PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

G P Wood

Publications and source records attributed to G P Wood.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Human astrocytes stimulate HIV-1 expression in a chronically infected promonocyte clone via interleukin-6.

Human promonocyte cells chronically infected with human immunodeficiency virus type (HIV-1) (clone U1.1.5) were grown in the presence of media conditioned by human astrocytes and glioma cell lines U251 and 253. HIV-1 expression was assessed by measuring reverse transcriptase activity. All media conditioned by unstimulated and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulated glial cells induced HIV-1 expression and contained detectable levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) but not tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha). An antibody against IL-6, but not against TNF-alpha, reduced the induction of HIV-1 by the conditioned media in a concentration-dependent manner. The magnitude of HIV-1 induction by the conditioned media was proportional to the concentration of IL-6 in them. The data indicate that normal and transformed human astrocytes are capable of stimulating HIV-1 expression in chronically infected promonocytic cells by secreting IL-6. The results demonstrate that cytokines secreted by neural cells could play an important role in regulating HIV-1 expression in the brain.

Astrocytes↗
PubMed1991

Selective autoregulation of endothelins in primary astrocyte cultures: endothelin receptor-mediated potentiation of endothelin-1 secretion.

Observations that primary rat astrocytes express high-affinity binding sites for endothelins and, in addition, are capable of producing not only endothelin-3 but also endothelin-1 prompted the investigation of a possible relation between endothelin peptides and receptors in these cells. Sarafotoxin S6b, an endothelin receptor agonist, was used as a tool to study endothelin receptor-mediated changes in the secretion of endothelin-1 and -3. The effects of sarafotoxin S6b and endothelin-1 in stimulating inositolphospholipid turnover as well as in inducing AP1 in primary astrocyte cultures were found to be similar. A low cross-reactivity of sarafotoxin S6b with endothelin-1 and -3 in the endothelin radioimmunoassays used here, along with a distinctly different elution position in high-performance liquid chromatography, allowed a clear discrimination between sarafotoxin and endothelins in the culture media. Stimulation of primary rat astrocytes with 10(-7) M sarafotoxin S6b for 1 hour resulted in a substantial increase in endothelin-1 immunoreactivity in the medium. This immunoreactivity reached a peak at 3 hours and showed no further increase after 8 and 24 hours. Treatment of our cultures with phorbol myristate acetate, lipopolysaccharide, tumor necrosis factor alpha, and norepinephrine for 24 hours led to only a moderate elevation of endothelin-1 immunoreactivity. Immunoreactive endothelin-3 was not affected by any of the treatments tested. Thus, our data suggest that endothelins in primary rat astrocytes are subject to selective autoregulation, as demonstrated by the potentiation of endothelin-1 secretion after activation of glial endothelin receptors.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

Laparoscopic examination of the normal infertile woman.

It is generally accepted that laparoscopy should be performed if a woman's basic infertility evaluation reveals no abnormalities. Although it has been shown that a significant number of these patients have unsuspected pelvic pathology that can be detected by laparoscopy, there is concern about the real benefit of this procedure, ie, does the laparoscopic examination truly lead to more pregnancies than otherwise expected? Presented is a review of a series of 50 female patients whose basic infertility evaluation had failed to reveal any abnormalities. Laparoscopy revealed significant pelvic pathology in 28 cases; of the 16 who had appropriate therapy, eight became pregnant.

Adnexal Diseases↗
PubMed1977

Urinary estrogens during late pregnancy: observations on the validity of "24-hour" urine collections and the estrogen/creatinine ratio.

The determination of estriol content of the maternal urine in late pregnancy has gained widespread use as a means of assessing the fetoplacental unit. Major drawbacks have included the time lag in obtaining a 24-hour urine collection and obtaining an accurate 24-hour collection. To overcome these problems, it has been suggested that the estrogen/creatinine (E/C) ratio of incomplete collections or even random urine specimens might provide adequate information. Our analysis of these E/C ratio technics, as compared to accurate 24-hour urine estrogen values and fetal outcome, shows the E/C ratio to be less reliable and occasionally misleading.

Creatinine↗
PubMed1976

Endometrial adenocarcinoma and the polycystic ovary syndrome.

