Differing opinions of raw food diet research.
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Animal Feed↗
Biomedical subjects
W Johnson
Publications and source records attributed to W Johnson.
Phase III randomized trial of gabapentin in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
BACKGROUND: Preclinical and clinical studies of gabapentin in patients with ALS led the authors to undertake a phase III randomized clinical trial. METHODS: Patients were randomly assigned, in a double-blinded fashion, to receive oral gabapentin 3,600 mg or placebo daily for 9 months. The primary outcome measure was the average rate of decline in isometric arm muscle strength for those with two or more evaluations. RESULTS: Two hundred four patients enrolled, 196 had two or more evaluations, and 128 patients completed the study. The mean rate of decline of the arm muscle strength was not significantly different between the groups. Moreover, there was no beneficial effect upon the rate of decline of other secondary measures (vital capacity, survival, ALS functional rating scale, timed walking) nor was there any symptomatic benefit. In fact, analysis of the combined data from the phase II and III trials revealed a significantly more rapid decline of forced vital capacity in patients treated with gabapentin. CONCLUSION: These data provide no evidence of a beneficial effect of gabapentin on disease progression or symptoms in patients with ALS.
Acetates↗
Smoking behavior and the C677T allele of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene.
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Adolescent↗
Basis of the superiority of cefoperazone amphotericin teicoplanin for isolating Campylobacter upsaliensis from stools.
The optimum method for isolating Campylobacter upsaliensis from stools has not been clearly defined. In a preliminary study, cefoperazone amphotericin teicoplanin (CAT) selective medium isolated six C. upsaliensis strains which were not detected using modified cefoperazone charcoal deoxycholate (mCCDA). In order to identify the factors that underlie the superiority of CAT over mCCDA for isolating C. upsaliensis, we examined the effect of incubation time and antibiotic content of culture media on the growth of C. upsaliensis isolates using semiquantitative methods. The recovery of a subgroup of C. upsaliensis isolates from seeded stool specimens was also evaluated. Differences in growth of C. upsaliensis on CAT and mCCDA were modest and were not explained by the antibiotic profiles of the two media. Recovery of C. upsaliensis from spiked human feces on CAT was superior to that on mCCDA at lower concentrations of organisms (10(3) CFU/ml). We conclude that although CAT is more suitable than mCCDA for the isolation of C. upsaliensis from stools, the superiority of CAT for detecting this organism is not accounted for by the antibiotic composition of the medium.
Amphotericin B↗
Endothelial function during stimulation of renin-angiotensin system by low-sodium diet in humans.
We examined whether physiological stimulation of the endogenous renin-angiotensin system results in impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilatation in forearm resistance vessels of healthy subjects and whether this impairment can be prevented by angiotensin II type 1 receptor blockade. A low-sodium diet was administered to 27 volunteers who were randomized to concomitant treatment with losartan (100 mg once daily) or matched placebo in a double-blind fashion. Forearm blood flow was assessed by venous occlusion plethysmography at baseline and after 5 days. Endothelium-dependent and -independent vasodilation was assessed by intra-arterial infusion of methacholine and verapamil, respectively. The low-sodium diet resulted in significantly decreased urine sodium excretion (placebo: 146 +/- 64 vs. 10 +/- 9 meq/24 h, P < 0.001; losartan: 141 +/- 56 vs. 14 +/- 14 meq/24 h, P < 0.001) and increased plasma renin activity (placebo: 1.0 +/- 0.5 vs. 5.0 +/- 2.5 ng x ml(-1) x h(-1), P < 0.001; losartan: 3.8 +/- 7.2 vs. 19.1 +/- 11.2 ng x ml(-1) x h(-1), P = 0.006) in both the losartan and placebo groups. With the baseline study as the reference, the diet intervention was not associated with any significant change in endothelium-dependent vasodilation to methacholine in either the placebo (P = 0.74) or losartan (P = 0.40) group. We conclude that short-term physiological stimulation of the renin-angiotensin system does not cause clinically significant endothelial dysfunction. Losartan did not influence endothelium-dependent vasodilation in humans with a stimulated renin-angiotensin system.
