Demonstration of free dissociation factor activity in the cytoplasm of lymphocytes.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to T Wood.
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D-Ribulose-5-phosphate 3-epimerase (EC 5.1.3.1) was purified 760-fold from calf liver by adsorption on DEAE-cellulose, chromatography on DEAE-Sephadex, chromatography on D-ribose 5-phosphate-Sepharose and gel filtration on Biogel P200. The purified enzyme of specific activity 617 units/mg was obtained in 28% yield and gave a single band on polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. It had a molecular weight of 45 000 and appeared to contain two identical peptide chains of 22 900 daltons. The Km for D-ribulose 5-phosphate was 0.19 +/- 0.07 mM (S.E.). It was inhibited by reagents reacting with sulphydryl groups, by sulphate ion, and by D-deoxyribose 5-phosphate. The pH-stability and pH-activity curves were determined.
Thirty-one strains of spirochaetes from pigs and two strains from poultry were tested in the API ZYM enzyme system. The spectrum of enzymatic reactions provided a means of differentiating between strains related to swine dysentery and strains not so related from pigs. The numerical coding system simplified the interpretation of the results.
Long-term epidemiological and laboratory studies were carried out in a kindred with familial pheochromocytoma associated with von Hippel-Lindau disease. Thirteen members were affected by the syndrome and the trait appears to be transmitted in an autosomal dominant fashion. Of 13 patients, 7 had pheochromocytoma alone. Of the remaining six patients, one had pheochromocytoma combined with von Hippel-Lindau disease, four had pheochromocytoma with retinal disease only, and a single patient had a retinal lesion without pheochromocytoma. In four patients, pheochromocytoma antedated the development of retinal lesions. Ten members also had mild hypercalcemia without accompanying elevations of PTH in the 4 patients in whom this was determined. In all, hypercalcemia was corrected with removal of tumors, and no patient had a return of hypercalcemia in the absence of recurrent increases in urinary catecholamines. The clinical presentations in 12 patients varied markedly, as did their urinary excretion rates of norepinephrine, epinephrine and their metabolites. However, an analysis of the data revealed significant correlations not previously described between the urinary excretion of free catecholamines (norepinephrine plus epinephrine), blood pressure, the free catecholamine content of the tumor and the age of the patient. Urinary excretion of free norepinephrine plus epinephrine appear to be decreased with advancing age (p less than 0.001). Both systolic and diastolic blood pressures and the age of the patient were inversely correlated (p less than 0.01). A significant inverse relationship between the tumor content of free catecholamines and the age of the patients was, although to a lesser degree, also present (p less than 0.05). As a whole, the size of the tumors and their norepinephrine content were not correlated. We present a concept that, in familial pheochromocytoma, the metabolism of catecholamines is altered by the process of aging, and that this change modifies the clinical presentations of the disease.
The changes in serum trypsin concentration have been measured in 47 subjects for up to 2 hours after a Lundh meal. In 18 healthy controls, mean fasting trypsin concentration was 285 +/- 125 ng/ml (mean +/- 2 SD). The maximum increase after the Lundh meal (the trypsin response ratio) was 6.7 +/- 7.5%. Six patients with chronic renal failure had elevated fasting serum trypsin concentrations (range 460-1100 ng/ml) but trypsin response ratios fell within the control range. Of five patients with relapsing pancreatitis, two had raised and three normal or low fasting trypsins. After stimulation two had elevated trypsin response ratios; one of the two had evidence of main duct obstruction. Eleven out of 12 patients with chronic pancreatitis (with or without insufficiency) had low fasting trypsin concentrations (range 0-120 ng/ml) Seven of the 12 also had raised trypsin response ratios. In six patients with cancer of the pancreas, fasting trypsin was low in three, normal in two, and raised in one. Both patients with a normal fasting level had a raised trypsin response ratio. The combination of a single estimation of fasting serum trypsin concentration followed by serial measurements after a Lundh meal provides a useful screening test for chronic pancreatic disease.
