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Biomedical subjects

S Abraham

Publications and source records attributed to S Abraham.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources
PubMed1982

Child-to-Child programme in Malaysia.

Even though Malaysia is a relatively prosperous country amongst the developing nations, it is still be set by problems of a rapidly increasing population. The economic cake is also unevenly distributed and there are pockets of poverty in the slums surrounding the towns as well as in the rural areas. Added to that is the problem of ignorance and superstition especially amongst its adult population. It is due to these problems that the Child-to-Child programme has found special application in Malaysia. The Child-to-Child has been introduced through either the government agencies or the voluntary organizations. Through the Ministry of Education, the concept has found its ways through the schools and the state department of education. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has also introduced the concept of Child-to-Child in the media. The voluntary organizations have also introduced the concept of Child-to-Child in their projects. The Sang Kancil project has to some extent used the idea in the running of its activities. The Health and Nutrition Education House have found that by applying the concept and using older children to help in running its activities, its over all objective which is the improvement of the health of the children in the slums could be reached more easily.

Child↗
PubMed1981

The effects of space flight on some rat liver enzymes regulating carbohydrate and lipid metabolism.

We have examined, in the livers of rats carried aboard the Cosmos 936 biosatellite, the activities of about 30 enzymes concerned with carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. In addition to the enzyme studies, the levels of glycogen and of the individual fatty acids in hepatic lipids were determined. Livers from flight and ground control rats at recovery (R0) and 25 days after recovery (R25) were used for these analyses. For all parameters measured, the most meaningful comparisons are those made between flight stationary (FS) and flight centrifuged (FC) animals at RQ. When these two groups of flight rats were compared at R0, statistically significant decreases in the activity levels of glycogen phosphorylase, alpha-glycerol phosphate acyl transferase, diglyceride acyl transferase, aconitase and 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase and an increase in the palmitoyl CoA desaturase were noted in the weightless group (FS). The significance of these findings was strengthened by the fact that all enzyme activities showing alterations at R0 returned to normal 25 days postflight. When liver glycogen and total fatty acids of the two sets of flight animals were determined, significant differences that could be attributed to reduced gravity were observed. The weightless group (FS) at R0 contained, on the average, more than twice the amount of glycogen than did the centrifuged controls (FC) and a remarkable shift in the ratio of palmitate to palmitoleate was noted. These metabolic alterations, both in enzyme levels and in hepatic constituents, appear to be characteristic of the weightless condition. Our data seem to justify the conclusion that centrifugation during flight is equivalent to terrestrial gravity.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

Income matched black-white hemoglobin differences after correction for low transferrin saturations.

As shown in 3321 age-matched pairs of black and white participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES I) the magnitude of difference in hemoglobin approximates 0.73 g/dl both before and after exclusion of low transferrin saturation values (i.e., equal to or less than 15%). These new income-matched, age-matched comparisons of individuals of the same sex provide a useful estimate of the magnitude of the hemoglobin difference between American blacks and whites.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Suggested sex and age appropriate values for "low" and "deficient" hemoglobin levels.

New values for "deficient" and "low" Hb have been calculated as the smoothed 5th and the 15th percentiles for white males and females included in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES I). With separate tabulations for 18.389 white individuals contained in this data base and for 12,320 with transferrin saturation values of 16% and above, these new values have the advantage of being fully age-specific, based upon a single source of hematological data and providing quantitative definitions of "low" and "deficient."

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Studies on the hypotensive response to atropine in hypertensive rats.

The hypotensive effect of atropine sulfate was evaluated in conscious, unanesthetized hypertensive rats (spontaneously hypertensive rats and Sprague-Dawley rats made hypertensive by s.c. implantation of deoxycorticosterone acetate, tablets) and their respective normotensive controls. In all animals, atropine (5-50 mg/kg i.v.) caused an immediate and dose-dependent decrease in blood pressure. However, the hypotensive response was of greater magnitude and of longer duration in the hypertensive rats. Pretreatment of the animals with phentolamine prevented the hypotension by atropine. Plasma concentrations of atropine were determined by radioimmunoassay and were identical in both hypertensive and normotensive rats. Atropine blocked the pressor responses to norepinephrine and shifted the dose-response curve for norepinephrine to the right to a similar extent in spontaneously hypertensive and Wistar-Kyoto rats. Thus, atropine acts as a competitive antagonist of norepinephrine and this action underlies its hypotensive effect. The greater responsiveness of hypertensive rats is not due to a difference in pharmacokinetic handling of atropine nor to a greater degree of blockade of the norepinephrine pressor response in vivo, but may result from the altered sympathetic tone in the hypertensive rats. Atropine may, in addition to its action on alpha adrenergic receptors, affect other systems such as calcium handling. It is speculated that an effect on this system may contribute to the longer duration of response seen in hypertensive rats.

