Richard H. Steele

Evidence for the generation of an electronic excitation state(s) in human polymorphonuclear leukocytes and its participation in bactericidal activity.

Abstract Heat-killed opsonized Propionibacterium , shermanii , ( P. , shermanii ) and opsonized live Staphylococcus , aureus , ( S. , aureus ) are shown to elicit a chemiluminescence (CL) from human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) but not from lymphocytes upon phagocytosis. The CL is correlated with hexose monophosphate (HMP) shunt activity, number of PMN, and bacteria. CL was evoked from PMN by opsonized latex particles. No CL was obtained from PMN exposed to serum alone, nor unopsonized bacteria. It is proposed that the CL of PMN reflects the generation of singlet oxygen, 1 0 2 , which acts per , se , as the bactericidal and/or CL species.

The superoxide anion and singlet molecular oxygen: their role in the microbicidal activity of the polymorphonuclear leukocyte.

Abstract Superoxide dismutase was found to partially inhibit both chemiluminescence and nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) reduction from intact human polymorphonuclear leukocytes. This capacity to reduce NBT was lost when the polymorphonuclear leukocytes were sonicated, but could be regained if exogenous NADPH (or NADH) was added to the system. Superoxide dismutase was found to inhibit this NADPH- and NADH-dependent NBT reduction. A mechanism is proposed that relates superoxide anion generation to the univalent reduction of O 2 by the activated NADPH (and NADH) oxidase. The relationship of superoxide anion production to NBT reduction, singlet molecular oxygen generation, and chemiluminescence is discussed.

Multilocular renal cyst (cystic nephroma) with müjllerian-like stroma

Multilocular renal cyst is an uncommon lesion of controversial histogenesis. The authors report a case of renal multilocular cyst with müllerian (ovarian)-like stroma. We suggest that this finding would support a dysontogenetic origin for the lesion.

One-Stage Laparoscopic Pelvic Lymphadenectomy and Radical Perineal Prostatectomy

Laparoscopic pelvic lymph node dissection is currently an accepted procedure for staging adenocarcinoma of the prostate. To assess the feasibility and efficacy of performing laparoscopic pelvic lymph node dissection and radical perineal prostatectomy during the same anesthesia, we retrospectively analyzed 98 patients with clinically localized adenocarcinoma of the prostate who were candidates for radical prostatectomy. Of the patients 12 (12%) underwent laparoscopic pelvic lymph node dissection only since they had metastatic disease to the pelvic lymph nodes on frozen section evaluation (the Gleason pathological grade was 2 to 4 in 2 patients, 5 to 7 in 8 and 8 in 2). Of the remaining 86 patients who underwent radical perineal prostatectomy for definitive management 76 (88%) underwent 1-stage radical perineal prostatectomy immediately after laparoscopic pelvic lymph node dissection, while 10 (12%) in the initial stages of our series underwent delayed perineal prostatectomy following laparoscopic pelvic lymph node dissection (2-stage). The average postoperative hospital stay in the 1-stage group was 3.11 days, yet 19 (25%) patients were discharged from the hospital within 48 hours and another 39 (51%) within 72 hours. Thus, 76% of the patients were discharged from the hospital within 72 hours of laparoscopic pelvic lymph node dissection and radical perineal prostatectomy. The advent of laparoscopic pelvic lymph node dissection and radical perineal prostatectomy has found a resurgence at our institutions, with its lower morbidity rate and more rapid return to normal activity for these patients. Based on our results, we recommend laparoscopic pelvic lymph node dissection followed by radical perineal prostatectomy as a 1-stage treatment option for localized adenocarcinoma of the prostate.

Microsomal (μS) lipid peroxidation, drug oxidations and chemiluminescence (CL): Mechanisms

Summary Peroxidizing microsomes induced by NADPH or ascorbic acid generate a cyanide sensitive, chloroform-methanol extractable, compound(s) resembling 1-hydroxy alkyl peroxides. Cyanide additions to intact microsomes or the extracted material effect chemiluminescence, gas evolution, the reduction of methylene blue and NBT, and substrate oxidation.

Ultrasonography in the differentiation of complicated and uncomplicated acute pyelonephritis

Differentiation of uncomplicated pyelonephritis versus complicated pyelonephritis has always been problematic. No clear physical signs or symptoms are diagnostic. To study differences between the two, we retrospectively reviewed charts of patients admitted to Charity Hospital, New Orleans, with febrile urinary tract infections. Criteria for inclusion were pyuria, positive urinary culture, and signs or symptoms of pyelonephritis. All patients underwent renal ultrasonography (US) before other diagnostic tests. US identified a potential emergency (hydronephrosis or abscess) in 11 of 98 patients (11.2%). The only significant contributing factor was the presence of diabetes mellitus, which was present in five of 11 emergent conditions and eight of 73 of the remainder (P = 0.003). US is inexpensive, easily obtainable in the emergency room, and sensitive enough to screen patients with pyelonephritis for complications. However, we believe it is mandatory in diabetics, because of the high incidence of abnormalities in this population.

Electromagnetic field generation by ATP-induced reverse electron transfer.

