PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

G A Rose

Publications and source records attributed to G A Rose.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Recurrent infection stones with apparently negative cultures. The case for blind antibacterial treatment.

Infection stones in the urinary tract are always associated with infection with a urease-producing, urea-splitting organism. The most common of these organisms are easy to culture and identify and can be treated early either with an appropriate antibiotic or with an anti-urease agent. Ureaplasma urealyticum and Corynebacterium urealyticum are urease-producing organisms which are difficult to grow; their presence and effects frequently go undetected and untreated. Other organisms, as yet unknown, may also be involved in the same process. We report the first series of 8 patients with recurrent infection-type stones likely to have been caused by a "hard to grow" organism. Five patients never had a positive culture; in 2 patients 1 of 10 urine cultures grew a coagulase-negative Staphylococcus and in 1 patient the same organism was grown from a stone but never in the urine. The clinical course of all of these patients was significantly improved after blind treatment with antibiotics and in one case with an anti-urease agent.

Adult

Metabolic balance studies of mineral supplementation in osteoporosis.

1. We studied the effect of mineral supplementation and its duration in osteoporosis by analysing the calcium and phosphorus balances of 49 treated osteoporotic patients whose median length of calcium treatment was 19 weeks with a range of 8 days to over 4 years. Forty-four studies satisfied statistical criteria of reproducibility and included 35 women (10 also receiving oestrogen replacement therapy) and nine men. 2. Mean calcium balance was positive in women taking calcium supplements alone, +1.9 +/- 2.5 mmol daily (P less than 0.002), and was significantly more positive (P less than 0.05) in women also taking oestrogens, +4.2 +/- 2.1 mmol daily. Calcium balance was not significantly positive in men. 3. Calcium balance correlated negatively with duration of supplementation, but significantly, only when duration of supplementation was expressed logarithmically (r = -0.401, P less than 0.01) giving the regression equation y = 4.2-1.6 log x, where y = calcium balance in mol/day and x = duration of supplementation in weeks. Theoretical net calcium retention, without allowance for dermal loss, could be calculated by integration. 4. Mean phosphorus balance was significantly positive in both groups of women and in the whole population. Although its correlation with duration of supplementation did not reach statistical significance (P less than 0.1), the ratio of the regression slopes for calcium and phosphorus, 1.5:1, corresponded to their molar ratio in bone. 5. These statistics are, we believe, the first to describe an exponential decline in calcium balance during mineral treatment of osteoporosis, but they firmly suggest that such treatment, with or without oestrogen therapy, conveys temporary benefit.

Aged

Blood and urine analysis in patients with intestinal bladders.

A group of 183 patients whose urine was stored in pouches formed either wholly or partly from bowel was reviewed to establish abnormal biochemical and haematological factors and to assess the risk of infection. Minimum follow-up was 1 year (range 1-28.5, mean 3 years 8 months) and the mean age of the patients at follow-up was 16.5 years (range 4-43). Pouches were augmentation and substitution cystoplasties and complete reconstructions with bowel. Bowel segments were ileum (55 patients), colon (100) and mixed (28). Anaemia was found in 15 patients, folate deficiency in 2 and folate excess in 2. Definite hyperchloraemic acidosis was found in 25 patients and borderline results in 40. Most of these patients had colon in the pouch but 5 definite and 13 borderline cases had ileum only. Troublesome urinary infections occurred in 27.9% of patients; 3 developed renal stones and 22 developed pouch/bladder stones. Stones were usually associated with infection and/or staples. Delayed linear growth occurred in 20% of children in spite of a normal increase in weight; there was no difference in any of the measurements between those who grew and those who did not.

Adolescent

Urinary oxalate and glycolate excretion and plasma oxalate concentration.

