PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

J M Anderson

Publications and source records attributed to J M Anderson.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Legionnaires' disease: concentrations of selenium and other elements.

Selenium concentrations in the serums of 17 acutely ill Legionnaires' disease patients were significantly lower than in their matching convalescent-phase serums. This trend was not observed in ten similarly paired samples of serum from control patients with pneumonia. There were no significant differences in the concentrations of nickel, copper, bromine, rubidium, lead, barium, or titanium in the serums of Legionnaires' disease and control patients.

Humans

Mammary cancers and pregnancy.

Uncertainties persist about management and prognosis of mammary cancers that occur during and after pregnancy and during lactation. Pathological features of mammary cancers occurring during pregnancy are the same as those in non-pregnant women and survival rates are comparable. Management should be the same as in non-pregnant patients. Termination of pregnancy does not improve survival but it should be advised if the prognosis is poor. Mastectomy apparently presents little danger to the fetus, though treatment such as chemotherapy and irradiation should be avoided. Women who have received treatment for mammary cancer need not be advised against subsequent pregnancy. Routine ovarian radiation in non-pregnant premenopausal women is not generally to be recommended, since it does not prolong survival and would deprive some of the chance of further pregnancy. In lactating women who develop mammary cancers survival is apparently not adversely affected. Lactation should be suppressed initially and followed by mastectomy. Regimens of immunotherapy, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy may then be begun. Until results of current trials of combined treatments of mammary cancers associated with pregnancy are available, management should be neither aggressive nor tentative. It should be based on a well-balanced concept of applying all available treatments, as in non-pregnant patients.

Adult

Structural studies on human spectrin. Comparison of subunits and fragmentation of native spectrin.

Native spectrin has trypsin-susceptible sites spaced at a constant molecular weight interval. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of spectrin treated with trypsin at low salt concentrations shows a ladder of fragments spaced at approximately 8,000-dalton intervals, from the intact Band 1 (240,000 daltons) and Band 2 (220,000 daltons) down to about 150,000 daltons. The five largest fragments were identified as products of Band 2 using tryptic 125I-peptide mapping of protein from gel slices. Endogenously incorporated [32P]phosphate is absent from the largest fragment, indicating that all phosphorylation sites on spectrin are within 8,000 daltons of a terminal of Band 2. Mapping of both [14C]carboxyamidomethylated cysteine-containing tryptic peptides and 125I-peptides reveals extensive sequence homology between the spectrin subunits. Further, only somewhat over half of the distinct spots expected from the cysteine content are found in both Band 1 and Band 2 peptides. These and the tryptic susceptibility results are interpretable as evidence for a repeating structure in spectrin.

Amino Acids

The light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-protein complex from barley thylakoid membranes. Polypeptide composition and characterization of an oligomer.

Electrophoretic analysis by sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis showed that the light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-protein complex of barley thylakoids contains only one polypeptide of apparent molecular weight 26 000. The barley mutant, deficient in chlorophyll b and this light-harvesting complex, lacks this polypeptide. The addition of a nonionic detergent, Triton X-100, to the sodium dodecyl solubilization buffer prior to SDS polyacrylamide tube gel electrophoresis, allowed separation of a relatively stable complex, characterized as an oligomeric form of the light-harvesting complex. The oligomer also contained a polypeptide with an apparent molecular weight of 26 000. The absorption and fluorescence spectral properties of the oligomer are similar to those of the monomer. It is suggested that the oligomer of the light-harvesting chlorophyll a/b-protein is closer to the in vivo form rather than the monomer.

Cell Membrane

Platelet interaction with synthetic copolypeptide films.

Kinetic and equilibrium studies of blood platelet binding to copolypeptide films show that attachment and serotonin release are not dependent upon the composition of the copolypeptide. Data may be explained by postulating that platelets frequently collide elastically with the surface but leave behind material that modifies subsequent behavior. Similarly, material released from platelets adsorbs at the interface and the extent of attachment and serotonin release are modified and controlled by these adsorbed species. Basically, if the platelet is exposed to a clean surface, its collision with the surface leads to activation and release. In the presence of inert protein, the collision is cushioned by the protein and platelets do not attach or release to any extent. Finally, if protein (or other entities) released from the platelet provide attachment sites, then attachment occurs without release. It is postulated that the behavior of platelets at surfaces is controlled by these interrelated processes.

Biocompatible Materials

Controlled release of tetracycline I: In vitro studies with a trilaminate 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-methyl methacrylate system.

A membrane-controlled drug delivery device was developed to release tetracycline at zero-order rates. The tetracycline delivery vehicle is a trilaminate disk consisting of core and coating membranes fabricated from a series of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate and methyl methacrylate copolymers. Appropriate adjustment of the monomer composition ratio imparts a hydrophobic nature to the copolymer outer coating membrane (relative to the core material), which serves as the rate-limiting membrane in drug diffusion. The trilaminate disks demonstrated a zero-order tetracycline release over 4 months in vitro. The zero-order release rate was a function of the general device geometry, coating membrane thickness, disk surface, area, level of core reservoir drug loading, and membrane coating copolymer composition. Permeability parameters of tetracycline diffusion through a series of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-methyl methacrylate copolymer membranes were determined by a flux-lag time method. Equilibrium hydration values of these membranes also were determined. The ability of trilaminate 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-methyl methacrylate devices to release tetracycline at constant rates over a prolonged period offers unique therapeutic and investigational possibilities.

Acrylates

Plaque forming cell assay to measure responses in mice to the random copolymer (Glu60Phe40).

A plaque-forming cell (PFC) assay to measure the immune response of mice to the synthetic random copolymer of glutamic acid and phenylalanine (GPhe) is described here. GPhe can be coupled to sheep red blood cells (SRBC) using "aged" CrCl3. Both IgM and IgG plaques are detected in the murine GPhe response. Mice of H-2 haploytpes p and q are high responders, a and k are medium or low responders and b, d and s are nonresponders as detected by the PFC assay.

Animals

Proteolytic fragmentation of spectrin:effect of removal of terminal phosphopeptides on spectrin binding to human erythrocyte membranes.

The involvement of phosphorylated regions of spectrin, from human erythrocytes, in membrane binding has been investigated. Spectrin is phosphorylated at several sites, all near a terminal of the band 2 polypeptide. This region can be removed from the bulk of the molecule by brief trypsinization. Membrane binding of the bulk of the protein is unaffected by brief proteolysis, whereas phosphofragments generated by this treatment exhibit no membrane binding.

Binding Sites

Pharmacy internship: patient care experience through nursing service.

A pharmacy internship that offers graduated levels of hospital experience, with an emphasis on nursing assistant and medication administration programs, is described. Students work full time in the summer and part time during the academic year in the three-year program. The progression of duties is as follows: nursing assistant; inpatient drug distribution and control; sterile and nonsterile product production; patient education, monitoring and medication history-taking activities; drug information services; and medication administration. Interns are selected by the pharmacy department and trained and supervised by the nursing staff in nursing assistant and medication aide roles. The program provides the pharmacy department with a highly trained corps of interns who understand and appreciate the full range of systems required to deliver patient care and provides interns with patient-oriented work experiences valuable in their future roles as pharmacists.

Education, Pharmacy