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Biomedical subjects

R W Thompson

Publications and source records attributed to R W Thompson.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Serum glycoprotein hormone alpha subunit levels in patients with cancer.

The serum glycoprotein hormone alpha subunit concentration was measured in 957 nonpregnant patients with benign disorders and 683 patients with unselected malignancies. Postmenopausal women had significantly higher alpha levels than premenopausal women or men. When the patients were subdivided according to age, sex or disease sites, significant population differences were found for women less than 50 years of age and patients with cancers of presumed neural crest origin. However, individual serum alpha levels in patients with benign disorders or malignancies demonstrated considerable overlap. No population differences in serum alpha concentrations were demonstrated between patients grouped according to stage of disease, suggesting that serum alpha were not directly related to tumor burden. Similarly, there was no statistical association between clinical improvement or deterioration and change in the serum alpha subunit concentration. These results indicate that measurement of the glycoprotein hormone alpha subunit concentration in the serum is not useful for screening patients for cancer or for monitoring the clinical course of patients with the vast majority of cancers.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1977

Reaction of tetrahydrofolic acid with cyanate from urea solutions: formation of an inactive folate derivative.

Liver extracts prepared in 6 M urea contain significantly less microbiologically assayable folates than extracts prepared in hot 1% ascorbate. The possibility that inactive folate derivatives are formed by reaction with the cyanate present in the urea solution was investigated. Doubly labeled 2-14C, 3',5',9(n)-3H tetrahydrofolic acid reacted under hydrogen with sodium cyanate gave a compound which, after acidification to remove excess cyanate, shows a single UV absorbing peak at 285 nm. The 14C/3H ratios of starting material and product were the same. Reaction of 14C urea with nonradioactive tetrahydrofolic acid yielded the 14C labeled derivative. The compound does not support Lactobacillus casei growth. It is postulated that folate inactivation in cyanate or thiocyanate treated patients and in uremic patients may have clinical significance.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Alteration of porcine skin acid mucopolysaccharides in zinc deficiency.

Zinc deficiency is overtly manifested as a dermatitis in swine; therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to determine possible zinc-related alterations in the metabolism of the skin acid mucopolysaccharides (AMPs). Eighteen 4-week-old Yorkshire pigs were randomly allocated to one of three dietary treatments. Six animals were fed a semipurified, zinc-deficient, basal diet containing 20 ppm zinc. Six animals served as pair-fed controls and were fed the basal diet supplemented with 90 ppm zinc as zinc carbonate. The remaining six animals were fed the zinc-supplemented diet on and ad libitum schedule. All animals were killed after 36 days when overt deficiency symptoms were apparent in those animals fed 20 ppm zinc. Skin AMPs were isolated. Total hexosamine and galactosamine indicated no alteration in total AMPs. Fractionation of total AMPs into consitituent sulfated and nonsulfated components revealed a significant increase in hyaluronic acid. No statistical difference in sulfated AMPs was found in skin from deficient and pair-fed animals, which was in accord with an in vitro sulfur-35 uptake study.

Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena↗