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S Roth

Publications and source records attributed to S Roth.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

[Combined endocrine autoimmune syndrome--incidence, forms of manifestation and clinical significance].

UNLABELLED: In a retrospective case finding study we collected data from patients with polyglandular autoimmune syndrome type II (PGAS Type II) who had been treated in our endocrine outpatient clinic between 1975 and 1989. 31 adult patients (25 females and 6 males) fulfilled the criteria for PGAS Type II (association of autoimmune endocrine disease with at least one other--usually endocrine--autoimmune disease or autoantibodies against another organ). Among these patients, 18 had hypothyroidism due to autoimmune thyroiditis, 8 were hyperthyroid (Graves' disease), and 4 had silent autoimmune thyroiditis (without thyroid dysfunction). Insulin dependent (type I) diabetes mellitus (IDDM) was seen in 11, Addison's disease in 7, primary hypogonadism in 5, vitiligo in 6 and pernicious anemia in 5 cases. The presence of antiparietal cell antibodies was demonstrated in 21 of 30 investigated patients. These patients also showed other evidence of autoimmune gastritis, such as increased gastrin (in 10 out of 13), diminished vitamin B12 levels (6 out of 13), atrophic gastritis (9 out of 9), pernicious anemia (6 out of 30) and funicular myelosis (2 out of 30). CONCLUSION: The most common endocrine diseases in our patient group were autoimmune thyroid diseases (97%) followed by IDDM (35%) and Addison's disease (23%). A high percentage (70%) of our subjects had elevated titers of antiparietal cell antibodies. Polyglandular autoimmune syndrome must be suspected in all patients with autoimmune endocrine disease, especially in the presence of relatives suffering from PGAS. Patients at risk should be screened regularly by measuring thyrotropin (ultrasensitive assay), fasting blood glucose levels, and by checking red blood count and antiparietal cell antibodies.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Glutathione reverses the inhibition of T cell responses by superoptimal numbers of "nonprofessional" antigen presenting cells.

"Professional" antigen-presenting cells (APC) such as macrophages or dendritic cells display not only antigens to specific T cell receptors but deliver in addition certain "costimulatory signals." Macrophages also release substantial amounts of cysteine and raise thereby the intracellular glutathione (GSH) levels of activated T cells in their vicinity. We therefore studied the hypothesis that stimulation with "nonprofessional" APC that fail to deliver cysteine may induce a type of immunological unresponsiveness that is caused by GSH deficiency and prevented by administration of exogenous GSH. Our experiments showed that cytotoxic T cell (CTL) responses are indeed strongly suppressed in vivo and in vitro by different types of nonprofessional APC and reconstituted by administration of GSH at the time of immunization if these APC are administered at relatively high doses. At lower doses, however, the same cell types may stimulate CTL responses without exogenous GSH, and the responses may be even inhibited in these cases by GSH. CTL responses were not suppressed by high numbers of professional APC, and GSH had no substantial effect on CTL responses after in vivo immunization with professional APC or a cysteine-releasing tumor variant. However, exogenous GSH reconstituted the otherwise weak CTL response in vitro against splenic adherent cells from athymic (nude) mice. Experiments with cloned T cells (D10.G4.1) finally showed that stimulation with graded concentrations of mitogen causes a dose-dependent decrease of intracellular GSH levels. These effects are expected to play a role in "high zone tolerance," in CTL responses against certain types of tumors, and in pathological conditions with a GSH deficiency.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Effect of glutathione depletion and oral N-acetyl-cysteine treatment on CD4+ and CD8+ cells.

HIV-infected individuals and SIV-infected rhesus macaques have, on the average, decreased plasma cysteine and cystine concentrations and decreased intracellular glutathione levels. We show that the cysteine supply and the intracellular glutathione levels have a strong influence on the T cell system. A study of healthy human subjects revealed that persons with intracellular glutathione levels of 20-30 nmol/mg protein had significantly higher numbers of CD4+ T cells than persons with either lower or higher glutathione levels. Persons who moved during a 4-week observation period from the optimal to the suboptimal range (10-20 nmol/mg) experienced, on the average, a 30% decrease in CD4+ T cell numbers. This decrease was prevented by treatment with N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC). NAC caused this relative increase of CD4+ T cell numbers in spite of decreasing glutathione levels and not by increasing the glutathione level. Our studies suggest that the immune system may be exquisitely sensitive not only against a cysteine and glutathione deficiency but also against an excess of cysteine.

Acetylcysteine↗
PubMed1994

A quantitative ultrastructural investigation of tyrosine hydroxylase-immunoreactive axons in the hairy skin of the guinea pig.

