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Biomedical subjects

T Conway

Publications and source records attributed to T Conway.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Violence victims' perception of functioning and well-being: a survey from an urban public hospital walk-in clinic.

This study assessed the health perceptions of self-reported violence victims in an urban minority population attending a walk-in clinic by using an anonymous, 1-week, cross-sectional survey. The Medical Outcome Study Short-Form (MOS SF-20) was used to assess functioning/well being, including the dimensions of physical functioning, role functioning, social functioning, mental health, health perceptions, and pain. Health perception main scores were calculated for each of the six health dimensions in the following four groups: patient-victims, patient-nonvictims, visitor-victims, and visitor-nonvictims. Odds ratios (OR) were calculated to assess the association of violence victimization and functioning/well-being. The mean scores of health status were consistently better among nonvictims for all of the six health concepts measured; patients who were victims showed lower mean scores than nonvictim patients. A similar pattern also was found in visitors' health status scores when victims were compared to nonvictims. The strongest association was found between violence victimization and mental health, and the least association was between the pain score and violence victimization. This study showed a substantial association between poor health and violence victimization in the patient population studied. Intervention is needed to prevent and decrease violence in order to minimize the impact of violence on the health of victims.

Chicago↗
PubMed1995

The Wisconsin Diabetes Control Program: a health systems and community-based approach.

The Wisconsin Diabetes Control Program will address the health needs of people with diabetes by working closely with the Wisconsin Affiliate of the American Diabetes Association and other diabetes health professionals in the state. The 5-year program will use both health systems and community-based approaches to coordinate prevention, detection, and control activities required to reduce the burden of this chronic condition. This program represents a major shift in focus from previous diabetes control programs supported by the CDC, and is designed to establish the program as a key component of an evolving health care environment.

Community Health Services↗
PubMed1994

Psychological aspects of monitoring high risk women for breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of knowledge pertaining to the attitudes, feelings, and emotions of women who are at increased familial risk for breast cancer and how these concerns will affect their surveillance behavior. A review of the literature shows an unevenness in the conclusions about these matters, with some reports indicating that anxiety aroused in the familial cancer setting may abet surveillance behavior, whereas other data indicates a negative effect. METHODS: The authors reported anecdotal accounts of such behavior in women from hereditary breast and hereditary breast-ovarian cancer prone families. RESULTS: Although these responses of fear, anxiety, and apprehension about cancer risk are not unique to this hereditary cohort, they nevertheless must have been tempered by often life-long exposure of cancer occurrences that may have decimated their families. CONCLUSIONS: All accounts agree with the need to devote more research to the special needs--psychological, social, insurance, and general public health measures--of these high risk women.

Adoption↗
PubMed1994

Prevalence of violence victimization among patients seen in an urban public hospital walk-in clinic.

OBJECTIVES: To study the prevalence of serious physical interpersonal violence and to identify the types of perpetrators, the frequency of occurrence, the time since the violence occurred, the risk profiles, and other factors related to victimization. METHODS: One-week survey of all consecutively registered patients and their visitors in an urban public hospital adult walk-in clinic, using an anonymous self-administered questionnaire. RESULTS: Of the 1,504 patients, 1,041 (69.2%) completed the questionnaire. The reported experience of serious physical violence victimization for the whole study population, both patients (n = 1,041) and visitors (n = 155), was 47.9% (573/1,196). A violence victim was more likely to be male [odds ratio (OR) = 1.41, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.11, 1.78], African-American (OR = 1.27, 95% CI: 0.98, 1.63), aged 45 years or younger (OR = 1.55, 95% CI: 1.19, 2.03), and single (OR = 1.47, 95% CI: 1.16, 1.86). Alcohol use and drug use were clearly associated with violence victimization, with prevalence ORs of 2.26 (95% CI: 1.80, 2.85) for alcohol and 3.68 (95% CI: 2.66, 5.09) for drugs. CONCLUSION: A history of serious physical violence victimization is common in inner-city hospital walk-in clinic patients. Walk-in clinics in urban areas of high violence, therefore, may prove to be important places for intervention and prevention of violence.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Familial aggregation of carcinoma of the endometrium.

