Rapid communication: bovine dinucleotide repeat polymorphism RM106.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D J Hetzel.
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The HER-2/neu oncogene encodes for a specific cell-surface glycoprotein similar to the human growth factor receptor. An analysis of 247 patients with endometrial cancer treated between 1979 and 1983 was performed using an immunoperoxidase technique on paraffin-embedded tissue samples to detect HER-2/neu overexpression. Specimens were graded blindly with regard to HER-2/neu staining intensity. Overexpression of HER-2/neu was identified as strong in 37 patients (15%), mild in 144 (58%), and none in 66 (27%). The 5-year progression-free survival was 56% for the strong, 83% for the mild, and 95% for the nonstaining groups. The strong (P < 0.0001) and the mild (P = 0.028) staining groups were distinct from the nonstaining group in predicting progression-free survival. Likewise, strong overexpression was associated with a poor (51%) overall survival (P < 0.0001). Multivariate analysis revealed that intense overexpression had independent significance in predicting progression-free (P = 0.0003) and overall survival (P < 0.0001). In stage I patients (203), the 5-year progression-free survival was 62% for the strong and 97% for the nonstaining groups (P = 0.0007). This retained independent significance when subjected to multivariate analysis (P = 0.0017). Other significant stage I prognostic factors in multivariate analysis included DNA ploidy, histologic subtype, and histologic grade but not depth of invasion.
Bovine and ovine microsatellite sequences were extracted from the EMBL and GENBANK databases. When analysed for number of alleles and degree of heterozygosity in the CSIRO cattle reference families, allele numbers range from 1 to 14 with heterozygosities, in the polymorphic systems ranging from 15.8% to 100%. Six (46%) of the 13 bovine systems tested gave specific and polymorphic products in sheep. Similarly 2 of the 4 ovine systems gave specific and polymorphic products in cattle. These data define 11 bovine and 8 ovine microsatellite systems which are associated with known genes and are thus useful for comparative mapping studies.
Reflux oesophagitis is a chronic relapsing disorder. When treatment is stopped after successful short-term healing of oesophagitis, high relapse rates (80% within 6 months) indicate that prolonged treatment is necessary in order to maintain remission. The results of three long-term, multicentre, controlled, double-blind clinical trials comparing different regimens of omeprazole with ranitidine are reviewed. Omeprazole, 20 mg daily, was found to be a highly effective maintenance therapy in patients with ulcerative oesophagitis, keeping 67-89% of patients in remission for 1 year, compared with 10-25% of patients treated with ranitidine, 150 mg twice daily. Weekend omeprazole therapy, 20 mg daily every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, was, as with daily ranitidine, relatively ineffective. All treatment regimens were well tolerated and gastric mucosal biopsies showed no qualitative changes in gastric enterochromaffin-like cells.
A prospective assessment was made of the outcome 4 years after diagnosis of recurrence in a group of 27 patients with documented ulceration after highly selective vagotomy (16 symptomatic recurrence and 11 asymptomatic). In the 16 patients with a previous symptomatic recurrence, eight of the 11 patients with duodenal ulcer underwent a further endoscopy at 4 years and one active ulcer was found. Five patients with previous symptomatic gastric ulcer recurrence have all undergone further surgery. In the 11 patients who originally had an asymptomatic ulcer recurrence (five gastric, six duodenal) no patient has undergone further surgery, although two patients with a recurrent gastric ulcer and two with a recurrent duodenal ulcer subsequently developed symptoms from their ulcer and required H2 receptor blocker therapy. Eight of the 11 originally asymptomatic patients underwent further endoscopy at 4 years and two further duodenal ulcers were found. After highly selective vagotomy, asymptomatic ulcer recurrence occurs frequently and 40 per cent of these patients may develop symptoms.
