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Biomedical subjects

T Mitchell

Publications and source records attributed to T Mitchell.

50 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

The role of social support in the functioning of patients with unipolar depression.

The authors studied 44 outpatients with unipolar depression to determine the association among social support systems, life events, social adjustment, and depressive symptoms. Social support had a reasonably high correlation with outcome measures. Patients with high social support had significantly better scores than those with low social support on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression and the Social Adjustment Rating Scale Self-Report. These data corroborate the hypothesis that social support systems play a critical role in the ongoing functioning of a defined group of depressed patients.

Adult

Coenzyme A thiosulfonate (coenzyme A disulfide-S,S-dioxide), an affinity analog of coenzyme A.

The structure of the CoA affinity analog-oxidized CoA disulfide (o-CoAS2) (Collier, G. E., and Nishimura, J. S. (1978) J. Biol. Chem. 253, 4938-4939) has been deduced to be that of the thiosulfonate of CoA, i.e. coenzyme A disulfide-S,S-dioxide. This deduction is based on several considerations among which are: the cleavage of o-CoAS2 by dithiothreitol under anaerobic conditions to equimolar amounts of CoASH and CoASO2H; the alkali-catalyzed dismutation of 3 mol of o-CoAS2 to 4 mol of CoASO2H and 1 mol of CoA disulfide; and comparison of the 13C-NMR spectra of CoA disulfide and o-CoAS2. The results of studies with Clostridial phosphotransacetylase (EC 2.3.1.8) and pigeon muscle carnitine acetyltransferase (EC 2.3.1.7) were consistent with the action of o-CoAS2 as a CoA affinity analog on these enzymes. Inactivation was characterized by what appeared to be disulfide bonding between CoA and important sulfhydryl groups of the proteins.

Affinity Labels

Chemical requirements of vasopressins for barrel rotation convulsions and reversal by oxytocin.

When vasopressin is administered into the lateral ventricles of rats it produces severe convulsive activity characterized by a rapid barrel rotation. Electrical recordings from the dorsal hippocampus indicate marked elevations in the amplitude and frequency at doses of 5 microliter of 2 x 10(-5) M vasopressin. No significant behavioral effects were noted with oxytocin, somatostatin, beta-melanophore-stimulating hormone, adrenocorticotropin, or leu-enkephalin. Pretreatment of the rats with intraventricularly administered oxytocin, beta-MSH, or systemically administered Dilantin prevented the vasopressin-induced seizures. With the use of chemical and enzymic modification procedures, the essential fragment and amino acids of vasopressin needed for the activity were determined. It was concluded that although the peptide could be acting by vasoconstricting blood arterioles and capillaries in the brain, it may also be exerting a direct excitatory action on neurons.

Animals

Plasma uric acid and plasma albumin in healthy subjects.

In healthy male subjects there was a positive correlation between plasma uric acid and plasma albumin (r = 0 - 43, P less than 0 - 005, n = 49) when repeated measurements of both variables were used for each subject. Changes in plasma albumin induced by in vivo ultrafiltration were not accompanied by changes in plasma uric acid. The correlation of plasma uric acid with plasma albumin cannot be attributed to protein binding of urate. The two variables are probably related indirectly through a common association with an unknown factor or factors.

Adolescent

Employment choices in conditions of physician oversupply: a study of graduates of San Francisco internal medicine programs, 1979-1984.

The authors surveyed 297 internists who completed residency or fellowship training at six San Francisco institutions from 1979 through 1984 to assess how the recent expanded supply of physicians has affected their intensity of practice and their decisions about location of practice. The vast majority of internists (93%) settled in metropolitan areas, with 56% remaining in the San Francisco Bay Area, despite that region's already high concentration of physicians. Mean annual income, in 1984 dollars, was slightly more than figures from national surveys of physicians of similar age ($72,560 vs. $71,900), but reported mean work week was shorter (54.8 hours vs. 60.5). Although subspecialists earned significantly more than generalists, this was because they worked more hours. Those who graduated later were significantly less likely to be in private practice in 1985, mainly because they initially selected salaried institutional work more often than earlier graduates (p less than 0.001). Women worked 85% of the men's work week and subspecialized significantly less often (p less than 0.05). These findings suggest that internists trained in already "over-doctored" areas will continue to settle there or in similar communities.

Adult

Expression of the c-fms proto-oncogene during human monocytic differentiation.

The McDonough strain of the feline sarcoma virus contains a transforming gene (v-fms) which contains partial nucleotide homology with proto-oncogenes encoding tyrosine kinases. One of the v-fms-encoded products, gp140fms, is a cell surface transmembrane glycoprotein that may function as a growth factor receptor. Although c-fms transcripts have been detected in placental trophoblasts and normal human bone marrow, the role of the c-fms gene product is unknown. We now report that induction of monocytic, but not granulocytic, differentiation of human HL-60 leukaemic cells is associated with expression of c-fms, preceded by that of c-myc and c-fos. Because c-fms transcripts are also detectable in peripheral blood monocytes and in blasts from certain patients with myelomonocytic leukaemia, the c-fms gene product may play a role in monocytic differentiation.

Acetamides