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Biomedical subjects

S C Williams

Publications and source records attributed to S C Williams.

211 records · Page 12Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Detection and characterization of DNA polymerase from Trypanosoma brucei.

The predominant DNA polymerase activity has been isolated from the parasitic flagellated protozoan, Trypanosoma brucei. Like mammalian DNA polymerase-alpha the trypanosome DNA polymerase is of large molecular weight (S, 6--8), is resistant to thermal denaturation, is sensitive to N-ethylmaleimide, and is inhibited by high ionic strength. However, specific antisera that cross-react with mammalian DNA polymerase-alpha from different species fail to cross-react with the trypanosome polymerase.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

A characterization of mRNA activites and their sequence complexities in Trypanosoma brucei: partial purification and properties of the VSSA mRNA.

Polyadenylated RNA isolated from a clone of Trypanosoma brucei was shown to direct the synthesis of a variety of polypeptides in a cell-free system. A predominant 58,000 dalton polypeptide was immunoprecipitated with antisera to the T. brucei variant specific surface antigen (VSSA). The mRNA that directed the synthesis of the VSSA was 2.0 kilobases (kb) long as measured by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis in 98% formamide. Complementary DNA was prepared with avian myeloblastosis virus reverse transcriptase and the nucleotide sequence complexities of the total polysomal poly(A)+RNA and a gel purified VSSA mRNA were measured. 20% of the total cellular poly(A)+RNA contained abundant sequences with an apparent complexity of 9.6 kb; 42% of the purified VSSA mRNA contained abundant sequences with a complexity of 7.2 kb. Complementary DNA synthesized from gel purified VSSA mRNA was hybridized to total cellular poly(A)+RNA isolated from an unrelated T. brucei clone expressing a different variant antigen. A portion of the low complexity RNA sequence component was absent in the heterologous mRNA population but the same plateau of hybridization was achieved (93%). The abundance of some of the low complexity mRNAs appears to be T. brucei clone specific.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Man-made radionuclides and sedimentation in the Hudson River estuary.

Recently deposited fine-grained sediments in the Hudson River estuary contain radionuclides from global fallout produced by atmospheric bomb tests as well as from low-level releases of a local nuclear reactor. Accumulation rates of these nuclides are dependent on rates of sediment deposition and vary with location in the estuary by more than two orders of magnitude. Within the Hudson estuary, New York harbor is currently the zone of most rapid deposition of sediments containing radionuclides, some of which were released from a nuclear reactor about 60 kilometers upstream of the harbor.

Cesium Radioisotopes↗
PubMed1976

Role of adenosine deaminase in lymphocyte proliferation.

Activity of adenosine deaminase (ADA), an enzyme known to be deficient in some patients with severe combined immunodeficiency, increased three-fold within a 24-hour exposure of human peripheral blood lymphocytes to phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) in culture. This increase took place before the onset of DNA synthesis. Increased levels of ADA activity were also observed in lymphocytes incubated with pokeweed mitogen (PWM) for 60 hr. DNA synthesis induced by PHA, PWM or mixed lymphocyte cultures (MLC) was strongly inhibited by adenosine at concentrations of 10(-4) M or higher when human peripheral blood lymphocytes were cultured in a medium supplemented with horse serum, which lacks ADA. 10(-6)-10(-8) M coformycin, a potent inhibitor of ADA, inhibited PHA-, PWM- and MLC-induced DNA synthesis to a variable extent, whereas thymidine incorporation induced by Salmonella lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in mouse spleen cell cultures was strongly inhibited (by 75% or more) by 10(-6) M coformycin. Combination of 10(-7)-10(-8) M coformycin and 10(-4)-10(-5) M adenosine synergistically inhibited mitogen- or MLC-induced DNA synthesis in human and mouse lymphocyte cultures. These results, together with observations on children with ADA deficiency, provide evidence that adenosine deaminase is highly important for lymphocyte proliferation. Human peripheral blood lymphocytes incubated with PHA, 10(-5) M adenosine and 10(-7) M coformycin showed some cytotoxicity whereas the rate of 51Cr release from normal lymphocytes was not modified by the drugs. These findings suggest that in vivo clones of lymphocytes responding to specific antigens might be eliminated by coformycin, which may prove to be useful as a specific immunosuppressive agent.

