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Biomedical subjects

A D Beattie

Publications and source records attributed to A D Beattie.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1979

Acute lead poisoning: an unusual cause of hepatitis.

Four patients, aged 17 to 25 years, obtained lead and opium pills which had been stolen from retail pharmacists. They crushed them, suspended them in water an injected them intravenously. They developed general malaise, vomiting and constipation, and blood tests several weeks after injection of the pills showed raised alkaline phosphatase and aspartate transaminases. All four patients had negative tests for the hepatitis B surface antigen. Liver biopsy specimens showed persistent hepatitis in one and resolving hepatitis in the remaining three. Liver lead levels were grossly elevated in every case. The liver lead levels found it the patients described here were up to 35 times greater than levels which have been reported in industrial lead poisoning. It is postulated that the livers of patients with chronic lead poisoning are able to withstand this insult whereas in the cases described the overwhelming dose of lead was sufficient to cause hepatic damage.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

The association between lead concentrations in teeth and domestic water lead concentrations.

Tooth lead levels have been measured in 109 children living in Glasgow. A significant association has been demonstrated between molar tooth lead concentrations and domestic drinking water lead concentrations. Tooth lead concentrations were found to be greater the longer a child had liver in older housing with lead plumbing during foetal life and following birth. Tooth lead concentrations were also found to be age-related although no difference with respect to social class could be found.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Renal insufficiency associated with excessive lead exposure.

Water lead concentrations were measured in 970 households throughout Scotland. Blood lead concentrations were measured in 283 people living in houses with water lead levels of over 0-48 mumol/l (100 mug/l). A highly significant correlation was found between lead concentrations in water and blood. Raised blood lead concentrations were associated with renal insufficiency, reflected in raised serum urea concentrations, and with hyperuricaemia, although there was no evidence of clinical disease in any of the affected people. This is further evidence that excessive lead in domestic water supplies has a harmful effect on the community's health.

Environmental Exposure↗
PubMed1977

Hereditary coproporphyria. Demonstration of the abnormalities in haem biosynthesis in peripheral blood.

Hereditary coproporphyria is biochemically distinct from the other porphyrias and is characterized by excessive excretion of coproporphyrin in faeces and usually in urine. The laboratory findings in 28 patients with this disease are presented and the clinical details of eight patients who have been in attack summarised. The remaining 20 patients were latent for the disease. In all patients studied the activity of delta-aminolaevulinic acid synthase was raised and coproporphyrinogen oxidase depressed in the leucocyte. This indicates the partial enzyme block in the haem biosynthetic pathway in this disease. The activities of the other enzymes in the pathway, leucocyte ferrochelatase and erythrocyte delta-aminolaevulinic acid dehydratase, porphobilinogen deaminase and uroporphyrinogen decarboxylase showed no consistent change. On review of 111 cases, 35 per cent presented in acute attack: 80 per cent had abdominal pain, 34 per cent vomiting, 29 per cent solar sensitivity, 23 per cent neurological involvement, 23 per cent psychiatric symptoms and 20 per cent severe constipation. Only two fatalities have been published, both from respiratory failure. There was a female preponderance of cases in attack of 2-5:1 and in the latent cases of 1-5:1 suggesting hormonal provocation in the uncovering of the disease. Drugs were implicated as precipitating 54 per cent of acute attacks and in 34 per cent of cases, these were barbiturates. This study demonstrates the reduction in activity of coproporphyrinogen oxidase in the haem biosynthetic pathway and the elevation of delta-aminolaevulinic acid synthase in the peripheral blood. These features, together with the typical abnormal porphyrin excretion pattern, appear to be diagnostic of hereditary coproporphyria whether in attack, remission, or in the latent form.

5-Aminolevulinate Synthetase↗
PubMed1976

Blood-lead and hypertension.

Blood and tap-water lead levels were examined in 135 hypertensives and 135 age and sex matched normotensives. Among male hypertensives there was a significant excess of cases with high blood-lead levels and a similar but statistically non-significant trend was found amongst female hypertensives. A positive correlation was found between blood-lead and tap-water lead. It is concluded that in the West of Scotland high blood-pressure is associated with high blood-lead levels, which might explain the high prevalence of cardiovascular disease in the area.

