PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

R G Thomson

Publications and source records attributed to R G Thomson.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Eight years' experience of clinical activity in an outpatient fracture clinic.

Major changes to the method of planning and provision of health care in Britain have led to the introduction of contracts as the main means through which services are procured. Never before has the need for accurate and comprehensive clinical information been greater. Yet comprehensive outpatient information, though planned, is not yet available, and there is relatively little experience of such systems which have been introduced in individual localities. Fracture clinic patients are an important group of outpatient, not least because interventions are often undertaken as an integral part of the outpatient episode. This is relevant for estimating resource use and for pricing, but until now has been 'hidden' work as far as conventional information systems are concerned. This study describes the establishment and manifestation of a clinical information system based on a fracture clinic serving the majority of a population of 850,000. Information was gathered over 8 years on 61,635 patients, who had 72,984 diagnoses and received 93,878 treatments. An information system of the type described in this study can be of great value as part of the contracting process (for both purchasers and providers of orthopaedic services), as a basis for clinical audit and research, and to facilitate undergraduate and postgraduate teaching.

Adolescent

Severe hepatocellular dysfunction following cyproterone acetate therapy.

Cyproterone acetate (CPA) is a widely used drug in the treatment of advanced prostatic carcinoma. Although it is generally well tolerated, liver toxicity has been recognised as a complication of long-term use. We report 3 patients with severe hepatocellular damage due to CPA therapy, 2 with fatal fulminant hepatitis.

Aged

Incidence of fractures in a geographically defined population.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The aim was to describe the population based age and sex specific incidence of fractures at different sites in a large English health district. DESIGN: Recording of fractures was accomplished by a specially constructed outpatient index and by record linkage to hospital inpatient information, for the three years surrounding the 1981 census. SETTING: The fracture index was held by the Department of Community Health in Leicester using data from the fracture clinic at the central large district general hospital, supplemented by hospital inpatient data from Trent Region and the two adjoining regions. PARTICIPANTS: The denominator population was the Leicestershire Health Authority resident population. In the three years, 12,711 fractures amongst males and 10,565 amongst females were recorded. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The overall estimated annual incidence of fractures was 100 per 10,000 population for males and 81 per 10,000 population for females. Below the age of 55 years all fractures showed a higher incidence amongst males but amongst the over 55s, there was a consistent fall in the male:female incidence ratio with some sites showing a striking female preponderance. The results also show an apparent age specific temporal increase in incidence at certain fracture sites compared with earlier British data, but fracture incidence figures still suggest lower rates in this country than in North America and some Scandinavian countries. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide population based incidence data on a major public health problem and are consistent with the major determinants of osteoporosis and increase in falls in postmenopausal women. The temporal and geographical variation in fracture incidence remain to be explained.

Age Factors

The acute and subchronic effects of ketoconazole on hepatic microsomal monooxygenases in the rat.

Female adult Wistar rats were treated with single or repeated doses of ketoconazole ranging from 10 mg/kg to 100 mg/kg. Single dose treatment produced inhibition of hepatic microsomal ethoxyresorufin O-deethylation (EROD) and aldrin epoxidation (AE) 2 hr after oral dosing. Twenty-four hours after a single dose, inhibition was still demonstrable after the low dose of 10 mg/kg, but at higher doses increased microsomal activity was apparent. After 7 days repeated dosing liver weight and microsomal protein content were increased in a dose-dependent fashion. EROD and AE were induced at all doses after repeated treatment when the increase in liver size was considered. These effects were seen at doses within the antimycotic therapeutic range and add support to the suggestion that reported drug interactions with ketoconazole in man are due to the effects of this drug on hepatic microsomal activity.

Animals

Seventh-nerve palsy and hepatitis associated with nitrofurantoin.

Adverse hepatic reactions to nitrofurantoin therapy are well reported and range from acute cholestatic or hepatitic injury to chronic active hepatitis [R G. Penn & J.P. Griffin (1982) Br. Med. J., 284, 1440-1442]. Neurological side-effects, predominantly sensorimotor peripheral polyneuropathy, have also been documented [R.G. Penn & J.P. Griffin (1982)]. We report the first case of combined neurological and hepatic reaction to nitrofurantoin; this occurred during repeated treatment with the drug.

Adult

Cellular inflammatory response in the lungs of calves exposed to bovine viral diarrhea virus, Mycoplasma bovis, and Pasteurella haemolytica.

