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Biomedical subjects

D R Morrison

Publications and source records attributed to D R Morrison.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

Cytokine secretion by immune cells in space.

Cultured, bone marrow-derived macrophages, murine spleen and lymph node cells, and human lymphocytes were tested for their ability to secrete cytokines in space. Lipopolysaccharide-activated bone marrow macrophages were found to secrete significantly more interleukin-1 and tumor necrosis factor when stimulated in space than when stimulated on earth. Murine spleen cells stimulated with poly I:C in space released significantly more interferon-alpha at 1 and 14 hours after stimulation than cells stimulated on earth. Similarly, murine lymph node T cells and human peripheral blood lymphocytes, stimulated with concanavalin A in space, secreted significantly more interferon-gamma than ground controls. These data suggest that space flight has a significant enhancing effect on immune cell release of cytokines in vitro.

Animals

Consequences of teen-age parenting.

The changing context of teen-age childbearing and current related controversies are reviewed. Recent research about the consequences of teen-age childbearing for the teen-age mother, the father, and for the children born is examined. The article also summarizes current knowledge about the consequences of teen-age childbearing with regard to the mother's educational attainment, marital experience, subsequent fertility behavior, labor force experience and occupational attainment, and experience with poverty and welfare.

Adolescent

Experiments with suspended cells on the Space Shuttle.

Spaceflight experiments since 1981 have demonstrated that certain cell functions are altered by micro-g. Biophysical models suggest that cell membranes and organelles should not be affected directly by gravity, however, the chemical microenvironment surrounding the cell and molecular transport could be altered by reduced gravity. Most experiments have used suspended live cells in small chambers without stirring or medium exchange. Flight results include increased attachment of anchorage-dependent human cells to collagen coated microcarriers, reduced secretion of growth hormone from pituitary cells, decreased mitogenic response of lymphocytes, increased Interferon-alpha by lymphocytes, increased Interleukin-1 and Tumor Necrosis Factor secretion by macrophages. Related experiments on cells immediately postflight and on procaryotic cells have shown significant changes in secretory capacity, cell proliferation, differentiation and development. Postulated mechanism include altered cell-cell interactions, altered calcium ion transport, effects on cell cytoskeleton, transport of transmitters and interactions with receptors. The discussion includes use of new molecular methods, considerations for cell environmental control and a preview of several experiments planned for the Shuttle and Spacelab flights to study the basic effects of microgravity on cellular physiology and potential interactions of spaceflight with radiation damage and cellular repair mechanisms.

Animals

Longitudinal studies of effects of divorce on children in Great Britain and the United States.

National, longitudinal surveys from Great Britain and the United States were used to investigate the effects of divorce on children. In both studies, a subsample of children who were in two-parent families during the initial interview (at age 7 in the British data and at ages 7 to 11 in the U.S. data) were followed through the next interview (at age 11 and ages 11 to 16, respectively). At both time points in the British data, parents and teachers independently rated the children's behavior problems, and the children were given reading and mathematics achievement tests. At both time points in the U.S. data, parents rated the children's behavior problems. Children whose parents divorced or separated between the two time points were compared to children whose families remained intact. For boys, the apparent effect of separation or divorce on behavior problems and achievement at the later time point was sharply reduced by considering behavior problems, achievement levels, and family difficulties that were present at the earlier time point, before any of the families had broken up. For girls, the reduction in the apparent effect of divorce occurred to a lesser but still noticeable extent once preexisting conditions were considered.

Achievement

Parallel line analysis: multifunctional software for the biomedical sciences.

An easy to use, interactive FORTRAN program for analyzing the results of parallel line assays is described. The program is menu driven and consists of five major components: data entry, data editing, manual analysis, manual plotting, and automatic analysis and plotting. Data can be entered from the terminal or from previously created data files. The data editing portion of the program is used to inspect and modify data and to statistically identify outliers. The manual analysis component is used to test the assumptions necessary for parallel line assays using analysis of covariance techniques and to determine potency ratios with confidence limits. The manual plotting component provides a graphic display of the data on the terminal screen or on a standard line printer. The automatic portion runs through multiple analyses without operator input. Data may be saved in a special file to expedite input at a future time.

Data Interpretation, Statistical

Antigen presentation by non-immune B-cell hybridoma clones: presentation of synthetic antigenic sites reveals clones that exhibit no specificity and clones that present only one epitope.

