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Biomedical subjects

M Stanford

Publications and source records attributed to M Stanford.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Effects of UVB radiation on calcium metabolism in psittacine birds.

The effects of providing ultraviolet (uv) radiation (285 to 315 nm, ultraviolet B) on calcium metabolism in two groups of 20 healthy grey parrots (Psittacus e erithacus) fed either a seed or pellet-based diet were investigated. There was a significant increase in the concentration of ionised calcium in the plasma of both groups, independent of the calcium and vitamin D(3) content of the diets fed, and a significant increase in the plasma concentration of 25-hydroxycholecalciferol in only the seed-fed group. In a separate study there were no significant increases in plasma ionised calcium or 25-hydroxycholecalciferol between March and August in a group of 28 South American parrots (Pionus species) exposed to unfiltered natural sunlight.

Animal Feed↗
PubMed2006

Symptomatic toxoplasma infection due to congenital and postnatally acquired infection.

AIMS: To determine the incidence and severity of symptomatic toxoplasma infection presenting during childhood due to congenital or postnatally acquired infection. METHODS: Between 2002 and 2004, newly diagnosed children (<16 years) with signs or symptoms of congenital or ocular toxoplasmosis were reported by clinicians to the British Paediatric and Ophthalmic Surveillance Units or by toxoplasma referral laboratories. Confirmed cases were estimated to have a greater than 50% probability of congenital and/or ocular toxoplasmosis, based on clinical and serological findings. RESULTS: Thirty eight children had confirmed toxoplasma infection. Twenty two (58%) were classified with congenital infection (cumulative incidence for England and Wales 1.62[corrected]/100,000 live births; 95% CI 0.85[corrected] to 2.83[corrected]), of whom 2 (9%) were stillborn, 7 (32%) live births had intracranial abnormalities and/or developmental delay (5 of whom had retinochoroiditis), and 10 (45%) had retinochoroiditis with no other abnormalities reported. A further 16 (42%) children were classified as infected after birth; all had retinochoroiditis. CONCLUSIONS: The low burden of symptomatic congenital toxoplasmosis combined with the lack of evidence of an effective treatment support current policy not to offer prenatal or neonatal screening for toxoplasma infection. Primary prevention strategies need to address acquisition of infection in childhood which accounts for half the ocular disease due to toxoplasma infection in children in the UK and Ireland.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗
PubMed2004

Oral tolerization with peptide 336-351 linked to cholera toxin B subunit in preventing relapses of uveitis in Behcet's disease.

Behcet's disease (BD) specific peptide (p336-351) was identified within the human 60 kD heat shock protein (HSP60). Oral p336-351 induced uveitis in rats which was prevented by oral tolerization with the peptide linked to recombinant cholera toxin B subunit (CTB). This strategy was adopted in a phase I/II clinical trial by oral administration of p336-351-CTB, 3 times weekly, followed by gradual withdrawal of all immunosuppressive drugs used to control the disease in 8 patients with BD. The patients were monitored by clinical and ophthalmological examination, as well as extensive immunological investigations. Oral administration of p336-351-CTB had no adverse effect and withdrawal of the immunosuppressive drugs showed no relapse of uveitis in 5 of 8 patients or 5 of 6 selected patients who were free of disease activity prior to initiating the tolerization regimen. After tolerization was discontinued, 3 of 5 patients remained free of relapsing uveitis for 10-18 months after cessation of all treatment. Control of uveitis and extra-ocular manifestations of BD was associated with a lack of peptide-specific CD4+ T cell proliferation, a decrease in expression of TH1 type cells (CCR5, CXCR3), IFN-gamma and TNF-alpha production, CCR7+ T cells and costimulatory molecules (CD40 and CD28), as compared with an increase in these parameters in patients in whom uveitis had relapsed. The efficacy of oral peptide-CTB tolerization will need to be confirmed in a phase III trial, but this novel strategy in humans might be applicable generally to autoimmune diseases in which specific antigens have been identified.

Adjuvants, Immunologic↗
PubMed2003

The British Ophthalmological Surveillance Unit: an evaluation of the first 3 years.

We report an evaluation of the British Ophthalmological Surveillance Unit (BOSU), a nationwide active surveillance scheme to assist with the case ascertainment of rare eye conditions. The evaluation assessed participation rates, study applications and research outputs. In addition, through an anonymous postal survey we ascertained the opinions of ophthalmologists regarding the usefulness, levels of feedback, barriers to participation and levels of case ascertainment. Over the first 3 years, the 4-month mean participation rate has improved from 58% to 71%. Ten studies have used this system for case ascertainment. To date three journal publications and 10 conference presentations have reported findings from these studies. It was observed that 582/870 (68%) questionnaires were returned by ophthalmologists, of whom 95% considered BOSU as very or quite useful. In all, 71% reported overall feedback to be sufficient. However, 34% requested greater feedback from research groups. Reported barriers to effective participation were 'having to remember the patient's identity' (52%) and paying for return postage of cards (22%). However, 72% of respondents did not consider the work involved in reporting a case to be prohibitive. Self-reported levels of case ascertainment by ophthalmologists for completed studies ranged between 72% and 95%. This population-based surveillance system provides an effective method for prospective case identification and subsequent data collection. It enables the study of sufficiently representative samples to allow meaningful epidemiological analysis and avoid bias. Its success relies upon the high level of support that it currently receives from ophthalmologists.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed2001

Microsatellite mapping of a susceptible locus within the HLA region for Behçet's disease using Jordanian patients.