The diagnosis of primary hyperoxaluria in young children is hampered by the lack of a reliable reference range for urinary oxalate excretion, especially in infants. We present data on urinary oxalate and glycolate excretion in 137 normal children, on the plasma oxalate concentration in 33 normal children and 53 with chronic renal failure, and on amniotic fluid oxalate concentration in 63 uncomplicated pregnancies. The urinary oxalate:creatinine molar ratios were log normally distributed: mean (range) values were less than 1 year 0.061 (0.015-0.26), 1-5 years 0.036 (0.011-0.12), 5-12 years 0.030 (0.0059-0.15), and greater than 12 years 0.013 (0.0021-0.083). Geometric mean (range) plasma oxalate concentration in the normal children was 1.53 (0.78-3.02) mumols/l and was independent of age. The mean (SD) plasma oxalate: creatinine molar ratio in these normal children and 50 with chronic renal failure was 0.033 (0.013), and was independent of age and renal function. Mean (SD) amniotic fluid oxalate concentration was 19.0 (4.3) mumols/l.

Adolescent

Metabolism of pyridoxine in mild metabolic hyperoxaluria and primary hyperoxaluria (type 1).

Plasma pyridoxine metabolites in plasma and 4-pyridoxic acid excretions in urine were measured in normal subjects, in 7 patients with type-1 hyperoxaluria and in 8 patients with mild metabolic hyperoxaluria, while receiving various doses of pyridoxine. Compliance with ingestion of pyridoxine was verified by measuring urinary 4-pyridoxic acid. In the normal subjects the maximum level of pyridoxal phosphate was obtained after only 10 mg/day of pyridoxine. The patients were divided into nonresponders, good responders and poor responders to pyridoxine according to the fall in urinary oxalate and glycollate excretions. In patients taking pyridoxine, the plasma pyridoxal phosphate levels were as for normal subjects in primary hyperoxaluria, lower than for normal subjects in mild metabolic hyperoxaluria (p less than 0.01), and in the latter group lower in partial responders than in good responders (p = 0.04). Hence in mild metabolic hyperoxaluria there may be difficulty in converting pyridoxine to pyridoxal phosphate.

Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid

Plasma oxalate and creatinine and oxalate/creatinine clearance ratios in normal subjects and in primary hyperoxaluria. Evidence for renal hyperoxaluria.

Plasma oxalate and creatinine were measured repeatedly in healthy individuals and in 12 patients with type 1 primary hyperoxaluria unresponsive to pyridoxine. The mean ratios were 0.025 (SD 0.006) and 0.120 (SD 0.048), respectively. One patient repeatedly had normal plasma oxalate despite markedly raised urinary oxalate and it seems unlikely that this excess oxalate could have come from the liver. Oxalate/creatinine clearance ratios in the normal group had an overall mean of 0.59 (SD 0.27) in 24 h urine collections and 0.741 (SD 0.297) in repeated short clearance periods. Both renal tubular absorption and secretion of oxalate apparently occurred on different days, but this did not depend upon urinary flow rate. Oxalate/creatinine clearance ratios in type 1 primary hyperoxaluria had a mean of 2.88 (SD 3.11). The raised oxalate/creatinine clearance ratios in the patients were not correlated with either plasma oxalate or creatinine. A few patients showed much higher clearance ratios and in some were sufficiently high to indicate that oxalate was generated and secreted in the kidneys.

Creatinine

Effects of oral pyridoxine upon plasma and 24-hour urinary oxalate levels in normal subjects and stone formers with idiopathic hypercalciuria.

The effect of pyridoxine hydrochloride, 200 mg/day (0.97 mmol/day) for 3 weeks, upon plasma and urinary oxalate has been determined in ten normal subjects and seven patients with idiopathic hypercalciuria while both groups were on low-oxalate diets. Patients had higher basal urinary oxalate levels than normal subjects. In normal subjects pyridoxine administration decreased plasma oxalate levels and raised urinary oxalate. The patients showed no change in either plasma or urinary oxalate.

Calcium

Excessive urinary oxalate excretion after combined renal and hepatic transplantation for correction of hyperoxaluria type 1.

