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P Doty

Publications and source records attributed to P Doty.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Rous sarcoma virus is integrated but not expressed in chicken early embryonic cells.

We have developed a protocol that allows us to infect chicken early embryonic (CEE) cells with high efficiency. This was achieved by exposing the CEE cells to a semicontinuous dose of Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) for a period of 20 hr. Southern blot analysis indicated that an average of one proviral copy is integrated per embryonic cell. However, there was no production of infectious viral particles by the cells containing the proviral genome, although low levels of full-length genomic RNA could be detected by RNA transfer blot analysis. These low RNA levels contrast with the 100- to 1000-fold higher levels found in RSV-infected chicken embryo fibroblasts. We conclude that in cells derived from pregastrulating chicken embryos, RSV DNA is integrated into the cell genome but fails to be expressed in an efficient manner. These primary cells can therefore be used to identify factors involved in regulation of retroviral gene expression in normal cells. Such factors may also be instrumental in elucidating basic mechanisms involved in gene regulation during early development in higher vertebrates.

Animals↗

Prospective payment for Medicare skilled nursing facilities: background and issues.

Strong interest by Congress in a Medicare prospective payment system for skilled nursing facilities (SNF's) resulted in a major study by the Health Care Financing Administration on the Medicare SNF benefit. This article highlights findings from that study, which addressed the following: the Medicare SNF benefit, utilization and expenditures, the Medicare SNF industry, problems with the current Medicare SNF reimbursement system, efforts to develop a Medicare SNF case-mix measure, and case-mix differences between hospital-based and freestanding SNF's. In addition, we discuss the implications of the study findings for the design of a Medicare SNF prospective payment system (PPS).

Costs and Cost Analysis↗

The feasibility of using case mix and prospective payment for Medicare skilled nursing facilities.

Congress, at the time it asked for a feasibility study of the use of prospective payment for hospital care delivered to Medicare patients, also asked for a study of the Medicare skilled nursing facility (SNF) benefit. The information and commentary in this paper are based on the history and findings of the recent Health Care Financing Administration study of the SNF benefit. We discuss the technical, administrative, and policy issues that need to be addressed to implement a patient-level case-mix adjustment for reimbursing SNFs under Medicare. We conclude that conditions are currently not ideal for implementing a patient-level case-mix adjustment for Medicare SNFs. Future research may be able to remedy some of the impediments to adapting case-mix adjustments for SNFs.

Activities of Daily Living↗

Family care of the elderly: the role of public policy.

There is little evidence to support the belief--and many policy initiatives flowing from it--that families are less willing or able to provide home care to elderly relatives. Informal care-giving remains at a high level; institutionalization rates have changed little over the past 30 years. But some demographic trends affecting both the elderly and families may change this picture in the future. Proposals for providing cash grants or tax allowances do not get to the heart of the matter.

Activities of Daily Living↗

Collagen expression in embryonic chicken chondrocytes treated with phorbol myristate acetate.

Growth of embryonic chicken sternal chondrocytes in the presence of phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA), a potent tumor promoter, resulted in a dramatic morphological change from spherical floating cells to adherent fibroblastic cells. This morphological change was accompanied by a quantitative switch from synthesis of cartilage-specific type II procollagen to type I procollagen. Type II procollagen mRNA levels decreased 10-fold in PMA-treated cells. Activation of type I collagen genes led to the accumulation of type I procollagen mRNA levels comparable to those of type II mRNA in these cells. However, only type I procollagen mRNA was translated. In addition to gene activation, unprocessed pro alpha 1(I) transcripts present at low levels in control chondrocytes were processed to mature mRNA species. Redifferentiation of PMA-treated chondrocytes was possible if cells were removed from PMA after the morphological change and cessation of type II procollagen synthesis but before detectable amounts of type I procollagen were synthesized. Production of type I collagen thus marks a late phase of chondrocyte "dedifferentiation" from which reversion is no longer possible. Redifferentiated cell populations contained 24-fold more pro alpha 1(II) collagen mRNA than pro alpha 1(I) collagen mRNA, but the rates of procollagen synthesis were comparable. This suggests that the PMA-mediated dedifferentiation of chondrocytes as well as their redifferentiation is under both transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation.

Animals↗

An overview of long-term care.

