PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

C Baum

Publications and source records attributed to C Baum.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

A novel NK-related mouse homeobox gene: expression in central and peripheral nervous structures during embryonic development.

We have identified three novel mouse homeobox genes that are related to the Drosophila NK gene family. Two genes without direct homologues in Drosophila were designated Nkx-5.1 and Nkx-5.2; the third gene Nkx-1.1 constitutes the mouse homologue to NK1.Nkx-5.1 and Nkx-5.2 are closely linked on mouse chromosome 7, whereas Nkx-1.1 is located on a different chromosome. Here, we report the spatiotemporal expression pattern of Nkx-5.1 during prenatal mouse development. Nkx-5.1 gene activity begins at Embryonic Day 10.5 in the developing ear, the neural tube, and dorsal root ganglia. It continues to be active throughout prenatal life in discrete regions of the brain with an anterior border in the ventral diencephalon at the optic chiasma and expression domains in mesencephalon, metencephalon, and myelencephalon. At midgestation, Nkx-5.1 is also expressed in mesenchyme of the head and branchial arches, and in some cranial ganglia, as well as in derivatives of neural crest, such as the truncus sympathicus and myenteric ganglia. The time pattern of Nkx-5.1 expression and its confinement to primarily postmitotic cells of the central and peripheral nervous system suggest that Nkx-5.1 may play a role in the specification of neuronal cell types.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

An optimized electroporation protocol applicable to a wide range of cell lines.

A number of transfection methods for mammalian cells are available; however, many cell lines may appear resistant to efficient transfection, or at best, necessitate lengthy optimization procedures in recommended protocols. We describe here an electroporation protocol that yields highly efficient gene transfer (20%-100% of surviving cells) in all 19 cell lines tested so far, including lymphoid, myeloid, glial, fibroblast and COS cells. Unlike earlier electroporation protocols, adaptation of this protocol to a cell line of interest only requires the optimization of a single parameter, i.e., the voltage, and can be performed within a day. Furthermore, it is also superior to transfection protocols for other methods (calcium phosphate precipitation, lipofection, DEAE-dextran transfection and transferrinfection) in terms of reproducibility, economy and average transfection efficiency for a wide variety of cell lines.

Animals↗

Identification and measurement of productive behaviors in senile dementia of the Alzheimer type.

Caregivers of 106 individuals with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type (SDAT) were administered the Functional Behavior Profile (FBP) as part of a caregiver assessment battery. Three factors--task performance, problem solving, and social interaction--accounted for 70.6% of the variance. Analysis yielded a reliable and valid assessment that documents the observable productive behaviors of a person with SDAT. Significant differences across the stages of the disease were observed. The FBP can serve as a guide for individualized caregiving strategies by helping the caregiver focus on the presence of productive behaviors useful in managing the impaired person.

Aged↗

Cognitive performance in senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type: the Kitchen Task Assessment.

The Kitchen Task Assessment (KTA) is a functional measure that records the level of cognitive support required by a person with Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type (SDAT) to complete a cooking task successfully. The results allow the clinician to help caregivers understand the level of support the impaired person needs to perform daily living tasks. This paper presents the validity and internal consistency of the KTA. Data were collected from 106 persons diagnosed with SDAT. Construct validity was established by examining the relationship between subjects' performance on the KTA and standard neuropsychological measures.

Activities of Daily Living↗

Thy-1-expressing CD34+ human cells express multiple hematopoietic potentialities in vitro and in SCID-hu mice.

We have detected a minor subset of fetal liver and bone marrow CD34+ cells that coexpress the Thy-1 antigen at their surface. In immune-deficient SCID mice engrafted with human fetal hematopoietic tissues, CD34+ Thy-1+ reconstitute the full range of thymic lymphocytes and yield a progeny of myeloid and B cells in the human bone marrow. The frequency of cells initiating long-term human myeloid and B lymphocytes in vitro cultures at the contact of the Sys-1 stromal cell line was also found to be 10-15 times higher among CD34+ Thy-1+ cells than in the Thy-1- counterpart population. We propose that CD34+ Thy-1+ cells include candidate human hematopoietic stem cells.

Animals↗

Analysis of candidate human blood stem cells in "humanized" immune-deficiency SCID mice.

Immune deficient SCID mice support the hematopoietic development of surgically implanted human fetal thymus and bone. The usability of the resulting SCID-hu hematolymphoid chimaera as an assay system for human candidate blood stem cells was suggested by the observation that allogeneic CD34+ cells sorted from fetal liver and bone marrow can engraft and differentiate in the transplanted human thymus and bone marrow. The SCID-hu mouse has been further used, in combination with a mouse bone marrow stromal cell line that supports human myeloid and B lymphoid differentiation in vitro, to identify a minor subset of fetal CD34-expressing cells that exhibit multilineage hematopoietic potentialities.

Animals↗

Effects of exposure to benzodiazepine during fetal life.

