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Biomedical subjects

A B Myles

Publications and source records attributed to A B Myles.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Medically Unexplained Symptoms: A Systematic Umbrella Review of Current Terminology and Reported Rationales.

OBJECTIVES: Toaddress current naming conventions for Medically Unexplained Symptoms (MUS) through a systematic umbrella review. The terminology used and the provided rationales were considered. METHODS: Registered with PROSPERO (CRD42024526020), this review searched 8 key databases, last on January 28, 2025. Reviews including medically unexplained symptoms (or synonym or subtype) in their systematic search terms were included (N=422). RESULTS: A total of 577 references to 111 terms were made across the reviews, with numerous reviews using the same overarching terms, including "functional" (n=233), "somatic" (or variants thereof, n=51), and "medically unexplained" (n=28). Thirty percent of terms (n=179) were to specific syndromes or terms that did not group together under an overarching term, suggesting substantial variability in terms, even though over 60% of authors were primarily associated with just 3 disciplines: medicine, allied health, and psychology. A subset of 23 reviews provided rationales, which were subjected to content analysis and a ROBIS (Risk of Bias in Systematic Reviews) risk-of-bias assessment. This analysis showed that rationales tended to (1) highlight differences between psychological, psychiatric, and other medical fields (n=7); (2) focus on the patient perspective and patient-practitioner therapeutic relationship (n=10); or (3) follow broad and/or commonly used terms (n=7). DISCUSSION: The current landscape of terminology used for MUS remains varied, nuanced, and inconsistent between disciplines. Moving forward to a more universal language accepted and used by both patients and practitioners would aid in the diagnosis, management, and treatment of MUS.

Humans

Prevention of blindness in giant cell arteritis by corticosteroid treatment.

Ninety-six patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA) seen from 1968 to 1985 were studied with regard to the starting dose of prednisolone and the development of serious ocular complications, which proved to be very few after treatment was started. Those starting on 20 mg of prednisolone or less daily fared at least as well as those starting on higher doses. Analysis of the literature does not support the belief that higher doses provide greater protection from blindness.

Blindness

Prognosis of polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis.

Polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis are amongst the most satisfying conditions for clinicians to diagnose and treat because the unpleasant effects and serious consequences of these conditions can be almost entirely prevented by corticosteroid treatment; the fact that the side-effects of this treatment sometimes seem to be more serious than the complications of the disease is an indication of its effectiveness. Unfortunately, there is no objective way of determining the prognosis in the individual, and decisions concerning duration of treatment remain empirical.

Giant Cell Arteritis

Prevalence of hypothyroidism in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis.

The prevalence of thyroid disease and thyroid autoantibodies was evaluated in 367 patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and/or giant cell arteritis (GCA). Thirty-seven patients had antibodies to thyroid microsomes or thyroglobulin; 18 had hypothyroidism requiring thyroxine replacement therapy. The prevalence of hypothyroidism (4.9%) was significantly greater than that found in 84 control subjects.

Aged

Immunogenetics of polymyalgia rheumatica.

Evidence suggests that polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) may be an immune-mediated disease. Therefore, the role of HLA class II genes, the switch region of immunoglobin mu and alpha 1 heavy chain as the T-cell receptor (TcR) genes were investigated by Southern blot analysis. The frequency of DR4 specificity was increased in PMR (67.4% versus 30.3%; P = 0.00017). No association was found with the DQA and DQB genes, the switch region of immunoglobulin mu and alpha 1 heavy chain genes, and the TcR alpha, beta and gamma genes. This study suggests that HLA-DR4 is an important susceptibility factor for PMR. Further studies are needed to elucidate the role of Ig and TcR genes.

Alleles

Immunoglobulin (Gm) allotype frequencies in patients with giant bell arteritis and polymyalgia rheumatica.

Fifty-five Caucasoid patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) or giant cell arteritis (GCA) were immunoglobulin (Gm) allotyped for this study. Forty-four of these patients had been previously HLA-A,B,C and DR locus allotyped. The incidence of the immunoglobulin allotypic marker Glm(2) was significantly increased in the GCA group (50.00% v. controls 18.75%, P equal less than 0.01). There was a similar but insignificant rise of this Gm marker in the PMR group (27.24% v. 18.75%, NS). The increase in Glm(2) in the GCA group was not accompanied by a corresponding rise in the number of people homozygous for Glm(2), i.e., all the increase could be attributed to patients with the Glm(1,2,3,):G3m(5,10,21)phenotype.

Giant Cell Arteritis

Polymyalgia rheumatica and corticosteroids: how much for how long?

In a prospective study of 176 patients in whom polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) or giant cell arteritis (GCA) had been diagnosed between 1968 and 1980 the effect of corticosteroid treatment was studied. In those with PMR alone an initial regimen of 10 mg prednisolone daily and for the majority of those with GCA 20 mg daily were adequate to control symptoms. No patient suffered a serious disease complication after starting treatment. Regular follow-up enabled the minimum effective corticosteroid dose to be used. Complications of treatment were infrequent. Corticosteroid treatment has been withdrawn from 72 patients after a mean of 31 months treatment (range 3-103 months). Thirty subsequently relapsed, all within 21 months of withdrawal. No clinical feature predicted those who were more likely to relapse. No rigid treatment schedule should be used in these diseases.

Aged

Single daily dose corticosteroid treatment.

Thirteen patients with rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis who had not previously received corticosteroids were treated with prednisolone in a single-dose each morning. Insulin-hypoglycaemia tests were performed before starting steroids in each patient, and again at the conclusion of the study in twelve of the thirteen (duration of steroid treatment 8-40 m). There was no difference in the mean basal or peak levels of corticosteroids, or the mean peak of growth hormone (GH) in the tests done before or during treatment, although one patient lost GH responsiveness. There was thus no evidence of hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) suppression in any of the twelve patients, and there was a good therapeutic response in twelve out of thirteen. One patient was dropped from the trial because treatment failed. In contrast, of seven patients who had received a similar total dose of prednisolone twice daily, three showed HPA suppression and two had lost GH responsiveness.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones

Polymyalgia rheumatica and giant cell arteritis: a seven-year survey.

The seven-year results of all cases (84) diagnosed as polymyalgia rheumatica or giant cell arteritis are reported. The diagnosis proved to be incorrect in seven, of which six had a polyarthritis. Most cases were treated with prednisolone, starting with 20 mg daily for those with evidence of cranial arteritis, and 10 mg for those without. Fourteen patients were withdrawn from treatment (after three months to 31/2 years--mean 21 months), but three relapsed and treatment has been restarted. There was no correlation between the presence or absence of arteritis, the starting dose of prednisolone and the subsequent duration of treatment. A small group (7) received higher doses without obvious advantage. Twenty-two started on 5-9 mg daily, but the dose had to be increased in 13 because of inadequate control of symptoms. Objective physical abnormality, particularly painful limitation of shoulder movement, was present in most cases. No patient developed a serious complication of the disease after treatment had been started. Complications of treatment were infrequent. Spinal osteoporosis occurred in seven, but did not cause long-term disability.

Aged

Autoimmune haemolytic anaemia and mefenamic acid therapy.

Three patients developed autoimmune haemolytic anaemia while being treated with mefenamic acid. In each case the autoimmune haemolytic anaemia was of the warm antibody gammaG type, and the antibodies had some rhesus specificity. All three patients recovered when the drug was withdrawn.Attempts to inhibit or enhance the activity of the antibody in vitro were unsuccessful.Direct antihuman globulin tests were made in.the red cells of 36 patients receiving long-term mefenamic acid therapy, but only one was found to be transitorily positive.

Anemia, Hemolytic, Autoimmune