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Biomedical subjects

N Dewhurst

Publications and source records attributed to N Dewhurst.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

Multi-resistance isolates possessing characteristics of both Burkholderia (Pseudomonas) cepacia and Burkholderia gladioli from patients with cystic fibrosis.

Multi-resistant strains from three UK centres, previously identified as Burkholderia (formerly Pseudomonas) cepacia, and associated with morbidity, mortality and transmission among patients with cystic fibrosis have been further characterised. Biochemical tests and fatty acid analyses indicate these strains to possess some characteristics atypical of B. cepacia but bearing close resemblance to Burkholderia gladioli, an organism previously regarded solely as a plant pathogen and a hindrance to the identification of B. cepacia. In contrast to the majority of reference strains, all multi-resistant clinical isolates possessed rough lipopolysaccharide which may be a major factor responsible for their increased antibiotic resistance and virulence. In view of the potential clinical and social problems in CF patients posed by these multi-resistant strains, it would seem prudent to consider the isolation of either B. cepacia or B. gladioli as of equal significance.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

Weight loss in primary biliary cirrhosis.

Duodenal bile salt concentrations were measured throughout one day in six patients with primary biliary cirrhosis while they were eating a normal ward diet. Five of them had lost weight; none had ascites. Each patient had a radiologically normal small bowel and a normal jejunal biopsy. No clear relationship between high faecal fat excretion and abnormally low duodenal bile salt concentration was found. Xylose absorption was abnormal in five patients. If weight loss in primary biliary cirrhosis is due to malabsorption, factors other than a reduced small intestinal bile salt concentration must be important.

Aged↗

Sea blue histiocytosis in a patient with chronic non-neuropathic Niemann-Pick disease.

A patient with Niemann-Pick disease is reported together with family studies. Her liver and bone marrow were shown to be infiltrated with sea blue histiocytes. Other organs, spleen and lung, were presumably also involved but histological proof was not obtained. Enzyme assay of leucocytes, lymphocytes, and cultured skin fibroblasts showed the patient to be deficient in sphingomyelinase activity. In fibroblasts, activity was 5% of normal while for the parents activity was about 50% of normal. The expected partial deficiency was not found using leucocytes or lymphocytes from the parents. Heat stability studies on fresh fibroblast extracts from the propositus indicated that residual sphingomyelinase activity was slightly more labile than that of the controls. It seems clear that chronic Niemann-Pick disease without neurological involvement is associated with sea blue histiocytosis.

Bone Marrow↗