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Biomedical subjects

N Thompson

Publications and source records attributed to N Thompson.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1997

Contamination in expressed breast milk following breast cleansing.

The purpose of this study was to determine if preexpression breast cleansing reduced the bacterial count in expressed breast milk. The study involved the collection of 178 breast milk samples (89 matched samples); 38 matched samples were from mothers of term infants and 51 matched samples were from mothers of preterm infants. One half of the samples were collected following breast cleansing with Phisoderm and tap water. The other half were collected following breast cleansing with tap water only. Hand and equipment washing with Phisoderm and tap water preceded all sample collections. Storage containers were sterile. Samples were cultured for pathogenic and nonpathogenic bacteria and examined at 24 and 48 hours. Data were analyzed by Wilcoxon Matched-Pairs sign test and Chi square. Breast cleansing with Phisoderm and water was not more effective than water alone at reducing nonpathogenic bacteria or eliminating pathogenic bacteria. Mothers of preterm infants had higher levels of both nonpathogenic and pathogenic bacteria than mothers of full-term infants. The most common form of bacterial contamination was coagulase-negative Staphylococcus epidermidis. This particular bacteria is found in higher levels in the stools of breast fed infants than formula fed infants and it also the most common contaminant found in the blood of preterm infants who develop sepsis. The findings of this study reveal that chemical interventions may not be effective at rendering breast milk free from pathogenic bacteria. More research is needed to determine the optimal cleansing protocol to achieve bacterial decontamination of breast milk or to determine the clinically acceptable level of contamination based on the effects on infants.

Chi-Square Distribution↗
PubMed1997

Brief tone discrimination by children with histories of early otitis media.

Twelve children, ranging in age from 8.9 to 12.4 years, with histories of severe otitis media with effusion (OME) before age 3, were compared to age-matched cohorts in their ability to discriminate the frequency of tone pulses of 20-, 50-, and 200-msec duration. An adaptive procedure was used in combination with a two-alternative forced-choice paradigm to measure difference limens (DLs) for digitally generated 1000-Hz tones. The OME group exhibited larger DLs than the non-OME group at all three stimulus durations. These results provide tentative evidence of possible long-term effects of early OME on brief tone frequency discrimination.

Auditory Perception↗
PubMed1996

A novel trial design to study the effect of intravenous immunoglobulin in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy.

Using a novel trial design, we prospectively examined the effect of intravenous immunoglobulin in seven patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) in a double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over study. We suggest that the commonly used manual muscle testing and Rankin scale are not sufficiently sensitive to measure changes in CIDP and should not be used as isolated outcome measures. We propose a timed 10-m walk, the Nine-Hole Peg Test, the Hammersmith Motor Ability Score, and myometry as alternative measures which are valid, reliable and sensitive. Our trial design permitted the measurement of a treatment response in three responders despite different patterns of disability typical of the broad clinical picture seen in CIDP.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Comparison of propofol and a propofol-methohexitone mixture for induction of day-case anaesthesia.

We studied 99 patients undergoing day-case urological surgery, allocated randomly to receive a sleep dose of either 1% propofol or a mixture of equal volumes of 1% propofol and 0.5% methohexitone, and thereafter a standardized anaesthetic. With the exception of minor differences in intraoperative heart rate there were no significant differences between the two groups in induction properties and complications, intraoperative variables, rate of recovery or postoperative sequelae.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

A 3-year follow-up of the intellectual and academic functioning of children receiving central nervous system prophylactic chemotherapy for leukemia.

This prospective study compared the intellectual and academic functioning of two groups of children treated for cancer over the 3 years after their diagnosis. One group consisted of children who received central nervous system (CNS) prophylactic chemotherapy, and the other group consisted of children with cancer who did not receive CNS chemotherapy. The results suggest that the children who received CNS chemotherapy experienced more adverse effects from their treatment in the area of academic functioning than the children who did not receive CNS chemotherapy. Although there were no differences in the academic functioning of the two groups of children immediately after their diagnosis, 3 years postdiagnosis, the CNS-treated children scored more poorly on academic tests of reading, spelling, and arithmetic than the non-CNS-treated children. The results suggest that CNS chemotherapy prophylaxis may impede academic achievement.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Pre-operative parental anxiety.

