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Biomedical subjects

B Alford

Publications and source records attributed to B Alford.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Radiographic findings after pectus excavatum repair.

Postoperative radiographic changes after pectus repair have not previously been described. We reviewed the chest radiographs of 65 children who underwent surgical repair of pectus excavatum between early 1985 and mid-1992. After operation, 64 children showed atelectasis, 38 had pleural effusions, 30 showed a congestion or edema pattern, 12 had pneumothorax, 21 showed fixation strut tilt or rotation, and 4 had pneumomediastinum. Despite the sometimes worrying radiographic appearance, these children uniformly did well clinically.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Dichotic listening, event-related potentials, and interhemispheric transfer in the elderly.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the basis for the large, age-related asymmetries in dichotic listening performance scores reported by Jerger et al. (1994). DESIGN: Behavioral and electrophysiologic responses to dichotic listening tasks in both verbal and nonverbal paradigms were obtain in four groups of subjects: young adults with normal hearing, elderly persons with presbyacusis, elderly persons with presbyacusis and marked dichotic deficits, and patients with lesions of the corpus callosum. RESULTS: In comparison with the young group the two elderly groups showed an increasing left-ear deficit on the verbal task, and an increasing right-ear deficit on the nonverbal paradigm. The pattern of results obtained in the elderly persons with marked dichotic deficits was similar to the pattern of results in the group with callosal lesions. CONCLUSIONS: With age, there may be a significant loss of efficiency of interhemispheric transfer of auditory information through the corpus callosum. Such age-related deficit might have important implications for the effective use of binaural information by elderly person.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Esophageal atresia with double fistula: the missed anomaly.

Of the various anatomical types of atresia, that of esophageal atresia and double fistula is said to be the least common. In most series, frequency is less than 1%. Seventy-eight patients with esophageal atresia were treated at the University of Virginia Medical Center between 1955 and 1983. Six of them had esophageal atresia and double fistula, and in 5 of these 6, this anomaly was not diagnosed preoperatively and was not detected intraoperatively. Our experience suggests that proximal "pouchograms" are essential in the preoperative evaluation of these patients to detect the presence of esophageal atresia and double fistula. The morbidity and mortality occasioned by overlooking this anomaly far exceed the risk of the contrast study.

Barium Sulfate↗
PubMed1984

Complete cartilage-ring tracheal stenosis associated with anomalous left pulmonary artery: the ring-sling complex.

The persistent high mortality in infants with pulmonary artery "sling" (retrotracheal anomalous left pulmonary artery) is primarily due to the coexistence in such patients of long-segment tracheal stenosis due to complete cartilage rings. Five such patients are reported. Airway studies (by filtered high-kV radiography, bronchography, and/or CT) showed low carina, horizontal equal-length right and left mainstem bronchi, and long-segment tracheal stenosis. The length of the stenosis far exceeded the contact with the pulmonary sling. The suggested term "ring-sling complex" for such patients correctly places emphasis on detection of the tracheal malformation, which currently has no satisfactory surgical treatment.

Bronchography↗
PubMed1983

Recurrent bilateral pleural effusions secondary to superior vena cava obstruction as a complication of central venous catheterization.

Five babies (birth weight 730 to 1,120 g) who developed bilateral pleural effusions as a complication of the use of central venous catheters are described. The effusions occurred seven to 19 days after initial placement or change of a central venous catheter. All required repeated thoracenteses to remove fluid accumulation of up to 200 mL/kg/d. The fluid was a clear transudate, but it became chylous when feedings were given. Venograms and autopsies demonstrated obstruction of the superior vena cava with drainage occurring through collaterals to the azygous vein and inferior vena cava. Silastic gas-sterilized catheters implanted in animals for four and 24 hours showed fibrin deposition when scanned by electron microscopy. No deposition occurred on autoclaved catheters after four hours and there was minimal deposition after 24 hours. It may be concluded that the pleural effusions resulted from obstruction of thoracic lymph flow into the venous system. Vena caval thrombosis may have been enhanced by 2-chloroethanol or ethylene oxide residues from gas sterilization of Silastic catheters.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Somatostatin-28(1-12)-like immunoreactivity in the rat.

