Biomedical subjects
V Kumar
Publications and source records attributed to V Kumar.
Fine needle aspiration cytology of epididymal nodules.
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Improving access to MCH care facilities within existing health infrastructure.
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Neonatal tetanus mortality in a rural community of Haryana.
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Prescribing practices in childhood sore throat.
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Home-based mothers' health records.
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Management of neonatal emergencies in the community.
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A random survey of anesthesia machines and ancillary monitors in 45 hospitals.
One hundred sixty-nine anesthesia machines and ancillary monitors were tested in 45 hospitals, randomly selected to assure a sample of hospitals with a wide range of anesthesia workload. The machines ranged in age from 1 to 28 years (8 +/- 6, mean +/- SD), with 47.3% manufactured since 1980, 39.1% between 1970 and 1980; and 13.6% before 1970. Regular maintenance was provided for 112 machines (66.2%) by the manufacturer, whereas 55 machines (32.5%) were maintained by independent contractors. Two machines designated as backup machines received no maintenance. There was no source of oxygen to back up oxygen piped from a central source on five machines. Thirteen machines had leaks over 500 ml/min distal to the common gas outlet, the most common sites being the carbon dioxide absorber, dome valves, and oxygen monitor sensor adaptors. Another two machines had leaks over 500 ml/min proximal to the common gas outlet. Forty-two of the 169 machines did not have an oxygen analyzer; another 18 had oxygen analyzers that did not function properly. Only 29 (23.5%) of 123 machines equipped with a ventilator had a working high-pressure alarm, whereas functioning low-pressure alarms were available on 104 machines (84.5%). Fourteen of the 383 vaporizers tested for calibration did not meet the calibration standard recommended by the manufacturers. None of the 32 liquid anesthetic samples collected and analyzed during the survey showed contaminants. Only four (8.8%) hospitals utilized a written anesthesia machine checklist. There was no correlation between the number of malfunctions observed and ages of the machines, although the older machines tended to lack the basic monitoring devices and safety features.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Functional domains of the human estrogen receptor.
Two domains of the human estrogen receptor, responsible for hormone binding (region E) and tight nuclear binding (region C), are essential for the receptor to activate efficiently the transcription of estrogen-responsive genes. Region D, which joins the DNA- and hormone-binding domains, can be altered without affecting activation. Deletion of the N-terminal domain (region A/B) has no effect on activation of a reporter gene containing a vitellogenin estrogen-responsive element (ERE) and the HSV-tk promoter, whereas it severely impairs activation of the human pS2 gene promoter. Deletion of most or all of the hormone-binding domain leads to only about 5% constitutive transcriptional activity, yet these mutants appear to bind efficiently to an ERE in vivo. Apparently, region C recognizes the ERE of target genes, and the hormone-binding domain plays an essential role for efficient activation of transcription.
Defective distal regulatory element at the 5' upstream of rat prolactin gene of steroid-nonresponsive GH-subclone.
The prolactin-nonproducing (PRL-) GH cell strains (rat pituitary tumor cells in culture). GH12C1 and F1BGH12C1, do not respond to steroid hormones estradiol or hydrocortisone (HC). However, the stimulatory effect of estradiol and the inhibitory effect of hydrocortisone on prolactin synthesis can be demonstrated in the prolactin-producing GH cell strain, GH4C1. In this investigation we have examined the 5' end flanking region of rat prolactin (rat PRL) gene of steroid-responsive, GH4C1 cells to identify the positive and negative regulatory elements and to verify the status of these elements in steroid-nonresponsive F1BGH12C1 cells. Results presented in this report demonstrate that the basel level expression of the co-transferred Neo gene (neomycin phosphoribosyl transferase) is modulated by the distal upstream regulatory elements of rat PRL gene in response to steroid hormones. The expression of adjacent Neo gene is inhibited by dexamethasone and is stimulated by estradiol in transfectants carrying distal regulatory elements (SRE) of steroid-responsive cells. These responses are not observed in transfectants with the rat PRL upstream sequences derived from steroid-nonresponsive cells. The basal level expression of the host cell alpha-2 tubulin gene is not affected by dexamethasone. We report here the identification of the distal steroid regulatory element (SRE) located between 3.8 and 7.8 kb upstream of the transcription initiation site of rat PRL gene. Both the positive and the negative effects of steroid hormones can be identified within this upstream sequence. This distal SRE appears to be nonfunctional in steroid-nonresponsive cells. Though the proximal SRE is functional, the defect in the distal SRE makes the GH substrain nonresponsive to steroid hormones. These results suggest that both the proximal and the distal SREs are essential for the mediation of action of steroid hormones in GH cells.
