Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R E Lee.
Scores on the Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16 PF) were different for childcare employees designated by their supervisors most and least desirable. This led to a rationale, specific to this setting, which potentially could augment procedures for selection of employees. The methods and cautionary concerns are proposed to other agencies.
One failing of Likert-formatted rating scales is that they are ordinal scales. This limits the possible computations. To solve this problem 63 women participated in a methodological study in which Cantril's 1965 "ladder" technique was used to develop equal-interval scales with true zero points, referenced in the individuals' own experience. Each subject generated a list of life events corresponding to 9 rungs of a ladder, ranging from "no emotional arousal" to "the most moving event" in her life. This provided a scale for each subject which subsequently could be used to assess other events in her life, while allowing the full range of parametric statistics.
Electrical coupling between specific neurons is important for proper function of many neuronal circuits. Identified cultured neurons from the snail Helisoma show a strong correlation between electrical coupling and presence of gap junction plaques in freeze-fracture replicas. Gap junction plaques, however, were never seen between overlapping neurites from a single neuron, even though those same neurites formed gap junctions with neurites from another essentially identical identified neuron. This observation suggests that a form of self-recognition inhibits reflexive gap junction formation between sibling neurites. When one or both of those growth cones had been physically isolated from the neuronal cell body, both electrical coupling and gap junction plaques, between growth cones from the same neuron, were observed to form rapidly (within 30 min). Thus, inhibition of electrical coupling between sibling neurites apparently depends on cytoplasmic continuity between neurites, and not the molecular composition of neurite membrane. The formation of gap junctions is not likely due to the isolation process; rather, the physical isolation appears to release an inhibition of reflexive gap junction formation. These data demonstrate the existence of a previously unknown constraint on the formation of electrical synapses.
Liposarcoma in childhood is rare. A case of a myxoid liposarcoma arising at the porta hepatis is reported in a 3-year-old boy with initial favourable response to surgery combined with radio- and chemotherapy. Fatal recurrence occurred at age 15 years. The radiological and sonographic findings of liposarcomas are reviewed.
This retrospective study analyzed the outcome of lung cancer patients who were treated with either 4-MV or 10-MV photons. From October 1979 through December 1982, 126 patients with locally advanced, unresectable or medically inoperable, nonmetastatic non-small cell lung cancer were treated in a prospective trial in which they were randomly assigned to one of three chemotherapy combinations and thoracic radiotherapy. The patients were stratified by cell type, extent of operation, age, sex, and status of supraclavicular lymph nodes. All patients were followed until death or for a minimum of 4.8 years. Of the 102 evaluable patients, 98 were treated with either 4-MV or 10-MV photons (49 patients in each group). Outcomes examined included best primary tumor response, time to first local (in-field) recurrence, disease-free survival, and overall survival. No significant differences were detected between the patients treated with 4-MV or 10-MV photons for several important prognostic and treatment factors or for any of the study outcomes, including first local (in-field) recurrence, disease-free survival, and overall survival. For the group of 98 patients treated with either 4-MV or 10-MV photons, the estimated 2-year freedom from first local (in-field) recurrence was 47.7%. The estimated 2-year disease-free and overall survivals were 21.6% and 28.6%, respectively.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Recombinant interferon gamma has been used prophylactically in children with chronic granulomatous disease, but its role in the treatment of acute infective episodes has not been defined. A 3 year old boy presented with multiple candidal liver abscesses and was given intravenous antifungal treatment and he showed initial improvement. After six weeks his erythrocyte sedimentation rate and C reactive protein remained raised, and a computed tomogram showed a single abscess in the left lobe of the liver from which pus was drained and Staphylococcus aureus isolated. During the next eight months the abscess persisted despite appropriate intravenous antibiotics and percutaneous drainage. Subphrenic extension precluded definitive surgery. Nine months after initial presentation recombinant interferon gamma 0.05 mg/m2 intravenously was commenced three times a week. Complete resolution occurred within two months. It is concluded that interferon gamma is useful in treating infective episodes, and further study of the use of prophylactic antimicrobial treatment and intermittent interferon gamma during acute episodes is now required.