Besides its thermoregulatory role, the sympathetic innervation of the skin is involved in a modulation of sensory processing and trophic functions that has not been fully characterized. To investigate possible sites at which such sympathosensory interactions might occur, a quantitative ultrastructural study of the sympathetic innervation of the skin was attempted. The hairy skin of the guinea pig was studied because the sympathetic and sensory nerve axons in this species can easily be discriminated by the presence of immunoreactivity to the catecholamine-synthesizing enzyme, tyrosine hydroxylase (TH). The thermoregulatory role of the sympathetic skin innervation was highlighted by the almost exclusive sympathetic innervation of piloarrector muscles which contained 62% (n = 195) of randomly selected TH-immunoreactive (TH-IR) axon profiles. Of TH-IR pilomotor axons, 53% were filled with vesicles. Vesicle-containing axonal profiles were equally frequent around dermal arterial blood vessels (partly associated with mast cells), hair follicles, and within nerve fibre bundles surrounded by a perineural sheath, in each case accounting for about 3% of all dermal TH-IR axonal profiles. In contrast to piloarrector muscles, at these locations TH-IR (sympathetic) and non-reactive (sensory) axons were found in close association. These findings are in line with the previously reported inhibitory influence of sympathetic stimulation upon hair follicle afferents and perivascular sensory nerve terminals. In addition, they point to a yet underestimated target of sympathetic axon terminals, i.e. preterminal nerve fibre bundles.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Crotonobetaine reductase from Escherichia coli--a new inducible enzyme of anaerobic metabolization of L(-)-carnitine.

Crotonobetaine reductase from Escherichia coli 044 K74 is an inducible enzyme detectable only in cells grown anaerobically in the presence of L(-)-carnitine or crotonobetaine as inducers. Enzyme activity was not detected in cells cultivated in the presence of inducer plus glucose, nitrate, gamma-butyrobetaine or oxygen, respectively. Fumarate caused an additional stimulation of growth and an increased expression of crotonobetaine reductase. The reaction product, gamma-butyrobetaine, was identified by autoradiography. Crotonobetaine reductase is localized in the cytoplasm, and has been characterized with respect to pH (pH 7.8) and temperature optimum (40-45 degrees C). The Km value for crotonobetaine was determined to be 1.1 x 10(-2M). gamma-Butyrobetaine, D(+)-carnitine and choline are inhibitors of crotonobetaine reduction. For gamma-butyrobetaine (Ki = 3 x 10(-5M)) a competitive inhibition type was determined. Various properties suggest that crotonobetaine reductase is different from other reductases of anaerobic respiration.

Anaerobiosis↗
PubMed1994

"I felt like a slut": the cultural context and women's response to being raped.

This paper examines how cultural beliefs (cultural constructions) about women influence how women survivors of rape make sense of their traumatic experience. A thematic content analysis of interviews with female survivors of rape was undertaken to provide a systematic description of the phenomenology of the experience. This paper reports on one major finding which highlighted the ways in which cultural beliefs about women, sexuality, and rape become salient to women, and are accessed by them as they struggle to bring meaning to the experience of being raped. The nature of these beliefs and their implications for response and recovery are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Analysis of chromosomal aberrations, sister-chromatid exchanges and micronuclei in peripheral lymphocytes of pharmacists before and after working with cytostatic drugs.

The frequencies of chromosome aberrations, SCEs and micronuclei (cytokinesis-block method) in blood lymphocytes were compared among six nonsmoking female pharmacists before and after 1 year of working with cytostatic drugs. All possible precautions were taken to avoid exposure to cytostatics, including proper protective clothing and a monitored, negative-pressured working environment with vertical laminar flow cabinet. As referents, an age-matched group of six nonsmoking female hospital workers not dealing with cytostatics was simultaneously sampled twice with the same time interval. The pharmacists showed a marginally higher mean frequency of SCEs/cell (6.3; P = 0.049) after the working period than 1 year earlier (5.8). On the other hand, the referents, with no obvious exposure, had a higher mean number of cells with chromatid-type aberrations, gaps excluded, in the second sampling (2.0%; P = 0.048) than in the first one (0.5%). In addition, a slight (P = 0.055) trend towards a higher frequency of micronucleated binucleate cells was observed in the second sampling for both the exposed and control subjects. As such findings suggest technical variation in the cytogenetic parameters, the small difference observed in SCEs for the pharmacists between the two samplings was probably not related to the cytostatics exposure. No statistically significant differences were observed for any of the cytogenetic parameters in comparisons between the pharmacists and the referents. The findings suggest that caution should be exercised in comparing results obtained from two different samplings in prospective cytogenetic studies.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Dorsoventral patterning in Drosophila oogenesis.

Dorsoventral polarity in the egg chamber of Drosophila involves the localization of maternal gurken RNA to the dorsal side of the oocyte. The gurken protein has homology to secreted growth factors and may bind to the torpedo/DER receptor tyrosine kinase present on the adjacent follicle cells. This localized signal from the oocyte to the follicle cells appears to initiate a cascade of events leading to dorsal follicle cell differentiation, and delimiting and orienting the future dorsoventral axis of the embryo.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

The Alcock syndrome: temporary penile insensitivity due to compression of the pudendal nerve within the Alcock canal.