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to describe histologically verified endometrial carcinoma and other cancer types manifested through three generations in a pedigree, where these findings do not fit any classic hereditary cancer syndrome. STUDY DESIGN: Our family study protocol used detailed patient interviews whenever possible and questionnaires with permission forms that, when signed, enabled retrieval of pertinent medical-genetic and pathologic study documents. RESULTS: Endometrial carcinoma was histologically verified in five women through three consecutive generations. The triad of obesity, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus was not observed. Primary carcinomas of both the endometrium and ovary and endometrium and lymphoma were documented in two relatives in the direct genetic lineage of the pedigree. CONCLUSION: An aggregation of endometrial carcinoma in families, even when classic hereditary cancer syndrome identification is lacking, nevertheless merits surveillance and management strategies targeted to putative high-risk family members.

Endometrial Neoplasms↗
PubMed1994

Attitudes, knowledge, and skills of internal medicine residents regarding pre-conception care.

BACKGROUND: A questionnaire was designed based on current recommendations for pre-conception care and care of women at the time of diagnosis of pregnancy to evaluate internal medicine residents' attitudes, knowledge, and clinical management skills in the pre-conception care of healthy women and women who have chronic diseases during their reproductive years. METHOD: In early 1991, a self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 104 internal medicine residents at Cook County Hospital, a large, inner-city public hospital. Statistical analysis included the use of chi-square comparison, Pearson correlation, and Student's t-test. RESULTS: Seventy-nine of the residents completed questionnaires. Their levels of knowledge and management skills regarding pre-conception care were relatively low compared with standard recommendations. The residents' attitudes, however, were favorable toward the importance of the topic. Residency training did not appear to improve the residents' management skills, as there was no significant difference in skills among the first-, second-, and third-year residents. CONCLUSION: That the residents' levels of knowledge and management skills were low (despite their favorable attitudes) suggests that the current curriculum for primary care training in internal medicine needs to be revised to improve the readiness of residents to take care of women of reproductive age.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1994

Reconstruction of glucose uptake and phosphorylation in a glucose-negative mutant of Escherichia coli by using Zymomonas mobilis genes encoding the glucose facilitator protein and glucokinase.

Expression of the Zymomonas mobilis glf (glucose facilitator protein) and glk (glucokinase) genes in Escherichia coli ZSC113 (glucose negative) provided a new functional pathway for glucose uptake and phosphorylation. Both genes were essential for the restoration of growth in glucose minimal medium and for acid production on glucose-MacConkey agar plates.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed1993

Concomitant abuse of clonidine and heroin.

We have reported the case of a 36-year-old woman who abused heroin and clonidine concomitantly. To our knowledge, this practice has never been reported in the medical literature, although it may be relatively common in certain communities. It may place the heroin abuser's health at additional risk and complicate therapy for overdose and withdrawal.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Schistosoma mansoni and Trichobilharzia ocellata: comparison of secreted cercarial eicosanoids.

Schistosoma mansoni cercarial transformation and early stages of penetration can be correlated to specific eicosanoid products. Cercarial eicosanoids are suggested to play immunoregulatory roles during penetration. We examined production of cercarial eicosanoids by S. mansoni compared with that of the duck parasite Trichobilharzia ocellata after incubation with linoleate. Secretions were separated by reversed-phase high pressure liquid chromatography and also quantified by radioimmunoassay. The 2 parasites, differing in their immune evasion, synthesized the same types of prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and hydroxy-eicosatetranoic acids in similar quantities. Eicosanoid fractions of both species also showed a similar inhibition of superoxide production by human neutrophils. The coincidence of eicosanoid production suggests a function of eicosanoids in processes that are similar in both species.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

A breast-ovarian cancer susceptibility gene maps to chromosome 17q21.

Nineteen North American Caucasian families that contain a minimum of four confirmed cases of breast or ovarian cancer have been studied. Four polymorphisms (cLB17.1, D17S579, D17S588, and D17S74), which span a region of approximately 15 cM on chromosome 17q12, were typed. Our data confirm the location of a dominant gene conferring susceptibility to breast and ovarian cancer (maximum lod = 9.78) and suggest that the breast-ovarian cancer syndrome is genetically heterogeneous. Two recombinants in one large family suggest that the breast-ovarian cancer locus lies between D17S588 and D17S579.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Cloning and molecular characterization of the DNA ligase gene (lig) from Zymomonas mobilis.

