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J D Willis

Publications and source records attributed to J D Willis.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

A non-neurologist's guide to understanding the EMG/NCV report.

Podiatrists often refer patients to electromyographers to determine the cause of pain, tingling, numbness, and other paresthesias of unknown cause. Hence, some knowledge of the study and an understanding that it is an extension of the patient's history and physical examination is imperative. To enhance the podiatrist's understanding of electromyography, a review of basic neurophysiology, the neurologic examination, and electromyography/nerve conduction velocities (EMG/NCV) are discussed. Definitions are provided for the terms introduced in the article.

Electromyography↗
PubMed1996

Molecular cloning and characterization of a novel mouse macrophage gene that encodes a nuclear protein comprising polyglutamine repeats and interspersing histidines.

Simple tandem repeats of the trinucleotide sequence CAG encode homopolymeric stretches of glutamine. Although polyglutamine has been identified in diverse proteins, it is present predominantly in transcription factors. We observed that oncogene-immortalized mouse macrophages express several genes that contain a CAG repeat motif. Therefore, we attempted to clone a novel gene that contains a CAG repeat and is associated with cytokine activation of macrophages. Screening of a mouse macrophage cDNA library with a probe comprising 12 consecutive CAG triplets identified at least one unique clone. The cDNA encodes a protein (named GRP-1 or glutamine repeat protein-1) with 171 amino acids, a calculated molecular mass of 21.6 kDa, and a predicted pI of 10.67. Greater than two-thirds of GRP-1 are only two amino acids, namely glutamine (50%) and histidine (18%). There are four polyglutamine motifs interspersed with histidine-rich regions. There is also a putative nuclear localization signal flanked by sites for possible serine phosphorylation. GRP-1 mRNA was expressed constitutively in some macrophage cell lines and B and T cell lines. Interferon-gamma or lipopolysaccharide augmented GRP-1 mRNA expression in the mouse macrophage cell line ANA-1. Western blot analyses using an antipeptide serum revealed that GRP-1 was localized in the nucleus of ANA-1 macrophages and transfected 3T3 fibroblasts. Overexpression of GRP-1 decreased Sp1-driven chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene expression in transient cotransfection experiments. Because polyglutamine motifs can cause protein oligomerization and can function as transcriptional activation domains, we suggest that GRP-1 may be a transcription factor associated with interferon-gamma- or lipopolysaccharide-induced activation of macrophages.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1983

An example of medical audit under political pressure.

Management of medical services necessitates decisions regarding the possibly ineffective treatment programmes, hospitals and (even) individual practitioners. Although rigorous evaluations of effectiveness can only be achieved by randomized trials there has been, in recent years, much increase in audit (or peer review) activity. Ideally medical audit is undertaken as a collaborative exercise, and follows preplanned methods of data collection and evaluation of outcome. However, real management situations frequently do not conform to the ideal, as when the medico-political finger of accusation points at one particular hospital and asks for an immediate enquiry. This audit analyses the mortality and morbidity after coronary artery bypass graft surgery in the 'suspect' hospital and in control hospitals. The paper describes the difficulties of obtaining comparable records post hoc and the interpretations of small differences, mostly non-significant statistically yet possibly 'real', both in the characteristics of patients operated on and in the outcomes of operations.

Aged↗