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Biomedical subjects

N Bhattacharyya

Publications and source records attributed to N Bhattacharyya.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Nosocomial infection in pediatric surgical patients: a study of 608 infants and children.

We studied nosocomial infection in a group of 608 pediatric surgical patients over a 14-month period. All inpatients and outpatients who received an operation with an incision by the pediatric general surgical service were entered into the study. Demographic, nutritional, clinical, and laboratory data were collected. Surveillance was conducted for wound infection, septicemia, infections of the respiratory tract, urinary tract, and abdomen, and infectious diarrhea. A total of 676 operative procedures was performed. Nosocomial infection occurred in 38 of the 608 patients (6.2%). A total of 53 infectious complications was tabulated. The number and percent risk per operation were wound 17 (2.5%), septicemia 14 (2.1%), pulmonary 10 (1.5%), urinary tract 5 (0.7%), abdominal 5 (0.7%), diarrhea 2 (0.3%). Broviac catheter sepsis occurred in 7 of 61 lines (11.5%). The highest overall occurrence of infection was in the infant group (1 mo to 1 yr), (13/161, 8.1%). The probability of septicemia was highest in neonates (4.2%) compared with infants (3.1%) or older children (1.2%) (P < .05). The most common isolates were Staphylococcus epidermidis (10/17) from septic patients, and gram-negative enteric bacteria (27/50) from organ and wound infections. Infection was associated with impaired nutrition, multiple disease processes, and multiple operations. The risk of nosocomial infection in this population was comparable to that reported in adult surgical patients. These baseline data may aid the development of strategies to lower infection risk in children.

Age Factors↗

Perioperative management for cholecystectomy in sickle cell disease.

Perioperative complications of surgical procedures are frequently encountered in patients with sickle cell disease. We have reviewed our series of patients with hemoglobinopathies who underwent cholecystectomy from 1978 to 1991 to evaluate their perioperative management and clinical outcome. Twenty-two children with major sickle hemoglobinopathy underwent cholecystectomy for symptomatic cholelithiasis. All 22 were transfused to achieve a hemoglobin (Hgb) level greater than 9 g/dL and hemoglobin S (HbS) less than 37%. Fourteen underwent immediate preoperative automated red cell exchange (ARCE). The median preexchange Hgb of these patients was 8.1 g/dL (range, 6.8 to 10.5). Their median HbS was 84% (range, 53% to 97%). These patients underwent placement of an apheresis catheter under local anesthesia followed by red cell exchange. The median volume of packed red blood cells (PRBC) exchanged was 28.1 mL/kg (range, 13.8 to 58.7). The median HbS after exchange was 21% (range, 16% to 37%) and the median Hgb was 10.6 g/dL (range, 6.5 to 16.7). Eight other patients underwent sequential transfusion (3 after an exchange for an acute pulmonary vasoocclusive crisis). These patients had been prepared over an interval of 2 to 8 weeks preoperatively and had received a median of 26.9 mL PRBC/kg (range, 12.8 to 95). Following sequential transfusion the median Hgb was 11.8 g/dL (range, 9 to 15.7) and the median HbS was 19% (range, 5% to 32%) at the time of surgery. All patients received extended antigen matched blood. Complications of preoperative transfusion were minor and included two febrile-/allergic reactions and one mild superficial catheter-induced phlebitis.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗

Characterization of the chicken apolipoprotein A-I gene 5'-flanking region.

Apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) is a major protein component of plasma high-density lipoprotein in all species studied, and plays an important role in cholesterol homeostasis. In an earlier study, we cloned and structurally characterized the chicken apoA-I gene. In this study, the 5'-flanking region of the chicken apoA-I gene was sequenced and functionally characterized. Sequence analysis of the 510-nucleotide 5' upstream region revealed the presence of TATA and CCAAT boxes. In addition, we identified binding sites for several transcription factors such as Sp1, AP1, and NFI.2. When the 5' fragment was ligated into a promoterless CAT vector and transfected into a chicken hepatocarcinoma cell line (LMH), the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) gene was expressed, suggesting transcriptional regulation is associated with this region. Transfection studies with other 5' deletion constructs revealed that the sequence spanning the region -82 to +87 contained the major transcriptional activity. DNase I footprinting, gel retardation, and Southwestern blot analyses showed that the fragment interacts with nuclear proteins.

Animals↗

Isolation, characterization and sequencing of the chicken apolipoprotein-AI-encoding gene.

The chicken ApoAI gene has been isolated and characterized. This gene contains three introns: the first is situated after nucleotide (nt) 41 in the 5'-untranslated region of the gene, the second interrupts the codon specifying the Gly-10 of the prepeptide, and the third disrupts the codon for Asp42 in the mature ApoAI protein. The chicken ApoAI gene has 62.6% sequence similarity with the human and 65.0% similarity with the rat gene. Intron-exon organization of the chicken gene is similar to that of human and rat ApoAI genes. Two different transcriptional start points (tsp), only 2 nt apart from each other, have been obtained for the chicken ApoAI gene. The 5'-flanking sequence of the gene contains TAAATA (TATA-like box) and CCACAT (CCAAT-like box) sequences, which are located 21 bp and 96 bp upstream from the tsp, respectively. This gene's sequence and structural organization provide a basis for future studies of the regulation of chicken ApoAI gene expression.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Expression of DNA sequences containing neuron specific enolase gene in Escherichia coli.

