost dose of 2000 cGy to the tumor bed was given at the time of lumpectomy (perioperative) with an Ir-192 implant or with electron beam therapy after the external beam therapy. RESULTS: The 5- and 10-year disease specific survival results were 97 and 90%, respectively for Stage I and 87 and 69% for patients with Stage II disease. The 5- and 10-year local control rates were 93 and 85% for Stage I and 92 and 87% for Stage II, respectively. The risk factors for local failure were premenopausal status and estrogen receptor-negative status at the univariate level but at the multivariate level the premenopausal and margins status were significant. CONCLUSION: These 10-year results were at least equivalent to reported series of similarly staged patients treated by mastectomy. This should encourage more surgeons to offer conservative treatment as an alternative to mastectomy to patients with Stage I and II breast cancer.

Brachytherapy↗