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Biomedical subjects

S Wheeler

Publications and source records attributed to S Wheeler.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

Antibody responses to natural Dictyocaulus viviparus exposure in first year grazing cattle using vaccination or different kinds of anthelmintic treatment.

In two field trials vaccination or different anthelmintic treatments against Dictyocaulus viviparus infections were used in 6 groups of first year grazing cattle. The antibody response to lungworm infections was determined using an ELISA. Cattle treated once or repeatedly at long intervals with levamisole developed clinical signs of dictyocaulosis. The detection of anti-D. viviparus antibodies at the end of the grazing season confirmed that these anthelmintic treatments were not able to prevent lungworm infections. Cattle that received strategically administered treatments with ivermectin remained clinically healthy. These cattle were seronegative until the end of the trial which proved the efficacy of the strategic control. Cattle that received an intraruminal slow release bolus did not develop clinical disease. However one animal shed lungworm larvae and the herd became seropositive at the end of the grazing season indicating a history of infection. The serological examination of a cattle herd at the end of the grazing season is able to demonstrate a history of lungworm infections and to determine the efficacy of anthelmintic control measures.

Animals

Cyclosporine for plaque-type psoriasis. Results of a multidose, double-blind trial.

BACKGROUND: Severe plaque-type psoriasis has been successfully treated with orally administered cyclosporine, but there has been no comparative, controlled evaluation of various dosages and their efficacy and side effects. METHODS: In a 16-week, double-blind trial, we randomly assigned 85 patients with severe psoriasis to receive 3, 5, or 7.5 mg of cyclosporine per kilogram of body weight per day or a placebo consisting of the vehicle for the drug. After eight weeks the dose could be adjusted to improve safety or efficacy while maintaining blinding. RESULTS: The psoriasis improved in a dose-dependent fashion. After eight weeks of fixed-dose therapy, 36, 65, and 80 percent of the patients receiving 3, 5, and 7.5 mg of cyclosporine per kilogram per day, respectively, were rated as being clear or almost clear of psoriasis; each group had significant improvement (P less than 0.0001) as compared with the group receiving vehicle, in which none of the patients were rated as clear or almost clear. The patients who received 5 mg per kilogram were the least likely to require dosage adjustments because of side effects or a lack of efficacy. The glomerular filtration rate, measured in a subgroup of 34 patients receiving cyclosporine, decreased by a median of 16 percent. Higher doses of cyclosporine had greater adverse effects on systolic blood pressure, glomerular filtration rate, and serum levels of creatinine, uric acid, bilirubin, and cholesterol. Delayed-type hypersensitivity reactions to skin-test antigens were reduced by cyclosporine administration. Cyclosporine appears to become concentrated in skin. CONCLUSIONS: Cyclosporine therapy leads to a rapid and thorough clearing of psoriasis; an initial dose of 5 mg per kilogram per day seems to be appropriate. However, the safety of cyclosporine for the long-term treatment of psoriasis remains to be determined.

Administration, Oral

Assertiveness: an interpersonal approach.

As all aspects of industry and the public sector are reorganised to face the onslaught of the current recession, as well as the impact of a single European market in 1992, so the role and function of OH changes within these organisations. Personal skills of OH nurses that have been adequate in the past may now need to be refined to meet the challenges of the 90s, writes Sue Wheeler lecturer in management development at Birmingham University.

Assertiveness

The efficacy of strategic treatments with ivermectin pour-on against trichostrongylid and lungworm infections in first year grazing calves in northern Germany.

Three groups of 8 first year grazing calves each were either left untreated as controls (group 1), or were treated with 10 mg levamisole spot-on/kg bodyweight (group 2) or with 0.5 mg ivermectin pour-on/kg bodyweight 3, 8, and 13 weeks after turnout (group 3), respectively. Egg counts, herbage larval counts, worm counts of tracer calves, pepsinogen concentrations and weight gains showed a high efficacy of the strategic treatment in group 3 against gastrointestinal nematodes. The calves of group 1 and 2 developed clinical signs of parasitic bronchitis whereas the group 3 animals remained clinically healthy. The strategic treatment with ivermectin cleaned the respective pasture from infective lungworm larvae.

Abomasum

Effects of oral meclofenamate therapy in psoriasis.

One hundred three patients entered a study to evaluate the effects of oral meclofenamate sodium therapy on psoriasis. The first 4 weeks of the study were double-blind, with patients receiving either meclofenamate or placebo. Most patients receiving meclofenamate had no change in their psoriasis, in comparison with their pretherapy condition. There was no difference in the response of the psoriasis between the group taking meclofenamate and the group taking placebo. Eighty-nine patients continued in a 4-week open trial of meclofenamate. Approximately one third of the patients showed improvement, but this result appeared to be related to the open trial design. Since oral meclofenamate therapy was not associated with frequent worsening of psoriasis, it is an appropriate treatment for psoriatic arthritis.

