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Biomedical subjects

B Rodgers

Publications and source records attributed to B Rodgers.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

The ultrastructure of pulmonary arteries and arterioles in emphysema.

The lungs from three cases of pulmonary emphysema obtained at heart-lung transplantation were examined by electron microscopy to determine the origin of intimal longitudinal muscle and the formation of muscular tubes in small pulmonary arteries and arterioles. The earliest change consisted of migration of mature smooth muscle cells from the media of small pulmonary arteries, through gaps in the internal elastic lamina, into the subendothelial space. Most of these cells then adopted a longitudinal orientation, maintained a muscular phenotype, and became enmeshed in a web of elastic fibres. A small minority, immediately subjacent to the endothelium, were orientated circularly and, in some vessels, were enclosed by rudimentary internal and external elastic laminae to form early muscular tubes. Pulmonary arterioles, which are normally devoid of a media, contained several layers of circularly orientated smooth muscle cells, some of which also formed muscular tubes. It is postulated that the limited migration of mature smooth muscle cells seen in states of chronic hypoxia is mediated by a different stimulus from that causing the florid invasion of the intima by immature smooth muscle, with subsequent transformation into myofibroblasts, which characterize plexogenic pulmonary arteriopathy.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Loss and representativeness in a 43 year follow up of a national birth cohort.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The aim was to describe rates of loss and assessment of representativeness during 43 years of a national birth cohort study. DESIGN: The study population is a class stratified random sample of all single, legitimate births that occurred during one single week in 1946; it has been studied at regular intervals, so far to 1989. MAIN RESULTS: Losses through death and emigration were comparable to those in the national population of the same age. Response rates from the population resident in Britain have remained high, and the responding population is in most respects representative of the native population born in the early postwar years. Response rates within some serious physical illnesses did not differ from those of the healthy population. CONCLUSIONS: The continuing high response rate and representativeness of this national birth cohort is likely to be the result of home based data collections and of the regular contact to provide feedback of information and to check addresses of the study population.

Cohort Studies↗
PubMed1991

Socio-economic status, employment and neurosis.

In a national sample of over 3,000 36-year-olds, neurosis was more prevalent in men of lower status as assessed by housing tenure but not occupational class, education or personal income. Symptoms were more frequent in the unemployed, especially those not seeking work. In women, rates did not differ by husband's occupational class but were higher for those in rented accommodation, with unskilled manual jobs, without paid employment, with poor qualifications and with unemployed husbands, the strength of associations being dependent upon family structure. Many of these associations were reduced or eliminated by adjustment for reported financial hardship. Accounts of mental health problems in unemployed men and in married women (especially with children) may have underestimated the importance of financial circumstances.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Models of stress, vulnerability and affective disorder.

The concept of vulnerability indicates predisposition to affective disorder; characterised by greater sensitivity to stress but with no added risk in its absence. Mastery, self-esteem and attributional style may be involved but exogenous factors can also act as markers of vulnerability. A follow-up study of a national cohort of 36-year-olds was used to identify endogenous and exogenous vulnerability factors. Financial hardship and childhood risk were implicated for women, and financial hardship and unemployment for men. However, low rates of symptoms for 'stress-free' vulnerable individuals were only observed when chronic cases were excluded from analysis. Two alternative models are suggested: (i) a conditional vulnerability effect with an additional component to account for inception of long-term disorders; (ii) an additive burden model with vulnerability represented as a continuum from 'resilience' to 'susceptibility'. Their differentiation will require greater attention to the measurement of vulnerability and a fuller consideration of the significance of chronic disorders.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Secular trends in social class and sex differences in adult height.

Trends in social class and sex differences in adult mean height in Great Britain since the turn of the century were investigated using data from parents and offspring in the 1946 and 1958 British birth cohort studies (n = 50,000). There has been an increase of 1.09 cm per decade in the mean height of men but only 0.36 cm per decade in the mean height of women. On average men from non-manual origins were 1.97 cm taller than men from manual origins and the figure for women was 1.61 cm. Trends in class differences in height for those born between the beginning of the century and 1958 have been small; fluctuations have occurred over the period but were unsynchronized for men and women.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Hepatitis C antibody profile and viraemia prevalence in adults with severe haemophilia.

