Biomedical subjects

V V Smith

Publications and source records attributed to V V Smith.

41 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

PubMed1983

Selective suppression of judged sweetness by ziziphins.

The effects of ziziphins and of control treatments upon judgments by human adults of the sweetness, sourness, bitterness, and saltiness of American apple cider or apple juice were measured with a category estimation method during repeated trials before, during (90 sec treatment duration only), and after, treatment. Sweetness was reduced after either a 10 sec or a 90 sec whole mouth treatment with ziziphins, but not after quinine sulfate or apple juice control treatment. No differences in after-treatment sourness, bitterness, or saltiness occurred between treatments. The reduction in sweetness was weak with 10 sec 3.5% W/V ziziphins treatment, but strong after 90 sec 0.88% W/V ziziphins treatment; duration of suppression was ca. 70 sec. The mechanism was identified as taste modification since adaptation, cross-adaptation, and mixture suppression were eliminated by control treatments and by post-treatment rests and rinse. Comparisons with known gymnemic acids effects suggest that net dissociation of ziziphins from taste receptor membranes and/or inactivation in the membrane may be much faster than with gymnemic acids.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Extensive enteric leiomyolysis due to cytomegalovirus enterocolitis in vertically acquired human immunodeficiency virus infection in infants.

We report two infants with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and rectal bleeding due to cytomegalovirus (CMV) ileitis and colitis with minimal focal mucosal ulceration but with extensive leiomyolysis of the muscularis propria. Immunostaining and in situ hybridization for CMV showed numerous viral inclusions in the myocytes of the muscularis propria and vascular endothelium/smooth muscle with only occasional inclusions present in the muscularis mucosae. Colectomy was curative in one patient; in the other the bowel was only examined at postmortem.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Focal or diffuse lesions in persistent hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia of infancy: concerns about interpretation of intraoperative frozen sections.

Persistent hyperinsulinemic hypoglycemia of infancy (PHHI) results from defects of regulated insulin release from pancreatic beta cells and is often refractory to medical treatment. Histological changes in the pancreas associated with PHHI may be focal or diffuse, and the intraoperative confirmation and siting of focal lesions would require frozen section diagnosis. The recognition of focal involvement and its distinction from diffuse disease by frozen section depends on the identification and distribution pattern of islet cells with large hyperchromatic nuclei. This study was designed to test the feasibility of using this parameter in PHHI to delineate focal from diffuse diseases prior to the introduction of frozen sections to guide intraoperative management in our institution. A total of 66 coded and randomized paraffin sections (from 18 PHHI and 4 postmortem pancreases) were scored by three independent observers into the following categories: a focal lesion (A), no large endocrine nuclei (B), few large endocrine nuclei (C), and frequent large endocrine nuclei (D). Interobserver concordance was complete in 88%, but there were minor discrepancies in the remaining 12%. When a focal lesion was present in one section no large endocrine nuclei were seen in sections from the rest of the pancreas. In four patients with diffuse PHHI, no or only very scanty large endocrine nuclei were seen. From this finding, and the observation that in other examples of diffuse disease, large endocrine nuclei were sparse even in large paraffin sections, we have reservations about using small frozen sections for reliable diagnosis.

Cell Division↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Diagnosis of neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (Batten disease) by electron microscopy in peripheral blood specimens.

Neuronal ceroid lipopofuscinosis (Batten disease, NCL) represents a group of common childhood neurodegenerative diseases with a shared feature of deposition of abnormal metabolic products in neurons and other tissues, including peripheral blood lymphocytes. In most forms of NCL no specific enzyme defect is known and the diagnosis relies primarily on ultrastructural identification of characteristic membrane-bound inclusions containing the abnormal metabolic product. All buffy-coat specimens examined during a 7-year period (1997-2004) for the exclusion or confirmation of the diagnosis NCL were reviewed. From a total of 265 samples, 9 were inadequate and NCL was diagnosed in 56. Five showed granular osmophilic deposits of infantile Batten disease (NCL1), 10 showed curvilinear profiles of classical late infantile Batten disease (NCL2), and 17 showed vacuolated lymphocytes with fingerprint profiles, indicating classical juvenile Batten disease (NCL3). 24 samples (43%) demonstrated compact electron-dense deposits with fingerprint profiles in the absence of vacuolated lymphocytes, indicative of variant forms NCL. Ultrastructual examination of peripheral blood allows reliable and specific diagnosis of subtypes of Batten disease, including variants, and is a useful, minimally invasive test for the diagnosis of NCL in childhood.

Ceroid↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Intestinal neuronal density in childhood: a baseline for the objective assessment of hypo- and hyperganglionosis.

In the absence of reliable baseline data for normal neuron density in the intestine, the diagnosis of hypo- and hyperganglionosis is purely subjective. This study has established the normal neuron density by neuron counts in paraffin sections taken both transversely (transverse sections, TS) and longitudinally (longitudinally sections, LS) in relation to the long axis of normal postmortem jejunum, ileum, and colon from 21 children (aged 4 weeks to 10 years). Intestine from two adults (aged 16 and 42 years) and colon alone from a further six adults (aged 16 to 83 years) were also studied. The mean density values in childhood were for jejunum 3.6/mm (TS), 3.7/mm (LS); for ileum 4.3/mm (TS, LS); and for colon 7/mm (LS), 7.7/mm (TS). The proximal margins of surgically resected colons from six patients with Hirschsprung's disease and one patient with suspected isolated hypoganglionosis were also analyzed and the neuron densities compared with the established postmortem data. Neuron density values outside two standard deviations from the postmortem mean were shown to correlate with continuing pseudo-obstructive symptoms in these patients.

Adolescent↗