Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to S S Miller.
Hormones and purine nucleosides and nucleotides induced cultured bone cells to transform transiently from a spherical to a stellate shape. Cytochalasin B also induced the transformation. The change was blocked by colchicine and vinblastine, but not by lumicolchicine or cycloheximide. This morphologic transformation may provide a dynamic model of hormone action and bone cell modulation in vitro.
The conventional surgical treatment of bleeding oesophageal varices in the emergency situation is based upon the Boerema-Crile operation of transthoracic oesophagotomy and ligation of the varices. This and the other methods of treatment of this condition in current practice are discussed. Two cases are reported in which a transabdominal oesophagogastrotomy was used to approach the site of bleeding. This operation is described and the theoretical and practical advantages it appears to offer over the standard approach are considered.
Serum calcium, serum immunoreactive parathyroid hormone (PTH), and plasma immunoreactive calcitonin were measured in 12 patients with catecholamine-secreting tumors. Only two patients had high serum calcium and immunoreactive PTH concentrations (one also had high basal immunoreactive calcitonin); in both, the hypercalcemia persisted after removal of their pheochromocytomas but was corrected by removal of hyperplastic parathyroid glands and medullary thyroid carcinomas. Of the 10 patients with normal serum calcium and immunoreactive PTH concentrations, 2 had high immunoreactive calcitonin concentrations and medullary thyroid carcinomas alone were found. Our results suggest that [1] hypercalcemia occurs infrequently in patients with pheochromocytoma, [2] chronic circulating catecholamine excess does not cause increased immunoreactive PTH or immunoreactive calcitonin secretion in patients with pheochromocytoma, and [3] the parathyroid disease in patients with pheochromocytoma is a genetically determined component of multiple endocrine neoplasia.
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Biologically active (125)I-labeled bovine parathyroid hormone (prepared by electrolytic iodination) and its synthetic NH(2)-terminal (1-34) biologically active fragment bound rapidly and specifically to a purified plasma membrane preparation from bovine renal cortex. Binding of labeled intact hormone or labeled NH(2)-terminal (1-34) peptide was inhibited competitively by unlabeled (1-34) peptide in the same range of concentrations that activated renal cortical 3':5'-adenylate cyclase (EC 4.6.1.1) in these membranes. The concentrations of synthetic (1-34) peptide for half-maximal inhibition of binding of labeled hormone as well as half-maximal activation of the enzyme were about 0.6 muM (2.5 mug/ml). Therefore it is likely that the binding activity studied represents a physiologically important renal receptor for parathyroid hormone. Biologically inactive (oxidized) forms of parathyroid hormone and (1-34) NH(2)-terminal peptide as well as calcitonin, glucagon, insulin, and epinephrine failed to competitively inhibit the binding of labeled (1-34) parathyroid hormone or activate adenylate cyclase in the renal cortical membrane preparation. Observations with the NH(2)-terminal (1-34) biologically active fragment of parathyroid hormone suggest that the COOH-terminal region of the molecule is not required for receptor binding.
The aspects of the anatomy and physiology of the lower limb which are concerned with venous return from the leg and its disorders are explored. It is shown that an understanding of the pathophysiology of this group of disorders forms the basis of a clinical classification. Recent advances in methods of assessment of the varicose leg are considered and it is shown that these can be used to supplement clinical evaluation. Finally, the relative merits of the two main methods of treatment are discussed.
Twelve serious go-kart injuries were seen in three months. Almost all of these were caused by the steering wheel and all could have been prevented or their severity reduced by the use of a seat belt.