The high degree of polymorphism displayed by DNA microsatellites makes them useful as DNA markers in linkage studies. A search of the DNA sequence databases revealed that the locations of dinucleotide microsatellites are often conserved among mammalian species, enabling the prediction of the presence of DNA microsatellites using comparative genetic data. In closely related species such as cattle and sheep, this conservation was close enough to allow PCR primers designed for use in one species to be used to analyze microsatellite length polymorphism in the other. A total of 48 sets of primer pairs, flanking bovine microsatellites and giving polymorphic PCR products in that species, were tested with template DNA from sheep, horses, and humans. Specific products were obtained in 27 cases (56%) with ovine DNA, 20 of which (42%) showed polymorphisms. With equine DNA, 3 (6.2%) gave specific but monomorphic products, while no specific products were obtained using human DNA. The ability to use heterologous PCR primers, coupled with comparative mapping information will facilitate the use of DNA microsatellites in gene mapping studies in closely related species such as cattle and sheep, rat and mouse, or primates.
Uterine incarceration that manifests during the third trimester or at term is a serious and rare complication of pregnancy. The pregnant patient may complain of low-abdominal pain, low-back pain, urinary retention, and constipation, or the patient may be asymptomatic until labor begins. The diagnosis is difficult, and physical findings can be misleading. Ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging can be helpful if the anteriorly displaced cervix is clearly depicted. If incarceration of the retroverted uterus persists until term, a cesarean section is necessary. Recurrent uterine incarceration has been reported; therefore, the patient should be monitored closely during subsequent pregnancies. Herein we describe three cases of uterine incarceration during the third trimester and review the literature with respect to incidence, differential diagnosis, management, and complications of this condition.
The locus for the beta-subunit of the follicle stimulating hormone gene (FSHB) has been determined in both cattle and sheep by in situ hybridization of a bovine and an ovine cDNA probe, respectively, to metaphase chromosomes. Our results show that the FSHB locus is on cattle chromosome 15 in the region of bands q24-qter and in sheep on the cytogenetically homologous chromosome 15, also in the region q24-qter. The mapping of the FSHB gene in cattle together with the location of other genes (CAT, HBB and PTH) previously found to be syntenic in cattle and on human chromosome 11p, defines an evolutionarily conserved synteny. The localization of the FSHB gene to a cytogenetically homologous region in cattle and sheep is consistent with the hypothesis of extensively conserved chromosome structure in these two species.
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Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Natural infestations of the cattle tick Boophilus microplus, levels of the buffalo fly Haematobia irritants exigua and faecal nematode egg concentrations (Bunostomum phlebotomum, Cooperia spp., Haemonchus placei, Oesophagostomum radiatum and Trichostrongylus axei) were assessed in 221 Belmont Red calves during the post-weaning period, when the animals were between 9 and 18 months of age. In addition, the 98 males of this group were challenged with B. microplus larvae on two separate occasions. There were strong positive correlations among replicate assessments of the same parasite. Field tick counts and tick counts following deliberate challenge were strongly correlated, and both showed negative correlations with post-weaning weight gain. There was a weak positive correlation between buffalo fly counts and post-weaning weight gain. There was a negative correlation between total worm egg count and weight gain. Among worm species, only the effect of O. radiatum on weight gain was significant. Cattle with bovine major histocompatibility (BoLA) antigens W6.1 and W7 had significantly fewer ticks than cattle lacking these antigens. Cattle with BoLA antigens W7 and CA36 had lower concentrations of nematode eggs in their faeces than cattle lacking these BoLA antigens.
Between 1982 and 1989, 19 patients with gynecologic carcinoma, paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration, and seropositivity for anti-Purkinje cell cytoplasmic antibodies were identified at our institution. Seven of the patients had no clinical, computed tomographic, or magnetic resonance imaging evidence of cancer but had undergone laparotomy solely because anti-Purkinje cell antibodies were found in their serum; all had high-grade adenocarcinoma. Cerebellar symptoms preceded or coincided with the initial cancer diagnosis in 15 patients and preceded the diagnosis of recurrent cancer in 4 patients. The cancers were 14 ovarian, 2 fallopian tube, 2 surface papillary, and 1 poorly differentiated metastatic adenocarcinoma in a periaortic lymph node. Two remarkable surgical observations in patients with high-grade ovarian and tubal cancers were the conspicuous lack of peritoneal implants and the small metastatic volume. A comparison of the 8 patients who had primary stage III cancer with 24 matched control patients without paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration revealed no difference in primary tumor volume but a significantly smaller volume of metastatic tumor in the seropositive group (P = 0.05). Anti-Purkinje cell antibodies were not detected in 111 neurologically normal patients with advanced ovarian cancer. The small metastatic volume in the face of high-grade and advanced stage malignancy in seropositive patients with paraneoplastic cerebellar degeneration suggests that an immune response to the tumor (presumably cross-reactive with cerebellar cells) may impair the metastatic process. Earlier diagnosis and treatment of cancer, based on prompt serologic testing, may offer an improved neurologic and oncologic prognosis.
