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Biomedical subjects

R McCarthy

Publications and source records attributed to R McCarthy.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Community health service utilisation and needs in an elderly population.

This study was carried out to determine community health service utilisation and needs of an elderly population living in a geographically defined area of Dublin. A random sample of 208 persons was taken from the 11,852 elderly persons living in the area. Activities of daily living and cognitive function were assessed in the person's own home. Whilst the community health services provided were less than comprehensive, they were targeted to those most in need; the very elderly, those living alone, and persons with a mental or physical disability. Objectively assessed need for further services far outweighed the demand for such services. Studies such as this are essential if the elderly are to receive their fair share of services in a demand based health service.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Ridge recontouring and crown lengthening prior to bridge placement.

This report describes crown lengthening and ridge recontouring to facilitate the provision of an aesthetic bridge pontic. A short clinical crown on one of the abutment teeth and a prominent edentulous ridge were probably related to a traumatic episode which caused the avulsion of the missing incisor in childhood.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Persistent immune complexes and abnormal CD4/CD8 ratios in HIV infection.

We assessed the immunopathologic role of circulating immune complexes in human immunodeficiency virus infection by evaluating the data base and the serum bank of the San Francisco Men's Health Study, a longitudinal clinical and epidemiological investigation conducted since 1983. A group of 4,276 sera from 1,023 (including 811 homosexual/bisexual) men were tested for circulating immune complexes. We used a modification of the commercially available enzyme immunoassay test, based on monoclonal anti-C1q antibodies coupled to the solid phase, for capturing circulating immune complexes from the test serum, followed by detection of circulating immune complexes with either anti-IgG or with anti-IgM probes. Although persistent IgM and IgG circulating immune complexes were most frequently encountered in human immunodeficiency virus-seropositive homosexual/bisexual men, they were not an indicator of disease progression as assessed by abnormalities in the absolute numbers or ratios of CD4- and CD8-positive T cells, or clinical signs and symptoms of AIDS/ARC.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1989

Assessment of interlaboratory variability in analytical cytology. Results of the College of American Pathologists Flow Cytometry Study.

In 1986, the College of American Pathologists introduced an interlaboratory proficiency testing program for clinical laboratories that perform flow cytometry. Specimens consisting of fresh human lymphocytes isolated from blood or tissue or neoplastic cells grown in culture were mailed to participants by overnight mail. Results of analyses for cell surface antigens on lymphocytes and for cellular DNA content were reported to the College of American Pathologists Computer Center and the summary data were mailed to participants. The results obtained to date indicate no reagent- or instrument-related biases for measurements of cell surface antigens or for cellular DNA content. Interlaboratory variability in enumerating lymphocytes of a given subset varies inversely with the percentage of such cells in each specimen. In our experience, it is feasible and practical to conduct an interlaboratory proficiency survey in clinical flow cytometry.

Antigens, Surface↗
PubMed1988

Cytotoxic T-cell clones discriminate between A- and B-type Epstein-Barr virus transformants.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is the aetiological agent of infectious mononucleosis and is associated with Burkitt's lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. The virus is harboured for life in all previously infected individuals and is apparently controlled by a population of EBV-specific memory T lymphocytes, specifically activated to recognize the functionally defined lymphocyte-detected membrane antigen. Two types (A and B) of EBV have been identified that show DNA sequence divergence within the BamH1 WYH region of the genome encoding the transformation-associated antigen, Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen 2 (EBNA 2) (ref. 4). To define the function of EBNA 2 in T-cell recognition, we have compared the ability of EBV-specific cytotoxic T-cell clones to distinguish between autologous B lymphocytes transformed by A- or B-type virus. We have now isolated both CD4 and CD8 cytotoxic T-cell clones that recognize autologous A-type but not B-type transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines, thus providing the first evidence that EBV-specific T-cell recognition can be mediated by EBNA 2. As this antigen is not expressed in Burkitt's lymphoma, this finding explains the failure of EBV-specific T-cell surveillance to eliminate the tumour.

B-Lymphocytes↗
PubMed1987

Frontal lesions and sustained attention.