Behçet's disease (BD) has been established to be associated with HLA-B51. However, it has not been revealed whether the HLA-B51 gene itself or another gene located near the HLA-B gene is directly involved in the pathogenesis of BD. Previously, using Japanese BD patients, our group has narrowed down a BD-causative gene to 46 kb between the MICA and HLA-B genes by means of fine mapping analysis with eight microsatellite markers distributed within a 1100 kb segment around the HLA-B gene. To know whether this mapping result is generally observed in BD of another population we have investigated repeat polymorphisms of the same microsatellite markers in Jordanian BD patients. Furthermore, we have evaluated these data by Mantel-Haenzel stratified analysis to find out a primarily associated locus for BD. As a result, HLA-B51 was found to be the most strongly and primarily associated marker. This result suggests that the pathogenic gene of BD is HLA-B51 itself, but unlikely to be other genes located in the vicinity of HLA-B.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Space radiation concerns for manned exploration.

Spaceflight exposes astronaut crews to natural ionizing radiation. To date, exposures in manned spaceflight have been well below the career limits recommended to NASA by the National Council of Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP). This will not be the case for long-duration exploratory class missions. Additionally. International Space Station (ISS) crews will receive higher doses than earlier flight crews. Uncertainties in our understanding of long-term bioeffects, as well as updated analyses of the Hiroshima. Nagasaki and Chernobyl tumorigenesis data, have prompted the NCRP to recommend further reductions by 30-50% for career dose limit guidelines. Intelligent spacecraft design and material selection can provide a shielding strategy capable of maintaining crew exposures within recommended guidelines. Current studies on newer radioprotectant compounds may find combinations of agents which further diminish the risk of radiation-induced bioeffects to the crew.

Aerospace Medicine↗
PubMed1998

HSP-derived peptides inducing uveitis and IgG and IgA antibodies.

Heat shock protein (HSP) 65 kD-derived peptides, which specifically stimulate T cells from patients with Behçet's disease (BD), are capable of inducing uveitis in rats. Mycobacterial HSP 65 kD and BD-specific peptides were injected into Lewis rats and the development of uveitis was monitored clinically and histologically, and IgG and IgA antibodies were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Rats immunized with HSP peptides that developed uveitis showed significantly higher serum IgG antibody levels to peptide 311-326 (P < 0.05) and the corresponding homologous human peptide 336-351 (P < 0.01) than rats without uveitis. Significant increases in serum IgA antibodies in rats with uveitis were also observed in those immunized with peptides 111-125, 311-326 and 336-351 (P < 0.05). Rats injected with HSP 65 kD showed a rise in IgG antibody levels to peptides 111-125, 154-172 and 311-326 and to a lesser extent, a rise in IgA antibody level to peptide 311-326. HSP showed almost complete inhibition of binding of IgG antibodies to HSP 65 kD, but peptides 111-125, 154-172, 311-326 and 336-351 showed inhibition to a lesser extent in a competitive assay. These results suggest that increases in IgG and IgA antibody levels to specific peptides within HSP, develop in rats with uveitis. The T and B cell epitopes responsible for the development of ocular disease in rats immunized with HSP-derived peptides, appear to be similar or identical to those found in patients with the ocular type of BD.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Indocyanine green angiography in inflammatory eye disease.

PURPOSE: The choroid plays an integral role in the evolution of a number of inflammatory eye diseases but only limited information is provided on the choroidal vasculature by fluorescein angiography. METHODS: This study used indocyanine green (ICG) videoangiography to assess the degree of choroidal vascular involvement in inflammatory eye diseases and the results obtained were compared with fluorescein angiography. RESULTS: A total of 34 patients were examined: 6 with retinal vasculitis and 28 with chorioretinitis of various aetiologies. Areas of active involvement of the choroid were seen as areas of hypofluorescence on ICG angiography, representing areas of inflammatory infiltrate and/or choroidal hypoperfusion. No leakage of ICG occurred from large choroidal vessels at any stage in any disease. In contrast to sodium fluorescein, there was no leakage of ICG from retinal vessels in active inflammation. An inflammatory choroidal neovascular membrane leaked fluorescein and fluoresced late with ICG. CONCLUSION: ICG videoangiography provides useful information on the degree of choroidal involvement in inflammatory eye disease and is a valuable adjunct to fluorescein angiography.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Cranial MRI in idiopathic retinal vasculitis.

Ten patients with clinically isolated idiopathic retinal vasculitis who had a positive family history for multiple sclerosis (MS) or positive typing for HLA B7 underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of brain and optic nerves in order to establish the frequency of clinically silent lesions. Brain MRI was normal in seven and abnormal in three: one had a single small white matter lesion, two had extensive white matter abnormalities resembling those seen in MS. In two patients a lesion was shown in the optic nerve. These findings suggest that a minority of patients with idiopathic retinal vasculitis have disseminated central nervous system lesions characteristic of MS, the frequency of such changes being less than in patients with isolated optic neuritis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

The incompetent defendant: support systems help avoid future legal problems.

Reducing crime and improving efficiency of our criminal justice system should be facilitated by identifying how to treat and manage mental health patients who are prone to committing criminal acts more effectively. A total of 142 competency evaluations were reviewed from cases evaluated by the Galveston County Forensic Psychiatrist from 1984 to 1990. Examination of data from these defendants allowed us to address the psychiatric needs of these defendants in terms of contact with the mental health system, particularly those who had more than one criminal justice system contact. The latter defendants lacked social support systems and consistent mental health system follow-up to provide stabilization of their condition. It was felt that this was a factor in their more frequent contact with the criminal justice system.

Adolescent↗