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Biomedical subjects

S Molloy

Publications and source records attributed to S Molloy.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Herpes simplex encephalitis occurring after chemotherapy, surgery, and stereotactic radiotherapy for medulloblastoma.

Reactivation of latent herpes simplex virus (HSV) in the trigeminal ganglion most commonly gives rise to recurrent herpes labialis and rarely to herpes simplex encephalitis. The mechanisms underlying reactivation of latent trigeminal HSV are complex. Here we report the case history of a 25-year-old woman who developed a fatal, bilateral necrotizing destructive temporal lobe lesion following surgical removal of a cerebellar medulloblastoma and combined radiotherapy and chemotherapy for recurrent tumor. Neuropathologic examination of the brain revealed minimal inflammatory changes, but immunohistochemistry was positive for HSV protein, and HSV deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was recovered from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded brain tissue. The temporal proximity of the surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy to the onset of disease suggests that these factors may have acted as triggers that precipitated conversion of latent HSV to overt HSV.

Adult↗

Nurse practitioner students in Nicaragua.

Despite the growing interest in enhancing the cultural awareness for nurse practitioner (NP) students who work with patients from the developing world, there is a dearth of reports on such experiences. This report describes the clinical experiences of NP students from George Mason University (Fairfax, VA) during an intensive 2 weeks in Nicaragua in their final semester, accompanied by an NP faculty member. The program was planned and implemented in collaboration with the Universidad Politecnica de Nicaragua School of Nursing (Managua, Nicaragua). The students' clinical experiences included working in a Health Post and an impoverished community. Students learned to manage clinical problems using minimal resources and acquired an appreciation for the cultural, political, and economic situations from which many of their patients in the United States originate. Recommendations for establishing this type of experience are included.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

Population biology of Pomphorhynchus laevis in brown trout from two lakes in the west of Ireland.

Since Ireland is the only country in which Pomphorhynchus laevis (Acanthocephala) uses brown trout (Salmo trutta) as its preferred definitive host, the population biology of the parasite in this host was investigated thus enabling a comparison to be made with data collected on P. laevis from other hosts, particularly the cyprinids, chub and barbel. Over a period of 12 months, 549 brown trout were caught from two lakes, Lough Feeagh and Bunaveela Lake, in the Burrishoole River system, Co. Mayo, Ireland. The parasite component community was dominated by a single species, P. laevis. Fifty eight percent of the trout sample were infected with the acanthocephalan and the mean abundance (+/- SD) was 3.1 +/- 5.1 The relationships between the prevalence and abundance of P. laevis and season and site of host capture and host age and sex were explored. As single factors one of these parameters emerged as significant contributions to changes in parasite abundance although some interaction terms proved to the significant. A random sample of over 700 P. laevis parasites were subjected to further investigation and their size, position in the intestine and maturity status are described. Parasites attained an average weight of 7 mg and occupied the posteriad positions within the fish intestine (77%). Parasites from this sample of Irish brown trout attained a similar average size to those found in chub and barbel from England. 42.3% of the total parasites examined contained ovarian balls only and 17% contained fully mature acanthors. Therefore only a moderate proportion of female worms contained mature acanthors in these trout whereas the majority of worms recovered from a sample of chub were gravid. Utilizing a logistic regression model, parasite size, season, and site of host capture emerged as particularly significant factors which contribute to whether a parasite contains mature eggs.

Acanthocephala↗

Metazoan parasite community structure in brown trout from two lakes in western Ireland.

A total of 549 brown trout were caught from two lakes, Lough Feeagh and Bunaveela Lake, in the Burrishoole system, Co. Mayo, Ireland. Seven species of metazoan parasite were detected but only four species occurred in > or = 10% of the sample. The parasite community of the trout was dominated by a single species, Pomphorhynchus laevis, with a prevalence if 58%. Only one allogenic helminth species was recorded from the trout, Diphyllobothrium ditremum, with the community mainly comprising autogenic species. Few differences were found between the two lakes, although the larger lake, Lough Feeagh, did contain some trout which harboured more parasite species and had, on average, fish with higher numbers of individual parasites. Measures of species richness and diversity were very low, indicating an impoverished helminth community with little potential for interspecific interactions. Host age was found to significantly influence these indices of infracommunity structure.

Animals↗

p34cdc2 kinase-mediated release of lamins from nuclear ghosts is inhibited by cAMP-dependent protein kinase.

During mitosis the lamins are found in a hyperphosphorylated and soluble state. p34cdc2 kinase (MPF), a protein kinase complex with a pivotal role during mitosis, has been found to phosphorylate the lamins and, in some cases, though not all, to cause depolymerization of the lamina in vitro. Due to the variety of protein interactions in the lamina, there is a probable requirement for multiple enzyme activities to effect its breakdown in mitosis. Using nuclear ghosts as substrate, we have fractionated a Xenopus mitotic extract into a lamin-releasing fraction (p34cdc2 kinase) and a fraction that inhibits p34cdc2 kinase-mediated lamin release if the nuclear ghosts are first preincubated in it. The lamin-release-inhibiting activity in the p34cdc2 kinase-depleted mitotic extract is, in turn, inhibited if PKI, a protein kinase inhibitor specific for PKA, is included in the preincubation reaction mixture. Furthermore, a similar degree of inhibition can be achieved by using purified PKA to preincubate the nuclear ghosts. This suggests that dephosphorylation of PKA substrate sites is necessary for lamin depolymerization.

Animals↗

Dissimilar associations of two secretory peptides with a neurosecretory granule-enriched fraction from the bag cells.

The bag cell neurons of Aplysia californica synthesize and secrete several neuropeptides. To gain more detailed information about their posttranslational routing and transport, we have undertaken isolation of the neurosecretory granules (NSG). Extracts of radiolabeled cells were subjected to discontinuous, isosmotic density-gradient centrifugation. Radiolabeled peptides likely to be contained in NSG were found to relocate from the starting zone and to be associated with particulate structures. Assay of enzyme markers for lysosomes and endoplasmic reticulum disclosed gradient distributions that differed from that shown by the peptides. Hence, it is probable that the position of peak concentrations of particulate peptides represents the location of NSG. Of particular interest is the further observation that the known secretory peptides ELH and AP do not evidence strict covariance across the gradient. This deviation from covariance is consistent with hypotheses that the peptides are in different associations with the NSG cores or that more than one type of neurosecretory granule is produced in the bag cells.

Animals↗