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Biomedical subjects

A Yu

Publications and source records attributed to A Yu.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

Everted cervical vein for carotid patch angioplasty.

Because of the theoretic benefits of autologous vein we undertook an investigation to evaluate cervical veins (facial, external jugular) as patch material after carotid endarterectomy. A device that stimulated both circumferential fixation by sutures and radial tension exerted on in vivo patches was constructed to measure burst strength of tissue. Mean bursting pressure for groin saphenous vein (n = 10) was 94.5 +/- 15.1 pounds per square inch (psi), 75.5 +/- 8.9 psi for ankle saphenous vein (n = 10), 83.3 +/- 14.5 psi for everted (double layer) cervical vein (n = 5) and 10 +/- 3.3 psi for single layer cervical vein (n = 5). No significant differences between saphenous vein at any level and everted (double layer) cervical vein, but all were significantly different from single layer cervical vein (p less than 0.05). From June 1987 through November 1989, 19 patients underwent 21 carotid endarterectomies complemented with adjunctive everted cervical vein patch angioplasty. Indications for surgery were asymptomatic stenosis (53%), transient ischemic attack (29%), and cerebrovascular accident with recovery (18%). All patients were studied after surgery with duplex scanning. Asymptomatic recurrent stenosis was observed in one patient. Transient hypoglossal nerve dysfunction occurred in one other patient. One postoperative death occurred as a result of massive aspiration. These results indicate that everted cervical vein is comparable to the saphenous vein in resistance to bursting and can yield similar results as patch material after carotid endarterectomy. Accordingly, saphenous vein can be spared and lower extremity incisions avoided.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Aged↗

Control of prophage integration and excision in bacteriophage P2: nucleotide sequences of the int gene and att sites.

Integration of bacteriophage P2 into the Escherichia coli host genome involves recombination between two specific attachment sites, attP and attB, one on the phage and the other on the host genome, respectively. The reaction is controlled by the product of the phage int gene, a basic polypeptide of about 37 kDa [Ljungquist and Bertani, Mol. Gen. Genet. 192 (1983) 87-94]. The int gene appears to be expressed differently by an infecting phage, as opposed to a prophage [Bertani, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 65 (1970) 331-336]. A 1200-bp region of P2 DNA containing the int gene and attP, the prophage hybrid ends attL and attR, and one bacterial attachment site, the preferred site locI from E. coli strain C, have all been sequenced. An open reading frame coding for a polypeptide of 337 amino acids corresponds to the int gene. The gene has no obvious promoter sequence preceding it. The int gene transcript seems to continue past the attP site downstream from it, suggesting a possible explanation for the previously observed difference in integration and excision. A comparison of the four attachment sites reveals a common 'core' sequence of 27 bp: 5'-AAAAAATAAGCCCGTGTAAGGGAGATT-3'. The P2 nip1 mutation, which increases prophage excision [Calendar et al., Virology 47 (1972) 68-75], was found to lie within the int gene itself. The P2 saf variant, which has altered site preference [Six, Virology 29 (1966) 106-125], has a bp substitution within the core sequence. Three deletion/substitution mutants, vir22, vir94 and del3, also have altered core sequences.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Xerostomia. Part II: Relationship to nonoral symptoms, drugs, and diseases.

Five hundred twenty-nine adult outpatients were studied to determine the relationship of xerostomia to other oral symptoms and salivary flow (reported in part I) and to nonoral symptoms, drugs, and select diseases (reported here in Part II). It was observed that dry throat, blurred vision, dry eyes, dry skin, and vaginal itching and fungal infections are prominently associated with oral dryness. These nonoral symptoms were positively correlated with the oral symptoms cited in part I of this study and were inversely related to the flow of resting, but not stimulated, whole saliva. Several classes of drugs were associated with dry mouth. In addition, diabetes mellitus and hypertension were significantly associated with it. Approximately half of the diabetic and hypertensive patients complained of dry mouth. Although a majority of them were taking medications, the association between xerostomia and these diseases cannot be completely attributed to drugs, since many of these patients did not take any xerogenic medicaments. The data show that xerostomia and several other oral symptoms are valid indicators of salivary gland hypofunction. They suggest, moreover, that select nonoral symptoms are an indicator of generalized xerosis.

