PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

I R Mackay

Publications and source records attributed to I R Mackay.

At least 397 records · Page 22Linked to original sources
PubMed1970

Australia antigen in chronic hepatitis in Australia.

Of 53 cases of active chronic liver disease two were found to be carriers of Australia antigen Au (1)-an elderly woman with typical lupoid hepatitis and an elderly mortuary attendant with serologically atypical active chronic hepatitis. Au (1) was detected also in the serum of 7 out of 20 patients with clinically atypical acute hepatitis-one was an elderly Italian woman, one had hepatitis in the puerperium, and five had a history of transfusion or inoculation. The antigen was not found in 20 typical cases of infectious hepatitis in young people in 86 patients with other diseases. Antibody to Au (1) was present in only 2 out of 102 patients who had received numerous transfusions.We conclude, firstly, that Au (1) antigen is rare in white Australians (in keeping with the low incidence of serum hepatitis in Australia), and, secondly, that Au (1) positivity in hepatitis patients is associated with transfusions and with older age. We suggest that active chronic hepatitis and lupoid hepatitis may follow infection of susceptible individuals with Au (1)-positive hepatitis virus, but persistence of the virus in high titre does not appear to be necessary for chronicity of the disease.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1970

Antibody-producing capacity in human cancer.

The antibody response to primary immunization with monomeric flagellin from Salmonella adelaide was studied in 61 patients with cancer and antibody-producing capacity was correlated with survival. In 27 patients suffering from "active" cancer, antibody-producing capacity was significantly depressed (P<0.05) as compared with sick but not cancerous controls; in 13 such patients who survived more than 6 months after immunization, antibody-producing capacity was moderately depressed, whereas in 14 who survived less than 6 months, the capacity was markedly depressed. In 34 patients with "cured" cancer, by surgery and/or radiotherapy, antibody-producing capacity was significantly greater than that of the "hospital" controls and patients with "active" cancer, but yet was significantly less than that of healthy subjects. Three explanations for the findings were considered: an immunodepressive effect of general debility, an immunodepressive effect specific to cancer and, on the other hand, the occurrence of cancer preferentially in individuals with an impaired capacity for antibody production. The present findings gained added relevance from recent evidence that a specific humoral immune response is evoked by antigens of certain types at least of human cancer.

Adult↗
PubMed1970

An interplay of genetic and environmental factors in familial hepatitis and myasthenia gravis.

A family is described in which there occurred two cases of the lupoid type of active chronic hepatitis with cirrhosis, one of chronic persistent hepatitis, and one of myasthenia gravis. The two cases of lupoid hepatitis were in the proposita, a schoolgirl aged 16 years, and her great-aunt aged 69 years whom she had never met. The case of myasthenia gravis was that of the father. The whole family, except the great-aunt, had been exposed to an epidemic of infectious hepatitis five years previously, and the girl and her brother had contracted this disease. The schoolgirl later developed active chronic hepatitis while her brother had chronic persistent hepatitis without immunological concomitants. APART FROM COINCIDENCE, SOME COMBINATION OF THREE PROCESSES WAS REQUIRED TO ACCOUNT FOR THE ILLNESSES IN THIS FAMILY: a genetic predisposition to chronic liver disease in particular, a genetic predisposition to autoimmune reactions in general, and a ;triggering' effect of infection with the hepatitis virus.

Adolescent↗