Positive dimensions of mental health.
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Affect↗
Biomedical subjects
S M Robertson
Publications and source records attributed to S M Robertson.
Social and emotional impacts of farmwork injuries: an exploratory study.
CONTEXT: The physical hazards of farming have been extensively studied and reported upon. Far less studied are the social and emotional impacts of farmwork injuries and deaths. PURPOSE: To investigate and document broad but targeted issues regarding the impact on individuals, families, and communities of farmwork injuries and fatalities of farmer leaders. METHODS: Ten incidents of farmwork injuries with disabilities or fatalities in Pennsylvania were used for a collective case study. Data were collected through a total of 47 interview sessions with 66 individuals including next of kin, other family members, injured persons, and community members. Thematic analysis was used to identify themes and issues in this descriptive study. FINDINGS: Community members missed the rich, broad, and comprehensive skills, abilities, and perspectives that farmers brought to community service. Participants expressed that the community assistance and support provided to injured persons and families benefited not only the injured persons and their families and farms but also the community members. Participants reported emotional anguish and loss as well as positive transformations and consequences. As expressed by participants, God and religion play an important role in their beliefs regarding the occurrence and outcome of farmwork injury incidents. CONCLUSIONS: Social and emotional impacts on individuals, families, and communities are varied and multileveled. The role that religion and storytelling play in the process of dealing with serious injury incidents raises questions regarding agricultural injury prevention.
Accidents, Occupational↗
Travoprost compared with latanoprost and timolol in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension.
PURPOSE: This study evaluated the safety and intraocular pressure-lowering efficacy of two concentrations of travoprost (0.0015% and 0.004%) compared with latanoprost 0.005% and timolol 0.5% in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. METHODS: Eight hundred one patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension were randomly assigned to travoprost 0.0015%, travoprost 0.004%, latanoprost 0.005%, or timolol 0.5%. The efficacy and safety of travoprost (0.0015% and 0.004%) daily was compared with latanoprost daily and timolol twice daily for a period of 12 months. RESULTS: Travoprost was equal or superior to latanoprost and superior to timolol with mean intraocular pressure over visits and time of day ranging from 17.9 to 19.1 mm Hg (travoprost 0.0015%), 17.7 to 19.1 mm Hg (travoprost 0.004%), 18.5 to 19.2 mm Hg (latanoprost), and 19.4 to 20.3 mm Hg (timolol). For all visits pooled, the mean intraocular pressure at 4 PM for travoprost was 0.7 mm Hg (0.0015%, P =.0502) and 0.8 mm Hg (0.004%, P =.0191) lower than for latanoprost. Travoprost 0.004% was more effective than latanoprost and timolol in reducing intraocular pressure in black patients by up to 2.4 mm Hg (versus latanoprost) and 4.6 mm Hg (versus timolol). Based on a criterion of 30% or greater intraocular pressure reduction from diurnal baseline or intraocular pressure 17 mm Hg or less, travoprost 0.0015% and 0.004% had an overall response to treatment of 49.3% and 54.7%, respectively, compared with 49.6% for latanoprost and 39.0% for timolol. Iris pigmentation change was observed in 10 of 201 of patients (5.0%) receiving travoprost 0.0015%, six of 196 of patients (3.1%) receiving travoprost 0.004%, 10 of 194 of patients (5.2%) receiving latanoprost, and none of the patients receiving timolol (0 of 196). The average ocular hyperemia score was less than 1 on a scale of 0 to 3, indicating that on average patients experienced between none/trace and mild for all treatment groups. There were no serious, unexpected, related adverse events reported for any therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Travoprost (0.0015% and 0.004%), a highly selective, potent prostaglandin F (FP) receptor agonist, is equal or superior to latanoprost and superior to timolol in lowering intraocular pressure in patients with open-angle glaucoma or ocular hypertension. In addition, travoprost 0.004% is significantly better than either latanoprost or timolol in lowering intraocular pressure in black patients. Travoprost is safe and generally well tolerated in the studied patient population.
Adult↗
A transitional stage in the commitment of mesoderm to hematopoiesis requiring the transcription factor SCL/tal-1.
