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Biomedical subjects

D Read

Publications and source records attributed to D Read.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Lead in children from older housing areas in the Wellington region.

AIMS: To examine blood lead levels in children, aged 12 to 23 months, living in old housing areas of Wellington and Lower Hutt, and to investigate risk factors for high lead levels. METHOD: Children were selected from Plunket Society rolls. Venous blood samples were collected, and care givers were interviewed with a questionnaire. Soil samples were taken from around the children's homes. Both soil and blood samples were analysed for lead content. RESULTS: Blood samples and completed questionnaires were obtained for 143 children. The geometric mean blood lead level for all the children was 0.25 mumol/L (5.1 micrograms/dL) (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 0.22-0.28 mumol/L). Three children had blood lead levels that exceeded the level for notification in New Zealand 1.45 mumol/L and a further 13 had blood lead levels exceeding 0.48 mumol/L. Children with elevated lead levels were likely to live in a house greater than 50 years old where paint removal had taken place in the last 2 years (risk ratio [RR] = 14.4, 95% CI: 2-107). Eating dirt, particularly for children who usually played outside within 2 metres of the house, was also a risk factor for elevated blood lead levels. Soil lead levels generally increased with the age of the house and were weakly correlated with blood lead levels (r = 0.32). CONCLUSION: Paint removal in old houses is a major risk factor for elevated blood lead levels. However, the number of study children living in houses less than 50 years old was limited. Because of this and possible participant selection bias, the results of this study require confirmation in a separate population-based study. Information about the specific paint removal procedures that cause high lead levels is also needed.

Cross-Sectional Studies↗
PubMed1995

Plasmodium falciparum: parasites defective in early stages of gametocytogenesis.

Some molecular characteristics of Plasmodium falciparum lines which do not produce gametocytes are described. Parasites carrying a subtelomerically deleted chromosome 9 cannot form even the earliest forms of gametocytes, detectable with antibodies against the gametocyte-specific antigen Pfg27. In a parasite culture of clone HB3, in which both intact and deleted forms of chromosome 9 are present, full-length chromosome 9 molecules are retained mainly in gametocytes. These data suggest that the subtelomeric portion of chromosome 9 is required at an early stage of gametocytogenesis. Parasite subclones derived from gametocyte producing clone 3D7, which completely lost ability to produce gametocytes, are also described. Unlike the previous gametocyteless lines, these parasites stably maintain a full-length chromosome 9 and the ability to cytoadhere to C32 melanoma cells after prolonged asexual propagation. Their defect in sexual development is therefore genetically and functionally distinct from that of parasites carrying a deleted chromosome 9. Gametocyteless subclones derived from 3D7 do not produce any Pfg27 mRNA, while this gene is anomalously expressed in asexual stage parasites of two lines of a different genetic background, 1776sel8 and C10, one able and the other unable to produce gametocytes.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Botulinum versus tetanus neurotoxins: why is botulinum neurotoxin but not tetanus neurotoxin a food poison?

Botulinum and tetanus neurotoxins, produced by Clostridium botulinum and Clostridium tetani, respectively, are the most poisonous poisons known to mankind. Although botulinum and tetanus neurotoxins share several characteristics, such as similar mol. wts, similar macrostructure, virtually identical mode of action, and a strong amino acid sequence homology, the two neurotoxins differ in one very significant way; only botulinum neurotoxin is a food poison. Factors responsible for the food poisoning potential of botulinum neurotoxins seem to be a group of complexing proteins that are also produced by C. botulinum, and are known to associate with the neurotoxin. Translation products of nucleotide sequences upstream to the neurotoxin genes of serotypes A, B, C, D, E and F botulinum neurotoxin reveal the location of genes for one of the complexing proteins that could be transcribed as polycistronic mRNA to include neurotoxin sequences. No such protein seems to be present in C. tetani, suggesting that the lack of complexing proteins might be responsible for tetanus not being a food poison.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1995

COS cell expression cloning of Pfg377, a Plasmodium falciparum gametocyte antigen associated with osmiophilic bodies.

