Dementia: supportive groups for relatives.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to E Ward.
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We investigated the possible influence of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH) on susceptibility to bladder cancer in humans. AHH inducibility was measured in the cultured lymphocytes of 16 patients who were being followed after successful treatment for bladder cancer, in 53 progeny of bladder cancer patients, and in matched controls. In both the progeny and patient populations, no evidence was found for a difference between the distribution of AHH inducibility or induced AHH activity compared to the distribution among control individuals. Thus, AHH acitivity or inducibility does not appear to be a major determinant of bladder cancer risk in humans.
To test whether the distribution of AHH inducibility is shifted toward the high end of the range in patients who had lung and laryngeal cancer, we measured this trait in 59 patients (32 lung and 27 laryngeal) who had resectable tumors and had been disease-free for a period of time. The advantage of selecting patients who were free of clinical disease was that measurement of their AHH inducibility should not have been affected by the disease state. Patient and control populations showed no difference in basal and induced AHH activity of AHH inducibility. The mean AHH inducibility in patients who had lung cancer was 3.20 +/- 0.20; in patients who had laryngeal cancer 2.96 +/- 0.18, and for all controls 3.29 +/- 0.04 (no significant difference at p = 0 05). Further analysis of the distribution of AHH inducibility in the patient group compared to controls showed no suggestion of a shift toward the higher end of the range in patients who had lung and laryngeal cancer.
When most mammalian cells are propagated in tissue culture, they are attached to a solid surface. This surface is commonly covered with a layer of serum protein. In this study we looked at the effect of the protein layer on the interaction between the cells and the surface by precoating the surface with various pure protein molecules. We found no differences between surfaces covered with pure protein layers and those covered with serum proteins except when antibody molecules were used. In all cases the cell types used avoided surfaces covered with antibody molecules. Previously, other investigators have established that some cells belonging to the immunology system are attracted to such surfaces.
Measurement of aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH) in cultured lymphocytes of 18 monozygotic and 30 dizygotic twin pairs showed that basal and induced AHH activity and AHH inducibility are heritable traits. The data are consistent with AHH inducibility being determined by a single or a very few polymorphic genes.
To test whether the genetically determined trait, aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase inducibility, affects susceptibility to lung cancer, we measured this trait in cultured lymphocytes from a normal population, patients with lung cancer and progeny of such patients. We found very low aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase activity (19 per cent of normal) in about half the patients with lung cancer. Only part of this activity can be accounted for by reduced cell growth and by reduced protein synthesis. In an indirect assessment of inducibility, both 57 progeny and 27 matched controls had a mean inducibility of 2.95 and a similar distribution into low, intermediate and high groups (chi-square = 0.3 P = 0.9). No differences in basal or induced activity were observed. Thus, if patients with lung cancer possess altered aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase inducibility or activity these characteristics are not transmitted to their progeny.
We measured aryl hydrocarbon hydroxylase (AHH) in cultured human lymphocytes. A striking seasonal variation in AHH activity was observed with induced AHH activity levels from January through May measuring approximately 20% of the values during the remainder of the year. AHH inducibility was determined by comparing lymphocytes from the same person cultured with and without the inducer 3-methylcholanthrene. If measurements are limited to the summer and fall seasons when AHH activity is high, AHH inducibility is reproducible for most persons with repeat determinations on the same person averaging 11% from the mean. The values of AHH inducibility in 53 persons ranged from 0.9 to 5.0, but the distribution of values did not fall into three distinct, nonoverlapping classes as reported by others. We were not able to determine the distribution of AHH inducibility in lung cancer patients since lymphocytes from less than half of the patients tested could be successfully cultured.
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A hyperacute form of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (HEAE) was induced in Lewis rats using small doses (3.2 mug) of guinea pig myelin basic protein as immunogen and B. pertussis vaccine as adjuvant. Myelin basic proteins from species other than guinea pig (rat, man, monkey, pig, ox, rabbit and sheep) induced only ordinary EAE with this adjuvant. HEAE was more readily distinguished from ordinary EAE by clinical criteria (early onset, with a rapid and severe course, and high incidence of cerebral signs and mortality) than by histologic signs which, although characteristic of HEAE. were not pathognomonic for HEAE, HEAE was transferred to x-irradiated syngeneic recipient rats with lymph node cells from appropriately immunized donors. The Brown Norway (BN) strain of rat was found susceptible to induction of ordinary EAE, but not HEAE, using large doses of either rat or guinea pig myelin basic proteins. The unique immunogenicity of the guinea pig basic protein must be due to a different antigenic determinant from the determinant(s) which is shared by rat and guinea pig myelin basic proteins and which without B. pertussis induces ordinary EAE. The adjuvant action of B. pertussis in inducing HEAE in the Lewis rat is most likely mediated through an immunocompetent T lymphocyte.
Interpretation of cross and tangential sections of the annulate lamellae and nuclear membrane of Rana pipiens oocytes provides evidence in these structures for the existence of disphragms spanning the pores. The evidence appears to rule out explanations ascribing such diaphragms to an optical artifact. More detailed description is given of a component of the pore complex only briefly described heretofore and now called the "intracisternal ring." The varied results and interpretations of studies of the pore complex in various cells are discussed.
Simultaneous cytophotometric and cytogenetic analyses of spontaneous mesenteric lymphomas from three female mice are reported. No statistically significant deviation from normal lymph node cells could be detected for any of the tumors with respect to nucleic acid content. However, all three tumors demonstrated trisomy as the major cytogenetic anomaly. Chromosome 7 or 8 was found to be the extra chromosome in two of the lymphomas while identification of chromosomes was not possible in the third.
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