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Biomedical subjects

P Scott

Publications and source records attributed to P Scott.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

Conservative surgery in multiple cusp involvement in tricuspid valve endocarditis.

Tricuspid and mitral valve endocarditis caused by Staphylococcus epidermidis in a 57 year old previously healthy man with no history of drug abuse presented as bi-ventricular failure and multiple episodes of pulmonary emboli. He was treated for four weeks with intravenous antibiotics and had serial echocardiographic assessment of the vegetation on the tricuspid valve. This was followed by mitral valve replacement, local excision of vegetation from all the three cusps of the tricuspid valve, and autologous pericardial reconstruction of these cusps with functional assessment by perioperative transoesophageal echocardiography. Postoperative cardiac function was excellent and serial echocardiographic assessment confirmed satisfactory tricuspid valve function. This is believed to be the first recorded case in which autologous pericardial repair was used to reconstruct all the three cusps in a tricuspid valve after excision of vegetations.

Endocarditis, Bacterial↗
PubMed1991

Subliminal psychodynamic activation, food consumption, and self-confidence.

The subliminal psychodynamic activation (SPA) method was used to study the effects of a message related to loss and separation on the behavior of anaclitic and control subjects in a sample of male college students (N = 148). In the subliminal condition (4 ms exposure time), subjects shown the experimental message "Mommy is Leaving Me" ate significantly fewer crackers than those exposed to the neutral message "Mona is Loaning It" (p = .04). Subjects subliminally exposed to the experimental message reported less confidence in their interpersonal attractiveness than those subliminally shown the neutral stimulus (p = .05). These findings, which support the hypothesis that semantic analyses are performed unconsciously, are discussed in the context of recent research on both the SPA paradigm and the anaclitic personality.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Florid papillomatosis of the nipple: a clinico-pathological surgical problem.

Adenoma or florid papillomatosis of the nipple is a rare, benign condition which resembles the clinical appearances of Paget's disease of the nipple and the histological appearances of papillary carcinoma of the breast. We describe a case which illustrates the pitfalls in diagnosis and proposes a safe management procedure for breast and nipple lesions.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1990

Protection against Leishmania major in BALB/c mice by adoptive transfer of a T cell clone recognizing a low molecular weight antigen released by promastigotes.

We have shown previously that BALB/c mice can be protected against a fatal infection with Leishmania major by adoptive transfer of a T cell line recognizing a protective soluble fraction (fraction 9) of promastigotes. We now describe the isolation and characterization of a T cell clone (9.1-2) that also transfers protective immunity against Leishmania. After Ag or mitogen stimulation, this clone secrets IL-2 and IFN-gamma, but not IL-4 or IL-5. The clone preferentially recognizes L. major fraction 9, and in addition, soluble Ag from Leishmania donovani, Leishmania amazonensis, and Leishmania braziliensis, but not from the related flagellates, Trypanosoma cruzi or Crithidia fasciculata. Besides being contained in fraction 9, the stimulatory Ag is also released from the parasite, because concentrated promastigote culture supernatants induced IFN-gamma production by 9.1-2. By means of T cell immunoblotting, we determined that 9.1-2 recognized a protein with a relative m.w. between 8,000 and 12,000, and within this region is a predominant protein contained in fraction 9 of approximately 10,000 m.w. These data identify a new candidate Ag for immunization against protozoa belonging to the genus Leishmania.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Interleukin 5 is required for the blood and tissue eosinophilia but not granuloma formation induced by infection with Schistosoma mansoni.

Eosinophils are thought to play a major role in the immunobiology of schistosomiasis. To investigate the immunologic basis of the eosinophil response and directly assess the function of eosinophils in egg-induced pathology, mice infected with Schistosoma mansoni were injected with a monoclonal antibody produced against interleukin 5 (IL-5), a cytokine previously shown to stimulate eosinophil differentiation in vitro. This treatment suppressed the generation of eosinophil myelocyte precursors in the bone marrow and reduced to background levels the numbers of mature eosinophils in the marrow, in circulation, and within acute schistosome egg granulomas. Nevertheless, granulomas in the anti-IL-5-treated/eosinophil-depleted mice at 8 weeks of infection were only marginally smaller than those in animals injected with control monoclonal antibody, and hepatic fibrosis was comparable in the two groups. Additional parameters such as worm burden, egg output, and serum IgE levels were unaltered by the anti-IL-5 treatment. In contrast, infected animals injected with monoclonal antibody against gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) displayed circulating eosinophil levels that were elevated with respect to control mice, possibly because of an enhanced release of mature eosinophils from the marrow, and developed egg granulomas that were indistinguishable in size and cellular composition from those in control animals. Immunologic assays revealed that lymphocytes from acutely infected mice produce large quantities of IL-5 but minimal IFN-gamma when stimulated with either egg antigen or mitogen. Taken together, these results indicate that neither IL-5 nor eosinophils are essential for egg-induced pathology but suggest that lymphocytes that belong to the IL-5-producing TH2 subset predominate during acute infection and may induce granuloma formation by the production of other cytokines.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

A kinetic assay for urea in undiluted urine specimens.

