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Biomedical subjects

P H Gibson

Publications and source records attributed to P H Gibson.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Bilateral, asymmetrical congenital dislocation of the radial heads in trisomy 8 syndrome.

Congenital radial head dislocation (CRHD) can occur as an isolated abnormality, as part of an upper-limb anomaly or as a feature of at least fourteen syndromes. The dislocation may be unilateral or bilateral, and rarely can be bilaterally asymmetrical. CRHD is often asymptomatic, and may go undiagnosed and remain undetected until after a radiography has been obtained for an incidental injury. It is therefore important to be able to differentiate congenital from traumatic dislocation of the radial head. We report a mentally retarded female, known to have trisomy 8, who presented with stiffness of her elbow joints and no history of preceding trauma. Radiographs confirmed bilateral asymmetrical radial head dislocation. This combination of anterior and posterior CRHD co-existing in the same patient has not been described previously with trisomy 8 syndrome.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1993

Acute calcification and carpal tunnel syndrome.

Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common diagnosis, and often there is no identifiable cause. We describe the case of a patient who developed acute symptoms secondary to calcification in the carpal tunnel. The patient was treated by decompression, and made a slow, but uneventful recovery.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1993

Clenbuterol, a beta-adrenoceptor agonist, increases relative muscle strength in orthopaedic patients.

1. The sympathomimetic agent clenbuterol has a muscle-specific anabolic effect in normal and wasted muscles from animals. This trial was designed to examine the effect of the drug on the recovery of muscle strength and area after open medial meniscectomy. 2. A double-blind, completely randomized, placebo-controlled study was carried out on 20 healthy male patients. Muscle strength and cross-sectional area were determined before and after surgery. Patients were treated with drug or placebo for 4 weeks postoperatively and there was a 2 week washout period. 3. The results suggest that, in the operated leg, clenbuterol treatment is associated with a more rapid rehabilitation of strength in knee extensor muscles; in the unoperated leg, knee extensor strength increased above the initial values after 6 weeks (P = 0.01). However, in terms of absolute strength the differences were not significant between the two groups. 4. It is concluded that the data lend support to the proposition that clenbuterol has therapeutic potential in the treatment of muscle-wasting conditions.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Transient synovitis of the hip joint.

A review of 286 children who presented with transient synovitis of the hip over a 6-year period shows that the condition remains a benign disease of the paediatric hip which settles quickly with simple symptomatic treatment. We have not found any obvious causal agent for the condition despite intensive laboratory investigation. There was only one subsequent case of Perthes' disease in association with transient synovitis, causing doubt on any relationship between the two conditions. The need for extensive investigation and long-term follow-up seems to be unnecessary in transient synovitis of the hip.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

An electron microscopic study of inclusion bodies in synaptic terminals of scrapie-infected animals.

Inclusion bodies consisting of vesicles of about 25 nm diameter and occurring in the synaptic terminals of scrapie-infected animals have been described by a number of people. In the present study these inclusion bodies were looked for in the neocortex, hippocampus and corpus callosum in a variety of strains of mice (C3H, LM, RIII, IM, VL) infected with different strains of scrapie agent (22C, 79A, ME7, 87V) after intracerebral inoculation. In plaque-bearing models of scrapie, terminals containing synaptic inclusion bodies were frequently found surrounding the amyloid plaque cores in the neocortex but not in the corpus callosum. In non-plaque-bearing models, terminals containing synaptic inclusion bodies were found in the neuropil of the neocortex and hippocampus. For all models, these bodies were either presynaptic or postsynaptic but were not, as a rule, found on both sides of the same synapse. Fibrillary material was frequently seen in the postsynaptic terminals containing the inclusion bodies in both the plaque- and non-plaque-bearing models. On one occasion fibrillary material was seen, together with the inclusion bodies, in a neuron cell body. Inclusion bodies were also seen in the neocortex of hamsters infected with the 263K strain of scrapie agent and a Cheviot sheep infected with the ME7 strain of agent. The inclusion bodies and the fibrillary material were thought to be derived from the breakdown of neurotubules.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Structural and biochemical evidence that scrapie-associated fibrils assemble in vivo.