Long-term care (LTC) refers to health, social, and residential services provided to chronically disabled persons over an extended period of time. Especially during the last 20 years, State and Federal Governments have played an increasing role in the financing of long-term care. The aging of the population underlines the future importance of this topic. This article provides background data on need, supply, and expenditures; discusses government financing programs; and addresses quality of care concerns and options for LTC reform.

Aged↗

Endonuclease S1-sensitive site in chicken pro-alpha 2(I) collagen 5' flanking gene region.

A site that is preferentially cleaved by the single-strand-specific endonuclease from Aspergillus oryzae was located in vitro 180 base pairs upstream from the 5' end of the chicken pro-alpha 2(I) collagen gene. It is found in supercoiled plasmids with a negative superhelical density of -0.024 or more but not in linear DNA molecules. The nuclease S1 sensitivity is retained in plasmids containing genomic fragments extending from position +8 to -285 (where +1 is the first transcribed base) and from -147 to -351 and also in a 5.7-kilobase EcoRI fragment that extends 1.6 kilobases 5' and 4.1 kilobases 3' to the 5' end of the gene. Analysis at the nucleotide level on a DNA sequence gel places the site at -181 to -182 on the sense strand and at -182 to -184 and -192 to -195 on the nonsense strand. These sites lie within a stretch of 42 pyrimidines interrupted by a single guanine and within the sequence T-C-C-C-T-C-C-C-T-T-C-C-T-C-C-C-T-C-C-C-T.

Animals↗

Expression of type I and III collagen genes during differentiation of embryonic chicken myoblasts in culture.

Expression of type I and III procollagen genes was studied in embryonic chicken myoblast cell cultures, obtained from thigh muscles of 11-day-old embryos. Differentiation initiated by the addition of ovotransferrin (30 micrograms/ml) was followed visually by phase-contrast microscopy. Myoblast fusion and myotube formation were detected by day 3 and appeared to be complete by day 7. The synthesis of procollagens was monitored by labeling cell cultures for 1 h with [3H]proline and determining the radioactivity in procollagen chains by scanning densitometry of the fluorograms of the sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gels. A 10- to 20-fold increase in the rate of pro alpha-1(I), pro alpha-2(I), and pro alpha-1(III) collagen synthesis was observed, with the greatest increase occurring between days 3 and 9. Collagen mRNA levels in the myoblast cultures were examined by Northern blot and dot blot hybridization assays. The 10- to 20-fold increased rate of protein synthesis was accompanied by a 15-fold increase in the steady-state levels of pro alpha-1(I) and pro alpha-2(I) mRNAs and a 10-fold increase in the steady-state levels of pro alpha-1(III). As a correlate to the studies of collagen expression during myoblast differentiation, the expression of actin mRNAs was examined. Although alpha actin could be detected by day 4, a complete switch from lambda and beta to alpha actin was not observed in the time periods examined. Similar results were obtained in the analysis of RNA extracted from embryonic legs at days 12 and 17 of gestation. Myoblast differentiation is manifested by the accumulation of both muscle-specific mRNAs, such as actin, and type I and III procollagen mRNAs.

Animals↗

Chick pro alpha 2 (I) collagen gene: exon location and coding potential for the prepropeptide.

We report the DNA sequence of a cDNA clone complementary to the 5' end of the chick pro alpha 2(I) mRNA. The sequence enables us to deduce the amino acid sequence of this region, which has been refractory to conventional protein sequencing techniques. Its importance lies in the role of the prepropeptide in secretion, triple helix formation of the mature protein and initiation of fibrillogenesis. We have also located four of the five exons which code for this region on the genome. One exon is only 11bp in size and appears to code exclusively for the signal propeptidase cleavage site. This is an extreme example of an exon defining a functional unit.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Structure of the pro alpha 2 (I) collagen gene.

Fifty-four kilobase pairs (kbp) of cloned chicken DNA containing the entire 38-kbp pro alpha 2 (I) collagen gene have been isolated and characterized. DNA sequence analysis of a select 4 kbp of the gene has precisely described 14 exons which comprise one-third of the sequences encoding the triple-helical domain of the collagen protein. These exons range in size from 45 to 108 base pairs (bp), are all multiples of the 9 bp that code for the repeating triplet, Gly-X-Y, and have an average size of 70 bp. About 50 introns interrupt this gene. Nevertheless, introns do not separate the coding sequences for the ends of the central triple-helical structural domain and the ends of the propeptide domains.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Fine structural analysis of the chicken pro alpha 2 collagen gene.

