PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

P McMahon

Publications and source records attributed to P McMahon.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Soft-tissue injury as an indication of child abuse.

We reviewed the hospital records of 371 children who were suspected of having been physically abused. Our purpose was to determine specific features that might be used to distinguish injuries resulting from abuse from accidental injuries. Soft-tissue injuries were found in 341 (92 per cent) of these children. Ecchymoses were most common, accounting for 555 (62 per cent) of 892 soft-tissue injuries, and very few had a suspicious pattern. Only thirty-four (9 per cent) of the children had a radiographically documented fracture, but radiography was performed for only thirty-seven (10 per cent) of the patients and it rarely was done unless a fracture was clinically obvious. The patterns of injury were age-specific. The forty-four children who were nine months old or less had an average of only one soft-tissue injury; thirty soft-tissue injuries involved the head or face, and seven (16 per cent) of the children had a burn. These children were the most severely injured: two (5 per cent) died and twenty (45 per cent) had a fracture. The sixty-one children who were ten months to two years and eleven months old had an average of two soft-tissue injuries; fifty-four soft-tissue injuries involved the head or face, and nine (15 per cent) of the children had a burn. A fracture was found in eight (13 per cent) of these children.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Age Factors

Age and velopharyngeal function during speech production.

This investigation was designed to determine if velopharyngeal function during speech production, as reflected in measures of nasal air flow, differs with age in adults. Eighty subjects were studied, 40 women and 40 men, representing four age groups (20-30, 40-50, 60-70, and 80 + years). Results showed no age-related differences in nasal air flow. Sex-related differences in flow were found on productions of nasal consonants only. These findings do not support the suggestion of Hutchinson, Robinson, and Nerbonne (1978) that velopharyngeal function deteriorates with age.

Adult

Selective post-transcriptional down-regulation of protein kinase C isoenzymes in leukemic T cells chronically treated with phorbol ester.

Binding to, and activation of, protein kinase C (PKC) by phorbol ester (PE) tumor promoters may underlie their tumor-promoting activity. To study the effects of long-term PE treatment on regulation of cellular PKC, we adapted the human leukemic T cell line, Jurkat (JK), to continuous growth in the presence of PE. Such cells (JKPE) displayed loss of CD2 and CD3 cell surface molecules, known to play an important role in agonist-stimulated T cell activation, unresponsiveness to stimuli that induce interleukin 2 (IL2) receptor expression or IL2 production, change in the expression of several cell cycle-regulated genes, and a 6-fold reduction in cellular PKC enzymatic activity. This reduction was accompanied by the disappearance of a major approximately 82-kDa immunoreactive protein in JKPE cytosol when cell extracts were immunoblotted with a polyclonal anti-PKC peptide antibody cross-reactive with the PKC isoenzymes, alpha, beta, and gamma. Analysis with additional anti-peptide antibodies specific for alpha, beta, or gamma PKC indicated that all three types of PKC are expressed in JK cells; however, JKPE cells lost a major approximately 82 kDa immunoreactive cytosolic protein detectable with anti-PKC alpha antibody. In contrast, levels of expression and subcellular distribution of immunoreactive PKC beta and PKC gamma, as well as levels of mRNA specific for the three PKC isoenzymes, were not significantly affected by chronic PE treatment. These results indicate that PE-mediated reduction of PKC in JKPE cells is selective and occurs at the protein, not mRNA, level, and support the notion that distinct isoenzymes encoded by the PKC multigene family may be independently regulated. Moreover, the correlation between phenotypic and functional changes on one hand, and the selective reduction of PKC alpha on the other, raises the possibility that expression of CD2 and/or CD3 and functional activation in JKPE cells are preferentially regulated by PKC alpha.

Amino Acid Sequence

The detection of antibodies to the glycoprotein X antigen of pseudorabies virus.

The persistence of antibodies to glycoprotein X (gpX) in the serum of pigs experimentally infected with pseudorabies virus (PRV) was determined using an anti-gpX enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Antibodies to gpX were detected for at least 365 days postchallenge in nonvaccinated pigs. Previous sensitization of pigs by vaccination with S/PRV had no apparent effect on the antibody response of pigs to gpX postchallenge. In determining previous exposure of pigs to PRV strains containing the gpX gene, the anti-gpX ELISA was highly specific, but its sensitivity was lower than the standard serological procedures currently used for detecting PRV antibodies.

Animals

Paget's disease of the bone presenting as an apparent oral antral fistula.

Paget's disease of the bone is a chronic, slowly progressive condition commonly evidenced by bowing of the legs and enlargement of the skull. Its lesions are usually multiple and result in thickened but weakened areas within the involved bones. A case of Paget's disease presented as an apparent oral antral fistula. The patient also exhibited other signs and symptoms of the disease.

Aged

Relationships between aerobic and anaerobic energy production in turtle brain in situ.

To define the relationships between brain mitochondrial activity and high-energy intermediates in the turtle, brains were frozen in situ at times determined by the reduction-oxidation status of cytochrome a,a3. Increases in brain lactate indicated that transition to anaerobiosis occurred while oxidative reactions were still ongoing during hypoxia and that the signal for anaerobiosis is not the complete failure of mitochondrial electron transfer. Decreases in creatine phosphate (CrP), ATP, ADP, and AMP demonstrate that their consumption exceeded production during hypoxia. CrP decreased further during the following 120 min of anoxia, but ATP, ADP, and AMP were not significantly altered from control values. These data suggest that ATP is not inhibitory to rate-limiting, key glycolytic enzymes such as phosphofructokinase. Calculations indicate that ATP production declined during anoxia. This study indicates that decreased CrP values, decreased ATP production, and high lactate levels do not preclude ion homeostasis and electrical activity of turtle brain and that this brain is protected against lactate or pH damage during anoxia, in contrast to mammalian brain.

Adenine Nucleotides

Factors affecting transmission of Wuchereria bancrofti by anopheline mosquitoes. 3. Uptake and damage to ingested microfilariae by Anopheles gambiae, An. arabiensis, An. merus and An. funestus in east Africa.

Laboratory observations were made on the uptake of microfilariae (mf) of Wuchereria bancrofti by Anopheles gambiae, An. arabiensis, An. merus and An. funestus. Over host mf densities ranging from 450/ml to 1735 mf/ml neither the percentage of mosquitoes ingesting mf nor the mean number of mf per mosquito was correlated to host mf density. All mosquito species damaged mf during ingestion but the proportion harmed was independent of host mf density. The mean proportion damaged was 0.67 in An. gambiae, 0.51 in An. merus, 0.47 in An. Arabiensis and 0.26 in An. funestus. A comparison of the mean number of undamaged mf ingested and the number of larvae in the thoracic muscles revealed that not all undamaged mf were able to reach the thoracic muscles.

Africa, Eastern

Outcomes of a diabetes education program.

This study is the first part of an evaluation of a model program of education on diabetes mellitus for diabetic outpatients, currently in progress in Washington State. The program consists of 16 hours of education, covering all aspects of self-care, with an emphasis on the prevention of unnecessary morbidity from poor control of the disorder or from infections. Eighty-eight percent of participants included in this study had not had formal diabetes education since receiving their diagnosis. The average duration of participants' diabetes was more than 7 years, and their average age was 55 years. Participants were evaluated just before and 3 months after the education program. During this interval, they made significant improvements in their knowledge of diabetes and their attitudes toward and skills in managing the disorder, as well as in their degree of satisfaction with control. Moreover, their random blood glucose and glycosylated hemoglobin (Hb Alc) levels were significantly lower at the 3-month followup. The authors suggest that outpatient education offers a significant improvement in diabetic control.

Adult