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Biomedical subjects

J H Chen

Publications and source records attributed to J H Chen.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Clinical implications of left atrial spontaneous echo contrast in nonrheumatic atrial fibrillation.

The prevalence and clinical significance of left atrial (LA) spontaneous echo contrast were investigated in 103 consecutive patients with chronic nonrheumatic atrial fibrillation (AF) using transesophageal echocardiography. LA spontaneous echo contrast was visualized in 25 of 103 patients (24.3%). Age, sex, LA diameter, left ventricular diastolic and systolic dimensions, left ventricular ejection fraction, and the percentage of lone AF were not significantly different between patients with and without LA spontaneous echo contrast; however, those with LA spontaneous echo contrast were less likely to have moderate or severe mitral regurgitation. LA thrombi were observed in 7 patients (6.8%), and all 7 thrombi were found in the atria with spontaneous echo contrast. History of cerebral ischemia or peripheral embolism, or both, was significantly more frequent in patients with than without LA spontaneous echo contrast (84 vs 18%; p less than 0.001). The presence of LA spontaneous echo contrast was highly specific (94%) and predictive for thromboembolic events (positive and negative predictive values of 84 and 82%, respectively). Thus, transesophageal echo-detected LA spontaneous echo contrast is frequently found in patients with chronic nonrheumatic AF. This phenomenon may represent a precursor of thrombus formation, and its presence is associated with an increased thromboembolic risk.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Intrauterine devices and pelvic inflammatory disease: an international perspective.

The risk of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) associated with use of an intrauterine device (IUD) has been an important concern that has dominated decisions on its use throughout the world, especially in the USA. Early research that suggested such an association led to both a dramatic decline in use of the method and its withdrawal from the US market by two manufacturers. However, factors other than use of an IUD are now thought to be major determinants of PID risk. To address these concerns, we have reviewed the World Health Organisation's IUD clinical trial data to explore the incidence and patterns of PID risk with use of an IUD. The overall rate of PID among 22,908 IUD insertions and during 51,399 woman-years of follow-up was 1.6 cases per 1000 woman-years of use. After adjustment for confounding factors, PID risk was more than six times higher during the 20 days after insertion than during later times (unadjusted rates, 9.7 vs 1.4 per 1000 woman-years, respectively); the risk was low and constant for up to eight years of follow-up. Rates varied according to geographical area (highest in Africa and lowest in China) and were inversely associated with age. PID rates were lower among women who had IUDs inserted more recently. Our findings indicate that PID among IUD users is most strongly related to the insertion process and to background risk of sexually transmissible disease. PID is an infrequent event beyond the first 20 days after insertion. Because of this increased risk with insertion, IUDs should be left in place up to their maximum lifespan and should not routinely be replaced earlier, provided there are no contraindications to continued use and the woman wishes to continue with the device.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

A pseudoreceptor docking study of 4,5-alpha-epoxymorphinans with a range of dielectric constants.

Thirteen 4,5-epoxymorphinan mu agonists with established analgesic action were docked into an Asp-Lys-His-Phe pseudoreceptor complex under a range of distance-dependent dielectric conditions. The number of compounds with potential energies of the docked complexes that agreed in rank order with corresponding analgesic potencies was determined for each condition. Two dielectric conditions, n-decane (1.991) and ethanol (24.3), enabled the greatest number of compounds to relate to their pseudoreceptors with each having 9 and 8 successes respectively. Both of these conditions demonstrated unique influences on the types of structures that were successfully docked. For example, the morphine stereoisomer alpha-isomorphine, the geometric isomer B/C trans-morphine, and the 8-position-substituted gamma-isomorphine were successes in the n-decane condition, whereas the ethanol condition produced the substituted codeine derivatives dihydrocodeinone and dihydroxycodeinone. These findings emphasize the importance of dielectric influence when developing force-field modeled quantitative structure-activity relationships for a closely related homologous series.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Three years' experience with levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine device and Norplant-2 implants: a randomized comparative study.