This study attempts to identify the incidence and specific sources of anxiety in the parents of children admitted to hospital for elective surgery, to isolate factors associated with increased anxiety and to identify useful ameliorative measures. One hundred parents were interviewed and completed a questionnaire before their child's surgery. Parental anxiety levels were measured using the Leeds scale for self-assessment of anxiety. Anxiety-related illness was identified in 47% of parents, who were significantly more concerned than others about all aspects of their children's hospitalisation. No factors were identified which could predict which parents were at high risk of developing an anxiety state. When questioned about educational and interventional measures which they felt would be reassuring, the same factors were identified by 'anxious' and 'non-anxious' parents. As all parents agree on useful ameliorative factors, a general advice and education programme would be appropriate.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Transcriptional activation of the GLUT2 gene by the IPF-1/STF-1/IDX-1 homeobox factor.

The homeodomain protein PDX-1, referred as IPF-1/STF-1/IDX-1, is a transcriptional factor that plays a critical role in the control of several genes expressed in the pancreatic islet. PDX-1 gene expression has been previously shown to be reduced in cultured beta-cell lines chronically exposed to high glucose concentrations. As the glucose transporter type 2 (GLUT2) gene expression is selectively decreased in the beta-pancreatic cells of experimental models of diabetes, we postulated that the loss of GLUT2 gene expression in the pancreatic islets of diabetic animals may be due to the loss of PDX-1 transacting function on the GLUT2 gene. We, therefore, investigated the potential role of PDX-1 in the transcriptional control of GLUT2. We have identified a repeat of a TAAT motif (5'-TAATA-ATAACA-3') conserved in the sequence of the human and murine GLUT2 promoters. Recombinant PDX-1 binds to this GLUT2TAAT motif in electrophoretic mobility shift experiments. PDX-1 antiserum detects the formation of the complex of PDX-1 with the GLUT2TAAT motif in nuclear extracts from the pancreatic insulin-secreting cell line, beta TC3. The GLUT2TAAT motif was mutated in the murine GLUT2 promoter (-1308/+49 bp) linked to a luciferase reporter gene and transfected into beta TC3 cells. Compared with the transcriptional activity of the wild type promoter, that of the mutated promoter decreases by 41%. Multiple copies of the GLUT2TAAT motif were ligated 5' to a heterologous promoter and transfected into a PDX-1-expressing cell line (beta TC3) and into cell lines lacking the homeobox factor (InR1-G9 and JEG-3). The GLUT2TAAT motif mediates the activation of the heterologous promoter in the PDX-1-expressing cell line but not in InR1-G9 or JEG-3 cell lines. Furthermore, cotransfection in a PDX-1-deficient cell line with the expression vector encoding PDX-1 transactivates specifically the heterologous promoter containing the multimerized GLUT2TAAT motif. These data demonstrate that the murine GLUT2 promoter is controlled by the PDX-1 homeobox factor through the identified GLUT2TAAT motif.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Identification of a novel member of the Rab8 family from the rat basophilic leukaemia cell line, RBL.2H3.

We describe the cloning of a cDNA from the rat basophilic leukaemia cell line (RBL.2H3) encoding a novel member of the Rab family of small GTP binding proteins. The novel clone, which we call Rab8b, is most highly related to the Rab8 family with substantial divergence in the variable C-terminal domain. Northern blot analysis reveals highest levels of expression of Rab8b in the spleen, testis and brain, which is in marked contrast to the tissue distribution of Rab8. The Rab8b cDNA was modified to introduce a c-myc epitope tag at the extreme N terminus of the protein, and transient transfection studies were performed to analyse the intracellular localization of Rab8b by confocal microscopy. Transient expression of the c-myc/Rab8b fusion protein in both PC12 and RBL.2H3 cells shows staining of both the plasma membrane and ill-defined vesicular structures, and in the case of RBL.2H3 cells appears to induce striking outgrowths of the plasma membrane.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1996

Reassessment of the interaction between a worksite hypertension program and private physicians.

We investigated how nurse practitioners attending at worksite hypertension clinics were perceived as care providers by both patients enrolled in the clinics and their private physicians. This study indicates a very favorable attitude towards nurse practitioners from both patients and private practitioners and gives additional support for the utilization of nurse practitioners as effective health care providers in the management of common and chronic illness.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1995

Effect of transcription inhibitors on the iron-dependent degradation of transferrin receptor mRNA.

