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Biomedical subjects

V J King

Publications and source records attributed to V J King.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Radiosurgery for patients with brain metastases: a multi-institutional analysis, stratified by the RTOG recursive partitioning analysis method.

PURPOSE: To estimate the potential improvement in survival for patients with brain metastases, stratified by the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) recursive partitioning analysis (RPA) class and treated with radiosurgery (RS) plus whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT). METHODS AND MATERIALS: An analysis of the RS databases of 10 institutions identified patients with brain metastates treated with RS and WBRT. Patients were stratified into 1 of 3 RPA classes. Survival was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier estimates and proportional hazard regression analysis. A comparison of survival by class was carried out with the RTOG results in similar patients receiving WBRT alone. RESULTS: Five hundred two patients were eligible (261 men and 241 women, median age 59 years, range 26-83). The overall median survival was 10.7 months. A higher Karnofsky performance status (p = 0.0001), a controlled primary (median survival = 11.6 vs. 8.8 months, p = 0.0023), absence of extracranial metastases (median survival 13.4 vs. 9.1 months, p = 0.0001), and lower RPA class (median survival 16.1 months for class I vs. 10.3 months for class II vs. 8.7 months for class III, p = 0.000007) predicted for improved survival. Gender, age, primary site, radiosurgery technique, and institution were not prognostic. The addition of RS boosted results in median survival (16.1, 10.3, and 8.7 months for classes I, II, and III, respectively) compared with the median survival (7.1, 4.2, and 2.3 months, p <0.05) observed in the RTOG RPA analysis for patients treated with WBRT alone. CONCLUSION: In the absence of randomized data, these results suggest that RS may improve survival in patients with BM. The improvement in survival does not appear to be restricted by class for well-selected patients.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Training programs for healthcare professionals in domestic violence.

Although women who experience domestic violence seek healthcare services frequently, screening and counseling rates remain low, and healthcare professionals report feeling inadequately trained to care for abused women. The English language literature from 1989 to 1999 was searched to identify and evaluate published assessments of the education of healthcare providers in domestic violence toward women. Major deficiencies in program evaluation were found. They included the use of a historical comparison group, lack of an experimental design, selection of nonstandardized outcomes without clinical performance measures, short-term follow-up, limited documentation of course content and theory, and lack of focus on the impact of programs on abused women. Educational programs generally consisted of a single session of limited duration (1-3 hours). Based on published reports, it appears that few rigorously designed evaluations have been conducted of training programs for healthcare providers in the detection and treatment of women affected by domestic violence.

Curriculum↗
PubMed1989

Elastin repeat peptides as chemoattractants for bovine aortic endothelial cells.

Cultured bovine aortic endothelial cells migrate toward a concentration gradient of repeating elastin peptides, specifically the repeating nonamers Gly-Phe-Gly-Val-Gly-Ala-Gly-Val-Pro and Gly-Leu-Gly-Val-Gly-Ala-Gly-Val-Pro and the repeating hexamer Val-Gly-Val-Ala-Pro-Gly. Dose-response experiments demonstrate that the peak of activity occurs at 8 x 10(-8) M for the nonapeptides and 1 x 10(-8) M for the hexapeptide. Checkerboard assays establish that the movement is chemotaxis and not chemokinesis. Because of the concentration difference in the responsiveness between the nonapeptide and the hexapeptide, the cells can differentiate between the two types of repeats. The positive control for the chemotaxis studies was fibronectin.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1989

Systemic immunosuppression induced by photodynamic therapy (PDT) is adoptively transferred by macrophages.

Some derivatives of hematoporphyrins are strongly retained by tumor tissue as compared to normal tissue, and exposure of these photosensitizers to radiation in the visible spectrum can cause serious biological damage. These properties have been exploited in the development of a new treatment for cancer termed photodynamic therapy (PDT). However, recent studies have also demonstrated that PDT can also induce a state of systemic immunosuppression. The purpose of this study was to determine whether PDT-induced suppression of contact hypersensitivity (CHS) responses was an active phenomenon that could be adoptively transferred by viable splenocytes from PDT-treated mice. Although induction of adoptively transferable suppressor cells in PDT-treated mice required exposure to antigen, the suppressor cells were found to be antigen nonspecific in their function. Furthermore, splenocytes from PDT-treated mice were capable of generating levels of allospecific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) activity which were comparable to those generated by normal control mice, but the ability of irradiated spleen cells from PDT-treated mice to stimulate a mixed lymphocyte response (MLR) was dramatically impaired. Finally, chromatographic separation of T cells, B cells and macrophages showed that the cell type which mediates adoptively transferable suppression of CHS responsiveness is in the macrophage lineage.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Chemotaxis of fibroblasts toward nonapeptide of elastin.

Bovine ligamentum fibroblasts, which produce elastin, migrate towards a positive chemical gradient of human platelet-derived growth factor and of the tropoelastin repeat hexapeptide Val-Gly-Val-Ala-Pro-Gly, as previously shown. They are also responsive to two permutations of a nonapeptide that repeats in tropoelastin, i.e., Ala-Gly-Val-Pro-Gly-Phe-Gly-Val-Gly and Gly-Phe-Gly-Val-Gly-Ala-Gly-Val-Pro. Concentration curves and checkerboard assays prove that the nonapeptides are chemoattractants. The component pentapeptide, Gly-Phe-Gly-Val-Gly, is chemotactic, while the component tetrapeptide Ala-Gly-Val-Pro is not. The hexapeptide competitively suppresses the nonapeptide chemotaxis suggesting the involvement of a common cell receptor. The results support the concept that elastin has multiple cell recognition sites as measured by the chemotactic response and that among the hydrophobic repeating sequences of elastin chemotacticity is selectively and multiply localized.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Cell attachment and chemotaxis can utilize the same peptide sequence of fibronectin.

Fibronectin and fragments of the parent molecule are involved in cell-substrate attachment, cell migration and chemotaxis. The cell attachment sequence, Gly-Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser-Pro, was synthesized and tested for its ability to effect ligamentum nuchae fibroblast chemotaxis. This hexapeptide and fibronectin itself both caused directed cell migration, with maximal activity in the 10(-10) to 10(-9) M range. These data demonstrate that the fibronectin cell binding site and chemotaxis site share a common sequence.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A model of nurse-midwife and family physician collaborative care in a combined academic and community setting.

Certified nurse-midwives and family physicians share a philosophy of family-centered maternity care. Collaboration between the two disciplines, however, has not been common. Collaboration can enhance the primary care and maternity care options available to clients of such collaborative practices. Advantages and barriers to collaboration for both types of practitioners, as well as suggestions for successful collaboration, are discussed.

Family Practice↗