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Biomedical subjects

G R Kerr

Publications and source records attributed to G R Kerr.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Long-term survival of patients with breast cancer: a study of the curability of the disease.

A retrospective analysis was made of 3878 cases of breast carcinoma first seen in Edinburgh from 1954 to 1964. During this time there was a policy to treat breast cancer by simple mastectomy and x-ray therapy, and over 90% of cases classified as international stages I and II were so treated. The mortality in these women was compared with that in an equivalent normal population using Scottish national age-specific death rates. For every year of follow-up within 20 years of initial treatment there was an excess mortality from all causes. There was an overall excess mortality of 58% among patients with breast cancer 15-20 years after initial treatment, and 20 times more deaths occurred in this period from breast cancer than in a normal population. For patients disease-free after 15 years there was still a 28% excess mortality from all causes. Factors known to be of major prognostic significance for five-year survivorship had less influence than might have been expected when the ratio of observed to expected deaths was considered for longer periods of follow-up. The effect of clinical staging (I, II, or III), though initially marked, largely disappeared by the 10th year of follow-up, and after allowing for age there was no evidence beyond 10 years of an effect on survival of the original stage of the disease. Similarly, the effect of tumour size on survival disappeared after 10 years. Women who were premenopausal at presentation still had a significant excess of deaths in the fourth quinquennium of follow-up. In the menopausal and postmenopausal groups combined there was still a small non-significant excess of deaths from all causes after 15 years but this almost disappeared when patients who had already relapsed were excluded. In terms of overall mortality only patients who have undergone the menopause before presentation and who are disease-free 15 years after primary treatment may prove to be cured by conventional techniques such as simple mastectomy and postoperative radiotherapy.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Prevalence of the "Chinese restaurant syndrome".

A questionnaire survey attempted to define the prevalence of symptoms characteristic of the "Chinese restaurant syndrome" (CRS) in the general adult population. Forty-three per cent of 3,222 respondents associated unpleasant symptoms with specific foods and eating environments; however, only 1 to 2 per cent reported symptoms characteristic of the CRS, and only 0.19 per cent associated these characteristic symptoms with consumption of Chinese food. Most respondents who were "aware" of the syndrome and most of those who believed they had experienced it reported non-specific symptoms. If the word "syndrome" is to be used to describe symptoms attributed to specific food ingredients, the limits of the "syndrome" must be specified.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Objectivity of food-symptomatology surveys. Questionnaire on the "Chinese restaurant syndrome".

The Chinese restaurant syndrome consists of a characteristic symptom complex, with limited times of onset and duration after eating in a Chinese restaurant. There is widespread belief that the C.R.S. is due to monosodium glutamate used in preparing food in Chinese restaurants and that as many as 25 per cent of the general population may be susceptible to the syndrome. Questionnaires were developed to determine the unpleasant symptoms which 530 subjects associated with specific foods, eating places, and "ethnic" styles of preparing food. Over 90 per cent of respondents associated unpleasant symptoms with specific foods, but only 6.6 per cent experienced an event which would "possibly" represent the characteristic C.R.S. Nevertheless, when the phrase "Chinese restaurant syndrome" was introduced in a second questionnaire, 31 per cent of respondents believed that they were personally susceptible to it. Many people do experience unpleasant symptoms after eating, and particularly after eating food associated with a different culture. Although the responses to food symptomatology questionnaires represent an important aspect of the sociology of eating behavior, this procedure should not be considered an objective data collecting system.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

The curability of breast cancer.

The age-correlated survival rates for 982 women treated for localised breast cancer were analysed retrospectively. Analysis by size of the primary cancer showed that those with smaller cancers had a significantly higher survival rate and a significantly reduced probability of dying of cancer. Cured groups of patients were identified for all but those with the smallest tumours--2.0 cm in diameter or smaller. A long period of follow-up (to 25 years) is necessary to establish the presence of a large cured group in such cases.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1976

Carcinoma of the male breast: report of a series of 88 cases.

A series of 88 cases of male breast cancer was compared with 241 cases of female breast cancer randomly selected from Departmental records. Cases of male breast cancer differed significantly from control female cases with regard to stage of the disease, age of onset and liability to the development of a second carcinoma. In 11 of the 88 cases (12.5%) of male breast cancer another primary malignant tumour developed. In seven instances the large bowel or rectum was the site of the other carcinoma. When correction was made for age and for the stage of the disease the prognosis of breast cancer in men and women was found to be similar. Only minor histological differences were found between male and female cases. Two of 54 cases examined for X-chromatin proved to be Barr-positive.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Effects of a low-protein diet during pregnancy of the rhesus monkey I. Reproductive efficiency.

Pregnant rhesus monkeys were fed a control diet of modified cow's milk or an experimental diet containing only 25% as much as protein but made isocaloric with supplemental lactose. The ad libitum consumption of the control and experimental diets provided about 2 and 0.5 g of protein/kg of body weight per day, respectively. Total volume and energy consumption of control and experimental animals were generally comparable per kilogram of body weight, with groups showing a reduction in intake of about 20% during the latter part of pregnancy. Control females gained an average of 1.3 kg during pregnancy compared to 0.02 kg by the monkeys fed the low-protein diet. One of 15 infants born to control animals died shortly after birth; eight of 16 pregnancies in animals on the low-protein diet resulted in maternal and fetal death, stillbirth, or death in the newborn period. The birth weight of full term infants from mothers fed the low-protein diet was depressed by about 15%, and fetal linear growth was affected very little, but fetal and perinatal survival were low. We conclude that growth measurements of the newborn infants were relatively insensitive indices of the severity of the maternal nutritional deficiency and of the prognosis for the infant.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗
PubMed1976

Malnutrition studies in Macaca mulatta. V. Effect on biochemical and cytochemical composition of major organs.

