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N O'Connell

Publications and source records attributed to N O'Connell.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Malignant lymphoma of the cervix. An unusual presentation and a rare disease.

Malignant lymphomas arising in the uterus are uncommon and are more commonly seen in the cervix than the corpus. Involvement of the cervix as part of a systemic lymphoma is more common than primary lymphoma, but the cervix as the site of presentation is unusual. We report two cases of malignant lymphoma of the cervix. The first patient, a 52-year-old woman, was referred to colposcopy following persistent low grade dyskaryosis on cervical cytology. At colposcopy a Lletz biopsy was performed and a diagnosis of CIN 1 and focal CIN 2 was made. In addition the subepithelial zone revealed a non-Hodgkin's (NHL) B-cell follicular lymphoma. The patient was subsequently staged as NHL Stage 3E. The second patient, a 35-year-old woman, was referred to the gynaecology department with a history of abnormal vaginal bleeding and two abnormal smears. Subsequent cervical biopsy revealed a high grade, large cell, malignant lymphoma, diffuse, B-cell. The patient was staged as Stage IE. Primary lymphoma of the uterine cervix as illustrated in the second case is very unusual. One case had negative cytology and one case had abnormal cells of uncertain origin. This highlights the difficulty of diagnosing cervical lymphoma, a rare but treatable malignancy, on cytology and suggests that cervical biopsy is needed for the confirmation of the diagnosis.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Bile acid conjugation in early stage cholestatic liver disease before and during treatment with ursodeoxycholic acid.

The efficiency of bile acid conjugation before and during therapy with 600 mg/day of ursodeoxycholic acid was measured in seven adult patients with early chronic cholestatic liver disease (6 with primary biliary cirrhosis; 1 with primary sclerosing cholangitis). Duodenal bile samples were obtained by aspiration and the proportion of unconjugated bile acids was determined using lipophilic anion exchange chromatography to separate bile acid classes, followed by analysis of individual bile acids by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The proportion of conjugated bile acids was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography. Use of a (99m)Tc-HIDA recovery marker permitted the absolute mass of unconjugated bile acids in the gallbladder to be calculated. Unconjugated bile acids comprised 0.4% of total biliary bile acids before and 0.2% during ursodeoxycholic acid therapy, indicating highly efficient conjugation of bile acids. During therapy, percentage unconjugated ursodeoxycholic acid significantly increased from (mean +/- S.D.) 13 +/- 13% to 54 +/- 12%; P < 0.002. When the unconjugated and conjugated fractions of bile acids were compared, there was an enrichment in unconjugated fraction for cholic acid and ursodeoxycholic acid and a depletion for chenodeoxycholic acid both in basal condition and during ursodeoxycholic acid therapy, suggesting that hydrophilic bile acids were conjugated less efficiently. During therapy, the conjugation efficiency significantly increased for cholic acid and ursodeoxycholic acid. The pretreatment mass of total unconjugated bile acids in the gallbladder was (mean +/- S.D.) 4.4 +/- 3.2 mumol, and was not significantly changed by ursodeoxycholic acid therapy (6.2 +/- 3.5 mumol). However, ursodeoxycholic acid therapy caused a significant increase in the mass of unconjugated ursodeoxycholic acid. It is concluded that endogenous bile acids and exogenous ursodeoxycholic acid when given at the usual dose are efficiently conjugated in patients with early cholestatic liver disease. Despite showing increased biliary unconjugated ursodeoxycholic acid during its oral administration, our data do not lend support to the occurrence of hypercholeresis due to cholehepatic shunting of bile acids.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Effect of ursodeoxycholic acid on hypertransaminasaemia and bile acid composition in patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation--a double-blind randomized control study.

A double-blind randomized placebo controlled trial of ursodeoxycholic acid was performed in 31 patients undergoing T-cell depleted allogeneic or autologous bone marrow transplantation to determine the effectiveness of this hydrophilic bile acid in improving the increase in serum liver enzymes that generally accompanies this procedure. Neither group showed any significant difference in magnitude of the increases in serum transaminases and gamma-glutamyltranspeptidase following the conditioning regimen that included chemotherapy and total body irradiation. In the 6 months after transplantation, serum enzymes decreased in both groups, but were consistently higher in the placebo treated patients, indicating that ursodeoxycholic enhances normalization of liver. Faecal bile acid showed that following chemotherapy and irradiation in which intestinal bacteria are ablated, secondary bile acid formation was practically abolished and faeces contained mainly cholic and chenodeoxycholic acids. During bile acid treatment, ursodeoxycholic acid accounted for 31.3 +/- 10.9% of faecal bile acids compared with 4.0 +/- 2.1% in the basal period. Serum and urinary ursodeoxycholic acid concentrations (mean +/- SD, 13.3 +/- 6.9 mumol/L and 2.65 +/- 0.84 mumol/L, respectively) were significantly higher in patients receiving bile acid than in thos on placebo (mean +/- SD, 0.15 +/- 0.12 mumol/L and 0.29 +/- 0.35 mumol/L, respectively) thus confirming compliance.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1994

Unconjugated faecal bile acids in familial adenomatous polyposis analysed by gas-liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry.