In this report, we describe the identification and characterization of an early embryoid body-derived colony, termed the transitional colony, which contains cell populations undergoing the commitment of mesoderm to the hematopoietic and endothelial lineages. Analysis of individual transitional colonies indicated that they express Brachyury as well as flk-1, SCL/tal-1, GATA-1, (beta)H1 and (beta)major reflecting the combination of mesodermal, hematopoietic and endothelial populations. This pattern differs from that found in the previously described hemangioblast-derived blast cell colonies in that they typically lacked Brachyury expression, consistent with their post-mesodermal stage of development (Kennedy, M., Firpo, M., Choi, K., Wall, C., Robertson, S., Kabrun, N. and Keller, G. (1997) Nature 386, 488-493). Replating studies demonstrated that transitional colonies contain low numbers of primitive erythroid precursors as well as a subset of precursors associated with early stage definitive hematopoiesis. Blast cell colonies contain higher numbers and a broader spectrum of definitive precursors than found in the transitional colonies. ES cells homozygous null for the SCL/tal-1 gene, a transcription factor known to be essential for development of the primitive and definitive hematopoietic systems, were not able to form blast colonies but did form transitional colonies. Together these findings suggest that the transitional colony represents a stage of development earlier than the blast cell colony and one that uniquely defines the requirement for a functional SCL/tal-1 gene for the progression to hematopoietic commitment.
Animals↗
Rural relocation and clinical psychology referrals.
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Adolescent↗
Factors related to adiposity among children aged 3 to 7 years.
OBJECTIVE: To compare diet and physical activity between a group of children aged 4 to 7 years who had increased their sum of 7 skinfolds by 1.5 standard deviations or more since the previous year and those who had not. SUBJECTS/DESIGN: A longitudinal design was used wherein children had their body composition assessed at 4 annual intervals. Fifteen study subjects were identified from a larger study on the development of cardiovascular risk factors in children. Three matched control subjects were identified for all but 4 study subjects. Children were included if they were 3 or 4 years old at the time of the first of 4 annual clinics to collect data. Children were volunteers from a mid-sized city. MEASURES: Seven skinfold sites were assessed, each 3 times. An average was taken of the mean at each site. Diet and physical activity were assessed using observational methods for up to 4 days for each of 3 years between the 4 annual clinics (held in the summers of 1986, 1987, 1988, and 1989). RESULTS: Children consumed significantly (P = .02) more fat grams and suggestively higher percentages of energy from fat (P = .06), total energy (P = .08), and percentage energy from protein (P = .10). No differences were detected for percent energy from carbohydrate, physical activity, or height. CONCLUSIONS: Programs to prevent childhood obesity might have success by targeting dietary fat consumption among children as young as 4 years old, but further research is needed.
Adipose Tissue↗
Cholecystectomy in sickle cell anemia patients: perioperative outcome of 364 cases from the National Preoperative Transfusion Study. Preoperative Transfusion in Sickle Cell Disease Study Group.
Cholecystectomy is the most common surgical procedure performed in sickle cell anemia (SCA) patients. We investigated the effects of transfusion and surgical method on perioperative outcome. A total of 364 patients underwent cholecystectomy: group 1 (randomized to aggressive transfusion) 110 patients; group 2 (randomized to conservative transfusion) 120 patients; group 3 (nonrandomized nontransfusion) 37 patients; and group 4 (nonrandomized transfusion) 97 patients. Patients were similar except group 3 patients were more likely to be female, over 20 years old, smokers, and more healthy by American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status score. Total complication rate was 39%: sickle cell events 19%; intraoperative or recovery room events 11%; transfusion complications 10%; postoperative surgical events 4%; and death 1%. Group 3 patients had the highest incidence of sickle cell events (32%). Open cholecystectomies were performed in 58% and laparoscopic in 42%. Laparoscopic patients were younger and more healthy by ASA score. Laparoscopic patients had longer anesthesia time (3.2 v 2.9 hours), but shorter hospitalization time (6.4 days v 9.8). Complications were similar between these two groups. We conclude that SCA patients undergoing cholecystectomy have a high perioperative morbidity, and the incidence of sickle cell events may be higher in patients not preoperatively transfused. We recommend a conservative preoperative transfusion regimen, and we encourage the use of the laparoscopic technique for SCA patients undergoing elective cholecystectomy.
Adolescent↗
Leflunomide: inhibition of S-antigen induced autoimmune uveitis in Lewis rats.