Adult↗
Co-administration of the health food supplement, bovine colostrum, reduces the acute non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug-induced increase in intestinal permeability.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are effective analgesics but cause gastrointestinal injury. Present prophylactic measures are suboptimal and novel therapies are required. Bovine colostrum is a cheap, readily available source of growth factors, which reduces gastrointestinal injury in rats and mice. We therefore examined whether spray-dried, defatted colostrum could reduce the rise in gut permeability (a non-invasive marker of intestinal injury) caused by NSAIDs in volunteers and patients taking NSAIDs for clinical reasons. Healthy male volunteers (n=7) participated in a randomized crossover trial comparing changes in gut permeability (lactulose/rhamnose ratios) before and after 5 days of 50 mg of indomethacin three times daily (tds) per oral with colostrum (125 ml, tds) or whey protein (control) co-administration. A second study examined the effect of colostral and control solutions (125 ml, tds for 7 days) on gut permeability in patients (n=15) taking a substantial, regular dose of an NSAID for clinical reasons. For both studies, there was a 2 week washout period between treatment arms. In volunteers, indomethacin caused a 3-fold increase in gut permeability in the control arm (lactulose/rhamnose ratio 0.36+/-0.07 prior to indomethacin and 1.17+/-0.25 on day 5, P<0.01), whereas no significant increase in permeability was seen when colostrum was co-administered. In patients taking long-term NSAID treatment, initial permeability ratios were low (0.13+/-0.02), despite continuing on the drug, and permeability was not influenced by co-administration of test solutions. These studies provide preliminary evidence that bovine colostrum, which is already currently available as an over-the-counter preparation, may provide a novel approach to the prevention of NSAID-induced gastrointestinal damage in humans.
Adult↗
Efficacies of BCG and vole bacillus (Mycobacterium microti) vaccines in preventing clinically apparent pulmonary tuberculosis in rabbits: a preliminary report.
Tuberculosis (TB) kills more people in the world today than any other infectious disease, and the number of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates is increasing. Vaccines, better than most of the currently available strains of bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), are urgently needed to control this disease. TB in rabbits resembles human TB more closely than TB in any other common laboratory animal and a most pertinent method of assessing vaccine efficacy is Lurie's tubercle count method in this species. Vaccinated and control rabbits were infected by aerosol with virulent human-type tubercle bacilli (H37Rv). At necropsy 5 weeks thereafter, the grossly visible primary tubercles in the entire lung were counted. A decrease in the number of such tubercles is a quantitative measure of vaccine efficacy: An effective vaccine prevents microscopic tubercles from growing to grossly visible (clinically apparent) size. The Pasteur substrain of BCG and two substrains of Mycobacterium microti (the vole bacillus) reduced the number of visible primary tubercles an average of 75%, whereas three other substrains of BCG and three other substrains of vole bacilli only reduced the number an average of 40%. These initial studies indicate that Lurie's tubercle-count method in rabbits is a precise way to choose the best available tuberculosis vaccines.
Animals↗
Role of Ets2 in cyclic AMP regulation of the human chorionic gonadotropin beta promoter.
Activation of the human chorionic gonadotropin beta (hCGbeta) by the protein kinase A (PKA) pathway has been shown to occur through an activating protein-2 (AP-2)-dependent mechanism. However, in HepG2 cells, which are deficient in AP-2, the PKA catalytic subunit is still able to stimulate the hCGbeta promoter. Ets2 plays a critical role in placental development as revealed by placental abnormalities in Ets2 knockout mice. Transfection of Ets2 into JEG-3 placental cells causes a slight, but reproducible, increase in hCGbeta promoter basal activity. However, cotransfection with the PKA catalytic subunit causes a strong synergistic increase in hCGbeta promoter activity. Ets2 synergistic activation of the hCGbeta promoter is specific for the PKA pathway, as activation of the ras pathway, which also acts through Ets2, does not activate the hCGbeta promoter. c-Jun-mediated repression of hCGbeta is inhibited by Ets2 cotransfection, indicating that protein-protein interactions may be responsible for Ets2 activation of the hCGbeta promoter.
Animals↗
Pheochromocytoma-induced cardiomyopathy.
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3-Iodobenzylguanidine↗
Effects of the seafood toxin domoic acid on glutamate uptake by rat astrocytes.
Pronounced glutamic acid uptake was observed after only 15 min with glutamate concentrations of 60 nmol/mg protein when astrocytes were incubated with 1 mM glutamic acid. The uptake increased with time to a steady-state glutamate level of above 160 nmol/mg protein by 45 min. The uptake was energy dependent. Reduced temperature (0 degrees C) and ouabain (100 microM) inhibited uptake by 86.7% (P<0.001; n=18) and 84.4% (P<0.001; n=18), respectively, when compared with controls. After exposure of astrocytes to glutamate (1 mM) in the incubation medium, in the presence of domoic acid (10 and 100 microM) at 5 and 60 min, domoic acid (10 microM) elevated glutamate uptake by 64.0% (P<0.05; n=34) at 5 min but decreased glutamate uptake by 47.8% (P<0.01; n=19) at 60 min compared with controls. A higher dose of domoic acid (100 microM) decreased glutamate uptake by 49.6% (P<0.01; n=20) and 61.3% (P<0.001; n=20) at 5 and 60 min, respectively, compared with controls. This study suggests that domoic acid may induce neurotoxicity because of the failure of astrocytes to remove extracellular glutamate. This may contribute to excitotoxic injury.