A 4.5-year-old boy received a combined liver and kidney transplant for correction of hyperoxaluria type 1. Both organs were from the same donor and functioned primarily. Three months after transplantation, urine oxalate excretion reached a maximum of 10,500 mumol/24 h and remained above 2300 mumol/24 h for the next 2 months. Two months later, oxalate excretion decreased to about 565 mumol/24 h, indicating exhaustion of a large oxalate pool. Six months after transplantation plasma oxalate is near normal (4.9 mumol/l). With the exception of one episode of acute rejection of the renal transplant, both organs were tolerated well and continue to have a unimpaired function 9 months after transplantation. However, there is increased echogenity on renal ultrasound, indicating oxalate deposits in the grafted kidney. This case illustrates that successful combined transplantation of both liver and kidney can be performed in infants, resulting in cure of the metabolic defect. The prolonged or acute excretion of oxalate may lead to oxalate deposition in the grafted kidney without impaired graft function or early graft loss.

Child, Preschool

Liquid chromatographic studies of vitamin B6 metabolism in man.

The effects of increased intake of pyridoxine hydrochloride on plasma vitamin B6 metabolism within therapeutic limits (up to 800 mg/day) were investigated. Maximum plasma concentrations of pyridoxal phosphate were attained at relatively low intakes of pyridoxine hydrochloride. Two metabolism thought to be unidentified forms of vitamin B6 were present in subjects taking more than 200 mg of pyridoxine hydrochloride per day as have recently been described. We investigated the possibility that these were isomeric forms of vitamin B6. However, 'Peak 2' metabolite was shown to be probably 4-pyridoxolactone. The metabolism of isopyridoxal has not previously been investigated in man. We demonstrated that it is an active vitamer of the B6 complex in humans. The main fluorescent metabolite of isopyridoxal present in plasma and urine had a similar retention time to 'Peak 1' metabolite. Isopyridoxal was incapable of being directly phosphorylated in rat liver extract and it is therefore unlikely that peak 1 is isopyridoxal phosphate. Its nature remains unknown.

Animals

Fluoride therapy and parathyroid hormone activity in osteoporosis.

1. To determine the relationships between parathyroid hormone activity and long-term sodium fluoride therapy in osteoporosis, cytochemical bioassays (for biologically active parathyroid hormone) were performed in 22 osteoporotic control patients and in 18 patients after 15 +/- 10 months of treatment (60 mg of sodium fluoride daily). Ten patients were studied longitudinally by repeated metabolic balances and were therefore common to both groups. All patients were receiving mineral supplements. 2. Cross-sectional data showed a fourfold mean increase in biologically active parathyroid hormone on fluoride treatment (P less than 0.005) together with a 51% increase in serum alkaline phosphatase (P less than 0.005). Longitudinal data showed, in addition, a significant increase in the calcium balance of 2.4 +/- 1.2 (SEM) mmol daily (P less than 0.05) and the development of a positive phosphorus balance (P less than 0.02). 3. Fluoride-treated patients were then analysed in two groups according to the level of biologically active parathyroid hormone. Thirty-two per cent of values were above the upper limit of normal (18 pg/ml). The mean serum alkaline phosphatase level in this group showed no elevation above that of the control patients, the overall rise being accounted for entirely by patients with normal levels of biologically active parathyroid hormone. High levels of biologically active parathyroid hormone were also associated with relative hypophosphataemia (P less than 0.01), relative hypercalciuria (P less than 0.05) and an increased urine/faecal calcium ratio (P less than 0.025). 4. Results show that long-term fluoride and calcium therapy increase biologically active parathyroid hormone in osteoporosis and that excessive parathyroid hormone activity may account for certain features of the refractory state.

Adult

Experience with a transfusion recipient education program about hepatitis C.

