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Biomedical subjects

T O'Reilly

Publications and source records attributed to T O'Reilly.

54 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Porphyrin ring source can alter the outer membrane protein profile of non-typable Haemophilus influenzae.

Porphyrin ring source appears to alter the outer membrane protein (OMP) profile of some, but not all, non-typable (NT) Haemophilus influenzae strains isolated from sputum. When haemin was replaced with protoporphyrin IX, 41% of strains examined produced increased amounts of a polypeptide of 84 Kda and new OMPs of either 120 or 150 Kda. Immunoblotting with paired patient's sera revealed that antibodies reactive with these proteins were present, demonstrating OMP antigenicity and expression in vivo and indicating that these isolates of NT H. influenzae may display an altered OMP phenotype when growing in the human lung.

Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins↗

An unusual case of Capgras syndrome: the psychiatric ward as a stage.

A 31-year-old male psychiatric patient presented with an unusual multifaceted delusion of misidentification including Capgras syndrome, in which people in the immediate environment, the other patients and hospital staff, were seen as hired actors in a stage production. The genesis and reinforcement of his delusional thinking appears to be the results of psychological, organic, and ecological factors.

Adult↗

The effect of calcium channel blockade with nifedipine on splanchnic and systemic haemodynamics in cirrhosis.

The splanchnic and systemic haemodynamic effects of a single sublingual dose of nifedipine (slow calcium channel blocker) in nine patients with cirrhosis of the liver and portal hypertension were studied. Nifedipine produced a significant reduction in the mean arterial blood pressure (98 +/- 5.3 vs. 86 +/- 5 mmHg, P less than 0.05) but did not alter the mean heart rate, portal venous pressure or total liver blood flow. The systemic antihypertensive effect of nifedipine can be achieved without altering liver blood-flow in patients with chronic liver disease and portal hypertension.

Hemodynamics↗

Endogenous potentials evoked in simple cognitive tasks: scalp topography.

The scalp topography of endogeneous potentials was studied during a series of simple cognitive tasks in the auditory modality. P3 and Slow Wave showed the expected task correlates of being larger to rare than to frequent tones, and larger when attended than ignored, but N2 was not clearly measurable due to overlap with P2 and P3. Overall, across all task conditions, P3 was larger at sites over the right hemisphere than the left, particularly for sites near the midline (F3, F4, C3, C4, P3, P4). P3 was present (though smaller) to rare omitted stimuli in a tone series, as well as to tones presented at long, random intervals (3 to 9 s) in a simple counting task. P3 was very large to novel, unique, nontarget auditory stimuli, and had a somewhat different distribution to these stimuli than to targets, suggesting a difference in the underlying intracranial generators. Except for these novel nontarget sounds, P3 showed a consistent topography across tasks in spite of differences in amplitude.

Adolescent↗

A combined regimen for the prophylaxis of Curling's ulcer.

After severe thermal injury, acute gastroduodenal mucosal lesions occur in up to 80 per cent of patients. Prior to prophylactic antacid therapy, one-third of these lesions progressed to ulceration, which frequently resulted in major life-threatening hemorrhage. Antacid treatment regimens have dramatically reduced this complication. However, the incidence of occult complications that result in increased morbidity has remained unchanged. We evaluated prospectively a combined treatment regimen using antacid, an H2-receptor antagonist, and enteral feeding in 60 patients who had serious burns (mean burn size, 36% body surface area) in this series. The incidence of both overt and occult complications was 3 per cent and in no patient did a perforation develop nor was operative intervention required. No patient died of the complications of Curling's ulcer. Combination therapy may be of value in other patients prone to stress ulceration.

Adolescent↗

Chemical burns. A ten-year experience.

A ten-year experience with 83 chemical burns is reported. With the exception of phenol burns and lithium burns, immediate copious water irrigation is recommended at the scene of the injury. Specific additional measures for certain chemicals are discussed.

Adolescent↗

Defining the metabolic and growth responses of porcine haemophili to exogenous pyridine nucleotides and precursors.

A variety of biologically important pyridine nucleotides and precursors were examined for their capacities to satisfy the V-factor requirement of 30 strains of porcine haemophili. Of the compounds tested, only NAD, NMN and nicotinamide riboside (NR) supported the growth of all strains; NADP supported the growth of only the type strain of Haemophilus parasuis. Further studies with the H. parasuis type strain and the neotype strain of H. pleuropneumoniae demonstrated that, during growth, these organisms exhibited affinities for NMN that were greater than those for NAD; the affinity of H. pleuropneumoniae for NR was similar to that for NMN, whereas H. parasuis exhibited relatively low affinity for NR. With either organism, equimolar amounts of NAD and NMN supported the production of approximately equal amounts of biomass whereas growth yields were substantially lower when NR was the pyridine nucleotide source. When either organism was grown in the presence of excess exogenous [carbonyl-14C]NAD, cessation of growth was accompanied by the apparent exhaustion of the NAD supply. Approximately 80% of the radioactivity added as [14C]NAD could be recovered as extracellular [14C]nicotinamide and the majority of the assimilated radioactive material was present intracellularly in the form of a [14C]NAD(P) pool. The results are discussed in terms of the structural features required of a pyridine compound for it to support the growth of porcine haemophili, the capacity of these organisms to compete for pyridine nucleotide sources in vivo, and possible mechanisms involved in the assimilation of such compounds.

Animals↗

Pyridine nucleotide metabolism by extracts derived from Haemophilus parasuis and H. pleuropneumoniae.

