British Journal of Biomedical Science back issues from January 2002:
Evolution in practice
Jan 01, 2002; ... EDITORIAL In the seven years since Derek Farr's final editorial' the evolution of biomedical science has reflected the constantly changing and ever-expanding history on which he commented, and the British Journal of Biomedical Science (BJBS) continues to report on the scene. Since it ...
Air flight-related thrombosis: Reality or hype?
Jan 01, 2002; ... The death of a young woman from a pulmonary embolism soon after her arrival at Heathrow airport on a long-haul flight alerted the public to the issue of air flight-related thrombosis. Despite recent publicity, this issue was first raised in the early 1950s after the report that a doctor ...
How to detect current toxoplasma infection
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT This study seeks to identify the best way to detect current toxoplasma infection for district general hospital laboratories. One hundred 'ordinary' and 174 'difficult' sera are categorised into either an 'evidence' or 'no evidence' group for current toxoplasma infection. Twelve ...
Methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureaus: Laboratory detection methods in use in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT There is no universally agreed laboratory protocol for the detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and hence a variety of approaches are used. As part of an all-island survey of MRSA in the Republic of Ireland (the South) and Northern Ireland (the ...
Image analysis of transwell assays in the assessment of invasion by malignant cell lines
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT This study aims to determine if layering of extracellular matrix (ECM) can achieve a physiological basement membrane thickness of 8 (mu)m and to assess the use of paraffin wax-embedded Transwell plates coupled with digital image analysis as a means of determining invasion by ...
In vitro testing of platinum-based drugs on a panel of human ovarian tumour cell lines
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Much improvement in the treatment of ovarian cancer has been achieved since the introduction of platinum compounds in the 1980s, with the result that single-agent platinum-based therapy following primary surgery is now the standard treatment for advanced ovarian cancer The main ...
Measurement of urine total sialic acid: Comparison of an automated ultraviolet enzymatic method with a colorimetric assay
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT An automated ultraviolet (UV) enzymatic assay for urine total sialic acid (SA), performed on a Cobas Fara analyser, is described and compared with the colorimetric Warren method, which is used widely to determine urine SA. Intra-assay coefficient of variation (CV) for urine ...
Nitric oxide generation by peripheral blood cells in chronic renal failure
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Nitric oxide (NO), a labile free radical synthesised from L-arginine by the action of nitric oxide synthase (NOS), is said to be implicated in uraemic complications, such as infection and a tendency to bleed. In this study of NO production by peripheral blood cells, an ...
serum IgM to Chlamydia trachomatis in pregnancy: Its usefulness for screening
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Asymptomatic infection with Chlamydia trachomatis represents an important health problem. A non-invasive diagnostic test to screen pregnant women is needed that is cost effective and can be used widely, especially in developing countries. In this setting, quantitation of ...
Construction of a cDNA fragment library from SH-SY5Y cells restriction display PCR
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT A complementary DNA (cDNA) fragment library from SH-- SY5Y cells is constructed using a restriction display polymerase chain reaction (RD-PCR) technique. Messenger RNA (mRNA) is extracted from SH-SY5Y cells and single-strand cDNA synthesised using an anchored oligo primer ...
Seronegative spondarthritis and human leucocyte antigen association
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT The human leucocyte antigen (HLA) B27 has been associated with seronegative spondarthritis universally, but the associations varies (19-94%) in different Indian population groups. It is possible that this variation is due to patient selection bias. Here, we use strict clinical, ...
Tandem mass spectrometry: The tool of choice for diagnosing inborn errors of metabolism?
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT The early diagnosis of inborn errors of metabolism (IEM) by laboratory-based mass screening is a prime example of preventive medicine. However, several factors restrict the range of IEM that can be screened for, and the numbers of people to whom it can be made available. Mass ...
Proteomics and its impact upon biomedical science
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Proteomics is the protein equivalent of genomics and is the study of gene expression at a functional level. The proteome of an organism is the protein complement of its genome. However, unlike the genome, the proteome is dynamic: it varies according to the cell type and the ...
Two Japanese urease-positive thermophilic campylobacters, CF89-12 and CF89-14, isolated in 1989 prove to be two distinct strains
Jan 01, 2002; ... SIR, An atypical and unusual group of 10 strains of urease-- positive thermophilic campylobacter (UPTC) was isolated from the natural environment in England in 1985,1 and subsequently four human isolates were reported in France.2,3 Characterisation of UPTC as a variant of Campylobacter lari has ...
