Biomedical subjects

M A Westerman

Publications and source records attributed to M A Westerman.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2002

Rat nigral xenografts survive in the brain of MHC class II-, but not class I-deficient mice.

We have examined the role of the indirect pathway of antigen recognition and T cells in neural xenografts rejection by using major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II-deficient mice as xenograft recipients. Dissociated embryonic ventral mesencephalic tissue from Sprague-Dawley rats was stereotaxically injected as a cell suspension into the striatum of MHC class II-deficient adult mice as well as MHC class I-deficient and wild-type mice as controls. All of the MHC class II-deficient mice had surviving grafts in the striatum 4 weeks post-grafting. In contrast, only a few of the MHC class I-deficient mice exhibited very small grafts and none of the wild-type mice had any surviving grafts. The mean number of surviving transplanted dopamine neurons in the MHC class II-deficient group was significantly larger than that observed in the other two groups. Moderate levels of MHC class I antigen expression were seen in the transplantation sites of some animals in the MHC class II-deficient group. No helper or cytotoxic T cells were observed infiltrating into the graft sites of this group. However, there were markedly increased levels of expression of MHC class I and class II antigens, and a number of T cells infiltrating in the graft sites in both the MHC class I-deficient and wild-type groups. These results show that rat embryonic nigral tissue can survive transplantation in the brain of the MHC class II-deficient mice for at least 4 weeks without any overt signs of rejection, suggesting that the indirect pathway of foreign antigen recognition mediated by host MHC class II molecules and helper T cells plays an important role in the rejection responses to intracerebral xenografts.

Animals↗

PubMed2001

Triadic coordination: an observational method for examining whether children are "caught in the middle" of interparental discord.

Triadic coordination refers to how a parent coordinates his or her contributions with the spouse's bids toward their child. This construct provides a basis for studying specifically triadic family interaction processes. In particular, it offers a new approach for examining whether children are "caught in the middle" of marital discord. We conducted an initial, small-scale study of mother-father-child interactions in a structured task in order to pursue the methodological goal of developing an observational procedure for measuring triadic coordination processes. The results suggest that the approach has considerable promise for making a contribution to future research on marital discord and child functioning. We found that processes of triadic coordination can be assessed reliably. Other findings included an interesting pattern of results, which merits further investigation in future studies, concerning relations between whether and how a parent disagreed with or opposed the spouse's bids toward their child, on the one hand, and other measures of family functioning and measures of child functioning, on the other hand.

Child↗

PubMed1996

The down-regulated in adenoma (DRA) gene encodes an intestine-specific membrane glycoprotein.

The protein product of the DRA gene, a gene whose expression is down-regulated in colon adenomas and adenocarcinomas, is a membrane glycoprotein and a member of a family of sulfate transporters. It is expressed in the intestinal tract (duodenum, ileum, cecum, distal colon), but not in the esophagus or stomach. DRA mRNA expression is restricted to the mucosal epithelium, and DRA protein expression is further limited to the columnar epithelial cells, particularly to the brush border. Consistent with its expression in the differentiated columnar epithelium of the adult human colon, DRA is first expressed in the midgut of developing mouse embryos at day 16.5, corresponding with the time of differentiation of the epithelium of the small intestine. A model for the structure of the DRA protein is proposed and its possible role in colon tumorigenesis is discussed.

Animals↗

PubMed1995

Change in coordination across phases of psychotherapy and outcome: two mechanisms for the role played by patients' contribution to the alliance.

This article investigated the mechanisms underlying associations between patients' contribution to the alliance and outcome by examining relations between change in the alliance over the course of treatment and improvement in Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (STDP) and Brief Adaptive Psychotherapy (BAP). Findings for STDP were consistent with 1 model about the role played by the alliance, according to which change in the alliance over the course of therapy is the vehicle for overall improvement. Results for BAP were consistent with the other main position proposed in the literature, which argues that a positive alliance provides the foundation for successful treatment. Discussion includes suggesting that it might prove useful in future research to group therapy approaches in terms of these 2 models and that this idea may explain 2 apparently contradictory sets of findings from previous studies on relations between change in the alliance and outcome.

Adult↗

PubMed1978

Some psychological relations between action and language structure.

This study investigated the relationship between complex grammatical structures and complex action sequences. A developmental progression of strategies for combining seriated cups identified in an earlier study (Greenfield et al., 1972) was used to demonstrate some psychological consequences of formal parallels between language and action. The role of grammatical complexity and situational structure in language-action relations was explored. The results have implications for understanding the organization and development of complex action, its control by verbal commands, and the basic processes of speech comprehension.

Adult↗