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Biomedical subjects

M Pearson

Publications and source records attributed to M Pearson.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Location and nucleotide sequence of the Orgyia pseudotsugata single nucleocapsid nuclear polyhedrosis virus polyhedrin gene.

A restriction endonuclease map was determined for the Orgyia pseudotsugata single nucleocapsid nuclear polyhedrosis virus (SNPV) genome. The order of the fragments generated by the enzymes BglII, BamHI and XbaI was analysed using double digestion of the total genome and digestion of isolated restriction fragments. The location of the polyhedrin gene was then determined using a cloned polyhedrin gene from the O. pseudotsugata multiple nucleocapsid NPV (MNPV) as a hybridization probe. A fragment containing this gene was cloned, mapped, subcloned and the nucleotide sequence of a 1.3 kb fragment was determined which contained the entire polyhedrin reading frame and some flanking sequences. This gene demonstrated 76% nucleotide sequence homology and 87% amino acid sequence homology to the Autographa californica MNPV polyhedrin sequence. A probable regulatory element was identified which is common to the 5' flanking region of all hypertranscribed late genes (polyhedrin and 10K proteins) which have been examined in baculoviruses.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

A study of violent behaviour among in-patients in a psychiatric hospital.

A retrospective analysis of the violent incident forms returned over a one year period in a psychiatric hospital recorded 283 incidents involving 144 patients. Almost all were of a petty nature, none leading to lasting injuries. Compared with the average daily in-patient population, offending patients were more likely to be male, to be less than 45 years old, and to have a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

Adult↗

Philadelphia chromosome-negative chronic myelogenous leukaemia: a morphological reassessment.

Morphological re-examination of 25 cases classified as Ph1-negative chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML), with particular attention to the recent French-American-British (FAB) group proposals for the diagnosis of the myelodysplastic syndromes, led to reclassification of all but one of these cases. Upon review of pretreatment material, seven of the 25 cases (28%) were considered to represent myeloproliferative and reactive conditions other than CML. Of the remaining 18 cases, 17 (94%) were reclassified as myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). These included one case of refractory anaemia (RA), three of refractory anaemia with excess of blasts (RAEB), four of RAEB in transformation (RAEBT), and nine of chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (CMMoL). Haematological findings in these 17 patients were compared to those in 50 randomly selected patients with Ph1-positive CML. Whereas an absolute basophilia in the peripheral blood was a nearly constant feature in the Ph1-positive group, it was lacking in all but one of the patients with myelodysplastic syndromes. Differences in the pattern and degree of dysplasia were also noted. Only one of the 25 cases studied was considered morphologically and clinically indistinguishable from Ph1-positive CML. It appears that Ph1-negative CML constitutes a heterogeneous group of prognostically distinct disorders and that, in most instances, careful morphologic examination will permit precise classification.

Anemia, Aplastic↗

The relation of oncogenesis and cytogenetics in leukemia and lymphoma.

Recent advances in both molecular biology and cancer cytogenetics have provided valuable tools for the study of human oncogenesis. Cellular homologues of viral transforming genes (oncogenes) have been mapped to precise sites on human chromosomes, many of which are involved in specific chromosome translocations in human malignant diseases. Moreover, specific chromosome abnormalities, such as the Ph1 chromosome, have diagnostic implications. Sufficient data are now available for both acute myeloid and lymphoid leukemia so that the patient's response to therapy and survival can be correlated with the karyotype; it was also shown that the karyotype of the leukemic cells provides significant independent prognostic information. This review summarizes the specific translocations of human leukemias and lymphomas, their clinical implications, and the cellular oncogenes associated with them. Possible mechanisms of oncogenesis and future areas of investigation are also discussed.

Burkitt Lymphoma↗

The entry ECG in the early diagnosis and prognostic stratification of patients with suspected acute myocardial infarction.

475 patients with suspected uncomplicated myocardial infarction (MI) were divided into 3 groups based on their entry ECG: group 1--significant ST elevation; group 2a--ST depression or T inversion; group 2b--normal ECG. Infarction was confirmed in 99.7% of group 1, 68.5% of group 2a and 39.7% of group 2b patients. Despite similar clinical, haemodynamic and historical variables at presentation, group 1 patients had significantly larger MI, more in-hospital complications and a higher short-term and long-term mortality (P less than 0.005) than group 2 patients. The entry ECG of patients with suspected MI is an excellent and simple predictor of those who are most likely to have an MI confirmed and identifies a group of patients at high risk of death or developing complications.