Freeze tolerance in the wood frog, Rana sylvatica, is promoted by multiple, integrated physiological responses to ice forming within body tissues. By analyzing the freezing responses of the sympatric, but freeze intolerant, leopard frog (R. pipiens), we sought clues to the evolution of anuran freeze tolerance. Physiological responses critical to R. sylvatica's freeze tolerance, such as the synthesis and distribution of the cryoprotectant glucose, protective dehydration of organs, and deferred cardiac failure, were present, but comparatively less pronounced, in R. pipiens. Both species were innately tolerant of hyperglycemia. Glucose supplements did not enhance the freezing viability of R. pipiens, although in vitro tests of cryoprotectant efficacy revealed that glucose and glycerol provided comparable protection to erythrocytes of both species. We conclude that the evolution of freeze tolerance in R. sylvatica is not only promoted by its desiccation tolerance and the fortuitous biophysical consequences of freezing (e.g., exothermic induction of cardioacceleration and moderation of cooling rate) but also involves a progressive enhancement of fundamental physiological stress responses.
In spring, the lowest temperature during freezing that can be survived by wood frogs (Rana sylvatica) from southern Ohio is approximately -3 degrees C. We investigated whether the thermal limit of freeze tolerance in these frogs is regulated by tissue levels of glucose, a putative cryoprotectant that is distributed to tissues during freezing. Frogs receiving exogenous glucose injections prior to freezing showed dose-dependent increases in glucose within the heart, liver, skeletal muscle and blood. Tissue glucose concentrations were further elevated during freezing by the production of endogenous glucose. Most glucose-loaded frogs survived freezing to -5 degrees C, whereas all control (saline-injected) frogs succumbed. Further, we investigated some mechanisms by which glucose might function as a cryoprotectant in R. sylvatica. Organ dehydration, a normal, beneficial response that reduces freezing injury to tissues, occurred independently of tissue glucose concentrations. However, elevated glucose levels reduced both body ice content and in vivo erythrocyte injury. These results not only provided conclusive evidence for glucose's cryoprotective role in R. sylvatica, but also revealed that tissue glucose level is a critical determinant of freeze tolerance capacity in this species.
A semi-automated dosimetry survey has been undertaken to monitor the radiation doses to patients in a paediatric fluoroscopy room. The doses were assessed using large area Diamentor ionization chambers to measure dose x area product, and by means of thermoluminescent dosemeters attached to the patient's skin in various places. Details of patients and examinations were entered into a computer, all information being stored on a data base. Many radiological examinations have been monitored, including renal and jejunal biopsies, nephrostograms, loopograms, tracheograms and fistulograms. Patients included in the study have been divided into three age bands for dose assessment. Radiation doses for different types of examination have been compared, including more common examinations for which data have been previously presented.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Time-of-flight, the most commonly used angiographic sequence, relies on the inflow of bright, relaxed blood into a region whose magnetization is suppressed by radiofrequency pulses. Good angiographic contrast relies on pulse rates (i. e., repetition times) that are fast enough and pulse amplitudes (i. e., flip angles) that are large enough to saturate the magnetization of the background without saturating the magnetization of entering blood.