This paper describes a mechanism to explain low-level light emission in biology. A biological analog of the electrical circuitry, modeled on the parallel plate capacitor, traversed by a helical structure, required to generate electromagnetic radiation in the optical spectral range, is described. The charge carrier required for the emissions is determined to be an accelerating electron driven by an ATP-induced reverse electron transfer. The radial velocity component, the emission trajectory, of the moving charges traversing helical protein structures in a cyclotron-type mechanism is proposed to be imposed by the ferromagnetic field components of the iron in the iron-sulfur proteins. The redox systems NADH, riboflavin, and chlorophyll were examined with their long-wavelength absorption maxima determining the energetic parameters for the calculations. Potentials calculated from the axial velocity components for the riboflavin and NADH systems were found to equal the standard redox potentials of these systems as measured electrochemically and enzymatically. The mechanics for the three systems determined the magnetic moments, the angular momenta, and the orbital magnetic fluxes to be adiabatic invariant parameters. The De Broglie dual wave-particle equation, the fundamental equation of wave mechanics, and the key idea of quantum mechanics, establishes the wavelengths for accelerating electrons which, divided into a given radial velocity, gives its respective emission frequency. Electrons propelled through helical structures, traversed by biologically available electric and magnetic fields, make accessible to the internal environment the optical spectral frequency range that the solar spectrum provides to the external environment.

A mitochondrial chemiluminescence evoked by a novel mixed copper(II)-cyanide complex/acetaldehyde cyanohydrin chelate: A kinetic analysis suggesting a role for membrane-bound vicinal sulfhydryls

Cyanide added to mitochondria in the presence of copper and acetaldehyde evokes a chemiluminescence which follows series pseudo-first-order kinetics: (formula; see text) An evaluation of the effects of protein (mitochondria), copper, cyanide, acetaldehyde, and oxygen on the kinetic parameters shows that k1 is influenced by protein, cyanide (at low concentrations), and oxygen while k2 is influenced by cyanide, acetaldehyde (at low, less than 11.9 mM, and high, greater than 35.6 mM, concentrations), and oxygen. The integral light increases linearly with the square root of total copper(II) and with the square of the total acetaldehyde. The sustained emissions appear to reflect an initial oxidative event mediated by a novel mixed copper(II)-cyanide complex/acetaldehyde cyanohydrin chelate. Cu(I) formed by the reduction of Cu(II), probably by mitochondrial vicinal sulfhydryls, reacts with dioxygen to form an O2-copper complex which reacts with acetaldehyde to form the acetyl-1-hydroxyhydroperoxyl radical. This radical disproportionates by the Russell mechanism to generate electronically excited singlet and triplet carbonyl functions and singlet oxygen species whose emissive relaxations to the ground state display as the observed chemiluminescence. The kinetic evidence indicates that there are two Cu(I)-oxygen cyanide complexes transferring O2- to acetaldehyde. This evidence addresses the mechanisms of autoxidation of low-molecular-weight Cu(I) complexes with dioxygen. A suggested role for the involvement of vicinal sulfhydryl groups in the reactions is shown, kinetically, by the influence of copper and acetaldehyde on the integral light.

NADPH-induced microsomal chemiluminescence without accompanying lipid peroxidation as measured by the thiobarbituric acid assay☆

Abstract Pyrophosphate added to rat liver microsomes blocks both NADPH-induced chemiluminescence and lipid peroxidation, whether NADPH is added in bulk or generated with an NADPH-regeneration system. Addition of KCN to these systems released the pyrophosphate suppression of NADPH-induced chemiluminescence without restoring lipid peroxidation. A hexose or hexose derivative is required for the display of KCN-released chemiluminescence with galactose 6-phosphate and glucose 6-phosphate being most effective. The integral KCN-released chemiluminescence for pyrophosphate inhibited systems is proportional to microsomal protein, NADPH, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase concentrations. Pyrophosphate also blocks ascorbic acid induced chemiluminescence. Additionally ascorbic acid inhibits the KCN release of NADPH-induced chemiluminescence. This work establishes a point a divergence in the microsomal redox chain between NADPH-induced chemiluminescence and lipid peroxidation as measured by the thiobarbituric acid assay.

Harmonic oscillators: the quantization of simple systems in the old quantum theory and their functional roles in biology

This article introduces quantum physics into biology in an intuitive and non-intimidating manner. It extends the quantum aspects of harmonic oscillators, and electromagnetic fields, to their functional roles in biology. Central to this process are the De Broglie wave-particle duality equation, and the adiabatic invariant parameters, magnetic moment, angular momentum and magnetic flux, determined by Ehrenfest as imposing quantum constraints on the dynamics of charges in motion. In mechanisms designed to explain the generation of low-level light emissions in biology we have adopted a biological analog of the electrical circuitry modeled on the parallel plated capacitor, traversed by helical protein structures, capable of generating electromagnetic radiation in the optical spectral region. The charge carrier required for the emissions is an accelerating electron driven, in a cyclotron-type mechanism, by ATP-induced reverse electron transfer with the radial, emission, components, mediated by coulombic forces within the helical configurations. Adenine, an essential nucleotide constituent of DNA, was examined with its long wavelength absorption maximum determining the energetic parameters for the calculations. The calculations were made for a virtual 5-turn helix where each turn of the helix emits a different frequency, generating a biological quantum series. The components of six adiabatic invariant equations were found to be embedded in Planck’s constant rendering them discrete, finite, non-random, non-statistical—Planck’s constant precludes probability. A mechanism for drug-induced hallucination is described that might provide insights as to the possible role of electromagnetic fields in consciousness. Sodium acceleration through a proposed nerve membrane helical channel generated electromagnetic emissions in the microwave region in confirmation of reported microwave emission for active nerves and may explain saltatory nerve conduction. Theoretical calculations for a helical DNA system gave a conduction resistance in agreement with a experimentally determined parameter.