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Biomedical subjects

M Laird

Publications and source records attributed to M Laird.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Northernmost occurrences of the protistan pathogen, Coelomomyces stegomyiae var. stegomyiae.

Now reported as parasitizing the ovaries of female Aedes albopictus on Kabeshima (33.33N x 129.53E), Coelomomyces stegomyiae var. stegomyiae had been found earlier in larvae of this mosquito on Mikura-jima (33.53N x 139.35E). These findings from 2 widely separated little Japanese islands constitute the parasite's most northerly records to date. Few previous reports of Coelomomyces spp., none concerning C. stegomyiae, have involved adult mosquitoes. Possible reasons for this are advanced.

Aedes↗
PubMed1991

Improving knowledge of emergency physicians about child physical and sexual abuse.

The purpose of this project was to study the effect of self-instructional programs regarding physical and sexual abuse on the knowledge and case recognition of physicians. Data from a total of 191 emergency physicians revealed significant improvements from pre- to posttests, as well as increases in case recognition skills. More than 90% of physicians using each kit reported that the information had been valuable and that they would recommend the program to a colleague. The finding that knowledge mastery was high, combined with the recommendations of participating physicians, suggests that the programs tested are promising tools for educating emergency physicians about child physical and sexual abuse.

Child↗
PubMed1990

New Zealand's northern mosquito survey, 1988-89.

The latest mosquito survey of the warmer regions of New Zealand (NZ) sampled 2,304 larval mosquito habitats of all major categories. While revealing no evidence of new establishments of exotic mosquitoes, it produced important data revealing the underutilization of types of habitats that could be invaded now or in the future (especially if the "greenhouse effect" eventually causes even quite small rises in average temperatures and sea levels). Although long feared additions of malaria vectors to a fauna still lacking any species of Anopheles, or of essentially tropical arbovirus vectors from neighboring countries to the north and northeast, may not materialize failing climatic amelioration, a new danger appeared at the beginning of the 1988-89 Northern Mosquito Survey when Aedes albopictus was reported for the first time from Fiji. This vector of dengue hemorrhagic fever and Ross River virus has since been spreading widely on the archipelago's main island, Viti Levu, whence much air and sea traffic reaches NZ. Information presented and discussed herein strongly supports the continuance and improvement of international aircraft disinsection and other insect quarantine measures.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Plasmodium durae Herman from the introduced common peafowl in northern Nigeria.

Plasmodium (Giovannolaia) durae Herman was originally described from Kenya, the type host being the common turkey, Meleagris gallopavo Linnaeus. There are no field records of this association outside of Africa, where the parasite, herein reported from another introduced and domesticated bird (the common peafowl, Pavo cristatus Linnaeus), was recently listed from 2 native Phasianidae of the genus Francolinus. The justification for the present identification is submitted against background data concerning malaria parasites from turkeys and other Galliformes in Africa and elsewhere, and restraint is urged in describing yet more "new species" of avian Plasmodium belonging to morphologically close taxa within Novyella and Giovannolaia. A near relative of P. durae, Plasmodium dissanaikei de Jong, is transferred from the former subgenus to the latter one.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Tables of critical values for examining compositional non-randomness in proteins and nucleic acids.

A binomially distributed statistic pchi2i is defined which in conjunction with a set of critical tables permits, for peptides or proteins of arbitrary lengths, a well-defined answer to the question: Does the proportion of a particular amino acid iota present in that protein deviate significantly from random expectation? An analogous statistic is defined for nucleic acids. This statistic is simply related to the classical chi-squared test. The classical chi2 and the pchi2i are supplementary in that the former permits one to determine that a non-randomness in amino acid composition exists in a protein, while the latter permits one to localize that non-randomness to particular amino acids. The pchi2i statistic takes into account explicity the compositional fluctuations imposed by the finite length of proteins. The tables are more exact than any hitherto existing, and require no intermediate calculations for their use: from the direct experimental measurement of the number of residues of amino acid iota, one immediately reads from the tables whether the number observed is within random expectation or not. These statistics are used to analyze eight proteins of diverse length, function, and origin in an accompanying paper.

Amino Acids↗