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1. The spectral sensitivity of red-green dichromats was determined using heterochromatic flicker photometric matches (25-30 c/s) on the fovea. These matches are upset after a bright bleach and consequently the spectral sensitivity is altered.2. Preliminary experiments indicate that under the conditions in which these experiments were performed, the blue cone mechanism of deuteranopes and protanopes cannot follow 20 c/s flicker. If dichromats lack one of the normal pigments then the upset of these matches monitors the change in spectral sensitivity of a single mechanism.3. After a bleach which removes all the cone pigments, the spectral sensitivity recovers with the time course of pigment kinetics as measured by densitometry.4. An intense background also changes the relative spectral sensitivity of the dichromats. On real equilibrium backgrounds, the changes in spectral sensitivity follow those predicted by the pigment changes measured by densitometry. The predicted changes are obtained by modifying the Rushton equilibrium equation to take into account the density of pigment.5. The relationship of these changes to the luminance of the background is independent of the colour of the background light.6. In contradistinction the effect is dependent on the colour of the lights which were flickered. These experiments indicate that a narrowing of the spectral sensitivity curves takes place on both sides of the dichromats' lambda(max).7. The change in relative spectral sensitivity as a function of background intensity was also determined by increment threshold measurements. These changes can be expressed in terms of deviations from Weber's law (DeltaI/I = const.) if DeltaI and I represent the number of chromophores destroyed by the test and background.8. The relative spectral sensitivity of the dichromat was changed by decentering the point of pupil entry. This upset was abolished by bleaching. The size of the upset was correlated with the magnitude of the S-C I effect.9. Given the hypothesis of pigment density (self-screening), the results of expts. (3)-(8) are consistent and allow the calculation of a maximum optical density for those pigments which underlie the dichromats' long-wave mechanism. For the deuteranope a D(lambdamax) of 0.5-0.6 is calculated and for the protanope a D(lambdamax) of 0.4-0.5 is obtained.
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1. Atypical (blue cone) monochromats show two action spectra when tested by the increment threshold method of Stiles with ;central' fixation. One spectrum peaks near 450 nm and has the spectral characteristics of normal blue cones. The other resembles rhodopsin (pi(0)) modified slightly by photostable macular pigment.2. Under some circumstances such observers are dichromats. There is a neutral point (matched to Illuminant ;C') in the neighbourhood of 460-470 nm.3. The spectral colour matching functions using two primaries have been measured on three such subjects. They can be fit reasonably well, although imperfectly, by linear combinations of pi(0) and pi(1). The chromaticity co-ordinates have been calculated according to the convention of W. D. Wright and compared to the results predicted from pi(0) and pi(1). The comparison suggests that part of the imperfections of the colour matching function fit is due to prereceptor differences (e.g. macular pigment) between the blue-cone monochromats and the hypothetical pi(0), pi(1) observer.4. Colour matches made at high light levels continue to hold when the intensity of the field is reduced below the cone threshold.5. Therefore one of the visual pigments participating in the colour matches has an action spectrum which is not measurably different from that of the rod pigment rhodopsin.6. Increment threshold measurements show that the mechanism which has the rhodopsin action spectrum has the directional sensitivity of cones, not rods.7. Blue test threshold during dark adaptation after a full bleach follow a bipartite exponential recovery curve. The first exponential has a time constant of 1 min, the second 2 min. By comparing these curves to the increment thresholds it is possible to relate the first to the pi(1), the second to the pi(0) cones.8. Using a broad band blue gelatin filter in the measuring light of the retinal densitometer and studying the same retinal region tested in 7 it is possible to follow the regeneration of a pigment after a full bleach which has an exponential recovery with a time constant of 1.0 min. With a yellow green filter in the measuring light the exponential recovery observed after a full bleach has a time constant of 2.0 min.9. One of the two visual pigments participating in the colour matches resides in receptors which have the action spectrum, the directional sensitivity and probably the dark adaptation curve of normal blue cones.10. The other resides in receptors which have the action spectrum of normal rods but the directional sensitivity and the dark adaptation curve of normal red and green cones.
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Typical preparation of seed samples for infrared (IR) microspectroscopy involves imbibition of the seed for varying time periods followed by cryosectioning. Imbibition, however, may initiate germination even at 4 degrees C with associated changes in the chemistry of the sample. We have found that it is possible to section seeds that are sufficiently hard, such as soybeans, on a standard laboratory microtome without imbibition. The use of dry sectioning of unimbibed seeds is reported here, as well as a comparison of different mounting media and modes of analysis. Glycerol, Tissue-Tek, and ethanol were used as mounting media, and the quality of the resulting spectra was assessed. Ethanol was the preferred mountant, because it dried quickly with no residue and thus did not interfere with the spectrum of interest. Analysis in transmission mode using barium fluoride windows to hold the samples was compared with transmission-reflection analysis with sections mounted on special infrared-reflecting slides. The two modes of analysis performed well in different regions of the spectrum. The mode of analysis (transmission vs. transmission-reflection) should be based on the components of greatest interest in the sample.