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Biomedical subjects

J Williams

Publications and source records attributed to J Williams.

At least 757 records · Page 42Linked to original sources
PubMed1990

Long-term outcome of children after intensive care.

To determine the long-term outcome of children admitted to a pediatric ICU (PICU), we studied 976 consecutive patients admitted to our PICU in the 12 months ending June 30, 1983, and evaluated their outcome 30 to 36 months after PICU admission. There was no relationship between duration of PICU admission and outcome. Young children were more likely to die than older children, but young children who survived did not have an increased risk of handicap. Of the 974 children available for follow-up, 20% died, 5% had a severe handicap, 2% had a moderate handicap, 12% had a mild handicap, 17% were functionally normal but required medical supervision, and 42% were normal. Thus, 80% of the children survived 30 months or more, and 91% of the survivors will probably lead an independent life.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

"Ring around the artery" as a presenting feature in undiagnosed asthma with pneumomediastinum.

Acute bronchial asthma may be complicated by pneumomediastinum, often accompanied by the "ring around the artery" sign, described in association with asthma, trauma (gunshot wound), subclavian catheterization, and cocaine use, or with no identifiable risk factors. The diagnosis of pneumomediastinum should always be considered in an asthmatic patient with chest pain, cough, and dyspnea. Lateral chest film reveals a radiolucency outlining the right pulmonary artery. Such patients recover spontaneously with conservative therapy.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1990

Apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in a non-Oriental man.

Japanese investigators first described apical HCM in 2.9% of patients who had diagnostic left ventricular catheterization for suspected ischemic heart disease or cardiomyopathy. This entity was initially thought to be limited to individuals of Asian origin and has been uncommonly described in patients of Western origin. Patients of Western origin differ in several ways from those in the original description of Yamaguchi et al, but they both share the same classic criterion of hypertrophy of the left ventricular apex. The major differences probably relate to the anatomic variation in the distribution of the left ventricular hypertrophy as described by Maron et al. It is not known whether racial, genetic, or environmental factors account for the variation of disease expression in Asian and Western patients. Our case illustrates that this diagnosis should be considered in patients who have chest pain (anginal or atypical) and markedly abnormal findings on electrocardiograms in the absence of hypertension or significant coronary artery disease.

Aged↗
PubMed1990

Comparison of human, bovine, and newborn calf serum in the preparation of external quality assurance samples for therapeutic drugs.

The accuracy and precision of drug measurements made by different analytical techniques of a range of eight antiepileptic drugs, four tricyclic antidepressants, theophylline, and digoxin in three different matrices, human, bovine, and newborn calf serum, were compared using data reported to the Heathcontrol External Quality Assurance Scheme over 18 months. Neither of the animal serum samples was universally satisfactory compared with human serum. The newborn calf serum sample produced results that were closer to the spiked drug concentrations than those in bovine serum for most of the analytes covered by the survey. Both animal samples were unsuitable for digoxin, for which the use of scarce human material is recommended.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Differential requirement for adenovirus type 12 E1A gene products in oncogenic transformation.

During the early period of infection, adenovirus type 12 E1A gene is expressed as overlapping, spliced mRNAs of 12 and 13S, which encode in-frame proteins of 235 and 266 amino acid residues (235R and 266R), respectively. To define the functions of these related products in the infection of human cells and transformation of rodent cells, we created single T-to-C transitions at the second base of each mRNA intron which specifically prevent splicing of the respective mRNAs. Mutant pm712 expresses only the 13S mRNA and 266R protein, while pm713 expresses only the 12S mRNA and 235R protein. By using these mutants, we showed that only the larger product is required for growth in human cells, including growth-arrested W138 cells, that the capacity to activate other viral genes (in human cells, at least) lies primarily with that protein, and that the 266R product is not required for autoregulation of its own transcription. In the presence of the 266R protein the 235R product was not required for complete and efficient transformation of a variety of rodent cells or for direct induction of tumors in rats, whereas in its absence the smaller product was insufficient for transformation or tumor induction. Finally, we showed that transformants resulting from infection of rodent cells with pm712 possess a fully-transformed phenotype and are tumorigenic. Previous studies with group C adenoviruses led to the conclusion that both E1A products are required for complete transformation; we conclude that with oncogenic serotype 12, only the 266R product is required for this process.

Adenovirus Early Proteins↗
PubMed1990

Identification of a cis-acting element in human immunodeficiency virus type 2 (HIV-2) that is responsive to the HIV-1 rev and human T-cell leukemia virus types I and II rex proteins.

A simian virus 40 late replacement vector encoding human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) gp120 (pGP120) was used to define a region within the HIV-2 genome that could work as a rev-responsive element (RRE). Our previous work showed that gp120 expression in this system required a functional RRE in cis and required the rev protein in trans (M.-L. Hammarskjöld, J. Heimer, B. Hammarskjöld, I. Sangwan, L. Albert, and D. Rekosh, J. Virol. 63:1959-1966, 1989). Using pGP120, we first mapped an RRE to a 1,042-base-pair (bp) Sau3a fragment in the env region of HIV-2. Both HIV-1 rev (rev1) and HIV-2 rev (rev2) could work in conjunction with this fragment. Further mapping showed that a 272-bp subfragment within the 1,042-bp region was sufficient as an RRE. Surprisingly, the smaller fragment worked only with the rev1 protein and not with its homologous rev2 protein. In addition, the rev2 protein failed to function together with the RRE from HIV-1. We also utilized this system to examine the ability of the rex genes of human T-cell leukemia virus types I and II to functionally substitute for rev. These experiments showed that complementation by both the rexI and rexII proteins required the presence of an RRE. The rex proteins worked well in conjunction with either the HIV-1 or the HIV-2 RRE (the 1,042-bp as well as the 272-bp fragment).

