Showing papers by "Medical University of South Carolina published in 1971"

Etiologic correlates in a study of congenital heart disease in 56,109 births.

Abstract: From a prospective study of 56,109 total births some incidence factors and etiologic correlates for congenital heart disease have been identified. The risk of congenital heart disease in infants with Down's syndrome was found to be 1:3, for the offspring of mothers with congenital heart disease 1:20, for the offspring of diabetic mothers 1:39, and for twin infants 1:61. Data from the offspring of mothers with congenital heart disease and from offspring who are twins or siblings of twins suggest that there may be a relatively large element of inheritance in the etiology of pulmonary stenosis. The risk of a great vessel abnormality for offspring of diabetic mothers is reaffirmed. The role of maternal age in the production of congenital heart disease in the offspring is assessed, and several correlates of transposition of the great vessels are identified. Preliminary data are presented on the association of maternal viral infection with congenital heart disease in the offspring.

Ultrastructural localization of dialyzed iron-reactive mucosubstance in rabbit heterophils, basophils, and eosinophils.

Abstract: For ultrastructural localization of acid mucosubstances in rabbit granulocytes, bone marrow and buffy coat specimens were fixed with formalin, glutaraldehyde, or osmium tetroxide, sectioned at 40 µ, and stained with the Rinehart and Abul-Haj solution of dialyzed iron (DI). Heterophils revealed DI staining on the outer surface of the plasma membrane, in the Golgi complex involved in primary granulogenesis, and in primary granules. The intragranular distribution of DI-stained material varied at different stages in the maturation of primary granules. Immature granules of heterophils fixed by any of the three methods contained a peripheral concentric band of DI-positive material; however, fully mature primary granules possessed a core of DI-reactive material in heterophils fixed with osmium tetroxide, but they contained little or no staining in heterophils fixed with formalin or glutaraldehyde. Secondary granules of rabbit heterophils failed to stain with DI. Tertiary granules, observed only in late heterophils, contained distinct DI-positive particles. Basophil granules exhibited intensely DI-stained material distributed in an orderly pattern throughout the granule. In eosinophils, DI staining was localized in the Golgi complex and in the rims of a few immature cytoplasmic granules.

Polychlorinated biphenyl (Aroclor 1242): effects of uptake on growth, nucleic acids, and chlorophyll of a marine diatom

Abstract: Cylindrotheca closterium absorbed and concentrated the polychlorinated biphenyl (Aroclor 1242) 900 to 1000 times above the level in sea water At1 ppm concentration in sea water, PCB's inhibited growth and diminished levels of RNA and chlorophyll of this marine diatom

Cis-Dichlorodiammineplatinum [II]: Inhibition of Nucleic Acid Synthesis in Lymphocytes Stimulated with Phytohemagglutinin

Abstract: Summarycis-Dichlorodiammineplatinum (II) (cis-[Pt(NH3)2Cl2]0) is a potent and probably irreversible inhibitor of deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis in cultures of human lymphocytes stimulated with phytohemagglutinin mitogen. At low concentration (3 × 10-6M), selectivity for this process is quite evident; rates of synthesis of ribonucleic acid and protein are only slightly diminished. No resolvable cytologic lesion coincident with the action of the inhibitor was observed by electron microscopy. It was proposed that cis-[Pt(NH3)2Cl2]0 may undergo two sequential transformations, with the loss of one Cl- ion at each step, and that the resultant platinum species may act bifunctionally to cross-link adjacent nucleophilic centers through covalent binding.