A randomized comparative study of levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine device (LNG-IUD) and Norplant-2 implants was carried out in 200 women for 36 months. Three thousand one hundred woman-months of use were observed with each device. Only one pregnancy occurred in users of LNG-IUD at the 12th month of use. The change in bleeding pattern was the most frequent reason for discontinuation. The discontinuation rate for irregular bleeding with Norplant-2 was 17.3 and 26.8 at 24 and 36 months, respectively, as compared to 3.3 with LNG-IUD at both 24 and 36 months. The differences were statistically significant. Removal for amenorrhea and pain only occurred in acceptors of LNG-IUD. About 20-40% of women using Norplant-2 had prolonged bleeding through 36 months. The percentage of amenorrhea in LNG-IUD was the highest (29.3%) at the end of two years of use. More than 97% of subjects reported satisfaction with the methods used by themselves.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

The design of a two-part acid-etched resin-bonded fixed partial denture.

A new framework design is presented for resin-bonded, acid-etched, fixed partial dentures. This innovative design divided the restoration into two parts, each with a separate path of insertion. The preparation of abutment teeth required minimal reduction and the pontic could not be displaced during function. Thirty-five patients with missing posterior teeth have been treated with this imaginative approach and after approximately 2 years, there have been no debonding failures.

Acid Etching, Dental↗
PubMed1992

Conserved tertiary structure elements in the 5' untranslated region of human enteroviruses and rhinoviruses.

A combination of comparative sequence analysis and thermodynamic methods reveals the conservation of tertiary structure elements in the 5' untranslated region (UTR) of human enteroviruses and rhinoviruses. The predicted common structural elements occur in the 3' end of a segment that is critical for internal ribosome binding, termed "ribosome landing pad" (RLP), of polioviruses. Base pairings between highly conserved 17-nucleotide (nt) and 21-nt sequences in the 5' UTR of human enteroviruses and rhinoviruses constitute a predicted pseudoknot that is significantly more stable than those that can be formed from a large set of randomly shuffled sequences. A conserved single-stranded polypyrimidine tract is located between two conserved tertiary elements. R. Nicholson, J. Pelletier, S.-Y. Le, and N. Sonenberg (1991, J. Virol. 65, 5886-5894) demonstrated that the point mutations of 3-nt UUU out of an essential 4-nt pyrimidine stretch sequence UUUC abolished translation. Structural analysis of the mutant sequence indicates that small point mutations within the short polypyrimidine sequence would destroy the tertiary interaction in the predicted, highly ordered structure. The proposed common tertiary structure can offer experimentalists a model upon which to extend the interpretations for currently available data. Based on these structural features possible base-pairing models between human enteroviruses and 18 S rRNA and between human rhinoviruses and 18 S rRNA are proposed. The proposed common structure implicates a biological function for these sequences in translational initiation.

Base Composition↗
PubMed1992

A procedure for RNA pseudoknot prediction.

The RNA pseudoknot has been proposed as a significant structural motif in a wide range of biological processes of RNAs. A pseudoknot involves intramolecular pairing of bases in a hairpin loop with bases outside the stem of the loop to form a second stem and loop region. In this study, we propose a method for searching and predicting pseudoknots that are likely to have functional meaning. In our procedure, the orthodox hairpin structure involved in the pseudoknot is required to be both statistically significant and relatively stable to the others in the sequence. The bases outside the stem of the hairpin loop in the predicted pseudoknot are not entangled with any formation of a highly stable secondary structure in the sequence. Also, the predicted pseudoknot is significantly more stable than those that can be formed from a large set of scrambled sequences under the assumption that the energy contribution from a pseudoknot is proportional to the size of second loop region and planar energy contribution from second stem region. A number of functional pseudoknots that have been reported before can be identified and predicted from their sequences by our method.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1992

Characterization of a monoclonal antibody (P40) against the 68 kD major allergen of Penicillium notatum.