There is evidence that the gene for gamma-gamma enolase (neuron specific enolase, NSE) is regulated during cell differentiation and development, conserved in a variety of organisms and contains mRNA destabilizing sequences. In order to investigate further the mechanisms of these processes and to obtain large quantity of this protein, the NSE gene was isolated from neuroblastoma cells and cloned in E. coli using standard molecular biology techniques. The NSE gene expression was studied and the expressed protein (recombinant NSE) was characterized extensively. The recombinant NSE behaves like parental NSE in antisera specificity, resistance for chaotropic agents like urea, thermal stability at higher temperatures etc. The physical parameters like secondary structure, hydrophilicity, antigenic index and flexibility of the expressed protein were studied. The results of the present investigation collectively form the basis for initial investigations of how the expression of NSE gene is regulated. This is the first report where the recombinant NSE gene has been characterized so extensively.

Amino Acids↗

Postoperative wound infection in pediatric surgical patients: a study of 676 infants and children.

We conducted an epidemiologic study of postoperative wound infection in pediatric patients. Over a 14-month period, 676 patients who received an operative incision on the Pediatric Surgical service were entered. Demographic, nutritional, clinical, and laboratory data were collected. The patients were followed for development of postoperative wound infection. Cultures were taken from wounds to identify the offending organisms. Of the 676 patients, 137 were neonates, 197 infants, and 342 older children. Wound infection occurred in 17 patients (2.5%): 1 neonate (0.7%), 8 infants (4.1%), and 8 older children (2.3%). Infection rates according to wound classification were: clean 1.0%, clean-contaminated 2.9%, contaminated 7.9%, and dirty 6.3%. Heavily contaminated or dirty wounds were packed open in one third of cases, and allowed to heal by granulation. The largest group of wound infections followed operations on the gastrointestinal tract (10 patients, 267 operations, 3.7%). Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and alpha hemolytic streptococcus were the most common wound pathogens. An increased rate of wound infection was associated with operative procedures longer than 1 hour, with the presence of an associated illness, and with emergency operations. Age, sex, nutritional status, and duration of preoperative hospital stay did not significantly alter the wound infection rate. It could be concluded that the incidence of wound infection was lower among pediatric surgical patients than the reported incidence in adult surgical patients. The greatest risk factors were those associated with local contamination of the surgical wound.

Age Factors↗

Kwashiorkor and marasmus: changing hospital incidence of syndromic presentation (1957-88).

This clinico-epidemiological study was undertaken to substantiate the impression that the pattern of clinical presentation of protein-energy malnutrition causing kwashiorkor-marasmus syndrome (KMS) is changing over time. An analysis of data for the period 1964-88, obtained from the specialised Pediatric Clinic of the Calcutta School of Tropical Medicine serving mostly the city slums showed decrease (p less than 0.01) in the incidence of chronic edematous forms of severe KMS, less decrease (p less than 0.05) in the incidence of mild-moderate KMS and increase (p less than 0.01) in the incidence of nutritional marasmus and of chronic very severe forms of KMS characterised by extreme retardation in growth and development. Incidentally, a rising incidence of rickets was observed. In the hospitalised cases (1957-88) these observations were corroborated. Data for 1985-88 of NRS Medical College Hospital, Calcutta, a general hospital serving the city as well as the neighbouring rural areas, showed that among the hospitalised city children edematous KMS was proportionately fewer than marasmus. The situation was reverse in the children from the rural areas. The observations suggested that the syndromic presentation of KMS is changing over the last three decades with some rural-urban differences for which only some recent data could be available.

Child↗

Vasa praevia.

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Adult↗

High affinity binding protein for the regulatory subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase II-B. Cloning, characterization, and expression of cDNAs for rat brain P150.

Cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase II-B appears to be adapted for function in the mammalian central nervous system via the properties of its regulatory subunit (RII-B). RII-B is selectively expressed in the central nervous system, tightly associated with cerebral cortex membranes, and avidly complexed by the bovine brain calmodulin-binding protein designated P75 (Sarkar, D., Erlichman, J., and Rubin, C. S. (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 9840-9846). Complexes of RII-B and P75 polypeptides can be purified to near homogeneity from either membrane or cytosolic fractions of brain homogenates, suggesting that the binding protein plays a role in determining the central nervous system-specific properties of protein kinase II-B. To investigate the properties of a prototypic, nonabundant, RII-B-binding protein, we have cloned and characterized cDNAs for rat brain P150, a homolog of bovine brain P75. cDNAs were retrieved from a lambda gt11 expression library using 32P-labeled RII-B as a functional probe. cDNA inserts (800 and 1100 base pairs) subcloned into expression plasmids directed the production of partial P150 polypeptides in Escherichia coli that bind RII-B. Sequence analyses disclosed that P150 is a previously uncharacterized protein that contains multiple octapeptide repeats as well as unique sequences. Antibodies directed against 15-residue peptides corresponding to either repeated or unique sequences bound the polypeptides expressed in E. coli and a 150-kDa protein in rat brain membranes and cytosol. Moreover, the immunoprecipitated 150-kDa protein exhibited high affinity RII-B-binding activity. Finally, 3' deletion analysis demonstrated that a 15-amino acid segment of P150 is essential for binding with RII-B.