A variety of biologically important pyridine nucleotides and precursors were examined for their capacities to serve as substrates for the synthesis of NAD by cell fractions derived from Haemophilus parasuis and H. pleuropneumoniae. Of the compounds tested, only NMN and nicotinamide riboside were converted to NAD. These reactions required ATP as co-substrate, and fractions from both organisms could also catalyze the ATP-dependent synthesis of NADP from NAD. In the absence of ATP, and depending on the pyridine compound under study, NAD, NMN, nicotinamide riboside, and also nicotinamide, were detected as products of catabolism. It is concluded that these haemophili possess either three-membered pyridine nucleotide cycles or two-membered cycles with synthetic branches originating with nicotinamide riboside. It is also possible that the pyridine nucleotide cycles of both organisms have nonrecycling branches resulting in the "waste" of usable pyridine compound in the form of nicotinamide.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

Tryptone-yeast extract broth as a culture medium for Haemophilus pleuropneumoniae and Haemophilus parasuis to be used as challenge inocula.

Haemophilus pleuropneumoniae and Haemophilus parasuis were grown in a liquid medium containing tryptone and yeast extract. Whereas culture turbidity during exponential growth of either organism was proportional to the number of viable cells, continued incubation of stationary phase cultures was accompanied by a dramatic decrease in viability with no corresponding decrease in culture turbidity. It is concluded that the medium described should prove useful for the growth of porcine haemophili for use in experimental infections provided the stage of growth is given due consideration.

Animals↗

Measurement of total bile acids in gastric juice.

An established method for the assay of total bile acids was validated for use in fasting and post-prandial gastric juice samples. Fasting and post-prandial intragastric bile acid concentrations were measured in 29 healthy volunteers, 15 patients after vagotomy and gastrojejunostomy (V and GJ) and 15 patients after vagotomy and pyloroplasty (V and P). Healthy female volunteers had higher post-prandial bile acid concentrations than age matched healthy males (p less than 0.02). Patients with V and GJ had higher fasting and post-prandial bile acid concentrations than age and sex matched control subjects (p less than 0.01). Patients with V and P had higher bile acid concentrations than control subjects only in post-prandial samples (p less than 0.05).

Adult↗

Porcine haemophili and actinobacilli: characterization by means of API test strips and possible taxonomic implications.

Thirty Haemophilus strains and six Actinobacillus strains, all of porcine origin, were examined for their biochemical reactivity on API 20E and API ZYM test strips using dense cell suspensions (supplemented with NAD as appropriate) as strip inocula. When combined with a test for V-factor dependency, the use of both strips allowed adequate differentiation of closely related organisms. Numerical taxonomic analysis of the data demonstrated that the majority of the haemophili and actinobacilli studied could be placed in one of four major clusters; these clusters contained, respectively, the H. pleuropneumoniae--A. pleuropneumoniae strains, the H. parasuis strains, strains belonging to Haemophilus taxon "minor group," and strains belonging to an unusual group of mannitol-positive, urease-negative haemophili. A representative of Haemophilus species taxon C and an unusual Actinobacillus isolate appeared to be comparatively unrelated to organisms in the four major clusters. Although it may, on occasion, be difficult to place an unusual isolate in any one particular group, owing to the uncertain taxonomy of some of these organisms, it is concluded that API test strips can serve as useful tools for the characterization and differentiation of porcine haemophili and actinobacilli.

Actinobacillus↗

Effects of cultural conditions on protease production by Aeromonas hydrophila.

Production of extracellular proteolytic activity by Aeromonas hydrophila was influenced by temperature, pH, and aeration. Conditions which produced maximal growth also resulted in maximal protease production. Enzyme production appeared to be modulated by an inducer catabolite repression system whereby NH4+ and glucose repressed enzyme production and complex nitrogen and nonglucose, carbon energy sources promoted it. Under nutritional stress, protease production was high, despite poor growth.

Aerobiosis↗

Inhibitors of protein kinases: CGP 41251, a protein kinase inhibitor with potential as an anticancer agent.

CGP 41251 was originally identified as an inhibitor of protein kinase C (PKC), inhibiting mainly the conventional PKC subtypes, and subsequently shown to inhibit the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptor kinase insert domain-containing receptor, which is involved in angiogenesis. CGP 41251 inhibits reversibly intracellular PKC activity, induction of c-fos and the corresponding activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinase induced by either tumor promoting phorbol esters, platelet-derived growth factor, or basic fibroblast growth factor, but not by the epidermal growth factor. CGP 41251 inhibited the ligand-induced autophosphorylation of the receptors for platelet-derived growth factor, stem cell factor, and VEGF (kinase insert domain-containing receptor) that correlated with the inhibition of the mitogen-activated protein kinase activation, but did not affect the ligand-induced autophosphorylation of the receptors for insulin, insulin-like growth factor-I, or epidermal growth factor. CGP 41251 showed broad antiproliferative activity against various tumor and normal cell lines in vitro, and is able to reverse the p-glycoprotein-mediated multidrug resistance of tumor cells in vitro. CGP 41251 showed in vivo antitumor activity as single agent and inhibited angiogenesis in vivo. Thus, CGP 41251 may suppress tumor growth by inhibiting tumor angiogenesis (via its effects on the VEGF receptor tyrosine kinases) in addition to directly inhibiting tumor cell proliferation (via its effects on PKCs).

Antineoplastic Agents↗