Forty-two kilobase pairs of cloned chicken DNA containing 80% of the pro alpha 2 (type I) collagen gene and 8 kilobase pairs of 3' flanking sequences have been isolated. Detailed analysis of these clones indicates that this collagen gene spans approximately 40 kilobase pairs of DNA and contains on the order of 50 introns. The fine structure of 40% of the pro alpha 2 gene, including its 3' end, was determined by Southern blot restriction endonuclease mapping using a 2.6-kilobase pair procollagen cDNA clone pCg45, as a probe, and by DNA sequence determination of more than 2 kilobase pairs of this part of the genome. Exons in the triple-helical coding region are all multiples of the 9 base pairs coding for the Gly-X-Y triplet and vary in size from 45 to 108 base paris. The sequences of all six exons in a 3.8-kilobase pair EcoRI fragment were determined. One of these, a 249-base pair exon, joins the collagen domains; it codes for the last 15 amino acids of the triple-helical coding region, the telopeptide, and the first 53 amino acids of the carboxy-terminal propeptide.

Animals↗

The specificity of in vitro chromatin transcription.

The in vitro transcription of chicken reticulocyte chromatin with E. coli RNA polymerase has been studied in several different ways. The amount of globin RNA sequences has been measured by hybridizing the transcript with globin cDNA; we show that under the proper conditions mercurated transcript RNA can be separated from endogenous RNA on sulfhydryl affinity columns. The amount of globin RNA in the transcript is approximately 20 fold greater than that from erythrocyte chromatin or reticulocyte DNA. Although these data could be used to support the hypothesis of specific transcription, we show by RNA/RNA self hybridization of the transcript (which is at least 50% symmetric) and by hybridization of the transcript to unique DNA in vast RNA excess that the bulk of the chromatin transcript differs little from the transcript of naked DNA. Several explanations for these apparently contradictory results are offered with the most likely one being compatible with random transcription of at least most of the sequences in the chromatin.

Animals↗

"Advocacy research" versus "management review": a comparative analysis.

The authors compare two policy studies of the federally implemented Community Mental Health Centers program--one by a Ralph Nader study group and one by the U.S. General Accounting Office--in order to develop and illustrate two corresponding concepts or "ideal types" of policy research methodology, termed "advocacy research" and management review". They give special attention to two analytic dimensions: the balance of "extrinsic" to "intrinsic" critisms, and the structural relationship between policy researchers and policymakers.

Community Mental Health Centers↗

Construction and characterization of a 2.5-kilobase procollagen clone.

Recombinant bacterial plasmids have been constructed by inserting double-stranded chicken procollagen cDNA sequences linked to chemically synthesized decanucleotides containing HindIII sites into the HindIII site of pBR322. After transformation of Escherichia coli chi1776, colonies were selected by ampicillin resistance and recombinants containing procollagen sequences were identified by colony hybridization to 32P-labeled procollagen cDNA. The inserts from three recombinant plasmids, pCg10, pCg13, and pCg45, were 1200, 2200, and 2550 base pairs long respectively. Their sequence homology has been established by restriction mapping and crosshybridization of nick-translated plasmids to Southern blots of Hpa II fragments of the inserts, pCg45 has been positively identified as containing the pro alpha2 collagen sequence by partial determination of the DNA sequence of its ends: it has a short thymine-rich sequence at one end and a sequence coding for residues 478--499 in the chicken alpha2 chain at the other end.

Animals↗

Characterization of the histone core complex.

A stable histone core complex containing equimolar ratios of H2A, H2B, H3, and H4 has been isolated from chicken erythrocyte chromatin in high salt. This complex has been characterized by sedimentation and chemical cross-linking studies. In velocity ultracentrifugation, only one single sharp sedimentation boundary has been observed with sedimentation coefficient S020,w = 3.8 +/- 0.1. The molecular weight of the histone core complex has been investigated by low-speed sedimentation equilibrium studies over a wide range of protein concentration. Analysis of the apparent weight-average molecular weight as a function of concentration indicates that the histone core complex in 2 M NaCl, pH 9.0, is in equilibrium between a tetramer (H2A)(H2B)(H3)(H4) and an octamer [(H2A)(H2B)(H3)(H4)]2 species with a tetramer molecular weight of 55,000. The equilibrium constant K is approximately 1.2 X 10(-5) liter per mol at 10 degrees. Evidence of such a tetramer-octamer equilibrium in solution is also supported by the results of our chemical crosslinking experiments on the histone core complex.

Chemical Phenomena↗