PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

M Rush

Publications and source records attributed to M Rush.

35 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Recurrent carotid artery stenosis following endarterectomy.

Spectral analysis was used to examine 257 carotid arteries in 227 patients who had undergone carotid endarterectomy at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery and annually thereafter. Routine intraoperative completion angiography ensured that the operations were technically satisfactory. Postoperative restenoses were identified in 38 patients (15%). In 23 arteries (9%), the restenosis exceeded a 50% diameter reduction while in 15 arteries (6%) the stenosis was less than 50% of the diameter. Restenosis developed in 24/96 women (25%) and 14/161 men (9%). Twenty-nine (70%) stenotic lesions occurred within 12 months. In three patients early lesions regressed. Reoperation with patch angio-plasty was required in six patients. When the 219 carotid arteries that remained widely patent were compared to the 38 that restenosed , no differences were noted for age, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, smoking, or degree of preoperative stenosis. Early stenotic lesions appear to be due to myointimal hyperplasia, which is probably platelet mediated. The predominant female sex distribution may be explained by differences in platelet responsiveness in men and women.

Arterial Occlusive Diseases

A calcified adenocarcinoma of the lung with very high CT numbers.

A case is reported of a man with a solitary pulmonary nodule that had an average CT number of 366 HU. Biopsy of the lesion demonstrated a primary adenocarcinoma of the lung with diffuse calcification. It is concluded that high CT numbers of solitary nodules do not ensure a benign lesion.

Adenocarcinoma

Carotid steal syndrome following carotid subclavian bypass.

Subclavian steal syndrome may result from stenosis or occlusion of the subclavian artery proximal to the origin of the vertebral artery. The diagnosis can be confirmed by noninvasive vascular studies with the use of a directional Doppler probe or by time-sequence aortic arch angiography, both of which can detect retrograde flow in the vertebral artery. A variety of surgical approaches to this condition have been used in the past, but the simpler and much safer carotid-to-subclavian bypass has become a more acceptable surgical procedure. There remains, however, a theoretical possibility that blood may be siphoned from the intracranial arteries perfused by the carotid. This phenomenon, which may be called the carotid steal syndrome, has been discussed, but no clinical cases have been reported. We present a patient who developed such a carotid steal syndrome 2 years after left carotid-subclavian bypass. This occurrence reemphasizes the importance of determining a normal carotid bifurcation prior to performing carotid-subclavian bypass.

Arterial Occlusive Diseases

Lightning risk.

Since 1969, ninety-four persons were reportedly killed annually by lightning in the United States. Reported injuries were almost three times the fatalities. These casualties were not evenly distributed across the country. The purpose of this paper was to examine the expected distribution of these occurrences using known ecologic risk factors. Lightning fatalities and injuries were related to thunderstorm days, population characteristics, and land area. The resulting predicted casualties were mapped and indicate where preventive measures are needed. This same technique could be employed to examine most natural hazard risks using existing data.

Humans

Detection and quantitation of Staphylococcus aureus penicillinase plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid by reassociation kinetics.

The quantity of penicillinase plasmid deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in various strains of Staphylococcus aureus has been determined by DNA-DNA reassociation kinetics. Specifically, 32P- or 125I-labeled denatured probes of purified plasmid DNA were reassociated in the presence of denatured DNAs isolated from the bacterial strains in question. The number of plasmid copies per cell was calculated from the effect of the latter nucleic acid samples on the reassociation rate of the radiolabeled probe. Among the S. aureus strains examined were monoplasmid, diplasmid and replication-defective representatives, and the effect of temperature on wild-type plasmid content was also investigated.

Base Sequence

Nucleic acid hybridization analysis of an integrated plasmid in Staphylococcus aureus.

A series of studies were performed on a Staphylococcus aureus strain thought to contain a pencillinase plasmid integrated into the host chromosome. Reassociation kinetics analysis of whole-cell deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in the presence of pure radioactive plasmid DNA revealed that plasmid-specific sequences were present at about 1 copy per chromosome equivalent as compared to 3.6 copies for the same plasmid in its autonomous state. Consistent with this observation was the finding that penicillinase activity was lower for the former strain than for the latter. It was shown further that the plasmid-specific sequences cosedimented on neutral sucrose gradients with fragments of whole-cell DNA many times larger than the plasmid. These two findings were taken as strongly confirmatory of the integrated state. Analysis of whole-cell ribonucleic acid for the presence of plasmid-specific messengers revealed that these were present in approximately the amounts expected on the basis of the DNA study.

Base Sequence

Immunohistochemical demonstration of the p53 tumour suppressor gene product in cancer of the pancreas and chronic pancreatitis.

The p53 tumour suppressor gene and its protein products after point mutations are currently attracting wide attention in the investigation of human tumours. In this study we present the findings on percutaneous pancreatic biopsies of 82 cases after routine processing and immunostaining for the polyclonal p53 antibody CM1, an antibody directed against both wild and mutant forms of p53 protein. There were 51 carcinomas, 5 islet cell tumours, 16 cases of chronic pancreatitis (including one with atypical ductal epithelium) and seven histologically normal pancreatic biopsy specimens. None of the seven normal cases showed any definite nuclear immunostaining for p53. Thirty-two (63%) of the pancreatic adenocarcinomas showed moderate to intense immunoreactivity. Of the 16 cases of chronic pancreatitis, 11 were negative and three showed equivocal immunostaining. The one case with ductal epithelial atypia showed mild to moderate immunoreactivity. All islet cell tumours were negative. The expression of the p53 gene, therefore, appears increased in the majority of pancreatic adenocarcinomas while this is not observed in chronic pancreatitis or normal pancreatic tissue. Nuclear immunoreactivity for p53 protein may represent mutant forms because of the short half-life of the wild-type protein. The lack of p53 expression in some cases of pancreatic adenocarcinoma may be due to different types of mutant proteins not detectable by the CM1 antibody. Nuclear immunoreactivity to the p53 protein in pancreatic biopsy is more suggestive of a malignant tumour than chronic pancreatitis.

Chronic Disease

Ineffectiveness of the Doppler Ophthalmic Test (DOT) in post-endarterectomy evaluation.

In an effort to evaluate the effectiveness of the Doppler Ophthalmic Test (DOT) following carotid endarterectomy, a large group of patients was examined both pre- and postoperatively with non-invasive techniques. The DOT, which has proven to be a useful non-invasive diagnostic test for the determination of significant carotid artery stenosis, was found to be persistently abnormal in 46% of patients with a preoperative positive test. This occurred in spite of the fact that operative arteriography, direct ultrasonic auscultation, and Doppler imaging studies were all within normal limits. It is suggested from this study that the Doppler Ophthalmic Test alone is not adequate to follow patients postoperatively, especially if an abnormal study persists following a satisfactory endarterectomy. Other non-invasive techniques, which employ direct ultrasonic imaging of the carotid flow, may be more accurate in determining vessel patency.

Carotid Arteries