A monoclonal antibody (MoAb P40) against the 68 kD major allergen of Penicillium notatum (P. notatum) was obtained by immunizing the mouse with a crude extract of P. notatum. Analysed by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting, P40 reacted with two different isoforms of the 68 kD component of P. notatum with pIs of 5.4 and 5.5. In addition to P. notatum, P40 showed positive ELISA activity to Aspergillus fumigatus (A. fumigatus) but not to components of six other fungi including Alternaria porri, Cladosporium cladosporoides, Aureobasidium pullulans, Fusarium solani, Rhizopus arrhizus and Candida albicans. Analysed by ELISA, MoAb P40 also showed positive activity to two (P. frequentans and P. roseopurpureum) of the 10 other Penicillium species and two (A. terreus and A. flavus) of the four other Aspergillus species tested. SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting studies demonstrated P40 positive reactivity to components with MW of about 67 kD in all these Penicillium and Aspergillus species with positive ELISA activity to P40. Furthermore, immunoblotting activity of MoAb P40 to the 67 kD component of A. niger was also observed. The epitope of the 68 kD allergen of P. notatum recognized by MoAb P40 was resistant to treatment of periodate oxidation with concentration of NaIO4 up to 20 mM. This MoAb may thus be useful in the characterization and purification of the 68 kD allergen from crude extracts, and in the molecular cloning of allergen genes.

Allergens↗
PubMed1992

Strain fields on cell stressing devices employing clamped circular elastic diaphragms as substrates.

Solutions are presented for the surface strain fields on inflated elastomeric circular diaphragms used for in vitro cell stressing experiments. It is shown, by using the method developed by Way (1934) to solve the nonlinear von Karman plate equations, that the surface strains due to bending are not negligible and that large negative radial strains arise near the clamped edge for center deflection-to-thickness ratios (w/h) less than 10. The method of Hart-Smith and Crisp (1967) was used for w/h greater than 10 to solve the nonlinear equations for symmetrical deformation of axially symmetrical rubber-like membranes. In the membrane solutions the circumferential strains drop parabolically to zero at the clamped edge of the diaphragm, while the radial strains increase slightly with the radius. The solutions for w/h greater than 10 are compared to optical measurements of in-plane displacements used to calculate the circumferential strains on the diaphragm, yielding excellent agreement with the theory.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗
PubMed1992

In vivo relaxation times and hydrogen density at 0.063-4.85 T in rats with implanted mammary adenocarcinomas.

Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging at 0.063 T, 0.17 T, 0.35 T, 2.94 T, and 4.85 T was performed in rats with implanted mammary adenocarcinomas (and in control rats) to study hydrogen density and the effects of magnetic field strength on T1 and T2 relaxation times in vivo. T1 increased by an order of magnitude and T2 decreased by a factor of two between the lowest and highest field strengths. Only about half of the increased water content of tumor, compared with that of muscle, was reflected in increased hydrogen density. The sensitivity of relaxation time change was increased at the lower field strengths. These results are of significance in understanding the effects of field strength on lesion detectability, contrast, and signal-to-noise ratio.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1992

Changes in tyrosine phosphorylation of insulin receptors and a 170,000 molecular weight nonreceptor protein in vivo in skeletal muscle of streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats: effects of insulin and glucose.

