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Biomedical subjects

H D James

Publications and source records attributed to H D James.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

Rotaviral immunity in gnotobiotic calves: heterologous resistance to human virus induced by bovine virus.

The possibility of immunizing human infants against rotaviruses, which cause severe dehydrating diarrheal disease, may depend on the use of a related rotavirus, derived from another animal species, as a source of antigen. To test the feasibility of this approach, calves were infected in utero with a bovine rotavirus and challenged with bovine or human type 2 rotavirus shortly after birth. Infection in utero with bovine rotavirus induced resistance to diarrheal disease caused by the human virus as well as the homologous bovine virus. These data suggest that the bovine virus is sufficiently related antigenically to the human type 2 virus to warrant further evaluation of the former as a source of vaccine.

Animals

Clinical response and tricyclic plasma levels during treatment with clomipramine.

Fifty depressed in-patients at two psychiatric units, one in Italy the other in England, were treated with clomipramine, either orally, or intravenously and orally. A comparison of clinical response with plasma levels of clomipramine and its metabolite, desmethylclomipramine, showed clear relationships especially in the case of desmethylclomipramine. In the intravenously-treated group this was linear, in the orally-treated group it was curvilinear. Plasma levels of desmethylclomipramine and administered clomipramine correlate highly. These findings, together with the fact that significant clinical improvement was observed in only 55% of the patients, suggest that titration of the administered dose to obtain more effective plasma levels of the metabolite might improve the clinical response to the drug in some patients.

Administration, Oral

Prevalence of antibody to the Norwalk agent by a newly developed immune adherence hemagglutination assay.

An immune adherence hemagglutination assay (IAHA) for the detection of antibody to the Norwalk agent of acute epidemic nonbacterial gastroenteritis was developed using as antigen virus purified from stool from an experimentally infected volunteer. The assay was sensitive and specific and was efficient for detecting Norwalk antibody seroresponses. The prevalence of Norwalk antibody in various groups in the United States was studied. Antibody to the Norwalk agent was acquired gradually, beginning slowly in childhood and accelerating in the adult period so that by the fifth decade 50% possessed antibody. This pattern of antibody acquisition contrasted sharply with that for the human rotavirus of infantile gastroenteritis. Rotavirus antibody was acquired during early childhood by almost all individuals in the pediatric groups studied. Antibody to the Norwalk agent was also found in rural Bangladesh; in a small prevalence survey of 39 children and adults 21% possessed Norwalk IAHA antibody, whereas 95% possessed antibody to the human rotavirus.

Adolescent

Antigenic relationships among five reovirus-like (RVL) agents by complement fixation (CF) and development of new substitute CF antigens for the human RVL agent of infantile gastroenteritis.

The human reovirus-like (HRVL) agent, Nebraska calf diarrhea virus (NCDV), epizootic diarrhea of infant mice (EDIM) virus, simian agent (SA)-11, and the "O" (offal) agent were found to be similar, if not identical, in reciprocal complement fixation (CF) tests employing hyperimmune animal sera. In addition, in CF tests with paired sera from 35 diarrhea patients who shed the HRVL agent, 74% developed serologic evidence of infection with the HRVL antigen, 43% with NCDV, 51% with EDIM virus, 57% with SA-11, and 71% with the "O" agent. Thus, in addition to the NCDV, which had previously been described as a suitable substitute CF antigen for the HRVL agent, the SA-11, "O", and EDIM viruses may also be utilized as substitute antigens for the HRVL agent. However, the "O" agent appears to be the most efficient of the four substitute CF antigens and thus should be used preferentially when the HRVL agent is not available. The "O" agent was about as efficient as the HRVL agent and significantly more efficient than the NCDV for detecting seroresponses. The greatest efficiency for detecting infection with the HRVL agent resulted when sera were tested with both the HRVL and "O" agents as 31 (89%) of the patients developed serologic evidence of infection with one or both antigens. The finding of additional substitute CF antigens for the HRVL agent may have implications in the immunoprophylaxis against human disease.

Animals

New complement-fixation test for the human reovirus-like agent of infantile gastroenteritis. Nebraska calf diarrhea virus used as antigen.

A complement-fixation (C.F.) test for the human reovirus-like agent of infantile gastroenteritis has been developed using the serologically related Nebraska calf diarrhoea virus (N.C.D.V.) as antigen. Most infants and children who shed the agent in stools and/or who demonstrated serological (C.F.) evidence of infection with a reovirus-like-particle-positive human stool-filtrate C.F. antigen also demonstrated serological evidence of infection when a concentrated N.C.D.V. preparation was employed AS C.F. antigen. The N.C.D.V., which was previously shown to be related to the human reovirus-like agent, was found to be related antigenically to the epizootic diarrhoea of infant mice (E.D.I.M.) virus also. Studies on the prevalence of C.F. antibody in sera from infants and young children revealed a pattern of rapid acquisition of antibody to both the human reovirus-like agent and the N.C.D.V. as over 80 percent of these individuals possessed antibody to each agent by 36 months of age. A strong positive association was found in the results obtained with the two antigens. The ready availability of cell-culture grown N.C.D.V., and its ability to serve as a "substitute" C.F. antigen for the human reovirus-like agent, should enable the serodiagnosis of many cases of disease due to the human agent and facilitate seroepidemiological studies of such infections. In addition, the observation that a large proportion of individuals infected with the human reovirus-like agent develop serological evidence of infection not only to the human agent but to the calf agent as well may have important implications in the immunoprophylaxis of disease caused by the human reovirus-like agent.

Animals