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Biomedical subjects

J F James

Publications and source records attributed to J F James.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Long-term outcome after ECT for catatonic depression.

INTRODUCTION: This is the initial report of the course of major depression with catatonic features after hospitalization. METHOD: Telephone interviews and ratings were conducted 3-7 years after response to inpatient electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for such catatonic depression. This was done for all 19 followable patients treated over a particular 4-year period. All had received left anterior right temporal brief-pulse ECT. Prior to data examination, we constructed rules to classify medications as antimelancholic. These rules led to the inclusion of lithium, tricyclics, bupropion, and venlafaxine in this antimelancholic classification and to the exclusion of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. RESULTS: Ten of the 13 patients discharged on antimelancholic medication (AMM) had good function on follow-up and no more than one rehospitalization. In contrast, none of the six patients in the other group had as good an outcome (p = 0.004, corrected chi2 = 8.26). The AMM group had no deaths, but three patients in the other group died of acute cardiopulmonary causes (p = 0.015). In most cases, catatonia and depression were not identified by informant interview on follow-up. DISCUSSION: ECT followed by AMM usually led to long-term outcome that was good and better than without such medication. Although benzodiazepines can acutely diminish catatonia, we found no relevant long-term study; accordingly, long-term benzodiazepine use in catatonia is speculative.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Cardiac physiology in transgenic mice.

By use of gene targeting and/or transgenesis, it is now possible to make defined changes in genes whose functions underlie mammalian cardiovascular function. Because of technical and economic considerations, these experiments are largely confined to the mouse. Genetic modification of the loci responsible for aspects of cardiac development, differentiation, and function via gene targeting, as well as modulation of the cardiac protein complement using transgenesis, has begun to provide mouse models of cardiac hypertrophy, dilated cardiomyopathy, and hypertrophic cardiomyopathies. In order to use these animal models fully and explore their phenotypes at the whole organ and whole animal levels, the extension of cardiovascular physiological methodologies to the mouse is imperative. Techniques for exploring aspects of cardiovascular function are well developed for larger animal models, but their modification for the small size of the mouse heart and for the animal's rapid cardiac cycle has proven to be a formidable challenge, requiring the combined efforts of the molecular biology, physiology, and cardiology communities. We review here the ability of present-day technology to obtain reproducible data on murine cardiac function at the whole organ and animal levels.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Models of state funding for mental health research.

Twenty-eight of 49 states that responded to a survey supported mental health or substance abuse research through at least one of four funding mechanisms--the joint state-university research unit, research grants, state in-house research, and contracts. The authors illustrate the use of these mechanisms with examples from the states. The events leading to the establishment of the new Oklahoma Mental Health Research Institute are described.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed1988

Association of toxic shock toxin-1 determinant with a heterologous insertion at multiple loci in the Staphylococcus aureus chromosome.

Most Staphylococcus aureus strains associated with toxic shock syndrome and producing toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 (TSST-1) require tryptophan because of a genetic defect in tryptophan biosynthesis. The association between TSST-1 production and tryptophan auxotrophy was not correlated with the phage type, the colonization site, or the disease status of the patient from whom the isolate came. Protoplast fusion and transformation mapping located the genetic determinant of TSST-1 production (tst) very close to the trp operon in such strains and very close to tyrB in a Trp+ TSST-1+ strain. Southern blot hybridization of ClaI-restricted chromosomal DNA with a tst-specific probe revealed a common homologous segment in all of the Trp+ strains with tst linked to tyrB. These results confirmed that the tst determinant in Trp- strains is located at one site, whereas in Trp+ TSST-1+ strains the determinant is located elsewhere on the S. aureus chromosome. It is suggested that the TSST-1 determinant is associated with the insertion of a transposonlike segment into several sites on the S. aureus chromosome.

Bacterial Toxins↗
PubMed1986

An unusual Neisseria isolated from conjunctival cultures in rural Egypt.

Seven isolates of an unusual Neisseria sp. were obtained from eye cultures of children in two rural Egyptian villages. These Neisseria utilized only glucose, they exhibited a positive reaction when tested with antisera to crude antigen from Neisseria meningitidis and N. gonorrhoeae, and they did not react with the fluorescent antibody tests for N. gonorrhoeae or with the monoclonal antibodies used to serotype gonococci. The Egyptian isolates had colony morphology more typical of meningococci than gonococci and showed opaque and transparent colony variants. On SDS-PAGE, the major outer-membrane proteins had different patterns than those noted for comparable proteins of meningococci and gonococci; heat-modifiable outer-membrane proteins were present. Four of the six isolates examined had cryptic plasmids of 2.8 megadaltons, which were slightly larger than the cryptic plasmid of N. gonorrhoeae. These plasmids were homologous to the gonococcal cryptic plasmid, but had different restriction enzyme fragment patterns. The DNA from the Egyptian isolates, like DNA from N. meningitidis but unlike DNA from N. gonorrhoeae, could be cut with the restriction enzyme HaeIII. The frequency of transformation into a temperature-sensitive mutant of N. gonorrhoeae was 0.2 for the Egyptian isolates and 0.1 for N. meningitidis, a frequency that was 5-10-fold lower than that for the N. gonorrhoeae control isolates. Whole-cell DNA from the Egyptian isolates showed 68%-73% homology with N. gonorrhoeae and 57%-63% with N. meningitidis. On the basis of our observations, the Egyptian isolates are distinct from N. meningitidis and may represent a variant of N. gonorrhoeae. We suggest that the isolates be called Neisseria gonorrhoeae ssp. kochii.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed1982

Relation of protein I and colony opacity to serum killing of Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Serum bactericidal tests were done for isogenic Neisseria gonorrhoeae that formed transparent or opaque colonies. Analysis of the data from individual strains showed that the molecular weight of protein I was a highly significant, but not universal, determinant of serum sensitivity or resistance. N. gonorrhoeae organisms with high-molecular-weight protein I were more serum-sensitive. Multivariate analysis of the data from 43 strains indicated that N. gonorrhoeae organisms from transparent colonies were more serum-resistant than isogenic organisms from opaque colonies (P = 0.01). Survivors of bactericidal reactions in which the initial inoculum was from opaque colonies tended to form transparent colonies. Bactericidal action by sera from men was highly associated (P less than 0.02) with the molecular weight of protein I and with the presence of protein II bands on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, whereas bactericidal action by sera from women was associated only with the molecular weight of protein I.

Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins↗
PubMed1980

In vitro modeling of acute salpingitis caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae.

Normal human fallopian tube organ culture was used as an in vitro model to study Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections. The effects of various gonococcal colony phenotypes on morphology of the epithelium were studied by scanning electron microscopy. After 30 minutes' incubation, there was striking attachment of piliated transparent phenotypes to the epithelium; however, there was no obvious pathology. After 24 hours' incubation, there were microcolony formation, slight swelling and hyperplasia of the mucosa, and occasional focal necrosis and sloughing of ciliated cells. Tissue from acute salpingitis showed widespread destruction of mucosa, hyperplasia, and crypt formation. Duplication of these findings in vitro may require longer incubation and the addition of other host factors.

Epithelium↗
PubMed1980

Computer-assisted analysis of the therapy of acute salpingitis.

Isolation rates of microorganisms recovered by culdocentesis and/or laparoscopy in nine studies of salpingitis were multiplied by the proportions of each species which would be inhibited in vitro at peak and 1/2 peak serum levels of 13 antimicrobial drugs to yield a prediction of efficacy for the drugs. Efficacies of several hundred combinations of two and three of these drugs were estimated also. Some pairs of oral drugs were predicted to be as efficacious as some parenteral regimens of two or three drugs now in use. The predictions with this model parallel the results of some recently reported studies of therapy for salpingitis, and the model may prove to be a useful tool for future trials and therapy.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1980

Scanning electron microscopy of attachment of Neisseria gonorrhoeae colony phenotypes to surfaces of human genital epithelia.

Attachment of different gonococcal colony phenotypes to explants of human genital tract epithelium was studied by means of scanning electron microscopy and radioisotope-labeled gonococci. Heavily piliated organisms attached in greater numbers than nonpiliated organisms. Gonococci from transparent colony phenotypes attached in higher numbers than gonococci from opaque phenotypes to all tissues studied. Transitional cells from cervical tissues showing a gradual squamocolumnar transition demonstrated more gonococci attached per surface area than either endocervical or fallopian tube epithelium. Squamous epithelium showed the fewest number of attached gonococci. In all tissues, the attachment of the gonococcus was to the tips and surfaces of the microvilli. Gonococcal colony phenotypes as well as the length and location of the cervical transition zone may influence the progression of cervical gonococcal infection to invasive disease.

Cervix Uteri↗
PubMed1980

Comparison of virulence markers of peritoneal and fallopian tube isolates with endocervical Neisseria gonorrhoeae isolates from women with acute salpingitis.

Neisseria gonorrhoeae strains which cause acute salpingitis are presumed to ascend the genital tract from the cervix. Previous studies utilized isolates obtained from endocervical canal cultures, although it was not known if the isolates truly represented the organisms present in the fallopian tubes. In this study, we compared N. gonorrhoeae isolates from endocervical canal cultures with fallopian tube or peritoneal cul-de-sac isolates or isolates from both sites obtained at laparoscopy. Potential virulence markers were studied, including colony phenotype, auxotype, antimicrobial agent susceptibility, protein patterns on sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, and susceptibility to normal human serum. Six of seven cervical isolates had the same antibiograms and molecular weight for major outer membrane proteins as those of the corresponding peritoneal isolates. Auxotypes also were the same and included prototrophic, proline-requiring, and proline-and-arginine-requiring isolates. The isolates as a group appeared to be very susceptible to the bactericidal action of pooled serum from normal women. Colony phenotypes varied between sites; the fallopian tubecul-de-sac isolates were predominantly of transparent phenotype and piliated. The cervical isolates were either mixtures of equal quantities of opaque and transparent phenotypes or predominantly opaque phenotype. By these markers, patients' N. gonorrhoeae cervical isolates appeared to be the same as their isolates from fallopian tubes except for a difference or shift in colony phenotype.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1980

Improving psychiatric care for prisoners.

While psychiatry has been ambivalent about treating mentally ill offenders, recent mandates for better mental health care for prisoners will require the profession's intervention. The authors, whose study of mental health care needs of inmates in Oklahoma is reported in the article following this one, believe that because the prison is a community, a community-mental-health-like system offering a continuum of services is indicated. Some of the services they propose for prisons include outpatient and partial hospital services, an acute inpatient unit, a residential tertiary care unit, and an intermediate living unit. They also believe that mental health professionals should help improve the environment of prisons, and can do so by sharing lessons learned in their own institutional settings about the effects of a therapeutic community and a legitimate patient government.

Health Services Needs and Demand↗
PubMed1980

Psychiatric morbidity in prisons.

Faced with the recommendation by an outside consultant to construct a large hospital for the criminally insane, the Oklahoma legislature approved a proposal by the state mental health department to study the mental health treatment needs of the prison population. Through a variety of assessment techniques, the authors found the inmates had a spectrum of disorders needing different treatment approaches. Approximately 78 per cent of the inmates are diagnosable. Thirty-five per cent require treatment other than brief intervention, and 10 per cent are seriously ill. It is estimated that 20 per cent may be resistive and may require involuntary treatment.

Adult↗