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Biomedical subjects

J F Mowbray

Publications and source records attributed to J F Mowbray.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Outcome of pregnancies progressing beyond 28 weeks gestation in women with a history of recurrent miscarriage.

Ninety-seven women who had had three or more miscarriages had also had at least one pregnancy with a singleton birth that had reached 28 weeks gestation. Information was available on these 118 babies: 30% were small-for-gestational age (birthweight less than or equal to 10th centile using figures from Scotland 1973-79), 28% were born preterm, and the perinatal mortality rate (excluding babies of less than 28 weeks gestation) was 161/1000 births, all of which are significantly increased above the prevalence for a normal obstetric population. These observations may serve to alert the clinician to the increased risk of these complications when dealing with women who have a history of recurrent miscarriage.

Abortion, Habitual↗
PubMed1987

Derivation and biochemical characterization of an enterovirus group-specific monoclonal antibody.

This paper describes the derivation and characterization of monoclonal antibodies reactive with the group-specific epitopes of the VP1 peptide shared by enteroviruses. When tested against a wide range of the prototype strains of Coxsackie viruses A and B, polioviruses, and echoviruses, the monoclonal antibodies reacted with all of them in two or more assay systems. The virus of hepatitis A was the only enterovirus tested which was not recognized by these monoclonal antibodies. This finding is consistent with recent reports demonstrating genomic dissimilarity between this virus and the other enteroviruses. Although monoclonal antibodies have frequently been found to be assay specific, these particular antibodies were found to be equally effective in different immunochemical and biological assay systems. Biochemical characterization of one of these monoclonal antibodies is described and its potential usefulness for diagnosis is discussed.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗
PubMed1987

Clinical and research application of an enterovirus group-reactive monoclonal antibody.

Diagnostic methods employed in enterovirus laboratories are generally laborious, slow and expensive. This is largely because type-specific neutralization tests still play the major role in identification and diagnostic serology. In the companion paper we describe the derivation of monoclonal antibodies against epitopes of the VPI peptide which are shared by all of the enteroviruses tested to date, with the exception of hepatitis A virus. This study describes the application of one of these monoclonal antibodies in several research and diagnostic procedures, illustrating a special utility in a wide variety of assay systems. This monoclonal antibody has proved particularly useful in the detection of enterovirus antigens in circulating immune complexes, and in identifying field isolates of this group of viruses. Immunohistochemistry, previously almost impossible in enterovirus diagnosis and research due to the large number of serotypes, is now shown to be practical and informative when this monoclonal antibody is used.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Genetic and immunological factors in human recurrent abortion.

The theoretical causes of recurrent spontaneous abortion may be several. Gill and others have suggested that the human disease may be mimicked by the rodent genetic diseases, as exemplified by the T locus in mice. He would suggest that there may be lethal recessive gene phenomena which may cause repeated abortion, or if the abortion is prevented by immunological means the birth of genetically defective individuals. The evidence presented here shows that prevention of abortion by immunological treatment, that is immunisation of the wife with paternal lymphocytes, is associated with a very high success rate, and the children born do not have more than the normal incidence of birth defects. Thus far, over the 7 years of study, the children also appear to develop normally. Probably the reason for this is that the methods of selection for treatment tend to exclude quite effectively those couples with pure genetic problems. In particular, the the exclusion of women who have had more than one live child removes a group of women who might have lethal recessive problems which would only affect 25-50% of the offspring. The interactive gene products that may produce abortion of all pregnancies, suggested as a theoretical concept by Gill, would be expected to show an incidence no more than the square root of the frequency of the recessive disease, and are probably too few to be seen even in the more than 1,500 couples we have studied.

Abortion, Habitual↗
PubMed1986

Plasma fibronectin and complement activation in coronary bypass surgery.

In patients with severe sepsis, plasma fibronectin concentrations are reduced and complement is activated. It is not known whether complement activation interferes with plasma fibronectin. Cardiopulmonary bypass is known to activate complement. We have therefore used this operation to study the effect of complement activation on plasma fibronectin in the absence of sepsis. After 15 min of bypass the percentage changes of plasma fibronectin and haematocrit were similar (65.9 +/- s.e.m. 4.8 and 67.0 per cent +/- s.e.m. 2.3, respectively), but the changes in C3 and C5 (58.4 +/- s.e.m. 4.8 per cent and 52.5 per cent +/- s.e.m. 2.1) were significantly greater than those of the haematocrit, indicating complement consumption. During the first 60 min of bypass there was a significant increase in the neutrophil count which is compatible with complement activation. It is unlikely that complement activation alone, in the absence of sepsis, contributes to the reduction of plasma fibronectin concentrations.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Controlled trial of treatment of recurrent spontaneous abortion by immunisation with paternal cells.