The Zymomonas mobilis lig gene that encodes DNA ligase was cloned from a cosmid library and identified by genetic complementation of a conditional-lethal Escherichia coli DNA ligase mutant. Nucleotide sequence analysis of the Z. mobilis lig region indicated that the gene is 2196 bp long, encoding a protein with a deduced molecular mass of 82,089. The primary amino acid sequence of the Z. mobilis ligase is 48% identical to the E. coli enzyme. Two genes located upstream of lig were identified as tgt, encoding tRNA guanine transglycosylase and uvrB, encoding the beta subunit of excision endonuclease. Computer searches did not reveal any transcriptional terminators in the 46-bp tgt-lig intergenic region, suggesting that lig may be cotranscribed with one or more upstream genes. Weak expression of lig is explained in part by frequent use of codons that are known to be rarely used in the highly expressed glycolytic gene set.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Hereditary ovarian cancer: a clinicopathological study.

Hereditary ovarian cancer (HOC) is rare and little recognized. Over the years, we have identified 37 HOC patients from HOC syndrome kindreds with documented cancers of ovary, breast, colon, or endometrium in two or more first-degree relatives. The age and clinical stage at diagnosis and overall 5-year survival of HOC patients were compared with those of ovarian cancers in the unselected patients. The gross and microscopic features of the tumors are compared with a set of 34 consecutively chosen ovarian cancer cases with documented negative family histories. The mean age of HOC patients at diagnosis was significantly lower (50.2 years) than that of the unselected control population (59 years) (p less than 0.001). Detailed pedigree analysis breaks down the HOC group into (a) site-specific ovarian cancer, 5 cases, 56.4 years mean age; (b) breast-ovarian cancer syndrome, 28 cases, 50.46 years mean age; and (c) Lynch syndrome II (colon/endometrial cancer), 4 cases, mean age 41 years. The age differences were statistically significant (p = 0.050). The most prevalent International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics clinical stage at diagnosis of HOC (stage III) was the same as for the control group. Histologically, all (100%) HOC tumors were surface epithelial cancers with predominance of serous papillary type moderate to high grade (89 versus 71% in control, p = 0.07). No other pathologic features appeared to be significant. In conclusion, HOC is a serous papillary tumor and characterized by early age of onset and excess of breast/ovary/colon-endometrial cancers in first-degree relatives of patients with specific HOC syndromes.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

The Entner-Doudoroff pathway: history, physiology and molecular biology.

The Entner-Doudoroff pathway is now known to be very widely distributed in nature. Biochemical and physiological studies show that the Entner-Doudoroff pathway can operate in a linear and catabolic mode, in a 'cyclic' mode, in a modified mode involving non-phosphorylated intermediates, or in alternative modes involving C1 metabolism and anabolism. Molecular and genetic analyses of the Entner-Doudoroff pathway in Zymomonas mobilis, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa have led to an improved understanding of some fundamental aspects of metabolic controls. It can be argued that the Entner-Doudoroff pathway is more primitive than Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas glycolysis.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

The Entner-Doudoroff pathway in Escherichia coli is induced for oxidative glucose metabolism via pyrroloquinoline quinone-dependent glucose dehydrogenase.

The Entner-Doudoroff pathway was shown to be induced for oxidative glucose metabolism when Escherichia coli was provided with the periplasmic glucose dehydrogenase cofactor pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ). Induction of the Entner-Doudoroff pathway by glucose plus PQQ was established both genetically and biochemically and was shown to occur in glucose transport mutants, as well as in wild-type E. coli. These data complete the body of evidence that proves the existence of a pathway for oxidative glucose metabolism in E. coli. PQQ-dependent oxidative glucose metabolism provides a metabolic branch point in the periplasm; the choices are either oxidation to gluconate followed by induction of the Entner-Doudoroff pathway or phosphotransferase-mediated transport. The oxidative glucose pathway might be important for survival of enteric bacteria in aerobic, low-phosphate, aquatic environments.

Biological Transport, Active↗
PubMed1992

Cloning, sequencing, and expression of the Zymomonas mobilis fructokinase gene and structural comparison of the enzyme with other hexose kinases.

