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Biomedical subjects

R A Thomas

Publications and source records attributed to R A Thomas.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Maternal nicotine exposure: response of type II pneumocytes of neonatal rat pups.

The influence of maternal nicotine exposure during pregnancy and lactation on the Type II cells of lung tissue of one day old neonatal rat pups was investigated. The results clearly show that maternal nicotine exposure resulted in an increase in the type II cell count in the lungs of the offspring. In addition the lamellar body content of the type II cells of the nicotine exposed rat pups were significantly (P < 0.01) higher than that of the control animals. The type II cell mitochondria of lung tissue of nicotine exposed rat pups were swollen and no microvilli occurred on the alveolar surface. This clearly illustrates that nicotine interfered with type II cell integrity of tlte neonatal lung and may subsequently interfere with the normal development of the alveolar region of the lung.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Effects of a buffered propionic acid in diets on the performance of broiler chickens and on microflora of the intestine and carcass.

A buffered propionic acid (BPA) was added to broiler diets fed in floor pens with litter. The BPA was fed continuously at 0, .2, .4, and .8% in Trial 1 and at 0 and .4% in Trial 2. The BPA was also fed at .4% for the last 7 days in Trial 2. Natural salmonellae exposure versus periodic dosage with Salmonella typhimurium was compared in Trial 2. In Trial 1, the BPA supplement had no adverse effects on growth, feed utilization, or abdominal fat with a significant (P less than or equal to .05) increase in the female dressing value at .8% of buffered propionic acid. The total number of coliforms and of Escherichia coli in the duodenum were significantly reduced by .4% BPA; in the jejunum, by all levels used in the trials; and in the ileum, by .4% and .8% of buffered propionic acid. The intestinal pH was not influenced by the BPA addition. In Trial 2, the BPA at .4% fed continuously had no adverse effect on growth, feed utilization, the abdominal fat of females, or the dressing percentage of males while significantly reducing the abdominal fat for males and increasing the dressing percentage for females. Feeding .4% BPA for the last 7 days had no effect on any of these parameters. Periodic dosage with S. typhimurium had no effect on body weight, feed utilization, or abdominal fat and significantly increased the dressing percentage. There was a significant interaction between the Salmonella dosage and the time of feeding BPA on dressing percentage.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Embryologic and other developmental considerations of thirty-eight possible variants of the DiGeorge anomaly.

The DiGeorge anomaly (DGA) represents a polytopic developmental field defect that can be caused by a number of different chromosomal, mendelian, toxic, or metabolic factors operating in early embryonic life. If the affected field is thought to be focused on either the fourth branchial arch or the third branchial pouch, with variable cephalad or caudad extension, 38 different combinations of malformations can include DiGeorge anomalies, 24 complete and 14 partial DGA, with the constraints that the field defect must be contiguous (involvement of more than one branchial arch or pouch requires involvement of all intervening arches or pouches) and complete (all derivatives of an affected branchial arch or pouch are deficient). The types and relative frequencies of abnormalities of structures other than the thymus and parathyroid glands in these possible "subsets" of DGA are discussed, and the need for more data on their occurrence in patients diagnosed as having DGA is emphasized.

Branchial Region↗
PubMed1986

Development of electrocardiographic teaching materials using an MC68000-based, interactive graphics microcomputer.

Interactive computer-graphics methods of computer-aided design (CAD) have been applied to problems in physical science and industry for several years; however, at the present time CAD methods have not been widely used to solve similar problems in medical education. Electrocardiogram waveform fabrication for the production of teaching materials seemed to be a well-defined area for CAD application. The availability of inexpensive, 16/32 bit word, MC68000-based microcomputers (e.g. Apple, Macintosh) and interactive graphics software (e.g. MacPaint and MacDraw) seemed to provide the necessary tools to make this application. This paper describes the authors' initial experience (from June 1984 to March 1985) in developing and employing an interactive computer graphics routine to produce ECG teaching materials.

Cardiovascular Diseases↗
PubMed1986

Abnormal growth of the thyroid cartilage in the DiGeorge syndrome.

Larynges from 17 patients with DiGeorge syndrome (DGS) and from 14 patients with tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) (11 non-DGS and 3 possible but unproven DGS) were dissected, measured, and compared to a control population of comparable body length. The patients with DGS and the 3 patients with TOF suspected of having DGS showed the following: small thyroid cartilages with increased anterior angle, abnormally short superior cornua, low ratio of mean superior cornual length to distance between superior cornual tips, and delayed time of maximal rate of increase in superior cornual length relative to increase in body length. The hypoplasia, delayed maximal growth rate and persistent fetal shape of the thyroid cartilage (predominantly a derivative of the fourth branchial arch) in DGS, indicates that the causative process in the syndrome affects not only the third and fourth branchial pouches, but also, by a contiguous field defect, other derivatives than great vessels of the fourth-sixth branchial arches.