Adrenal Medulla↗
PubMed1981

Influence of dietary fat on the growth of mammary ducts in BALB/c mice.

Essential fatty acid (EFA)-deficient diets, when fed to weanling BALB/c mice, retarded the rate of mammary ductal growth. Ductal growth was also markedly retarded in pups fed only EFA-deficient foods from birth (milk from mothers fed EFA-deficient diets for the first 3 wk until weaning, then an EFA-deficient diet for an additional 5 wk). The ability of dissociated mammary epithelial cells to form outgrowths was reduced, and the growth rate of those outgrowths that did form was retarded when such cells were injected into gland-free mammary fat pads in syngeneic hosts fed EFA-deficient diets. Indomethacin, an inhibitor of prostaglandin synthesis, when added at a level of 0.003% to a 15% corn oil-containing diet, resulted in the retardation of ductal growth to about the same extent as did a 15% hydrogenated cottonseed oil-containing diet; however, unlike that associated with EFA-deficient diets, the retardation associated with indomethacin was temporary. EFA appears to be required for normal ductal growth in BALB/c mice, and prostaglandins may be involved in the growth-regulating process.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

Effect of estrogen on metabolism and enzyme activities of mammary adenocarcinoma R3230AC in Fischer rats.

Metabolic characteristics and enzyme activities are reported for a variant line of R3230AC tumor, a long-established, transplantable mammary adenocarcinoma in the Fischer rat. Lipogenic enzyme activities from the variant tumor are generally lower than those reported for early generations of this tumor. In addition, the proportion of the medium-chain-length fatty acids in the lipids of this variant line is lower. In the variant tumor, estrogen treatment of host animals results in a reduction of fatty acid synthesis from both acetate and glucose. The response of the variant tumor to estrogen treatment is similar to that for the normal gland in a virgin rat in that lipogenic enzyme activities are lowered in both normal and neoplastic tissues. These enzymatic activities in early generations of tumor R3230AC were similar to those observed in mammary glands from lactating rather than virgin rats. Since the variant tumor still responds to estrogen treatment by a reduced growth rate, we have inferred that, although it undergoes the same structural differentiation observed in earlier generations, the variant tumor line no longer shows certain biochemical changes associated with the lactational state in the normal gland.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1980

Tissue specificity for the effect of estrogen on lipogenic activity in male and female rats.

Estrogen treatment decreased fatty acid synthetase and acetyl-CoA carboxylase (EC 6.4.1.2) activities and lowered the lipogenic capacity of mammary gland and the hormone-responsive, transplantable mammary adenocarcinoma R3230AC in male and female Fischer rats whereas the activity of these enzymes and the lipogenic capacity were increased in liver. Estrogen increased the activity of thioesterase II, an enzyme which terminates fatty acid synthesis at medium chain lengths, in both normal and neoplastic mammary tissue.

Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase↗
PubMed1980

Reversible (G0) and nonreadily reversible (Q) noncycling cells in human peripheral blood. Immunological, structural, and biological characterization.

PHA-stimulated human lymphocytes (normal-resting-proliferating) at 0, 24, 48, 72, and 144 h were studied with Acridine Orange (AO) staining. By viable cell sorting, by subsequent subculturing, and by the use of biochemical, biophysical, and immunological assays, not only have the G0 resting and G1 (cycling) cell cycle phases been objectively characterized, but a separate subpopulation of quiescent cells that are functionally viable and deeply committed to nonproliferation, the Q cells, has been identified. Multiparameter cytofluorimetric analysis, methyl14C-thymidine incorporation, automated image analysis, and mitogen stimulation studies have shown that the "Q" cell, compared to the "G0" resting but easily recruitable cell, exhibits quite lower red and green AO emission, possesses 2c to 4c DNA content (rather than only 2c), has a higher average optical density, and is either nonrecruitable or recruitable-with-difficulty in PHA-stimulated lymphocyte cultures.

Acridine Orange↗