Biomedical subjects
G Pierce
Publications and source records attributed to G Pierce.
IVR (interactive voice response) me ASAP. Four hot applications of interactive voice response.
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Assessment of the oxacillin disk screening test for determining penicillin resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae.
The 1 microgram oxacillin disk diffusion screening test was performed on 1516 recent clinical isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae obtained in a 1994-1995 U.S. surveillance study and the results compared to penicillin MICs determined using a standardized broth microdilution method. The oxacillin disk screening method failed to distinguish penicillin-resistant strains from those that were intermediately susceptible. Furthermore, a high percentage (11.1%) of penicillin-susceptible strains, for which MICs of penicillin were usually 0.06 or 0.03 microgram/ml, yielded zone diameters of < or = 19 mm with the oxacillin screen test and thus would have been falsely categorized as being resistant to penicillin.
Antibiotic resistance among clinical isolates of Haemophilus influenzae in the United States in 1994 and 1995 and detection of beta-lactamase-positive strains resistant to amoxicillin-clavulanate: results of a national multicenter surveillance study.
A total of 1,537 clinical isolates of Haemophilus influenzae were recovered in 30 U.S. medical center laboratories between 1 November 1994 and 30 April 1995 and were characterized in a central laboratory with respect to serotype and beta-lactamase production and the in vitro activities of 15 oral antimicrobial agents. Overall, 36.4% of the isolates were found to produce beta-lactamase. The rank order of activity of six cephalosporins on the basis of MICs was cefixime > cefpodoxime > cefuroxime > loracarbef > or = cefaclor > cefprozil. On the basis of current National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS) breakpoints ages of isolates found to be resistant or intermediate to these agents were as follows: 0.1, 0.3, 6.4, 16.3, 18.3, and 29.8, respectively (National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards. Methods for dilution antimicrobial susceptibility tests for bacteria that grow aerobically, 4th ed. M7-A4, 1995). Azithromycin was, on a weight basis, the most potent of the macrolides tested in this study, followed by erythromycin and then clarithromycin. Azithromycin was typically fourfold more active than erythromycin, which was, in turn, slightly more active than clarithromycin. However, when compared on the basis of the frequency of resistance determined by using current NCCLS breakpoints, there was essentially no difference between azithromycin and clarithromycin, i.e., 0.5 and 1.9%, respectively (P = 0.086). Interpretive breakpoints for erythromycin MIC tests versus H. influenzae have not been developed. Resistance to other non- beta-lactam agents was variable, as follows: trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, 9.0%; chloramphenicol, 0.2%; tetracycline, 1.3%; and rifampin, 0.3%. Two conspicuous findings in this study were the identification of 39 strains H. influenzae that were beta-lactamase negative but ampicillin intermediate or resistant (BLNAR) and, even more surprisingly, 17 beta-lactamase-positive isolates that were resistant to amoxicillin-clavulanate (BLPACR). Strains of H. influenzae in the first group have heretofore been very uncommon; organisms in the second group have not previously been described in the literature. The percentages of all study isolates comprised of BLNAR and BLPACR organisms were 2.5 and 1.1, respectively. Overall resistance to ampicillin was thus 38.9%, and that to amoxicillin-clavulanate was 4.5%.
Evaluation of comprehensive violence prevention education: effects on student behavior.
PURPOSE: This study evaluates the impact on student behavior of violence prevention education in school settings. METHODS: School records were obtained for three panels (1985, 1986, and 1987) of urban public high school students (n = 1,523) who were nonrandomly assigned to three different conditions of school-based violence prevention education: (1) in a class-specific comprehensive educational intervention, (2) as part of a school-wide violence prevention initiative, and (3) no exposure. Changes in suspension status from sophomore to junior year were tracked within exposure groups and the risk of junior year suspension was compared across exposure groups, controlling for age, gender, race, absenteeism, and previous year suspension. RESULTS: The class-specific exposure, compared to a not-exposed group from the same school showed a significant 71% reduction in suspension rates (RR = .286, CI .12, .66). The school-wide exposure school shows reductions in and maintenance of very low rates of junior year suspension in each cohort year, although these are not always statistically significantly different from not-exposed groups. CONCLUSION: Results indicate that violence prevention education can reduce negative school behaviors, particularly when other supportive curricula and activities are added.
