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Biomedical subjects

J Upcroft

Publications and source records attributed to J Upcroft.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Cervical smear participation and prevalence of sexually transmitted infections in women attending a community-controlled Indigenous health service in north Queensland.

OBJECTIVE: To increase Pap smear participation and to assess the prevalence of sexually transmitted infection (STI) in urban Indigenous women in Townsville. DESIGN: Convenience sample of women attending Townsville Aboriginal and Islanders Health Services (TAIHS) for health care participating in the Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) project, coordinated by an Aboriginal Health Worker (AHW) trained in women's health and cervical screening. PARTICIPANTS: 198 women, aged 20-69 years of age, attending TAIHS between March 2002 and 31 January 2004. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Pap smear participation and prevalence of STIs. RESULTS: Pap smear participation among eligible women at TAIHS increased from 20.9% pre TV project to 28.6% during the project and 35.6% in the 12 months post completion of the TV project (p<0.0001), an increase of 70.3%. Of 196 smears performed during the study, 20 (10.6%, 95% CI 6.2-15) were abnormal; abnormality was more common in non-Indigenous 8/50 (16.0%) than in Indigenous women 12/139 (8.6%), but did not reach significance (p=0.180). The prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis was low, with no differences between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups, and highest in younger women: 6/44 (13.6%) in women less than 25 years; Trichomonas vaginalis was more common in the Indigenous group. CONCLUSION: An AHW trained to perform and advocating for Pap smear participation has significantly increased the smear participation at TAIHS. The overall prevalence of STI was low.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

My favorite cell: Giardia.

The gut protozoan parasite, Giardia duodenalis, is the best characterized example of the most ancient eukaryotes, which are anaerobic and appear to be primitively amitochondrial. Apart from its obvious medical importance, Giardia is fascinating in its own right. Its prokaryotic-like anaerobic metabolism renders it selectively sensitive to some bacterial drugs, especially the nitroimidazoles, which are activated to form toxic radicals. Other features, including an enzyme that reduces oxygen directly to water, cysteine as the keeper of redox balance, a plasmid, and toxin-like genes are also distinctly prokaryotic-like. But, unlike prokaryotes, Giardia has a sophisticated, highly developed cytoskeleton, bounded nuclei, linear chromosomes capped with telomeric repeats, and telomere positional regulation of gene expression.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Albendazole resistance in Giardia is correlated with cytoskeletal changes but not with a mutation at amino acid 200 in beta-tubulin.

Albendazole resistance was induced in three different Giardia cultures following growth in successively increasing amounts of drug. One of the lines was previously resistant to high levels of metronidazole and was able to grow in 2 microM albendazole. The other two survived exposure to 0.8 microM, while normally lethal levels of albendazole against Giardia in vitro were around 0.1-0.2 microM. Albendazole-resistant Giardia were cross-resistant to parbendazole. Major chromosome rearrangements were evident in the line resistant to 2 microM albendazole and IFA with antitubulin antibody indicated differences in the cytoskeleton, particularly the median body, between sensitive and resistant lines. This implicates the cytoskeleton in the mechanism of resistance. Substitution of Tyr for Phe is a consistent beta-tubulin amino acid change in the benzimidazole-resistant helminths and fungi so far analyzed. PCR primers were designed from the published Giardia beta-tubulin gene sequence and spanned the region encoding Phe at position 200. Sequence data from albendazole-resistant Giardia demonstrated that the beta-tubulin gene did not carry a mutation in the codon for amino acid 200. These data suggest that Phe at position 200 in beta-tubulin is not necessary for benzimidazole resistance.

Albendazole↗
PubMed1984

In vitro translation of Plasmodium falciparum proteins.

RNA was prepared from cultured Plasmodium falciparum using ribonucleoside-vanadyl ribonuclease inhibitors and assayed in a rabbit reticulocyte, cell-free lysate translation system. Discrete proteins, ranging from less than 10,000 to greater than 200,000 daltons, were synthesized. Some of these proteins were precipitated by immune serum and were similar to those metabolically synthesized. Purified poly [A] mRNA was also translated and differences between the fractions which either bind or pass through a poly [U] Sepharose column are described.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Immunoprecipitation of biosynthetically labelled, stage-specific proteins from cultured Plasmodium falciparum using inhibitory human sera.

Proteins from synchronized continuous cultures of Plasmodium falciparum were biosynthetically labelled with [35S]methionine at ring, trophozoite, and schizont stages. Several proteins appeared to be synthesized predominantly at one stage only, especially the schizont stage. Immunoprecipitation using inhibitory human sera revealed that a variety of proteins, from all stages of parasite growth, were recognized. More proteins, especially those with high molecular weight, were precipitated from the schizont stage than from ring and trophozoite stages, but two major proteins (MW or approximately 70,000 daltons and or approximately 45,000 daltons) were recognized in all three stages.

Animals↗