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S Solomon

Publications and source records attributed to S Solomon.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

Development of a novel type of cloning vector for suicide selection of recombinants.

Based on the primary structure of the rat corticostatin R4 (antimicrobial defensin RatNP-1), a synthetic gene was designed, synthesized, and inserted into the IPTG-inducible prokaryotic expression vector pFLAG, with an additional 13 codons between the FLAG sequence and the synthetic R4 sequence. This construct, N-p1.2, was further developed by inclusion of multiple cloning sites right after the FLAG sequence, forming a new plasmid pSCV-1. Escherichia coli transformants containing pSCV-1 or N-p1.2 could only be propagated on agar plates in the absence of IPTG due to the detrimental expression of R4 fusion peptide to the growth of bacteria upon IPTG induction. A 214-bp bovine IGF-II cDNA and a 700-bp Ly-6C.2 cDNA fragment were subcloned into pSCV-1 and N-p1.2 respectively. Only the E. coli cells transformed with recombinant plasmids grew on IPTG agar plates. This "suicide" selection against nonrecombinants was further tested in cDNA library construction using pSCV-1. Analysis of plasmid DNA prepared from randomly picked colonies growing on ampicillin agar plates containing IPTG showed all plasmids contained cDNA inserts. The lambda Hind III fragments were used for comparing the cloning efficiency of pSCV-1 to pBluescript. Four of the 60 (6.6%) analyzed white colonies transformed with pBluescript were false positives. All of the analyzed pSCV-1-transformed colonies growing on IPTG plates contained recombinant forms of plasmid. The percentage recovery of each ligatable lambda Hind III fragment was similar in both pBluescript and pSCV-1.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1994

Classification of daily and near-daily headaches: proposed revisions to the IHS criteria.

The International Headache Society (IHS) headache classification, while a major advance, does not adequately classify the daily and near-daily headache disorders known as chronic daily headache (CDH). We believe that chronic daily headache is a group of disorders which includes chronic tension-type headache (CTTH), transformed migraine (TM), new daily persistent headache (NDPH), and hemicrania continua (HC). We propose specific criteria for transformed migraine, new daily persistent headache, and hemicrania continua, and have modified the criteria for chronic tension-type headache.

Chronic Disease↗
PubMed1994

Migraine diagnosis and clinical symptomatology.

Migraine is a very common phenomenon. Eighteen percent of women in this country and 6% of men have migraine. The old classification for headaches and diagnostic criteria were published in 1962, more than a quarter of a century ago. In 1988, the International Headache Society published a new classification and diagnostic criteria for all headache disorders, cranial neuralgias, and facial pain. The International Headache Society classification divides migraine, as it had been divided in the past, into two major categories: migraine without aura (formerly called common migraine) and migraine with aura (formerly called classical migraine). These criteria are rather complex and simpler criteria are proposed for clinical practice. The typical patient with migraine is a woman whose headaches began in adolescence or young adult life. There usually is a family history of migraine. Migraine is almost always more than just a headache. Virtually anything in the external environment and many things in the internal milieu may provoke migraine in a susceptible individual. There are many potential manifestations of the aura of migraine, but 90% are visual phenomena. Migraine in children is a little different than in adults. When the onset is below the age of puberty, the ratio of females to males is equal, but after puberty there is a striking predominance of women over men in a ratio of 3:1. Whenever the history of migraine is not typical or if something unexpected is found on examination, imaging studies are warranted.

Child↗
PubMed1994

Prognostic implications of novel beta cardiac myosin heavy chain gene mutations that cause familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Three novel beta cardiac myosin heavy chain (MHC) gene missense mutations, Phe513Cys, Gly716Arg, and Arg719Trp, which cause familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (FHC) are described. One mutation in exon 15 (Phe513Cys) does not alter the charge of the encoded amino acid, and affected family members have a near normal life expectancy. The Gly716Arg mutation (exon 19; charge change of +1) causes FHC in three family members, one of whom underwent transplantation for heart failure. The Arg719Trp mutation (exon 19; charge change of -1) was found in four unrelated FHC families with a high incidence of premature death and an average life expectancy in affected individuals of 38 yr. A comparable high frequency of disease-related deaths in four families with the Arg719Trp mutation suggests that this specific gene defect directly accounts for the observed malignant phenotype. Further, the significantly different life expectancies associated with the Arg719Trp vs. Phe513Cys mutation (P < 0.001) support the hypothesis that mutations which alter the charge of the encoded amino acid affect survival more significantly than those that produce a conservative amino acid change.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Hemicrania continua: ten new cases and a review of the literature.

