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Biomedical subjects

X Kang

Publications and source records attributed to X Kang.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

The gene for neuronal apoptosis inhibitory protein is partially deleted in individuals with spinal muscular atrophy.

The spinal muscular atrophies (SMAs), characterized by spinal cord motor neuron depletion, are among the most common autosomal recessive disorders. One model of SMA pathogenesis invokes an inappropriate persistence of normally occurring motor neuron apoptosis. Consistent with this hypothesis, the novel gene for neuronal apoptosis inhibitory protein (NAIP) has been mapped to the SMA region of chromosome 5q13.1 and is homologous with baculoviral apoptosis inhibitor proteins. The two first coding exons of this gene are deleted in approximately 67% of type I SMA chromosomes compared with 2% of non-SMA chromosomes. Furthermore, RT-PCR analysis reveals internally deleted and mutated forms of the NAIP transcript in type I SMA individuals and not in unaffected individuals. These findings suggest that mutations in the NAIP locus may lead to a failure of a normally occurring inhibition of motor neuron apoptosis resulting in or contributing to the SMA phenotype.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1995

Accurate coronary calcium phosphate mass measurements from electron beam computed tomograms.

Precipitates of calcium phosphate in coronary arteries always indicate the presence of atherosclerosis. The mass of these precipitates is related to the severity of atherosclerosis. To determine the accuracy of electron beam computed tomographic (CT) mass estimates, we imaged 21 human hearts inside an anthropomorphic chest phantom using an Imatron C-100 electron beam CT scanner (Imatron, San Francisco, CA). We then incinerated the 63 imaged coronary arteries and weighed the mineral ash. We calculated the mass estimates from the images using an algorithm derived from a model that assumes simple radiographic properties of the coronary arteries. We also calculated the currently used coronary calcium score for each artery. Although both the mass estimates and the scores correlated with the actual mass of the incinerated specimens (r = .97 and r = .93), the correlation with the mass estimates was better (P = .02; William's test). The regression equation relating the actual mass to the mass estimates was y = 1.37 x + 14, indicating that the CT mass estimates consistently underestimate actual coronary calcium phosphate mass. We conclude that relative mass estimates using electron beam CT scanning are accurate and that both these and the currently employed calcium scores reflect the actual mass of precipitated calcium phosphate in diseased coronary arteries.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1995

[Rapid detection of Mycoplasma pneumoniae in clinical samples by the polymerase chain reaction technique].

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique was used to detect Mycoplasma pneumoniae in clinical samples (bronchoalveolar lavage fluids and throat swabs). A specific DNA sequence for M. pneumoniae was selected from a genomic library. The amplification target region was partial DNA sequence of the 500- bp fragment. The oligonucleotide sequence of two primers (MP5-1 and MP5-2) were complementary with the oligonucleotide sequence in two ends of the amplification target region. PCR with purified DNA fragment as templates yielded an expected 144-bp fragment from M. pneumoniae but not from any of the other Mycoplasma spp. assayed. With this method, the 144-bp product specific for M. pneumoniae could be obtained from a minimum of 10 pg of M. pneumoniae DNA. Subsequently this PCR technique was used for the detection of M. pneumoniae in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids or in throat swab samples. Thirty of 140 samples from the patients with non-bacterial pneumonia gave positive results in the test. Twenty-one indirect hemoagglutination test-negative clinical samples from the same patients of 140 cases gave positive results in the same PCR test. When the amplified products were hybridized with a complementary probe (MP5-4 oligonucleotide probe), thirty PCR-positive samples all gave positive hybridization signals. It suggests that PCR method can be used for the direct detection of M. pneumoniae in clinical samples.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1994

Quantitation of in vitro coronary artery calcium using ultrafast computed tomography.

Ultrafast computed tomography (UFCT) has the potential to quantify coronary hydroxyapatite (HAP). However, no definitive studies validating this technique are available. We constructed a human chest phantom model with coronary arteries represented by cylindrical holes containing: (1) calcium chloride solutions, (2) a block of HAP immersed in paraffin (without partial volume effect), and (3) HAP granules embedded in a gelatin matrix (with partial volume effect). We scanned this model to determine the relationship between measured CT number per voxel and density of the calcium per voxel. The relationships between CT number and concentration of calcium chloride was linear (r = 0.992 to 0.999). Using a commercially available standard bone mineral phantom, we were able to estimate the concentration of HAP to an accuracy from 94 to 97% when partial volume effects were absent. However, when partial volume effects were present, two methods of estimating HAP produced significant errors (1 to 384%, and 17 to 52%). We conclude that significant partial voluming errors degrade the accuracy of HAP quantitation and that further evaluation and corrections are needed before such quantitation is clinically applied.

Calcium Chloride↗
PubMed1994

Isolation of expressed sequences encoded by the human Xq terminal portion using microclone probes generated by laser microdissection.

