Serum thyroglobulin measurements in thyroid cancer: evaluation of 'false' positive results.

Objective: Serum thyroglobulin (Tg) should be undetectable in patients successfully treated for thyroid carcinoma. We have examined the course of disease in 19 patients with raised serum Tg (greater than 5 micrograms/l) on initial measurement but no other evidence of residual, recurrent or metastatic cancer.

Design: 416 patients from several centres were followed for periods between 1 and 9 years.

Protein phosphatase 2A reverses phosphorylation of c-Jun specified by the delta domain in vitro: correlation with oncogenic activation and deregulated transactivation activity of v-Jun.

Chicken c-Jun proteins synthesized in vitro in reticulocyte extract consist of several electrophoretic isoforms resulting from phosphorylation which can be specifically reversed by purified protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A). Using the phosphatase inhibitors okadaic acid and microcystin-LR, we conclude that the isoforms seen in vitro represent a balance between the action of an unidentified kinase(s) which phosphorylates c-Jun and dephosphorylation by an endogenous PP2A-like phosphatase. c-Jun proteins are also subject to phosphorylation in vivo in chick embryo fibroblasts (CEF), which can be reversed by PP2A.

Predicting the need for hospitalization of ambulatory patients with pneumonia.

Objective: To develop clinical guidelines to identify patients with pneumonia who might be safely treated as outpatients.

Design: Retrospective chart review to derive guidelines, with subsequent prospective validation.

Setting: Initial review completed for patients seen in the emergency room (ER) of a university hospital and a community-based internal medicine practice.

The necessary length of hospital stay for chronic pulmonary disease.

Objective: --To determine the necessary length of stay for patients admitted to the hospital with an exacerbation of chronic pulmonary disease and to compare this with the length of stay assigned by the diagnosis related group system.

Design: --A cohort of patients were followed up prospectively after hospital admission to determine when complications, critical incidents, and the need for monitoring occurred. The medically derived necessary lengths of stay were statistically compared with the lengths of stay assigned by the diagnosis related group.

Maintenance of CNS tissues in vitro for subsequent pharmacologic evaluation: a simple and inexpensive superfusion chamber.

A new simple, inexpensive holding chamber is described for maintaining brain slices in a viable condition for long periods of time. The advantages of its superfusion-type operation and application of this chamber to in vitro electrophysiologic studies of the pharmacologic action of serotonin in the midbrain dorsal raphe nucleus are discussed.

Basic fibroblast growth factor affects DNA synthesis and cell function and activates multiple signalling pathways in rat thyroid FRTL-5 and pituitary GH3 cells.

We have used a recombinant human basic fibroblast growth factor (basic FGF) to study its effects on cell proliferation, gene expression and accumulation of cyclic AMP (cAMP) and inositol phosphates in two well-characterized endocrine cell lines, FRTL-5 rat thyroid and GH3 rat pituitary cells. Basic FGF induced a dose-dependent increase in mitogenesis (assessed by measuring incorporation of [3H]thymidine) in FRTL-5 cells (40 ng basic FGF/ml increased mitogenesis above the control value by 2148 +/- 108% (mean +/- S.E.

In Vitro electrophysiology of dorsal raphe serotonergic neurons in subchronic cocaine-treated rats: Development of tolerance to acute cocaine administration.

An in vitro, extracellular slice preparation was used to examine the effects of subchronic cocaine administration on serotonergic cell firing in the dorsal raphe. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were administered cocaine (30 mg/kg, ip) for 7 days prior to experimentation. Following a 24-h washout period, rats were decapitated and dorsal raphe nucleus slices (400 mum) obtained.

The ontogeny of [3H]5-hydroxytryptamine binding in the lamb: effects of in vivo thyroidectomy.

The effects of congenital hypothyroidism in the late gestation ovine fetus include changes in serotonin concentrations in specific brain areas. To investigate possible ontogenic patterns of changes in 5-HT receptor function, we studied the binding characteristics of [3H]5-HT in the midbrain, hypothalamus and cerebral cortex in the late gestation ovine fetus and young lamb. We compared the binding characteristics of control fetuses to those of thyroidectomized fetuses, with or without thyroxine replacement therapy.

Aging but not estrogen alters regional [3H]5-HT binding in the CNS of female Fischer 344 rats.

Age-related changes in serotonergic regulation of neuroendocrine function were investigated in female Fischer 344 rats; serotonin ([3H]5-HT) binding sites were characterized in several brain regions. Neither the number (Bmax) nor the affinity (Kd) of [3H]5-HT sites were altered in the frontal cortex of reproductively young and senescent groups. However, a significant decline in receptor affinity was observed in the hypothalamus and midbrain dorsal raphe nucleus.

Fura 2 analysis of cytosolic calcium regulation in elutriated rat gastric parietal cells.

The calcium probe, Fura 2, is used to establish and partially characterize histamine-, carbachol-, and forskolin-induced calcium transients in enriched parietal cell populations prepared by centrifugal elutriation of dispersed rat fundic mucosa cell isolates. The magnitude of the maximal carbachol response, which is blocked by atropine but not cimetidine, is nearly five times that of histamine or forskolin. Time to peak responses for carbachol, forskolin, and histamine are approximately 7, 17, and 28 sec, respectively.

Thyrotrophin, forskolin and ionomycin increase cathepsin B mRNA concentrations in rat thyroid cells in culture.

In order to study the regulation of cathepsin B expression in the thyroid, cathepsin B mRNA concentrations were measured in rat thyroid cells (FRTL5) in culture. Northern blot analysis demonstrated that cathepsin B mRNA concentrations were increased in FRTL5 cells cultured for up to 6 days in TSH. The effect of TSH on cathepsin B mRNA concentrations was dose dependent over the range 25-150 mu units/ml.

