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We compared kidney tissue samples and cloacal and nasopharyngeal swab samples from field-collected dead crows and blue jays for West Nile virus surveillance. Compared to tissue samples, 35% more swab samples were false negative. Swab samples were usually positive only when the corresponding tissue sample was strongly positive.
Attorney Nancy Crow, J.D., L.L.M., writes about some of the legal issues encountered by medical groups, such as business law, real estate and land use, taxes and employee benefits, among many others, and what types of attorneys are more appropriate for particular concerns.
OBJECTIVE: To determine if the VecTest West Nile Virus Antigen Assay (for testing mosquitoes) could be adapted to detect West Nile virus (WNV) rapidly and accurately in birds for screening purposes. DESIGN: Cloacal swabs and tissue (kidney and spleen) were harvested from 40 fresh dead birds. The VecTest was used for each swab specimen for detection of WNV; PCR was used for each tissue specimen for confirmation of WNV. SETTING: Mississippi Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (MVDL) in Jackson Mississippi and College of Veterinary Medicine-Mississippi State University (CVM-MSU) in Starkville Mississippi. SPECIMENS/SUBJECTS: Forty birds of the Corvid family (31 blue jays and 9 American crows) were included in the study. Fresh dead birds that died from no obvious cause were submitted for testing. RESULTS: VecTest results were 35 positives and 5 negatives. PCR results were 35 positives and 5 negatives. CONCLUSION: The VecTest showed 100% accuracy.
The ultrastructure of liver cells was studied in rooks (Corvus frugilegus) living in radioactive and chemical contamination areas. The ultrastructure of liver cells from rook as well as jackdaw (Corvus monedula) and hooded crow (Corvus cornix) (Corvidae family) from a conventionally clean area was studied as control. Control hepatocytes proved to contain a great number of mitochondria, many of which were swollen and had clear matrix and disorganized cristae. The cristae nearly lacked glycogen and had abundant lipid droplets, which often tightly contacted mitochondria. The cytoplasm of hepatocytes in birds from both ecologically unfavorable areas had numerous mitochondria with the same ultrastructure. In contrast to control, the hepatocyte cytoplasm: (1) contained a lot of glycogen; (2) there were many lipid droplets, which directly contacted glycogen granules; and (3) had more abundant peroxisomes. In addition to normal erythrocytes, the sinusoids contained erythrocytes with mitochondria, vesicles, and lipid droplets in their cytoplasm. Analysis of many micrographs of lipid droplets contacting glycogen granules, mitochondria, peroxisomes, and cisterns of smooth endoplasmic reticulum allowed us to propose that glycogen is synthesized via gluconeogenesis from glycerol and products of fatty acid oxidation in the liver cell cytoplasm of rooks from ecologically unfavorable areas as distinct from control.
We have analyzed the expression of the three retinoic acid receptor (RAR) (alpha, beta, gamma) mRNAs and the intermediate filament protein keratin 19 (K19) mRNA in cell lines cultured from oral and epidermal human squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and from benign, hyperplastic, and hyperkeratotic (leukoplakia) lesions arising in various regions of the oral cavity. Seven of the SCC lines were derived from tumors arising in regions of the oral cavity in which the normal epithelial cells (keratinocytes) express RAR beta transcripts. Seven of the nine SCC lines tested did not exhibit detectable RAR beta mRNA levels, even in response to addition of retinoic acid (RA). The RAR beta gene did not appear to be rearranged or deleted in the five nonexpressing SCC lines examined by Southern analysis. The steady-state RAR gamma mRNA levels were 2- to 4-fold lower in 6 of the 9 SCC lines than in their normal counterparts, whereas the RAR alpha message levels in SCC lines were similar to those of the normal cell strains. The expression of keratin 19 message, which is RA inducible in normal keratinocytes, was also abnormal in many of the SCC cell lines. Some SCC lines, e.g., those derived form tumors of the soft palate epithelium, did not express high levels of K19 message even though normal soft palate keratinocytes expressed high levels of K19 mRNA. Two of the nine SCC lines expressed higher than normal levels of K19 mRNA, and this expression was RA independent. Cells cultured from four oral leukoplakia lesions were also examined and found to express RAR beta mRNA at relatively normal levels, but they expressed RAR gamma message at half the level of epithelial cells cultured from normal tissue. These results show that the correlation between RAR beta gene expression and K19 gene expression that we have observed in the various normal keratinocyte subtypes of the oral cavity (D.L. Crowe et al., manuscript in preparation) is not present in transformed keratinocytes (SCC cells). The lack of apparent RA regulation of the K19 gene in SCC lines may be associated with other aberrations in differentiation which have been identified in SCC cells. Abnormally low expression of the RAR beta receptor may contribute to neoplastic progression in stratified squamous epithelia. It may also determine whether a tumor is responsive to RA as a chemotherapeutic agent.