Streptococcus pneumoniae: Presumptive identification and reporting
Jan 01, 2002; ... SIR, I read with interest Andrew Bamber's article1 in the June issue of BJBS on the use of the bile solubility test for the identification of Streptococcus pneumoniae, and misidentification using Optochin. As with any bacterial identification test, it is important to be aware of its potential ...
Data in abstracts of research articles. Are they consistent with those reported in the article?
Jan 01, 2002; ... BIOMEDICAL COMMENT It has been known for some time that references in published research articles in the biomedical literature frequently contain errors or are misquoted.1,2 However, it is only recently that attention has focused on abstract accuracy. Pitkin and colleagues studied six ...
Effect of staff attitudes on quality in clinical microbiology services
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Technical quality of the work of clinical pathology laboratories is monitored regularly by both internal and external sources. Among the factors that might affect quality, laboratory staff attitudes are rarely considered. In this study, the psychological concepts of 'job ...
Bacterial enteropathogens and factors associated with seasonal episodes of gastroenteritis in Nsukka, Nigeria
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Each year, between April and October, many children of school age and some young adults in Nsukka, Nigeria suffer from gastroenteritis. The period covers the rainy season in this part of Africa, when manured farmland occasionally is flooded. In view of the number of people ...
Haematological influences of potassium adaptation in normosensitive and renally-hypertensive Wistar rats
Jan 01, 2002; ... ORIGINAL ARTICLE Accepted: 20 March 2002 ABSTRACT Dietary potassium is known to cause reduction in blood pressure in several models of hypertension in human and animal studies but its haematological effects are not known. Here, experiments are designed to study the ...
Clinical relevance of intracellular cytokines IL-6 and IL-12 in acute pancreatitis, and correlation with APACHE III score
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Pro-inflammatory cytokines are involved in the pathogenesis of acute pancreatitis (AP). Here, we measure and correlate clinically the percentages of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) that contain interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-12 and compare these with acute physiology and ...
Association between tyrosine hydroxylase polymorphisms and left ventricular structure in young normotensive men
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) is a rate-limiting enzyme for catecholamine biosynthesis. Increased sympathetic activity is associated with an increased left ventricular (LV) mass. However, the influence of TH gene polymorphisms on LV structure and function has yet to be ...
Threonines at position 174 adn 235 of the angiotensinogen polypeptide chain are related to familial history of hypertension in a Spanish-Mediterranean population
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT This study investigates the association between the allelic distribution of two polymorphisms of the angiotensinogen (AGT) gene (T174M and M235T in the polypeptide chain) and blood pressure (BP) in a Mediterranean population in the south-west of Europe. The sample consists of ...
G-protein (beta)3-subunit gene variant, blood pressure and erythrocyte sodium/lithium countertransport in essential hypertension
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Recently, a C825T polymorphism in the gene coding for the beta3 subunit of G proteins (GNB3) has been described in cells from patients with essential hypertension and enhanced Na/H' exchange activity. This study aims to evaluate the association between the 825T allele and ...
Hypothesis for the influence of fixatives on the chromatin patterns of interphase nuclei, based on shrinkage and retraction of nuclear and perinuclear structures
Jan 01, 2002; ... BIOMEDICAL ESSAY Accepted: 21 January 2002 ABSTRACT Nuclear chromatin patterns are used to distinguish normal and abnormal cells in histopathology and cytopathology. However, many chromatin pattern features are affected by aspects of tissue processing, especially ...
Safranin staining Cyclospora cayetanensis oocysts not requiring microwave heating
Jan 01, 2002; ... Cyclospora cayetanensis is identified frequently as a cause of diarrhoea both in immunocompromised individuals and in those who are immunocompetent.1-3 Although first detected as a human pathogen in 1979 by Ashford,4 classification remained unclear for 16 years during which it has been reported ...
Lectins as targeting agents -- the in vitro binding of lectins to lesions in the eye and mouth
Jan 01, 2002; ... Locating agents that bind to mucosal lesions of the eye and oral cavity would allow the selective delivery and retention of therapeutic or diagnostic agents. Lectins that bind specifically to the glycoconjugates present within a wound would provide an opportunity for such targeting ....
