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Biomedical subjects

D Moss

Publications and source records attributed to D Moss.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1996

Connexin expression and gap junctions in the mammary gland.

Gap junctional communication plays a vital role in embryogenesis, cell differentiation and the co-ordination of tissue responses. Gap junctions are formed by a family of closely-related proteins called connexins which show tissue-specific patterns of expression. The role of gap junctions in the mammary gland remains unclear. The lumena of mammary gland ducts are lined by luminal cells with an outer layer of basal cells. In rodents, the luminal cells express connexin26 only during pregnancy and lactation and the basal cells, in some reports, express connexin43. In the normal human breast the basal cells express connexin43, although human mammary epithelial cells in vitro have been reported to express both connexin26 and connexin43. Analysis of connexin expression at the molecular level is now bringing new insights into the structure and function of gap junctions in a range of normal and pathological cell systems.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Dihydroorotate dehydrogenase is a high affinity binding protein for A77 1726 and mediator of a range of biological effects of the immunomodulatory compound.

A protein with high affinity (Kd 12 nM) for the immunomodulatory compound A77 1726 has been isolated from mouse spleen and identified as the mitochondrial enzyme dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (EC 1.3.3.1). The purified protein had a pI 9.6-9.8 and a subunit Mr of 43,000. Peptides derived from the mouse protein displayed high microsequence similarity to human and rat dihydroorotate dehydrogenase with, respectively, 35 and 39 out of 43 identified amino acids identical. Dihydroorotate dehydrogenase catalyzes the fourth step in de novo pyrimidine biosynthesis. The in vitro antiproliferative effects of A77 1726 are mediated by enzyme inhibition and can be overcome by addition of exogenous uridine. The rank order of potency of A77 1726 and its analogues in binding or enzyme inhibition was similar to that for inhibition of the mouse delayed type hypersensitivity response. It is proposed that inhibition of dihydroorotate dehydrogenase is an in vivo mechanism of action of the A77 1726 class of compounds. This was confirmed using uridine to counteract inhibition of the murine acute graft versus host response.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1995

The avian eye lens protein delta-crystallin shows a novel packing arrangement of tetramers in a supramolecular helix.

BACKGROUND: Little is known of the intermolecular organization of crystallins in the protein-packed eye lens. The tetrameric structure of the 200,000 Da avian delta-crystallin, which is closely related to the enzyme argininosuccinate lyase and is characteristic of the accommodating, soft lens of birds, has recently been solved at atomic resolution at acidic pH. To help understand how delta-crystallin remains soluble at the very high concentrations found in the avian lens we have now crystallized turkey delta-crystallin at around neutral pH and examined its intermolecular interactions. RESULTS: Turkey delta-crystallin has been crystallized around neutral pH. The X-ray structure has been solved at 4.5 A resolution in space group C2 with three and a half tetramers in the asymmetric unit. The symmetrical 222 tetramers have a novel packing arrangement consisting of continuous helices, with 7(3)2 non-crystallographic symmetry, in an approximately hexagonal close-packed array. The internal 222 symmetry of the tetramers allows different polymeric chains to be constructed, based on the tetramer-tetramer association observed in the crystalline helix. It is possible to build a model of a tubule of diameter 212 A that is very similar to observed tubules of bovine argininosuccinate lyase. CONCLUSIONS: Elements of helical organization may occur in the concentrated solution of the avian eye lens where delta-crystallin is the prominent protein. The symmetry of the tetramer provides a choice in the direction of growth of a helix at each link so that highly hydrated irregular polymers may be formed rather than large compact regular structures that would not be compatible with a transparent lens.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1995

Report of a workshop to review urological training in Australasia.

A review of the current Australasian urological training programme was undertaken by members of the Urological Society of Australasia in a workshop format. The participants worked in small groups developing strategies to overcome problems which the whole group had identified previously. The strategies proposed by the groups were subsequently edited and definitive recommendations developed. This paper details the final recommendations of the workshop and the intended steps towards their implementation.

Accreditation↗
PubMed1995

Urological training in Australasia: perceptions of recent fellows and current trainees.