Adolescent↗

Deoxycoformycin treatment for childhood T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia early in second remission: a Pediatric Oncology Group Study.

2-Deoxycoformycin (DCF) was added to an intensive Pediatric Oncology Group protocol (#8303) for children with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia or T-cell lymphoblastic lymphoma in first relapse. Twenty-seven patients received one or more courses of DCF at 15 mg/m2/day as a 3-day continuous infusion immediately after achieving a second remission with a four-drug reinduction regimen. Renal and neuromuscular toxicities were frequent and occasionally severe despite the provision of a source of adenosine deaminase by means of a packed red cell transfusion 1 day following the infusion of DCF. Hepatic toxicity, manifested by transaminase elevations, accompanied 62% of the courses. The median duration of the second complete remission was 4 months (range 2-16+ months), with only two of the 27 patients still in remission at 13+ and 16+ months. Plasma concentrations of deoxyadenosine (dAdo) and the ratio of red cell deoxyadenosine triphosphate to adenosine triphosphate (dATP:ATP) were measured prior to the DCF infusion and on day 4. A dATP:ATP ratio of 1.0 or greater was seen in two patients with acute renal failure. There was no apparent correlation between toxicity or response and the plasma dAdo concentrations. DCF administered according to this dose and schedule was excessively toxic and did not appreciably prolong the duration of the second complete remission in children with T-cell lymphoblastic malignancies.

Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols↗

Anti-peptide antibodies detect oncogene-related proteins in urine.

Antisera to a number of synthetic peptides predicted from nucleic acid sequences of oncogenes have been used to screen 483 urine samples of cancer patients, pregnant women, and normal controls for the presence of immunologically related proteins. Increased levels of oncogene-related proteins are found during neoplasia and pregnancy. The differential detection of these oncogene-related proteins indicates that panels of monoclonal antibodies may provide a convenient noninvasive means of detecting, classifying, and staging a wide variety of malignancies and may be useful in following fetal development during pregnancy.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗

Chronic allyl chloride poisoning. An epidemiology, clinical, toxicological and neuropathological study.

It was previously reported that chronic exposure to allyl chloride resulted in liver and kidney damage. No neurotoxic effect of allyl chloride had been noticed until two outbreaks of polyneuropathy without liver and kidney dysfunction due to exposure to allyl chloride in China in the early 1970's. Epidemiological and clinical studies done within 1973-1982 revealed that the main risk of industrial exposure to allyl chloride is damage to the peripheral nervous system. Polyneuropathy is thought to be the main clinical manifestation of chronic allyl chloride poisoning. Electroneuromyography is essential and valuable for early diagnosis and biological monitoring. Toxicological and neuropathological studies in rabbits and mice have given the evidence of a pattern of central-peripheral distal axonopathy in peripheral nervous system which has further confirmed the neurotoxicity of allyl chloride found in man. Based on the above results, the maximum allowable concentration of allyl chloride and diagnostic criteria for chronic allyl chloride poisoning are proposed.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

Hodgkin's disease presenting in epitrochlear nodes.

Two cases of Hodgkin's Disease (HD) presenting in epitrochlear nodes are described, and compared to four similar cases gleaned from the literature. The nodular sclerosis type of HD was present in 5 of the 6 patients. Of the four patients staged with laparotomy, two had infradiaphragmatic disease. A treatment approach using radiation alone for patients with disease limited to the epitroclear region is presented, and anatomical considerations of the treatment technique are given.

Adult↗

Detection of ganglioside GD2 in tumor tissues and sera of neuroblastoma patients.