Dysmorphism and mental retardation have been reported in 7 Swedish children born of mothers who had taken high doses of benzodiazepines regularly during pregnancy. To explore this association further, we examined benzodiazepine use during pregnancy in 104,000 women whose deliveries were registered by the US public health insurance system, Medicaid, during 1980-83. Fetal outcomes were assessed from the health claims profiles of their offspring, up to 6-9 years after delivery. 80 pregnant women had received 10 or more benzodiazepine prescriptions during the 4 years. Their records showed heavy general use of health care and frequent alcohol and substance abuse, and other disorders that could confound any effect of the benzodiazepines. For the 80 pregnancies, 3 intrauterine deaths were identified as well as 2 infants with congenital abnormalities whose curtailed records suggested neonatal death. Records of 64 surviving children could be linked to these 80 pregnancies whilst records for 11 apparent survivors could not be located. 6 of the 64 survivors had diagnoses consistent with teratogenic abnormalities. The high rate of teratogenicity after heavy maternal benzodiazepine use occurs with multiple alcohol and substance exposure and thus may not be due to benzodiazepine exposure.

Abnormalities, Drug-Induced↗

Lymphoid reconstitution of the human fetal thymus in SCID mice with CD34+ precursor cells.

The search for human hematopoietic stem cells has been hampered by the lack of appropriate assay systems. Demonstration of the ability of precursor cell candidates to give rise to T cells is of significant difficulty since dissociated in vitro cultured thymus stroma cells lose their ability to sustain thymocyte maturation. To define further the differentiative capacities of the rare human fetal liver and bone marrow cells that express the CD34 surface antigen and exhibit in vitro myeloid and pre-B cell activities, we have microinjected them into HLA-mismatched fetal thymus fragments, partially depleted of hematopoietic cells by low temperature culture. In vitro colonized thymuses have then been allowed to develop upon engraftment into immunodeficient SCID mice. Using this modification of the SCID-hu system, we show that low numbers of fetal CD34+ progenitor cells can repopulate the lymphoid compartment in the human thymus.

Animals↗

Indices of drug misuse for prescription drugs.

Few studies of prescription-drug misuse have taken into account the numbers of prescriptions dispensed for specific drugs. Using data from the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) and the National Prescription Audit, we calculated indices of drug misuse for specific prescription drugs that are used mainly in outpatient settings and are either benzodiazepines, barbiturates, other sedative-hypnotics, analgesics, or CNS stimulants. In 1983-1985 the drugs associated with the highest numbers of DAWN medical examiner-reported drug-misuse deaths were codeine, diazepam, propoxyphene, phenobarbital, and secobarbital. However, the drugs with the highest indices of DAWN medical examiner-reported drug-misuse deaths/100,000 dispensed prescriptions were methamphetamine, methaqualone, amobarbital, secobarbital, and glutethimide. An index of fatality risk, calculated as 100 x DAWN medical examiner-reported drug-misuse deaths/DAWN emergency room-reported drug-misuse episodes, suggested that the risk of death from a glutethimide-associated drug-misuse episode had increased 92% from 1975-1979 to 1983-1983 and in 1983-1985 was the highest for the drugs studied. These indices might assist public health authorities attempting to design effective strategies to efficiently address the problem of prescription-drug misuse.

Cause of Death↗

Outpatient use of prescription sedative-hypnotic drugs in the United States, 1970 through 1989.

Data from two pharmaceutical marketing research databases, the National Prescription Audit and the National Disease and Therapeutic Index, were used to study outpatient use of prescription sedative-hypnotic drugs in the United States from 1970 through 1989. Retail pharmacies dispensed an estimated 62.5 million prescriptions for sedative-hypnotic drugs in 1970. This number declined by half to 31.6 million in 1978. This decline has continued, so that in 1989 there were 20.8 million dispensed prescriptions. From 1970 to 1989, barbiturate and nonbarbiturate-nonbenzodiazepine prescriptions decreased 24-fold and 18-fold, respectively, and benzodiazepine prescriptions increased 26-fold. By 1989, the ultrashort-acting benzodiazepine drug triazolam was the leading sedative hypnotic, with about 40% of the total sedative-hypnotic market in the 6 years since its marketing. Data also indicate shifts from longer to shorter acting, and from higher to lower dose, benzodiazepine prescriptions, increasing use of antidepressant drugs for insomnia, female predominance of use, and increasing use with age.

Ambulatory Care↗

Skin sensitivity to histolyn, spherulin, and PPD in the People's Republic of China.

One hundred one subjects living in northwest Hunan Province, People's Republic of China (PRC) were tested with histolyn, (Berkeley Biological Laboratories), spherulin (Berkeley Biological Laboratories), and tubersol (PPD 5 tuberculin units, Connaught Laboratories). Age of the tested subjects ranged from 16 to 58 years; 93 subjects were 22 years old or younger. Nine subjects reacted to histolyn with 5.0 mm or more induration, two subjects reacted to spherulin, and 34 subjects reacted to tubersol. One of the spherulin reactors also reacted to both histolyn and tubersol. The feasibility and advisability of doing a large-scale survey throughout the PRC seem clearly supported by this pilot project.