The effects of experimental diabetes on in vivo tyrosine phosphorylation of the insulin receptor (IR) and non-receptor proteins were investigated in rat skeletal muscle. Diabetes was induced in male Sprague-Dawley rats (200 g) by streptozotocin administration (100 mg/kg, ip). Diabetic animals were subsequently anesthetized, insulin was injected via cardiac puncture, and hindlimb skeletal muscles were removed, frozen in liquid N2, and homogenized in sodium dodecyl sulfate. Tyrosine phosphoproteins were first immunoprecipitated and then identified by immunoblotting with antiphosphotyrosine antibodies. In both control and diabetic rats, insulin stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of the IR beta-subunit and a major nonreceptor 170,000 mol wt (Mr) endogenous protein (pp170) in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Total IR number (determined by immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting with an anti-IR antibody) increased 2.4-fold in diabetic muscle, but there was little change in phosphorylated insulin receptor beta-subunit (157 +/- 12% of control value; P less than 0.001). In contrast, pp170 phosphorylation increased markedly in diabetes (500 +/- 119% of control value; P less than 0.005), and the time course of its disappearance was delayed compared to that in control rats. These changes were reversed by insulin therapy (5 U, sc, twice daily), but not by correction of hyperglycemia with phlorizin (0.4 g/kg.day, sc). In conclusion, in rat skeletal muscle in vivo, streptozotocin-diabetes results in 1) increased total IR number, 2) reduced efficiency of IR phosphorylation, and 3) markedly enhanced tyrosine phosphorylation of a 170,000 Mr putative IR substrate. Hypoinsulinemia, but not hyperglycemia, appears to increase the level of the phophorylated 170,000 Mr protein in streptozotocin-diabetes.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Barrier contraceptives and sexually transmitted diseases in women: a comparison of female-dependent methods and condoms.

INTRODUCTION: Most efforts at sexually transmitted disease (STD) protection center on condom use, but little is known about how condoms compare with other barrier methods, particularly those controlled by women. METHODS: To evaluate the effect of different barrier contraceptives on the prevalence of STDs and other vaginal infections, we retrospectively studied 5681 visits by women to an urban STD clinic. RESULTS: As compared with women using no contraceptive or with tubal ligations, women using the contraceptive sponge or diaphragm had at least 65% lower rates of infection with Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Trichomonas vaginalis, while condom users had 34% and 30% lower rates, respectively. For Chlamydia trachomatis, the reduction was 13% among sponge users, 72% among diaphragm users, and 3% among condom users, although these differences were not significant. When compared with women using condoms, women using female-dependent methods (sponge or diaphragm) had significantly lower rates of both gonorrhea and trichomoniasis. Vaginal candidiasis was more common among women using diaphragms but not other barrier methods, while rates of bacterial vaginosis were similar among all groups. CONCLUSIONS: Women using the contraceptive sponge or diaphragm experience protection from STDs to a greater extent than those relying on condoms. Female-dependent barrier contraceptives should receive more attention in STD risk-reduction programs.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

[MRI of adrenal tumors].

Within a two and half years period, we collected a total of twenty three cases of adrenal tumors diagnosed by MRI. They included: one cystic case, twelve cases (13 lesions) of adenoma, two cases (3 lesions) of hyperplasia, four cases of pheochromocytoma, three cases of metastases, and one case of adenocarcinoma. Except for the case of adrenal cyst which was followed for one and a half years, all the other twenty two cases were proved by operation and pathology. The benign adenoma and hyperplasia were small in size, and had relative isointensities to the liver in the T1WI and the T2WI. On the contrary, the malignant tumors and pheochromocytoma, all had inhomogeneous signal intensities, showed relatively lower in signal intensities in T1WI and higher in T2WI as compared with the liver. In T2WI, the tumor to liver signal intensity ratio of adenoma and hyperplasia were less than 1.80, whereas the malignant tumors and pheochromocytoma were larger than 1.80. In comparing fifteen cases with Gd-DTPA intravenous injection, all of the benign adenoma did not show an increase in signal intensity, but the malignant tumors and pheochromocytoma showed increase in signal intensity. We concluded that we could primarily differentiate the nature of adrenal tumors by their change in signal intensities between T1WI and T2WI, by measuring the tumor to liver signal intensity ratio or by Gd-DTPA IV injection. Today, although adrenal gland MRI examination is more time consuming and expensive, it is more valuable for highly clinically suspected adrenal lesions with equivocal results after CT or sonogram study.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1992

Myositis ossificans progressiva mimicking ankylosing spondylitis: a case report.

