Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

T E Miller

Publications and source records attributed to T E Miller.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Cardiovascular fitness and health in patients with end-stage osteoarthritis.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the cardiovascular fitness of a group of patients with severe osteoarthritis (OA). METHODS: Thirty-seven patients with end-stage OA were evaluated just before hip or knee replacement surgery. Severity of arthritis was evaluated using standardized techniques. Patients and age- and sex-matched controls underwent a single, maximal, symptom-limited, cardiopulmonary exercise test using arm or leg ergometry and a metabolic cart to measure expired respiratory gases. RESULTS: Severe musculoskeletal disability and deformity was confirmed in the OA patient group. During exercise testing, OA patients were able to perform physiologically maximal cardiopulmonary exercise. Arthritis patients were noted to be severely deconditioned, with reduced peak oxygen consumption (OA hips mean +/- SD 14.9 +/- 4.2 versus control hips 19.0 +/- 4.6, P < 0.0001; OA knees 12.8 +/- 3.7 versus control knees 17.6 +/- 5.2 ml/kg/minute, P < 0.0005). A trend for more frequent manifestations of coronary heart disease in OA patients than in controls (27% versus 13%; P > 0.05) was also noted. CONCLUSION: Patients with end-stage lower extremity OA are severely deconditioned. This may place them at incremental risk for the development of coronary heart disease.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

Detection of rDNA sites in sugarcane by FISH.

Hybridization sites of an rDNA probe coding for the 5.8S, 18S and 26S genes were detected on the chromosomes of sugarcane and a related genus, Erianthus, using fluorescence in situ hybridization. One unpaired and five paired hybridization sites were detected in a Saccharum spp. hybrid. A first introgression hybrid (I1) between Saccharum officinarum and Saccharum spontaneum had seven pairs of hybridization sites. A clone of Erianthus arundinaceus showed six hybridization sites in somatic tissue.

Australia↗
PubMed1995

Implications of congenitally missing teeth: orthodontic and restorative procedures in the adult patient.

Missing teeth are a concern to the patient and restorative dentist, and this social liability can be a multifactorial problem that involves esthetics, phonetics, disease, function, and stabilization. Dental caries, trauma, and periodontal disease are usually identified by pain, food impaction, discomfort, and lack of esthetics or poor phonetics. Restorative dentists are concerned with all aspects of the general health and appearance of the stomatognathic system and not only have the responsibility for immediate correction of an extant problem, but also for ensuring long-term "outcomes." The perceptive integration of interspecialty orthodontic treatment before restorative dentistry can obviate deleterious circumstances that threaten successful completion of the treatment plan. The prerestorative repositioning of malposed adjacent teeth in spaces created by congenitally missing teeth is illustrated with clinical treatment of three patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Immediate and indirect woven polyethylene ribbon--reinforced periodontal-prosthetic splint: a case report.

The patient described in this case report required removal of several mandibular incisor teeth because of severe periodontal disease. She demanded an immediate replacement for these teeth, but, because of the periodontal conditions, it was not possible to use conventional approaches to fulfill her request. The decision was made to fabricate an immediate indirect-direct, reinforced, bonded composite resin periodontal prosthesis. The patient's extracted mandibular central incisors were used as pontic replacements. The procedure was expedient, inexpensive, and conservative, and the results were esthetic.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

Ethics committees.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Advisory Committees↗
PubMed1994

Moral and religious objections by hospitals to withholding and withdrawing life-sustaining treatment.

A patient's right to decide about life-sustaining treatment may conflict with the policies of health care facilities that refuse on the basis or religious or moral convictions to honor certain decisions to forgo treatment. The New York State Task Force on Life and the Law examined the prevalence and nature of facility conscience objections to the refusal of life-sustaining treatment by conducting a survey of New York hospitals. Written questionnaires were distributed to hospitals in New York State. Fifty-eight percent of the New York State hospitals responded. Twenty-nine percent of the respondents indicated that their hospital would object on grounds of conscience either to withholding or to withdrawing life-sustaining treatment in at least one of the twelve hypothetical cases presented. Hospitals were more likely to have "no policy" for withdrawing than for withholding treatment. Only 10% of the hospitals that would object to decisions to forgo treatment on religious or moral grounds had stated the objections in writing. The patient's medical condition and the type of life-sustaining treatment to be withdrawn or withheld are important factors in determining whether a hospital will object on grounds of conscience. The imminence of death appeared more decisive than the degree of debilitation or disability as a factor in the willingness to accept decisions to forgo life-sustaining treatment. Hospitals should establish clear, written policies about their objections to forgoing treatment so that patients and their families can evaluate whether the facility meets their needs.