The preceding paper (Gross, M., Starn, T.K., Rundquist, C., Crow, P., White, J., Olin, A., and Wagner, T. (1992) J. Biol. Chem. 267, 2073-2079) reported the purification and partial characterization of rabbit reticulocyte peptidyl-tRNA hydrolase. In this article we demonstrate that, unlike bacterial and yeast peptidyl-tRNA hydrolase which act by deacylation, the reticulocyte enzyme hydrolyzes N-acylaminoacyl-tRNA to N-acylaminoacyl-AMP. Reticulocyte lysate has a separate enzyme, that we have isolated and termed aminoacyl-AMP deacylase, which hydrolyzes N-acylaminoacyl-AMP and aminoacyl-AMP, recycling the amino acid and nucleotide components. The action of this enzyme is relatively specific for the N-acylaminoacyl-AMP generated by peptidyl-tRNA hydrolase, since it is much less active with N-acylaminoacyl-adenosine and inactive with N-acylaminoacyl-ACCAC, N-acylaminoacyl-tRNA, or aminoacyl-tRNA. The tRNA product of peptidyl-tRNA hydrolase action is tRNA missing only its 3'-AMP terminus (tRNA(c-c)), since reaminoacylation requires tRNA nucleotidyltransferase but not CTP. The 3' exonucleolytic action of reticulocyte peptidyl-tRNA hydrolase is specific to susceptible tRNA substrates, since it does not hydrolyze CACCA, CACCA-N-acylamino acid, polyuridylic acid, or the 3' polyadenylate tail of globin mRNA, and, since its ability to hydrolyze Escherichia coli f[3H]Met-tRNA(fMet) is not reduced by excess 5 S or 28 S ribosomal RNA and is reduced only slightly by excess tRNA(c-c). Reticulocyte peptidyl-tRNA hydrolase also hydrolyzes th 3'-AMP terminus of deacylated tRNA. This property may explain why the 3'-terminal AMP of tRNA undergoes turnover in reticulocytes and reticulocyte lysate, since we find that such turnover in gel-filtered reticulocyte lysate is increased under conditions where aminoacylation is reduced.
The joint venture between or among educational and practice institutions is fast becoming the norm in nursing education and practice. Authors Bargagliotti, Jones, Trygstad, Hayward, Crow, and Bower, describe one such program enabling RNs to pursue the BSN degree.
Changes in the response of B-type photoreceptors to illumination were examined in the isolated nervous systems of Hermissenda following the conditioning procedures described in the preceding paper. Analysis of the transient peak amplitude of the depolarizing generator potential at the onset of two of the three light intensities used in the behavioral studies did not reveal an enhanced photoresponse to the light. However, when the activity of the same B-photoreceptors was examined after 5 min of continuous light, there was a significant decrease in the light-adapted discharge rate and a decreased generator potential amplitude in conditioned animals as compared to the random controls. An examination of the light adapted photoresponse in preparations where spike generation and synaptic interactions were eliminated showed that the decreased photoresponse of conditioned animals was due to factors that are intrinsic to the B-photoreceptors. These results are consistent with previous work suggesting that conditioning produces substantial adaptation effects in B-photoreceptors (Crow, T. (1982) Soc. Neurosci. Abstr. 8: 824). Since the cellular changes qualitatively follow the behavioral changes and are observed at times and light intensities that are similar to those where the suppression of phototactic behavior is expressed, phototactic suppression may be directly related to the changes in the B-photoreceptors and may not require the previously proposed complex network interactions within the eyes of Hermissenda.
