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T Harrison

Publications and source records attributed to T Harrison.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Absence of hepatitis B virus precore mutants in patients with chronic hepatitis B responding to interferon-alpha.

Precore defective HBV mutants may gradually prevail because of immune selection and explain spontaneous seroconversion from HBeAg to anti-HBe in HBV carriers. We have analyzed whether the presence of precore HBV mutants is a determinant of responsiveness to interferon-alpha therapy. Fifteen carriers (nine responders and six nonresponders) who were treated with interferon-alpha were examined. Serum samples were collected before and after therapy. After extraction of DNA, the precore region was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction, and the product was identified by gel electrophoresis and ethidium bromide staining and then Southern blotting and molecular hybridization. The amplified products in all patients were asymmetrically amplified by a modified polymerase chain reaction, and the precore region was directly sequenced. All patients were HBV DNA positive initially. Circulating HBeAg-negative mutants were not identified before treatment in either responders or nonresponders. All nine responders were negative for HBV DNA in serum by dot blot during or after treatment, but seven remained positive by polymerase chain amplification and Southern-blot hybridization. All of the nonresponders remained positive for HBV DNA by dot blot. A silent mutation involving the substitution of an A for G at position 1888 was found in seven carriers; however, no HBeAg-negative mutants were detected in the follow-up of either responders or nonresponders to interferon-alpha.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1992

The Northfield experiments.

The Northfield Experiments took place at Hollymoor Hospital, Northfield, Birmingham, during World War II. The first experiment was conducted by Bion & Rickman. The second evolved gradually; many people contributed to its success, including Foulkes, Main and Bridger. The experiments were an important landmark in the evolution of theory and practice in group psychotherapy and in the therapeutic community movement. They were not carried out solely as responses to the need for mass treatment of neurotic disorders among army personnel; antecedent factors, the theoretical orientation of the practitioners and the nature of army life were equally important. The two experiments differed in pace and in recognition of the needs of higher-order systems, particularly the military hierarchy. They shared many underlying concepts, including responsibility to society, the therapeutic use of groups (including the hospital community) and an emphasis on process. Lessons learned at Northfield remain relevant to the practice of psychiatry today.

Combat Disorders↗
PubMed1991

The protective role of eicosapentaenoic acid [EPA] in the pathogenesis of nephrolithiasis.

The low incidence of atherosclerosis and other degenerative diseases including stone disease in the Greenland Eskimo has been attributed to their high consumption of oily fish with its high concentration of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). Man cannot synthesis EPA from the precursor essential fatty acid, linolenic acid, and can only assimilate preformed EPA present in fish and fish oil, to bring about a change in the pathway of eicosanoid metabolism from the n-6 to the n-3 series. With a westernised diet the oxygenated products of renal prostaglandin synthesis are metabolites of the n-6 series and these are known to play an important role in several pathophysiological states including stone disease. Our previous studies have shown a relationship between prostaglandin activity and urinary calcium excretion and it would seem that the initiating factor/s for stone formation trigger the mechanisms for prostaglandin synthesis resulting in the biochemical abnormalities associated with stone disease. The Eskimo may be protected from these events by possession of an eicosanoid metabolism that follows an n-3 pathway. To test this hypothesis experiments were performed using an animal model of nephrocalcinosis. The animals were divided into three groups; one group was given an intra-peritoneal injection of 10% calcium gluconate daily for 10 days to induce nephrocalcinosis; a second group was fed MaxEPA fish oil before and during the calcium gluconate injections and a third group only received an intra-peritoneal injection of N saline. A group of 12 recurrent, hypercalciuric/hyperoxaluric stone-formers were treated with fish oil for eight weeks to study the effects on solute excretion. Nephrocalcinosis, which was readily produced in the control animals, was prevented in the experimental animals by pre-treatment with fish oil and urine calcium excretion was significantly reduced. The urinary calcium and oxalate excretion in the recurrent, hypercalciuric stone-formers was significantly reduced with fish oil treatment over an eight week period. There were no untoward side-effects. These studies indicate that the incorporation of EPA in the diet as a substitute metabolic pathway could be a unique way of correcting the biochemical abnormalities of idiopathic urolithiasis.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Persistence of hepatitis A virus in fulminant hepatitis and after liver transplantation.

A peroxidase-labelled, specific mouse monoclonal antibody to hepatitis A virus (HAV) and an in situ hybridization technique (streptavidin-biotin-horseradish peroxidase reaction) with an HAV-specific cDNA probe (recombinant plasmid pAWHA comprising 1.8 kb of the HAV-specific cDNA, located toward the 3' end of the genome) were used to detect HAV in liver tissues in two patients with fulminant viral hepatitis type A treated by liver transplantation after a protracted (day 40: case 1) and relapsing (day 60: case 2) clinical course. HAV antigens and HAV-specific genomic sequences were detected in the hepatectomy tissues and in serial biopsies of the liver grafts through to final follow-up at 2 months (case 2) or death at 7 months after re-grafting for chronic rejection (case 1). In the fulminant liver parenchyma, numerous degenerating and some surviving hepatocytes were positive and randomly scattered. The immunoperoxidase staining was predominantly cytoplasmic and often granular. The localization of the cDNA probe was predominantly nuclear/perinuclear but was occasionally cytoplasmic. High-titre IgM-anti-HAV antibodies persisted until death (case 1) or resolution (5 months) of an acute hepatitis (case 2), which occurred at 2 months, accompanied by HAV antigen (ELISA), in stool. Intact replicating virus particles must have been present in one or more sites in each case, including extrahepatic locations, with a viraemia as the most likely explanation for subsequent reinfection of the grafts.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Creativity in nurse education.

Educationalists have been accused of suppressing, or at least not encouraging, creativity in nursing students. Is this still the case or are the changes in nurse education helping to reverse this trend?

Creativity↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Children with AIDS.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