We report the deduced protein sequence and preliminary characterization of Pfg377, a novel sexual stage antigen of Plasmodium falciparum. An initial cDNA clone (Pfg377-1) encoding the N-terminal 755 amino acids of Pfg377 was isolated by transfecting a 3D7 gametocyte cDNA library into COS7 cells and selecting using a pool of anti-Pfs230 monoclonal antibodies. The protein encoded by Pfg377-1 included an N-terminal hydrophobic signal sequence, but no apparent transmembrane anchor. Instead, the particular cDNA clone selected was fused in-frame at its 3' end with the coding sequence for the human decay acceleration factor membrane anchor, which had been deliberately placed downstream of the vector polylinker in order to attach potential fusion proteins onto the COS cell surface. Northern blots probed with the Pfg377-1 cDNA demonstrated cross-hybridization to a single approximately 9.5-kb transcript, which was present only in sexual stages, and not in a sexual stages. DNA hybridization was used to obtain a series of overlapping genomic clones which collectively yielded the complete DNA sequence for Pfg377. There are no introns within the gene, which contains a 9360-bp open reading frame and encodes a 377-kDa protein. The Pfg377 protein is highly hydrophilic, and has an essentially non-repetitive structure, with only four very limited regions of tandem repeats. The Pfg377 gene resides on chromosome 12, and immunoelectron microscopy with two different anti-Pfg377 polyclonal antisera raised against two separate recombinant sub-fragments of the protein both indicated that the antigen is located in electron-dense organelles of the gametocytes--the osmiophilic bodies--which are proposed to play a role in parasite emergence from the erythrocyte during gametocyte maturation in the Anopheles mosquito midgut. Although it was selected with anti-Pfs230 antibodies, comparison of the sub-cellular locations and protein sequences of Pfg377 and Pfs2 show them to be completely distinct antigens. We hypothesize that Pfg377-1 was initially isolated because it expresses an epitope which is recognized by (i.e., cross-reacts with) one of the anti-Pfs230 monoclonal antibodies used to select the original transfected COS cells.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1994

Transmission-blocking antibodies against multiple, non-variant target epitopes of the Plasmodium falciparum gamete surface antigen Pfs230 are all complement-fixing.

We have studied the properties of 16 newly derived monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) against Pfs230, a gamete surface protein of Plasmodium falciparum and a target of transmission-blocking antibodies. All 16 MoAbs recognized Pfs230 by immunoprecipitation from non-ionic detergent extracts of the protein radio-labelled with 125Iodine. The MoAbs also recognized this protein on Western blots under non-reducing conditions but none of them recognized the protein under reducing conditions. Using an immunoradiometric assay the MoAbs appear to define nine different epitope regions. The MoAbs were tested for their ability to lyse extra-cellular female gametes of P. falciparum isolate 3D7. Eight of the MoAbs, all of isotype IgG2a, mediated complement-dependent lysis of the gametes; seven of the MoAbs, all isotype IgG1, failed to lyse the gametes in the presence of active complement. The eight complement-fixing MoAbs mediated almost total suppression of infectivity of gametocytes of P. falciparum 3D7 to mosquitoes; where tested this suppression was mainly complement-dependent. The seven non-complement-fixing MoAbs had no significant effect on the infectivity of gametocytes of P. falciparum 3D7 to mosquitoes. When tested by immunofluorescence the target epitopes of all the MoAbs were conserved in each of the five different isolates of P. falciparum which were tested.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Pharmacokinetics and biological activity of kinetensin in conscious sheep.

Kinetensin is a nonapeptide, originally isolated from pepsin-treated plasma, that shares some sequence homology with the C-terminal end of neurotensin. The present study was designed to determine, by infusing kinetensin to conscious sheep, the pharmacokinetics and a neurotensin-like biological activity (pancreatic polypeptide response) of kinetensin. Kinetensin was rapidly metabolized, approximately 200-fold more rapidly than neurotensin. The majority of the metabolism occurred in the circulation as demonstrated both in vivo and in vitro. The lung and gut cleared kinetensin also. Inhibition of converting enzyme, present in highest concentration in the lung, abolished lung clearance but was without effect on kinetensin metabolism by the gut or in the general circulation. Arterial infusion of kinetensin which achieved high blood kinetensin levels at the pancreas did not increase plasma pancreatic polypeptide. We conclude that the extremely rapid degradation of exogenous kinetensin, together with the lack of biological activity, makes it unlikely that kinetensin plays a role as a circulating regulatory peptide. Nevertheless, since the putative kinetensin substrate circulates at microM concentrations, it is feasible that kinetensin is generated and metabolized at the target organ.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Molecular characterisation of neuropathy target esterase: proteolysis of the [3H]DFP-labelled polypeptide.