Re-use of stripped cDNA microarray
Jan 01, 2002; ... The biochip is a new category of developing technology, characterised by expedient, large scale, highly automatic and sensitive detection of biological information such as DNA, RNA and protein. At present, the gene chip is the most common of the biological chips, the gene expression profiling ...
Lipoprotein (a) in an immigrant Indian population sample in Australia
Jan 01, 2002; ... People from the Indian subcontinent (South Asia) show a very high incidence of coronary heart disease (CHD).1 This is seen both in India and in countries to which Indians have migrated in large numbers, such as the UK, USA and Trinidad.2 Large differences in disease rates are seen for people of ...
Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli infection: History and clinical aspects
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Diarrhoeagenic Escherichia coli remains an important cause of diarrhoea) disease worldwide. In terms of global public health, enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC) and enterotoxigenic E. coli are the most important. However, enterohaemorrhagic E. coli has emerged as a cause of ...
Impact of host genetics on susceptibility to human Chlamydia trachomatis disease
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Evidence that host genetic factors play a major role in susceptibility or resistance to many infectious diseases is increasing, due to major advances in genetic epidemiological methodology. Recent human genome mapping information and the identification of a large number of ...
The Way of the Cell: Molecules, Organisms and the Order of Life
Jan 01, 2002; ... The Way of the Cell: Molecules, Organisms and the Order of Life Franklin Harold. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-19-513512-1. 305 pp. 19.95. In this fascinating book, Franklin Harold, an eminent microbiologist, grapples eruditely with one of the remaining mysteries - the ...
Meningococcal Disease. Methods of Protocols
Jan 01, 2002; ... Meningococcal Disease. Methods and Protocols A Pollard, M Maiden. New Jersey: Humana Press, 2001. ISBN 0-89603-849-1. 721 pp. $145. Meningococcal septicaemia and meningitis continue to be important causes of devastating illness in all parts of the world. In recent years, there has been ...
Biostatistics in Clinical Trials
Jan 01, 2002; ... Biostatistics in Clinical Trials C. Redmond, T Colton. Chichester: John Wiley, 2001. ISBN 0 471 82211 6. 501pp $245. This hard-backed book forms part of a series (Wiley reference series in Biostatistics) and is laid out in dictionary format. Forming part of a reference series, it is ...
Unravelling Genes
Jan 01, 2002; ... Unravelling Genes M. Walker and D. McKay. New South Wales: Allen and Unwin, ISBN 1-86508-086-1. 132 pp. $12.95. This short textbook is designed to provide a guide to genetic engineering for the interested lay person. By way of introduction, there is an initial section dealing with some ...
Understanding Clinical Papers
Jan 01, 2002; ... Understanding Clinical Papers D. Bowers, A. House, D. Owens. Chichester: John Wiley, 2001. ISBN 0 471 48976 X. 202pp. $35. This soft-backed book is, as the authors themselves say, a guide aimed at health professionals to help them understand and be able to interpret the medical ...
Essential Haematology
Jan 01, 2002; ... Essential Haematology A.V Hoffbrand, J.E.Pettit, PA.H. Moss. Oxford: Blackwell Science (4th edition), 2001. (English pound)19.95. This is a book that has been scaled down to include the essential aspects of haematology. Like many similar books in haematology, the diagrams are ...
Semi-automation of the polymerase chain reaction for laboratory confirmation of meningococcal disease
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Demand for accurate high-throughput detection and characterisation of medically important bacteria has increased dramatically within research and clinical laboratories. Liquid-handling robots have been developed to achieve high levels of accuracy and reproducibility. Assay ...
Do catecholamines influence the level of plasma leptin in patients with phaeochromocytoma?
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT The relationship between plasma leptin and catecholamine concentrations during chronic and acute catecholamine excess is studied. Patients with phaeochromocytoma, divided according to gender, were examined under basal conditions (n=18) and at selected time-points during ...
Smoking and use of smokeless tobacco in treated hypertensive men at high coronary risk: Utility of urinary cotinine determination
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Guidelines for the treatment of hypertension underline the central importance of strenuous efforts to reduce the prevalence of smoking, as epidemiological studies consistently have demonstrated that smoking increases the risk of cardiovascular disease and death by some two- or ...
