Biomedical subjects

A M Pollard

Publications and source records attributed to A M Pollard.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

A study of amber and copal samples using FT-Raman spectroscopy.

FT-Raman spectra were collected from fossil resins originating from a variety of geographical locations. The spectral profiles of most of the fossil resins could be related to modern resins containing diterpenoid components with predominantly labdane skeletons. The spectra collected from the fossil resin sample from Borneo differed from other fossil resins and was found to contain triterpenoid components. The differences in the spectral profile of fossil resins containing diterpenoid components are shown to relate to differences in level of maturation rather than geographical origin. FT-Raman spectra of fossil resins cannot be used to distinguish source although the degree of maturation can be used as an indicator to narrow the range of possible geographical origins.

Amber↗

PubMed2001

Yesterday's hair--human hair in archaeology.

Hair removed from archaeological burials can tell us a lot about the diet and lifestyle of our ancestors--information that may survive because of the unique biology of hair formation. But hair is also biodegradable and the effects of time and burial conditions can result in conflicting evidence of past lives.

Archaeology↗

PubMed1997

Technical note: regression analysis in adult age estimation.

Accurate estimation of human adult age has always been a problem for anthropologists, archaeologists and forensic scientists. The main factor contributing to the difficulties is the high variability of physiological age indicators. However, confounding this variability in many age estimation applications is a systematic tendency for age estimates, regardless of physiological indicator employed, to assign ages which are too high for young individuals, and too low for older individuals. This paper shows that at least part of this error is the inevitable consequence of the statistical procedures used to extract an estimate of age from age indicators, and that the magnitude of the error is inversely related to how well an age indicator is correlated with age. The use of classical calibration over inverse calibration is recommended for age estimation.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1997

Some considerations regarding the use of amino acid racemization in human dentine as an indicator of age at death.

An HPLC method is described for simultaneously obtaining the enantiomeric ratio of three amino acids (aspartic acid, serine, and glutamic acid) from dental collagen, with a view to using this information for estimating age at death. Results are reported from a sample of twenty three known age modern teeth, six known age 19th C. AD teeth, and two unknown age Romano-British teeth. It was found (as expected) that all three D/L ratios changed significantly with chronological age. Standard calibration techniques were used to estimate ages for the six 19th C. AD specimens from regression equations estimated from the modern specimens, and also to predict (for the first time) the error associated with such estimates. Errors using aspartic acid were found to be similar to those obtained by other methods of age estimation from dental evidence, serine, and glutamic acid providing much poorer age estimates. Additionally, a systematic difference in the age-enantiomeric ratio relationship was observed between modern and older dental samples. It is concluded that there is some fundamental difference in the observed enantiomeric ratios between modern teeth and older samples, possibly as a result of the chemical alteration of the dental proteins.

Age Determination by Teeth↗

PubMed1996

A Bayesian approach to adult human age estimation from dental observations by Johanson's age changes.

Much of the data which appears in the forensic and archaeological literature is ordinal or categorical. This is particularly true of the age related indicators presented by Gustafson in his method of human adult age estimation using the structural changes in human teeth. This technique is still being modified and elaborated. However, the statistical methods of regression analysis employed by Gustafson and others are not particularly appropriate to this type of data, but are still employed because alternatives have not yet been explored. This paper presents a novel approach based upon the application of Bayes' theorem to ordinal and categorical data, which overcomes many of the problems associated with regression analysis.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1995

Further comments on the estimation of error associated with the Gustafson dental age estimation method.

Many researchers in the field of forensic odontology have questioned the error estimates stated in Gustafson's paper outlining the relationship between certain dental attributes and age. In a substantial re-working of Gustafson's data, Maples and Rice corrected Gustafson's regression statistics and found that the error associated with the age estimate was nearly double that claimed by Gustafson. We offer another statistical analysis of Gustafson's data and find that the errors calculated by Maples and Rice were also in error, being about a year too small. We give a formula for what we believe to be the correct treatment of errors in such cases, but conclude by observing that there is an urgent need for a more rigorous study of the traits first tabulated by Gustafson.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

The role of T lymphocytes in pulmonary microbial defense mechanisms.