Neurological patients were presented with a succession of 2-11 stimuli which they were required to count, reporting the number in the series when it finished. The stimuli were binaural clicks, or pulses on the right or on the left index finger. Regardless of stimulus modality or lateralization, patients with lesions involving the right frontal lobe were impaired when the presentation rate was 1/sec. There was no corresponding impairment when the presentation rate was increased to 7/sec. It is argued that at slow rates when the task was monotonous patients with right-frontal lesions were less able than others to sustain attention voluntarily.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Early pregnancy factor: large scale isolation of rosette inhibition test-active polypeptides from ovine placental extracts.

Protocols are described for the isolation of substantial (mg) amounts of a rosette inhibition test (RIT)-active polypeptide fraction from ovine placental extracts. The main component of the preparation is a 12K polypeptide which contains a highly reactive thiol group. Oxidation may occur during isolation with the result that the final preparation is a mixture of the 12K polypeptide and a 25K disulphide linked dimer. The highly reactive thiol group was found to be directly involved in activity expression since gentle reduction followed by iodoacetylation resulted in a complete loss of activity. Antisera were prepared and the antibodies removed all the RIT activity from fresh ovine placental extracts, indicating that molecules related to those in the isolated preparation were responsible for all the activity in crude extracts. The antibodies also removed all the RIT activity from ovine and murine pregnancy sera, obtained both before and after implantation. Since EPF is defined as an RIT activity detected in pregnancy serum, these results establish that EPF activity is due to molecules similar to those isolated from the placental extracts. The availability of the preparative protocol and antibodies should hasten the biochemical definition of the EPF phenomenon.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Protection from venous air embolism with fluorocarbon emulsion FC-43.

Intraoperative venous air embolism (VAE) occurs frequently in some surgical settings and may cause devastating hemodynamic consequences. Perfluorocarbon emulsions have been investigated as artificial oxygen carrying medias. They also have the properties of enhanced nitrogen solubility and a small particle size. FC-43 (Oxypherol, Alpha Therapeutic Corp., Los Angeles, California) was compared to three other volume expanders in 91 New Zealand White laboratory rabbits exposed to continuous VAE. The animals were anesthetized and ventilated by one of four modalities. They then received one of the volume expanders at 20 cc/kg over 30 min. After a 10-min stabilization period, a constant femoral venous air infusion (0.25 cc/kg/min) was begun and continued until death. Time until death, total volume of air infused, femoral arterial pressure, central venous pressure, and ECG (Lead II) were recorded. Death was defined as the cessation of pulsatile blood pressure. Arterial and central venous gases were analyzed pre and post volume expansion and at intervals of every 5 min after the beginning of the femoral air infusion. Results showed a significant prolongation of life for the animals receiving FC-43 at 10 and 20 cc/kg as a volume expander and mechanically ventilated with 100% oxygen as compared to all other groups (P less than 0.05). PaO2 and PvO2 were consistently higher in the group receiving FC-43 as a volume expander. Central venous pressure was lower during air embolism in the FC-43 group. The mechanism for the enhanced survivability of rabbits pretreated with FC-43 volume expansion exposed to VAE is under further investigation.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Phonological reading: phenomena and paradoxes.

We report a single case study of a patient with an acquired dyslexia. KT had no difficulty in reading regular words and non-words at a normal speed, but he made numerous errors in reading irregular words. These were characterised by "regularisation" of the letter string. We have documented his residual reading abilities and in addition have investigated other aspects of his residual reading skills. We found that his performance on visual lexical processing tasks was very satisfactory, there was no effect of priming from a correctly read irregular word and his reading of polysyllabic words was remarkably good. In particular his assignment of word stress was usually accurate. We consider our findings in relation to current models of phonological reading and conclude that they provide further evidence for a multiple levels computation of the transcoding between print and phonology.

Dyslexia, Acquired↗
PubMed1985

Category specificity in an agrammatic patient: the relative impairment of verb retrieval and comprehension.

We report our investigations of a severely agrammatic patient (ROX). A striking feature of ROX's spontaneous speech was his extremely abnormal verb phrase constructions. We established that ROX was impaired both in the retrieval and in the comprehension of action names and verbs which contrasted with his generally excellent comprehension and retrieval of nouns. First we describe his impaired performance on certain sentence comprehension tests. Secondly we document his deficits in naming common actions and our attempt to remedy his impairment. Thirdly we investigate his comprehension of semantically and thematically related nouns and verbs. ROX's agrammatism is discussed from the perspective of category specificity. It is argued that his semantic representation of verbs is impaired, and that this lexical deficit may well be at the core of this type of agrammatism.

Adult↗