Blood Pressure↗
PubMed1976

Ascorbic acid deficiency in liver disease.

Leucocyte ascorbic acid (LAA) levels were measured in 138 patients with liver disease. Significantly reduced levels were found in 37 patients with alcoholic liver disease (P less than 0-01) and 25 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (P less than 0-05). In the primary biliary cirrhosis patients, cholestyramine therapy was associated with significantly lower levels of the vitamin (P less than 0-05). Liver ascorbic acid measured in Menghini needle biopsies in 20 patients was significantly correlated with LAA (r=0-807, P less than 0-001). No significant correlation was found between LAA and haematological indices, conventional liver function tests, or cholesterol levels in any group of patients. Patients with LAA levels below 100 nM/10(8) WBC had significantly higher antipyrine half-lives (mean=28-3 h) than patients with LAA levels above this level (mean=18-6 h) (P less than 0-05). Delayed drug metabolism related to low LAA should be considered when drugs metabolised by the liver are prescribed for patients with alcoholic liver disease or primary biliary cirrhosis.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1975

Role of chronic low-level lead exposure in the aetiology of mental retardation.

Water-lead levels were measured in the homes occupied during the first year of life by 77 mentally retarded children aged two to six years and 77 non-retarded matched controls, and in the homes occupied by their mothers during pregnancy. The water-lead content was significantly higher in the retarded group, and the probability of mental retardation was significantly increased when water lead exceeded 800 mug. per litre. Blood-lead levels were also significantly higher in the retarded group. It is concluded that lead contamination of water may be one factor in the multifactorial aetiology of mental retardation and that every effort should be made to reduce the lead content of drinking-water.

Breast Feeding↗
PubMed1975

Urinary excretion of 17-oxosteroids in hereditary coproporphyria.

1. Urinary 17-oxosteroid conjugates were measured by gas-liquid chromatography in five patients with hereditary coproporphyria. 2. Three patients were in an acute attack and showed significantly increased excretion of sulphate or glucuronide conjugates of aetiocholanolone. There was increased excretion of several other related steroids but no consistent pattern was apparent. 3. In the two patients in remission, excretion of urinary 17-oxosteroids was not increased. 4. The ratio of total urinary aetiocholanolone to androsterone (5beta:5alpha) was found to be significantly elevated for the three patients in an acute attack. Serial measurements were made in two of these patients and showed a highly significant linear correaltion between this ratio and the urinary content of delta-aminolaevulic acid and porphobilinogen. 5. These observations suggest the involvement of the 17-oxosteroids, espically aetiocholanolone, in the pathogenesis of hereditary coproporphyria.

17-Ketosteroids↗
PubMed1975

Acute lead poisoning: Five cases resulting from self-injection of lead and opium.

Five cases of acute lead poisoning resulted from the self-injection of lead and opium pills which were crushed, heated and suspended in water. Two of the five patients died of illnesses in which hepatic failure and reversible acute tubular necrosis were prominent features. One of these two had a severe neuropathy, with flaccid quadriplegia and respiratory paralysis. The other three patients had relatively minor symptoms but unequivocal biochemical evidence of lead toxicity. Autopsy changes included hepatic degeneration with inclusion bodies, regenerating renal tubular epithelium and wasting of skeletal muscle. Hepatic lead content was extremely high in one case. Chelation therapy in the other fatal case resulted in a fall in blood lead to within normal limits and a clinical improvement, which was terminated by massive haemorrhage from a ruptured innominate artery.

Acute Disease↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Occupational lead exposure and renin release.

Hypertension may result from chronic lead exposure. Lead poisoning arising from "moonshine whiskey" drinking has been associated with a rise in plasma renin activity. In the present study, plasma renin concentration following intravenous administration of frusemide was measured in eleven subjects with moderate or severe lead poisoning of industrial origin. The results were compared with those obtained for seven normal, control subjects. There was no significant difference in response obtained in the two groups. Industrial lead poisoning does not appear to affect renin release. The combined insult of lead and alcohol may explain the findings in the previous study.

Adolescent↗