Scrapie-associated fibrils (SAF) are a ubiquitous pathological feature of brains affected by scrapie and the other scrapie-like agents. They are composed of PrP, a heterogeneous glycoprotein which is also present in normal brain but not as SAF. The PrP protein associated with SAF is partially resistant to proteinase K, whereas the soluble form is not. It has been proposed that SAF do not exist as such in vivo, but rather self-assemble from subunit structures liberated from membranes by detergent extraction during purification. We have purified SAF by a method that does not employ proteinase K. We show that the PrP protein from infected but not uninfected brain is partially resistant to protease digestion before and after detergent extraction. Likewise, SAF can be sheared by sonication before or after detergent extraction. In addition, SAF from mice infected with different strains of scrapie have different sedimentation properties. Since SAF-dependent properties exist before detergent extraction, then so must SAF. They are therefore not a detergent-induced artefact but most probably assemble in vivo.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Solubility of neurofibrillary tangles and ultrastructure of paired helical filaments in sodium dodecylsulphate.

Temporal cortex from 14 cases of Alzheimer-type dementia and 6 cases of Down's syndrome, all selected for severe Alzheimer pathology, was homogenised in distilled water, NaOH, or sodium dodecylsulphate (SDS) containing 0.1% beta-mercaptoethanol. The homogenates were stained with Congo red, and the neurofibrillary tangles and plaque cores were counted under crossed-polarisation microscopy. The number of tangles and plaque cores in the water-treated extracts was not related to age, sex, post-mortem interval or duration of dementia. The number of tangles after extraction in SDS or NaOH, as a percentage of tangles in water-treated extracts, was 57 +/- 25 (mean +/- SD) for 1% SDS, 43 +/- 17 for 5% SDS and 37 +/- 22 for 0.2 M NaOH. Plaque cores were essentially insoluble in all three agents. The percentage of tangles insoluble in 1% SDS did not correlate with age or post-mortem interval but decreased with increasing duration of dementia. Enhanced tangle solubility with increasing duration of dementia suggests that the nature of tangles changes with time; one possibility is that this reflects transformation of intracellular to extracellular tangles. Paired helical filament (PHF) length and the number of repeats per PHF were measured in electron micrographs of PHF prepared with and without treatment by 1% SDS. There was no significant multimodality of PHF length to suggest that PHF broke at regular intervals. The mean repeat length (PHF length/number of repeats) was greater for PHF isolated in the presence of 1% SDS than in its absence, showing that SDS affects ultrastructure by untwisting PHF.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Aged↗
PubMed1988

Prevention of haematogenous infection in prosthetic joints.

A survey was conducted to identify the attitude of consultant orthopaedic surgeons and rheumatologists in Scotland, North East England and Ireland, to the prevention of blood-borne infection in prosthetic joints. Of the 61% who completed the questionnaire, 65% gave advice about intercurrent infection, a similar number gave advice about the use of prophylactic antibiotics before certain surgical procedures, with less than half of the patients receiving any written instructions about inter-current infection, and less than a quarter of the patients receiving any written instructions about antibiotic prophylaxis. 36% of the respondents were confused as to what to advise or ignored the problem. The reality of late infection is discussed and a policy to minimise the risk of late infection in prosthetic joints is presented for consideration.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
PubMed1987

Scrapie associated fibrils in the diagnosis of scrapie in sheep.

Previous research has consistently demonstrated by electron microscopy the presence of scrapie associated fibrils in brain extracts prepared from mice and hamsters with clinical signs of experimental scrapie. In the present study similar fibrils were seen in all the brain extracts prepared from 11 Cheviot or Suffolk sheep with natural or experimental scrapie that had been diagnosed clinically and confirmed neuropathologically. They were not found in the brain extracts of nine sheep that did not have scrapie and which included four that had been injected with infected material but did not develop the disease. The presence of such fibrils can therefore be used as an additional diagnostic criterion for natural scrapie in sheep.

Animals↗