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Biomedical subjects

C Fields

Publications and source records attributed to C Fields.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Pharmacokinetics of a novel closantel/ivermectin injection in cattle.

Two studies are described on the pharmacokinetics of a combination anthelmintic consisting of ivermectin and closantel for use in cattle. In the first, the pharmacokinetics of both active drugs in the combination were compared with the formulation with either ivermectin or closantel removed. No differences in the pharmacokinetics were observed, indicating that neither the absorption nor distribution of ivermectin or closantel in the combination were influenced by the presence of the other. In the second study the pharmacokinetics of ivermectin and closantel in the combination product were compared with control formulations of each. No difference was found between the closantel formulations. With ivermectin it was noted that absorption and excretion were more rapid and Cmax higher in the combination, although the AUC of both formulations were not significantly different.

Animals↗

The persistence of electrostatically seeded endothelial cells lining a small diameter expanded polytetrafluoroethylene vascular graft.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the persistence of electrostatically seeded endothelial cells (ECs) lining an expanded polytetrafluorethylene (e-PTFE) graft after one week exposure to in vivo circulation in a canine femoral artery bypass model. This was accomplished by visualizing the PKH 26 (red fluorescent) label placed in the EC membranes prior to the seeding procedure. Furthermore, this study was performed to confirm that the source of the ECs lining the graft were those from the initial inoculum. METHODS: This evaluation consisted of harvesting autologous, canine jugular vein ECs, PKH 26 labeling of the ECs, electrostatic EC seeding the e-PTFE grafts (4mm GORE-TEX, Length=6cm), implanting the grafts (femoral artery model) for one week, and explanting the grafts for light, fluorescent and scanning electron microscopy evaluations of the luminal surface. RESULTS: The unseeded grafts (controls) had a mean fluorescence surface coverage of 6.82 +/- 7.19%, while the EC seeded grafts had a mean of 90.3 +/- 14.3% which is significantly (p <0.001) different from the controls. Overall, the seeding time including the EC harvesting and PKH 26 labeling protocol was approximately 75 min. CONCLUSIONS: The electrostatically seeded ECs persisted after implantation of the graft as demonstrated by the PKH 26 labeling data. The fluorescent data also demonstrated that the neointima formed (EC luminal surface coverage) one week after implantation was in fact derived from the ECs initially seeded as determined by the abundance of the labeled ECs.

Animals↗

Safety, tolerability, and antiretroviral effects of ritonavir-nelfinavir combination therapy administered for 48 weeks.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the safety, tolerability, and anti-HIV activity of ritonavir-nelfinavir (RTV-NFV). DESIGN: Single-site, open-label, nonrandomized, multiple-dose trial of RTV combined with two doses of NFV in protease inhibitor (PI)-naive, HIV-infected patients. METHODS: Mean baseline HIV RNA was 39,500 copies/ml; mean baseline CD4 count was 323 cells/mm3. All patients received RTV at a dosage of 400 mg twice daily. Cohorts I (N = 10) and II (N = 10) received NFV at a dosage of 500 mg and 750 mg twice daily, respectively, for the initial 12 weeks of the study before allowing intensification with reverse transcriptase inhibitors. RESULTS: The commonest effects of RTV-NFV therapy were study drug-related moderate-to-severe diarrhea (9 patients in cohorts I and II) and drug-related moderate-to-severe nausea (4 patients in cohorts I and II). HIV RNA was suppressed in a biphasic manner. At 48 weeks in cohort I, mean HIV RNA reduction was 2.82 log10 copies/ml (standard error [SE] =.61; p =.001; N = 4); mean CD4 cell count increase was 236 cells/mm3 (SE = 67.1; p =.006; N = 4). In cohort II, mean HIV RNA reduction at Week 48 was 2.21 log10 copies/ml (SE =.430; p =. 001; N = 8); mean CD4 cell count increase was 120 cells/mm3 (SE = 47. 5; p =.03; n = 8). In cohort I patients, 2 of 4 completing Week 48 had HIV RNA <20 copies/ml; and 3 of 4 had HIV RNA <400 copies/ml. In cohort II, 2 of 8 patients completing Week 48 had HIV RNA <20 copies/ml and 4 of 8 had HIV RNA <400 copies/ml. In addition, 3 patients in cohort I withdrew because of virologic failure not thought to be related to poor compliance. Moreover, 15 patients elected to add new reverse-transcriptase inhibitors (RTIs) after week 12. CONCLUSIONS: RTV-NFV with concomitant reverse transcriptase inhibitors is a potential dual-PI option for PI-naive patients.