This paper provides a model for standardizing descriptions of the extent of burn injury to human bodies consumed in fire. Its intent is to simplify and make comparable case reports and legal descriptions by medical examiners, pathologists, crime scene investigators, forensic odontologists, forensic anthropologists, fire fighters, paramedics, and others responsible for recovery, analysis, or identification of burn victims. The Crow-Glassman scale (CGS) is divided into five levels depicting increasing destruction to the body relative to burn injury. Each level relates to a unique set of circumstances that may affect on the recovery procedure, analysis strategy for identification, and choice of personnel most suited for making identifications.
The pinch technique has been found to be useful in repairing cosmetic eyelid deformities. However, the local anesthetic containing hyaluronidase must be injected only in small amounts and only into the subcutaneous space. Scar tissue and skin that is firmly adherent to underlying muscle do not yield a satisfactory ridge, and therefore, the pinch technique should not be used. Ectropion can be predicted by the observation of eversion of the lid margin when even only minimal skin is pinched, and impending ectropion can be discovered by our "lean forward and look up" maneuver. An ectropion repair can then be combined with the blepharoplasty surgical operation. The pinch technique has also been found useful when upper and lower blepharoplasties are joined laterally to elevate the lateral canthus and eliminate "crow's feet." One component of a repair of trichiasis also involves the use of the pinch technique.
OBJECTIVE: To determine the efficacy of topical ascorbic acid application in treating mild to moderate photodamage of facial skin using an objective, computer-assisted image analysis of skin surface topography and subjective clinical, photographic, and patient self-appraisal questionnaires. DESIGN: A 3-month, randomized, double-blind, vehicle-controlled study. SETTING: Facial plastic surgery private practice. PATIENTS: Nineteen evaluable volunteer sample patients aged between 36 and 72 years with Fitzpatrick skin types I, II, and III who were in good physical and mental health with mild to moderately photodamaged facial skin were considered for analysis. INTERVENTION: Coded, unmarked medications were randomly assigned to the left and right sides of each subject's face, one containing the active agent, topical ascorbic acid (Cellex-C high-potency serum; Cellex-C International, Toronto, Ontario), the other, the vehicle serum (Cellex-C International). Three drops (0.5 mL) of each formulation were applied daily to the randomly assigned hemifaces over the 3-month study period. Treatment assignments were not disclosed to subjects, clinicians, or personnel involved in analyzing skin replicas. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Specific clinical parameters were evaluated and graded on a 0- to 9-point scale (0, none; 1-3, mild; 4-6, moderate; and 7-9, severe). Reference photographs were used to standardize grading criteria. Overall investigator scores were compared with baseline and graded as excellent (much improved), good (improved), fair (slightly improved), no change, or worse. Patient self-appraisal questionnaires rated the degree of improvement (much improved, improved, slightly improved, no change, or worse) and reported adverse effects (burning, stinging, redness, peeling, dryness, discoloration, itching, and rash). Standard photographs were taken at baseline, including anteroposterior and left and right oblique views to facilitate subsequent clinical evaluations, and at the end of therapy for comparison. Optical profilometry analysis was performed on the skin surface replicas of the lateral canthal (crow's feet) region, comparing baseline to end-of-study specimens. Using this computer-based system, the resulting image was digitally analyzed, and numeric values were assigned to reflect surface features. The parameters obtained included Rz, Ra, and shadows. These values provided objective data that document pretreatment and posttreatment texture changes proportional to the degree of wrinkling, roughness, and other surface irregularities. RESULTS: Optical profilometry image analysis demonstrated a statistically significant 73.7% improvement in the Ra and shadows north-south facial axis values with active treatment greater than vehicle control, as well as a trend for improvement in the Rz north-south facial axis parameter, showing a 68.4% greater improvement of active treatment vs vehicle control. Clinical assessment demonstrated significant improvement with active treatment greater than control for fine wrinkling, tactile roughness, coarse rhytids, skin laxity/tone, sallowness/yellowing, and overall features. Patient questionnaire results demonstrated statistically significant improvement overall, active treatment 84.2% greater than control. Photographic assessment demonstrated significant improvement, active treatment 57.9% greater than control. CONCLUSIONS: A 3-month daily regimen of topical ascorbic acid provided objective and subjective improvement in photodamaged facial skin. Skin replica optical profilometry is an objective method for quantification of the skin surface texture changes.