In vitro activity of sanfetrinem (GV104326), a new trinem antimicrobial agent, versus Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Moraxella catarrhalis.
Sanfetrinem, formerly GV104326, is a new trinem antimicrobial agent with extensive in vitro activity for a variety of different bacteria. The activity of sanfetrinem was determined using a broth microdilution MIC method versus a large number of clinical isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Moraxella catarrhalis obtained in a recent 30-center United States surveillance study. The sanfetrinem MIC50 and MIC90 values for these three organism groups were 0.015 and 0.5 microgram/ml, 0.25, and 0.5 microgram/ml, and 0.015 and 0.03, respectively.
Prevalence of antimicrobial resistance among 723 outpatient clinical isolates of Moraxella catarrhalis in the United States in 1994 and 1995: results of a 30-center national surveillance study.
Seven hundred twenty-three isolates of Moraxella catarrhalis obtained from outpatients with a variety of infections in 30 medical centers in the United States between 1 November 1994 and 30 April 1995 were characterized in a central laboratory. The overall rate of beta-lactamase production was 95.3%. When the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards MIC interpretive breakpoints for Haemophilus influenzae were applied, percentages of strains found to be susceptible to selected oral antimicrobial agents were as follows: azithromycin, clarithromycin, and erythromycin, 100%; tetracycline and chloramphenicol, 100%; amoxicillin-clavulanate, 100%; cefixime, 99.3%; cefpodoxime, 99.0%; cefaclor, 99.4%; loracarbef, 99.0%; cefuroxime, 98.5%; cefprozil, 94.3%; and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, 93.5%.
Viral contamination of blood products.
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Platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor has thymidine phosphorylase activity.
Platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor (PD-ECGF), a protein which stimulates angiogenesis in vivo, is shown to have a 39.2% amino acid sequence similarity over a 439 amino acid region with the thymidine phosphorylase of Escherichia coli (E. coli). Using recombinant human PD-ECGF, we show that PD-ECGF has thymidine phosphorylase activity. Analysis by gel chromatography revealed that recombinant human PD-ECGF occurs as a 90 kDa homodimer, similar to other thymidine phosphorylases. In addition to a possible effect on DNA synthesis, PD-ECGF was shown to affect [3H]thymidine assays in a manner which is not related to cell proliferation. The in vitro and in vivo effects of PD-ECGF may thus occur by an indirect mechanism through its enzymatic activity.
J774A.1 macrophage cell line produces PDGF-like and non-PDGF-like growth factors for bone cells.
In light of evidence that macrophages participate in the local regulation of bone remodeling, we have examined the production of peptide stimulators of bone cell growth and specialization by the J774A.1 macrophage cell line. Cultured J774A.1 cells secrete growth-promoting activities which have an affinity for heparin. The first partially purified material, termed HEP I, appears to contain platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-like activity. It has a molecular weight of about 30,000 daltons, inhibits the binding of labeled PDGF to its receptors, reacts with polyclonal anti-human PDGF antibody, and exhibits mitogenic activity for osteoblasts, which is partially blocked by anti-PDGF antisera. Like PDGF, HEP I is active in a wide variety of mesenchyme-derived cells, including osteoblasts, chondrocytes, smooth muscle cells, fibroblasts, 3T3 cells and NRK cells. The J774A.1 cells contain mRNA, which hybridizes to a v-sis DNA probe, suggesting that they express the c-sis gene, which contains the code for a PDGF-like protein. The second factor, HEP II, has an approximate molecular weight of 20,000 daltons and possesses substantial mitogenic activity for osteoblasts, chondrocytes, and smooth muscle cells, but is not mitogenic for fibroblasts, 3T3 cells, and NRK cells. HEP II appears to be a unique bone cell mitogen, which is distinct from the growth factors presently known. Neither HEP I nor HEP II contained interleukin 1, a macrophage product known to promote bone resorption and perhaps the growth and activity of osteoblasts.
Current controversies in the detection of septicemia.
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Muscle glycogen repletion after exercise in trained normal and diabetic rats.