Previous studies have suggested reduced formation of secondary bile acids in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). Developments in the collection, extraction and analysis of faecal bile acids as well as in the accurate diagnosis of FAP by DNA markers prompted reinvestigation of this hypothesis. The median (interquartile range (i.q.r.)) faecal bile acid concentration (3.69 (1.66-5.36) mumol per g dry weight) and daily excretion rate (60.5 (29-149) mumol per g per 24 h) in ten patients with FAP were similar to those of nine control subjects (3.31 (0.65-8.38) mumol per g dry weight and 30.1 (7.9-228) mumol per g per 24 h). Although the median (i.q.r.) concentration of only one bile acid (12-oxo-lithocholic acid) was significantly different between patients with FAP and controls (49 (34-70) versus 0 (0-20) nmol per g dry weight, P = 0.006), the derivatives of chenodeoxycholic acid (3.35 (1.76-5.32) versus 0.51 (0.13-2.37) mumol per g dry weight, P = 0.02) and cholic acid (1.63 (0.42-2.34) versus 0.80 (0.13-3.57) mumol per g dry weight, P = 0.006) were increased in those with polyposis. These results show increased bacterial biotransformation of faecal bile acids in patients with FAP.

Adenomatous Polyposis Coli↗
PubMed1993

High mutation rate loci in a subdivided population.

Analytic and simulation studies were carried out in order to predict the average geographic area occupied by alleles in a continuously distributed population. The properties of three statistics were investigated: the sum of the squared distances between members of allelic classes, the sum of the root mean squared distances, and the sum of the squares of the numbers of alleles. The expectations of these quantities can be obtained analytically from both stepping-stone and branching diffusion models. The predictions of these two models are similar for wide ranges of parameter values and are consistent with the simulation results from a stepping-stone model. These results suggest that measures of the geographic distribution of alleles can be useful for estimating average dispersal distances at loci, such as minisatellite and microsatellite loci, at which mutation rates are high enough that they can be estimated with confidence.

Alleles↗
PubMed1993

Analysis of faecal neutral sterols in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Previous studies have suggested that patients with familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) have increased faecal excretion of cholesterol but a reduction in cholesterol metabolites. It was consequently proposed that the degree of faecal cholesterol degradation could be used as a means of diagnosis. Developments in the extraction and analysis of faecal neutral sterols as well as the accurate means of diagnosing FAP by DNA analysis and indirect ophthalmoscopy has necessitated a re-examination of this proposal. Faecal neutral sterols were analysed in 10 patients with untreated FAP following a complete 5-day stool collection and compared with 9 healthy control subjects (including 4 siblings) closely matched for age and sex. The median [25 and 75, percentiles] stool wet weights were similar between the FAP (97.5 [69, 192] g.24 h-1) and the control (116 [61.5, 137] g.24 h-1) groups. Faecal cholesterol concentration was similar in the two groups (FAP = 2.3 [1.4, 4.2]; control = 3.5 [1.0, 6.0] mumol.g-1 dry wt) as was the concentration of total neutral sterols not including plant sterols (FAP = 17.2 [13.4, 21.0]; control = 18.2 [7.4, 21.6] mumol.g-1 dry wt). There were no significant differences in the proportions of cholesterol metabolised between the FAP (82.3 [74.2, 93.5]%) and control (72.1 [5.7, 81.3]%) groups. This study does not support the notion that faecal neutral sterol metabolism is uniquely different in patients with FAP.

Adenomatous Polyposis Coli↗
PubMed1986

Comparison of a within-day solid-phase immunoradiometric assay with a solution-phase radioimmunoassay for the measurement of alpha-fetoprotein in amniotic fluid.

Using 231 amniotic fluid samples from a Regional Screening Service, the performance of a monoclonal antibody-based solid-phase immunoradiometric assay (IRMA) for alpha-fetoprotein was compared with that of a polyclonal antiserum-based solution phase radioimmunoassay (RIA). alpha-Fetoprotein values determined from these samples by the two methods were in excellent agreement (r = 0.992) and the diagnostic performance of the two assays was identical. However, the IRMA assay displayed a greater working range than the RIA, and in addition was more rapid to perform, allowing within-day turnaround of laboratory results.

Amniotic Fluid↗
PubMed1976

Successful treatment of a malignant gastrinoma with streptozotocin.

The treatment with streptozotocin of a patient with metastatic gastrinoma is described. Two courses of intravenous streptozotocin were without effect. However, three months after two doses of 4 g streptozotocin were given into the coeliac axis, there was a marked reduction in hepatic size and a fall in fasting plasma gastrin levels from 1430 pmol/l to 240 pmol/l. Seven months after treatment fasting plasma gastrin levels were 125 pmol/l.

Adenoma, Islet Cell↗