Leflunomide (LEF) is a novel immunomodulator which has been reported to be efficacious in experimental models of systemic autoimmune diseases and in treating rheumatoid arthritis in man. Leflunomide's ability to ameliorate ocular disease processes was investigated in a model of autoimmune eye disease, experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU). EAU was induced by the injection of retinal S-antigen (S-Ag) into the foot-pad of Lewis rats. Leflunomide, or the reference compound cyclosporin A (CSA), was administered orally or topically (to one eye) each day beginning on the day of S-Ag injection. Drug efficacy was measured by the suppression in clinical signs of ocular inflammation and confirmed by histology. Both oral and topical ocular treatment with LEF suppressed the ocular disease signs and symptoms and retinal necrosis and reduced the S-Ag antibody levels associated with EAU in a dose-dependent manner. Both LEF and CSA were able to inhibit totally the disease manifestations of EAU; however, a comparison of the IC50 and IC90 values indicate that LEF is more potent than CSA in inhibiting EAU. These results suggest that leflunomide may be useful for treating autoimmune diseases of the eye.
Administration, Oral↗
Promotion of corneal allograft survival with leflunomide.
PURPOSE: The efficacy of the antirejection drug leflunomide was evaluated in a rat model of penetrating keratoplasty. METHODS: Corneal grafts from inbred Lewis rats were transplanted orthotopically to inbred Wistar-Furth (WF) recipients. WF rats received either Leflunomide (HWA 486), the active metabolite of leflunomide (A77-1726A), or cyclosporin A, administered orally beginning 2 days before transplantation and continuing for 30 days thereafter. Graft survival was assessed clinically three times per week, and mean survival times were determined. RESULTS: Oral administration of either leflunomide or the salt of its active metabolite resulted in a significant prolongation of graft survival time. Moreover, almost one third of the grafts survived for an additional 3 weeks, even after drug treatment was discontinued. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that leflunomide holds considerable promise as an antirejection drug for use in recipients of corneal transplants in whom cyclosporin A and steroids are contraindicated.
Administration, Oral↗
Effect of lodoxamide on in vitro and in vivo conjunctival immediate hypersensitivity responses in rats.
The antiallergic compound, lodoxamide, was evaluated for its abilities to attenuate a local allergic reaction in rat conjunctiva in vivo and to inhibit rat conjunctival mast cell mediator release in vitro. Topically applied lodoxamide (0.01, 0.10 and 1.0%, w/v) dose-dependently reduced the allergic response (23, 43 and 72%, respectively) in vivo. Lodoxamide was more effective than cromolyn sodium, N-acetyl aspartyl glutamic acid (Naaxia) and levocabastine, and 25 (7-200) times more potent than nedocromil sodium in direct comparisons. Addition of lodoxamide (10 micrograms/ml) to sensitized conjunctival tissue in vitro immediately prior to antigen challenge significantly reduced the amount of histamine released by the tissue. These data suggest that lodoxamide's in vivo anti-allergic activity in the conjunctiva is associated with its ability to prevent allergic mediator release from mast cells contained in this same tissue.
Administration, Topical↗
Novel putative receptor tyrosine kinase encoded by the melanoma-inducing Tu locus in Xiphophorus.
Malignant melanoma in Xiphophorus fish hybrids is caused by the activity of a dominant oncogene Tu. By combining genetic and molecular approaches, we have isolated the melanoma oncogene. We show that its level of expression correlates with the degree of malignancy of the tumour. The corresponding proto-oncogene is developmentally regulated. The Tu gene codes for a novel receptor tyrosine kinase which is closely related to the receptor for epidermal growth factor.
Amino Acid Sequence↗
Evolution of the neuron-specific alternative splicing product of the c-src proto-oncogene.
The observation of a slower migrating form of pp60c-src in neural tissue of chicken and mouse has recently been shown to be due to an alternative transcript form of the c-src gene (Martinez et al.: Science 237:411-415, 1987; Levy et al.: Mol Cell Biol 7:4142-4145, 1987). An insertion of 18 basepairs between exons 3 and 4, presumed to be due to alternative splicing of a mini-exon, gives rise to six amino acid residues not found in the non-neuronal (termed fibroblastic) form of pp60c-src. We have addressed the question of the evolutionary origin of the c-src neuronal insert and its functional significance regarding neural-specific expression of the c-src gene. To this end we have investigated whether the c-src gene of a lower vertebrate (the teleost fish Xiphophorus) gives rise to a neural-specific transcript in an analogous manner. We could show that the fish c-src gene does encode for a "fibroblastic" and a "neuronal" form of transcript and that the neuronal transcript does indeed arise by way of alternative splicing of a mini-exon. The mini-exon is also 18 basepairs long and we could demonstrate directly that this exon lies within the intron separating exons 3 and 4. For comparative purposes we have examined whether the fish c-yes gene, the member of the src gene family most closely related to c-src, also encodes a neural tissue-specific transcript. No evidence for a second transcript form in brain was obtained.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Amino Acid Sequence↗
Quantitation of purified monoclonal antibody needed to prevent HSV-1 induced stromal keratitis in mice.