A murine monoclonal antibody (monoclonal antibody 126) produced against cultured human neuroblastoma cells (LAN-1) was found to be specifically directed to a disialoganglioside (GD2) antigen preferentially expressed on both cell lines and tissues derived from melanoma and neuroblastoma. In enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, monoclonal antibody 126 failed to react with leukemic and lymphoblastoid cells as well as with a variety of carcinoma and sarcoma cell lines. Immunohistological analysis by the immunoperoxidase technique revealed strong reactivity of monoclonal antibody 126 with frozen and formaldehyde-fixed neuroblastoma and melanoma tissues. Tissues from patients with glioma or with small cell cancer of the lung showed faint staining, whereas those from individuals with sarcoma, lymphoma, and a variety of other neoplasms proved to be negative. Sera of neuroblastoma patients showed significantly elevated GD2 levels compared to normal children (p less than 0.001) and children with other tumors (p less than 0.001) as determined by a quantitative competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Furthermore, the GD2 serum level of one neuroblastoma patient, when followed serially, was found to correlate with progression of disease, suggesting the potential usefulness of this assay for the diagnosis and monitoring of neuroblastoma.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗

In-vitro measurement of static pressure distribution in synovial joints--Part II: Retropatellar surface.

This second part of a two-part paper is concerned with the measurement of static pressure distribution on the retropatellar surface. The study has been performed in a loading apparatus designed to simulate individually the lines of action and the magnitudes of the tensions in the components of the quadriceps femoris muscle group. Results have been obtained using 24 specimens in the knee flexion range 0 to 130 deg and employing a net quadriceps tension of 734 N. Particular emphasis has been placed on the evaluation of the sensitivity of the results to variations in the characteristics of the simulated quadriceps tension. The pressure distribution results have been interpreted in terms of variation of the normal force and the average contact stress on the retropatellar surface as a function of flexion angle. It has been shown that the "pulley" model of the patella consistently overestimates the actual patellofemoral joint reaction force throughout the range of flexion. Clinical implications of the results, in terms of etiology of degeneration of patellar cartilage, have been discussed.

Aged↗

Age-related changes in hepatic triacylglycerol content and phosphatidate phosphohydrolase activities in fasting male and female rats.

Hepatic microsomal phosphatidate phosphohydrolase (PPH) showed minor fluctuations with age in male and female rats. In males, hepatic cytosolic PPH rose to a peak at day 58 and then declined. In female rats, the activities of this enzyme were much lower than those of the male to day 35, but then increased fivefold by day 50 to values approximating those of males, and thereafter gradually declined. The hepatic triacylglycerol (TG) content of male rats was fairly constant, but in females the values rose to a peak on day 50 and then declined in parallel with the cytosolic PPH activity, but remained substantially higher than values for male rats. A significant correlation between cytosolic PPH and hepatic TG was obtained. The microsomal PPH did not correlate with hepatic TG. These results suggest that in the rat cytosolic PPH may play a role in modulating age-related changes in hepatic TG metabolism, and that it is functionally more important than the microsomal enzyme in this species.

Aging↗

Specific toxicity of 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine toward resting and proliferating human lymphocytes.

2-Chlorodeoxyadenosine (CdA), an adenosine-deaminase-resistant purine deoxynucleoside, is markedly toxic toward human T-lymphoblastoid cell lines in vitro and is an effective agent against L1210 leukemia in vivo. The present studies have examined the toxicity, and in some cases, metabolism, of CdA in (1) multiple established human cell lines of varying phenotype, (2) leukemia and lymphoma cells taken directly from patients, (3) normal bone marrow cells, and (4) normal peripheral blood lymphocytes. Nanomolar concentrations of CdA blocked the proliferation of lymphoblastoid cell lines with a high ratio of deoxycytidine kinase to deoxynucleotidase. The drug had virtually no effect on the growth of cell lines derived from solid tissues. The CdA inhibited the spontaneous uptake of tritiated thymidine by many T and non-T, non-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell specimens at concentrations less than or equal to 5 nM. The same concentrations did not impair either thymidine uptake or granulocyte-monocyte colony formation by normal bone marrow cells. In common with deoxyadenosine, but unlike several other agents affecting purine and purine metabolism, CdA was lethal to resting normal T lymphocytes and to slowly dividing malignant T cells. In both resting and proliferating lymphocytes, the CdA was phosphorylated by deoxycytidine kinase and entered a rapidly turning over nucleotide pool. Dividing lymphocytes also incorporated abundant CdA into DNA. The selective toxicity of CdA toward both dividing and resting lymphocytes may render the drug useful as an immunosuppressive or antileukemic agent.

