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Biomedical subjects

J T Anderson

Publications and source records attributed to J T Anderson.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Audit of acute upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage: the effects of education and the introduction of a protocol.

The aim of this audit was to monitor the effects of the introduction of a protocol for the management of acute upper GI haemorrhage and a teaching programme for House Officers in Ninewells Hospital Dundee. All patients admitted to hospital with a history of acute haematemesis or melaena were included in the study and purpose designed audit forms were completed on all patients. Following an initial six month audit period the protocol and teaching were introduced. A further six months audit was then performed. A total of 310 patients were audited over the two six month periods. The results suggest that the introduction of a management protocol and training, in conjunction with a policy of active endoscopic intervention may reduce the number of out of hours emergency endoscopies and the need for emergency surgery.

Adult↗

Cardiovascular risk factor screening and intervention in African American adults.

The Cardiac Health and Rehabilitation program of St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, has developed a project to assess the effectiveness of a community-based cardiovascular risk assessment and intervention program directed at African American adults. The specific aim of this program is to assess the feasibility of implementing a community-based cardiovascular disease risk factor reduction program directed at African American adults. Its ultimate goal is to be able to teach African American adults cost-efficient, simple methods of exercise, nutrition, and weight management; smoking cessation; and blood pressure control. The program is expected to raise the African American community's awareness of the importance of modifiable cardiovascular disease risk factors and their effect on cardiac morbidity and mortality. The program is also expected to be able to evaluate the success of cardiovascular disease risk factor intervention and patient satisfaction with the program.

Adolescent↗

Ca2+-calmodulin binds to the carboxyl-terminal domain of dystrophin.

The unique COOH-terminal domain of dystrophin (mouse dystrophin protein sequences 3266-3678) was expressed as a chimeric fusion protein (with the maltose-binding protein), and its binding to calmodulin was assessed. This fusion protein, called DysS9, bound to calmodulin-Sepharose, bound biotinylated calmodulin, caused characteristic changes in the fluorescence emission spectrum of dansyl-calmodulin, and had an apparent affinity for dansyl-calmodulin of 54 nM. Binding in each case was Ca2+-dependent. The maltose-binding protein does not bind calmodulin, and thus binding resides in the dystrophin-derived sequences. Deletion mutation experiments further localize the high affinity calmodulin binding to mouse dystrophin protein sequences 3293-3349, and this domain contains regions with chemical characteristics found in the calmodulin-binding sequences in other proteins. The COOH-terminal domain provides sites of attachment of dystrophin to membrane proteins, and calmodulin binding may modulate these interactions.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Colonic stricture in cystic fibrosis unmasked by successful transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic stent shunt (TIPSS).

TIPSS was successfully performed in a 10-year-old female cystic fibrosis (CF) patient with bleeding gastric varices due to portal hypertension; precipitation of portosystemic encephalopathy later unveiled the presence of a latent colonic stricture associated with high potency pancreatic enzymes. The unusual sequence of events resulting from the co-existence of two CF pathologies are described, and the implications of treatment discussed.

Child↗

Competitive RNA templates for detection and quantitation of growth factors, cytokines, extracellular matrix components and matrix metalloproteinases by RT-PCR.

Detection of low-abundance mRNAs by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) has become a standard technique to determine gene expression by tissues and cells in culture. The ability to determine relative or absolute copy number of specific mRNAs has been difficult due to inadequate internal standards to control for sample-to-sample variation. The use of a synthetic RNA standard with identical sequences to the PCR primers allows reproducible quantitation between samples and assays. By designing multi-sequence templates, several specific mRNAs can be quantitated using a single template. Addition of multiple templates to a single RT reaction allows the quantitation of a large number of targets from as little as 4 micrograms of total RNA. In this report, we present a series of seven primer/template systems to detect and quantitate 52 specific messages, including 26 growth factors and receptors, 8 extracellular matrix components, 10 matrix-modifying enzymes and their inhibitors and 8 cytokines.

Binding, Competitive↗

Endocytosis of fluorescent microspheres by human oesophageal epithelial cells: comparison between normal and inflamed tissue.

This paper examines the presence and characteristics of endocytosis by oesophageal epithelial cells. Biopsy specimens from normal and inflamed oesophagus were incubated in organ culture with fluorescent microspheres (0.1 and 0.01 microns diameter). These markers were taken into early endosomes and the lysosomes of both the smaller differentiating prickle cells and the larger mature squamous cells. Confocal and electron microscopy showed that markers passed to the early endosomes and the lysosomes by endocytosis. The process was energy dependent. Larger, 1 micron microspheres adhered to the epithelial cells but were not phagocytosed. Disaggregated cells were analysed by flow cytometry. Microspheres were endocytosed in proportion to the concentration in the culture medium in a dose dependent manner. Cells from inflamed oesophagus were significantly smaller (p = 0.013) and took up significantly more microspheres than cells from normal biopsy specimens (p = 0.015). In conclusion, endocytosis occurs in oesophageal epithelial cells and is increased in inflammation.