The effects of control, dilute, and low-protein duets on organ development were evaluated in infant rhesus monkeys. Both experimental duets resulted in growth failure of the cerebral hemisphere, lung, liver, kidney, and muscle and, with few exceptions, in their total organ contents of water, protein, lipid, glycogen, DNA, and RNA. Calculation of the various ratios for biochemical indices per mg of DNA indicates that with the exception of increased glycogen:DNA ratios in lung of animals fed the dilute diet, increased lipid:DNA ratios in liver, and reduced glycogen:DNA ratios in muscle of animals fed the low-protein diet, all other biochemical profiles of the cellular populations of organs were comparable to control values. Accordingly, the small organ size and reduced organ content of the various biochemical indices of growth appear primarily due to the reduced cellular populations of these organs. The reduced cellular populations reflect failure of the normal miotic processes of infancy to occur, with or without loss of cells already present at the onset of the malnutrition phase. If no cell loss is involved, it is speculated that normal indices of organ growth may still be possible through the processes of "catch up" growth which accompany nutritional rehabilitation.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1975

Amino acid composition of the diet in a region of Southern Tunisia.

As part of a study of the effects of lysine supplementation of wheat products in Southern Tunisia one qualitative and four quantitative surveys of food consumption were carried out. The average diet provided 7.1 MJ (1,670 kcal), 42 g of protein and 1,280 mg of lysine per person per day. The overall dietary protein thus supplied only 31 mg of lysine/g of protein, or about 56% of the level recommended by the FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Protein Requirements. Addition of lysine to all wheat products to a final effective concentration of 0.2% would raise the dietary lysine level to 45 mg/g protein, or 82% of the FAO/WHO recommended level, at which time threonine would become limiting. Irrespective of whether the FAO/WHO pattern of 1973, breast milk, cow's milk, whole egg or a modification of the FAO pattern of 1957 was used to assess the quality of the protein in the diet, lysine was the first, and threonine the second limiting amino acid (except in comparison with breast milk, which showed tryptophan as the second limiting amino acid). In no case did there appear to be any problem with the sulfur-containing amino acids.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Malnutrition studies in Macaca mulatta. IV. Energy and protein consumption during growth failure and "catch-up" growth.

Infant rhesus monkeys were fed either a control, dilute or low protein diet from 1 to 7 months of age, and the control diet from age 7 to 12 months. All diets were fed ad libitum. Curves were fitted for energy and protein consumption and for growth in weight, length and head circumference. Both experimental groups developed increasing deficits of energy and protein consumption during the undernutrition experiment. With nutritional rehabilitation, the animals previously fed the dilute diet immediately increased their consumption of energy and protein to levels appropriate for age. Those previously fed the low protein diet showed an increased nutrient uptake, but one more appropriate for size peers. Reduced growth velocity occurred with both experimental diets. "Catch-up" growth, and growth velocity per unit diet energy and protein was most obvious for body weight, but recovery from growth deficits was most complete for growth in head circumference. Nutrient deficits accumulated by animals fed the dilute diet were not recovered during catch-up growth; catch-up growth occurred in animals previously fed the low protein diet even though cumulative nutrient deficits were increasing.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Growth and development of infant M. arctoides fed a standardized diet.

Infant Macaca arctoides were reared under standard conditions. Changes in body weight, body length, head circumference, hematologic status and serum proteins during the first year of life were defined in relation to the ad libitum consumption of a standardized milk diet, and compared to those derived from infant M. mulatta. Both sexes consumed a comparable volume of diet per kilogram body weight, but male M. arctoides infants were significantly larger than females in all body dimensions: this finding was not noted in infant M. mulatta. The body weight and head circumference of infant M. arctoides were greater and their body length was less than that of M. mulatta.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Growth and development of the fetal Rhesus monkey. VI. Morphometric analysis of the developing lung.

Groups of fetal monkeys were studied at 50, 75, 100, 125 and 150 days gestational age, and postnatal monkeys were studied at 175 days gestational age and in adult life (full term gestation is 168 plus or minus 4 days). The ratios between the various tissues of which lung is composed were determined by light and electronmicroscopy. Characteristic changes in ratios were noted at each developmental age. Primitive bronchioles increased from 50 to 75 days, decreased as permanent bronchioles, alveolar ducts and alveoli developed, and were absent after 150 days. Mesenchymal tissue decreased progressively from 50 to 150 days. Alveoli were present at 100 days gestational age; alveolar lumens accounted for approximately 1/2 the volume of peripheral lung by 150 days, and 2/3 the volume of lung in adult animals. By 150 days alveolar epithelial cells could be identified as Type I (membranous) or Type II (granular) on the basis of the characteristic cytoplasmic lamellar inclusion bodies of the latter. The ratios of the Type II/Type I cells were .21-.23 at 150 and 175 days, and fell to approximately half that value in adult lungs.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Nutritional correlates of child development in southern Tunisia. IV. The relation of deciduous dental eruption to somatic development.

Deciduous dental eruption in a group of 658 children below 3 years of age in Southern Tunisia was found to be correlated with the general somatic development. On the other hand, this association was less close than that among the different components of somatic growth, suggesting that dental eruption is less affected by the factors which delay somatic growth in that area. Attempts were made to obtain methods of estimating the ages of children using the number of erupted deciduous teeth, both by means of regression equations and by a table of the median age of children with different numbers of pairs of teeth. In both cases the estimates obtainable are not accurate enough to do more than divide the children into coarse age groups. It is concluded that in anthropometric work there is no substitute for accurately known chronological ages.

Age Determination by Teeth↗