Animals↗
Multiresistant Salmonella Typhimurium DT104 infections of humans and domestic animals in the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
Salmonella Typhimurium definitive type 104 with chromosomally encoded resistance to five or more antimicrobial drugs (R-type ACSSuT+) has been reported increasingly frequently as the cause of human and animal salmonellosis since 1990. Among animal isolates from the northwestern United States (NWUS), R-type ACSSuT+ Typhimurium isolates increased through the early 1990s to comprise 73% of Typhimurium isolates by 1995, but subsequently decreased to comprise only 30% of isolates during 1998. NWUS S. Typhimurium R-type ACSSuT+ were consistently (99%) phage typed as DT104 or the closely related DTu302. S. Typhimurium isolates from cattle with primary salmonellosis, randomly selected from a national repository, from NWUS were more likely to exhibit R-type ACSSuT+ (19/24, 79%) compared to isolates from other quadrants (17/71, 24%; P < 0.01). Human patients infected with R-type ACSSuT+ resided in postal zip code polygons of above average cattle farm density (P < 0.05), while patients infected with other R-types showed no similar tendency. Furthermore, humans infected with R-type ACSSuT+ Typhimurium were more likely to report direct contact with livestock (P < 0.01) than humans infected with other R-types.
Animals↗
Freedom from congestion predicts good survival despite previous class IV symptoms of heart failure.
BACKGROUND: This study determined whether evidence of congestion after 4 to 6 weeks of heart failure management predicted outcome for patients hospitalized with chronic New York Heart Association class IV symptoms. Class IV symptoms predict high mortality rates, but outcome is not known for patients who improve to establish freedom from congestion. Revised estimates at 1 month could facilitate decisions regarding transplantation and other high-risk interventions. METHODS: At 4 to 6 weeks after hospital discharge, 146 patients were evaluated for congestion by 5 criteria (orthopnea, jugular venous distention, edema, weight gain, and new increase in baseline diuretics). Heart failure management included inpatient therapy tailored to relieve congestion, followed by adjustments to maintain fluid balance during the next 4 weeks. RESULTS: Freedom from congestion was demonstrated at 4 to 6 weeks in 80 (54%) patients, who had 87% subsequent 2-year survival compared with 67% in 40 patients with 1 or 2 criteria of congestion and 41% in 26 patients with 3 to 5 criteria. The Cox proportional hazards model identified left ventricular dimension, pulmonary wedge pressure on therapy, and freedom from congestion as independent predictors of survival. Persistence of orthopnea itself predicted 38% 2-year survival (without urgent transplantation) versus 77% in 113 without orthopnea. Serum sodium was lower and blood urea nitrogen and heart rate higher when orthopnea persisted. CONCLUSIONS: The ability to maintain freedom from congestion identifies a population with good survival despite previous class IV symptoms. At 4 to 6 weeks, patients with persistent congestion may be considered for high-risk intervention.
Disease Progression↗
Identification of Campylobacter jejuni, C. coli, C. lari, C. upsaliensis, arcobacter butzleri, and A. butzleri-like species based on the glyA gene.
Currently, the detection and identification of Campylobacter and Arcobacter species remains arduous, largely due to cross-species phenotypic similarities and a relatively narrow spectrum of biochemical reactivity. We have developed a PCR-hybridization strategy, wherein degenerate primers are used to amplify glyA fragments from samples, which are then subjected to species-specific oligodeoxyribonucleotide probe hybridizations, to identify and distinguish between Campylobacter jejuni, C. coli, C. lari, C. upsaliensis, Arcobacter butzleri, and an A. butzleri-like species. Evaluation of this strategy with genomic DNA from different type strains suggests that this approach is both specific and sensitive and thus may be applicable in a diagnostic assay to identify and differentiate these highly related species.
Arcobacter↗
Epidemiologic subtyping of Escherichia coli serogroup O157 strains isolated in Ontario by phage typing and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis.