To compare methods of measuring negative symptoms, eight rating scales were employed to retrospectively assess and subtype 187 patients with schizophrenia from the Chestnut Lodge Follow-up Study. These included Andreasen's Schedule for Assessment of Negative Symptoms, Carpenter's Criteria for the Deficit Syndrome, Kay and Opler's Positive and Negative Symptom Scale, the scales developed by Krawiecka et al and Crow's modification of them, the Negative Symptom Scale developed by Lewine et al, Pogue-Geile and Harrow's Negative Symptom Scale, and Abrams and Taylor's Emotional Blunting Scale. The overlap and concordance, temporal stability, and predictive validity of these instruments are described. When rated from detailed medical records, the reliability of all scales was fair to good. Despite their inclusion of different items, there were high positive correlations between the scales when used to rate negative symptoms dimensionally. When used to classify individual patients as having the negative or deficit syndrome, however, concordance among criteria was low. Using the broadest criteria (Pogue-Geile and Harrow), 75 (40%) patients were diagnosed as having negative syndrome; the narrowest criteria (Andreasen and Olsen) yielded 11 (6%) diagnoses of negative syndrome. Narrower definitions tended to be subsets of broader ones. Carpenter's Criteria for the Deficit Syndrome focus on primary enduring negative symptoms and show the greatest temporal stability. Broader criteria, which diagnose the deficit or negative syndrome independent of severity of positive symptoms, had the greatest predictive validity.
Vertical banded gastroplasty combines the best that has been learned about gastric reduction operations with another feature: a window through both walls of the stomach just above the crow's foot and next to the outlet along the lesser curvature. This window allows the application of staples up to the His' angle to create a small pouch (less than 50 mL). In addition, the outlet can be banded with a polypropylene mesh collar that is sutured to itself but not to the stomach. This banding provides an outlet diameter that remains constant. In experience with 42 patients during a one-year period, there were fewer complications and greater weight loss than have been obtained with any other operation for obesity, to my knowledge.
Between June 1 and July 15, 1984, twenty persons with glandular tularemia were identified on the Lower Brule and Crow Creek Indian reservations in South Dakota. The median age of the patients was 6 years (range, 2 to 20 years). The clinical illness was mild, consisting of fever, headache, and lymphadenopathy. All lymphadenopathy was in the head and neck area. Dermacentor variabilis ticks were identified as the vector. Although the mild clinical illness suggested Francisella tularensis, type B, was the agent, both type A and type B strains of F tularensis were isolated from ticks collected from dogs in the area. Tularemia is generally thought to be a severe systemic illness in North America. This outbreak illustrates that it can be a mild disease and that both type A and type B strains can be tick-borne and coexist in the same ecosystem.
In this paper we examine the effects of ethnicity on the gene flow between two groups living in Limón, Costa Rica. Our main interest is to determine if ethnicity has acted as a barrier to the exchange of genes, and if the groups have remained distinct genetically. We report the admixture estimates, F(st) values, and inbreeding coefficients of the two samples. The data consist of blood samples and surnames obtained from 375 individuals. The subjects' two surnames were analyzed to determine the ethnicity of their parents (individuals carry their father's and mother's first surnames). We used the formula of Crow and Mange ([1965] Eugen Q 12:199-203) to compute F(t), F(n), and F(r) with the surnames. Admixture estimates were computed for both groups using the computer program ADMIX.PAS kindly provided by Jeffrey Long. The estimates for the Hispanic-Limonense group are M1 = 0.5866 European, M2 = 0.3383 Amerindian, and M3 = 0.0751 African ancestry. For the Afro-Limonense group, the admixture estimates indicate M1 = 0.1047 European, M2 = 0.1357 Amerindian, and M3 = 0.7595 African ancestry. The F(st) values are F(st) = 0.00558 for the Hispanic group and F(st) = 0.05137 for the Afro-Limonense group. These F(st) values indicate that the Afro-Limonense group has experienced more genetic drift than has the other group, possibly as a result of its long history of isolation in Costa Rica. Indeed, when plotted along a scaled eigenvector R matrix of Caribbean gene frequencies, the two Limonense groups did not cluster with each other. Thus we conclude that the two ethnic groups have remained distinct breeding populations.