Adult↗

Reevaluation of anaerobic blood cultures in a Veteran population.

BACKGROUND: Studies suggest that the selective use of anaerobic blood cultures may represent a more cost-effective laboratory approach when anaerobic bacterial infection is suspected. METHODS: A 5-year retrospective study was done at a Veterans' Affairs hospital to determine the utility of routinely including anaerobic blood culture when sampling for bacteremia. RESULTS: A total of 22,075 anaerobic blood cultures were collected from our adult population. Significant anaerobic pathogens were isolated from only 0.14% of these blood cultures. An anaerobic infection could have been suspected in 92% of our patients. CONCLUSIONS: Significant anaerobic bloodstream infections occurred in only 0.14% of blood cultures. In addition, the majority of the patients identified with anaerobic bacteremia had clinical conditions that would have suggested a high likelihood of anaerobic bacteremia. These observations suggest that selective rather than routine use of anaerobic blood cultures may be appropriate in a veteran population.

Adult↗

The Genome Sequence DataBase version 1.0 (GSDB): from low pass sequences to complete genomes.

The Genome Sequence DataBase (GSDB) has completed its conversion to an improved relational database. The new database, GSDB 1.0, is fully operational and publicly available. Data contributions, including both original sequence submissions and community annotation, are being accomplished through the use of a graphical client-server interface tool, the GSDB Annotator, and via GIO (GSDB Input/Output) files. Data retrieval services are being provided through a new Web Query Tool and direct SQL. All methods of data contribution and data retrieval fully support the new data types that have been incorporated into GSDB, including discontiguous sequences, multiple sequence alignments, and community annotation.

Animals↗

Using case management systems to integrate clinical and financial data.

Integrated delivery systems can use automated case management information systems to better manage relevant clinical and financial data across the continuum of care. Effective case management systems can help caregivers track clinical and financial information; match appropriate resources to patient needs; and analyze populations to identify risk, enhance adherence to clinical guidelines, and understand provider treatment profiles.

Case Management↗

The Genome Sequence DataBase (GSDB): meeting the challenge of genomic sequencing.

The genome sequence database (GSDB) is a complete, publicly available relational database of DNA sequences and annotation maintained by the National Center for Genome Resources (NCGR) under a Cooperative Agreement with the US Department of Energy (DOE). GSDB provides direct, client- server access to the database for data contributions, community annotation and SQL queries. The GSDB Annotator, a multi-platform graphic user interface, is freely available. Automatically updated relational replicates of GSDB are also freely available.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Informatics for ubiquitous sequencing.

Methods and technologies currently being developed promise an increase of between one and two orders of magnitude in the practical throughputs of DNA sequencing for gene discovery, expression analysis and variant analysis. Integrated laboratories will use all of these methods as components of a molecular strategy for the functional characterization of genes and their products. This review summarizes the types of data produced by these strategies, and the analysis and management challenges that they raise.

Biotechnology↗

Intraspecific variation in small-subunit rRNA sequences in GenBank: why single sequences may not adequately represent prokaryotic taxa.