Neuropathy target esterase (NTE) in hen brain membranes can be labelled with tritiated di-isopropylfluorophosphate ([3H]DFP) and appears to be associated with a 155-kDa polypeptide. Using preparative SDS-PAGE, we have obtained preparations in which [3H]DFP-labelled NTE comprises 2% of the total protein. Further purification of the 155-kDa polypeptide has proved difficult. We therefore attempted to use proteases to excise smaller [3H]DFP-labelled fragments which might be more amenable to fractionation. V8 protease treatment generated a labelled fragment of about 16 kDa which could be fractionated on SDS-PAGE and contained tritium attached to both site X (putatively the active site serine) and site Z (the residue to which an isopropyl moiety is transferred during aging of [3H]DFP-inhibited NTE). Papain and thermolysin treatments generated a small labelled peptide (< 10 kDa) which could be fractionated on reverse-phase HPLC and in which tritium was attached to site X but not site Z. N-terminal sequencing of the thermolysin-generated peptide fraction indicated sample heterogeneity but also suggested that the active site of NTE may contain the serine esterase consensus sequence: Gly-Glu-Ser-Xxx-Gly.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1993

Characterisation of UGP and its relationship with beta-core fragment.

Urinary gonadotrophin peptide (UGP) was originally identified by immunoassay in the urine of patients with various types of cancer and by immunohistochemistry in human cancers of various histological types. Extracts of normal adult male urine also contained UGP by immunoassay. Purified UGP from different starting material was subjected to high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) prior to defining amino acid sequences. Chromatographed UGP after HPLC showed three distinct fractions. The N-terminal sequence of peptide 2 was completely homologous with the beta-core fragment of human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) and this was found associated with two smaller peptides. The N-terminal sequence of peptide 1 has not been described previously whilst the N-terminus of peptide 3 that was sequenced showed complete homology with the N-terminal sequence of eosinophil derived neurotoxin and non-secretory ribonuclease. The monoclonal antibodies 2C2 and 6D3 only bind beta core-fragment (peptide 2) whilst the polyclonal (rabbit) antibody AK12 could bind all three peptides. The radioimmunoassay system using AK12 could be inhibited by all three peptides and the immunoradiometric assay although based on a capture antibody (2C2) that only bound peptide 2, had the potential to measure all three peptides (when bound together as UGP) at the second step when 125I-AK12 was introduced as the detector. A specific radioimmunoassay for peptide 3 was generated using 125I-peptide 3 and the AK12 antibody. Beta core-fragment on iso-electric focusing was found to have a pI > 9.5, peptide 3 showed two bands at pI = 3.5 and 3.8 whilst insufficient purified peptide 1 was available to determine its iso-electric point. Bioassay studies on UGP showed that any biological activity could be attributed to trace contamination with hCG.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Alternatively spliced transcripts of the Drosophila tramtrack gene encode zinc finger proteins with distinct DNA binding specificities.

A protein present in nuclear extracts of Drosophila embryos binds multiple sites in the promoter and genetically defined autoregulatory element of the pair-rule gene even-skipped (eve). We reported here the isolation of a cDNA encoding this binding activity, the sequence of which identifies it as the 69 kDa zinc finger tramtrack (ttk) protein. As ttk was previously implicated in controlling the expression of another pair-rule gene, fushi tarazu (ftz), our findings suggest that ttk plays a role in the regulation of at least two developmentally important genes. An additional ttk-related cDNA clone was isolated which gives rise to an 88 kDa protein with an alternative set of zinc fingers having a DNA binding specificity distinct from that of the 69 kDa protein. Both proteins were shown to be encoded by the ttk gene through alternative splicing, providing the first example of the use of this mechanism to generate related proteins with distinct DNA binding specificities. Whole mount in situ hybridization analysis revealed different patterns of embryonic expression of the two ttk mRNA isoforms.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Ectopic expression of the Drosophila tramtrack gene results in multiple embryonic defects, including repression of even-skipped and fushi tarazu.