We conducted a 10 cM linkage genome scan in a set of 20 American pedigrees (153 subjects), ascertained through probands with panic disorder (PD). Several anxiety disorders segregate in these families; they were diagnosed on the basis of Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia interview. In this article, we describe results for panic disorder and agoraphobia, which are closely related, common, heritable anxiety disorders. This is the first complete linkage genome scan for agoraphobia and the third for PD. A total of 407 markers (389 autosomal, 18 X chromosome) were genotyped. Multipoint LOD score and NPL analysis were completed using GENEHUNTER2. For PD, two genomic regions meet criteria for suggestive linkage. One of these regions is on chromosome 1 (LOD score = 2.04). This region coincides with a region that generated a LOD score of 1.1 in a previous genome scan by Crowe et al. [2001: Am J Med Genet (Neuropsychiatr Genet) 105:105-109]. The other (LOD score = 2.01) is located on chromosome 11p and occurs at marker CCKBR, one of eight candidate genes examined. For agoraphobia, the most promising potential linkage was on chromosome 3 (NPL score = 2.75; P = 0.005). This was accounted for primarily by a single family that by itself generated an NPL score of 10.01 (P = 0.0039) and a LOD score of 2.10. These results provide initial evidence for a genetic locus on chromosome 3 that contributes to risk for agoraphobia. They also support suggestive linkage to two risk loci for panic disorder. Additional potential loci were identified with lesser statistical support; several of these were consistent with previously reported panic disorder linkage results. Overall, the results presented here suggest that PD and agoraphobia are complex traits that share some, but not all, of their susceptibility loci. Published 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Over 30 cases of complete non-mosaic trisomy 22 have been reported in the literature in the last 20 years [Crowe et al., 1997: Am J Med Genet 71:406-413]. Twenty-two infants were liveborn with an average life expectancy of four days. Of these, nine survived beyond the first two weeks of life. The life span ranged from minutes to 3 years of age. We report a case of an infant diagnosed prenatally with complete non-mosaic trisomy 22. Options such as aggressive medical/surgical intervention or limiting interventions to symptomatic care including home hospice were discussed openly. Given this information, the family elected to provide minimal supportive measures with pediatric hospice. The infant lived for 2 months with her family before her death. Numerous medical and surgical complications are associated with this disorder. Both the family and the medical team must be prepared for in utero fetal demise, stillbirth, or for limited life expectancy. Proper management, therefore, depends upon an understanding of the diagnosis.
The microregion of Ostrów Lednicki in the province of Wielkopolska was the center of the formation of the Polish State in Early Middle Ages. The analysis of skeletal remains and parish records from the region documented the biological status of inhabitants and its changes over a millennium. The study material comprised 424 human skeletons from an Early Medieval burial ground on Lake Lednica, records of 2,704 deaths from the registers of the Roman Catholic parish of Dziekanowice, made between 1818-1903, data on the deaths of 929,192 inhabitants of rural areas all over the province Wielkopolska obtained from Prussian statistical materials for the years 1865-1900, and comparative data from the literature. Assuming both a stationary population model and a stable population model with nonzero natural increase, parameters of life tables and measures of opportunity for natural selection (Crow's index I(m), potential gross reproductive rate R(pot), and the biological state index I(bs)) were calculated for the Early Middle Ages and for the two periods of the 19th century which were characterized by different laws of land ownership and thus different rural economies. In the first period, peasants were tenants, whereas in the second, they were given freehold of the land they cultivated. Causes of death were also analyzed. A distinct increase in longevity from the early Middle Ages to the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century was found. This was related to a higher level of demographic development in the parish of Dziekanowice during the 19th century, which was achieved earlier than in other areas of Poland. This was confirmed by genetic measures: coefficients of exogamy and coefficients of kinship. The reasons were related to the historical prominence of this region and to its proximity to the first two capitals of the Polish state, Gniezno and Poznań.