Arrhythmias, Cardiac↗

Reduction in infarct size, arrhythmias and chest pain by early intravenous beta blockade in suspected acute myocardial infarction.

Four hundred seventy-seven patients suspected of having had acute myocardial infarction within less than 12 hours were randomized to receive i.v. atenolol followed by oral treatment for 10 days or to a control group. In patients with ECG changes indicative of infarction at entry, i.v. atenolol significantly reduced enzyme release by one-third and enhanced R-wave preservation. In patients without such ECG changes, treatment significantly prevented the development of infarction in a proportion of patients. There was also a significant reduction in R-on-T ectopics, repetitive ventricular arrhythmias and supraventricular arrhythmias. Treated patients had significantly greater pain relief and required fewer opiate analgesics. Significantly fewer atenolol-treated patients died by 10 days (the treatment period), had nonfatal cardiac arrests, developed heart failure, or suffered reinfarction.

Administration, Oral↗

Social factors and leprosy in Lamjung, West Central Nepal: implication for disease control.

Such is the ability of leprosy to generate misconceptions and fears, that many patients are reluctant to be identified. Deformity and paralysis which may occur compound the stigma attached to this rare disease of slow insidious onset. Epidemiological studies of leprosy refer only to known disease and often to highly selected groups of the population. Cohorts are therefore incomplete, and variations in prevalence may reflect social attitudes and data reliability. This paper describes the demographic and spatial distribution of leprosy in Lamjung, a district of west central Nepal. Variations in known leprosy prevalence between sexes, ethnic groups and areas are related to social and physical factors. An apparent paradox of low leprosy prevalence in an ethnic group with a high proportion of infectious leprosy is associated with adverse social attitudes and poor survey coverage. Although the data are too limited for an epidemological analysis variations associated with social and physical factors have crucial implications for disease control.

Attitude to Health↗

Stress and growth factors in psychiatric residency training.

Previous studies of emotional stress in psychiatric residency training have been impressionistic, focused on suicide or severe emotional disorder, or derived from small samples. There have been no reports of what large groups of "average" residents consider stressful, and no reports of the relationship of stress factors to personal and professional growth. The authors, working with a Task Force of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training, developed a questionnaire that was distributed to all residents who completed their training in 1975. Summarized in this paper are many of the more significant results obtained from this very detailed survey. The 148 variables examined include considerable demographic data. This is analyzed and correlated with the impact on stressfulness and impact of personal and professional growth rated for many specific aspects of residency training. Concrete data and recommendations that might prove useful to all psychiatry programs are provided. It is hoped that this may stimulate similar research in other areas of postgraduate medical education.

Adult↗

Somitogenesis in amphibian embryos. I. Experimental evidence for an interaction between two temporal factors in the specification of somite pattern.

Somitogenesis is described in two species of anuran amphibians, Xenopus laevis and Rana temporaria, in which the cellular mechanics of somite formation are distinctly different. Heat shocks are employed to demonstrate a wave of cellular change which precedes somite formation down the body axis. This prior wave is shown to be kinematic. It is not a propagated wave. It is a consequence of the temporal activities of the cells laid out in space, but there is no evidence that these activities depend upon an interpretation of their position. Heat shocks cause characteristic segmental abnormalities over a zone of somites which is formed several hours after the shock. Evidence from double heat shock experiments suggests that the pattern of abnormality is the result of (i) a disturbance of co-ordination between pre-somitic cells, and (ii) the time available to those cells for recovery before they are recruited into a segmental pre-pattern at the time of passage of the prior wave. It is a temporal co-ordination that is disturbed and subsequently recovered following a heat shock. This temporal co-ordination of pre-somitic cells does not depend upon position along the axis. The evidence for two physiologically independent temporal patterns of cellular processes, which interact to specify the segmental pattern of somites (their size, shape and number), gives experimental support for the theoretical account of somitogenesis proposed by Cooke & Zeeman (1976).

Animals↗

Somitogenesis in amphibia. II. Origins in early embryogenesis of two factors involved in somite specification.

