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Biomedical subjects

N J Berry

Publications and source records attributed to N J Berry.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Physiologic reactivity to startling tones in women with posttraumatic stress disorder.

Autonomic and eyeblink reactivity to startling tones were investigated in women with histories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). Twenty-one women with current posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 23 with lifetime but not current PTSD, and 13 women who never had PTSD listened to 15 95-dB, 500-ms, 1000-Hz tones with a 0-ms rise time while heart rate (HR), skin conductance (SC), and orbicularis oculi electromyogram (EMG) responses were measured. Participants in the current and lifetime PTSD groups produced larger HR responses across tones and showed slower absolute habituation of SC response magnitude compared with the never PTSD group. EMG response magnitudes did not differ among groups. Women with CSA-related PTSD showed increased autonomic reactivity and slower habituation to high-intensity tones similar to that observed in primarily male, combat PTSD samples. This suggests that heightened autonomic responsivity to startling stimuli in PTSD is not gender or event specific.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1998

Psychophysiologic assessment of women with posttraumatic stress disorder resulting from childhood sexual abuse.

Heart rate, skin conductance, and left lateral frontalis and corrugator facial electromyogram responses were measured during script-driven imagery of personal childhood sexual abuse (CSA) and other life experiences among women with and without Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev., American Psychiatric Association, 1987)--diagnosed posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) resulting from CSA. Women with current PTSD (n = 29) showed larger physiologic responses than those who never had PTSD (n = 18) during personal sexual abuse imagery but not during imagery of stressful, nonabuse-related life experiences. Responses of individuals with lifetime, but not current, PTSD (n = 24) fell between the other groups. An a priori discriminant function, derived from physiologic responses of previously studied individuals, correctly classified 66% of women with current PTSD and 78% of women who never had PTSD.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

A comparison of four enzyme immunoassays for the simultaneous detection of HIV-1- and HIV-2-specific antibody.

The performance of four HIV 1 and 2 combined assays has been compared with current type-specific assays using three panels of sera. The first panel comprised single samples from 19 HIV-1-infected persons; the second panel comprised 19 sera from 16 HIV-2-infected persons. Samples from both these panels were titrated across interpolated end points of detectability. The third panel comprised sera from 5200 consecutive blood donors. The four combined assays, manufactured by Abbott Laboratories, Behring Laboratories, Diagnostics Pasteur and Wellcome Diagnostics Laboratories detected all anti-HIV-1 sera at high dilution; the immunometric assay from Wellcome was particularly proficient. All assays were broadly similar in their ability to detect sera from recently infected persons. The same assays were also effective in detecting anti-HIV 2 in sera both from seropositive individuals and from a single recently-infected person, though none was as sensitive as an inhouse competitive EIA. When used for donor screening the repeat reactive rates for donors negative for HIV 1 and 2 antibodies ranged between 1.80% for Elavia Mixt from Pasteur, 0.27% Abbott combined and 0.15% for the Wellcome combined assays.

Antibodies, Viral↗
PubMed1988

Symptomatic cytomegalovirus infection in seropositive kidney recipients: reinfection with donor virus rather than reactivation of recipient virus.

74 patients receiving cadaver kidney grafts were investigated prospectively for cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. Among seropositive recipients CMV infection, especially symptomatic and disseminated infection, occurred significantly more frequently when kidneys came from seropositive than from seronegative donors. Since seropositive recipients can become infected with donor virus, the excess is probably accounted for by reinfection. This conclusion was supported by restriction enzyme typing of virus isolates from recipient pairs receiving kidneys from the same donor; proven reinfection with donor strain virus was significantly commoner than proven reactivation of recipient virus. Furthermore, symptoms occurred only in the proven reinfection group. Although the proportion of reinfections that caused symptoms was less than that seen in primary infections, prior natural infection with CMV clearly does not prevent symptomatic reinfection in seropositive recipients, a point which has profound implications for future vaccination strategies in renal allograft recipients and choice of donors.

Cadaver↗
PubMed1988

Seroepidemiologic studies on the acquisition of antibodies to cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex virus, and human immunodeficiency virus among general hospital patients and those attending a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases.

A total of 731 sera were collected from general hospital patients, divided into five distinct subgroups, and tested for the presence of immunoglobulin (IgG) to cytomegalovirus (CMV) and herpes simplex virus (HSV). The results indicate a high level of association between the two viruses, although HSV was found to be more prevalent in the earlier years of life, whereas CMV was acquired constantly throughout life. An increase in age was also accompanied by significantly higher antibody levels to both viruses. Individuals with antibody to HSV were significantly more likely to have antibodies to CMV, suggesting that these viruses are transmitted by similar routes (?saliva). In addition, 430 sera from 94 homosexual and 336 heterosexual males attending a clinic for sexually transmitted diseases were tested for antibody to CMV, HSV, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Homosexual males were more likely to have antibody to CMV and HIV than were heterosexuals, but no difference was seen for HSV antibodies. The levels of CMV-specific IgG were significantly raised in homosexuals, compared with heterosexuals, but again no difference was seen for HSV antibodies as in the general hospital patients, however, individuals with HSV antibodies were significantly more likely to possess antibodies to CMV. However, the additional association of CMV antibodies with a homosexual lifestyle suggests that an alternative route for acquisition of this virus exists (?semen). As raised levels of CMV antibodies, but not HSV antibodies, were found among homosexuals, this suggests that frequent CMV reinfections, rather than merely reactivation of latent herpes viruses, may be occurring.