Adolescent↗

Dietary triacylglycerol modulates sodium-dependent D-glucose transport, fluidity and fatty acid composition of rat small intestinal brush-border membrane.

Rats were maintained on nutritionally complete diets enriched in unsaturated (menhaden fish oil) or saturated (butter fat) triacylglycerols. After 4 weeks, the animals were killed, proximal small intestinal brush-border membranes were prepared, and examined and compared with respect to their lipid composition, molecular species of phosphatidylcholine, lipid fluidity and sodium-dependent D-glucose transport. Membranes prepared from the two dietary groups were found to possess similar ratios of cholesterol/phospholipid (mol/mol), sphingomyelin/phosphatidylcholine (mol/mol), and protein/lipid (w/w). In contrast to these findings, however, striking differences were noted in the total fatty acid compositions of these membranes. Plasma membranes prepared from animals fed the fish oil diet possessed higher percentages of saturated fatty acids as well as (n - 3) unsaturated fatty acids and lower percentages of monounsaturated and (n - 6) unsaturated fatty acids than those prepared from animals fed the butter fat diet. Analysis of the molecular species of phosphatidylcholine by HPLC, moreover, revealed that membranes from rats fed fish oil had higher levels of 16:0-20:5, 16:0-22:6 and 18:0-20:5 and lower levels of 18:0-18:2 and 16:0-18:1 than their butter fat counterparts. As assessed by steady-state fluorescence polarization, differential polarized phase fluorometric and excimer/monomer fluorescence intensity techniques using various fluorophores, the lipid fluidity of membranes from rats fed fish oil was also found to be significantly lower compared to membranes from rats fed butter fat. Finally, comparison of the kinetic parameters of Na+-dependent D-glucose transport revealed that fish oil-membrane vesicles had a higher maximum velocity (Vmax) than butter fat membrane vesicles but a similar Km for glucose.

Animals↗

Antipsychotic drug use in the United States, 1976-1985.

Data from the National Prescription Audit and the National Disease and Therapeutic Index were used to assess trends in outpatient prescriptions for antipsychotic drugs in the United States from 1976 to 1985. Retail pharmacies dispensed 21 million prescriptions for antipsychotic drugs in 1976 and 19 million in 1985. The three leading antipsychotic drugs-thioridazine, haloperidol, and chlorpromazine-constituted 66% to 69% of antipsychotic prescriptions and, along with trifluoperazine, thiothixene, and fluphenazine, accounted for 90% to 91% of all antipsychotic prescriptions throughout the period studied. Thioridazine was the leading medication, with a consistent third of the market share, while the market share for chlorpromazine decreased from 1976 to 1985 and that for haloperidol increased for the same years. Data also indicate that haloperidol is the antipsychotic drug used most frequently in office-based, private medical practice for patients 60 years of age and older, a declining proportion of women are treated with antipsychotic medications, and use of antipsychotic drugs as monotherapy for the primary diagnosis is increasing. We also obtained data on diagnoses associated with antipsychotic drug use.

Age Factors↗

Maternal use of prescribed drugs associated with recognized fetal adverse drug reactions.

To quantitate the frequency of exposure in pregnancy to selected drugs listed by the American Medical Association's Department of Drugs as having known or suspected association with fetal adverse drug reactions, we examined the prescription records of 18,886 Michigan Medicaid recipients who delivered a liveborn infant between April 1, 1981, and March 31, 1983. Focusing only on specific trimesters considered risk periods for each drug-fetal occurrence of adverse drug reaction, the use of tetracyclines during the first trimester of pregnancy was the most prevalent (21.3 exposed women/1000) prescribed drug associated with known or suspected fetal adverse drug reactions. The second most prevalent was phenobarbital in the first trimester, with 10.8 women exposed/1000. Following a close third was the use of the sulfonamides in the second trimester, with 10.0 women exposed/1000. The prescribing of nitrofurantoin and the sulfonamides in the last trimester and tetracyclines throughout pregnancy appears excessive. There are few indications for the outpatient use of the tetracyclines during pregnancy. Practitioners caring for pregnant women need to carefully evaluate the need for these drugs and consider when risks may outweigh benefits.

Adolescent↗

Prescription drug use in 1984 and changes over time.

More than 1.5 billion prescriptions were dispensed from retail pharmacies in 1984 at a consumer cost of +18.4 billion. The number of prescriptions dispensed in 1984 equaled the previous record set in 1973. Over 40% of 1984 prescriptions were for four therapeutic classes: cardiovascular drugs, anti-infectives, psychotherapeutic drugs, and diuretics. Prescriptions for cardiovascular drugs and diuretics increased substantially from 1975 to 1984, while prescriptions for psychotherapeutic drugs decreased. Outpatient use of systemic antiinfectives remained fairly stable over the 10-year period. Trends in the use of specific drug categories within these broad therapeutic classes were variable, as were patient age and sex distributions.

Adult↗