Penile insensitivity is a symptom commonly observed after traumatic or iatrogenic nerve lesions, or in association with neurological or vascular diseases. In contrast, we report 2 cases of intermittent genital hypesthesia that occurred in cyclists after long-term bicycle riding. Anatomical studies show that this condition was probably caused by an irritation of the pudendal nerve during its course through the Alcock canal as reported in the literature. No pathological findings were demonstrated on extensive physical examinations, medical history and all medical imagings (sonography of abdomen, prostate and testes, and magnetic resonance imaging of the pelvis and lumbar spine) as well as radiodiagnostics and Doppler sonography, nor was there evidence of other neurological disturbances. The symptoms in the 2 patients spontaneously resolved after 4 and 7 weeks, respectively, without specific medical therapy.

Bicycling↗
PubMed1994

Erythrocyte polyamines and prognosis in stage D2 prostatic carcinoma patients.

We studied 43 patients with newly diagnosed, untreated, stage D2 prostatic carcinoma, and correlated the initial performance status, hemoglobin, prostate specific antigen levels, tumor Gleason grade, extent of disease on the bone scan, and erythrocyte spermidine and spermine levels with progression. Three patients died of unrelated causes and were excluded from the study, 16 remained in remission with a mean 28 +/- 11 months of followup and 24 had progression (18, or 75%, of whom died of the cancer) with a mean 12 +/- 9 months of followup (p < 0.05 for followup) after initiation of hormonal therapy. Pretreatment performance status, hemoglobin, and erythrocyte spermidine and spermine levels were correlated with progression, hemoglobin and spermine being the most significant independent variables (p = 0.006 and p = 0.001, respectively). Concerning cause-specific survival, only hemoglobin and spermine erythrocyte levels were significant independent variables (p = 0.02 and p = 0.0025, respectively). If confirmed, polyamine erythrocyte levels obtained by a simple blood sample could discriminate at diagnosis patients with a high risk of rapid hormonal relapse who may benefit from a more aggressive primary management.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

Interpersonal stress, depression, and disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis patients.

The relationships among interpersonal stressors, depression, coping inefficiency, hormones (prolactin, cortisol, and estradiol), and disease activity were examined. The sample comprised 33 women with rheumatoid arthritis (RAs; age 37-78) and 37 women with osteoarthritis (OAs; age 47-91), who served as controls. In a regression analysis, interpersonal conflict events accounted for more than twice as much variance in depression in RAs than in OAs. In the RA patients, the immune-stimulating hormones prolactin and estradiol were significantly positively correlated with interpersonal conflicts, depression, coping inefficacy, and clinician ratings of disease activity, suggesting that RAs are more reactive to interpersonal stressors than are OAs, both psychologically and physiologically.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1994

Autonomy and non-autonomy in Drosophila mesoderm determination and morphogenesis.

The mesoderm in Drosophila invaginates by a series of characteristic cell shape changes. Mosaics of wild-type cells in an environment of mutant cells incapable of making mesodermal invaginations show that this morphogenetic behaviour does not require interactions between large numbers of cells but that small patches of cells can invaginate independent of their neighbours' behaviour. While the initiation of cell shape change is locally autonomous, the shapes the cells assume are partly determined by the individual cell's environment. Cytoplasmic transplantation experiments show that areas of cells expressing mesodermal genes ectopically at any position in the egg form an invagination. We propose that ventral furrow formation is the consequence of all prospective mesodermal cells independently following their developmental program. Gene expression at the border of the mesoderm is induced by the apposition of mesodermal and non-mesodermal cells.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

The relationship between ovarian and embryonic dorsoventral patterning in Drosophila.

In Drosophila, the dorsoventral asymmetry of the egg chamber depends on a dorsalizing signal that emanates from the oocyte. This signal is supplied by the TGF alpha-like gurken protein whose RNA is localized to the dorsal-anterior corner of the oocyte, gurken protein is the potential ligand of the Drosophila EGF receptor homolog (torpedo), which is expressed in the follicular epithelium surrounding the oocyte. Here, we describe how changes in the dorsalizing germ-line signal affect the embryonic dorsoventral pattern. A reduction in strength of the germ-line signal as produced by mutations in gurken or torpedo does not change the slope of the embryonic dorsoventral morphogen gradient, but causes a splitting of the gradient ventrally. This leads to embryos with two partial dorsoventral axes. A change in distribution of the germ-line signal as caused by fs(1)K10, squid and orb mutations leads to a shift in the orientation of the embryonic dorsoventral axis relative to the anterior-posterior axis. In extreme cases, this results in embryos with a dorsoventral axis almost parallel to the anterior-posterior axis. These results imply that gurken, unlike other localized cytoplasmic determinants, is not directly responsible for the establishment of cell fates along a body axis, but that it restricts and orients an active axis-forming process which occurs later in the follicular epithelium or in the early embryo.

Animals↗