Antibodies, Viral↗
PubMed1987

Radioimmunoassay for the detection of IgG antibodies to herpes simplex virus and its use as a prognostic indicator of HSV excretion in transplant recipients.

We report the development of a solid-phase radioimmunoassay for the detection of IgG antibodies to herpes simplex virus (HSV), using a mouse monoclonal antibody specific for the Fc portion of human IgG as the radiolabelled detecting antibody. The binding ratio to test antigen at a single serum dilution, 1:100, correlated significantly with the endpoint titre by radioimmunoassay and with neutralising antibody titre. When compared to neutralisation the radioimmunoassay had a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 93%. We believe that the anomalous results are not false positives but represent an increased sensitivity of the radioimmunoassay. We found, by either radioimmunoassay or neutralisation, that high levels of antibody prior to transplantation were associated with a significantly increased risk of HSV excretion post-transplantation in both renal and bone marrow transplant recipients. Thus the radioimmunoassay is a sensitive, specific, and rapid test that can be used as a prognostic indicator of HSV excretion in transplant recipients.

Antibodies, Viral↗
PubMed1987

Regeneration of humoral immunity to herpes simplex virus following T-cell-depleted allogeneic bone marrow transplantation.

We investigated the adoptive transfer of immunity to herpes simplex virus (HSV) in 61 recipients of T-cell-depleted marrow allografts. Up to 3 months after bone marrow transplantation (BMT), high titres of HSV antibody (Ab) are passively acquired from blood products. This antibody has a half-life of 40.3 days, so that determination of recipient immunity to HSV cannot be made during the early post-transplant period. By 4 months after the allograft, seronegative recipients of seronegative donors had near-background levels of HSV Ab. Seropositive recipients, whether they were excreting virus or not, had high titres of HSV Ab regardless of donor status. Surprisingly, the seronegative recipients of HSV seropositive donors remained seronegative, a result at variance with observations made in the recipients allografts from which T-cells had not been removed. Thus, T-cell depletion modifies the adoptive transfer of humoral immunity to HSV, and an immune donor alone no longer ensures continued antibody production in the recipient.

Antibodies, Viral↗
PubMed1986

An improved radioimmunoassay method for the detection of IgG antibodies against cytomegalovirus.

The non-specific binding seen with human sera in a radioimmunoassay for the detection of IgG antibodies specific for CMV can be reduced greatly by using a murine monoclonal antibody as a radiolabelled detecting antibody. Such non-specific binding formerly obtained with a polyclonal detecting antibody was due to the binding of the polyclonal reagent to factors on the solid phase other than IgG molecules.

Antibodies, Monoclonal↗
PubMed1986

Production of anti-cytomegalovirus antibody following T-cell depleted bone marrow transplant.

The serological status to cytomegalovirus (CMV) was examined in 24 patients with no detectable CMV excretion, following T-lymphocyte depleted bone marrow transplantation. The results show that seropositive recipients continue to produce CMV antibody regardless of the serological status of the donor but that seronegative recipients fail to produce CMV antibody even when the donor is seropositive. These findings suggest that when an effective CMV vaccine becomes available vaccination of the donor would be unlikely to confer protection on the recipient but that vaccination of the recipient may achieve this.

Antibodies, Viral↗
PubMed1985

Virological and serological diagnosis of cytomegalovirus infection in bone marrow allograft recipients.

To detect cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections, a total of 1,074 cultures of urine, saliva, or blood were collected weekly from 43 consecutive patients undergoing allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Twenty-three patients were seronegative before transplant and primary infection occurred in 2 (9%). Twenty patients were initially seropositive and recurrent infections occurred in 5 (25%). Three patients in the recurrent group had proven CMV pneumonitis; viraemia was detected in two recipients, while the third had CMV isolated only from bronchial lavage fluid. The serological response of the 43 patients was defined by testing 559 serial sera for specific IgG and IgM antibodies by radioimmunoassay. Passive acquisition of IgG antibodies from blood products was found in 78% of initially seronegative recipients. One patient with primary infection responded in a pattern typical of immunocompetent individuals with long-term production of specific IgG and transient production of specific IgM antibodies. The second patient also had a typical response, but this was delayed until several weeks after the start of virus excretion. In patients with recurrent infections, specific IgM production did not correlate with episodes of virus excretion. Three of five such patients failed to mount a specific IgM response, and these were the only patients in the study to develop CMV pneumonitis. We conclude that CMV infection in bone marrow recipients can only be diagnosed by detection of virus; therefore, the ability of these patients to mount humoral immune responses should not be relied upon for diagnostic purposes.

Antibodies, Viral↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Five-year follow-up study of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy for combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder.

This study reports the results of a 5-year follow-up evaluation of 13 Vietnam combat veterans with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who participated in a study of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy previously reported in this journal. Pretreatment and follow-up psychometric outcome measures were compared with those of a demographically matched control group of 14 combat veterans with chronic PTSD who did not receive EMDR. Analysis of variance showed that the modest to moderate therapeutic benefits that were manifest immediately following EMDR were lost at the 5-year follow-up evaluation, and there was an overall worsening of PTSD symptomatology over the 5-year period in both EMDR-treated and nontreated control subjects.

Case-Control Studies↗