Sera from 21 patients who had received large amounts of unheated factor VIII concentrate were tested for antibodies to the hepatitis C virus (HCV) by both commercial (Ortho C100) and 'in house' ELISAs. 'In house' assays utilized recombinant structural (core) or non-structural (replicase) HCV proteins generated by a baculovirus expression system. Antibodies to HCV were detected in 100% of the sera by the core protein based ELISA but in only 62% and 19% by the C100 and replicase based ELISAs, respectively. Hepatitis C viraemia was demonstrated in 90% of the patients by in vitro amplification of the 5' non-coding region of the HCV genome. Amplification with primer sets from two other regions of the genome proved less efficient at detecting viraemia. We conclude that the prevalence of hepatitis C infection in haemophiliacs may have been underestimated previously and that almost all HCV-infected patients have evidence of on-going viral replication.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Fine specificity of cellular immune responses in humans to human cytomegalovirus immediate-early 1 protein.

Cell-mediated immunity is important in maintaining the virus-host equilibrium in persistent human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection. The HCMV 72-kDa major immediate early 1 protein (IE1) is a target for CD8+ cytotoxic T cells in humans, as is the equivalent 89-kDa protein in mouse. Less is known about responses against this protein by CD4+ T cells, which may be important as direct effector cells or helper cells for antibody and CD8+ responses. Proliferative-T-cell responses to HCMV IE1 were studied in normal seropositive subjects. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 85% of seropositive subjects proliferated in response to HCMV from infected fibroblasts, and of these, 73% responded to recombinant baculovirus IE1. Responding cells were predominantly CD3+ CD4+. IE1 antigen preparations, including baculovirus recombinant protein, transfected rat cell nuclei, and synthetic peptides, induced IE1-specific T-cell lines which cross-reacted between the preparations. The fine specificity of these IE1-specific T-cell lines was studied by using overlapping synthetic peptides encompassing the entire sequence of the IE1 protein. The regions of the IE1 molecule recognized were identified and these varied between individuals, possibly reflecting differences in major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II haplotype. In one subject, the peptide specificities of proliferative and MHC class I-restricted cytotoxic determinants on IE1 were spatially distinct. Thus, no single immunodominant T-cell determinant within HCMV IE1 was identified, suggesting that multiple peptides or a region of the 72-kDa IE1 protein would be required to induce specific T-cell responses in humans.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1990

Children of divorced and separated parents: summary and review of findings from a long-term follow-up study in the UK.

As divorce and separation rates continue to rise it is likely that problems among the children of such parents will also continue to increase. The nature of short term problems for the children of separating parents are well known. There is now evidence of a risk of longer term difficulties which may be the result of a chain of circumstances which begins close in time to the separation and divorce. Long term as well as short term risks should therefore be considered in planning care strategies for the children of divorcing parents.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Behaviour and personality in childhood as predictors of adult psychiatric disorder.

Associations between childhood behaviour and personality and adult affective disorder were investigated in a 36-year follow-up of a national birth cohort. A number of early characteristics were significantly related to adult outcome including enuresis, nailbiting, speech problems, truancy and composite indices of behaviour and personality. Continuity was not explained by factors acting independently on child and adult measures. Prediction of adult disorder, although better for women, was modest in both sexes and sensitivity and specificity would not justify widespread intervention. However, childhood measures should prove valuable in investigating chains of influence on adult disorder, occurring throughout individuals' life histories.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Adult affective disorder and early environment.

Childhood precursors of symptoms of depression and anxiety were investigated in a national population sample of over 3000 men and women, aged 36 years. Early-life data had been collected prospectively for all subjects. A number of factors, differing for men and women, were found to be significant predictors of adult disorder. Some factors showed strong effects but tended to apply to relatively few individuals, while other more common circumstances had modest influences. Overall, early environment did not seem to hold great significance for adult affective disorder, although multiple disadvantages had a cumulative deleterious effect. There was little evidence of early benefits being protective.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1989

Longterm follow-up studies; a critical overview.

