Biomedical subjects

E J Horton

Publications and source records attributed to E J Horton.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1992

Depressed interferon synthesis in skin fibroblasts from lung cancer patients.

Skin fibroblast cell cultures, derived from male adult lung cancer patients, an adult control population, and a newborn population were examined for their susceptibility to transformation with Kirsten murine sarcoma virus and their ability to respond to an interferon inducer (poly I.poly C). An association between sensitivity to viral transformation and induction of interferon was observed. Cultures derived from lung cancer patients demonstrated an increased sensitivity to virus transformation and a decreased ability to respond to interferon induction as compared with age-matched controls and newborns.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Brain-adrenal axis hormones are altered in the CSF of infants with massive infantile spasms.

Massive infantile spasms (MIS), a seizure disorder unique to infants, is considered an age-dependent response of the immature brain to various insults and stressors. The seizures improve with ACTH and glucocorticoids, both major components of the brain-adrenal axis. We hypothesized that CNS levels of these hormones are abnormal in infants with MIS and studied CSF from 14 infants with MIS and 13 age-matched controls by analysis for corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH), ACTH, cortisol, and interleukin-1-beta. ACTH levels in CSF of patients were significantly lower than those of controls, but differences in cortisol levels between patients and controls were not statistically significant. CRH levels in both groups were similar and fluctuated diurnally. These results indicate an alteration of specific CNS components of the brain-adrenal axis in MIS.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗

PubMed1990

Rhythmic coma in children.

We describe a syndrome of rhythmic coma in children that consists of an invariant, nonreactive, diffuse cortical activity of a specific frequency, such as alpha, beta, spindle, or theta, recorded from a comatose child. We report 11 cases of children who were found to be in rhythmic coma during their acute illnesses. Their ages ranged from 2 to 15 years, and their diagnoses included encephalitis, head trauma, seizures, near drowning, brain tumors, stroke, and metabolic derangements. The specific frequency of the electroencephalographic pattern, ie, alpha, beta, spindle, or theta, did not influence the outcome. The clinical outcome appeared to depend on the primary disease process rather than the electroencephalographic finding. The prognosis of alpha-frequency rhythmic coma as well as of rhythmic coma in general was better in children than in adults. The pathophysiology in children may be similar, ie, the interruption of reticulothalamocortical pathways by metabolic or structural abnormalities, but the expression of this deafferentation may be more varied in the developing brain. Thus, we propose the term rhythmic coma as a unified concept for alpha, beta, spindle, and theta coma in children.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1985

Depressed interferon synthesis in skin fibroblasts from lung cancer patients.

Skin fibroblast cell cultures, derived from male adult lung cancer patients, an adult control population, and a newborn population were examined for their susceptibility to transformation with Kirsten murine sarcoma virus and their ability to respond to an interferon inducer (poly I X poly C). An association between sensitivity to viral transformation and induction of interferon was observed. Cultures derived from lung cancer patients demonstrated an increased sensitivity to virus transformation and a decreased ability to respond to interferon induction as compared with age-matched controls and newborns.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Compulsive somatosensory self-stimulation inducing epileptic seizures.

Three children who had been diagnosed as having infantile spasms with major psychomotor retardation were referred for the persistence of series of spasm-like seizures, which were resistant to antiepileptic drug treatment, beyond infancy. Serial seizures were elicited by a compulsive self-stimulating behavior that was documented by long-term video-polygraphy. These behaviors implicated proprioceptive inputs: tapping on the chin in one case, flexion and external rotation of the leg with dislocation of the femur in one case, a particular posturing of the body followed by rhythmic shaking of the head in the last case. This clinical picture seems to constitute a particular type of outcome for infantile spasms and is particularly resistant to therapy.

Cerebral Cortex↗