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Biomedical subjects

J Turcotte

Publications and source records attributed to J Turcotte.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Radioimmunoassay of sulfated lithocholates.

A sensitive, rapid radioimmunoassay for sulfated species of lithocholic acid (sulfolithocholyglycine, sulfolithocholyltaurine, and sulfolithocholic acid) was developed and used to measure the total concentration of sulfated lithocholates in serum from healthy human subjects. Sulfolithocholylglycine was conjugated to bovine serum albumin by a carbodiimide procedure, and the reaction product, emulsified in Freund's adjuvant, was injected into rabbits. The antiserum obtained was capable to binding 40% of [3H]sulfolithocholylglycine at 1:1000 dilution. The assay featured a 2-hr binding step at 42 degrees C followed by precipitation of bound tracer with polyethylene glycol at 4 degrees C. The assay can be used with 0.1 ml of serum and was reproducible. The antibody had little affinity for the 3-sulfate of cholic or chenodeoxycholic acid, a number of steroid sulfates, or unsulfated bile acids. In 50 healthy subjects, mean (+/-SE) fasting-state serum levels of immunoreactive sulfated lithocholyl conjugates (+sulfated lithocholate) was 1.6 +/- 0.1 micrometer; based on results with a separate radioimmunoassay for unsulfated lithocholyl conjugates, most of the lithocholate in serum in healthy man is present in sulfated form.

Antibody Specificity↗

Factors affecting the frequency infection in renal transplant recipients.

A retrospective review of 149 patients receiving 162 renal transplants showed that 83% of these patients developed one or more infections during a follow-up period averaging one year. In 32 (73%) of 44 deaths, infection was an important contributing cause. In only four (9%) of the deaths were the patients free of infection at the time of death. The Klebsiella-Enterobacter group was the most common agent causing pneumonitis and sepsis. Cryptococcus neoformans caused seven of 11 cases of meningitis. Pseudomonas was the most frequent agent associated with infections documented during postmortem examinations. In a short-term controlled study comparing daily and alternate daily therapy with prednisone, the alternate daily group had significantly (P less than .05) more infections per patient, especially in patients who had no evidence of rejection (P less than .025).

Adult↗

Release phenomena and iterative activities in psychiatric geriatric patients.

This survey was undertaken to assess the frequency of some of the so-called release phenomena and iterative activities in an aged psychiatric population. Three groups of geriatric psychiatric patients with diagnoses of (I) organic brain syndrome, including senile dementia (56), (II) functional psychoses, predominantly schizophrenia (51) and (III) chronic schizophrenia never treated by neuroleptics or other biologic agents (16), were compared with (IV) a control group of 32 elderly people in good physical and mental health.In general, for the manifestations studied, the geriatric psychiatric patients suffering from an organic brain syndrome and treated with neuroleptics differed notably from the control group. This latter group, although older, had few neurological signs of senescence and the spontaneous oral movements usually associated with the use of neuroleptics were absent. Release phenomena such as the grasp and pouting reflexes, as well as the stereotyped activities, were encountered significantly more frequently in patients with an organic brain syndrome than in the two other groups of patients. Our survey has yielded limited results with regard to the possible influence of type of illness and neuroleptic treatment on the incidence of release phenomena and iterative activities.

Aged↗