We describe 10 new patients and review the 24 prior reports of hemicrania continua, an uncommon, unilateral headache disorder. The disorder is characterized by a continuous baseline headache of moderate severity with superimposed exacerbations of more severe pain. These exacerbations are sometimes associated with ipsilateral autonomic disturbances. There are three temporal patterns: a chronic, nonremitting headache from onset; a remitting variety consisting of distinct phases of continuous unilateral headaches that persist for weeks to months followed by pain-free remissions; and an evolving form in which initially remitting headaches transform into the chronic, non-remitting pattern. Accurate diagnosis is important as all forms are characterized by a dramatic and selective response to indomethacin.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Differential expression of corticostatins/defensins: higher levels of CS-4 (NP-2) transcripts compared with CS-6 (NP-5) in rabbit lung.

cDNA clones encoding two members of the corticostatin (CS)/defensin family of peptides have been isolated from a rabbit bone marrow cDNA library through cross-hybridization with cDNA encoding the human corticostatin HP-4. They encode the precursors of CS-4 (NP-2, MCP-2) and CS-6 (NP-5). Highly specific probes were generated for Northern blotting of RNA from various normal rabbit tissues. Both detected high levels of message in bone marrow, moderate in spleen, and low in thymus. In lung, however, while moderate levels were detected with the CS-4 probe, CS-6 message was barely detectable. This correlates with the report of CS-4, but not CS-6 peptide in lung macrophages, and implies that differential regulation of CS/defensin expression in rabbit lung is at the level of gene transcript abundance.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1993

Headaches in the elderly.

Headache prevalence and etiology vary dramatically with age. The prevalence of primary headache disorders, such as migraine and cluster, declines with age, while the prevalence of secondary headache disorders, such as temporal arteritis and mass lesions, increases. In evaluating elderly patients with new onset of headache, a high index of suspicion for organic disease is required. Headache symptomatology also varies with age. For example, migraine may evolve into a pattern of chronic daily headache, or auras may occur in the absence of headache (late-life migraine accompaniments). A careful longitudinal headache history is therefore important. Headache management is also influenced by age. Elderly people are more susceptible to medication side effects and are often treated with several drugs. Medications may cause headaches and drug interactions may complicate therapy. For these reasons, age of onset and duration of illness are critical headache features that guide the subsequent approach to diagnosis and treatment.

Aged↗
PubMed1993

Emotional expression and the reduction of motivated cognitive bias: evidence from cognitive dissonance and distancing from victims' paradigms.

Two experiments tested whether expression of emotions from which motivated cognitive biases presumably provide protection would reduce the extent of such biases. In Study I, we hypothesized that expressing any tension produced by writing a counterattitudinal essay would reduce the extent of dissonance-reducing attitude change. To test this hypothesis, Ss were induced to write an essay arguing for higher tuition. High-choice Ss were either encouraged to express their emotions, to suppress them, or to do neither. As expected, high-choice-express Ss exhibited the least attitude change. Study 2 tested the hypothesis that expressing fear of cancer would reduce the extent of defensive distancing from cancer patients, but expressing sympathy would not. Although control Ss clearly distanced from cancer patients, fear-expression Ss did not. Implications for understanding the role of affect in defense are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Headache and cortisol responses to m-chlorophenylpiperazine are highly correlated.

The serotonin receptor agonist m-chlorophenylpiperazine (m-CPP) stimulates the release of cortisol and prolactin, and induces migraine-like headaches. We have studied the neuroendocrine and headache responses to m-CPP in 8 subjects with migraine and 10 normal subjects. Each subject underwent two challenge tests, one with 0.25 mg/kg PO of m-CPP and the other with placebo, administered in a double-blind crossover format. Serial measurements of serum cortisol, prolactin, and m-CPP levels were made at 30-min intervals for 210 min following ingestion of the medication. The incidence and severity of headache was assessed by a structured telephone interview after each test. We confirmed that m-CPP stimulates the release of cortisol and prolactin, and may induce headache, in both migraine subjects and normal controls. The cortisol response as well as ratings of headache severity and duration directly correlated with plasma levels of m-CPP. There were highly significant associations between the cortisol response and both headache severity and duration, independent of m-CPP plasma levels. We did not find statistically significant differences between the migraine and normal subjects in terms of their neuroendocrine or headache responses to m-CPP.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Episodic paroxysmal hemicrania: 3 new cases and a review of the literature.

Episodic paroxysmal hemicrania (EPH) is a rare, benign disorder characterized by discrete bouts of hemicranial headaches separated by periods of pain-free remissions. EPH is frequently mistaken for episodic cluster headache because they have similar temporal profiles and clinical features. EPH is differentiated from cluster headaches by an increased frequency and a shorter duration of individual attacks. Establishing the diagnosis of EPH is important because of its unique response to treatment with indomethacin and not standard anti-cluster headache medications.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Office-based treatment of acute migraine with dihydroergotamine mesylate.