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A number of possible affinity adsorbents for transketolase (sedoheptulose-7-phosphate:D-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphateglycolaldehydetransferase, EC 2.2.1.1) were prepared. The behaviour of the enzyme from Candida utilis and from Baker's yeast on columns of these and of Blue Sepharose CL-6B was examined, together with the behaviour of the contaminating enzyme, ribulose 5-phosphate 3-epimerase (EC 5.1.3.1). A procedure for removing bound thiamine pyrophosphate by dialysis against EDTA was developed. The competitive inhibition of transketolase by oxythiamine and neopyrithiamine was measured and the Ki values obtained of 1.4 and 4.3 mM, respectively, were compared with the affinity of adsorbents prepared from these two inhibitors. Adsorbents containing bound thiamine pyrophosphate were relatively ineffective but those containing epoxy-linked neopyrithiamine and D-ribose 5-phosphate adsorbed the enzyme at pH 7.4 and it could be eluted in a specific manner.
Two young children (3 1/2 years and 19 months) developed seizures within 24 hours of receiving intrathecal cytosine arabinoside. Both had previously received intrathecal cytosine and methotrexate as well as cranial irradiation without untoward effect. Possible mechanisms of causation are discussed and caution is stressed for use of intrathecal cytosine arabinoside in young children.
An ongoing study of medical care and associated costs relative to spinal cord injury is being conducted at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, one of 11 federally funded Model Regional Spinal Cord Injury Centres. It was hypothesised such costs would be lower among patients admitted into an organised continuum of care (system) soon after injury than among patients whose entry into the organised system of care was delayed (non-system). A comprehensive economic data set has been acquired on 142 of 233 (61 per cent) patients admitted since implementation of the project. Analysis of these data reveals: (1) system patients require, on average, expenditures of almost $5,000 less than their non-system counterparts; (2) there is little difference in medical or associated costs and length of hospitalisation between tetraplegics and paraplegics; (3) spinal cord injuries secondary to motor vehicle accidents have higher associated costs and longer lengths of stay than do those injuries resulting from other causes including acts of violence.
A specific and sensitive radioimmunoassay (R.I.A.) has been developed which makes possible the determination of serum or plasma trypsin concentrations despite the presence of trypsin inhibitors, which have invaldiated previously available enzymatic techniques. The assay was most precise at about 300 microng trypsin standard Ag5 per litre of serum, a value comparable with the mean in 76 healthy volunteers (273 microng/1) and in 20 hospital patients with non-pancreatic disease (266 microng/1). Markedly raised concentrations (970-6500 microng/1) were found in all 14 patients with acute pancreatitis and in 8 patients with chronic renal failure (580-1360 microng/1). Abnormal concentrations were found in 11 of 16 patients (69%) with pancreatic cancer (8 high, 3 low) and in 15 of 23 patients (65%) with chronic pancreatitis (3 high, 12 low). Patients with jaundice had normal or marginally lower than normal concentrations unless pancreatic disease or common-duct gallstones were present.
A case of pulmonary allescheriasis in a 53-year-old woman residing in London, Ontario, Canada, is described. This patient entered the hospital complaining of dyspnea, a productive cough, and pains in the neck and left shoulder. Roentgenograms of the chest revealed a large cavity in the upper lobe of the right lung, and xerograms showed an intracavitary mycetoma. Monosporium apiospermum, the imperfect form of the fungus Allescheria boydii, was grown from her sputum and from the mycetoma as well. Treatment with amphotericin B had no effect on the infection, and the upper lobe of the right lung was resected. The cough cleared completely and the patient made an excellent recovery. This case of pulmonary allescheriasis once again emphasizes that the most satisfactory form of treatment available at present for this mycosis is surgical excision of the infected area.
Three cases of mucormycosis are presented; two with unusual aspects: one with previously unreported involvement of the mandible, and one presenting as a cavernous sinus thrombosis. Review of the literature reveals a limited number of survivors. Survival in two of the cases presented here suggests that early diagnosis, aggressive therapy with surgery, and amphotericin B should improve the prognosis.
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