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Biomedical subjects

P Gold

Publications and source records attributed to P Gold.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

The corticotropin-releasing hormone stimulation test in chronic schizophrenia.

During a drug-free period a group of schizophrenic subjects (N = 9) showed normal mean basal plasma ACTH and cortisol levels in association with normal plasma ACTH and cortisol responses to an infusion of corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH). Administration of fluphenazine had no effect on basal ACTH and cortisol levels or their responses to CRH (N = 8). These data differ from those previously reported in depressed patients, who showed elevated basal cortisol values in association with a blunted ACTH response to CRH, and add to a growing body of literature which suggests that hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal regulation is less disturbed in schizophrenia than in depression.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗

Pre-menopausal and post-menopausal depressed women.

In a consecutive series of 28 depressed women, pre-menopausal (n = 13) and post-menopausal (n = 15) patients were compared. Post-menopausal women had significantly higher levels of plasma norepinephrine, plasma 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol, post-dexamethasone plasma cortisol, cerebrospinal fluid 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol and corticotropin-releasing hormone. However, when biologic measures were adjusted for age by analyses of covariance there were no significant differences. Pre-menopausal women had had significantly more life events before the onset of depression than post-menopausal women. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Adult↗

An enzyme-linked immunoassay for the detection of antibodies to endoplasmic reticulum.

A simple, sensitive solid-phase assay for the detection of antibodies to endoplasmic reticulum is described. The assay is dependent upon the amount of antigen bound to the solid support and upon the amount of antibody bound to the support via the relevant antigen. The assay can be used to measure both polyclonal and monoclonal antibody to endoplasmic reticulum. It has been used to isolate several monoclonal antibodies which can recognize and precipitate specific proteins of the endoplasmic reticulum. In addition, it has been used to probe the membrane orientation of endoplasmic reticulum antigens.

Animals↗

The airway of patients with a lipid storage disease.

There have been no previous reports in the anaesthetic literature regarding the airway management during anaesthesia of patients with a lipid storage disease. In a 40-year period (1942-1982) at a busy paediatric hospital 15 patients with a lipid storage disease were anaesthetised on 19 occasions. Eight patients were intubated, three of them twice. No difficulties in airway management during anaesthesia were documented.

Adolescent↗

Partial purification and properties of a murine plasmacytoma glucosyltransferase.

The enzyme UDP-glucose:dolichylphosphate glucosyltransferase has been purified 1700-fold from MOPC-315 plasmacytoma tissue. The purification combines differential detergent extraction of purified rough endoplasmic reticulum with subsequent ion exchange chromatography, dye affinity chromatography, and hydroxylapatite chromatography of the extract. The partially purified glucosyltransferase exhibits a Km of 0.79 microM for UDP-Glc and a Km of 0.65 microM for dolicholphosphate in the presence of 4 mg/ml of phosphatidylcholine. The reaction is dependent upon the addition of exogenous dolicholphosphate. The enzyme is activated by the choline containing lipids phosphatidylcholine, lysophosphatidylcholine, and sphingomyelin. The dye Remazol blue acts as a competitive inhibitor of the enzyme with respect to UDP-Glc. The molecular weight of the enzyme has been determined to be approximately 37,000. The sole reaction product has been identified as dolichylphosphate glucose by isolation of the product by DEAE-cellulose chromatography and subsequent analysis of the acid-hydrolyzed product by both Bio-Gel P2 gel filtration and paper chromatography.

Animals↗

Immunologic dysfunction in patients with classic hemophilia receiving lyophilized factor VIII concentrates and cryoprecipitate.

The occurrence of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in patients with hemophilia has suggested that an infectious agent transmitted through the frequent use of pooled blood products could be responsible. To determine if the amount or type of factor VIII preparation alters the risk of acquiring immune defects, three groups of asymptomatic heterosexual men were studied: 34 with severe classic hemophilia who were receiving lyophilized factor VIII concentrate, 10 with either mild classic hemophilia or moderately severe von Willebrand's disease who were receiving cryoprecipitate and 22 normal men who served as controls. Anergy was noted in 68%, 57% and 5% respectively of the three groups. In comparison with the control group, the group treated with lyophilized factor VIII concentrate had a significantly decreased mean ratio of helper to suppressor T lymphocytes, poor responses of the lymphocytes to mitogens, high unstimulated background activity of these cells and significantly elevated serum IgG levels. Although some of the patients with classic hemophilia who were treated with cryoprecipitate were also anergic, they did not manifest these in-vitro abnormalities. The data indicate that a majority of apparently immunocompetent individuals with classic hemophilia show in-vivo and in-vitro evidence of impaired cellular immunity and may be at risk for the development of opportunistic infections and neoplasms.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

Analogies between Cushing's disease and depression: a case report.

A case report is used to illustrate the difficult differential diagnostic dilemma between depression and Cushing's disease that has led to extensive scientific collaboration to test the hypothesis that both diagnoses may fall within a pathophysiological continuum. Unique to the collaborative study underway is the commitment of psychiatric clinical investigators to bring state of the art techniques for studying neurobiology in a disease traditionally viewed as medical, and of endocrinologists to address their expertise in a disease viewed primarily as psychiatric.

Adult↗

Maternal plasma HbF levels in pregnancy.

Serial maternal serum hemoglobin F (HbF) levels were measured by radioimmunoassay in 23 normal pregnancies. The maternal HbF fraction remains within the normal range during the first trimester (mean + 2 S.D. = 0.15 + 0.13). After 15 weeks gestation, maternal HbF levels rise in some, but not all, pregnancies. In about 30% of the cases the HbF fraction remains within the range seen in adult men and non-pregnant women. Irregular rises in HbF were found in other pregnancies studied serially. The maternal HbF fraction may be an indicator of transplacental hemorrhage.