Transferrin receptor (TfR) mRNA expression is tightly linked to intracellular iron levels. Upon iron deprivation, the iron regulatory protein (IRP) stabilizes TfR mRNA by binding to stem-loop structures in its 3'-untranslated region, whereas increased iron levels result in inactivation of the mRNA-binding protein and rapid degradation of TfR mRNA. Although IRP and the regulation of its RNA binding activity have been studied intensively, little is known about the mechanism of TfR mRNA degradation. In order to get more information about factors involved in this process we investigated the in vivo IRP-RNA interaction and the effect of transcription inhibitors on the iron-dependent decay of TfR mRNA. Here we demonstrate that part of the active IRP co-localizes with TfR mRNA to the rough endoplasmic reticulum. High intracellular iron levels led to a drastic reduction of this active RNA-bound IRP in vivo, indicating that IRP dissociates prior to TfR mRNA decay. Furthermore, the transcription inhibitor actinomycin D and translation inhibitor cycloheximide suppressed TfR mRNA degradation but did not interfere with the IRP dissociation step. Other inhibitors of RNA polymerase II had no effect on iron-dependent degradation of TfR mRNA. However, high concentrations of alpha-amanitin known to block transcription by RNA polymerase III interfered with mRNA decay suggesting the involvement of polymerase III transcripts in the degradation pathway.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Co-localization of aromatase enzyme and estrogen receptor immunoreactivity in the preoptic area during reproductive aging.

Immunoreactive aromatase enzyme (AROM-IR) was studied in the preoptic and septal ares of the male Japanese quail brain relative to the age-related decline in endocrine and behavioral components of reproduction. Additional analyses were conducted to determine if the co-localization of AROM-IR and estrogen receptor immunoreactivity (ER-IR) in the medial preoptic area change during aging. Young, sexually active, male quail (6 months of age) were compared to aged sexually active or inactive, male quail (36 months of age). Testis size decreased in old, sexually inactive males, similar to our previous observations. The numbers of AROM-IR neurons in the medial preoptic area (POM) and the lateral septum (LS) decreased significantly with aging and sexual activity. The number of cells that co-localized both AROM-IR and ER-IR did not differ with age. As a consequence of the age-related change in AROM-IR cells, the relative percentage of dual labelled (AROM-IR and ER-IR) and single labelled cells (AROM-IR) increased in aged males. These data provide histochemical evidence that alterations in the aromatase enzyme system in the medial preoptic area may underlie behavioral and endocrine events associated with reproductive aging.

Aging↗
PubMed1995

Enucleation procedures in patients with multiple hereditary renal tumors.

Parenchymal sparing surgery is frequently appropriate in patients with familial renal tumors detected through the screening of affected kindreds. An enucleation technique for the rapid removal and hemostasis of multiple small renal tumors in patients with hereditary renal cancers is described herein. This technique facilitates the removal of multiple small superficial renal tumors, usually without hypothermia.

Follow-Up Studies↗
PubMed1995

Anaesthesia for caesarean section in a patient with myotonic dystrophy receiving warfarin therapy.

A 31-yr-old parturient with myotonic dystrophy and asthma presented for elective Caesarean section. The patient was receiving warfarin having had two previous episodes of thromboembolism. Anticoagulation was subsequently provided by heparin in the weeks prior to delivery. The combination of the patient's medical conditions and the continuing need for anticoagulation presented a considerable anaesthetic problem in planning anaesthesia and analgesia for both elective and emergency delivery. Heparin was discontinued on the day prior to surgery and restarted immediately after surgery. During surgery flowtron anti-embolitic boots were used. Warfarin therapy was recommenced on the seventh postoperative day. Anaesthesia for Caesarean section was provided using a combined spinal epidural technique using a separate needle, separate interspace method. Postoperative pain was relieved by using a continuous epidural infusion, transcutaneous nerve stimulation and diclofenac. No new neurological problems arose despite the use of epidural analgesia in the presence of heparin anticoagulation. This method of providing anaesthesia and postoperative analgesia without the use of opioids in an anticoagulated, asthmatic, myotonic parturient has not been described elsewhere.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Amyloid goiter in cystic fibrosis.

Chronic infectious or inflammatory diseases lead to amyloid infiltration and dysfunction of many organs, including the kidney, liver, heart, and gastrointestinal tract. Subclinical amyloid infiltration of the thyroid gland has been described in over 80% of such patients. However, symptomatic involvement of the thyroid gland by amyloid is rare. We describe a euthyroid patient with cystic fibrosis and widespread amyloidosis who presented with a rapidly enlarging goiter and symptoms of local compression that compromised his pulmonary status. Fine needle aspiration of the goiter was nondiagnostic. At surgery he proved to have replacement of the thyroid gland by amyloid. A review of the literature reveals only five previous cases of amyloid goiter in patients with cystic fibrosis. However, as more patients survive into adulthood, amyloid goiter may become a more common complication of cystic fibrosis. In contrast to other patients with reactive amyloidosis and goiter, patients with cystic fibrosis may require thyroid surgery to relieve airway compression that can compromise pulmonary function.

Adult↗