Comment on "Interstitial hydrogen and neutralization of shallow-donor impurities in single-crystal silicon"
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Acute rejection of murine bone marrow allografts by natural killer cells and T cells. Differences in kinetics and target antigens recognized.
Lethally irradiated C.B-17 +/+, C.B-17 scid/scid (severe combined immunodeficiency, SCID), BALB/c-nu/nu (nude), and C57BL/6 (B6) mice were challenged with H-2-homozygous or H-2-heterozygous totally allogeneic bone marrow cell (BMC) grafts. Some of the irradiated mice were immunized simultaneously with large numbers of irradiated marrow and spleen cells syngeneic with the viable BMC transferred. Irradiated SCID and nude mice, devoid of T cells but with normal NK cell function, were able to reject H-2-homozygous BMC grafts within 4 d. However, they were unable to reject H-2-heterozygous BMC allografts by 7 d even if they were immunized. B6 and C.B-17 +/+ mice were able to reject H-2 heterozygous BMC allografts by 7-8 d, but not as early as 4 d, if they were immunized. The rejection of H-2-homozygous BMC on day 4 was inhibited by administration of anti-NK-1.1 antibodies, but not by anti-Lyt-2 antibodies. Conversely, the rejection of H-2-heterozygous allogeneic BMC on day 8 was prevented by anti-Lyt-2 but not by anti-NK-1.1 antibodies. The data indicate that both NK cells and Lyt-2+ T cells can mediate rejection of allogeneic BMC acutely, even after exposure of mice to lethal doses of ionizing irradiation. NK cells appear to recognize Hemopoietic histocompatibility (Hh) antigens on H-2 homozygous stem cells. The inability of SCID and nude mice to reject H-2 heterozygous totally allogeneic BMC indicate that NK cells do not survey donor marrow cells for self H-2 antigens and reject those cells that express nonself H-2 antigens. The T cells presumably recognize conventional H-2 antigens (probably class I) under these conditions.
Electronic structure of a quasiperiodic superlattice.
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Murine natural killer cells stimulated in vivo do not express the T cell receptor alpha, beta, gamma, T3 delta, or T3 epsilon genes.
Murine blast natural killer (NK) cells responding to in vivo stimulation were isolated and characterized as to their expression of the T cell receptor (TCR) variable genes alpha, beta, and gamma and the TCR constant genes T3 delta and T3 epsilon. In vivo stimulated blast T cells were isolated for comparison. RNA extracted from highly purified blast cell populations elicited in vivo was probed for TCR transcripts by Northern blot analysis. In contrast to the blast T cells which expressed high levels of the alpha, beta, delta, and epsilon genes, blast NK cells expressed very low to not detectable levels of these genes. Blast NK cells isolated from euthymic mice were comparable to those isolated from athymic mice and both populations had profoundly reduced levels of transcripts for TCR genes. The expression of gamma-chain genes was extremely low in the in vivo elicited blast T cells as well as the blast NK cells. Highly purified NK cells isolated from unmanipulated mice and propagated in culture with recombinant interleukin 2 for short periods of time also had extremely low levels of delta and epsilon, whereas T cells expanded in culture had high level expression of these genes. As delta and epsilon appear to be required for expression of a functional recognition structure on the T cell surface and are expressed early in T cell ontogeny, these results indicate that the functional NK cells responding to proliferation signals do not form a conventional T cell recognition structure. Furthermore, the results support a separation of the T cell and NK cell lineages early in ontogeny.
Lack of dendritic Thy-1+ epidermal cells in mice with severe combined immunodeficiency disease.