Shortly after test kits for antibodies to the hepatitis C virus (HCV) were licensed in May of 1990, our medical community undertook a public education program encouraging previous transfusion recipients to see their physicians about the wisdom of being tested for anti-HCV. In response, 1034 samples were received for testing. All samples repeatably reactive (RR) with anti-HCV enzyme-linked immunoassay (EIA) were tested further with a research recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA). Overall, 76 of the 1034 (7.4%) recipient samples were RR and 64 of these (84.2%) were reactive with RIBA. Recipients transfused prior to surrogate testing (alanine aminotransferase [ALT] and anti-hepatitis B core [anti-HBc]) in 1986 showed a 8.6 percent reactivity with RIBA and those transfused after surrogate testing showed a 4.8 percent reactivity, a 44 percent reduction. Of the 57 recipient samples reactive with RIBA and suitable for assay, 11 (19.3%) had an elevated ALT. Among 76 randomly selected blood donors with RR EIAs studied for comparison with recipients, 20 (26.3%) were reactive with RIBA, 9 of which had an abnormal surrogate test that would have disqualified them. ALT concentrations were abnormal in 6 (30%) of the donors who were reactive on RIBA. We conclude that an education program that encourages previous transfusion recipients to seek medical advice about anti-HCV testing is practical from the standpoint of the blood center. We believe more widespread implementation of similar programs should be considered.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Antibodies, Viral

Hyperoxaluria or hypercalciuria in nephrolithiasis: the importance of renal tubular functions.

The role of the kidney in states of hyperoxaluria and hypercalciuria was investigated in seven patients with hyperoxaluria after jejunoileal bypass (JIB) and six patients with idiopathic hypercalciuria (IHC). Eight apparently healthy persons formed a control group. Besides hyperoxaluria, the patients with JIB displayed an elevated plasma concentration of oxalate and the oxalate clearance was increased and higher than creatinine clearance, indicating a net tubular secretion of oxalate. The JIB patients had lower 24-h urinary excretions of calcium, phosphate, magnesium and citrate and higher serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) than controls, indicating increased secretion of PTH to compensate for calcium malabsorption. IHC patients exhibited increased fasting urinary calcium even though their serum values were similar to those in the controls. These results indicate a reduced tubular calcium reabsorption, which was most pronounced in patients with highest PTH values. We conclude that hyperoxaluria in JIB patients is associated both with intestinal hyperabsorption and with enhanced tubular secretion of oxalate, and that in some patients with IHC hypercalciuria is due to reduced tubular reabsorption of calcium.

Adult

Chronic dehydration stone disease.

A study was made of 819 patients attending a metabolic stone clinic. A firm diagnosis was made in 708 (86%) and in 132 of these (19%) the diagnosis was thought to be chronic dehydration. The records were available for study for 87 males and 11 females in the chronic dehydration group. The mean age at presentation was 43 years. The causes of chronic dehydration were hot climate (62%), with hot occupation and low water intake almost equal in second place. In patients with a single cause of chronic dehydration, 57% also had a dietary risk factor for urolithiasis and this was most commonly high oxalate intake. Following dietary advice, the mean urinary volume increased from 1720 to 2475 ml/24 h. This was accompanied by a rise in mean urinary calcium from 6.02 to 6.96 mmol/24 h, presumably due to the calcium in the additional water drunk. Urinary oxalate did not change significantly. The mean follow-up time was 4.85 years and the stone recurrence rate was low. It was concluded that chronic dehydration is a common cause of urolithiasis; this can be treated satisfactorily by increasing water intake plus dietary advice in certain cases.

Adult

Chemical measurement of calcium oxalate crystalluria: results in various causes of calcium urolithiasis.

Calcium oxalate and calcium phosphate crystalluria have been measured chemically in 1,173 urine samples whose chemical compositions were also analysed. The importance of urinary oxalate as a determinant for calcium oxalate crystalluria was confirmed. Significant concentrations of calcium oxalate crystals may be present in urine even though the crystals are too small for detection by light microscopy or by many particle-counting methods. Calcium phosphate crystals in urine always contain a small proportion of calcium oxalate. Results in various clinical situations are reviewed.

Calcium Oxalate

Salt and blood pressure in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

A 1978 survey of 4,565 people in Rio Grande do Sul obtained interview and blood pressure data as well as casual urine specimens for subsequent sodium and creatinine titrations. Data derived from this survey have demonstrated a variety of complex relationships between blood pressure and sodium, a number of which are examined here. The main conclusion is that observed blood pressure differentials could reflect the kidney's ability to handle sodium, an ability subject to the influences of age, heredity, and the environment. As a consequence, it is suggested that the adoption of salt restriction by populations could bring them large health benefits.

Adult