The frk gene encoding the enzyme fructokinase (fructose 6-phosphotransferase [EC 2.7.1.4]) from Zymomonas mobilis has been isolated on a partial TaqI digest fragment of the genome and sequenced. An open reading frame of 906 bp corresponding to 302 amino acids was identified on a 3-kbp TaqI fragment. The deduced amino acid sequence corresponds to the first 20 amino acids (including an N-terminal methionine) determined by amino acid sequencing of the purified protein. The 118 bp preceding the methionine codon on this fragment does not appear to contain a promoter sequence. There was weak expression of the active enzyme in the recombinant Escherichia coli clone under control of the lac promoter on the pUC plasmid. Comparison of the amino acid sequence with that of the glucokinase enzyme (EC 2.7.1.2) from Z. mobilis reveals relatively little homology, despite the fact that fructokinase also binds glucose and has kinetic and structural properties similar to those of glucokinase. Also, there is little homology with hexose kinases that have been sequenced from other organisms. Northern (RNA) blot analysis showed that the frk transcript is 1.2 kb long. Fructokinase activity is elevated up to twofold when Z. mobilis was grown on fructose instead of glucose, and there was a parallel increase in frk mRNA levels. Differential mRNA stability was not a factor, since the half-lives of the frk transcript were 6.2 min for glucose-grown cells and 6.6 min for fructose-grown cells.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Molecular characterization of the Entner-Doudoroff pathway in Escherichia coli: sequence analysis and localization of promoters for the edd-eda operon.

The nucleotide sequence of the entire Escherichia coli edd-eda region that encodes the enzymes of the Entner-Doudoroff pathway was determined. The edd structural gene begins 236 bases downstream of zwf. The eda structural gene begins 34 bases downstream of edd. The edd reading frame is 1,809 bases long and encodes the 602-amino-acid, 64,446-Da protein 6-phosphogluconate dehydratase. The deduced primary amino acid sequences of the E. coli and Zymomonas mobilis dehydratase enzymes are highly conserved. The eda reading frame is 642 bases long and encodes the 213-amino-acid, 22,283-Da protein 2-keto-3-deoxy-6-phosphogluconate aldolase. This enzyme had been previously purified and sequenced by others on the basis of its related enzyme activity, 2-keto-4-hydroxyglutarate aldolase. The data presented here provide proof that the two enzymes are identical. The primary amino acid sequences of the E. coli, Z. mobilis, and Pseudomonas putida aldolase enzymes are highly conserved. When E. coli is grown on gluconate, the edd and eda genes are cotranscribed. Four putative promoters within the edd-eda region were identified by transcript mapping and computer analysis. P1, located upstream of edd, appears to be the primary gluconate-responsive promoter of the edd-eda operon, responsible for induction of the Entner-Doudoroff pathway, as mediated by the gntR product. High basal expression of eda is explained by constitutive transcription from P2, P3, and/or P4 but not P1.

Aldehyde-Lyases↗
PubMed1992

Coordination of expression of Zymomonas mobilis glycolytic and fermentative enzymes: a simple hypothesis based on mRNA stability.

Although Zymomonas mobilis is prototrophic, glycolytic and fermentative enzymes (ethanologenic enzymes) constitute over half of the cytoplasmic protein. In this study, transcript stability, functional message pools, and the abundance of cytoplasmic products were compared for genes encoding eight of these essential enzymes. The transcripts of all were very stable, with half-lives ranging from 8 to 18 min. This transcript stability is proposed as an important feature in Z. mobilis that may distinguish highly expressed genes for energy generation from biosynthetic genes, which are required at much lower levels. The evolution of multiple promoters to enhance transcription from single-copy genes, of structural features that alter translational efficiency, and of differences in protein turnover is hypothesized to serve a subordinate role in the regulation of Z. mobilis gene expression. Among the eight ethanologenic genes examined, differences in transcript stability were found to directly correlate with differences in functional message pools and cytoplasmic protein levels. These differences in transcript stability are hypothesized to have evolved as a primary mechanism to balance the levels of individual enzymes within the glycolytic and fermentative pathways.

Bacterial Proteins↗