We hypothesize that training results in a faster and greater repletion of glycogen in skeletal muscles of normal and diabetic rats. Normal male Sprague-Dawley rats (100-140 g) were divided into two groups--one to train by treadmill running for 10 wk and the other to remain sedentary. Forty-eight hours after the last training session the rats of both groups were exercised to exhaustion. One subgroup of each was fed oral glucose (3 g/kg) at exhaustion and killed 60 min later. The other was killed at exhaustion. The glycogen concentration of soleus, plantaris, and red and white gastrocnemius was determined in all rats. The trained group had higher glycogen levels after glucose feeding in all muscles (P less than 0.002) and repleted their muscle glycogen more rapidly (P less than 0.05). However, in diabetic rats (45 mg streptozotocin/kg body wt) the trained and sedentary rats have similar glycogen levels and glycogen repletion rates in all muscles. Compared with the normal trained rats, the diabetic trained rats had slower glycogen repletion rates (P less than 0.05).
Impact of legislation raising the legal drinking age in Massachusetts from 18 to 20.
On April 16, 1979, Massachusetts raised its legal drinking age from 18 to 20 years. Massachusetts was compared with New York State, exclusive of New York City and Nassau County. New York State retained an 18-year-old drinking age. Random telephone surveys with approximately 1,000 16-19 year olds in each state were undertaken prior to the law's enactment and twice at yearly intervals after the law to assess the law's impact on teenage drinking, driving after drinking, and non-fatal accident involvement. Fatal crash data reported to the US Department of Transportation by each state from April 16, 1976-April 15, 1981 were also analyzed. After the law, although the modes of procuring alcohol changed. No significant changes were observed in Massachusetts relative to New York in the proportion of surveyed teenagers who reported that they drank or in the volume of their consumption. The proportion of teenagers who drove after drinking heavily (six or more drinks at one time) did not decline in Massachusetts relative to New York. However, the frequency that teenagers reported driving after any drinking declined significantly in Massachusetts. Frequency of teenage driving after marijuana use and non-fatal teenage accidents declined at comparable rates in both states. The numbers of teenage nighttime single vehicle fatal accidents declined more in Massachusetts than New York, in the 18-19 year age group. Overall fatal accident trends among 16-19 year olds in the two states were similar.
Staphylococcus aureus Cowan I-induced immunoglobulin production in human cord blood lymphocytes.
Human cord blood mononuclear cells (MNC) were stimulated with antibiotic killed Staphylococcus aureus Cowan I bacteria (S. aureus) or pokeweed mitogen (PWM) and cultured for 6 days. Immunoglobulin synthesis and secretion was measured with the indirect protein A plaque-forming cell (PFC) assay. All 14 cord blood specimens stimulated with S. aureus produced PFC comparable to that measured in adult peripheral blood cultures. PWM induced only minimal responses in cord MNC whereas good responses were demonstrated in adult cell cultures. The majority of the cord blood immunoglobulin synthesizing cells produced IgM, however, significant production of IgA was also seen. These observations were confirmed by detection of intracytoplasmic immunoglobulin in plasma cells with the use of fluorescent anti-immunoglobulin antibodies.
Pleuroscopy and pleural biopsy with the flexible fiberoptic bronchoscope.
Diagnostic pleuroscopy has been performed under local anesthesia in nine patients using a gas sterilized flexible fiberoptic bronchoscope inserted through a 1 to 2 cm chest incision into the pleural space. Pleuroscopy in one patient excluded recurrent neoplasm on the pleural aspect of a bronchopleural fistula. Another patient had a pleuroscopic biopsy of the lung, which was the only method successful in diagnosing a metastatic renal carcinoma. The other seven patients were studied for pleural effusions which were undiagnosed after study of pleural fluid and/or Abrams needle biopsy. In four of them pleural implants of carcinoma were visualized and proved by biopsy. Three patients had negative pleuroscopy, two of these also being negative at subsequent thoracotomy. One was not explored because of extrathoracic metastases. The procedures were performed with minimal patient discomfort and no serious complications.
Behavior modification: evaluation in a typical psychiatric ward setting.
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Immunologic response to melanoma of sensitized perfused bone and spleen.
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Asymptomatic gonorrhea in the campus female.
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