The need for follow-up studies is growing as ideas about causes of chronic physical and mental illness suggest increasingly that they develop over long periods of the sufferer's life time. Follow-up studies are also necessary for collecting reliable information on the physical processes of aging and of cognitive change, in the assessment of efficacy of long-term treatments and care and in studies of quality of life in those with long-term illness. This paper illustrates the range of study designs, discusses their strengths and weaknesses and describes ways which may sometimes be used to avoid long periods of prospective data collection.

Child↗
PubMed1987

Immunoaffinity purification of a 72K early antigen of human cytomegalovirus: analysis of humoral and cell-mediated immunity to the purified polypeptide.

An early antigen of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) was purified from infected cells as a 72K polypeptide by immunoaffinity chromatography using a monoclonal antibody. It was located in both nucleus and cytoplasm, and was non-glycosylated and undetectable on the surface of infected cells. Known seropositive subjects had antibody against the purified protein and it elicited proliferative T cell responses in 10 of 16 subjects. Five of 14 T cell lines established in response to the purified protein were predominantly CD8+ and of these two showed major histocompatibility complex-restricted cytotoxicity against HCMV-infected cells. This provides further evidence that antigens expressed at early times may be targets for the immune response during persistent HCMV infection.

Antibody Formation↗
PubMed1986

Onset of obesity in a 36 year birth cohort study.

A large national cohort of children studied from birth to 36 years was used to test the predictive value of childhood obesity for obesity in adult life. Only 21% (39) of obese 36 year olds had been obese at age 11 years, and even when associated social factors were taken into account the correctly predicted percentage was much lower than the prediction rate achieved using body mass data from age 26 years. The comparatively poor predictive value of childhood obesity and the association of adult obesity with educational achievements and socioeconomic circumstances of family of origin emphasise the need for encouraging good nutritional and exercise habits rather than placing undue emphasis on the control of childhood obesity.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

The reliability and validity of PSE assessments by lay interviewers: a national population survey.

Studies employing psychiatric rating instruments administered by lay interviewers need to demonstrate the reliability and validity of subject classification. In a national population study utilizing the short form of the Present State Examination, audiotapes of interviews were used to demonstrate the reliability of ratings. The classification of 'cases' was found to be related to self-reports of nervous trouble and help-seeking for such problems. Associations between the rate of psychiatric disorder and demographic factors were similar to those found in previous community surveys. In general, the method of psychiatric assessment was considered to be satisfactory. Recommendations are made for the monitoring of interviews in similar large-scale investigations.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1986

The in situ saphenous vein bypass graft: radiologic aspects.

The use of the in situ saphenous vein for bypassing arterial occlusions in the lower extremities appears to have a higher patency rate than other bypass procedures but presents unique technical problems, such as lysing valves and occluding venous tributaries. Forty-four patients undergoing in situ bypasses had preoperative arteriograms. Special attention was paid to the small runoff vessels around the ankle, which are not suitable for reversed bypass procedures but may be adequate for in situ bypasses. Eight patients also had preoperative saphenous venograms, which revealed surgically important abnormalities in six cases. Postoperative arteriograms obtained within 2 weeks in 10 patients and within 2-12 months in 15 patients revealed persistent arteriovenous fistulas in four patients, stenoses in nine, occlusions in five, and progressive disease in the nonbypassed arteries in five patients. Early recognition of these problems led to 11 surgical repairs; nine repairs used the interventional radiologic procedures of balloon angioplasty, transcatheter embolization, and catheter thrombolysis. In this group of 44 patients, five patients died with patent bypasses and three patients required amputation despite functioning bypasses. Only four amputations were attributed to bypass failure. This low figure may be due to the close cooperation of the vascular surgeons and the vascular radiologists in dealing with these complicated cases.

Adult↗