Plants and soils as indicators of metals in the air.
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Air Pollution↗
Biomedical subjects
T M Roberts
Publications and source records attributed to T M Roberts.
Basic principles in the treatment of hand injuries.
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Hand Injuries↗
New crystal forms of the motile major sperm protein (MSP) of Ascaris suum.
We have obtained two new crystal forms of the Ascaris major sperm protein (MSP) that mediates amoeboid cell motility in nematode sperm. We obtained crystals with C2 symmetry from bacterially expressed alpha-MSP with a = 216.5 A, b = 38.6 A, c = 32.5 A, gamma = 93.1 degrees and also crystals with P2(1) symmetry from native beta-MSP with a = 63.1 A, b = 91.7 A, c = 72.5 A, gamma = 91.3 degrees. A full native data set has been collected for each crystal form using synchrotron radiation. Both crystal forms diffract to 2 A and are suitable for high-resolution structural investigation.
Amino Acid Sequence↗
Association of phosphatidylinositol kinase activity with polyoma middle-T competent for transformation.
Polyoma middle-T antigen is required for viral transformation of cultured cells and for tumorigenesis in animals. Like many other transforming gene products, middle-T is bound to the membrane and has an associated tyrosine kinase activity in vitro. This activity seems to result from the interaction of middle-T with pp60c-src, the cellular homologue of the transforming gene product of the Rous sarcoma virus, pp60v-src (refs 3-5). Both pp60v-src (ref. 6) and another retrovirus transforming gene product, pp68v-ros (ref. 7) were shown recently to have an associated phosphatidylinositol (PI) kinase activity in vitro and to increase PI turnover in vivo. These results suggest that viral transformation may be directly connected to a complex network of second messengers generated from PI turnover. Here, we assayed for PI kinase activity in immunoprecipitates made with middle-T- or pp60c-src-specific antisera of cells infected with polyoma virus. A PI kinase activity was detected in those immunoprecipitates which contained middle-T. Studies of mutants of middle-T defective in transformation indicate a close correlation between PI kinase activity and transformation.
1-Phosphatidylinositol 4-Kinase↗
Anti-Rh33, the second separable example, also made by a person who made anti-D and has C+ red cells.
A complex serologic investigation resulted in identification of the second example of separable anti-Rh33. A patient who had been transfused frequently and who had red cells that lacked a portion or portions of the D mosaic of antigens made anti-D against that portion of D missing from her red cells, anti-c, anti-V, anti-Rh33, anti-K, and an autoantibody that mimicked the reactions of anti-D. Differential adsorption experiments showed that the anti-Rh33 was separable from the other antibodies present. The serologic findings in this case and in the study in which anti-Rh33 was first found show some sort of relationship between D and Rh33. First, one of the genes, RoHar, that makes Rh33 makes a form of D that is difficult to detect. Second, the only other gene thus far known to make Rh33, DIV (C)-, encodes for a form of D from which portions of the D mosaic are missing. Third, both examples of separable anti-Rh33 were made by women who made anti-D and whose red cells were C+.
Blood Grouping and Crossmatching↗
Scalp hair as a monitor of community exposure to lead.
Lead was measured by photon activation analysis in scalp hair from three population groups with varied types of environmental exposure. Concentrations of lead in hair increased from rural to urban to smelter areas with medians of 9.1, 15.3, and 48.5 ppm, respectively. Boys under 16 residing near smelters showed consistently higher lead levels than girls of the same age group and from the same area. A history of exposure to lead was deduced from the distribution of concentration along the hair length by analyzing 1-or 2-cm segments of hair strands. A reasonably good blood lead-hair lead correlation was obtained for individuals who appeared to be in a steady state with respect to intake and excretion of lead. The analytical method for the photonuclear determination of lead in hair, the hair washing procedure, and the advantages of using hair as an epidemiologic monitor are described.
Adolescent↗
Vascular smooth muscle glycogen metabolism studied by 13C-NMR.
Vascular smooth muscle glycogen stores are traditionally thought to be small compared to other glycogen-containing tissues such as striated muscle or liver. However, glycogen has been thought to be an important carbon substrate for oxidative metabolism in support of contraction in vascular smooth muscle. We examined the synthesis and degradation of glycogen in isometrically mounted hog carotid artery using 13C-NMR spectroscopy. The rate of net glycogen synthesis from 1-13C-glucose was found to be constant during the first 8 h of incubation of carotid arteries with 10 mM glucose at 37 degrees C and then decreased towards a rate of zero by 14 h of incubation. During 8 h of incubation in the presence of 5 mM glucose, the content of glycogen increased from 1.5 to 8.1 mumol/g blot weight in the absence of insulin and to 11.4 mumol/g blot weight in the presence of 0.5 U/ml insulin. During prolonged glycogen loading, there was a simultaneous degradation of previously synthesized 6-13C-glycogen during synthesis of 1-13C-glycogen from 1-13C-glucose indicating substrate cycling of glycogen metabolism. This substrate cycling results in a pattern of glycogen utilization in which the most recently synthesized glucosyl units of glycogen are utilized only slightly more readily than the previously synthesized glucosyl units of glycogen. We conclude that glycogen stores are larger and more dynamic than previously thought in vascular smooth muscle consistent with an important role for glycogen as a carbon source for smooth muscle energy metabolism.
Animals↗