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Biomedical subjects

C Mackay

Publications and source records attributed to C Mackay.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1977

The amylase creatinine clearance ratio in acute pancreatitis.

One hundred and twenty-two patients have been studied in order to evaluate the usefulness of the amylase creatinine clearance ratio (ACCR) as a simple diagnostic test for acute pancreatitis. Sixteen out of 17 patients with acute pancreatitis had significant elevations in ACCR; in only 10 of these 17 cases was the serum amylase greater than 1200iu/l. The mean ACCR was within the normal range in control patients, in patients with chronic gastro-intestinal disease and in patients with acute abdominal conditions excluding pancreatitis; however, the mean serum amylase was significantly greater in patients with acute abdominal conditions than in the control group (P less than 0-05). The ACCR remained significantly elevated in patients with acute pancreatitis for longer than either serum or urine amylase values. The findings of the study suggest that the amylase creatinine clearance ratio is a simple yet reliable diagnostic test which could be used when screening patients suspected of having acute pancreatitis.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1977

Diurnal variation in urinary oxalate.

The diurnal variation in urinary oxalate concentration and output was measured in 10 catheterised males. There was an increase in urinary oxalate concentration and output during the day and evening and an early morning decrease. It is thought that the daytime increase is related to dietary oxalate. These data suggest an elevated urinary oxalate excretion is more likely to occur during the day and a 24-hour urine collection may mask this effect.

Calcium↗
PubMed1975

Bile salts and gallstone disease.

Bile salts play an important role in maintaining cholesterol in aqueous solution in bile. There is evidence that in some patients at least gallstones arise as a result of bile salt deficiency. The evidence to date suggests that although oral bile salts may be of use in treating some gallstone patients they are unlikely to replace cholecystectomy in the foreseeable future. The instillation of bile salts via an indwelling T-tube may well be of great use in the management of stones retained in the common duct after choledocholithotomy. There is no doubt that in this branch of medicine as in all others prevention is better than cure and our aim should be to perfect our technique so that we do not leave stones behind. However, should the situation occur we may soon have safe effective physiological solvents to dissolve our mistakes.

Bile Acids and Salts↗
PubMed1974

The effect of vagotomy and drainage on the small bowel flora.

The incidence of small intestinal colonization in unoperated duodenal ulcer patients was low and similar to that in the normal population. The majority of patients seven to 10 days following truncal vagotomy and drainage were colonized whereas none of a control group of patients following simple closure of a perforated duodenal ulcer was colonized. In patients with pyloroplasty, this high incidence fell to control levels on average 18 months postoperatively, but in patients with a gastro-jejunostomy, the incidence remained raised probably due to the presence of the afferent loop. Only two patients developed episodic diarrhoea and there was no obvious association with small bowel colonization.

Adult↗
PubMed1974

Clinical and laboratory study of postvagotomy diarrhoea.

Thirty-two patients with diarrhoea, on average four years following truncal vagotomy and drainage, were studied. A comparison was made with 24 patients without postvagotomy diarrhoea. The incidence of bacterial colonization of the upper small intestine was no different in the two groups, though patients with a gastroenterostomy had a significantly higher incidence than those with a pyloroplasty. There was a higher incidence of ;anaerobic colonization' in patients with diarrhoea, but statistical significance was not reached. Colonization was associated with significantly lower levels of gastric acid secretion. Though 13 patients with diarrhoea had an abnormal faecal fat excretion, no correlation could be found between this and the severity of the diarrhoea or bacterial colonization, either with an anaerobic or a coliform type flora.In patients with diarrhoea, no small intestinal mucosal abnormality was detected, the mean haematological and serum biochemistry values were within normal limits, and the body weight was similar to that before operation. Two patients with diarrhoea had abnormal haematological values five years following vagotomy and gastroenterostomy in association with ;anaerobic colonization' of the upper small intestine. As the incidence of haematological abnormalities after gastric surgery increases with time, colonized patients might merit particularly close clinical observation.

Adult↗
PubMed1972

The composition of hepatic and gallbladder bile in patients with gallstones.

Bile specimens were obtained from 17 patients with gallstones and 21 patients with duodenal ulcer. The specimens were obtained from the former by needle aspiration of the gallbladder and common bile duct at operation and from the latter by duodenal intubation. The concentrations of bile salt, phospholipid, and cholesterol were measured. Gallbladder bile from gallstone patients contained significantly more cholesterol than did ;duodenal' bile from duodenal ulcer patients. Hepatic bile from gallstone patients contained significantly more cholesterol than did gallbladder bile from the same patients. When the data were plotted on triangular coordinates the relative composition lay within the zone of cholesterol solubility in all 21 ulcer patients. The relative composition of hepatic bile lay outside the zone of cholesterol solubility in five gallstone patients, at the limits of cholesterol solubility in a further three, and within the micellar zone in the remaining nine patients. This suggests that supersaturation of hepatic bile with cholesterol is not the sine qua non for the production of cholesterol gallstones.

Adult↗
PubMed1970

Scanning and transmission electron microscopic studies of human intestinal mucosa.

The scanning electron microscope is capable of 25 mmu resolution combined with a great depth of focus, features which make the technique of value in the study of the intestinal mucosa. Surgical biopsies and postmortem specimens of small intestine have been examined using scanning and transmission electron microscopy. In biopsies, at low magnification, the villous pattern is seen while at higher magnification details of cell surfaces may be observed. Some features are best observed using scanning microscopy to examine dewaxed thick histological sections. In necropsy specimens villous architecture can still be satisfactorily assessed and details of the villous cores are seen, their collagen skeletons apparently less robust than the villi of the fresh biopsy. Scanning microscopy can extend the three-dimensional study of the small intestinal mucosa beyond the limits imposed by the resolution of the dissecting microscope.

Autolysis↗