A purified IgG2a monoclonal antibody with a neutralizing titer of 10(4) and specificity for gD was evaluated for its therapeutic potential in a murine ocular infection model. BALB/c mice, infected on the scarified cornea with 10 times the HSV-1 strain RE concentration needed to produce severe and persistent stromal opacity, were given a single inoculation of antibody intraperitoneally 24 hours later. The animals were then followed for corneal disease development. Antibody, at concentrations as low as 10 micrograms per mouse, was strikingly effective at preventing corneal opacity. Furthermore, the corneas, once clear, remained clear whereas the controls developed +3 to +5 stromal disease which was still present 60 days post-infection. Animals that had been treated and recovered from infection were resistant to subsequent HSV-1 challenge on the opposite cornea. These results demonstrate the therapeutic potential of systemically administered microgram quantities of anti-gD antibody.
Animals↗
Preferential expression of a pp60c-src related protein tyrosine kinase activity in nerve cells of the early metazoan Hydra (Coelenterates).
It has been suggested that the proto-oncogene c-src plays a functional role in developing neurons, and in the mature nerve cells of higher vertebrates. The coelenterate Hydra represents the most primitive known organism possessing nerve cells. With Southern blot hybridizations we have demonstrated src-related sequences in Hydra. Antisera specific for the c-src gene product (pp60c-src) of birds and mammals precipitate a protein from Hydra cell extracts with a tyrosine-specific protein kinase activity. Studies of tissues and cells fractionated from a temperature sensitive mutant of Hydra which is depleted of interstitial (including nerve) cells at the non-permissive temperature, have indicated the src-like kinase of Hydra to be preferentially expressed in nerve cells. The high conservation of structural features and of the expression pattern indicates a basic function for pp60c-src in neurons.
Animals↗
Localization of cellular src mRNA during development and in the differentiated bipolar neurons of the adult neural retina in Xiphophorus.
The expression of the c-src gene in embryonic and adult tissue of the teleost fish Xiphophorus helleri was analyzed by in-situ hybridization. The highly conserved fish c-src gene was found to be expressed at high levels in midterm embryos, where c-src mRNA was localized in developing neurons of the sensory layer of the differentiating retina and in the developing brain. In adult tissues the expression of c-src was found to persist in certain cell types of the brain and the neural retina, especially in the bipolar cells of the inner nuclear layer, which are postmitotic, fully differentiated mature neurons. Thus c-src in Xiphophorus appears to be a developmentally regulated proto-oncogene which is important for neuronal differentiation during organogenesis, but whose persistence of expression in certain terminally differentiated neurons strongly suggests a particular maintenance function for c-src in these cells as well.
Animals↗
Stimulation and homologous desensitization of calcitonin gene-related peptide receptors in cultured beating rat heart cells.
Addition of calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), 1 X 10(-7) M, to cultured neonatal rat heart cells resulted in rapid increases in beating rate and cellular concentrations of cAMP. Calcitonin (1 X 10(-7) M), in contrast, had no significant effect on heart cell beating rate or cAMP content. CGRP-stimulated increases in heart cell cAMP content were rapid, transient, dose dependent, and potentiated by isobutyl-methylxanthine (1 X 10(-4) M). Half-maximal increases in heart cell cAMP content occurred at 1 X 10(-8) M CGRP. Heart cell adenylate cyclase responses to CGRP were desensitized in a rapid (i.e. within 5 min) and dose-dependent manner by prior exposure to CGRP. Complete and half-maximal desensitization of heart cells to CGRP occurred at 1 X 10(-8) and 3 X 10(-10) M CGRP, respectively. Desensitization of heart cells to CGRP did not modify the cAMP response of heart cells to beta-adrenergic agonist stimulation, and beta-adrenergic agonist desensitization of heart cells did not modify responses to CGRP. Heart cell cAMP responses to CGRP were additive to those of the beta-adrenergic agonist isoproterenol and occurred in the presence of beta-adrenergic blockade. These observations demonstrate that CGRP exerts specific and potent agonist actions in cardiac myocytes and that regulation of myocardial responses to CGRP may occur by mechanisms involving increases in cAMP and receptor desensitization.
Animals↗