Small-subunit rRNA (SSU rRNA) sequencing is a powerful tool to detect, identify, and classify prokaryotic organisms, and there is currently an explosion of SSU rRNA sequencing in the microbiology community. We report unexpectedly high levels of intraspecific variation (within and between strains) of prokaryote SSU rRNA sequences deposited in GenBank. A total of 82% of the prokaryote species with two published SSU rRNA sequences had more variable positions than a 0.1% random sequencing error would predict, and 48% of these sequence pairs had more variable positions than predicted by a 1.0% random sequencing error. Other sources of sequence variability must account for some of this intraspecific variation. Given these results, phylogenetic studies and biodiversity estimates obtained by using prokaryotic SSU rRNA sequences cannot proceed under the assumption that rRNA sequences of single operons from single isolates adequately represent their taxa. Sequencing SSU rRNA molecules from multiple operons and multiple isolates is highly recommended to obtain meaningful phylogenetic hypotheses, as is careful attention to accurate strain identification.

Bacteria↗

Expressed sequence tags identify a human isolog of the suil translation initiation factor.

The complete cDNA sequence of a human isolog of the yeast suil translation initiation factor gene was obtained by assembling over 40 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) for this gene obtained from a variety of tissue-specific cDNA libraries. The human suilisol gene product is a 113 amino-acid polypeptide similar to proteins known from yeast, rice, mosquito, and Methanococcus. The identification of suilisol illustrates the utility of assemblies of independent ESTs for deriving full-length cDNA sequences for new human genes.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Analysis of gene expression by tissue and developmental stage.

High-throughput sequencing of cDNAs from multiple tissue- and stage-specific libraries is an efficient method for characterizing gene expression by tissue and developmental stage. When combined with functional information derived from the systematic study of transcription factors, signal transducers, and other regulatory molecules in model systems, data from expressed sequence tag projects provide an increasingly detailed picture of gene expression and its regulation. Understanding this picture will require the development of highly sophisticated databases to organize and correlate these data.

Animals↗

A quality control algorithm for DNA sequencing projects.

Heterologous DNA sequences from rearrangements with the genomes of host cells, genomic fragments from hybrid cells, or impure tissue sources can threaten the purity of libraries that are derived from RNA or DNA. Hybridization methods can only detect contaminants from known or suspected heterologous sources, and whole library screening is technically very difficult. Detection of contaminating heterologous clones by sequence alignment is only possible when related sequences are present in a known database. We have developed a statistical test to identify heterologous sequences that is based on the differences in hexamer composition of DNA from different organisms. This test does not require that sequences similar to potential heterologous contaminants are present in the database, and can in principle detect contamination by previously unknown organisms. We have applied this test to the major public expressed sequence tag (EST) data sets to evaluate its utility as a quality control measure and a peer evaluation tool. There is detectable heterogeneity in most human and C.elegans EST data sets but it is not apparently associated with cross-species contamination. However, there is direct evidence for both yeast and bacterial sequence contamination in some public database sequences annotated as human. Results obtained with the hexamer test have been confirmed with similarity searches using sequences from the relevant data sets.

Algorithms↗

3,400 new expressed sequence tags identify diversity of transcripts in human brain.

We present the results of the partial sequencing of over 3,400 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from human brain cDNA clones, which increases the number of distinct genes expressed in the brain, that are represented by ESTs, to about 6,000. By choosing clones in an unbiased manner, it is possible to construct a profile of the transcriptional activity of the brain at different stages. Proteins that comprise the cytoskeleton are the most abundant; however, a large variety of regulatory proteins are also seen. About half of the ESTs predicted to contain a protein-coding region have no matches in the public peptide databases and may represent new gene families.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Rapid cDNA sequencing (expressed sequence tags) from a directionally cloned human infant brain cDNA library.

A human infant brain cDNA library, made specifically for production of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) was evaluated by partial sequencing of over 1,600 clones. Advantages of this library, constructed for EST sequencing, include the use of directional cloning, size selection, very low numbers of mitochondrial and ribosomal transcripts, short polyA tails, few non-recombinants and a broad representation of transcripts. 37% of the clones were identified, based on matches to over 320 different genes in the public databases. Of these, two proteins similar to the Alzheimer's disease amyloid precursor protein were identified.

Amino Acid Sequence↗