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Biomedical subjects

D Gill

Publications and source records attributed to D Gill.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Paediatric renal transplantation in Ireland: 1980-1990.

Between 1980 and 1990, 862 renal transplants were performed at our unit. Forty-six of these were given to 38 children. The mean age of the children was 8.6 years. Reflux nephropathy accounted for 39% of the primary renal diseases, followed by congenital disorders (30%), and glomerulonephritis (16%). Seventy percent of the grafts were from cadaveric donors. The one year patient survival was 90%, and the one year graft survival 61%. Seven children received a second graft with a one year graft survival of 71%.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Iron and nutritional status of toddlers.

The iron and nutritional status of 22 clinically well and normal toddlers, aged from one to four years inclusive was determined. Mean energy intake was normal. Protein, fibre and ascorbic acid intakes were high. Total iron intake was low in 73%, and available iron was low in 96%. The percentage availability of the total iron intake was 6.98 +/- 1.2, which is below the 10% assumption of iron availability based on consumption of the recommended daily allowances. Mean haemoglobin was with in the normal range. Low normal serum ferritin suggested poor iron stores. Anthropometric measurements were normal. Although the toddlers; intake of most dietary parameters was normal, the finding of poor iron intake and stores is of concern given recent reports of the role of iron in weight gain and psychomotor development.

Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena↗
PubMed1991

The role of histamine in the acute inflammatory responses to intradermal platelet activating factor.

1. The role of histamine in PAF-induced acute inflammatory responses (flare and weal) in the skin has been evaluated in a series of three separate studies. 2. Terfenadine, a potent H1-selective histamine antagonist virtually abolished the flare response and significantly inhibited the weal response. 3. Histamine depletion in the skin using compound 48/80 resulted in similar effects on the flare and weal response. Two consecutive daily injections of compound 48/80 were found to deplete comprehensively skin sites of histamine and the ability of skin to respond to PAF was completely restored within 2 weeks of compound 48/80 treatment. 4. Intradermally injected PAF was associated with acute rises in plasma histamine in blood drawn from a draining vein with peak concentrations occurring within 5 min of injection. 5. No difference in PAF-induced flare and weal response was found between atopic and non-atopic subjects and this was reflected in the peak plasma histamine results. A significantly higher baseline plasma histamine was found in the atopic group, however, when compared with the non atopic group. 6. It is concluded that histamine has an important role in the acute inflammatory responses to intradermally injected PAF, although there does appear to be a significant direct vascular component in the PAF-induced weal response.

Benzhydryl Compounds↗
PubMed1991

Childhood poisoning in Dublin.

A prospective survey was carried out over a three month period to assess the incidence of accidental poisoning in children. The survey also examined the role of child resistant closures (CRC) and other form of packaging in the prevention of poisoning. Two hundred and six children with suspected poisoning attended the casualty departments of the three Dublin children's hospitals surveyed. Ninety three percent of the children were less than five years old. Medications were thought to have been ingested by 65%, household or gardening products by 34% and plants by 1%. Most children had no symptoms and received no treatment except emesis or oral fluid and demulcents. Twenty five percent required admission to hospital. There were no fatalities during the study period. Only 8.5% of the medications involved had been in containers with CRC's. Twenty percent were in blister packs or strips. A substantial number of poisonings occurred at a time when medicines were not in their normal place although in most cases they were still in the original container. We propose a two-phase approach to poisoning prevention--more widespread use of CRC's and public education on safe storage of medicines.

Accidents, Home↗
PubMed1990

The protonated form of 1-N6-etheno-[erythro-9-(2-hydroxy-3-nonyl)] adenine is identified at the active site of adenosine deaminase.

A novel fluorescent competitive inhibitor of adenosine deaminase (EC 3.5.4.4) (ADA), 1-N6-etheno-[erythro-9-(2-hydroxy-3-nonyl)] adenine (epsilon-EHNA), is protonated at the active site of the enzyme. In epsilon-EHNA [K1 = (4.06 +/- 1.00) 10(-6) M] part of the competitive inhibition of EHNA is combined with spectroscopic properties of etheno-adenines. Computer subtraction of the fluorescence excitation spectrum of ADA from that of its equimolar complex with epsilon-EHNA yielded the corrected excitation spectrum of epsilon-EHNA at the active site of the enzyme. This spectrum mimics that of epsilon-EHNA at pH 5.5 in buffer solution and is suggested to indicate a shift in protonation equilibrium at the active site.

Adenine↗
PubMed1990

Deviation from homeoviscous adaptation in Escherichia coli membranes.

