Biomedical subjects

W D Taylor

Publications and source records attributed to W D Taylor.

57 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

The effect of sertraline on routine blood chemistry values.

Sertraline is an antidepressant of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class. Although SSRIs are believed to have a milder side effect profile than the tricyclic antidepressants, there are some potentially serious side effects. These include hyponatremia, which has been seen with each of the SSRIs. We reviewed the charts of 246 patients treated with sertraline at a veterans' hospital. We obtained values for each patient's basic chemistry panel (sodium, potassium, chloride, glucose, carbon dioxide, blood urea nitrogen, and creatinine) before and after institution of sertraline therapy. We studied the patients' ages and sertraline doses to see if there was a relationship between any laboratory value changes and these variables. We found no relationship between maximum sertraline dose, age, and changes in routine blood chemistry results with the exception of a small (0.5%) contribution of maximum sertraline dose to variance in serum creatinine levels. Sertraline therapy was not noted to cause any significant changes in serum sodium levels.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Pathogenicity of West Nile virus in chickens.

In the fall of 1999, West Nile virus (WNV) was isolated for the first time in the Western Hemisphere during an outbreak of neurologic disease in humans, horses, and wild and zoo birds in the northeastern United States. Chickens are a potential reservoir for WNV, and little is known about the pathogenicity of WNV in domestic chickens. Seven-week-old chickens derived from a specific-pathogen-free flock were inoculated subcutaneously with 1.8 x 10(3) 50% tissue culture infectious dose of a crow isolate of WNV in order to observe clinical signs and evaluate the viremic phase, gross and microscopic lesions, contact transmission, and immunologic response. There were no observable clinical signs in the WNV-inoculated chickens during the 21-day observation period. However, histopathologic examination of tissues revealed myocardial necrosis, nephritis, and pneumonitis at 5 and 10 days postinoculation (DPI); moderate to severe nonsuppurative encephalitis also was observed in brain tissue from one of four inoculated birds examined at 21 DPI. WNV was recovered from blood plasma for up to 8 DPI. Virus titers as high as 10(5)/ml in plasma were observed at 4 DPI. Fecal shedding of virus was detected in cloacal swabs on 4 and 5 DPI only. The WNV also was isolated from myocardium, spleen, kidney, lung, and intestine collected from chickens euthanatized at 3, 5, and 10 DPI. No virus was isolated from inoculated chickens after 10 DPI. Antibodies specific to WNV were detected in inoculated chickens as early as 5 DPI by the plaque reduction neutralization test and 7 DPI by the indirect fluorescent antibody test. Chickens placed in contact with inoculated chickens at 1 DPI lacked WNV-specific antibodies, and no WNV was isolated from their blood plasma or cloacal swabs throughout the 21 days of the experiment.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Characterization of Newcastle disease virus (avian paramyxovirus-1) isolated from pigeons.

Newcastle disease virus (avian paramyxovirus-1) was isolated from pigeons in 12 states between May 1984 and December 1985. One of the isolates was from a feral pigeon; the remainder were from privately owned pigeon lofts. Use of monoclonal antibodies showed seven of the eight isolates tested to be indistinguishable from the 1982 and 1983 Great Britain and European isolates. Clinical signs were paralysis, torticollis, tremors, incoordination, and death. Pigeons inoculated with the paramyxovirus-1 isolates intravenously or intramuscularly developed clinical disease identical to that described for natural infection; however, only one pigeon inoculated intranasally developed clinical signs. The mean death time for inoculated pigeons was 9.5 days, with a range of 4 to 25. Virus was shed for up to 20 days. Primary lesions observed on necropsy were gastroenterocolitis and pancreatic necrosis. Chickens experimentally infected by the cloacal, intranasal, or caudal thoracic air-sac route remained healthy. However, the intracerebral pathogenicity index (ICPI) in day-old chickens was similar to that observed with velogenic Newcastle disease virus isolates. Four of six isolates inoculated intravenously into 6-week-old chickens induced neurotropic disease.

Animals↗