Adenosine↗
PubMedDate not supplied

19F NMR studies of enflurane elimination and metabolism.

The elimination and metabolism of enflurane, a fluorinated ether anaesthetic, was studied by 19F NMR in vivo in both rat liver and brain as well as human body fluids. In the liver of thiobarbitone-anaesthetized rats the half-life for enflurane following exposure to 0.15% (v/v) for 30 min was 76 min but this could be decreased to 39 min by pretreatment of the animals with isoniazid (0.1% in the drinking water for 7 days), an agent known to enhance enflurane metabolism. In these animals the major organic metabolite difluoromethoxy difluoroacetate (DFMDFA) was also detected by 19F NMR in vivo. This metabolite was detected along with fluoride ion in rat and human urine and plasma by high resolution 19F NMR. Human urine also contained signals from a probable DFMDFA conjugate and unexpectedly from trifluoroacetate.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of fish oil on phospholipid metabolism in human and rat liver studied by 31P NMR spectroscopy in vivo and in vitro.

The effect of omega 3 fatty acids on the metabolism of the normal liver was studied using 31P NMR spectroscopy. Human subjects were examined before and after 1, 3 and 7 days of supplementation with 50 mL fish oil per day (12 g omega 3 fatty acids). 31P NMR spectra (1.6 T) revealed a significant increase in phosphodiester (PDE) to ATP ratios after 1 and 3 days of fish oil. After 7 days, [PDE]/[ATP] ratios at a TR of 1 s had returned to baseline levels, but [PDE]/[ATP] at a TR of 5 s appeared to remain high. Rats were fed diets containing 50% of the energy from fish oil or normal rat chow (controls) for 14 days. 31P NMR liver spectra in vivo (4.7 T) confirmed increased [PDE]/[ATP] in rats fed fish oil compared to controls, although the difference was only statistically significant at a TR of 1.5 s but not at a TR of 8 s. 31P NMR spectra of rat liver extracts (8.7 T) suggested that increased concentrations of glycerophosphocholine and possibly glycerophosphoethanolamine were responsible for rising PDE levels in vivo. Phosphocholine (PC) concentrations were markedly reduced in rat liver after fish oil. The combined rise in glycerophosphocholine and reduction in PC would be consistent with a shift from the phospholipase C to the phospholipase A1/A2 pathway of phosphatidylcholine breakdown after fish oil consumption.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Women's experiences of preterm labor: a feminist critique.

Using a feminist perspective, women's experiences of preterm labor (PTL) were critiqued and compared with the medical establishment's perspective on PTL as described in the medical literature. Interview data from 29 women who participated in a larger study on the PTL experience were revisited and examined based on principles of feminist theory. The persistent "medicalization" of women's bodies was discussed and used as a framework to explore several issues: (a) the diagnosis of PTL and what it means to be at risk for this phenomenon; and (b) the treatment of PTL including the role of medications, activity, and home monitoring for uterine contractions. Based on the differences that emerged when PTL--was examined from two divergent standpoints--the women's perspective and the physician's perspective--some alternative approaches to PTL management that place women's lives at the center of the treatment process were suggested.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Dilation of forearm blood vessels after angiotensin-converting-enzyme inhibition by captopril in hypertensive patients.

In eight hypertensive patients, forearm vascular tone was assessed by water plethysmography following inhibition of angiotensin II-converting-enzyme (ACE) activity with captopril. Acute captopril administration increased venous distensibility (VV30) and decreased forearm vascular resistance (FVR), while it lowered systemic blood pressure (BP). Alpha-one adrenergic receptor blockade by prazosin did not prevent captopril from decreasing vascular tone or lowering blood pressure (BP). Thus, captopril dilated both veins and arterioles. The primary mechanism of captopril's acute antihypertensive action did not involve inhibition of alpha1-adrenergic receptor activity. Moreover, captopril and prazosin together produced a greater reduction in BP and peripheral resistance than occurred with either agent alone.

Adult↗