Endocytosis↗

PUB1 is a major nuclear and cytoplasmic polyadenylated RNA-binding protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Proteins that directly associate with nuclear polyadenylated RNAs, or heterogeneous nuclear RNA-binding proteins (hnRNPs), and those that associate with cytoplasmic mRNAs, or mRNA-binding proteins (mRNPs), play important roles in regulating gene expression at the posttranscriptional level. Previous work with a variety of eukaryotic cells has demonstrated that hnRNPs are localized predominantly within the nucleus whereas mRNPs are cytoplasmic. While studying proteins associated with polyadenylated RNAs in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we discovered an abundant polyuridylate-binding protein, PUB1, which appears to be both an hnRNP and an mRNP. PUB1 and PAB1, the polyadenylate tail-binding protein, are the two major proteins cross-linked by UV light to polyadenylated RNAs in vivo. The deduced primary structure of PUB1 indicates that it is a member of the ribonucleoprotein consensus sequence family of RNA-binding proteins and is structurally related to the human hnRNP M proteins. Even though the PUB1 protein is a major cellular polyadenylated RNA-binding protein, it is nonessential for cell growth. Indirect cellular immunofluorescence combined with digital image processing allowed a detailed comparison of the intracellular distributions of PUB1 and PAB1. While PAB1 is predominantly, and relatively uniformly, distributed within the cytoplasm, PUB1 is localized in a nonuniform pattern throughout both the nucleus and the cytoplasm. The cytoplasmic distribution of PUB1 is considerably more discontinuous than that of PAB1. Furthermore, sucrose gradient sedimentation analysis demonstrates that PAB1 cofractionates with polyribosomes whereas PUB1 does not. These results suggest that PUB1 is both an hnRNP and an mRNP and that it may be stably bound to a translationally inactive subpopulation of mRNAs within the cytoplasm.

Animals↗

NAB2: a yeast nuclear polyadenylated RNA-binding protein essential for cell viability.

A variety of nuclear ribonucleoproteins are believed to associate directly with nascent RNA polymerase II transcripts and remain associated during subsequent nuclear RNA processing reactions, including pre-mRNA polyadenylation and splicing as well as nucleocytoplasmic mRNA transport. To investigate the functions of these proteins by using a combined biochemical and genetic approach, we have isolated nuclear polyadenylated RNA-binding (NAB) proteins from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Living yeast cells were irradiated with UV light to covalently cross-link proteins intimately associated with RNA in vivo. Polyadenylated RNAs were then selectively purified, and the covalent RNA-protein complexes were used to elicit antibodies in mice. Both monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies which detect a variety of NAB proteins were prepared. Here we characterize one of these proteins, NAB2. NAB2 is one of the major proteins associated with nuclear polyadenylated RNA in vivo, as detected by UV light-induced cross-linking. Cellular immunofluorescence, using both monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies, demonstrates that the NAB2 protein is localized within the nucleus. The deduced primary structure of NAB2 indicates that it is composed of at least two distinct types of RNA-binding motifs: (i) an RGG box recently described in a variety of heterogeneous nuclear RNA-, pre-rRNA-, mRNA-, and small nucleolar RNA-binding proteins and (ii) CCCH motif repeats related to the zinc-binding motifs of the largest subunit of RNA polymerases I, II, and III. In vitro RNA homopolymer/single-stranded DNA binding studies indicate that although both the RGG box and CCCH motifs bind poly(G), poly(U), and single-stranded DNA, the CCCH motifs also bind to poly(A). NAB2 is located on chromosome VII within a cluster of ribonucleoprotein genes, and its expression is essential for cell growth.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Insulin-dependent diabetes in the NOD mouse model. II. Beta cell destruction in autoimmune diabetes is a TH2 and not a TH1 mediated event.

Type I, insulin-dependent diabetes (IDD) in both man and animals results from a specific autoimmune destruction of the pancreatic beta cells involving both humoral and cellular immune mechanisms. The pathognomonic histologic lesion, termed insulitis, is an inflammatory and immune cell infiltrate of the pancreatic islet cells. While recent histological and flow cytometric analyses have identified the cell composition of the infiltrate, the presence of a cell population may not reflect the functional reactivities important for beta cell destruction. In the present study, we have investigated the possible functional reactivities of islet-infiltrating mononuclear cell populations by measuring increased cytokine mRNA usage. Results indicate that 1) cytokine mRNA profiles exhibited by islet-infiltrating cells of female and male NOD mice were quite similar with the exception of IL-6 expression and the marked differences in the levels of IL-2 receptor and IL-1 alpha mRNA, 2) CD4+ T lymphocytes expressed IL-4, presumably IL-5, and occasionally IL-10 mRNA but no detectable IL-2 mRNA, 3) CD8+ T lymphocytes exhibited TNF-beta, perforin and high levels of IFN-gamma, and 4) IL-7 was expressed in the islet at very high levels. These findings, together with our earlier flow cytometric analyses of the islet-infiltrating cells, have permitted construction of a detailed model for the natural history of autoimmune diabetes. Interestingly, this model, based on a TH2- and not a TH1-mediated scheme, questions the more popular concepts currently thought to form the bases of the autoimmune reactions underlying IDD.

