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Biomedical subjects

S John

Publications and source records attributed to S John.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

[Spontaneous kidney rupture as an early complication of Wegener's granulomatosis].

A 51-year-old woman had been suffering from blood-stained purulent sinusitis and antibiotic-resistant bouts of fever for 4 months. She had microhematuria and serological evidence of inflammation (erythrocyte sedimentation rate [ESR] 92/135 mm, C-reactive protein 5.0 mg/dl). When she was admitted to hospital suspected of having postinfectious glomerulonephritis she complained of spontaneous colic-like pains in the left flank. Within one day the haemoglobin concentration fell from 10 to 6.5 g/dl. Ultrasound and computed tomography demonstrated a large space-occupying lesion around the left kidney. At operation this was found to be a rupture of the kidney with perirenal bleeding which was treated without removing the kidney. No biopsy was taken, but serological tests showed antineutrophil cytoplasmatic antibodies (cANCA), indicating Wegener's granulomatosis as the cause of the compensated renal insufficiency and spontaneous renal rupture. Under immunosuppressive treatment the inflammatory signs (ESR 18/44 mm), fever, chronic maxillary sinusitis, raised serum creatinine concentration and the ANCA titre all regressed, while proteinuria of about 4 g/24 h persisted. There was no recurrence during a follow-up period of 15 months. Serological signs of marked inflammatory activity, urinary sediments of nephritis and spontaneous retroperitoneal bleeding should suggest that, in addition to lupus erythematodes and panarteritis nodosa, Wegener's granulomatosis be included in the differential diagnosis.

Acute Disease↗

Histone hyperacetylation does not alter the positioning or stability of phased nucleosomes on the mouse mammary tumor virus long terminal repeat.

Activation of mouse mammary tumor virus transcription by the hormone-bound glucocorticoid receptor results in disruption of a nucleosome that is specifically positioned on the promoter. Limited treatment of cells with the histone deacetylase inhibitor sodium butyrate prevents receptor-dependent promoter activation and nucleosome disruption [Bresnick, E. H., John, S., Berard, D. S., LeFebvre, P., & Hager, G. L. (1990) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 87, 3977-3981]. On the basis of this observation, we undertook a series of experiments to compare the structure of normal and hyperacetylated mouse mammary tumor virus chromatin. Although butyrate prevents hormone-induced restriction enzyme cutting specifically in the B nucleosome region, chromatin containing hyperacetylated histones does not differ from normal chromatin in general sensitivity to restriction enzymes. Indirect end-labeling analysis of micrococcal nuclease digested chromatin reveals that nucleosomes are identically phased on the mouse mammary tumor virus long terminal repeat in normal and hyperacetylated chromatin. A synthetic DNA fragment spanning the B nucleosome region was reconstituted into a monosome by using core particles containing normal or hyperacetylated histones. Analysis of the structure of reconstituted monosomes by nondenaturing polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, salt stability, thermal stability, restriction enzyme accessibility, and exonuclease III or DNase I footprinting reveals no effect of histone hyperacetylation on monosome structure. These observations suggest that histone hyperacetylation does not induce a major change in the structure of mouse mammary tumor virus chromatin, such as nucleosome unfolding.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Acetylation↗

Glucocorticoid receptor-dependent disruption of a specific nucleosome on the mouse mammary tumor virus promoter is prevented by sodium butyrate.

Our laboratory has previously developed cell lines derived from mouse NIH 3T3 fibroblasts and C127 mammary tumor cells that stably express mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) long terminal repeat fusion genes in bovine papillomavirus-based episomes. Glucocorticoid hormone strongly activates transcription from episomes and induces the disruption of a single nucleosome in an array of phased nucleosomes on the MMTV promoter. Sodium butyrate inhibits the glucocorticoid hormone-dependent development of a nuclease-hypersensitive site that is due to the displacement of this nucleosome, and inhibits induction of RNA transcripts from episomes. Saturation binding studies show that butyrate treatment does not significantly affect the amount or the hormone-binding affinity of the glucocorticoid receptor. In a transient transfection assay, glucocorticoid hormone can activate transcription from a MMTV long terminal repeat-driven luciferase gene construct equivalently in untreated and butyrate-treated cells, indicating that the soluble factors necessary for transactivation of the MMTV promoter are unaffected by butyrate. The differential effect of butyrate on the induction of stable chromatin templates and transiently expressed plasmids suggests that butyrate prevents nucleosome displacement and represses transcription by inducing a modification of chromatin.

Animals↗

Valve replacement in the young patient with rheumatic heart disease. Review of a twenty-year experience.

During a 20-year period 303 young subjects between 9 and 20 years of age (mean, 16.2 +/- 2.72 years) with rapid and relentlessly progressive valvular disease from rheumatic fever underwent valve replacements. The Starr-Edwards ball valve prosthesis remains the device of choice, although other valves have been implanted. The overall hospital mortality rate was 9.6% in the mitral valve, 3.5% in the aortic valve, and 4.2% in the double valve replacement groups. Actuarial survival at 10, 15, and 20 years was 78.4% (+/- 3.3%), 70.0% (+/- 5.8%), and 59.3% (+/- 11.1%), respectively, for patients with mitral valve replacement. The rates for aortic valve replacement were 85.9% (+/- 4.6%) at 10 and 15 years and 72.7% (12.8%) at 20 years. In the double valve replacement group the survival rates after 5 and 10 years were 79.9% (+/- 5.1%). The incidence of thromboembolism was 0.41, 0.59, and 1.04 per 100 patient-years for the mitral, aortic, and double-valve prostheses, respectively. The prospect of childbearing seems promising in those young women who were subsequently married. Our favorable and gratifying experience in this review bears testimony to the physiologic advantages of the Starr-Edwards valve as the device of choice in the rehabilitation of patients with advanced and severe valvular disease after rheumatic fever.

Adolescent↗

Surface expression of the T cell receptor complex requires charged residues within the alpha chain transmembrane region.

The T cell receptor (TcR) complex is a multi-subunit glycoprotein comprising at least five transmembrane polypeptides. An unusual characteristic of each of the transbilayer domains is the presence of charged amino acids. To examine the importance of these residues for the association and consequent surface expression of the components of the complex, a TcR alpha chain containing either charged or neutral residues within its transbilayer segment was introduced into the human T cell line MOLT-4, and the appearance of the TcR complex at the cell surface was assayed. Surface expression was observed only in MOLT-4 cells transfected with the alpha chain containing charged transbilayer residues. Thus, these residues most probably play a crucial role in the assembly process.

Amino Acids↗