Advisory Committees↗
PubMed1993

Anti-inflammatory activity of glycogen extracted from Perna canaliculus (NZ green-lipped mussel).

Previous laboratory based investigations of a commercially prepared freeze-dried extract of the NZ green-lipped mussel (Perna canaliculus) showed that the material had the capacity to inhibit experimentally induced inflammation. The activity was thought to reside within an aqueous fraction containing high molecular weight material, possibly a polysaccharide. In the present study, a polysaccharide (glycogen) has been extracted from Perna canaliculus and its anti-inflammatory activity examined in an attempt to characterise further the high molecular weight components of this mollusc. Glycogen extracts administered i.v. demonstrated a dose-dependent anti-inflammatory effect in rats with carrageenin-induced footpad oedema. Mobilisation of neutrophils to the site of an inflammatory stimulus was also significantly reduced. This activity was lost if the glycogen extract was treated with KOH or proteinase K, suggesting that the anti-inflammatory properties resided within a protein moiety associated with the glycogen.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Milk from hyperimmunized dairy cows as a source of a novel biological response modifier.

Laboratory investigations have established that hyperimmunization of dairy cows with a polyvalent bacterial vaccine results in the secretion of biologically active substances into the milk. One of these factors, a low molecular weight anti-inflammatory agent (HIMF), has been studied in detail. The evidence supports the hypothesis that HIMF suppresses inflammation by inhibiting neutrophil emigration. Additionally, the experiments suggested that HIMF was capable of modifying the host response to infection and lymphocyte function. These effects have considerable clinical potential and were therefore investigated further. Intravenous administration of HIMF to rats with subcutaneous E. coli infection reduced the influx of neutrophils in the early phase of infection by as much as 73%. HIMF suppressed the host vs. graft but not the graft vs. host reaction and resulted in an increase in spleen weight and the number of splenic lymphocytes. The lymphocyte response to concanavalin A was also abrogated by the agent. These data indicate that HIMF may be useful for the inhibition of tissue destructive infectious processes, and in situations where suppression of lymphocyte function is desirable.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Effect of dialysis on the clearance of Staphylococcus epidermidis from the peritoneal cavity: an experimental evaluation.

Current information on the effect of peritoneal dialysis on host defenses in the peritoneal cavity is limited to in vitro studies. In the present study, clearance of Staphylococcus epidermidis from the abdominal cavity was assessed in an animal model undergoing peritoneal dialysis. In non-manipulated subjects, challenges of up to 10(8) viable microorganisms were cleared from the peritoneal cavity over a period of 24-48 hours. Cannula implantation, short- and long-term dialysis and the presence of excessive amounts of fluid in the peritoneal cavity did not affect the clearance rate. Presentation of the bacterial challenge, either as a bolus or via a slow delivery system, likewise had no effect on clearance rates. The results suggest that microbial trophism and the characteristics of the invading pathogen may be more critical determinants of the outcome of an infectious challenge to the peritoneal cavity than the status of the cellular and humoral defense systems.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Isolation, expression, and mutation of a rabbit skeletal muscle cDNA clone for troponin I. The role of the NH2 terminus of fast skeletal muscle troponin I in its biological activity.