While endometrial adenocarcinoma is the second most common female genital malignancy, only four per cent of the cases occur in women less than 40 years of age. The relative rarity of this disease in young women requires that we be especially attuned to those who are at high risk. This paper presents two case reports of women with polycystic ovarian disease who developed endometrial adenocarcinoma at 24 years of age. The pathophysiology ovarian disease and its relationship to the development of endometrial adenocarcinoma are discussed.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1975

Amniotic fluid glucose: a maternal, fetal, and neonatal correlation.

While it has been noted that amniotic fluid glucose is increased in patients withdiabetes mellitus, the exact significance of this finding is not known. Our study of amniotic fluid glucose in 53 amniotic fluid samples from 41 patients shows a high correlation of amniotic fluid glucose levels of 30 mg. per 100 ml. or greater with neonatal hypoglycemia. We have also found elevated amniotic fluid glucose levels in patients whose onlyother indication of abnormal glucose metabolism was recurrent glycosuria. Thepossible significance of these findings is discussed.

Amniotic Fluid↗
PubMed1975

The evaluation of fetal lung maturity by amniotic fluid analysis.

The frequent necessity for termination of pregnancy before the spontaneous onset of labor requires that we be able to accurately predict fetal lung maturity. We have used amniotic fluid studies for evaluation of fetal lung maturity and have found that (1) a "fat" cell concentration of 30% or more, or (2) a creatinine concentration of 2.0 mg/100 ml or more, or (3) a lecithin:spingomyelin (L:S) ratio of 2.0 or greater all correlated well with fetal maturity. Since each of these studies is open to a variety of possible errors, the use of several different ones adds reliability to the estimation of fetal lung maturity.

Amniotic Fluid↗
PubMed1975

Progesterone receptor of the human myometrium.

A progesterone binding protein was characterized in the cytosol of human myometrium. The receptor sedimented in the 4S region on sucrose gradients and had an equilibrium dissociation constant of 3.7 times 10-9M. Synthetic progestagens had an affinity equivalent to that of progesterone while cortisol had low affinity for the binding protein. These same progestagens showed very low binding to human CBG. In normally cycling women, the total levels of cytosol receptor were higher during the follicular phase than during the luteal phase. Subjects taking oral contraceptives and those who were pregnant had the lowest concentration of myometrial progesterone receptor. Postmenopausal women had levels of myometrial receptor lower than those of the secretory phase of the cycle. Estrogen therapy increased the receptor concentrations of the menopausal myometrium to those of the proliferative phase. The estradiol receptor levels of myometrial cytosol revealed similar changes in cycling women. When both binding proteins were measured concurrently in the same specimen, there was a significant positive correlation.

Anovulation↗
PubMed1975

Hormonal changes associated with Danazol therapy.

During a 6-month course of treatment of endometriosis with Danazol, a synthetic derivative of 17alpha-ethinyl testosterone, the following hormonal changes were found. Plasma LH remained essentially unchanged but FSH concentration was consistently in the low normal range. Plasma estradiol, especially after the fourth week of therapy, dropped to levels that did not exceed 30 pg/ml throughout the 6-month period of therapy. Plasma progesterone concentration was consistent with follicular phase levels. In the months after discontinuation of Danazol, all hormone parameters were strongly suggestive of normal ovulatory cycles. Danazol did not displace estradiol bound by endometrial cytosol.

Alkynes↗
PubMed1975

Urinary estrogen assays and maternal hyperbilirubinemia.

Urinary estrogen determinations have simplified the care of pregnant patients with certain metabolic disorders known to adversely affect the fetus. This report demonstrates that erroneously low values for urinary estrogens may be obtained if colorimetric assay methods are used for patients with congenital hemolytic anemias during an acute hemolytic crisis. This appears to be due to the interference of the large amounts of urobilin present in the urine of these patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Urinary 17-ketosteroids in diabetic and non-diabetic pregnancies.

The excretion of estriol into the maternal urine is an effective means of evaluating the fetus in pregnancies complicated by a number of metabolic disorders, such as chronic hypertension, renal disease, pre-eclampsia, etc. It is generally used in the management of pregnancies complicated by maternal diabetes mellitus even though some question has been raised as to its validity for this disorder. In this study we have evaluated estriol precursors in the form of 17-ketosteroids in the urine of pregnant women with mild diabetes mellitus as well as a non-diabetic control group. Urinary total estrogen excretion was also determined. Diabetics were found to excrete significantly higher amounts of 17-ketosteroids than the non-diabetic group. The possible significance of this finding in relation to the dynamics of estriol production in pregnancy is discussed.

17-Ketosteroids↗