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Biomedical subjects

M S Wright

Publications and source records attributed to M S Wright.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

Cloning strategies for peptide hormone receptors.

With the advancement in molecular biology in the last decade many receptors have been cloned and the understanding of their mechanism of function has improved proportionally. In addition the concurrent discovery of receptor gene families has been used to design elegant cloning strategies which in turn have facilitated the characterization of new receptors and receptor subtypes. This review covers the most currently used cloning strategies and gives some examples.

Animals

Validation of a self-reported shelf inventory to measure food purchase behavior.

A mailed, self-reported shelf inventory was validated for use as a tool in assessing the impact of a community nutrition intervention that included a point-of-purchase component. The self-reported inventory was evaluated for overall accuracy as well as for the effects of gender, age, and shopping responsibility on accuracy. In addition, the food-shelf inventory was compared with a specific food frequency questionnaire. Specificity and sensitivity were calculated for self-reported inventories using an interviewer-completed, same-day inventory as the gold standard. Overall sensitivity was 86% and 87%, and overall specificity was 92% and 90% in two validation studies. Results show that the mailed, self-reported shelf inventory is a valid measure of the presence or absence of particular foods in households. As such, it may be a useful tool for assessing the impact of point-of-purchase nutrition interventions.

Adult

Use of a lacZ fusion to study transcriptional regulation of the Rhodobacter capsulatus hemA gene.

An EcoRI fragment containing the Rhodobacter capsulatus hemA promoter has been cloned into a lacZ translational fusion vector. The resulting plasmid produced a hemA-lacZ fusion protein with a molecular mass of 147,000. Expression of the hemA-lacZ fusion, as measured by production of beta-galactosidase, was regulated 2- to 3-fold by oxygen tension. The unexpectedly small change in beta-galactosidase levels suggests that transcriptional regulation of the hemA gene is not the major factor in oxygen-mediated control of porphyrin synthesis.

5-Aminolevulinate Synthetase

Immunocytochemical localization of leucomyosuppressin-like peptides in the CNS of the cockroach, Leucophaea maderae.

Immunocytochemistry was used to determine sites of synthesis and pathways for the transport of the neuropeptide, Leucomyosuppressin (pQDVDHVFLRFamide) in the cockroach, Leucophaea maderae. This study led to identification of neurons in the brain and thoracic ganglia reactive to polyclonal antibodies raised against this peptide. No immunoreactive cells were found in the subesophageal or abdominal ganglia. Although the corpus cardiacum contained no intrinsic cells immunoreactive to LMS antibodies, the periphery of this organ and that of the nervi corporis allati contain an abundance of LMS-reactive terminals.

Amino Acid Sequence

Localization of leucomyosuppressin-like peptides in the central nervous system of the stable fly with immunocytochemistry.

An antiserum raised against leucomyosuppressin (LMS), the first insect neuropeptide shown to inhibit contraction of both visceral and skeletal muscles of insects, revealed the presence of LMS-like material in neurons of the adult stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans (L.). Cells and their processes immunoreactive to the LMS antiserum were found in the brain, subesophageal, and thoracico-abdominal ganglia, with the majority of these neurons in the thoracico-abdominal ganglion. Positive immunostaining after preabsorption of the antibodies with the molluscan tetrapeptide FMRFamide, which absorbs the antibodies directed against the C-terminal FLRFamide of LMS, indicates that structural similarities between LMS and the stable fly neuropeptide(s) extend beyond a similar C-terminal tetrapeptide sequence.

Animals

The nurse and research.

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Community Mental Health Services

Three years on.

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Nursing

Anticomplement and the indirect antiglobulin test.

We used 140 IgG complement-fixing blood group alloantibodies of 17 different specificities in tests to determine whether anticomplement antibodies are still necessary in antiglobulin reagents to be used in indirect antiglobulin tests. Anti-Rh and other IgG noncomplement fixing antibodies were excluded from the study. A polyspecific antiglobulin reagent that contained anti-IgG and anticomplement antibodies, and an anti-IgG reagent containing the same level of anti-IgG as the polyspecific one, were compared. Titrations with some of the antibodies were repeated with only the polyspecific reagent. With each antibody, studies were done with complement activation blocked, and compared with results in which it was allowed to proceed. We found that 42.9% of the antibodies were detected at a higher dilution, and 64.3% of them were detected with a higher titer score, when the poly-specific antiglobulin serum containing anticomplement antibodies was used. We conclude that anticomplement antibodies are indeed still essential for the correct performance of indirect antiglobulin tests.

Antibody Specificity