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Biomedical subjects

C A Freeman

Publications and source records attributed to C A Freeman.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Identification of genetic changes associated with drug resistance by reverse in situ hybridization.

The molecular cytogenetic techniques of comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) and reverse in situ hybridization (REVISH) allow the entire genomes of tumours to be screened for genetic changes without the requirement for specific probes or markers. In order to define the ability of REVISH to detect and map regions of amplification associated with drug resistance, we investigated a panel of cell lines selected for resistance to doxorubicin and intrinsic sensitivity to topoisomerase II-inhibitory drugs. We have defined a modified REVISH protocol, which involves double hybridizations with genomic DNA from the test cell lines and chromosome-specific whole chromosome paints to identify the chromosomes to which the amplicons localize. Sites of amplification are then mapped by fractional length measurements (Flpter), using published genome databases. Our findings show that amplification of the topoisomerase II alpha gene is readily detected and mapped, as is amplification of the MDR and MRP loci. Interestingly, REVISH detected a new amplicon in the doxorubicin-resistant lung cancer cell line, GLC4-ADR, which mapped to chromosome 1q. REVISH is therefore ideally suited to characterize genetic changes specific for drug resistance within a background of genetic anomalies associated with tumour progression.

Chromosome Mapping↗
PubMed1985

NLRB's St. Francis decision signals broader-based bargaining units.

The number of potentially appropriate bargaining units in a hospital has been sharply reduced by the National Labor Relations Board's recent St. Francis decision. Following a series of rejections by the U.S. Courts of Appeals, the NLRB has abandoned its previous position and adopted new standards that it believes are more in keeping with Congress' directive to prevent the proliferation of bargaining units in the health care industry. The new standards require that there be unusually sharp differences between the wages, hours, working conditions, etc., of employees requesting a separate bargaining unit and those in an overall professional or nonprofessional unit. As a result, hospital bargaining units will become much more broadly based. The St. Francis decision does not, however, invalidate previous NLRB certification or relieve a hospital of established bargaining obligations. To establish the appropriateness of broader based units, employers can ensure that employees in such a proposed unit are covered by a centrally administered wage and salary program with common wage scales, labor grades, pay increments, and job performance evaluation standards. Functional integration, continuing education and training, job transfers, shared facilities and activities, and centralized personnel policies and procedures are also areas in which employees' mutuality of interest can be established, thereby supporting the creation or maintenance of broad units.

Collective Bargaining↗