Treatment and control of hypertension as preventive therapy.

Hypertension increases the incidence of adverse cardiovascular events such as stroke, heart failure, and coronary artery disease. Studies have shown that treatment of even mild hypertension can reduce the occurrence of these adverse cardiovascular events--particularly stroke, congestive heart failure, and progression to more severe hypertension. Patients with newly diagnosed hypertension can be treated pharmacologically with thiazide-type diuretics, beta-blockers, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, or calcium channel blockers.

Inhibition of gastric acid secretion in vivo and in vitro by a new calmodulin antagonist, CGS 9343B.

The new calmodulin antagonist, CGS-9343B, was found to inhibit both histamine plus 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine and carbachol-induced [14C]aminopyrine accumulation in dispersed, fundic mucosal cells of rats. The IC50 value for CGS-9343B inhibition of histamine plus 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine-induced [14C]aminopyrine accumulation was 306 nM. The drug was more potent than the H2-histamine receptor antagonist, cimetidine (1128 nM), less potent than the nonspecific calmodulin antagonists, trifluoperazine and fenoctimine (IC50 = 40 and 224 nM, respectively), and equipotent with the H+, K+-adenosine triphosphatase inhibitor, omeprazole (365 nM).

Quality of care during a community-wide experiment in prospective payment to hospitals.

To determine whether a community-wide experiment in hospital prospective payment adversely affected quality of care, availability and outcomes of care were studied in Rochester, NY from 1980 to 1984. During this 5-year period, prospective payment contained hospital expenditures in a community that was already below the national average in health-care costs. Access to necessary care was maintained, and there were increased admissions for management of maternal illness and acute myocardial infarction.

Relationships of secretagogue-induced cAMP accumulation and acid secretion in elutriated rat gastric parietal cells.

Centrifugal elutriation was adapted and analyzed as a method to separate rat gastric parietal cells from other fundic mucosal cells. Elutriated parietal cell fractions provided sufficient purity by morphological criteria, and fluorescence activated cell sorting analyses, yield, reproducibility and maintenance of functional responses. These characteristics allowed the study and comparison of the kinetics of histamine, isoproterenol, and forskolin-induced cyclic AMP and 14C-amino-pyrine accumulations in the presence of 1-methyl-3-isobutyl xanthine (IBMX) in parietal-cell-rich and parietal-cell-poor fractions.

Monoamines in the caudal neurosecretory complex: biochemistry and immunohistochemistry.

Monoaminergic inputs to the caudal neurosecretory complex (CNc) of Poecilia latipinna have been identified using histofluorescence and immunohistochemical techniques. The present study was undertaken to identify specific monoamines and determine the relative contribution of indolamines and catecholamines in supraspinal and intrinsic innervation of the nucleus. The CNc was deafferented by transecting the spinal cord rostral to the CNc.

Early prediction of hypothyroidism following 131I treatment for Graves' disease.

The aim of this study was twofold. Firstly to assess the post treatment predictive value of various biochemical and immunological tests for early hypothyroidism after 131I therapy for Graves' disease, and secondly to determine whether or not pretreatment with Carbimazole protects against post treatment hypothyroidism. The early changes observed in serum T3, T4, TSH, thyroid microsomal and thyroglobulin antibody levels were found to be of no predictive value.

Evaluation of a sensitive chemiluminescent assay for TSH in the follow-up of treated thyrotoxicosis.

We have studied 21 patients treated for thyrotoxicosis to evaluate a highly sensitive chemiluminescent thyrotrophin (TSH) assay in the assessment of changing thyroid status. Serum TSH was generally suppressed with high serum thyroid hormone concentrations and invariably rose when free T4 and T3 fell substantially below the normal range. However TSH values in 14 of the 21 patients remained undetectable or subnormal for variable periods despite normal or even slightly subnormal free T4 and T3 values.

Levels and causes of stress among residents.

Medical and dental residents at the University of Rochester Medical Center were surveyed to measure stress and its causes. Their stress, as measured by the brief symptom inventory, showed levels slightly above those of an adult comparison group. The average levels of stress decreased with the residents' advancing levels of training.

Supernumerary nipples and renal anomalies in neonates.

A high rate of association between supernumerary nipples (SNNs) and hidden renal anomalies has previously been reported. We examined 2035 term infants and detected SNNs in 49. Only one patient, at age 4 months, was found to have a renal anomaly, as determined by ultrasound examination.

Serial serum thyroglobulin measurements in the management of differentiated thyroid carcinoma.

Serum thyroglobulin (Tg) was measured on repeated occasions in 416 patients with differentiated thyroid cancer for up to 7 years after initial therapy. All patients had thyroidectomy and/or ablative 131I therapy and all measurements were done while patients were receiving T4 replacement. Tg was measured using a double-antibody radioimmunoassay.

Clinical application of a sensitive non-isotopic immunometric assay of thyrotropin.

We have evaluated an immunometric assay of thyrotropin (TSH) based on enhanced chemiluminescence signal; its detection limit is 0.06 milli-int. unit/L.

Cloning of a rabbit erythroid-cell-specific lipoxygenase mRNA.

We report the isolation of cDNA recombinants representing part of the rabbit reticulocyte (immature red blood cell, RBC) lipoxygenase (LOX) mRNA. One cDNA predicts an amino acid (aa) sequence matching exactly the unique N-terminal 30-aa sequence of the purified enzyme. Further, the reticulocyte mRNA, hybrid-selected by this recombinant, can be translated in vitro to give a polypeptide that comigrates with the purified reticulocyte LOX and is recognized by affinity-purified anti-RBC LOX polyclonal antibodies.