We describe a kinetic assay for quantifying urea in undiluted urine samples. The assay linearity extends to urea concentrations of 400 mmol/L, is free from interference from blood (10 mL/L) or bilirubin (1 mmol/L), is sufficiently precise for routine use, and correlates well with an established method for assay of diluted urine samples.

Bacillus↗
PubMed1990

Who asks permission for an autopsy?

A survey was undertaken of all hospitals with more than 400 beds in North East Thames Region to ascertain the way in which permission for an autopsy was obtained, in an attempt to explore reasons for declining autopsy rates. We found that there was a considerable variation in autopsy rates, and in the systems within hospitals whereby permission for autopsy is sought. The responsibility for requesting an autopsy is often delegated to younger doctors who have not received any training in how it should be done. A sensitive lay person can achieve high rates of permission for autopsy. Most consultants interviewed stated that they requested less autopsies now than 5 or 10 years ago. They seldom attended autopsies, and one-third of pathologists have given up contacting the clinician before an autopsy.

Autopsy↗
PubMed1989

Assessment of facial self-image by means of a distorting mirror and its relationship to personality.

A flexible distorting mirror was used to give a distorted image of volunteers, who then attempted to alter the mirror to give a true reflection of their faces. Their accuracy in performing this task was correlated with age, sex, extroversion, neuroticism and also with total body and facial self-image as obtained from questionnaires. On average, subjects could not accurately define the size of their faces to within 5 cm, and the higher the body image score on the questionnaire, the less well subjects performed on the flexible mirror.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Role of cytokines and CD4+ T-cell subsets in the regulation of parasite immunity and disease.

CD4+ T cells have been separated into two subsets, designated TH1 and TH2, based upon the repertoire of lymphokines that they produce following stimulation. We have analyzed the role of these T-cell subsets in two chronic parasitic infections, leishmaniasis and schistosomiasis. In both diseases, we found a strong association with TH1 stimulation and protection, and TH2 stimulation and immunopathology. In addition, certain parasite antigens appeared to be strongly linked with either TH1 or TH2 cell development. This led to the establishment of protective T-cell lines and clones in a L. major model, from which we identified a new candidate antigen for vaccination against Leishmania parasites. Moreover, we show that protection against L. major infection can be significantly augmented by coadministration of IFN-gamma with antigen, a lymphokine known to inhibit TH2 cell proliferation. In S. mansoni-infected mice, animals with a patent infection exhibit an overwhelming TH2 response, while animals protectively immunized with irradiated cercariae preferentially produce IFN-gamma, a lymphokine associated with TH1 cell stimulation. In addition, we show that ablation of schistosome-induced eosinophilia by in vivo anti-IL-5 monoclonal treatment fails to reduce the protection induced by irradiated cercariae. Similarly, anti-IL-5 treatment resulted in egg-induced granulomas nearly devoid of eosinophils, but only caused a marginal reduction in granuloma size. These results demonstrate that an understanding of the factors controlling TH1 and TH2 development will significantly facilitate the identification and development of vaccines for parasitic infections.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Immunoregulation of cutaneous leishmaniasis. T cell lines that transfer protective immunity or exacerbation belong to different T helper subsets and respond to distinct parasite antigens.

BALB/c mice can be protected against a normally fatal Leishmania major infection by immunization with a partially purified, soluble subfraction of the parasite (fraction 9). In this study, we demonstrate that a T cell line established against fraction 9, designated line 9, transfers protection equivalent to that obtained by active immunization. In contrast, T cell lines (lines 1 and 9.2) responsive to a nonprotective soluble fraction (fraction 1) not only failed to protect BALB/c mice against L. major, but exacerbated the infection. Most importantly, in addition to differing in their antigen specificity, protective and exacerbative T cells lines could be distinguished on the basis of the lymphokines produced, a characteristic previously used to separate murine Th cells into two subsets, designated Th1 and Th2. We found that the protective cell line, line 9, displayed the Th1 property of secreting IL-2 and IFN-gamma, while the exacerbating lines secreted IL-4 and IL-5, a characteristic of Th2 cells. Our results demonstrate that Th1 and Th2 cells may have dramatically different effects on the outcome of an infection, and suggest that susceptibility and resistance in experimental leishmaniasis may depend upon a balance between the Th subsets induced.

Animals↗