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Biomedical subjects

V L Ford

Publications and source records attributed to V L Ford.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1988

The checkerboard cardiovascular curriculum: a culturally oriented program.

A cardiovascular health education curriculum was designed and pilot-tested with 218 fifth grade students from rural New Mexico. The program incorporated materials, examples, and exercises relevant to the Navajo and Pueblo American Indian and Hispanic cultures of the students. Significant increases in knowledge about the cardiovascular system, exercise, nutrition and obesity, tobacco use, and habit change were found, suggesting a culturally oriented program may help promote a healthy lifestyle in minority group children.

Cardiovascular Diseases↗
PubMed1984

Differences in steroidogenesis by the subcellular fractions of adrenocortical special zone and cortex proper of the female possum (Trichosurus vulpecula).

Steroidogenesis by subcellular fractions of adrenal cortex proper (C.P.) and special zone (S.Z.) of female possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) was studied. Mitochondrial, microsomal and cytosol cell fractions were incubated with appropriate substrates in the presence of an NADPH-generating system. The major products formed from [3H]progesterone and [3H]17 alpha-hydroxyprogesterone by the microsomal fraction of the C.P. were 11-deoxycortisol and 11-deoxycorticosterone and 3 alpha (beta)-hydroxy-5 alpha-androstan-17-one by the S.Z. The mitochondrial fraction converted [3H]11-deoxycortisol to cortisol in yields twenty times higher by the C.P. than by the S.Z. and to 17 alpha, 20 beta,21-trihydroxy-4-pregn-3-one thirty times higher by the S.Z. The conversion of [3H]androstenedione to 11 beta-hydroxyandrostenedione by the C.P. was approximately double that of the S.Z., while 18-hydroxyandrostenedione (tentatively identified) formed the highest yield in both zones. Incubation of the same substrates with cytosol formed two 5 beta-pregnane and two 5 beta-androstane derivatives in total yields less than 5% by C.P. and greater than 60% by S.Z. Aromatase activity, estimated by the release of [3H2O] from [1 beta 3H]testosterone, in the adrenals of 8 possums, was in each experiment negligibly low. Determination of total enzyme activities in the two zones revealed that 11 beta, 18 and 21-hydroxylases were higher in the C.P., while 17 alpha-hydroxylase was higher in the S.Z. Similar results were obtained when the rates of formation of hydroxylated products were estimated in the presence of saturating amounts of substrates. Active 5 alpha- and 5 beta-reductases, C17-20-lyase and 3 alpha (beta) and 20 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenases were found almost exclusively in the S.Z. We conclude that the S.Z. at lower levels of activity than the C.P. could contribute to the basal secretion of corticosteroids. In addition, the S.Z. has a high capacity to form C19 steroids and 5 alpha- and 5 beta-reduced steroids. The possible role of the S.Z. in possum is discussed.

Adrenal Cortex↗
PubMed1984

Isolation of choriomammotropin from the ovine placentome.

Placentomes, taken from ewes at 101-141 days gestation, were homogenized and subjected to differential and density gradient centrifugation. In the presence or absence of protease inhibitors, choriomammotropin (ovine chorionic somatomammotropin, oCS) was detected by radio-immunoassay, and banded at two positions in 30-60% w/v sucrose gradients. The first band (soluble form) eluted in the sample zone of the gradient and contained 33 +/- 6.1% (mean +/- s.e.m., n = 10) of the total oCS present in the gradient. The remainder (48 +/- 7.6%) of the oCS (particulate form) sedimented to 37.5-43% w/v sucrose. Both these bands became sharper with decreasing protein loaded onto the gradients. 125I-oCS, pre-equilibrated with a placentome preparation, eluted in the same position as the first band of endogenous oCS. When loaded onto a second gradient the second band eluted at 38-41% w/v sucrose, but after being subjected to ultrasonic disruption or treatment with Triton X-100 this oCS eluted in the sample zone. There was no correlation between gestational age of the ewe and the percentage oCS in either the soluble or particulate form, the concentration of oCS, or enrichment by protein. We have shown that following homogenization, differential and density gradient centrifugation, oCS exists in two forms. We suggest that the particulate form of the hormone is contained within the electron-dense granules of placentome cells. The soluble form may represent oCS in the process of secretion and hormone which has leached out of the granules during homogenization and centrifugation of the placentomes.

Animals↗