In this study we sought to determine the opinions of recent Fellows and current trainees on the state of urological training in Australasia. Self administered questionnaires were mailed to all urologists in Australia and New Zealand who had obtained their FRACS from 1988 to the present, as well as all current advanced urological trainees. Eight-seven per cent of Fellows and ninety-four per cent of trainees completed and returned the questionnaire. Most Fellows and trainees felt that their training adequately equipped them for subsequent independent practice. At the completion of training and FRACS examination the majority of respondents felt competent in dealing with most urological conditions. However, many did not feel confident with paediatric and specialized or complex adult urology, particularly oncology and reconstruction. Post-Fellowship training, however, appears valuable in overcoming these deficiencies. Several limitations were also noted as a consequence of the fact that training is based entirely in the public hospital system. This created particular difficulties with respect to outpatient or 'office' urology as well as exposure to some non-acute conditions such as urinary incontinence and infertility. The current research requirements of training do not appear to provide trainees with an adequate knowledge of scientific method, with many respondents not feeling equipped to critically appraise urological literature. High levels of competence are also not attained for other important professional skills, particularly communication with other medical practitioners. Despite its importance for learning, feedback on progress is not adequately provided and this was seen as a major problem with current urological training in Australasia. The majority of respondents felt that mentors required specific training to facilitate feedback to trainees.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

A simple method for converting point coordinates into along/away values for use in brachytherapy calculations.

Brachytherapy, the use of radioactive sources for the treatment of tumors, is an important tool in radiation oncology. Accurate calculations of the dose delivered to malignant and normal tissues are the responsibility of the medical physics staff. Independent calculations, to verify the results of a commercial treatment planning system, are an important part of a good quality-management system for brachytherapy, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission requirement. While the commercial treatment system has the capacity to perform calculations to thousands of points within the volume of the patient's body, it is sufficient for the purposes of a check to perform dose calculations for a few points. Using the procedure outlined in this presentation, coordinates, in three dimensions, of a linear source tip and end and an interest point can be converted into along and away values. These along and away values can then be used to retrieve dose rates from along/away tables in the literature. Calculation results from both a commercial treatment planning system and a locally prepared computer program using this method are compared.

Brachytherapy↗
PubMed1994

The structure of avian eye lens delta-crystallin reveals a new fold for a superfamily of oligomeric enzymes.

The crystal structure of turkey delta-crystallin, a principal soluble components of the avian lens, has been determined to a resolution of 2.5 A. It is a tetramer, of 200,000 M(r), with 222 symmetry. The subunit has a new fold composed of three mainly alpha-helical domains. One domain is a bundle of five long helices which forms a 20-helix bundle at the core of the tetramer. delta-crystallin shares approximately 90% sequence identity with the enzyme argininosuccinate lyase (EC 4.3.2.1), indicating that it is an example of a 'hijacked' enzyme. It is also distantly related to the class II fumarases, aspartases, adenylosuccinases and 3-carboxy-cis,cis-muconate lactonising enzyme. The structure reveals a putative active-site cleft which is located on the boundary between three subunits of the tetramer. This is the first three-dimensional structure of a representative of this superfamily of enzymes.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1994

Hepatic artery aneurysm associated with acute gastroenteritis: successful treatment after intraperitoneal rupture.

A 62-year-old multiparous woman was hospitalized because of nausea, vomiting, anorexia, loose stools, and abdominal discomfort for 3 days. During the hospitalization, she suddenly had hemorrhagic shock with electromechanical dissociation. Intraoperatively, she was found to have a ruptured hepatic artery aneurysm, which was successfully ligated. The patient fully recovered. We believe hepatic artery aneurysms should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients with nonspecific gastrointestinal symptoms if unexplained anemia, jaundice, and especially hypotension occur.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1994

The endocytic pathway for H-ferritin established in live MOLT-4 cells by laser scanning confocal microscopy.