A cDNA for rabbit fast skeletal muscle troponin I (TnI) was isolated and sequenced. The clone contains a coding sequence predicting a 182-amino-acid protein with a molecular mass of 21,162 daltons. The translated sequence is different from that reported by Wilkinson and Grand (Wilkinson, J. M., and Grand, R. J. A. (1978) Nature 271, 31-35) in that Arg-153, Asp-154, and Leu-155 must be inserted into their original sequence. Amino acid sequencing of adult rabbit TnI confirmed this result. In order to investigate the role of the NH2 terminus of TnI in its biological activity, we have expressed a recombinant deletion mutant (TnId57), which lacks residues 1-57, in a bacterial expression system. Both wild type TnI (WTnI) and TnId57 inhibited acto-S1-ATPase activity and this inhibition could be fully reversed by troponin C (TnC) in the presence of Ca2+. Additionally both WTnI and TnId57 bound to an actin affinity column. Thus, both inhibitory actin binding and Ca(2+)-dependent neutralization by TnC were retained in TnId57. TnC affinity chromatography was used to compare the binding of TnI and TnId57 to TnC. Using this method, two types of interaction between TnC and TnI were observed: 1) one which is metal independent (or structural) and 2) one dependent on Ca2+ or Mg2+ binding to the Ca(2+)-Mg2+ sites of TnC. The same experiments with TnId57 demonstrated that the type 1 interaction was weakened, and type 2 binding was lost. This method also revealed an interaction between TnC and TnI which is dependent upon Ca2+ binding to the Ca(2+)-specific sites of TnC and which is retained in TnId57. Taken together, these results suggest that the NH2 terminus of TnI may constitute a Ca(2+)-Mg(2+)-dependent interaction site between TnC and TnI and play, in part, a structural role in maintaining the stability of the troponin complex while the COOH terminus of TnI contains a Ca(2+)-specific site-dependent interaction site for TnC as well as the previously demonstrated Ca(2+)-sensitive inhibitory and actin binding activities.

Actins↗
PubMed1992

Detection of nuclear matrix proteins in serum from cancer patients.

Morphological characteristics of the cell nucleus have long been used by pathologists in the clinical diagnosis of cancer. The nuclear matrix of the cell, the structure that serves to organize the chromatin within the nucleus, is known to reflect these morphological characteristics with regard to cell and cancer type. Monoclonal antibodies were developed to extracted nuclear matrix proteins. These antibodies were used in two-site immunometric assays to detect soluble nuclear matrix proteins in the supernatants of two dying cell lines and 15 tumor tissues. Furthermore, nuclear matrix proteins were detected at elevated levels in the sera of cancer patients compared with normal patient sera. In one assay, 63.2% of cancer sera read above 95% of normal sera, and in another assay, 73.7% of cancer sera read above 95% of the normal sera. With the development of monoclonal antibodies with greater cancer specificity, the detection of circulating nuclear matrix proteins may become an important clinical tool in the diagnosis and monitoring of cancer.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

A low molecular weight component derived from the milk of hyperimmunised cows suppresses inflammation by inhibiting neutrophil emigration.

An earlier study demonstrated that hyperimmunisation of dairy cows with a polyvalent bacterial vaccine stimulated the secretion of a small molecular weight anti-inflammatory moiety in the milk. This hyperimmune milk factor (HIMF) has been further investigated in the present experiments. HIMF was found to suppress the cellular phase of the response to carrageenin and also the neutrophil-dependent reverse passive Arthus reaction. These results, together with the observation that the administration of HIMF led to an increase in the number of circulating neutrophils, suggested that the agent might inhibit inflammation by interfering with the ability of neutrophils to emigrate from the vasculature. In vivo studies carried out to evaluate this possibility demonstrated that HIMF suppressed neutrophil emigration by up to 75%. In vitro experiments established that the ability of neutrophils to respond to chemotactic stimuli or adhere to endothelial cells was not affected by HIMF. It is possible, therefore, that the agent modulates inflammation by down-regulating the synthesis of inducible pro-inflammatory cytokines or adhesion molecules. Attempts are presently being made to isolate the active moiety to allow the activity of the agent at the molecular level to be studied in more detail.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Suppression of inflammation by cyclosporin A is mediated via a T lymphocyte-independent process.

An athymic mutant rat strain was used to examine the hypothesis that modification of diseases with an inflammatory component by cyclosporin A (CsA) results from the suppression of nonspecific inflammatory mechanisms, rather than T-lymphocyte function, as is commonly inferred. Confirmation that the animal host was grossly depleted of T cells was obtained from anatomic and morphologic examination and functional tests of T-lymphocyte responsiveness. The experimental approach was to determine the effect of CsA on the course of experimentally induced infection with Escherichia coli, and extracellular pathogen. Host protection against this microorganism is dependent on an effective nonspecific inflammatory response. CsA administration prior to bacterial challenge resulted in a highly significant increase in bacterial numbers in the kidneys of both euthymic and athymic hosts. The data have provided a direct demonstration that modulation of the nonspecific inflammatory response by CsA can occur via a T lymphocyte-independent process.

Animals↗