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Biomedical subjects

C Norton

Publications and source records attributed to C Norton.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Hypoxia-mediated induction of endothelial cell interleukin-1 alpha. An autocrine mechanism promoting expression of leukocyte adhesion molecules on the vessel surface.

Tissue injury that accompanies hypoxemia/reoxygenation shares features with the host response in inflammation, suggesting that cytokines, such as IL-1, may act as mediators in this setting. Human endothelial cells (ECs) subjected to hypoxia (PO2 approximately 12-14 Torr) elaborated IL-1 activity into conditioned media in a time-dependent manner; this activity was completely neutralized by an antibody to IL-1 alpha. Production of IL-1 activity by hypoxic ECs was associated with an increase in the level of mRNA for IL-1 alpha, and was followed by induction of endothelial-leukocyte adhesion molecule-1 and enhanced expression of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) during reoxygenation. During reoxygenation there was a three- to five-fold increased adherence of leukocytes, partly blocked by antibodies to endothelial-leukocyte adhesion molecule-1 and ICAM-1. Suppressing endothelial-derived IL-1, using either antibodies to IL-1 alpha, specific antisense oligonucleotides or the IL-1 receptor antagonist, decreased leukocyte adherence to reoxygenated ECs, emphasizing the integral role of IL-1 in the adherence phenomenon. Mice subjected to hypoxia (PO2 approximately 30-40 Torr) displayed increased plasma levels of IL-1 alpha, induction of IL-1 alpha mRNA in the lung, and enhanced expression of ICAM-1 in pulmonary tissue compared with normoxic controls. These data suggest that hypoxia is a stimulus which induces EC synthesis and release of IL-1 alpha, resulting in an autocrine enhancement in the expression of adhesion molecules.

Animals

Hospital use patterns for children in the United States, 1983 and 1984.

The hospital discharge rate of children less than 15 years of age in the United States declined 12% from 1983 to 1984. This was the first time in the 20-year history of the National Hospital Discharge Survey that there was a statistically significant decrease in children's hospital discharge rates in a 1-year period. The change occurred during a period when prospective hospital payment systems were introduced and when prepaid group health plans and alternative systems of providing health care were expanding. The unprecedented decrease in children's hospital use was evaluated using data from the National Hospital Discharge Survey. This is a continuous survey in which data from a national sample of medical records of discharged patients are collected. Children's hospital use rates were reviewed by age, sex, region, and expected principal source of payment. Significant decreases in discharge rates were found for the age group 1 to 4 years and for all children with private insurance. The patterns and changes in hospital use by diagnostic category were also investigated. The major finding was a 19% decrease in children's discharge rate for diseases of the respiratory system. Mortality statistics and data from the National Health Interview Survey were evaluated for indications of changes in children's health status or use of physician services accompanying the decline in hospital use. Although there were fewer deaths due to respiratory diseases for children less than 5 years of age in 1984 than in 1983, most measures of health status were unchanged. The only significant change in physician use was a decrease in the percentage of acute conditions that were medically attended, also among children less than 5 years of age. It is important to continue monitoring children's hospital use patterns, as well as their health status and use of alternative health services, to further assess the impact of changes in the organization and financing of health services.

Adolescent

Neuropsychological assessment of brain damage: discriminative validity of the McCarron-Dial System.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the discriminative validity of the McCarron-Dial System (MDS) in neuropsychological assessment. Multiple discriminant analysis results indicate that 92.6% of the brain-damaged and non-brain-damaged groups, and 69.6% of the right, left and diffused brain-damaged subgroups were correctly classified using the abbreviated version of the MDS. The results tentatively support the discriminative ability of the MDS for neurobehavioural diagnosis. Since the MDS has a long tradition in vocational rehabilitation and established strengths in predicting vocational and community adjustment outcomes, it may be potentially useful for both vocational and clinical neuropsychological assessment.

Adolescent