Animals↗

The effects of exercise and weight loss on plasma lipids in young obese men.

We studied the independent and combined effects of exercise training and weight loss on blood lipids under fixed diet and exercise conditions. Twenty-one obese sedentary men were randomly allocated to one of four treatment groups: (1) inactive and constant weight (control), (2) exercise training and constant weight, (3) inactive and weight loss, and (4) exercise training and weight loss. There were three study periods: a 3 week baseline period inactive and on an isocaloric diet, a 12 week treatment period, and a 3 week weight stabilization period. Exercise consisted of treadmill walking at an energy cost of 3500 kcal/wk for groups 2 and 4 with replacement caloric intake only in group 2. Group 3 reduced caloric intake by 3500 kcal/wk during the treatment period. Weight loss for groups 3 and 4 were 13.4 pounds and 13.7 pounds, respectively. Maximal oxygen uptake (mL/min) increased 6% in both exercise groups (2 and 4), and percent body fat decreased only in these groups. Regression analysis by group assignment on HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) showed that the inactivity-weight loss modality (group 3) and the exercise-constant weight modality (group 2) each significantly increased HDL-C, with an additive effect of exercise and weight loss (group 4). The rate of HDL-C change differed significantly between groups (P = 0.01). HDL-C increased 0.63, 0.61, and 1.89 mg/dL per 3 weeks or 2%, 2.4%, and 5.5% above baseline levels in groups 2, 3, and 4, respectively, while the control group decreased 0.11 mg/dL. Plasma triglycerides and very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) cholesterol increased with exercise at constant weight (group 2) and decreased with exercise associated with weight loss (group 4). In conclusion, exercise and weight loss separately and independently increase HDL-C, and their effects are additive.

Adult↗

The effect of alcohol on serum high density lipoprotein (HDL). A controlled experiment.

A cross-over study using 11 male subjects and a closely controlled diet, investigated the effect of alcohol on serum high density lipoprotein (HDL) components. Smoking status and body weight remained essentially constant and exercise changes were adjusted for in the analysis. As compared to sucrose, alcohol consumption was associated with a significant elevation in serum apolipoprotein A-I (0.37 mg/dl/g/day of alcohol) with similar effects for serum HDL cholesterol (0.14 mg/dl/g/day of alcohol) and serum apolipoprotein A-II (0.11 mg/dl/g/day of alcohol) achieving borderline levels of statistical significance.

Adult↗

Prearterial reversed midgut rotation. A rare congenital anomaly.

A patient with a right-sided descending colon, left-sided ascending colon, and transverse colon in front of the superior mesenteric artery is described. We believe that this is only the second case of "prearterial" reversed midgut rotation existing with normally situated stomach and liver. The best explanation for these relationships seems to be (a) anomalous positioning of the primitive midgut-hindgut junction right of midline; (b) ensuing midgut rotation in a reversed, or clockwise, direction.

Adult↗

The effect of various vegetable supplements on serum cholesterol.

Several previous studies have indicated that vegetables may lower serum total cholesterol. This study, using a Latin square experimental design, investigates the effect of three vegetable supplements (vegetable roots, vegetable leaves and stalks, whole grains) on serum lipoprotein cholesterol. The results from each vegetable supplement are compared to the results from a sucrose supplement of equal caloric content. Dietary fat, alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, body weight, and physical activity are all controlled in the experimental design or the analysis. The results show that the effect of vegetables on serum cholesterol is not confined to one vegetable grouping or one type of lipoprotein cholesterol. Vegetable leaves and stalks are associated with lower values of very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (and possibly low-density lipoprotein cholesterol) and total cholesterol. Whole grains are associated with lower values of low density lipoprotein cholesterol and total cholesterol. In addition to the actual cholesterol lowering effect compared to sucrose, the lack of an increase, suggests some advantage in the use of these vegetable groupings (even roots) as a replacement for fat in the diet, and vegetable leaves and whole grains as a replacement for sucrose.

Adult↗

Swan-Ganz catheter location and left atrial pressure determine the accuracy of the wedge pressure when positive end-expiratory pressure is used.

In 43 percent of 30 consecutive open heart surgery patients, Swan-Ganz catheter tips lodged within 1 cm of or above the left atrium. When in this position the wedge pressure measured by the catheter was not an accurate estimate of left atrial pressure when positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) was used, especially when left atrial pressure was low. Catheters located below the left atrium were accurate at all levels of PEEP tested. The position of Swan-Ganz catheters should be confirmed by a lateral chest roentgenogram when PEEP is used, and catheter tips not below the left atrium should be repositioned.

Atrial Function↗