Myositis ossificans progressiva is a rare disorder of young adults characterized by ossification of the connective tissue of the voluntary muscles and ligaments. Although it is trauma-related, up to 40-60% of these patients have no history of previous injury. A young female with marked kyphosis and ankylosis of the spine presented with a recent onset of a rapidly growing painful mass over the anterior aspect of her left shoulder. She received an excisional biopsy but recurrent ossification developed soon after. It then spread to the biceps muscle with subsequent contracture deformities of the shoulder and elbow joints. A plain radiogram of her spine revealed similar characteristics of ankylosing spondylitis. However, the final diagnosis was made by the pathognomonic ectopic ossification of muscles and para-articular soft tissue. Despite poor response of the established constracture, the painful mass did respond well to prednisolone treatment within 2 months, in terms of size and consistency.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

The shear bond strength between human enamel and composite resin placed with cured or uncured unfilled resin.

The shear bond strength between enamel and composite resin placed with an unfilled resin layer was tested under several conditions: The unfilled resin layer was either blown thin or left unthinned, and pre-cured alone or cured with the composite resin. Shear testing showed that the bond to enamel was slightly enhanced for Pekalux and was significantly enhanced for Durafill VS when the unfilled resin was not pre-cured. Thinning of unfilled resin slightly increased the bond strength of Pekalux and decreased the bond strength of Durafill VS. A majority of the specimens fractured at the composite resin-unfilled resin interface, and more than half of all interface failures occurred in specimens in which the unfilled resin had been pre-cured. The results indicated that the link between composite resin and the unfilled resin layer was enhanced by simultaneous curing.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1992

[Renal pelvic tumor associated with contralateral renal cyst--a case report].

A 74-year-old female presented with a two years history of malaise, weakness and intermittent gross hematuria. Two years earlier, left renal cyst had been diagnosed by excretory urography, abdominal sonography and computed-tomography. Initially she was treated conservatively with oral antibiotics, however medical management had not been successful in improving her condition. Finally she was transfer to our ward for further evaluation and treatment. Cystoscopic examination demonstrated no abnormality, except for bloody urine efflux from the right ureteric orifice. Right retrograde pyelograms confirmed a solitary filling defect in the upper calyx of right kidney. Because of immediate concern for right renal pelvic tumor and contralateral renal cyst, a midline transperitoneal exploration was made. The right nephroureterectomy with cuff of bladder was removed and left unroofing of cyst was carried out. Convalescence was uneventful. The pathologic examination revealed moderately differentiated transitional cell carcinoma of right kidney with a simple renal cyst of left kidney. We suggest that cases with a clinical diagnosis of renal cyst based on the presence of gross hematuria, a normals excretory urogram and computed tomogram, generally require further evaluation especially by cystoscope and retrograde pyelogram to determine the source of bleeding.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Identification, expression, and deduced primary structure of transketolase and other enzymes encoded within the form II CO2 fixation operon of Rhodobacter sphaeroides.

Previous studies had indicated that the form II or B cluster of CO2 fixation structural genes is part of a large operon in Rhodobacter sphaeroides (Gibson, J. L., Chen, J.-H., Tower, P. A., and Tabita, F. R. (1990) Biochemistry 29, 8085-8093). In this investigation, we have sequenced the DNA between the prkB and rbpL genes and provide evidence for three distinct open reading frames which encode additional structural genes of the Calvin reductive pentose phosphate pathway; these genes encode the enzymes transketolase, glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase, and aldolase. Noteworthy is transketolase, which may be expressed to high levels in Escherichia coli. This study thus represents the initial description of the primary structure of bacterial transketolase, a key enzyme of the reductive and the oxidative pentose phosphate pathways. Each of the genes are separated by short stretches of intergenic sequence, consistent with earlier evidence which suggested that these genes are cotranscribed and part of a large operon controlled by sequences upstream from fbpB.

Amino Acid Sequence↗