Cell Division↗

Modulation by phenobarbital of lipolytic activity in postheparin plasma and tissues of the rat.

Male rats injected with phenobarbital at a dose of 100 mg/kg for 5 days manifested increased postheparin lipolytic activity of fasting plasma. Inhibition studies with protamine sulphate, 1 M NaCl, and sodium dodecyl sulphate revealed that the activities of both lipoprotein lipase and hepatic triacylglycerol lipase were increased in the postheparin plasma of the drug-treated rats. Adipose tissue lipoprotein lipase activity was also increased in the phenobarbital-treated rats. The triacylglycerol lipase activity elutable by heparin from liver slices and the residual activity of liver microsomes increased significantly in the drug-treated rats. Lipoprotein lipase of cardiac muscle and red skeletal muscle was unaltered by phenobarbital treatment. The increased postheparin lipolytic activity of fasting phenobarbital-treated rats seems to be accountable through increased lipoprotein lipase activity of adipose tissue and increased triacylglycerol lipase activity of liver, both of which may contribute to the lowered fasting concentrations of serum triacylglycerol mediated by the drug, as previously reported.

Adipose Tissue↗

Triacylglycerol metabolism in the phenobarbital-treated rat.

1. Various aspects of triacylglycerol metabolism were compared in rats given phenobarbital at a dose of 100mg/kg body wt. per day by intraperitoneal injection; controls were injected with an equal volume of 0.15m-NaCl by the same route. Animals were killed after 5 days of treatment. 2. Rats injected with phenobarbital demonstrated increased liver weight, and increased microsomal protein per g of liver. Other evidence of microsomal enzyme induction was provided by increased activity of aminopyrine N-demethylase and cytochrome P-450 content. Increased hepatic activity of gamma-glutamyltransferase (EC 2.3.2.2) occurred in male rats, but not in females, and was not accompanied by any detectable change in the activity of this enzyme in serum. 3. Phenobarbital treatment increased the hepatic content of triacylglycerol after 5 days in starved male and female rats, as well as in non-starved male rats; non-starved females were not tested in this regard. At 5 days after withdrawal of the drug, there was no difference in hepatic triacylglycerol content or in hepatic functions of microsomal enzyme induction between the treated and control rats. 4. After 5 days, phenobarbital increased the synthesis in vitro of glycerolipids in cell-free liver fractions fortified with optimal concentrations of substrates and co-substrates when results were expressed per whole liver. The drug caused a significant increment in the activity of hepatic diacylglycerol acyltransferase (EC 2.3.1.20), but did not affect the activity per liver of phosphatidate phosphohydrolase (EC 3.1.3.4) in cytosolic or washed microsomal fractions. A remarkable sex-dependent difference was observed for this latter enzyme. In female rats, the activity of the microsomal enzyme per liver was 10-fold greater than that of the cytosolic enzyme, whereas in males, the activities of phosphohydrolases per liver from both subcellular fractions were similar. 5. The phenobarbital-mediated increase in hepatic triacylglycerol content could not be explained by a decrease in the hepatic triacylglycerol secretion rate as measured by the Triton WR1339 technique. Since the hepatic triacylglycerol showed significant correlation with microsomal enzyme induction functions, with hepatic glycerolipid synthesis in vitro and with diacylglycerol acyltransferase activity, it is likely to be due to enhanced triacylglycerol synthesis consequent on hepatic microsomal enzyme induction. 6. In contrast with rabbits and guinea pigs, rats injected with phenobarbital showed a decrease in serum triacylglycerol concentration in the starved state; this decrease persisted for up to 5 days after drug administration stopped, and did not occur in non-starved animals. It seems to be independent of the microsomal enzyme-inducing properties of the drug, and may be due to the action of phenobarbital at an extrahepatic site.

Animals↗