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1990

Two enteric coated microspheres in cystic fibrosis.

In a randomised single blind crossover study in children with cystic fibrosis and pancreatic insufficiency, two enteric coated microsphere preparations of pancreatin were compared on a capsule for capsule basis, by measuring the coefficient of fat absorption, nitrogen excretion, weight change, and symptom scores after four weeks' treatment with each preparation. Thirty nine subjects were randomly allocated to receive Pancrease followed by Creon or vice versa. Each individual subject received the same number of capsules per day in each study period. Data from 27 children (Pancrease/Creon, n = 13 and Creon/Pancrease, n = 14) wer suitable for analysis. Results showed no significant differences between the two preparations in any variable studied. We conclude that there is no significant difference between Pancrease and Creon when compared on a capsule for capsule basis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Multiple abnormalities in a child with partial duplications of 10p and 13q from a 3:1 segregation of a maternal t(10;13) translocation.

Partial duplications of 10p and 13q in association with partial deletions of other chromosome segments have been variously reported. We describe here a female child with multiple congenital abnormalities and combined partial duplications of 10p and 13q resulting from a 3:1 segregation of a maternal t(10;13)(p13;q22). In comparing the phenotypic features of the two chromosome imbalances, the expression of features typical of partial duplication 10p appeared more pronounced.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗
PubMed1990

Diagnosis of major depression in cancer patients according to four sets of criteria.

Diagnoses of major depression in 152 cancer patients differed as much as 13% depending on the diagnostic system used. The Beck Depression Inventory and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression were useful tools for screening patients with depressive symptoms but frequently misclassified those who had no major depression according to one or more of the criteria-based diagnostic systems.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

A survey of drugs of abuse testing by clinical laboratories in the United Kingdom. Steering Committee for the UK-External Quality Assessment Scheme for Therapeutic Drug Assays.

An external quality assessment survey of testing facilities in UK clinical laboratories for the detection of drugs of abuse was made with nine freeze-dried samples of urine containing representative drugs with their metabolites from the following seven classes; amphetamines and stimulants, barbiturates, cannabinoids, cocaine, minor tranquillisers, opiates and non-opiate narcotics. Reports were received from 120 laboratories. Thirty six per cent of laboratories reported on all seven drug classes and 71% on the five classes excluding cannabinoids and cocaine. A single drug screening technique was used by 32% of laboratories whilst 46% were able to perform tests by both immunological and chromatographic techniques. There was a mean level of false positive reporting of 4.3% and an observed level of false negative reports of 8.4%, the latter underestimating the true frequency. The minor tranquillisers, cocaine and benzoyl ecgonine were the most frequently missed analytes. Several false reports had important potential implications for patient care.

Central Nervous System Agents↗
PubMed1990

Environmental tobacco smoke exposure during infancy.

We collected information about household smoking habits from 518 mothers when they made their first well child visit with a 6 to 8-week old infant. A urine sample was also collected from the infant, the cotinine concentration measured, and the measurement correlated with data provided by the mother. Eight percent of the infant urine cotinine values fell at or above 10 micrograms/L in the 305 households where no smoking was reported. Corresponding rates were 44 percent in the 96 households where a member other than the mother smoked, 91 percent in the 43 households where only the mother smoked, and 96 percent in the 74 households where both the mother and another household member smoked. In households where the mother smoked, infant urine cotinine levels were lower in the summer, and higher when the infant was breast-fed. A screening question about family smoking habits in conjunction with well child care could effectively define a group of infants exposed to environmental tobacco smoke and thus be at greater risk for respiratory diseases.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Effects of word- and sentence-level contexts upon word recognition.

In the present experiments, we investigated the facilitatory effects of auditorily presented prime words in neutral sentence contexts upon visually presented target words. It is shown that when the target task is a lexical decision, facilitation is obtained when the relationship between the prime and the target is one of synonymy (and low association strength). When instead the target is an antonym (again of low association strength), there is no priming effect; lexical decision is facilitated only when the prime word is presented in isolation. In further experiments, it is shown that primes in sentence contexts can produce facilitation of antonyms if they are strongly associated, or in the absence of association if the target must be named. The results are explained in terms of an integration process, which checks for the coherence between an upcoming word and the highest available level of representation of the context, but which affects only responses in the lexical decision task.

Attention↗
PubMed1990

The normal IVU: a trap for the unwary.

Intravenous urography (IVU) is considered to be a reliable means of investigating the urinary tract for renal pathology. We present two cases of patients who were investigated for loin pains. In both patients the IVU appearances were normal but the final diagnosis, as obtained by ultrasound, was renal cell carcinoma of the upper pole of the right kidney.

Carcinoma, Renal Cell↗
PubMed1990

Benign cystic mesothelioma in a male.

We present a case of a male with benign cystic mesothelioma of the peritoneum. The literature is reviewed for previous case reports of this rare lesion in males. Benign cystic mesotheliomas occur predominantly in females. Despite a marked tendency to recur, no malignant degeneration has ever been demonstrated, and only one mortality has ever been attributed directly to this lesion. The diagnosis of this entity is made by confirming the benign mesothelial nature of the cells lining the cysts with electron microscopy or immunohistochemical staining. No significant difference in the clinicopathologic presentation of cystic mesotheliomas in men and women is found.

Adult↗