Between June 1991 and July 1992, 118 patients (57 men and 61 women) underwent video-assisted thoracoscopy for indeterminate pulmonary nodules. Median age was 64 years (range 30 to 85 years). Thoracotomy was performed in 33 patients (28.0%) after thoracoscopy only because the nodule could not be located in 17 patients, was too large to safely resect in 5, appeared malignant in 4, and for technical reasons in 7. Eighty-five patients underwent thoracoscopic wedge excision. Twenty-one (24.7%) of these 85 patients also had thoracotomy--15 to perform formal lung resection for bronchogenic carcinoma, 3 for nondiagnostic abnormalities, 2 to locate a second nodule, and 1 for stapler malfunction. The remaining 64 patients (54.2%) had only video-assisted thoracoscopic wedge excision. A single wedge excision was performed in 56 patients, two in 6, and three in 2. Pathologic examination of these 74 nodules revealed a granuloma in 30, metastatic cancer in 25, hamartoma in 7, lymphoma in 1, and other benign lesions in 11. There were no deaths and only 4 (6.3%) complications in these 64 patients. The 64 patients treated by thoracoscopy only were compared with a similar group of 64 patients who had wedge excision via thoracotomy without prior thoracoscopy. Postoperative analgesic requirements were less in the patients treated by thoracoscopy. Median hospitalization in the thoracoscopy group was 3 days compared with 6 days in the thoracotomy group (p < 0.05). Median total charge for the thoracoscopy-only group was $12,898 as compared with $12,502 for patients undergoing wedge excision via thoracotomy. We conclude that thoracoscopic wedge excision is a safe and effective procedure in selected patients with an indeterminate pulmonary nodule. A significant number of patients (45.8%), however, required a thoracotomy to accomplish a safe operation or to ensure adequate staging and resection for malignancy. Although thoracoscopy reduces postoperative analgesia requirements and shortens hospital stay, total hospital charges were similar to charges for a wedge excision via thoracotomy.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
BACKGROUND: Since 1988, three nonrelated fatal cases of congenital ichthyosis associated with Gaucher disease have been described in Australia. CASE: We present a case of Gaucher disease with congenital ichthyosis and restrictive dermopathy and describe the associated prenatal sonographic findings and pathology of this new syndrome. CONCLUSION: The unusual association of congenital ichthyosis with lipid storage disease may be suspected prenatally. A high index of suspicion may prove this condition to be more common than previously thought.
Ice formation in the freeze-tolerant wood frog (Rana sylvatica) induces the production and distribution of the cryoprotectant, glucose. Concomitantly, organs undergo a beneficial dehydration which likely inhibits mechanical injury during freezing. Together, these physiological responses promote freezing survival when frogs are frozen under slow cooling regimes. Rapid cooling, however, is lethal. We tested the hypothesis that the injurious effects of rapid cooling stem from an inadequate distribution of glucose to tissues and an insufficient removal of water from tissues during freezing. Accordingly, we compared glucose and water contents of five organs (liver, heart, skeletal muscle, eye, brain) from wood frogs cooled slowly or rapidly during freezing to -2.5 degrees C. Glucose concentrations in organs from slowly cooled frogs were significantly elevated over unfrozen controls, but no significant increases occurred in rapidly cooled frogs. Organs from slowly cooled frogs contained significantly less water than did those from controls, whereas water contents from rapidly cooled frogs generally were unchanged. Rapid cooling therefore inhibited the production and distribution of cryoprotectant and organ dehydration during freezing. This inhibition may result from an accelerated, premature failure of the cardiovascular system.
The lesion detection capability of a new technetium-99m labelled B-cell lymphoma monoclonal antibody (MoAb) imaging agent, LL2, was evaluated in 8 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and 1 patient with chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. The MoAb kit consists of a 1-vial, 1-mg Fab' form of LL2 ready for instant labelling with technetium. The patients were injected with approximately 925 MBq (25 mCi) of 99mTc-LL2 Fab' (1 mg), and planar and single photon emission tomography (SPET) studies were performed at 3-4 h post injection and at 24 h. There was no evidence of thyroid or stomach activity up to 24 h. Uniform splenic uptake was seen in all patients. Two non-lymphoma patients were also administered with the same agent and demonstrated a similar splenic distribution; therefore, splenic targeting was not scored as tumour-specific. A total of 29 from 48 tumour sites were detected by scintigraphy, including tumours of various grades and histological types. Excluding 1 patient who had a large tumour burden of over 500 g, 29 of 33 lesions were detected. One patient was free of disease at the time of the study and had a negative scan. Another patient showed excellent targeting of gallium-negative sites in the liver and bone. The bone involvement was not known prior to the antibody study and was subsequently confirmed by a bone scan. Additional sites of MoAb localization could not be followed in this group, since most patients went on to radioimmunotherapy immediately following the 99mTc-LL2 study.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Explore the source record for details and available documents.