The Regional Migraine Field Trial assessed the efficacy and safety of dihydroergotamine mesylate (D.H.E. 45) for migraine in the office setting. Patients were admitted to the study provided they met the International Headache Society definition of migraine with or without aura. Thirty-eight neurologists enrolled 311 patients (274 women and 37 men) between the ages of 13 and 70 years in this open-design study. Ninety-five percent of the patients had moderate or severe headache pain at entry, and 62% had nausea. All patients received a single intramuscular injection of D.H.E. 45 1 mg. A second intramuscular injection of 1 mg was given 60 minutes after the first injection, if needed. An antiemetic was administered concomitantly with D.H.E. 45, if needed. Rescue therapy was given at the investigators' discretion. Efficacy was judged by the relief of pain, patients' ability to function, need for a second injection, need for rescue medication, and need for an antiemetic. At 30 and 60 minutes, 46% and 72% of patients had only mild or no head pain, respectively. At 24 hours, 77% of all patients had mild or no head pain. D.H.E. 45 also improved functional ability. At 30 and 60 minutes, 58% and 75% of patients had only mild or no disability, respectively. At 24 hours, 81% had mild or no impairment. Nausea was present in 62% of patients at the outset, 40% of patients at 30 minutes, and 30% at 60 minutes. An antiemetic was given to 43% of patients at the outset. The presence of nausea was similar whether or not patients received an antiemetic.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1993

A headache clinic-based approach to field trials of the International Headache Society criteria.

Criteria for the diagnosis of headache disorders have recently been developed but require empirical validation. We present an approach to the evaluation of headache criteria in a headache clinic: define the group of headache sufferers to be studied, obtain data used in establishing the diagnosis, apply the diagnostic criteria and assess their usefulness. In applying this method to a group of patients with chronic daily headache, we found that approximately one-third would not fit the current criteria for chronic tension-type headache. We conclude that empiric validation of headache criteria based on subjective data is a complex and iterative process. Operational criteria for headache diagnosis to be used by primary care physicians should be validated in that setting and ideally should be relatively simple.

Chronic Disease↗
PubMed1993

Localization and measurement of corticostatin-I in nonpregnant and pregnant rabbit tissues during late gestation.

Corticostatin-I (CSI) is the most potent of the corticostatic peptides isolated from rabbit lungs and neutrophils. CSI was localized in cells by immunohistochemistry using highly specific polyclonal antisera raised against the synthetic peptide. Western blot showed a single 4-kilodalton band, indicating that the antibody employed was specific for CSI in spleen, intestine, adrenal, and lung, but no CSI band was observed in liver. CSI was localized to macrophages in spleen, adult lung, placenta, and adult duodenum. CSI was found in epithelial cells of the upper half of the villi of the small intestine, but not in the Paneth cells. In the adrenal, CSI staining was observed only in the zona fasciculata and zona reticularis, and no immunostaining was observed in kidney, liver, heart, or ovary. CSI was measured in the maternal and fetal tissues of the pregnant rabbit on days 24, 27, and 30 of gestation and in nonpregnancy tissues. First, the peptide was extracted using mild acid conditions, purified by HPLC, and then quantitated by RIA. Immunoreactive CSI was highest in lung, spleen, intestine, and adrenal. In the brain, CSI was found in higher amounts in the pituitary, hypothalamus, and thalamus, with peak values observed at 27 days gestation. The largest amounts were found in the pituitary and hypothalamus of the nonpregnant animal. Rabbit lung had large amounts of immunoreactive CSI, with rising values in both maternal and fetal lung with progressing gestation. Again, the highest amounts were found in the lung of the nonpregnant rabbit. The adrenal contained large amounts of immunoreactive CSI, and the fetal adrenal concentrations declined with progressing pregnancy, whereas the maternal adrenal values were much lower and showed a small decline at 27 and 30 days gestation. The placenta had large amounts of immunoreactive CSI, which increased with progressing gestation. In fetal and maternal plasma, there were small amounts of ACTH, which remained constant in the maternal circulation, but increased in the fetal circulation with progressing gestation. Immunoreactive CSI was present in plasma in a much higher concentration, which decreased in the fetal compartment but increased in the maternal compartment with progressing gestation. The data presented indicate that CSI is localized to a large number of tissues in the rabbit, as visualized by immunoperoxidase staining, and that in a number of tissues it is found in macrophages. After HPLC purification from tissues, CSI was measured by RIA and found in all tissues examined except liver, kidney, heart, and ovary.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1993

The gene encoding the human corticostatin HP-4 precursor contains a recent 86-base duplication and is located on chromosome 8.

