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Biomedical subjects

B J Morrison

Publications and source records attributed to B J Morrison.

53 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

Vaginal colonization with Staphylococcus aureus, positive for toxic-shock marker protein, and Escherichia coli in healthy women.

The vaginal colonization of 495 healthy women with strains of Staphylococcus aureus positive for the toxic-shock marker protein (pyrogenic exotoxic C) was examined prospectively. Production of the marker protein was detected by analytic isoelectrofocusing of culture filtrates in polyacrylamide gels (isoelectric point, 7.2). Toxicogenic strains of S. aureus were isolated from 2.6% of the women and nontoxicogenic strains from 4.0%. Vaginal carriage of toxicogenic S. aureus was found to be significantly correlated only with coisolation of Escherichia coli when a number of factors were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression and compared with values among women carrying no vaginal S. aureus or only nontoxicogenic strains (odds ratios, 8.17 and 11.02, respectively; 95% confidence intervals, 2.27-29.31 and 1.42-85.31, respectively). These data may explain the higher rate of vaginal colonization with E. coli in addition to toxicogenic S. aureus among women with toxic-shock syndrome (64%) than among age-matched control women (12%; P less than .001).

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Pneumocystis carinii antigenemia in adults with malignancy, infection, or pulmonary disease.

A counterimmunoelectrophoresis test for Pneumocystis carinii antigenemia was employed to assess the extent of subclinical infection or colonization with this agent in adults with infection, pulmonary disease, or malignancy and in healthy homosexual men. Antigenemia was detected in 6 of 208 (3%) of normal controls, 3 of 28 (11%) of patients with pulmonary infection, 3 of 33 (9%) of those with chronic lung disease, 1 of 36 (3%) of patients with lung cancer, 7 of 271 (3%) of afebrile subjects with malignancy, 6 of 19 (32%) of febrile patients with malignancy, 2 of 22 (9%) of those with nonpulmonary infection, and 0 of 21 (0%) of healthy young homosexual men. These data suggest that P. carinii is a common commensal or saprophyte that becomes clinically significant only when host defenses are impaired. Antigenemia may occur intermittently during various disease states in the absence of positive clinical signs and should alert the physician to subacute infection or colonization. Treatment appears advisable when clinical data and counterimmunoelectrophoresis results concur.

Antigens, Protozoan↗
PubMed1983

The frequency and severity of cat allergy vs. dog allergy in atopic children.

Questions were put to parents accompanying 1238 children, 1 to 17 yr old, who had symptoms of respiratory tract allergy. Skin prick tests were then performed. Symptoms after exposure to cats and positive skin test results from cat hair extract were significantly more frequent than symptoms after exposure to dogs or reactions to dog hair extract. The prevalence of symptoms and positive skin test reactions to cat allergens increased with age, significantly more so than the reaction or symptoms after exposure to dog allergens. The greater frequency of sensitivity to cats was not caused by exposure to cats in more homes, since dogs significantly outnumbered cats as the household pet in both atopic and nonatopic families. However, greater intimacy of exposure to cats when they were present may have been a factor because cats, significantly more often than dogs, were inside the house and in the child's bedroom. Two subgroups were examined to determine whether those with cat sensitivity who owned cats had more severe symptoms than those with dog sensitivity who owned dogs. Numbers were small and differences not statistically significant, but those in the cat subgroup more frequently had persistent allergic nasal symptoms and abnormally low spirometric measurements than did those in the dog subgroup. Our findings indicate that children are more often allergic to cats than to dogs and suggest that the greater frequency of sensitization to cats may be due to increased intimacy of exposure to cats.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Diagnosis of house dust mite allergy in asthmatic children: what constitutes a positive history?

Standardized questions were put to the parents of 530 children, referred consecutively for evaluation of asthma, to determine which features in the history were associated with house-dust mite allergy. Bronchial challenge tests performed on 19 of the children confirmed that there is a highly significant association between a positive skin prick test and a positive bronchial challenge test to Dermatophagoides farinae mite antigen. One hundred and eighteen (23%) of the children had positive prick tests to the mite. There is a highly significant association between a positive prick test to mite and a history that the subject's respiratory symptoms become worse when there is exposure to domestic activity that stirs up house dust (vacuuming, dusting, sweeping, making the bed, or shaking out blankets) or that the symptoms improve when out of doors. Seasonal variation and other features in the history are of little value in distinguishing mite-sensitive from mite-insensitive asthmatics. Although the 4% whose only positive prick test reaction was to mite had significant worsening of asthma during the colder months compared with the remainder, most mite-positive subjects had multiple allergies and had no characteristic seasonal pattern. The presence of a positive prick test to mite was not associated with aggravation of asthma either at night in bed or in the morning on awakening. A history similar to that of mite-sensitive subjects was elicited in those with a positive prick test to house dust. A positive history of house dust or house-dust mite allergy in asthmatics is one in which respiratory symptoms become worse during domestic activity that stirs up house dust or improve when outdoors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Appraisal of disk sensitivity tests with mecillinam.

Disk susceptibility tests for mecillinam were carried out on 167 hospital isolates of Enterobacteriaceae from Vancouver. Inhibition zone sizes with eight experimental variations were compared by three-way analysis of variance. The Association of Clinical Pathologists' method gave significantly (p = 0.0002) larger zones than the Kirby Bauer method (24.9 +/- SD 7.5 and 23.4 +/- 7.3 mm, respectively). 10 microgram mecillinam disks from Mast Laboratories gave significantly (p = 0.0004) larger zones than the Baltimore Biological Laboratories (BBL) equivalent (24.9 +/- 7.6 and 23.4 +/- 7.2 mm, respectively). Differences between Oxoid Iso-sensitest agar and BBL Mueller Hinton agar were not quite significant (24.5 +/- 7.9 and 23.8 +/- 6.9 mm, respectively, p = 0.061). Each disk test method was significantly different from at least one other (Duncan multiple range test, alpha = 0.05). A semilogarithmic regression was established between the antibiotic disk inhibition zone and the MIC for each experimental variation. BBL Mueller Hinton and Oxoid Iso-sensitest media did not give significantly different results in MIC determinants by a surface inoculation method. An additional 146 organisms from hospitals in New York provided a wider range of organisms from a different location. Pooled data from both centres were used to identify breakpoints for mecillinam in the disk susceptibility test using the Kirby Bauer method with BBL disks and media. A 16-mm breakpoint with 10 microgram mecillinam disks provides a realistic and conservative prediction of probable response to attainable serum concentrations of this antibiotic.

Amdinocillin↗
PubMed1979

Observed range of assay values for plasma and cerebrospinal fluid amino acid levels in infants and children aged 3 months to 10 years.

From data collected at the Children's Hospital, Vancouver, during a two year period, 1976 - 1977, we have determined a range of values for children aged 3 months to 6 years for 24 plasma amino acids and for children aged 3 months to 10 years for 18 cerebrospinal fluid amino acids. A total of 26 plasma and 21 cerebrospinal fluid samples were accepted for our reference population. Six of the children in the plasma group were also in the cerebrospinal fluid group, making a total of 39 children in the study.

Amino Acids↗