Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to B Z Schacter.
The genotype of the patient Henrietta Lacks from whose cervical carcinoma the HeLa cell was derived was deduced from the phenotypes of her husband and children, and from studies of the HeLa cell. Hemizygous expression of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase in HeLa, together with the deduced heterozygosity of Mrs. Lacks, is consistent with clonal origin of her neoplasm.
Reiter's syndrome (nonspecific urethritis, conjunctivitis, and arthritis) may present with arthritis alone. There are, however, other discriminating clinical features that contribute to diagnosis. Additionally, the presence of HL-A W27 provides a new diagnostic aid. Thirteen patients were studied and support the validity of the concept of incomplete Reiter's syndrome. Peripheral arthritis was the presenting complaint in all, and none had urethritis or conjunctivitis. The majority were young white men. The arthritis was oligoarticular and asymmetric with lower extremity involvement predominantly. Heel pain was a prominent symptom in 10, with periostitis of other sites in 5, and "sausage digits" in 8. Mucocutaneous lesions occurred in 1 and significant weight loss in 6. Only 2 had sacro-illiitis. Chronicity has characterized the course in 12. HL-A W27 was present in 12 of 13. Additional data suggest that Reiter's syndrome may be one of the most common forms of inflammatory arthritis in young men.
A case of cyclophosphamide-induced azoospermia, followed three years later by the birth of a normal child to the patient's wife, is described. Genetic marker studies were carried out and strongly support identification of the patient as the true biologic father.
Low concentrations (0.5-10 mum) of antimycin A were shown to increase the rate of CO(2) fixation, O(2) evolution and inorganic phosphate esterification in intact spinach (Spinacia oleracea) chloroplasts. The increase was highest when the light intensity was saturating. Stimulation was independent of the bicarbonate concentration and was accompanied by an enhancement in the synthesis of glycerate 3-phosphate with a decrease in dihydroxyacetone phosphate. The antibiotic decreased the Michaelis constant of the chloroplast but not of ribulose 1,5-diphosphate carboxylase for bicarbonate. It was suggested that antimycin A is affecting that portion (outer envelope) of the intact chloroplast which contains the enzyme mechanism for controlling the pace of CO(2) fixation.
Twenty-one insulin-dependent diabetics and 11 healthy control children were immunized with polyvalent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine. Serum antibody to pneumococcal polysaccharides was measured by radioimmunoassay before and after immunization. Although there were some differences in type-specific antibody concentrations between diabetic and control subjects, the overall antibody concentrations preimmunization, 3-4 wk postimmunization, and 6-7 wk postimmunization were similar in both populations. In both groups antibody response to immunization correlated strongly with preimmunization antibody concentration. Among the diabetic subjects there was no correlation between antibody responses and duration of disease, insulin dose, or concentration of glycosylated hemoglobin. Insulin-dependent diabetic subjects have a serum antibody response to pneumococcal polysaccharides equivalent to that of controls, and in both populations the magnitude of the antibody response correlates with preimmunization antibody levels.