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Biomedical subjects

R Austrian

Publications and source records attributed to R Austrian.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Treasured objects in school-aged children.

Infants and young children often from tenacious, persistent attachments to soft objects. No investigation has focused, specifically, on an older school-aged population. Data were collected from parents of 171 normal children between 9 and 13 years of age from the middle to upper socioeconomic class. The study (1) compared current behavioral characteristics of children with or without a history of attachment; (2) compared the current behavioral characteristics of the children who have or have not maintained that attachment; (3) explored the relationship between parental attitudes and the persistence or disappearance of the object; and (4) explored family demographics and object use among siblings. Approximately half (54%) had formed an attachment to an object in infancy. Of the group of "users" approximately half kept it until age 9 years (49%). There were no significant behavioral differences among those children who were or were not attached to an object, or among those children who continued to use a soft object after age 9 years compared to those who never used one at all. Parents felt they had little to do, directly, with their child's relinquishing the object. Sibling use, the number of siblings, ordinal rank of the child, parents' marital status, sex of the child, and history of thumb-sucking were all unrelated to object attachment.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

A radioimmunoassay for immunologic phenomena in pneumococcal disease and for the antibody response to pneumococcal vaccines. I. Method for the radioimmunoassay of anticapsular antibodies and comparison with other techniques.

A radioimmunossay is described which uses a 14C biosynthetically internally labeled antigen. This modified Farr technique has been standardized by quantitative precipitation and compared with hemagglutination and mouse protection. Specificity was established by use of heterologous hyperimmune sera and by use of unlabeled pneumococcal polysaccharides for inhibition. Reproducibility has been evaluated for different preparations of antigens and varying storage conditions of sera. The system has been applied to a wide variety of studies requiring analysis of human and animal sera.

Animals↗

Emergence of multiply resistant pneumococci.

Multiple antimicrobial resistance in pneumococci was detected in Johannesburg in July, 1977, and prompted an investigation of the prevalence of resistant strains in two hospitals. Carriers of Types 6A and 19A penicillin-resistant pneumococci, resistant to antibiotic concentrations ranging between 0.12 and 4 microgram per milliliter were found in 29 per cent of 543 pediatric patients and 2 per cent of 434 hospital staff members. Multiply resistant Type 19A strains, resistant to beta-lactam antibiotics, erythromycin, clindamycin, tetracycline and chloramphenicol, were isolated from 128 carriers, and were responsible for bacteremia in four patients. Isolates from 40 other carriers were resistant to penicillin alone or to penicillin and chloramphenicol or to penicillin, chloramphenicol and tetracycline. Pneumococci can be screened for penicillin resistance with a modified Kirby--Bauer technic; the strains with zones of less than 35 mm around 6-microgram penicillin disks or less than 25 mm around 5-microgram methicillin disks should be tested for sensitivity to penicillin by measurements of minimum inhibitory concentration.

Adult↗

Filamentous capsulated streptococci from the human respiratory tract: chemical and immunochemical characterization of a glycoprotein capsular antigen of provisional binary capsular type 87.

A filamentous alpha-hemolytic streptococcus of provisional capsular type 87 isolated from the human respiratory tract has been shown to be binary capsulated. One of the capsular antigens appears to be a glycoprotein; the other appears to be a polysaccharide. Transformation reactions with deoxyribonucleic acid from streptococcus type 87 and a number of noncapsulated pneumococci yielded transformed pneumococci with either a glycoprotein capsule or a polysaccharide capsule, but not with both. Capsular precipitin (quellung) reactions were observed when streptococcus type 87 was treated with homologous antiserum or with antisera to either of the two distinct capsular transformants. Each of the transformed pneumococci gave a quellung reaction with its homologous antiserum or with antiserum to streptococcus type 87, but neither reacted with antiserum to the heterologous transformant. Chemical analysis showed the glycoprotein antigen of streptococcus type 87 to contain, in addition to amino acids, glucose, galactose, glucosamine, and phosphate. The amino acid composition of the glycoprotein capsular antigens from streptococcus type 87 and of those from transformed pneumococci were similar, showing only minor differences. The glycoprotein capsular antigen from streptococcus type 87 gave two closely associated precipitin bands with homologous antiserum or antisera to transformed pneumococci with the glycoprotein capsule. That the two precipitin bands represent two unrelated proteins is precluded largely on the basis of the unlikely probability of 100% cotransformation of the genes coding for both proteins in the pneumococcal transformants that were isolated. Chemical analyses of the various fractions of the glycoprotein indicate that the two precipitin bands may represent a glycoprotein and its corresponding apoprotein.

Amino Acids↗

Prospects for the prevention of bacterial meningitis with polysaccharide vaccines.

MOST SUPPURATIVE INFECTIONS OF THE MENINGES ARE CAUSED BY FIVE BACTERIAL SPECIES: Escherichia coli, Haemophilus influenzae type b, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria meningitidis, and group B streptococcus. The immune response of adults to pneumococcal capsular polysaccharides has been studied in great detail and their responses to meningococcal and H. influenzae type b capsular polysaccharides are quite similar. Immune responses of adults to E. coli and group B streptococcal antigens are disappointing. The responses of children below the age of 7 years differ both quantitatively and in duration. Early experience shows that useful antibody titres can be achieved with certain antigens but further studies are required. In order to prevent bacterial meningitis by immunization, three vaccine formulations will need to be developed. When epidemic meningococcal disease occurs in a population, the vaccine containing only components of the meningococcus would be applied to a large segment of the population to terminate the epidemic. The second vaccine would contain components of H. influenzae type b, pneumococcus, and the meningococcus and would be administered in the first year of life, and repeated at suitable intervals to maintain life-long immunity. The third vaccine, designed to prevent neonatal meningitis caused by E. coli K1 and group B streptococci, would be administered to women preferably during the third trimester of pregnancy, so that their offspring would inherit sufficient antibodies to protect them during the first 3 months of life.The vaccine against the meningococcus is a reality and has been used extensively during major epidemics, with excellent results. The two vaccines for control of endemic bacterial meningitides do not exist as yet, but the prospects are good.

Adult↗