Understanding how lung immunity develops against pulmonary pathogens should lead to more rational approaches in vaccine design and to the use of recombinant cytokines in lung disease. T lymphocytes are central to the development of effective immune responses; therefore, understanding how lung immunity develops will require a study of how and where T cells respond to respiratory antigens. Our laboratory has helped define the phenotype and function of lung dendritic cells, which likely play an essential role in stimulating naive T cells to respond to antigens. We found that both interstitial and alveolar macrophages can regulate the function of these cells, the former to enhance activity, the latter to suppress. In addition, we developed a murine pulmonary infection model using the fungus, Cryptococcus neoformans, in which T-cell-mediated immunity is essential for effective host clearance of the organism. The role of T cells in this model is to recruit and activate effector cells to resolve the lung infection; both CD4 and CD8 T-cell subsets are required for optimal effector cell recruitment. These studies are summarized as examples of current approaches to understanding pulmonary immunity.

Animals↗

PubMed1990

Characterization of murine lung dendritic cells: similarities to Langerhans cells and thymic dendritic cells.

Dendritic cells (DC) are potent accessory cells (AC) for the initiation of primary immune responses. Although murine lymphoid DC and Langerhans cells have been extensively characterized, DC from murine lung have been incompletely described. We isolated cells from enzyme-digested murine lungs and bronchoalveolar lavages that were potent stimulators of a primary mixed lymphocyte response (MLR). The AC had a low buoyant density, were loosely adherent and nonphagocytic. AC function was unaffected by depletion of cells expressing the splenic DC marker, 33D1. In addition, antibody and complement depletion of cells bearing the macrophage marker F4/80, or removal of phagocytic cells with silica also failed to decrease AC activity. In contrast, AC function was decreased by depletion of cells expressing the markers J11d and the low affinity interleukin 2 receptor (IL-2R), both present on thymic and skin DC. AC function was approximately equal in FcR+ and FcR- subpopulations, indicating there was heterogeneity within the AC population. Consistent with the functional data, a combined two-color immunofluorescence and latex bead uptake technique revealed that lung cells high in AC activity were enriched in brightly Ia+ dendritic-shaped cells that (a) were nonphagocytic, (b) lacked specific T and B lymphocyte markers and the macrophage marker F4/80, but (c) frequently expressed C3biR, low affinity IL-2R, FcRII, and the markers NLDC-145 and J11d. Taken together, the functional and phenotypic data suggest the lung cells that stimulate resting T cells in an MLR and that might be important in local pulmonary immune responses are DC that bear functional and phenotypic similarity to other tissues DC, such as Langerhans cells and thymic DC.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

A role for TGF-beta in the suppression by murine bronchoalveolar cells of lung dendritic cell initiated immune responses.

Effective pulmonary immune responses likely require both local antigen presenting cells (APC) and regulatory suppressor cells. Bronchoalveolar cells (BAC), which consist primarily of alveolar macrophages (AM), are poor APC in most species and are often suppressive. However, dendritic cell (DC)-enriched populations from both lung interstitium and BAC have potent APC activity as measured by their capacity to stimulate both alloantigen and antigen-induced lymphoproliferative T cell responses. To determine if BAC could down-regulate pulmonary immune responses, BAC were mixed with DC-enriched loosely adherent lung interstitial cells (LAd) in a mixed leukocyte reaction (MLR). With high numbers of BAC, MLRs were consistently suppressed and suppression was partially reversed by the addition of indomethacin and catalase. Supernatants from BAC cultured with either syngeneic or allogeneic T lymphocytes in the presence of indomethacin and catalase markedly suppressed an MLR, while supernatants from BAC cultured alone were inconsistently suppressive. Antibodies to TGF-beta completely reversed the BAC-T cell supernatant-induced suppression of the MLR. However, TGF-beta antibody only partially reversed BAC-induced suppression when BAC were added directly to MLR cultures that contained indomethacin and catalase, suggesting that, in addition to TGF-beta, prostaglandins, and H2O2, BAC in culture with LAd and allogeneic T cells also produced short-lived suppressive factors and/or mediated suppression by direct cell contact. Thus, resident BAC likely utilize multiple mechanisms including TGF-beta secretion to suppress intra-alveolar immune responses initiated by lung DC.

Animals↗