Single-sire natural mating data from a beef cattle herd in tropical Australia were used to estimate heritabilities of cow fertility (hc2), heritabilities of bull fertility (hb2) and genetic correlations between cow and bull fertility (rg) within each of six genotypes. Estimates of hc2 and hb2 were low, averaging .11 and .08, respectively. The pooled estimate of rg was 0.16, indicating that cow and bull fertility are favorably genetically correlated and therefore that cow fertility could be genetically improved by indirect selection on bull fertility, or some more heritable component of bull fertility.
In patients with reflux disease, pH monitoring has shown that omeprazole virtually eliminates oesophageal exposure to a pH of less than 4. Motility studies concurrent with pH monitoring have indicated that reflux continues on omeprazole, its effect on acid exposure being entirely dependent on elevation of gastric pH. Omeprazole and placebo have been compared in 64 patients with erosive or ulcerative oesophagitis; the 4-week healing rates were 81% with omeprazole, 20 mg or 40 mg daily, and 6% with placebo. The efficacies of omeprazole at doses of 20 mg and 40 mg daily, were then compared in 164 patients. At 4 weeks, oesophagitis was healed in 70% and 82% of patients for the 20 mg and 40 mg doses respectively (p = 0.05). Eight-week healing rates (79% for 20 mg and 85% for 40 mg) did not differ significantly. Symptom response was excellent for both doses. Relapse of oesophagitis was determined over 6 months for patients healed with omeprazole. Relapse was shown to occur in 88 of 107 patients by 6 months. Omeprazole is a highly effective treatment for erosive/ulcerative peptic oesophagitis, 40 mg daily being marginally superior to 20 mg. Relapse is almost inevitable within 6 months of cessation of therapy.
We have studied the response of erosive or ulcerative esophagitis to treatment with omeprazole and its subsequent relapse on cessation of therapy in 196 patients. In the first phase of the study omeprazole (20 or 40 mg daily) was compared with placebo in 64 patients. After 4 wk there was endoscopic healing in 81% (25 of 31) of omeprazole-treated patients and in only 6% (2 of 32) of placebo-treated patients. Endoscopic healing of esophagitis was accompanied by symptom relief and histologic healing of ulceration. In the second (dose finding) phase a further 132 patients were randomized to omeprazole (20 or 40 mg daily) and endoscopic healing was assessed. In patients with the mildest grade of ulcerative esophagitis (grade 2), healing occurred at 4 wk in 87% receiving 20 mg and in 97% receiving 40 mg. In patients with grade 3 esophagitis, 67% (20 mg) and 88% (40 mg) were healed. Less than half the patients with grade 4 esophagitis (Barrett's ulcers or confluent ulceration) healed with either 20 mg (48%) or 40 mg (44%). Regression analysis in the 164 omeprazole-treated patients showed no evidence that healing was influenced by factors other than severity of esophagitis at entry and omeprazole dose. In phase 3 of the study the rate of endoscopic relapse was determined in 107 endoscopically healed patients after stopping omeprazole. Erosive or ulcerative esophagitis recurred in 88 of 107 (82%) by 6 mo. Neither initial dose, grade of esophagitis, nor smoking was shown to influence relapse rate. Omeprazole is a highly effective treatment for peptic esophagitis. The 40-mg/day dosage produces endoscopic healing slightly more quickly than the 20-mg/day dosage, and the initial endoscopic gradings are of prognostic value. Relapse occurs rapidly when treatment is stopped.