Administration, Oral

Ictal catatonia as a manifestation of nonconvulsive status epilepticus.

Three patients with EEG documented ictal catatonia, a nonconvulsive status epilepticus, who responded dramatically to intravenous phenytoin are described. The EEG showed continuous bilateral pseudoperiodic sharp waves and spike discharges in one patient, spike and wave complexes were seen prominently in the right fronto-central region in another, and the EEG of the third patient showed periodic lateralising epileptiform discharges during the catatonic state. We postulate that such catatonia was due to involvement of the limbic system by seizure activity.

Aged

Antigenic determinants shared by lysosomal proteins of Dictyostelium discoideum. Characterization using monoclonal antibodies and isolation of mutations affecting the determinant.

Polyclonal antisera raised against a single lysosomal enzyme from Dictyostelium discoideum will cross-react with other lysosomal proteins due to the presence of common post-translational modification antigens. We have now isolated hybridoma cell lines secreting monoclonal antibodies that also recognize a shared lysosomal determinant. Although the same proteins are recognized by the monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies, the actual determinants differ. Also, the polyclonal serum contains antibodies which recognize at least one determinant not recognized by the monoclonal antibodies. All of the antigenic proteins are minor cell proteins but represent a majority of the proteins secreted from the cells during axenic growth. Anode-directed nonequilibrium two-dimensional gel electrophoresis of cellular and secreted protein indicates that the antigenic proteins have extremely acidic pI values; moreover, most are both sulfated and phosphorylated. Several sulfated polysaccharides, including dextran sulfate, chondroitin sulfate, and heparin inhibit binding of the monoclonal but not the polyclonal antibodies, indicating that the shared determinant recognized by the monoclonal antibodies may involve sulfated oligosaccharides. As a step in analyzing the function of the post-translational modification of lysosomal enzymes, we have screened a mutagenized population of amoeba for those lacking the antigenic determinant recognized by one of the monoclonal antibodies. Five cell lines have been isolated that completely lack the determinant. They appear to fall into at least three different classes based upon physical properties of the enzymes. One strain lacks any detectable sulfation of glycoproteins. Several of the strains are capable of forming fruiting bodies indicating that the antigenic determinant plays no crucial role in morphogenesis under laboratory conditions.

Antibodies, Monoclonal

Mutations affecting a surface glycoprotein, gp80, of Dictyostelium discoideum.

We isolated two independent mutations in Dictyostelium discoideum that result in the absence of the antigenic determinant recognized by monoclonal antibody E28D8. This antibody reacts with a post-translational modification on the surface glycoprotein gp80 and several other proteins. Both of the mutations occur in the same locus, modB, which was mapped to linkage group VI. The modB mutations result in sufficient alteration of gp80 that it is absent or unrecognizable by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Strains carrying modB mutations exhibit "contact sites A"-mediated cell-cell adhesion although more weakly than do wild-type strains and develop to fruiting bodies carrying viable spores. Although gp80 has been implicated in the mechanism of cell-cell adhesion in D. discoideum, it is clear from the behavior of these mutant strains that the determinant on gp80 recognized by E28D8 is not necessary for either morphogenesis or reduced EDTA-resistant adhesion.

Alleles

Salary survey of the Medical Library Group of Southern California and Arizona.

The 1982 salary survey of the Medical Library Group of Southern California and Arizona (MLGSCA) indicates that 211 health sciences librarians in Southern California and Arizona earned a mean annual salary of $20,910 for 1982. Data analysis shows a positive correlation between salary and educational level. Other factors found to affect salary were job history, number of positions held, MLA certification, and professional responsibility. Age, gender, and MLA certification did not have a consistent positive correlation with salary. Results indicate that the salaries of hospital librarians are, on the average, roughly comparable to those of academic librarians in Southern California and Arizona.

Age Factors

Phosphorylation of the major heat shock protein of Dictyostelium discoideum.

The major heat shock protein, hsp 70, of Dictyostelium discoideum was found to be rapidly phosphorylated. Analysis of [35S]methionine- and 32Pi-labeled hsp 70 revealed that two similar but distinct proteins of about 70,000 daltons each are synthesized at a high rate after a heat shock, and that each has a phosphorylated member. The phosphorylation chiefly modifies threonine residues. Rapid turnover of the phosphate group occurs, resulting in a steady-state condition in which only about half of the hsp 70 is phosphorylated at a given time.

Cycloheximide