Influx of glutamic acid in peripheral nerve. Energy, ionic, and pH dependence

Abstract: The energy, ionic, and pH dependence of the influx of labelled L-glutamic acid has been studied in frog sciatic nerve (1) The addition of 10−2 M D-glucose to the incubation medium was found to inhibit the total influx of glutamic acid from a 10−6 M solution by about 40%. (2) The rate of influx was found to be sensitive to the temperature of the bathing medium. Influx was found to increase with temperature in a linear manner from 10°C to 34°C; above 34°C, the rate of influx dropped with increased temperature. (3) At room temperature, the effect of metabolic inhibitors on total influx ranged from 18% inhibition with aresenate to 62% with DNP. Increasing the incubation temperature to 34°C increased the percentage inhibition, a maximum inhibition of 86% occurring with DNP. (4) The cardiac glycoside ouabain (10−3 M) slightly inhibited influx (15%). (5) Reduction of the sodium concentration to 2.3 mM resulted in an 82% decrease in total influx. Omission of potassium or a tenfold increase in potassium concentration had no significant effect on influx. Omission of calcium resulted in a slight stimulation of uptake (16%); a tenfold increase in calcium concentration was slightly inhibitory (15%). (6) No relation was found between influx and the pH of the incubation medium. Lowering the pH to 5.4 or raising it to 9.4 had no significant effect on influx. (7) It is concluded that L-glutamic acid influx in frog sciatic nerve is probably associated with an energy-dependent process.

Prediction of anxiety and depression patterns among coronary patients using a markov process analysis

Abstract: A Markov process analysis was applied in a study of anxiety and depression patterns among 31 male patients with coronary heart disease and 46 healthy male controls. Anxiety and depression were measured at six- to eight-week intervals over a period of 15 months by the subjects' completion of shortened versions of the Bendig Anxiety and Welsh Depression subscales of the MMPI. The sequence of anxiety and depression states for each subject at each examination was used as input to the Markov analysis system. Patients had significantly higher anxiety scores over time than the controls. Patients under age 50 showed a fivefold greater incidence of anxiety and a higher degree of retention of high anxiety over time than controls in the same age group. The anxiety level of controls was low irrespective of age. While depression was a more persistent state among patients than controls, it was not found to be age-related among either patients or controls. The implication of these findings in planning strategies of therapeutic intervention to circumvent the cumulative effects of anxiety and depression is discussed.

Human senile cataractous lens protease. Isolation and some chemical characteristics.

Abstract: A proteolytic enzyme was isolated from human senile cataractous lens by anion-exchange and gel-filtration chromatography. Sedimentation and zone-electrophoretic experiments indicated a high degree of homogeneity for the enzyme. A molecular weight of 27000 was calculated from measurements of sedimentation velocity and diffusion coefficient. Chelating agents decreased activity which could be restored by addition of certain bivalent metal ions. Di-isopropyl phosphorofluoridate and phenylmethanesulphonyl fluoride inhibit the proteolytic activities. Optimum rates of hydrolysis were observed at pH5.2.

Catecholamines and local rebound in left ventricular contractile force after release of coronary artery occlusion.

Abstract: Data obtained in open-chest dog preparations indicate the involvement of myocardial catecholamines with increased inotropism after temporary ventricular ischaemia. Reserpinization and treatment with β-adrenergic blocking agents significantly reduced the rebound contractile force recorded after release of coronary artery constricting ligatures. Simultaneously recorded rebounds in coronary arterial blood flow were not correspondingly affected.

Acid phosphatase cytochemistry of phagocytizing leukocytes from patients with chronic granulomatous disease.

Abstract: Studies of neutrophils and eosinophils from normal individuals, patients with chronic granulomatous disease of childhood, and their heterozygous mothers demonstrate degranulation and vacuolization during phagocytosis of opsonized Escherichia coli. Acid phosphatase reactivity is demonstrated in some primary granules of neutrophils and around crystalloids of some eosinophil granules and is comparable for cells from the three groups of individuals studied. Strong acid phosphatase reactivity is consistently demonstrated in phagocytic vacuoles of both cell types in cells from normal and affected individuals.

Glucagon-enhanced ventricular automaticity in dogs. Its concealment by positive chronotropism.