The distribution of the newly characterized peptide somatostatin-28(1-12) was determined in rat tissues using a radioimmunoassay in which the immune plasma is directed against the C-terminus of the dodecapeptide. In the central nervous system, somatostatin-28(1-12)-like immunoreactivity is highly concentrated in the hypothalamus and the amygdala. In the digestive system, the highest levels of immunoreactivity are found in the stomach, the pancreas and the colon. The immunoreactive material measured in different tissues is the heterogenous: in addition to the dodecapeptide, two N-terminally extended somatostatin-28(1-12) peptides of 4,400 and 8,000 mol wt are also detected by the immune plasma. However, the dodecapeptide itself usually accounts for the majority (66 to 75%) of the total somatostatin-28(1-12)-like immunoreactivity present in those tissues.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Pulmonary artery sling: a new diagnostic tool and clinical review.

The pulmonary artery sling is a vascular anomaly that produces severe respiratory disease in infancy. The differential diagnosis is lengthy, and the diagnostic work-up frequently includes such invasive maneuvers as bronchography, bronchoscopy, and cardiac catheterization. In this paper the use of a new noninvasive diagnostic tool, computer tomography, to aid in the diagnosis of this form of vascular ring, is discussed and a review of salient features of this cardiovascular malformation is presented.

Female↗
PubMed1978

2'-Versus 3'-OH specificity in tRNA aminoacylation. Further support for the "secondary cognition" proposal.

Purified Escherichia coli tRNAAla and tRNALys were each converted to modified species terminating in 2'- and 3'-deoxyadenosine. The modified species were tested as substrates for activation by their cognate aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases and for misacylation with phenylalanine by yeast phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase. E. coli alanyl- and lysyl-tRNA synthetases normally aminoacylate their cognate tRNA's exclusively on the 3'-OH group, while yeast phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase utilizes only the 2' position on its own tRNA. Therefore, the finding that the phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetase activated only those modified tRNAAla and tRNALys species terminating in 3'-deoxyadenosine indicated that the position of aminoacylation in this case was specified entirely by the enzyme, an observation relevant to the more general problem of the reason(s) for using a particular site for aminoacylation and maintaining positional specificity during evolution. Initial velocity studies were carried out using E. coli tRNAAla and both alanyl- and phenylalanyl-tRNA synthetases. As noted in other cases, activation of the modified and unmodified tRNA's had essentially the same associated Km values, but in each case the Vmax determined for the modified tRNA was smaller.

Amino Acyl-tRNA Synthetases↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Pharmacology and biological efficacy of a recombinant, humanized, single-chain antibody C5 complement inhibitor in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass.

BACKGROUND: Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) induces a systemic inflammatory response that causes substantial clinical morbidity. Activation of complement during CPB contributes significantly to this inflammatory process. We examined the capability of a novel therapeutic complement inhibitor to prevent pathological complement activation and tissue injury in patients undergoing CPB. METHODS AND RESULTS: A humanized, recombinant, single-chain antibody specific for human C5, h5G1.1-scFv, was intravenously administered in 1 of 4 doses ranging from 0.2 to 2.0 mg/kg before CPB. h5G1.1-scFv was found to be safe and well tolerated. Pharmacokinetic analysis revealed a sustained half-life from 7.0 to 14.5 hours. Pharmacodynamic analysis demonstrated significant dose-dependent inhibition of complement hemolytic activity for up to 14 hours at 2 mg/kg. The generation of proinflammatory complement byproducts (sC5b-9) was effectively inhibited in a dose-dependent fashion. Leukocyte activation, as measured by surface expression of CD11b, was reduced (P<0.05) in patients who received 1 and 2 mg/kg. There was a 40% reduction in myocardial injury (creatine kinase-MB release, P=0.05) in patients who received 2 mg/kg. Sequential Mini-Mental State Examinations (MMSE) demonstrated an 80% reduction in new cognitive deficits (P<0.05) in patients treated with 2 mg/kg. Finally, there was a 1-U reduction in postoperative blood loss (P<0. 05) in patients who received 1 or 2 mg/kg. CONCLUSIONS: A single-chain antibody specific for human C5 is a safe and effective inhibitor of pathological complement activation in patients undergoing CPB. In addition to significantly reducing sC5b-9 formation and leukocyte CD11b expression, C5 inhibition significantly attenuates postoperative myocardial injury, cognitive deficits, and blood loss. These data suggest that C5 inhibition may represent a novel therapeutic strategy for preventing complement-mediated inflammation and tissue injury.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