PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

S Allison

Publications and source records attributed to S Allison.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

Bovine dopamine beta-hydroxylase cDNA. Complete coding sequence and expression in mammalian cells with vaccinia virus vector.

We have isolated cDNA clones for bovine dopamine beta-hydroxylase from an adrenal medulla cDNA library and have determined the complete coding sequence. The largest cDNA clone isolated from the library is 2.4 kilobase pairs (kb) and contains an open reading frame of 1788 bases, coding for a protein of 597 amino acids and Mr = 66,803. The predicted amino acid sequence of the bovine cDNA contains 85% identity with human dopamine beta-hydroxylase (Lamouroux, A., Vingny, A., Faucon Biquet, N., Darmon, M. C., Franck, R., Henry, J.P., and Mallet, J. (1987) EMBO J. 6, 3931-3937; Kobayashi, K., Kurosawa, Y., Fujita, K., and Nagatsu, T. (1989) Nucleic Acids Res. 17, 1089-1102). Northern blot analysis reveals that the cDNA hybridizes to an mRNA of 2.4 kb present in bovine adrenal medulla, but not in kidney, heart, or liver. In addition, the cDNA hybridizes to a second RNA species of 5.5 kb, which is 4-fold less abundant than the 2.4-kb RNA. In vitro translation of a synthetic RNA transcribed from the 2.4-kb cDNA produces a 68-kDa protein, which is specifically immunoprecipitated by antiserum to bovine dopamine beta-hydroxylase. The 2.4-kb cDNA was cloned into a vaccinia virus vector, and the recombinant virus was used to infect the rat pheochromocytoma PC12 and monkey BSC-40 fibroblast cell lines. In both cell lines, infection with recombinant virus produces a protein of Mr = 75,000, which reacts with antiserum to bovine dopamine beta-hydroxylase. These results indicate that the 2.4-kb cDNA contains the genetic information necessary to code for the bovine dopamine beta-hydroxylase subunit.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1989

Alertness of night nurses: two shift systems compared.

The alertness of hospital trainee nurses during their night shift work was assessed by recording performance at night on an arousal-sensitive unprepared simple reaction time task. One group carried out a number of separate weeks on night shift throughout their three-year course. Here performance fell from first to seventh day of the week on night shift, implying progressive sleep deprivation. Another group covered their night work by a single three-month 'permanent' night shift of four (or three) nights on and three (or four) days off each week. Here initial performance level fell by the 45th night but had returned to normal by the last (90th) night. In both systems individuals varied considerably in their ability to maintain performance during sustained night work. These results strengthen the case for permanent night shifts, with careful selection of personnel, as a means of organizing night nursing in hospitals.

Arousal↗
PubMed1989

Age and simple reaction time: decade differences for 5,325 subjects.

In a booth at a public exhibition entitled "Medicines for Man," 5,325 men, women, and children carried out a 1-minute test of simple reaction time (RT) with 1 to 10 second randomized variable preparatory interval (PI). They recorded their ages by decade. Average RT over the last eight (of ten) trials increased progressively from the 20s up to age 60 and over, and downward to the teens and under 10s. The single fastest RT in each test varied much less with age, only the 20s being clearly faster than the rest, with the under 10s slower. Within-subject variability of RT was increased only in the under 10s and over 60s. Ability to sustain attention during the longer PIs may underlie the gross average RT differences with age, and possibly some more basic neural property the superiority of the 20s in fastest RT.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

The detection of sleep onset: behavioral, physiological, and subjective convergence.

In this report, a sleep deprivation/multiple arousal paradigm was used in which response time (RT) and respiratory and electroencephalographic (EEG) measures were combined with a continuous behavioral index of arousal (a deadman switch) and frequently repeated Stanford Sleepiness Scale ratings to examine the process of falling asleep. Sleep was defined behaviorally as failure to respond to the faint auditory RT cue. Although response rates decreased significantly as EEG stages passed from W through 1 to 2, responding continued in both light "sleep" stages. Respiratory, subjective, and DM changes were more pronounced between Stages W and 1 than between Stages 1 and 2. If the criterion for wakefulness is cognitive response to external stimulation, accurate distinctions between sleep and wakefulness can only be made in EEG Stages 3, 4, and rapid eye movement sleep. If EEG is the criterion, then the data suggest that cognitive response is possible during Stages 1 and 2 "sleep". The concept of a Sleep Onset Period, characterized by lengthening response times and intermittent response failure (thereby reflecting neither true sleep nor wakefulness), may provide a useful resolution to this definitional dilemma.

Adult↗