In a paired sequential double-blind trial of immunological treatment of recurrent spontaneous abortion successful outcome of the next pregnancy was significantly more common in women injected with purified lymphocytes prepared from their husbands' blood than in those injected with their own lymphocytes. 17 of 22 women given paternal cells had successful pregnancies, compared with 10 of 27 given their own cells.

Abortion, Habitual↗
PubMed1985

Suboptimal C3b/C3bi deposition and defective yeast opsonization. I. Evidence for the absence of essential co-factor activity.

Defective yeast opsonization in sera with no demonstrable abnormality of known complement components is associated with the absence of inactivity of a co-factor which enhances the deposition of C3 fragments (C3b/C3bi) derived from both classical and alternative pathways of complement activation. The factor binds strongly to zymosan at 4 degrees C and loses its biological activity completely when heated for 30 min at 56 degrees C but not when similarly heated at 50 degrees C. Sera with defective deposition of C3 fragments may be readily corrected with small quantities of sera having normal function. Sera with the defect do not correct other similar sera.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Suboptimal C3b/C3bi deposition and defective yeast opsonization. II. Partial purification and preliminary characterization of an opsonic co-factor able to correct sera with the defect.

Using a correction assay a factor essential for normal deposition of C3 fragments on zymosan was identified in fractions of serum obtained by Sephacryl S-300 gel filtration (eluting between IgG and albumin), preparative Pevikon block electrophoresis (eluting in the beta-region) and DEAE-ion-exchange chromatography (eluting immediately post IgG). Active material was also identified in a commercial preparation of transferrin. A combination of DEAE-ion-exchange chromatography and gel filtration was used to partially purify the co-factor. The factor has an approximate relative molecular mass of 70,000-80,000.

Chromatography, Gel↗
PubMed1984

Plasma fibronectin and complement in surgical patients.

Plasma fibronectin and a fragment of the third component of complement (C3b) are both opsonins of the reticulo-endothelial system. Twenty patients undergoing uncomplicated gastro-intestinal surgery were studied. There was a significant reduction in plasma fibronectin and total haemolytic complement, but not C3, in the early postoperative period (days 1 to 3). In six surgical patients critically ill with severe sepsis both plasma fibronectin concentrations and C3 concentration were reduced significantly when compared with the early postoperative period of uncomplicated surgery. In addition, in the critically ill patients, direct evidence of complement activation was demonstrated. These studies show a transient reduction of humoral host defence mechanisms following surgery which may be permissive to bacteraemia and complement activation.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Fatal pneumococcal epiglottitis in lupus overlap syndrome.

A 35-year-old woman with a six-year history of polymyositis, having developed a vasculitic skin rash in the first trimester of her first pregnancy and biopsy-proven lupus glomerulonephritis during the third trimester is described. Investigations performed one month post-partum revealed high DNA binding, the presence of RNP antibodies, a serum CH50 of 0% and a serum C2 of 1%. Despite marked clinical and serological improvement and the reduction of her prednisolone dose to 5 mgs./day, she died at one-year post-partum of acute pneumococcal epiglottitis.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

A clinical trial of fibroblast transplantation for the treatment of mucopolysaccharidoses.

This paper reports the clinical and biochemical results in six patients with Hurler disease (Mucopolysaccharidosis IH; McKusick 25280), two patients with Hunter disease (Mucopolysaccharidosis II; McKusick 25285) and one patient with Sanfilippo B disease (Mucopolysaccharidosis IIIB; McKusick 25292) who were treated by fibroblast transplantation. Except for one patient who died for a coincidental reason, the patients have been studied for between 2.5 and 4.5 years. The clinical course of the disease was not materially altered. There was no evidence that the patients had developed immune responses against the transplanted fibroblasts. Transplantation did not produce measurable levels of either alpha-L-iduronidase (EC 3.2.1.76) in the leukocytes from patients with Hurler disease or of N-acetyl-alpha-D-glucosaminidase (EC 3.2.1.50) in the plasma of the patients with Sanfilippo B disease. Under the conditions used for the assay, leukocytes from the patients with Hunter disease had detectable levels of residual alpha-L-idurono-2-sulphate sulphatase activity which were increased after the transplants, although these changes were of inconstant size and their time course was not consistently related to the transplantations. Cytogenetic studies in cases where the donor was of the opposite sex detected only cells of the recipient's sex among the fibroblasts grown from biopsies of the transplantation sites. The technique used would have detected a donor to recipient cell ratio of 1:100. We found no consistent long-term trends in the excretion patterns of glycosaminoglycans and oligosaccharides from either a quantitative or qualitative point of view which could be specifically related to the transplantation. The combined administration of immunosuppressive doses of prednisolone and azathioprine was associated with an increased excretion of the lower molecular weight glycosaminoglycans. We conclude that fibroblast transplantation is not therapeutically useful in the diseases studied.

Acetylglucosaminidase↗