Recently, we reported the preparation and antigen-presenting properties of hybridoma B-cell clones obtained after fusing non-secreting, non-antigen presenting Balb/c 653-myeloma cells with non-immune SJL spleen cells. It was found that antigen presentation at the clonal level can be specific or non-specific, depending on the particular B-cell clone. In the present work, one specific and one general presenter B-cell clones were tested for their epitope presentation ability to SJL T-cells that were specific to lysozyme or myoglobin. B-cell clone A1G12, a general presenter which presented both lysozyme and myoglobin to their respective T-cell lines, was found to present all five myoglobin epitopes while clone A1L16, a lysozyme specific presenter presented only one of the three epitopes of lysozyme. The latter reveals a hitherto unknown submolecular specificity (to a given epitope within a protein) for antigen presenting cells at the clonal level. Therefore, the specificity of T-cell recognition does not only derive from the T-cell but may also be dependent on the epitope specificity of the antigen-presenting B-cell.

Amino Acid Sequence

Presentation of antigen to T lymphocytes by non-immune B-cell hybridoma clones: evidence for specific and non-specific presentation.

Non-immune SJL (H-2s) spleen cells were fused with non-secreting, non-antigen presenting (H-2d) Balb/c 653-myeloma cells and the hybridomas were cloned by two limiting dilutions. The resulting hybrid B-cell clones were tested for their antigen presentation capability to SJL T-cell lines that were specific for either lysozyme or myoglobin. In proliferative assays, 53% of the antigen presenting B-cell clones presented both myoglobin and lysozyme (general presenters) while the other 47% presented specifically either myoglobin or lysozyme (specific presenters). The ability to selectively present either myoglobin or lysozyme indicates that antigen presentation at the clonal level can be specific or non-specific depending on the particular B-cell clone.

Animals

The antecedents of teenage fatherhood.

The High School and Beyond Survey was used to describe young men who are at risk of becoming teenage fathers and examine the causal process leading to early fathering for young men. Bivariate results show that men who are at risk of fathering children at a young age have unique attitudes and family, school, and dating experiences. Multivariate analyses suggest that the most cogent factors affecting teenage fathering include being black, going steady, and having unorthodox views about parenting outside of marriage.

Adolescent

Conformation-dependent recognition of a protein by T-lymphocytes: apomyoglobin-specific T-cell clone recognizes conformational changes between apomyoglobin and myoglobin.

A T-cell clone specific to apomyoglobin was generated. It was prepared from a T-cell culture obtained by in vitro driving of lymph node cells with apomyoglobin from SJL mice that have been primed in vivo with apomyoglobin. In proliferative assays, the T-cell clone responded to apomyoglobin but did not recognize native myoglobin or any of the synthetic peptides corresponding to the six T sites of myoglobin. The demonstration that a T-cell clone can be isolated, whose specificity is directed entirely to apomyoglobin and not to its counterpart myoglobin, with an identical amino acid composition, indicates the importance of the three-dimensional structure in the presentation of the protein to T cells.

Animals

Electrophoretic separation and analysis of living cells from solid tissues by several methods. Human embryonic kidney cell cultures as a model.

Preparative electrophoresis of living cells has been considered for some time as a potential tool for isolating, from heterogeneous mixtures, subpopulations of cells according to function. Such a purification depends upon the retention of electrophoretic heterogeneity and the retention of function. Human embryonic kidney cells that had been in monolayer culture for 1-5 subcultivations were resuspended by treatment with trypsin and/or EDTA and suspended in a variety of electrophoresis buffers, ranging in ionic strength from 0.0015 to 0.15 M. Analytical electrophoresis with a Zeiss Cytopherometer or Pen Kem 3000 automated light-scattering electrophoretic analyzer indicated that electrophoretic heterogeneity was retained under the full range of conditions tested. Preparative electrophoresis by three methods--in a density gradient, with continuous flow, and in microgravity--indicated that electrophoretic heterogeneity coincided with functional heterogeneity; for example, some electrophoretically isolated subpopulations produced increased levels of urokinase while others produced increased level of tissue plasminogen activator.

Buffers

Presentation of antigen to T lymphocytes by non-immune B-cell hybridoma clones: evidence for specific and non-specific presentation.

Non-immune SJL (H-2s) spleen cells were fused with (H-2d) Balb/c 653-myeloma cells and the hybridomas were cloned by two limiting dilutions. The resulting hybrid B- cell clones were tested for their antigen presentation capability to SJL T-cell lines that were specific for either lysozyme or myoglobin. In proliferative assays, 53% of the antigen presenting B-cell clones were able to present both myoglobin and lysozyme (general presenters) while the other 47% presented specifically either myoglobin or lysozyme (specific presenters). The ability to selectively present either myoglobin or lysozyme indicates that antigen presentation at the clonal level can be specific or non-specific depending on the particular B-cell clone.

Animals