The process by which an organism changes the composition of its membranal fatty acids in response to growth temperature, so as to maintain optimal membrane functioning, is known as homeoviscous adaptation (HA). One expression of HA is the constancy of the fluorescence polarization (P) of the lipophilic probe 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH) in membranes of cells grown at various temperatures. The P of DPH in the membranes of Escherichia coli was shown by us to be inversely proportional to bacterial growth rate on different carbon sources. This result, implying failure of HA, is now complemented by measurements of DPH lifetimes, which indicate that the dominant variables contributing to the drop in P are (a) the order parameter of the membrane, which goes down, and (b) the fluidity, which may slightly increase. These are then the changes induced by enhanced growth rate. Two additional effects, cell membrane permeability and sensitivity to thermal shock, determined by the diffusion of o-nitrophenylgalactoside (ONPG) and by exposure to 52 degrees C, respectively, are reported to increase with growth rate. We can now conclude that there is a deviation from the principle of HA in E. coli grown at various rates, brought about by controlling the growth media at constant temperatures.

Cell Membrane↗
PubMed1990

Biosynthetic human growth hormone in three children with short stature.

Three boys with growth hormone deficiency were given biosynthetic human growth hormone, four units subcutaneously three times weekly, over two years. All three exceeded their expected growth velocities for bone age during the first year, but fared less well during the second year. Mean yearly growth velocities were: 3.2 cms before treatment, 7.1 cms after 12 months' treatment and 4.9 cms after a further 12 months. There were no adverse reactions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Adenosine deaminase in cell transformation. Biophysical manifestation of membrane dynamics.

Cell transformation is associated with a dramatic collapse of a graphic fingerprint characteristic of normal cells, as measured by phase fluorimetry. This is demonstrated on adenosine deaminase (ADA, EC 3.5.4.4), an established malignancy marker. ADA activity is known to decrease markedly in chick embryo fibroblasts (CEF) transformed by Rous sarcoma virus. The high affinity between the catalytic small subunit ADA (SS-ADA) and its membranal complexing protein (ADCP) (which abounds on the plasma membrane of CEF) allowed the hybridization of fluorescent labeled SS-ADA with native ADCP on CEF. Multifrequency differential phase fluorimetry responded remarkably to the state of this hybrid membrane protein. The transformation process is shown to have led to increased membrane fluidity and rotational mobility of ADCP as well as to its reduced availability to SS-ADA binding. The hypothesis of protein vertical sinking into the lipid core of the membrane is now given support by our spectroscopic data. Additional models are considered. A regulatory role is thus suggested for the complexing protein, which may also account for (a) reduced ADA activity in transformed cells and (b) detachment, exclusive to normal cells, upon addition of SS-ADA in excess.

Adenosine Deaminase↗
PubMed1988

Poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis in children: clinicopathological correlations and long-term prognosis.

Between 1962 and 1970, 36 children with acute biopsy-proven poststreptococcal glomerulonephritis (PSGN) entered a prospective long-term follow-up study. The initial biopsies were scored into four histological grades using criteria based on endocapillary proliferation, leucocyte infiltration, epithelial "hump" and crescent formation; 5 patients had grade-1 (least severe), 14 grade-2, 15 grade-3 and 2 grade-4 biopsies. Two children died from rapidly progressive glomerulonephritis; both had grade-4 biopsies. Early repeat biopsy in 12 patients showed improvement in all but one patient who progressed from grade 2 to type 2 mesangiocapillary glomerulonephritis (MCGN). The initial biopsy grade correlated significantly with heavy proteinuria (chi2 = 9.73, P less than 0.01) but not with hypertension, haematuria or renal functional impairment. Follow-up observations were made after mean periods of 9.5 years (range 5.4-12.4 years; 32 subjects) and 19.0 years (range 14.6-22 years; 30 subjects). None of the survivors had an abnormal plasma creatinine. Only one patient (grade-3 biopsy), a female with a subsequent history of recurrent pyelonephritis, was hypertensive. Isolated microscopic haematuria persisted in 1 grade-2 and 2 grade-3 subjects. One grade-2 subject had proteinuria secondary to MCGN and one grade-3 subject had mild proteinuria and borderline hypertension. Although 20% of subjects had urinary abnormalities, we conclude that the long-term outcome of PSGN in children is excellent.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Are national hospital data adequate for coding injury severity?

The purpose of this study was to determine whether accurate severity scores, using the abbreviated injury scale (AIS), could be produced from hospital discharge data held on the National Health Statistics Centre (NHSC) computer files. The data from two New Zealand trauma studies, in which AIS scores had been assigned to patient injuries, were linked to the patient data on NHSC computer files and AIS scores assigned for those injuries that were present. Sixty-five percent of the injuries for which a link was made were scorable and of these, there was 54% agreement between the AIS scores generated from NHSC data and the scores from the trauma studies. Percent agreement varied with body area, whether the injury was from a single or multiple injury victim, and with the severity of injury. Recommendations include a revision of data collection and NHSC data coding to incorporate AIS scores, and to educate medical personnel regarding AIS in order that they collect appropriate information so that AIS may be coded on the patient's discharge form.

Data Collection↗