DiGeorge Syndrome↗
PubMed1986

Description of a novel microcomputer program to analyze left ventricular segmental wall motion during normal sinus rhythm and sinus tachycardia.

The authors have written a program to describe left ventricular (LV) regional wall motion (RWM) for a Tektronix 4051 graphic system and an MC68000, 32-bit word based microcomputer utilizing interactive graphics methods. Proper wall motion of 16 defined regions of the LV endocardial perimeter (RAO angiographic views) were computed from the magnitudes of fixed vectors fixed to analogous positions along the LV perimeter from end-diastole to end-systole (Figure 1). It was assumed that (1) LV contraction, tangential to the perimeter, produced RWM at large angles to the direction of contraction, and (2) LV contraction occurred uniformly along the anterolateral and posteromedial perimeters. All motion vectors were computed following digitization of the LV perimeters from projected images of 35-mm cineangiographic frames corrected for linear and nonlinear distortion. Digitization input was accurate to less than 0.3 mm and area computation demonstrated errors of less than 1.5%. A normal group (NG) without coronary artery (CA) disease (N = 31) defined a set of Gaussian distributed referent values for mean WM (magnitude of motion vectors) for all segments. WM amplitudes for the CA disease group (N = 125) demonstrated significant diviation in the areas supplied by occluded or stenosed coronary arteries. Qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the adequacy of coronary circulation and/or collateral vessel development could be made by inspection of WM amplitude computer plots. Proper WM was found to be highly specific for numbers and distribution of coronary arteries diseased.

Cineangiography↗
PubMed1985

The nucleotide sequence of tobacco rattle virus RNA-2 (CAM strain).

The nucleotide sequence of the smaller genomic strand (RNA-2) of the bipartite tobacco rattle virus (CAM strain) has been determined. RNA-2 is capped at the 5' terminus and contains 1799 nucleotide residues. There is a single 223 codon long open reading frame extending from nucleotide 574 to 1242 which designates a protein of Mr 23,654. The derived amino acid composition, in percent, matches that previously determined for the virus capsid protein. The long open reading frame is flanked by 5' and 3' untranslated regions of 573 and 554 nucleotides, respectively. The 5' leader sequence contains two different sets of direct repeats, one of 119 nucleotides and the other of 76. It also contains 13 apparently unused AUG codons, four of which lie in the same frame as the capsid protein cistron. The 3' terminal sequence of RNA-2 is identical to that of the larger genomic strand (RNA-1) for 459 nucleotides.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1978

Adenosine production in the ischemic kidney.

We conducted experiments to determine (1) tissue, blood, and urine levels of adenosine produced by the ischemic kidney under conditions of renal artery occlusion, and (2) the site(s) of production and release of adenosine by the kidney. Concentrations of adenosine, inosine, and hypoxanthine in the dog urine were found to increase after 2 minutes of renal artery occlusion as were concentrations of these metabolites in renal tissue after 10 minutes of renal artery occlusion. Renal venous plasma levels of inosine and hypoxanthine also were elevated after 3 minutes of arterial occlusion. In modified stop-flow experiments, adenosine appeared in the urine in a peak that corresponded most closely with proximal tubule fluid. 5'-Nucleotidase, the enzyme which catalyzes the dephosphorylation of 5'-AMP or 5'-IMP to adenosine or inosine, respectively, was found to be located primarily on the external membranes and mitochondria of proximal tubule cells, but not in distal tubule or collecting duct cells. Since adenosine has been demonstrated to elicit renal vasoconstriction and is produced by the ischemic kidney, it is suggested that adenosine may be involved in the mediation of postocclusion renal ischemia.

Adenosine↗
PubMed1977

Development of instrumentation and fluorochromes for automated multiparameter analysis of cells.

We have developed and interfaced to a computer an automated instrument (the AMAC III) which is designed to observe simultaneously several physical parameters of cells. Typical parameters include electronic cell volume (Coulter effect), RF amplitude (opacity), multiwavelength fluorescence of cytological stains, and cell light-scattering. The use of a new ultraviolet laser combined with a holographic grating spectrograph promises to increase the number of fluorescing species that can be detected simultaneously. This number can be further increased by use of special rare-earth-based fluorochromes, that emit well-defined, spectrally distinct peaks.

Autoanalysis↗