The human neutrophil-derived cationic peptide HP-4 exhibits corticostatic activity on adrenal cells and is an L-type calcium channel agonist at nanomolar concentrations. Complementary DNA clones encoding the HP-4 precursor have been isolated from a human bone marrow cDNA library by screening with oligonucleotide probes. The nucleotide sequence shares about 72% identity with the cDNA encoding defensin HP-1, but differs from it, and from other genes of this family characterized to date, by an extra 83-base segment. This extra segment is not adjacent to an intron and is apparently the result of a recent duplication within the coding region corresponding to most of the mature HP-4 peptide. The predicted amino acid sequence shows the HP-4 precursor structure to be typical of this family of molecules. By analysis of DNA from a pannel of hamster/human hybrid cell lines, the HP-4 gene was found to be on chromosome 8, as is the gene for human peptide HP-1. Comparison with the few sequences of other corticostatin/defensin genes available does not indicate distinct lineages of corticostatic and noncorticostatic peptides, since HP-1 and HP-4 cDNA sequences share more identity with each other than either shares with cDNAs encoding rabbit MCP-1 or MCP-2, or guinea pig GNCP-1.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1993

Questionnaire assessments of recent exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in relation to salivary cotinine.

The increasing evidence of the ill-health effects of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) has prompted the search for accurate measures of exposure to ETS. The present study examined whether it was possible to enhance the ability of questionnaire-derived assessments of ETS exposure, to predict salivary cotinine. Salivary samples were obtained from 258 nonsmoking bank employees, who simultaneously answered questions detailing their exposure to second-hand smoke within the last three days. Exposure models were created, to take into account the number of smokers nearby, length of time in their presence, half-life of cotinine in bodily fluids, level of aversion to cigarette smoke and time of year. All models, including the consideration of intensity and duration of exposure combined, explained an equal amount of variance of log cotinine levels (approximately 16%). The weak relationship between questionnaire estimates of ETS exposure and cotinine, found in the present study, suggests that further investigation is needed to improve the assessment of recent ETS exposure.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Reactivity of leg alignment to articular pressure testing: evaluation of a diagnostic test using a randomized crossover clinical trial approach.

OBJECTIVE: A study was undertaken to assess the reliability of detecting leg alignment changes (reactivity) and to determine if the observed leg alignment reactivity can be attributed to a rotatory articular pressure challenge. DESIGN: Prospective double-blind crossover trial of a diagnostic test. SETTING: Laboratory: Center for Technique Research. PARTICIPANTS: Forty-two chiropractic college students, faculty and staff. INTERVENTIONS: A standardized force of 2 or 3 kg was applied with a 1 cm2 rubber-tipped pressure algometer on the lateral aspect of the T3-T7 spinous processes and the posterior aspect of the lateral masses of C1. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Leg alignment reactivity: an increase in leg alignment discrepancy (yes or no) following a diagnostic intervention. RESULTS: The reliability for detecting leg alignment reactivity was poor: on average, Kappa = 0.05 in the thoracics and 0.06 at C1. On average, the attributable risk of leg alignment reactivity (pressure test risk--sham test risk) was less than 4%. In many cases, the sham rate was greater than the pressure test rate. CONCLUSIONS: For the population investigated, leg alignment reactivity to rotatory pressure testing can, in the majority of cases, be attributable to background noise. This procedure was not found to be viable for identifying vertebrae for adjustment. Further research with different subject populations, regions of investigation, leg alignment measurement techniques and vertebral challenge techniques are indicated.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Responsiveness of leg alignment changes associated with articular pressure testing to spinal manipulation: the use of a randomized clinical trial design to evaluate a diagnostic test with a dichotomous outcome.

OBJECTIVE: A study was undertaken to assess the stability of leg alignment reaction to a pressure challenge and its responsiveness to an adjustive intervention. DESIGN: Prospective, double-blind clinical trial of a diagnostic test. SETTING: Laboratory: Center for Technique Research. PARTICIPANTS: Forty-two chiropractic college students, faculty and staff. INTERVENTIONS: A high-velocity, low-amplitude, short lever adjustment of a single vertebra from among C1 and T3-T7; or a sham adjustment similar to a manual diagnostic pressure test at C1, T3-T7 or T9-T10. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Leg alignment reactivity: An increase in leg alignment discrepancy (yes or no) following a metered pressure challenge to a vertebra. RESULTS: On average, stability was poor at T3-T7 (Kappa = 0.04), moderate at C1 (K = 0.47), and fair for sham pressure tests (K = 0.30). Responsiveness: The proportion of positive baseline leg alignment reactions that responded (became negative) to sham adjustment was 95% at T3-T7 and 55% at C1. Further analysis was untenable since too few vertebrae were implicated for an adjustment. CONCLUSIONS: For the population investigated, the majority of the responsiveness of the leg alignment diagnostic test to a rotatory adjustment appears to be a diagnostic illusion (i.e., background noise unrelated to a treatment intervention). Further research with different subject populations, regions of investigation, leg alignment measurement techniques and vertebral challenge techniques are indicated.

Adult↗