The tramtrack (ttk) gene of Drosophila encodes 69-kDa and 88-kDa proteins through alternative splicing of the primary ttk transcript. The two proteins share a common amino-terminal sequence, but contain different carboxy-terminal portions, each of which has a distinct zinc finger domain with a unique DNA binding specificity. The 69-kDa ttk protein has been shown to bind multiple sites within important regulatory elements of the pair-rule genes even-skipped (eve) and fushi tarazu (ftz), and it has been suggested that this protein may function as a repressor of ftz transcription. Here we present evidence that the 69-kDa ttk protein can indeed repress expression not only of ftz, but also of eve. Ectopic expression of the 69-kDa protein, but not of the 88-kDa form, was found to nearly abolish the striped patterns of expression of both eve and ftz in transgenic embryos. These findings, coupled with our detection of significant levels of ttk protein in ovaries and 0-2-h embryos, support the idea that maternally supplied ttk protein serves to prevent premature activation of eve and ftz, thereby helping to establish the timing of the onset of zygotic expression of these two genes. Furthermore, gross defects in the larval cuticle resulting from misexpression of the 69-kDa protein suggest that this protein performs additional functions in the early embryo.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Cutaneous manifestations in systemic trichosporonosis.

Trichosporonosis due to Trichosporon beigelii is increasingly recognized in neutropenic immunocompromised patients. We report the clinical and histological presentation of three cases, as well as a study of the prevalence of T. beigelii colonization of normal-looking skin in patients receiving intensive chemotherapy for cancer.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Cysteamine can induce duodenal ulceration in rats without depletion of immunoreactive somatostatin.

Single subcutaneous administration of cysteamine (2-aminoethanethiol, CSH) produces duodenal ulceration in rats within 24 h. Depletion of circulating and tissue somatostatin (SOM), hypergastrinemia and gastric acid hypersecretion have all been postulated as the pathophysiological response to CSH leading to ulceration. The purpose of this study was to analyze the synthesis, storage and secretion of gastrin and SOM as well as structural changes in SOM peptide after CSH treatment. Injection of 300 mg/kg (s.c.) of CSH caused macroscopic duodenal ulcers in seven out of eight rats at 24 h. Hypergastrinemia was seen within 30 min (from 23 +/- 4 to 74 +/- 20 pmol/l), and persisted for 4 h. Antral gastrin content was elevated at 30 min (2539 +/- 114 pmol/g) when compared to saline controls (1589 +/- 101 pmol/g). Plasma SOM did not change over the 24 h but antral SOM increased at 30 min (from 120 +/- 3 to 230 +/- 23 pmol/g) and remained elevated at 2 h (374 +/- 48 pmol/g) and 4 h (357 +/- 37 pmol/g). Fundic and duodenal SOM followed a similar pattern. Antral SOM mRNA was also elevated over the first 4 h (3-fold increase, P less than 0.05). HPLC analysis of antral tissue extracts revealed the presence of additional molecular forms of SOM which, however, differed from the major products of in vitro reduction with either CSH or dithiothreitol. Thus, the in vivo effect of CSH on SOM cannot be solely explained by a reductive opening of the disulphide bond. These results suggest that duodenal ulceration in rats treated with CSH is not related in a simple fashion to depletion of immunoreactive SOM. Early induction of hypergastrinemia may be important in the onset of ulceration. The value of CSH as a SOM depleting tool in gastrointestinal tissue must remain in doubt.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Ontogeny of neurotensin in the fetal sheep.

Neurotensin (NT) is a regulatory peptide involved in the control of gastrointestinal function. We have used the chronically cannulated ovine fetus to examine the ontogeny of circulating NT-like immunoreactivity (NTLI) in the fetus and neonatal lamb. In addition the placental transfer and clearance of NT has been determined. NTLI in the ovine fetus circulates at adult concentrations during the third trimester of pregnancy and is of fetal origin. NTLI is present in the fetal ileum, the richest source of NT, at adult concentrations and in the same molecular profile as in the adult. There is a transient increase in circulating NTLI at birth, and a small NT response to feeding in the lamb. While fetal concentrations of plasma NTLI are generally the same as in the adult and originate from the fetus, the fetus clears infused NT(1-13) twice as rapidly as the nonpregnant adult indicating a higher fetal production of NT. Thus it appears that the mechanisms involved in the production and processing of NT are mature some weeks before birth.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Day surgery: a consumer survey.

Two hundred and eleven day surgical patients admitted to the day procedures area at Hutt Hospital were surveyed after discharge. The level of patient satisfaction was high, and increased with age. Forty-seven percent of adult patients rated their experience as excellent. Seventy-four percent reported no personal disadvantage of day surgery. The most common advantages were minimal disruption to their lifestyle and that of their family, and avoidance of an overnight stay. Twenty-four percent reported problems after discharge, in particular pain.

Adolescent↗