Abstract: Ventricular automaticity was studied in dogs with intact atrioventricular conduction systems and in dogs with surgically interrupted conduction systems before and after glucagon, 50 µ.g/kg. Results of these studies are in agreement with previous studies. When the influence of rate-dependent suppression of ventricular automaticity was nullified by comparing automaticity during periods of equal heart rates, highly significant increases in automaticity were observed in both preparations after glucagon administration. One index of automaticity, the number of ventricular beats occurring in a 30-second period following onset of vagal stimulation, increased from 8.7 ± 2.6 to 14.7 ± 3.1 after glucagon administration, an increase of 69%. The number of ventricular beats in a 30-second period following cessation of ventricular pacing increased from 8.6 ± 2.5 to 14.9 ± 2.1 after glucagon administration in dogs with heart block, an increase of 73%. Automaticity increases were also noted using other indexes. Beta-receptor blockade with propranolol failed to abolish automaticity changes effected by glucagon. This study demonstrated increases in ventricular automaticity produced by glucagon that heretofore had been overlooked, because a rate-dependent decrease in ventricular automaticity secondary to the positive chronotropic effect of this hormone masked the increases in automaticity.

Antitumor and Antimitogenic Properties of the Photochemical Reaction Product of Ammonium Hexachloroiridate(IV)

Abstract: SummaryThe photochemical reaction product of ammonium hexachloroiridate(IV) retards the rate of development of the Ehrlich ascites carcinoma in BALB/c mice and, to a lesser degree, the development of the L1210 leukemia in BDF1 mice. Of the various dos age regimens examined, a maximum of 140% increase of mean survival time was obtained with mice bearing the Ehrlich carcinoma, but only a 20% increase was demonstrated with mice bearing the L1210 leukemia. Blastogenic transformation of phytohemagglutinin-stimulated human lymphocytes in culture was also inhibited by the product, as evidenced by a reduced rate of incorporation of thymidine into cultured cells. No evidence was obtained that the product was a selective inhibitor of deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis; rates of ribonucleic acid and protein synthesis were inhibited to the same extent as the rate of deoxyribonucleic acid synthesis in both cultured human lymphocytes and Ehrlich ascites carcinoma cells in vitro.

The "Membrane Capacitance" Aggregometer —a Method for Measuring Platelet Aggregation in Whole Blood

Abstract: processes is nowadays well established (Henry and Steiman, 1968; Brinkhous, 1967). Different agents are able to induce platelets to aggregate, such as adenosine diphosphate (ADP), collagen, 5 hydroxytriptamine or adrenaline, and a potential antithrombotic value has been ascribed to drugs able to prevent this phenomenon (Michal and Firkin, 1969). In different diseases, several authors (Moolten et al., 1949; O’Brien, 1964) have found an increased tendency of the platelets to react to aggregation inducing agents, or to adhere to rough, &dquo;wettable&dquo; surfaces (Eastham, 1966). The extensive research being conducted to further elucidate platelet behaviour under different experimental and clinical situations stresses the need for a simple objective method to measure these phenomena in whole blood, without the need to separate platelet rich plasma (PRP) out of the samples, as required in Born’s photoelectric method (Born, 1962), the most widely used at present. Swank’s &dquo;screen filtration pressure&dquo; device (Swank et al., 1964a and 1964b) is able to measure platelet aggregation in whole blood, but the somehow cumber-

Glucagon enhanced automaticity in spontaneously beating Purkinje fibres of canine false tendons.

Abstract: Glass microelectrodes were used to study the effect of glucagon on phase 4 of Purkinje fibre action potentials. Glucagon enhanced automaticity of canine Purkinje fibres in false tendons as evidenced by increases in spontaneous rate and increases in the slope of phase 4 depolarization. Mean control rate of spontaneously beating fibres was 46·2 ± SE 5·06/min. After addition of glucagon to the bath, rate increased to a mean of 62·2 ± SE 5·29/min, 34% above control value. Rates after treatment with glucagon were significantly different from control (P < 0.001) and compared favourably, on a percentage basis, with increased rates reported in isolated cat atria, intact dogs, and dogs with complete heart block after glucagon administration. This study demonstrates that glucagon influences automaticity of fibres below the A-V node.