We have established the intracellular destination of the putative immunoregulatory protein, human recombinant H (heavy)-ferritin, in the transformed T-cell line MOLT-4, by laser scanning confocal microscopy of live cells. A series of confocal images was collected over a 60 min time course using indirect immunofluorescence of H-ferritin and transferrin, their respective monoclonal antibodies, and fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labelled IgG. A marked drop in FITC fluorescence after 40 min of H-ferritin internalization, indicative of an acidic environment, and co-localization with tetramethylrhodamine isothiocyanate-labelled-dextran strongly suggests that H-ferritin is transferred to the lysosome. In contrast, transferrin was observed to return to the cell surface. Electron microscopy confirmed that H-ferritin was transferred to the lysosome. The receptor-mediated endocytosis and lysosomal delivery of H-ferritin may thus potentiate its putative immunoregulatory activity.

Endocytosis↗
PubMed1994

Polyclonal and monoclonal antibody and PCR-amplified small-subunit rRNA identification of a microsporidian, Encephalitozoon hellem, isolated from an AIDS patient with disseminated infection.

Microsporidia are primitive, spore-forming, mitochondria-lacking, eukaryotic protozoa that are obligate intracellular parasites. They are known to parasitize almost every group of animals including humans. Recently, microsporidia have increasingly been found to infect patients with AIDS. Five genera (Encephalitozoon, Enterocytozoon, Nosema, Septata, and Pleistophora) of microsporidia are known to infect humans. Enterocytozoon organisms cause gastrointestinal disease in a majority of AIDS patients with microsporidiosis. However, a smaller, but an expanding, number of patients with AIDS are being diagnosed with ocular and disseminated infection with Encephalitozoon hellem. Although microsporidial spores can be identified in clinical samples by a staining technique such as one with Weber's chromotrope stain, identification to the species level is dependent on cumbersome and time-consuming electron microscopy. We have recently isolated and established in continuous culture several strains of E. hellem from urine, bronchoalveolar lavage, and sputum samples from AIDS patients with disseminated microsporidiosis. We developed polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies and PCR primers to a strain of E. hellem that can be used successfully to identify E. hellem from other species of microsporidia either in clinical specimens or in cultures established from clinical specimens. Since patients infected with Encephalitozoon spp. are known to respond favorably to albendazole, identification of the parasite to the species level would be invaluable in the treatment of disseminated microsporidiosis.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1994

Partial trisomy for 2q in a patient with dir dup(2) (q33.1q35).

A 22 year old woman with partial trisomy for the long arm of chromosome 2 is described. The karyotype is 46,XX, dir dup(2)(q33.1q35) de novo confirmed by FISH using a chromosome 2 specific paint. Parental chromosome studies were normal. To our knowledge this is the first report of trisomy for this specific segment of 2q and only the sixth case of de novo direct duplication of 2q, one of which was mosaic. Clinical features include epicanthus, clinodactyly, scoliosis, broad, flat nasal bridge, thin upper lip, long philtrum, and short neck.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗
PubMed1993

Axonal branching and growth cone structure depend on target cells.

Growth cones provide crucial guidance to neurons in response to appropriate targets and other environmental cues. We have cocultured ciliary neurons with myotubes and utilized antibodies to GAP-43 (a neuron-specific, growth-associated phosphoprotein) and MAP-2 (a cytoskeletal marker for dendrites) together with immunofluorescence microscopy to characterize the changes in patterns and polarity that ciliary nerve growth cones undergo when they contact a "proper" target. Our results show that ciliary neurons plated alone or cocultured with fibroblasts have one or two axons, but, when cocultured with myotubes, most cells have 4 or 5 axons showing GAP-43 immunoreactivity. The mean number of axons per cell soma was 1.9 +/- 0.9 micron2 (SEM) when ciliary neurons were plated alone and 3.4 +/- 0.1 when ciliary neurons were cocultured with myotubes. Differences in growth cone size were readily apparent in these two types of cultures. In coculture with myotubes the neuronal growth cone lamelopodia occupied 20-30 microns2 with an average area of 25.0 +/- 2.3 microns2 (SEM) whereas those neurons plated alone or in the presence of fibroblasts occupied an average area of 56.3 microns2 +/- 4.1 microns2 (SEM). The number of growth cone filopodia depended on culture condition. In nerve-muscle cocultures, the average number of filopodia per growth cone was 3.6 +/- 0.2 (SEM), whereas in ciliary cultures plated in the absence of myotubes the number of filopodia was 6.8 +/- 0.4 (SEM). These results indicate that muscle cells or the factors they release can regulate the growth and topography of axons and their growth cones.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Sequence variation of cytotoxic T cell epitopes in different isolates of Epstein-Barr virus.