The genes that cause a variety of neurologic and neuromuscular disorders have been mapped to the distal region of Xq. In an effort to isolate genes from this area, a regional genomic library of the distal 30% of Xq was constructed from a single metaphase spread by means of laser microdissection and single unique primer-polymerase chain reaction. Using pooled probes of 1000 clones from the genomic library, human brain cDNA libraries were screened for expressed sequences encoded by this region. From the 250,000 cDNA clones screened so far, 10 nonoverlapping sequences that mapped back to the target portion were isolated. The complete nucleotide sequences of these cDNA clones have been determined. Analysis of the sequences indicates that none has significant similarity to previously characterized primate genes. One sequence mapping to Xq27.3-qter contained an open reading frame of 281 amino acids and was expressed in every tissue tested. This gene, as well as others isolated in this manner, may prove to be a candidate gene for heritable disorders mapping to this region.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1994

Accuracy of quantifying coronary hydroxyapatite with electron beam tomography.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: The electron beam tomography coronary calcium score continues to be used without experimental validation. To determine its accuracy, a series of experiments was performed. METHODS: A chest phantom model was constructed with coronary arteries represented by cylindrical holes containing hydroxyapatite granules embedded in a gelatin matrix to simulate coronary arteries. Experiments were performed to determine the relationship between the mass of hydroxyapatite in each of these arteries, the coronary calcium score currently used in coronary screening, and an alternative method of estimating mass from the images. The model was scanned with equal amounts of hydroxyapatite in each artery: 1) when the cylindrical heart was rotated 36 degrees 10 times between scans, and 2) when the particle diameters varied from 0.1 mm to 4 mm. The scores were calculated, and a subtraction algorithm was applied to estimate the exact mass of hydroxyapatite in each artery. RESULTS: The hydroxyapatite scores varied by 42% with position and by 1.54 x 10(6)% with particle diameter. The estimated masses from the subtraction algorithm were more stable with position and particle size, with maximum percent errors of 10% and 14% for position and particle size, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the coronary calcium score is invalid, and that more precise and clinically relevant methods, such as the arterial summation method, should be rigorously tested in clinical studies.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1994

[Analysis on refraction status of eyes with normal vision].

Refractive status of 1,324 eyes with normal vision of the juvenile students in four grades was analysed. It was raised that the meaning of refractive status was different between the medical physiological optics and the physical or geometrical optics. "Emmetropia" did not really mean "the normal eye" in refraction as viewed from normal physiology, and the problem about the physiological refractive status of eyes in the juvenile was discussed preliminarily.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

[Supraglottic horizontal-vertical hemilaryngectomy].

During the years 1980 to 1989, 41 patients (36 men and 5 women) with squamous cell carcinoma of larynx had undergone the supraglottic horizontal-vertical hemilaryngectomy. The patients' age ranged from 43 to 67 years; 78% was aged from 50 to 59. Among 41 patients, 23 were at the Department of Head and Neck Surgery of Shanxi Tumor Hospital and the other 18 patients at the Department of ENT of Beijing Hospital. There were 70.7% (29 patients) in T3 and T4 and 43.9% (18 patients) in N1-3. The 3- and 5-year survival rates of the patients were 82.9% and 75.7% respectively. The 41 patients have acquired the function of speech and swallowing in different degree; 85.4% (35 patients) was extubated. In this article, the main procedure of the operation is described and the modified method during the operation dealing with the recurrence of the original carcinoma, the lymph node metastasis, aspiration of the food and raise the raising of of extubation.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

DNA repair modifies the site and strand specificity of ethyl methanesulfonate mutagenesis in yeast.

The influence of DNA repair on the specificity of ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS) mutagenesis in a plasmid-borne copy of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae SUP4-o gene was investigated. Isogenic yeast strains that are repair-proficient (RAD) or defective for nucleotide excision (rad1), postreplication (rad18) or recombinational repair (rad52) were treated with EMS. Compared to the RAD wild-type, the maximum SUP4-o mutation frequency was 2-fold greater in the rad1 background whereas it was approximately 50% less in the rad18 and rad52 strains. The majority (779/788) of SUP4-o mutations characterized by DNA sequencing were single base pair changes, primarily (> 91%) G.C-->A.T transitions in the RAD, rad1 and rad18 strains. In the rad52 background, only 57% of the substitutions were G.C-->A.T transitions with transversions at G.C pairs accounting for almost all of the remaining changes. Comparisons of the distributions of single base pair substitutions in SUP4-o revealed that there was no excision repair-dependent bias for G.C-->A.T events to occur at sites flanked by a 5' or 3' A.T pair as observed previously for EMS mutagenesis of the lacIgene in Escherichia coli (Burns et al., 1986). These transitions also did not occur more often at sites where the guanine was flanked by a 5' purine than by a 5' pyrimidine. However, they exhibited a small preference for sites having the guanine on the transcribed strand in the RAD and rad52, but not rad1 or rad18, strains.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Base Composition↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Expression of the Huntington's disease transgene in neural stem cell cultures from R6/2 transgenic mice.

Huntington's disease (HD) is an inherited neurodegenerative disorder resulting in neuronal cell death in discrete brain regions due to an expanded CAG repeat of the huntingtin gene. The transgenic mouse model R6/2 expresses exon 1 of the human huntingtin gene with >150 CAG repeats, which produces mutant HD protein with an expanded poly-glutamine tract. We have established a neuronal stem cell system deriving from transgenic HD R6/2 neonatal brains as a renewable source for neurons and glia to facilitate studies of HD neuropathology and therapies. These R6/2 stem cell cultures can be cryopreserved and revived. Thawed neural progenitors can be expanded, established as continuous cell lines, and induced to differentiate into glia and neurons. Using standard culture conditions, there was no detectable morphological difference between wild type and HDR6/2 cells. Western analysis reveals that R6/2, but not wild type neurospheres, express the expanded repeat transgenic protein. Immunocytochemistry reveals that at a higher antibody concentration, huntingtin can be localized in the nucleus and the cytoplasm of wild type and R6/2 cells. We conclude that the R6/2 neuronal stem cell culture is a valuable tool for investigating HD pathogenesis and potential genetic or pharmacological interventions.

Animals↗