A somite pre-pattern is established shortly before visible segmentation. The pre-pattern results from the interaction of two components: a wave of cell behavioural change that passes along the axis, and, an underlying co-ordination of the cells that is the basis for their association into large somite-sized groupings. The evidence is derived from studies of the zones of abnormal segmentation that follow temperature shocks delivered between the neurula and tail-bud stages (Pearson & Elsdale, 1979). Temperature shock given earlier at the mid-gastrula stage is however ineffective in inducing abnormalities in somitogenesis. Shocks given before the mid-gastrula stage reveal a prior period of sensitivity stretching back into the blastula. Thus early and late sensitive periods can be defined separated by a short refactory period. Quite different patterns in the distribution of somite abnormalities characterize the results of shock during the two sensitive periods, suggesting different aetiologies. It is concluded that the wave of rapid cell change is set up early in embryogenesis during the blastula stage, and each cell of the prospective paraxial mesoderm carries a determination to change after a specific length of time, i.e. a countdown is set in each cell. As a result of the movements of gastrulation, the prospective paraxial mesoderm cells become laid out along the axis of the neurula in the order (antero-posterior sequence) in which they will change. The achievement of the correct redistribution of the cells depends crucially on the conservation of the sequence in the blastula by the maintenance of topological integrity throughout gastrulation. It is suggested that early shock disturbs gastrulation movements, causing some mixing up of the cells resulting in incoherence of the wavefront. Whereas early shocks are thus assumed to affect the wave, the evidence suggests that late shock undergoes co-ordination. It is concluded therefore that co-ordination is established later, after the refractory period, around the late gastrula stage.

Animals↗

Effect of oil composition on both adjuvant-induced arthritis and delayed hypersensitivity to purified protein derivative and peptidoglycans in various rat strains.

We confirmed that, when immunized with a conventional complete Freund adjuvant (water in oil), Lewis rats were highly susceptible to adjuvant arthritis, Fisher rats were less susceptible, and Buffalo rats were much less susceptible. However, mycobacterial delipidated cells in squalane (squalane-type adjuvant) produced severe arthritis with almost 100% incidence even in the less susceptible rat strains except for Buffalo rats. With regard to an immune response, Freund complete adjuvant induced strong delayed hypersensitivity to purified protein derivative (PPD) and peptidoglycan (PG) in all rat strains used, Whereas the squalane-type adjuvant induced these hypersensitivities only in Lewis and Buffalo rats, but not in Fisher and Brown Norway rats. No correlation was found between development of arthritis and delayed hypersensitivity to either PPD or PG, or both. It seems that PPD hypersensitivity may be inherited differently from PG hypersensitivity.

Animals↗

Mitral regurgitation in coronary heart disease.

Mitral reguritation is a relatively common finding in coronary heart disease. In this series of 127 patients, selected with a view to coronary or left ventricular surgery on the basis of severity of symptoms, the incidence was 39 (31%). Mitral regurgitation is significantly more common in patients with a history or electrocardiographic evidence of previous myocardial infarction. Clinically it may present as a pan- or late systolic or even a mid-systolic, ejection type murmur at the apex or at the left sternal edge; but in 39 per cent of the patients with angiographic mitral regurgitation no murmur was present. Angiographically important mitral regurgitation (grades 2-4/4) was usually associated with a systolic murmur; this finding was independent of ejection fractions. Left ventricular enlargement clinically or radiographically is likely to accompany mitral regurgitation but left atrial enlargement (electrocardiographically or on chest x-ray) is a more reliable pointer to mitral regurgitation and pulmonary venous hypertension is even more strongly suggestive of its presence. The electrocardiographic signs of papillary muscle infarction were rare in this series (15%) and were not related to angiographic mitral regurgitation. There was no difference in the incidence of mitral regurgitation in association with anterior or inferior myocardial infarction or in distribution of coronary artery disease. There is, however, a higher incidence of mitral regurgitation in more severe coronary arterial disease (P less than 0-05). The incidence of mitral regurgitation is significantly higher with reduction in left ventricular ejection fraction (P less than 0-001), with rise in the left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (P less than 0-02), and with abnormal contraction patterns, but the severity of mitral regurgitation is not significantly related to these findings.

Adult↗

Abnormalities in somite segmentation following heat shock to Xenopus embryos.

The typical abnormality induced by a 15 min shock at 37degreesC is a single discrete length along the somite file within which segmental boundaries are absent or irregular. The two sides of the same embryo present a similar but not necessarily identical appearance. Usually all the embryos in a treated batch show abnormalities of similar severity. Survival of treated embryos, the details of the visible malformations, and temporal aspects of the phenomenon have been studied. The results indicate a temperature sensitive period that traverses the neurula, from head to tail at about the same rate as the somites form, but some hours beforehand. The temperature sensitive process is not associated with cell determination and differentiation, and there are reasons for thinking that the specification of the normal somite number occurs independently. The results are discussed in relation to Cooke & Zeeman's model of a wave front interacting with an oscillator.

Animals↗