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Biomedical subjects

N Murphy

Publications and source records attributed to N Murphy.

67 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Effect of maternal nutritional status on immunological substances in human colostrum and milk.

Substances in colostrum and breast milk confer significant disease resistance to the breast-fed infant. The influence of maternal nutritional status on both immunological and nonimmunological milk factors was studied in a group of 23 Colombian women during the first 2 months of lactation. Maternal malnutrition was characterized by significantly lower weight/height ratio, creatinine/height index, total serum proteins, serum albumin, and serum IgG and IgA. The colostrum of malnourished mothers contained only one-third the normal concentration of immunoglobulin G and less than half the normal level of albumin. Significant reductions in colostrum levels of IgA and the fourth component of complement (C4) were also observed in the malnourished group. No differences were observed in colostral concentrations of lysozyme, C3 complement, or IgM. Titers of antibody in milk directed against respiratory syncytial virus were not influenced by maternal nutritional status. The differences noted above tended to disappear in mature milk, concomitant with improvement in the nutritional status of malnourished mothers during the first several weeks postpartum. We conclude that the protective qualities of colostrum and milk may be significantly influenced by maternal nutritional status.

Adult↗

Cryopreservation of virus-infected cells for use in the fluorescent antibody to membrane antigen test.

Tissue culture cells infected with varicella-zoster, respiratory syncytial, para-influenza types 1, 2, and 3, and influenza A/Texas/1/77 and A/USSR/90/77 viruses were exposed to ultraviolet light and frozen in the presence of a final concentration of 20% glycerol. These cells were quick thawed at 37 degrees C and compared with freshly prepared, living infected tissue culture cells in assays of fluorescence antibodies to membrane antigens of the infecting agents in serum, nasal wash secretions, colostrum, and breast milk. Frozen cells performed as efficiently as fresh cells as targets and retained their activity for long periods of time. Cryopreservation combined with photoinactivation of infected target cells allows this useful antibody test to be performed in routine serology laboratories.

Antigens, Viral↗

The Village AIDS Day Treatment Program: a model of interdisciplinary and interdependent care.

This article describes the Village AIDS Day Treatment Program, a program for people living with HIV/AIDS that provides health care by using a full range of interdependent services. Opened in 1988, this program was the first of its kind in the country. It has provided leadership in developing a model of care that addresses the full spectrum of health care--promotion, prevention, maintenance, and treatment. Along with describing the program and its services, this article includes the program's history and its influencing philosophies.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

Risk factors for cervical intraepithelial neoplasm in Alaska Native women: a pilot study.

Although rates for invasive cervical cancer have declined over the past twenty years among Alaska Native women, they continue to show high rates of pre-invasive cervical lesions (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia, or CIN). We investigated risk factors for CIN II/III among Alaska Native women in a pilot case-control study. Cases (n = 26) included women with biopsy-proven CIN II/III, while controls (n = 52) had normal cervical epithelium. The strongest risks associated with CIN II/III were HPV infection of any type (Crude Odds Ratio [OR] 8.4, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 2.9-29.4), HPV 16 infection (OR 40.8, 95% CI: 9.4-176.4), and a family history of cervical dysplasia (OR 3.9, 95% CI: 1.3-11.3). We also found that use of depot-medroxy progesterone acetate was associated with CIN (OR 3.0, 95% CI: 1.1-8.5). A larger investigation would be necessary to allow adequate evaluation of these, and other, risk factors for CIN among Alaska Native women.

Adult↗