A Kinase Anchor Proteins↗

Isolation, characterization and sequencing of a novel repetitive DNA from the mung bean Vigna radiata.

A family of highly reiterated, small (approx. 300 bp) sequences has been identified in DNA of the mung bean Vigna radiata. The members are extensively interspersed throughout the chromosomes with some clustering. They also occur extrachromosomally. There is no tissue-specificity to the repeat family but it is highly species-specific. The repetitive DNA hybridizes to total RNA as well as to polyadenylated RNA isolated from germinated mung beans. It has analogy with the human AluI family in the mode of isolation, size, genomic distribution, copy number and transcribability though they do not share any sequence homology. A repetitive DNA clone was selected from a shotgun genomic library of mung bean DNA in pBR322. The average copy number of the cloned repeat is estimated to be 8 x 10(4) per haploid genome, and thus constitutes approx. 5% of the total mung bean genome. The genomic organization and transcription of the cloned repeat is reported. Sequencing of the cloned repetitive DNA reveals the presence of the number of direct and inverted repeats and some short palindromic sequences.

Base Sequence↗

Necrotizing enterocolitis: value of radiographic findings to predict outcome.

To investigate whether radiographic findings could be used to predict pan-necrosis (necrosis of 75% or more of the jejunum, ileum, and colon), we reviewed the serial abdominal radiographs and clinical records of 147 infants with necrotizing enterocolitis. Pan-necrosis occurred in 29 infants (20%) and was always fatal. The presence and degree of pneumatosis intestinalis, pneumoperitoneum and portal venous gas were studied. Pan-necrosis occurred least frequently in infants with mild or moderate pneumatosis intestinalis (8% and 12%, respectively), and with moderate frequency in those with pneumoperitoneum (33%). Pan-necrosis was found most frequently in infants with severe pneumatosis intestinalis (56%), portal venous gas (61%), or the combination of severe pneumatosis intestinalis and portal venous gas (79%). The mortality rates in these three groups were 63%, 65%, and 86%, respectively. Thus, infants with the worst outcome (those who develop pan-necrosis) can be identified on plain films by detection of severe pneumatosis intestinalis and portal venous gas.

Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous↗

Mutations and homologous recombination induced in mammalian cells by metabolites of benzo[a]pyrene and 1-nitropyrene.

Metabolites of two structurally related chemical carcinogens, benzo[a]pyrene and 1-nitropyrene, were compared for their ability to cause cytotoxicity and induce mutations in normally repairing or nucleotide excision repair-deficient diploid human fibroblasts; for their ability to induce mutations in a defined gene sequence, supF, when a plasmid containing adducts formed by these carcinogens replicates in human 293 cells; and for their ability to induce homologous recombination between duplicated genes in mouse L cells. Both of the metabolites tested, i.e., (+/-)-7 beta,8 alpha-dihydroxy-9 alpha,10 alpha, epoxy-7,8,9,10-tetrahydrobenzo[a]pyrene (BPDE) and 1-nitrosopyrene (1-NOP), form adducts on guanine. BPDE binds principally at the N2 position of guanine; 1-NOP binds to guanine at the C8 position. Results of the studies in diploid human cells indicated that when compared on the basis of equal numbers of DNA adducts, BPDE is more effective than 1-NOP in inducing mutations in DNA repair-proficient cells, but when compared in repair-deficient xeroderma pigmentosum human cells that do not remove such adducts from their DNA, the frequency of mutants induced per adduct is equal. These results suggest that during the time available for repair of potentially mutagenic lesions, repair-proficient human cells excise 1-NOP adducts more rapidly than they excise BPDE adducts. Molecular analysis of the specific kinds of mutations induced when a plasmid containing BPDE residues was allowed to replicate in human cells showed that BPDE induces mainly base substitution mutations, predominantly G:C to T:A transversions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

7,8-Dihydro-7,8-dihydroxybenzo(a)pyrene 9,10-oxide↗

Influence of caffeine on X-ray-induced killing and mutation in V79 cells.

Effects produced by caffeine on X-irradiated Chinese hamster V79 cells depended on the growth conditions of the cells. For exponentially growing cells, nontoxic concentrations of caffeine decreased the shoulder width from the survival curve, but the slope remained unchanged. The yield of mutants under the same conditions also remained unaffected. In case of density-inhibited cells, delaying trypsinization for 24 h after X irradiation increased the survival and decreased the yield of mutants. The presence of caffeine during this incubation period inhibited such recovery and significantly increased the yield of X-ray-induced mutants.

Animals↗