Phage typing and DNA macrorestriction fragment analysis by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) were evaluated for use in the epidemiological subtyping of Escherichia coli serogroup O157 strains isolated in Ontario, Canada. Among 30 strains isolated from patients with sporadic cases of infection, 22 distinct XbaI macrorestriction patterns were identified and 17 strains exhibited unique PFGE patterns. In contrast, phage typing identified only seven different phage types and 17 strains belonged to the same phage type. A total of 25 phage type-macrorestriction pattern combinations were identified among the strains from patients with sporadic cases of infection. PFGE subtyping differentiated between unrelated strains that exhibited the same phage type, and in one group of strains, phage typing differentiated between strains of the same PFGE subtype. Both typing procedures correctly identified outbreak-related isolates as belonging to the same type in four separate outbreaks. Each outbreak strain was characterized by a distinct macrorestriction pattern, while phage typing subdivided the outbreak strains into only three different types. A small percentage of outbreak-related isolates had PFGE patterns that differed slightly (one or two DNA fragment differences) from that of the outbreak strain. On the other hand, each isolate from the same outbreak belonged to the same phage type as that of the outbreak strain. We conclude that phage typing and PFGE fingerprinting represent complementary procedures for the subtyping of E. coli serogroup O157 and that the combined use of these procedures provides optimal discrimination.
Bacterial Typing Techniques↗
Self-confidence, self-esteem, and assumption of sex role in young men and women.
This study investigated the use of the English translation of a paper-and-pencil self-confidence scale developed in French by Garant, Charest, Alain, and Thomassin in 1995. The translated self-confidence scale measured self-confidence, or the belief that one will succeed at whatever one undertakes, as distinct from self-esteem or the feeling that one is a worthwhile person. Unlike a number of previous studies. there was no sex difference in self-confidence favoring men: however, scores on the masculinity portion of Bem's Sex role Inventory (1974) were highly correlated with self-confidence for both men (r=.59) and women (r=.69).
Adult↗
Overall self-confidence, self-confidence in mathematics, and sex-role stereotyping in relation to salivary free testosterone in university women.
This study investigated in 40 young university women the possible relationships between levels of testosterone and specific measures of overall self-confidence and self-confidence in approaching mathematics. Correlations of -.43 and -.49 with each measure of self-confidence, respectively, and level of testosterone were found in the portion of the sample displaying normal ovulatory function. There was no correlation (r=.02) between the measures of mathematics and overall self-confidence. 19 women did not display normal ovulatory function. The only significant result for the full sample was a significant correlation of -.73 between scores on the Bem Sex Role Inventory Masculinity and overall self-confidence. The reasons for the high anovulatory percentage are not clear, nor are the associations which anovulation might have with either hormonal levels or the personality characteristics in question.
Adolescent↗
All in the family. Making employees your fund-raising partners.
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Fund Raising↗
Missense mutations in the rod domain of the lamin A/C gene as causes of dilated cardiomyopathy and conduction-system disease.
BACKGROUND: Inherited mutations cause approximately 35 percent of cases of dilated cardiomyopathy; however, few genes associated with this disease have been identified. Previously, we located a gene defect that was responsible for autosomal dominant dilated cardiomyopathy and conduction-system disease on chromosome 1p1-q21, where nuclear-envelope proteins lamin A and lamin C are encoded by the LMNA (lamin A/C) gene. Mutations in the head or tail domain of this gene cause Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy, a childhood-onset disease characterized by joint contractures and in some cases by abnormalities of cardiac conduction during adulthood. METHODS: We evaluated 11 families with autosomal dominant dilated cardiomyopathy and conduction-system disease. Sequences of the lamin A/C exons were determined in probands from each family, and variants were confirmed by restriction-enzyme digestion. The genotypes of the family members were ascertained. RESULTS: Five novel missense mutations were identified: four in the alpha-helical-rod domain of the lamin A/C gene, and one in the lamin C tail domain. Each mutation caused heritable, progressive conduction-system disease (sinus bradycardia, atrioventricular conduction block, or atrial arrhythmias) and dilated cardiomyopathy. Heart failure and sudden death occurred frequently within these families. No family members with mutations had either joint contractures or skeletal myopathy. Serum creatine kinase levels were normal in family members with mutations of the lamin rod but mildly elevated in some family members with a defect in the tail domain of lamin C. CONCLUSIONS: Genetic defects in distinct domains of the nuclear-envelope proteins lamin A and lamin C selectively cause dilated cardiomyopathy with conduction-system disease or autosomal dominant Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy. Missense mutations in the rod domain of the lamin A/C gene provide a genetic cause for dilated cardiomyopathy and indicate that this intermediate filament protein has an important role in cardiac conduction and contractility.
Adolescent↗