C.B-17 scid (severe combined immunodeficiency disease) mice were used to evaluate the relationship of dendritic Thy-1+ epidermal cells (EC) to T lymphocytes (deficient in scid) and to NK cells (replete in scid). Epidermis from scid mice was deficient in dendritic Thy-1+ cells as determined by immunofluorescent staining of epidermal whole mounts. Similarly, epidermal cell suspensions from scid mice failed to proliferate in response to Con A, as compared with epidermal cell suspensions from C.B-17 control mice. Transplantation of normal bone marrow into scid mice reconstituted morphologically identifiable dendritic Thy-1+ EC in whole mounts, as well as Con A responsiveness of EC suspensions, thus indicating that the deficiency in dendritic Thy-1+ EC in scid mice is at the precursor level. These studies demonstrate that Thy-1+ EC are more closely related to T lymphocytes than to NK cells.
Expression of hemopoietic histocompatibility antigens on H-2-loss variants of F1 hybrid lymphoma cells: evidence consistent with trans gene regulation.
H-2 heterozygous marrow stem cells, lymphoid progenitor cells, and leukemia/lymphoma cells do not express hemopoietic or hybrid histocompatibility (Hh) antigens, which are important transplantation antigens recognized during the rejection of normal or neoplastic hemopoietic cells. The Hh-1b determinant of the H-2b haplotype maps to the D region of H-2. We have tested the hypothesis that gene(s) at or near H-2D of the H-2d haplotype down-regulate the expression of Hh-1b in the trans configuration. We used Abelson leukemia virus-transformed pre-B lymphoma cells (ACCb) of BALB/c X BALB.B (H-2d X H-2b) origin, as well as variant lines of ACCb, which were selected for resistance to monoclonal anti-H-2 antibodies plus complement. B6D2F1 (H-2b X H-2d), C3B6F1 (H-2k X H-2b), or B6 (H-2b) mice were infused with inocula of 5 X 10(6) B6 bone marrow cells (BMC). Proliferation of donor-derived marrow cells was judged in terms of DNA synthesis by measuring the splenic incorporation of 5-iodo(125I)-2'-deoxyuridine (IUdR) 5 days after cell transfer. B6 BMC grew much better in B6 than in F1 hybrid host mice, an expression of "hybrid resistance". As observed previously, the injection of EL-4 (H-2b, Hh-1b) tumor cells prior to infusion of B6 (H-2b, Hh-1b) BMC enhanced the growth of B6 BMC in F1 hybrid mice. Therefore, this in vivo "cold target cell competition" type of assay can be used to detect the expression of Hh-1b antigens. Unlike EL-4 (H-2b) cells, hybrid resistance was not affected by prior infusion of (H-2b X H-2d) heterozygous ACCb cells. In contrast, three ACCb variant cell lines, H-2d-, Ld-Dd-, and Dd-, enhanced the growth of B6 BMC in F1 hosts. The ACCb H-2b- cell line did not affect hybrid resistance to B6 BMC. The loss of gene expression on the H-2d chromosome at or very near the H-2Dd locus is correlated with the appearance Hh-1b, as determined by the in vivo cold target competition assay. These results support the hypothesis that heterozygous cells possess trans-acting, dominant, down-regulatory genes mapping near H-2D that control the Hh-1 phenotype of lymphoid tumor cells.
Rejection of bone marrow allografts by mice with severe combined immune deficiency (SCID). Evidence that natural killer cells can mediate the specificity of marrow graft rejection.
C.B-17 scid (H-2d) mice are homozygous for the gene that causes severe combined immune deficiency (SCID). These mice have no T or B cell function, yet display normal natural killer (NK) activity. Irradiated SCID mice were challenged with marrow grafts to determine if antibodies are necessary for marrow allograft rejection. SCID mice rejected H-2/Hh-1 allogeneic marrow grafts. Moreover, this rejection capability could be adoptively transferred using SCID marrow as a source of NK progenitors infused into irradiated B6 (H-2b) hosts. We conclude that NK cells can mediate marrow allograft reactivity in the absence of immunoglobulin. It follows that NK cells probably have specific receptors for Hh antigens.