Previous results have identified two distinct cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitopes encoded by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), TETA (ORF BLRF3/BERF1 residues 329-353) and EENL (ORF BERF3/BERF4 residues 290-309). Measurement of the specificities of CTL clones (TETA-specific clone 13 and EENL-specific clone 7) directed against these epitopes indicated that the EENL epitope is conserved in all strains of EBV tested while the TETA epitope varied between individual virus strains. Sequencing of the DNA regions encoding these two CTL epitopes in different EBV isolates confirmed these interpretations and demonstrated that different TETA epitope sequences were encoded by B-type EBV strains and by the B95-8 isolate of EBV compared to the other A-type EBV strains. Titration of synthetic variants of the TETA epitope revealed that the epitope encoded by B95-8 was 15-fold less efficient as a T cell epitope than the sequence encoded by other A-type viral strains while the TETA variant encoded by the B-type strains displayed essentially no activity as a T cell epitope.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Characterization of the ferritin receptors of human T lymphoid (MOLT-4) cells.

We have previously demonstrated that distinct binding sites exist for human recombinant H ferritin (HrHF) and human liver ferritin (HLF) on human T lymphoid cells (MOLT-4). This study demonstrates that these binding sites have the characteristics of receptors specific for HrHF, and the binding characteristics and internalization of HrHF to MOLT-4 cells have now been examined. Iodinated HrHF was displaced by an excess of unlabeled HrHF. Heavy ferritin was the major subunit bound with only a small amount of light-ferritin binding, consistent with our immunofluorescence studies. Scatchard plot analysis of the competitive binding data for HrHF revealed an association constant of 6.3 to 6.7 x 10(7) L/mol with approximately 6000 to 15,000 receptor sites per MOLT-4 cell. Internalization of HrHF was demonstrated with pronase. Chloroquine substantially reduced the uptake of HrHF. Release of internalized HrHF was not observed when cells were rewarmed to 37 degrees C. These results indicate that HrHF is internalized by a mechanism consistent with receptor-mediated endocytosis, with possible involvement of the lysosome. The internalized HrHF remains associated with the cell. Although lymphoid cell growth and differentiation were not examined in this study, the presence of the demonstrated receptors may indicate a regulatory role for heavy ferritin in such cells.

Binding, Competitive↗
PubMed1992

Effect of cell proliferation on H-ferritin receptor expression in human T lymphoid (MOLT-4) cells.

We have previously demonstrated the presence of receptors specific for human recombinant H ferritin (HrHF) on human T lymphoid cells (MOLT-4), and changes in receptor number and binding affinity with growth and cell cycling have now been examined. Specific binding of HrHF was maximal in MOLT-4 cells harvested during exponential growth with the cells in the DNA synthesis phase of the cell cycle. Specific binding decreased progressively to the plateau phase of growth with the cells in the resting phase of the cell cycle. Scatchard analysis of the competitive binding data for HrHF demonstrated that this decrease in binding was associated with a reduction in receptor number, from 42,140 per cell to 10,306 per cell. Receptor binding affinity increased only minimally over this period, from 7.1 x 10(7) L/mol to 14.9 x 10(7) L/mol. These results indicate that growth- and cell cycle-induced changes in H-ferritin receptor expression are primarily associated with changes in receptor number rather than receptor binding affinity. The present study demonstrates that the expression of this receptor is associated with the proliferative status of the cell and suggests that the H-ferritin receptor may mediate the putative regulatory role of H-ferritin.

Cell Cycle↗
PubMed1991

Alkaline phosphatase isoforms in bile and serum and their generation from cells in vitro.

Alkaline phosphatase is anchored to cell membranes by a glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol anchor and is present in bile and plasma in various isoforms. The formation of these isoforms depends upon mechanisms of release and subsequent complex formation. Evidence is presented for an enzymatic activity possibly a glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol-specific phospholipase D (GPI-PLD), in serum that releases an isoform incapable of further complex formation, whereas such an activity is absent from bile.

Alkaline Phosphatase↗