Helicobacter pylori cagA and vacA cytotoxin genes in Changsha, China
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Cytotoxin-associated protein (cagA) and the vacuolating cytotoxin (vacA) encoded by cagA and vacA genes are virulence determinants of Helicobacter pylori. In earlier studies among Chinese patients, all H. pylori strains were cagA-positive and vacAs1a/m2 type. Here, we determine ...
Incidence of Blastocystis hominis in faecal samples submitted for routine microbiological analysis
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Over a one-year period, 1390 faecal samples were submitted to Aberystwyth Public Health Laboratory for routine microbiological examination. All were stained using a commercial trichrome method. Blastocystis hominis was detected in 96 (6.9%), making it the most common parasite ...
Plasmid profiles of urease-positive thermophilic campylobacter (UPTC) strains isolated in Europe and Asia (Japan)
Jan 01, 2002; ... Urease-positive thermophilic campylobacter (UPTC), a microaerophilic and Gram-negative bacterium, is an organism only identified relatively recently in England.1,2 After the original descriptions of UPTC appeared, isolates of UPTC were reported in France, Northern Ireland and The Netherlands, ...
Prevalence of campylobacter species among HIV/AIDS patients in Nigeria
Jan 01, 2002; ... Numerous opportunistic pathogens of viral, bacterial, fungal and parasitic origin are associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Such infections are incriminated as the most important causes of morbidity and mortality in HIV/AIDS ...
Pandoraea apista from a patient with cystic fibrosis: Problems associated with laboratory identification
Jan 01, 2002; ... A 17-year-old male patient with cystic fibrosis (CF), with CF mutation homozygous (Delta)F508, was admitted to the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children in August 2001 for a course of intravenous antibiotics to treat a chronic pulmonary infection. He had an 11-year history of pulmonary ...
Cloning and sequence analysis of the recA gene in urease-positive thermophilic campylobacter (UPTC)
Jan 01, 2002; ... The recA gene is essential for the homologous genetic recombination and for the post-replicative repair of DNA damage, and in responses induced by DNA-damaging agents.1 Genetic analysis of recA in campylobacters has been performed,2-4 but little work has been done on thermophilic ...
Clinical aspects of pneumonia
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Pneumonia is a serious medical condition and a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. It has many infectious aetiologies, although bacterial and viral forms are most common. Our understanding of pneumonia has improved significantly during the course of the 20th ...
Tumour necrosis factor blocking agents: A new therapeutic modality for infammatory disorders
Jan 01, 2002; ... ABSTRACT Development of anti-tumour necrosis factor-alpha (anti-TNFalpha) treatment offers the potential to alter radically the course of inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease using modalities directed against a specific inflammatory mediator. Controlled ...
Need for improved molecular biology training for biomedical scientists in NHS microbiology laboratories
Jan 01, 2002; ... SIR, Diagnostic clinical microbiology has long been regarded as largely a `non-real-time' specialty. In clinical biochemistry and haematology, however, results can be generated almost instantaneously through the integration of science and automated technology, and results may play an important ...
Chicken egg yolk antibodies, production and application. IgY technology
Jan 01, 2002; ... Chicken Egg Yolk Antibodies, Production and Application. IgY Technology. R Schade, I Behn, M Erhard, A Hlinak, C Staak, eds. Berlin: Springer Verlag, 2000. ISBN 3 540 66679 6. 255pp. This is a short, very specialised laboratory manual on the production and use of chicken egg yolk ...
Natural compounds in cancer therapy
Jan 01, 2002; ... Natural Compounds in Cancer Therapy J. Boik. Minnesota: Oregon Medical Press, 2001. ISBN 0 9648280 14. 521 pp. $32. There has been a steady increase in the awareness and use of natural compounds to treat many human diseases including cancer. Therefore Natural Compounds in Cancer Therapy ...
Multilocus sequence typing and porA gene sequencing differentiates strains of Neisseria meningitidis during case clusters
Jan 01, 2002; ... Notified cases of meningococcal disease (MD) in Scotland and many other countries within Europe have increased in recent years1 and are often associated with epidemic strains such as C:2a:P1.5 from the ET-37 complex.2 A number of case clusters due to these strains have occurred in schools, ...