Female↗

Impaired behavioral sensitization to cocaine in vasopressin deficient rats.

Behavioral sensitization to cocaine involves progressive and long-lasting increases in hyperactivity and stereotypy in response to the same daily dose. In order to test whether vasopressin, a neuro-hormone implicated in drug tolerance and in other models of learning and memory, affected behavioral sensitization, cocaine was administered daily to animals with hereditary absence of vasopressin. Brattleboro homozygotes which lack vasopressin show deficient onset and persistence of cocaine-induced behavioral sensitization compared to heterozygote, litter-mate controls. These data extend previous reports of vasopressin's role in memory and long-term coding of behavior to the model of pharmacologically-induced behavioral sensitization.

Animals↗

Peptides in the cerebrospinal fluid of neuropsychiatric patients: an approach to central nervous system peptide function.

This review highlights that essentially all of the recently discovered putative central nervous system (CNS) peptides and other peptide substances are measurable in human cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Preliminary evidence also suggests that peptides in CSF may have an active regulatory role in relation to CNS function and behavior. Even if this is not the case, CSF peptides may prove to be a useful indirect marker of CNS peptide function and metabolism. Alterations in peptides have been reported in neurological and psychiatric illness, pain symptoms and their treatment, symptoms such as anxiety, and following treatment with CNS active drugs such as carbamazepine. CSF methodologies provide a strategy for the study of the interaction of classical neurotransmitters and peptide substances and their relationship to neural function and behavior in man. Assessment of peptides in CSF may supplement post mortem studies of peptide levels and receptor distribution and help lead to new diagnostic and treatment approaches in neuropsychiatric disorders.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗

Behavioral, biochemical and neuroendocrine responses to amphetamine in normal twins and 'well-state' bipolar patients.

An i.v. injection of dextroamphetamine (0.3 mgm/kg) was given to 13 pairs of normal monozygotic twins, three pairs of normal dizygotic twins and 11 patients with bipolar affective disorder in remission and off medications. Behavioral excitation in response to amphetamine was highly correlated in monozygotic twins; it was predicted by the baseline variables of high plasma MHPG, low serum prolactin and low pulse; it correlated with a rise in cortisol; and it was not correlated with plasma amphetamine level. Pre-infusion baseline MHPG and growth hormone and prolactin responses to amphetamine also were concordant in twins. Plasma amphetamine level, pulse and blood pressure and cortisol responses were not concordant, suggesting significant environmental influences. Haloperidol pretreatment in one pair of twins abolished the excitation response but did not reduce increases in cortisol and growth hormone. This suggests a role for dopamine in the excitation response but predominant serotonergic and noradrenergic mediation of the hormonal responses. None of the responses or baseline measures distinguished patients from controls. Thus, no consistently altered sensitivity to monoaminergic stimulation by amphetamine in bipolar affective disorder was demonstrated in this study. This is one of the first reports of familial (possibly genetic) variation in a psychostimulant drug response in man. The responses identified as concordant may be useful in characterizing other pathologic conditions.

Adolescent↗

alpha-Fetoprotein and cystic fibrosis.

Because of unconfirmed reports that the serum level of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is high in children with cystic fibrosis and intermediate in their siblings and parents, this level was measured in 25 children with cystic fibrosis, 26 of their siblings, 42 of their parents and 31 age-matched children without cystic fibrosis who were attending outpatient clinics of the Montreal Children's Hospital. Liver function tests were performed at the same time since patients with liver disease may have unusually high serum AFP levels and patients with cystic fibrosis often have liver involvement. AFP was not detected in any of the serum samples, and the results of the liver function tests were normal in all but 1 individual, a control subject. In simultaneous assays of serum from children with ataxia telangiectasia, however, high AFP levels were detected in 15 of 16 samples. Thus, measurement of the serum AFP level is of no value in detecting carriers of the cystic fibrosis gene.

Adolescent↗

Regulation of human lymphocyte activation by alpha-fetoprotein. Evidence for selective suppression of Ia-associated T-cell proliferation in vitro.

The immunoregulatory effects of purified human fetal- and hepatoma-derived AFP have been evaluated on allogeneic and autologous mixed lymphocyte reactions (AMLR). In striking contrast to the weak or negligible inhibitory effect on allogeneic reactions, the relatively vigorous proliferative activity of normal human T lymphocytes responding to irradiated autologous non-T stimulator cells was found to be highly sensitive to AFP-mediated suppression. Thus, the addition of purified AFP to AMLRs in concentrations that can be considered physiological with respect to the levels normally detected in fetal and newborn sera reduced the proliferative response by as much as 80 to 90 per cent of control responses occurring in the presence of equivalent amounts of albumin. Consistent immunosuppressive effects were observed in tests with six individually isolated preparations of AFP and no significant differences were evident in the inhibitory potency of fetal versus hepatoma AFP. AMLRs were also shown here to be more susceptible than allogeneic reactions to the blocking effect of anti-Ia antibodies. Therefore, on the basis of our present findings we suggest that an important, and perhaps primary function of AFP may be to control Ia-associated autoreactive T cell proliferation during early ontogeny. Consistent with this reasoning is our finding that most of the strong immunosuppressive action of cord serum on AMLR is abrogated by the selective removal of AFP.

Histocompatibility Antigens Class II↗