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Biomedical subjects

B Holloway

Publications and source records attributed to B Holloway.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

A challenge we can all achieve. Total quality management in healthcare.

The healthcare system is becoming increasingly concerned with initiatives to ensure and improve the quality of its services. Quality assurance, prevalent in much of nursing, can be overly bureaucratic; total quality management focuses the entire organisation on achieving quality.

Humans

Hypothalamic neuropeptide Y receptor characteristics and NPY-induced feeding responses in lean and obese Zucker rats.

Increased hypothalamic neuropeptide Y levels have previously been demonstrated in several hypothalamic nuclei of the (fa/fa) Zucker rat. This study set out to characterise hypothalamic NPY receptors in both genotypres and to study the effect of exogenous NPY on feeding behavior in these rats. Spontaneous daytime food intake was raised in the obese rat (p less than 0.05). Total hypothalamic receptor density (Bmax) was reduced in the obese rat compared with the lean rat (by 56%, p less than 0.005), but affinity remained unaltered. The lowest dose of NPY tested (23.5 pmol) stimulated daytime feeding in lean rats after 1, 2 and 3 hours but was inaffective in the obese rat (p less than 0.05). At two higher doses (235 pmol and 2.35 nmol), NPY was equipotent in both genotypes over 1 and 2 hours but NPY-induced feeding was attenuated over 3 hours in the obese rat. These results suggest an overactive endogenous NPYergic system in the obese (fa/fa) rat which might contribute to hyperphagia and obesity in this strain.

Animals

Altered neuropeptide Y concentrations in specific hypothalamic regions of obese (fa/fa) Zucker rats. Possible relationship to obesity and neuroendocrine disturbances.

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) concentrations were measured by radioimmunoassay in eight microdissected hypothalamic regions of obese (fa/fa) and lean (Fa/?) Zucker rats. Freely fed obese rats showed significant (40-100%) increases in NPY concentrations in several regions, notably the paraventricular, ventromedial, and dorsomedial nuclei and the arcuate nucleus/median eminence, compared with lean rats. Hypothalamic NPY concentrations were not affected in either obese or lean rats by food restriction, which caused 25% weight loss over 3 wk. Refeeding to initial weight significantly increased NPY levels in the ventromedial and dorsomedial nuclei in lean rats but did not significantly alter NPY concentrations in any hypothalamic region in obese rats. These observations indicate fundamental differences in the regulation of hypothalamic NPY between obese and lean Zucker rats. NPY injected into the paraventricular nucleus and other regions causes hyperphagia, obesity, and increased secretion of insulin, glucagon, ACTH, and corticosterone. These behavioral and neuroendocrine abnormalities all occur in the obese Zucker syndrome and may be due to increased NPY-ergic activity in the hypothalamus.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone

Multiple symmetric lipomatosis (Launois-Bensaude syndrome): effect of oral salbutamol.

A 65-year-old Kenyan Asian developed rapidly progressive multiple symmetrical lipomatosis over 8 years. Noradrenaline infusion showed a normal response of plasma free fatty acids. In-vitro studies of the lipomatous tissue demonstrated intact lipolytic activities with a normal rate of free fatty acids release and cyclic AMP accumulation with or without isoprenaline and fenoterol stimulation. A clinical trial of oral salbutamol, a beta 2-agonist, was performed with significant therapeutic effect. The body fat mass showed a reversal of the rapid progression while on the treatment, associated with an increase in the resting metabolic rate.

Administration, Oral

Isolation and characterization of a human T cell leukemia virus type II from a hemophilia-A patient with pancytopenia.

Human T cell leukemia virus (HTLV) type I has been isolated from the cultured T cells of several patients with adult T cell leukemia (ATL) and has been etiologically linked to ATL. However, HTLV-type II has been isolated only once, from the T cells of a patient with a T cell variant of hairy-cell leukemia. We report here the isolation of HTLV-II-related virus from the cultured T cells of a hemophilia-A patient with pancytopenia. The T cell line (CM) grows in the absence of T cell growth factor. Cord blood T cells were rapidly transformed when co-cultivated with irradiated CM cells. Heterologous competition radioimmunoassays using purified HTLV-I p24 showed the expression of HTLV-IIMO-related protein in these cells. Electron microscopy of the CM cells showed the presence of intracellular and extracellular type C viral particles. Comparison of the proviral genome in the CM cell line and the prototype HTLV-IIMO-containing cell line (MO) by molecular hybridization with probes specific for HTLV-IIMO indicated that restriction cleavage sites were identical. The fresh peripheral blood leukocytes of the patient contained two complete copies of the proviral genome, despite the lack of HTLV-II p24 expression. The virus from the cell line CM is designated as HTLV-IICM to distinguish it from the original HTLV-IIMO isolate.

Adult