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Biomedical subjects

E Y Morrison

Publications and source records attributed to E Y Morrison.

36 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Renal subcapsular islet cell transplantation in the dog. A preliminary report.

During the last two decades, islet cell transplantation has been pursed both experimentally and clinically in an effort to ameliorate diabetes mellitus. At present, however, islet cell transplantation still remains at the experimental stages as far as the treatment of diabetes is concerned. Also, culture of islet cells has proved to be rather frustrating and difficult. No consistent techniques have been developed, and simplified methods for islet cell preparation and adequate sites for islet cell placement would allow for further progress in this area. Ultimately, rejection remains the greatest obstacle to success. We report a simplified technique for enriching dog pancreatic islet cells. This preparation was injected into the renal subcapsular space in both homograft (3 experiments) and heterograft (3 experiments) situations. After six weeks, nephrectomy was performed, and histochemical techniques demonstrated many groups of live islets in between the tubules in the renal cortex. No acinar cells were observed. Blood samples from the renal artery and renal vein at the time of nephrectomy revealed an average 36.9% increase in insulin concentration in the renal veins, supporting an active secretory role of these transplanted islet cells. This technique points to (i) the possible role of "renal factor" in promoting growth of islet cells and (ii) the feasibility of successful transplantation of enriched islet cells as a potential approach to the curative treatment of diabetes mellitus.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

The Mauriac syndrome.

An insulin-dependent diabetic was diagnosed at the age of 7 years. After two years of satisfactory control she began to have several bouts of hospitalization with hyperglycaemic ketoacidosis, and developed tender hepatomegaly, which persisted to age 11 years. With restabilisation of her diabetes, the liver regressed and she continued to maintain good health for another 1 1/2 years when she died suddenly while asleep. Post-mortem examination by the coroner revealed ascites in the abdomen, hepatomegaly and fatty metamorphosis of the liver. Her diabetes control required up to 2.3 i.u. insulin per kg body weight per day plus a 1,900 calorie diet. Her growth was well below the tenth percentile, weight for height (Harvard charts). This clinical picture of high insulin dosage, hepatomegaly, unstable diabetes and growth failure approximates to the Mauriac syndrome.

Child↗
PubMed1989

Mortality from diabetes mellitus in Jamaica.

Mortality data for 8,799 Jamaican diabetics who died between 1970 and 1979 were collected by reviewing the death certificates of all jamaicans that were recorded for that period. Diabetes was found to account for 6.5% of all deaths; 62% of these deaths occurred among females; and diabetics were found to die earlier than nondiabetics. There was also underreporting of diabetes in the official Registrar General's statistics, in that about a third of the descendents who had diabetes recorded on their death certificates were not coded as having died of diabetes, because the disease was not recorded as the underlying cause of death. Vascular disease was a prime cause of death among these diabetics.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Isolation of a branched chain alpha-keto acid dehydrogenase from rabbit liver.

An enzyme catalysing a series of reactions resulting in the oxidative decarboxylation of branched chain alpha-keto acids and production of NADH, was extracted from rabbit liver mitochondria with the aid of NaClO4. Purification yielded a product which appeared homogeneous on electrophoresis. The enzyme is active on three substrates alpha-ketoisocaproate, alpha-keto-beta-methyl valerate, and alpha-ketoisovalerate.

3-Methyl-2-Oxobutanoate Dehydrogenase (Lipoamide)↗
PubMed1979

Isolation of a branched-chain alpha-keto acid decarboxylase from rat liver.

An enzyme which catalyses oxidative decarboxylation of branched-chain alpha-keto acids was extracted from rat liver mitochondria with the aid of NaClO4. Purification yielded a product which appeared homogenous upon electrophoresis. Some kinetic data are reported; however, the enzyme is inactive with alpha-ketoisovalerate. The tenacity of binding to mitochondria, specificity, and other features, suggest that the decarboxylase may be a component of an enzyme complex named alpha-ketoisocaproate: alpha-keto-beta-methylvalerate dehydrogenase.

Amino Acids, Branched-Chain↗
PubMed1976

Malnutrition, kidney size and composition.

Kidneys from 42 infants were analysed for protein, fat, water, DNA and RNA. No significant differences in composition could be found between groups of children with different degrees of weight deficit. However, in a larger series of 200, it was shown that increasing degrees of weight deficit were associated with a reduction in kidney size. In the older children with the greatest degree of weight deficit, the kidney formed a significantly higher percentage of the body weight. The general conclusion is that in the most severely malnourished children kidneys are smaller than normal.

Body Weight↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Some social factors related to control of diabetes mellitus in adult Jamaican patients.

A population of 103 adult diabetic patients was interviewed at the Outpatient Clinic for diabetic patients of the University Hospital of the West Indies to examine the effects of severity of the illness and social variables, such as facilities at home, education attained, employment status, informal medication, and understanding of the illness in relation to its control. Patients were classified as severe if there were clinical evidence of vascular or neurologic complications of diabetes and as mild if there were no complications. Control of diabetes was regarded as good if the patients were free from or had less than 2+ glycosuria and as poor if they had had 2+ or more glycosuria during the six months before the study. We found that the quality of control was mainly determined by the severity of the disease. In the mild diabetic, proper diabetic control was not influenced by any social variable examined. In the severe diabetic the quality of control was associated with social amenities, educational status, employment status, and understanding of the disease.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Extraction of an hyperglycaemic principle from the annatto (Bixa orellana), a medicinal plant in the West Indies.

The red powdery extract from the seeds of the annatto, Bixa orellana, is a well known food colouring. In an oil suspension it is used as a folk remedy (bush tea) in the West Indies, for diabetes mellitus. Detailed investigations on this extract, yielded a methyl ester, trans-bixin, molecular weight 394 and molecular formula C24H30O4. This purified substance was demonstrated, in anaesthetised mongrel dogs, to cause hyperglycaemia. Concomitant electron microscopy of tissue biopsies, revealed damage to mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum mainly in liver and pancreas. When dogs were fed on a diet fortified with riboflavin, there was neither demonstrable tissue damage nor associated hyperglycaemia. These findings point to: (i) the potential dangers of informal medications such as 'bush teas'; (ii) the possible role of plant extracts/food additives in the development of diabetes mellitus especially in the undernourished state.

Animals↗