Three, 5, or 7 days after inoculation with bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) virus (n = 12) or Mycoplasma bovis (n = 12), groups of calves were exposed to aerosols of Pasteurella haemolytica and were euthanatized 4 hours later. Histologic lesions in the lungs and the ratios of neutrophils to alveolar macrophages, collected by bronchoalveolar lavage, were compared with those of clinically healthy calves (n = 8) and calves inoculated with BVD virus only (n = 4), M bovis only (n = 4), or P haemolytica only (n = 2). Inoculation with BVD virus or M bovis did not have a significant (P greater than 0.05) effect on the neutrophil/macrophage ratio in the bronchoalveolar lavage. Aerosol exposure to P haemolytica induced a marked and significant (P less than 0.01) change in the neutrophil/macrophage ratio (from less than 1:9 to greater than 9:1). The reversed neutrophil/macrophage ratio in calves exposed to P haemolytica correlated well with the histologic changes in which small bronchi and bronchioles were plugged with purulent exudate. Inoculation with BVD virus did not induce gross or microscopic lesions in the lungs. Inoculation with M bovis resulted in a severe peribronchial lymphoid hyperplasia with mild exudation of neutrophils and macrophages into the cranioventral parts of the lungs.

Animals

Effects of prolonged cyanide and thiocyanate feeding in rats.

Male weaning rats were fed a semipurified diet containing 10% casein; this diet restricted in methionine, vitamin B12, and iodine; or the complete and restricted diets supplemented with either 1500 ppm potassium cyanide or 2240 ppm potassium thiocyanate for 11.5 mo. There were no deaths or clinical signs of toxicity. Cyanide, but not thiocyanate, caused a consistent reduction in weight gain in the complete and restricted groups. Both cyanide and thiocyanate caused decreased thyroid gland activity in young rats, particularly in the restricted groups. Plasma thyroxine concentrations were maintained in the mature cyanide-treated rats, even though secretion rates were decreased. However, the mature thiocyanate-treated animals showed decreased plasma thyroxine concentrations, despite thyroid gland enlargement. Modest primary myelin degeneration in the spinal cord white matter was found in the restricted group and in rats receiving this diet supplemented with either cyanide or thiocyanate. The lesions did not resemble those of a vitamin B12 deficiency in appearance or those of acute cyanide intoxication in distribution. Because of tissue autolysis, it could not be determined whether these changes resulted from histotoxic anoxia or an alteration of oligodendroglial myelin metabolism.

Animals

Pathological studies of "Sudden death syndrome" in broiler chickens.

Sudden death syndrome usually occurs in heavy, fast-growing and healthy-looking broilers. Most of the affected birds are males. The characteristic necropsy changes are seen in well-fleshed broilers with edema and generalized pulmonary congestion, recently ingested feed in the crop and gizzard, distended intestine with creamy content and empty gall bladder. The liver and kidneys are slightly enlarged and the latter have patchy areas of subcapsular hemorrhage. The heart contains clotted blood in the atria but the ventricles are often empty and the left ventricle in particular assumes a hypertrophied appearance. Microscopic examination of heart muscle reveals degeneration of fibers, separation of cardiac muscle fibers by edema and infiltration of heterophils. The lungs have severe vascular congestion, inflammatory cell infiltration in the mucosa of the secondary bronchi and edema fluid in the tertiary bronchi and interlobular connective tissue. The liver has moderate bile duct hyperplasia, periportal hepatitis and mononuclear cell infiltration adjacent to bile ducts which possibly leads to bile duct constriction. The kidneys have subcapsular and parenchymatous hemorrhage.

Animals

Studies on effect of lighting on "Sudden death syndrome" in broiler chickens.

Broiler chicken flocks were studied to determine the mortality from sudden death syndrome occurring in the flocks. The difference in the incidence of the syndrome in pullets and cockerels, and the age at which the most birds are affected were also studied. The weight of sudden death syndrome birds was compared with the flock average and the effect of continuous lighting as opposed to intermittent lighting was examined. The results suggest that; continuous lighting produces more sudden death syndrome deaths than intermittent lighting; that the incidence of sudden death syndrome is higher in cockerels than pullets; that the highest death rate occurred during the third and fourth weeks of life, and that sudden death syndrome birds on the average were heavier than the flock average.

Animals

Atypical interstitial pneumonia in cattle.

Atypical interstitial pneumonia is described as two clinical syndromes in young cattle. One syndrome occurs in animals which have clinical evidence of pneumonic pasteurellosis, responds initially to treatment for one to two days and then develops acute signs of atypical interstitial pneumonia. The second syndrome involves acute respiratory distress in young calves due to atypical interstitial pneumonia with antecedents of enzootic pneumonia. The postmortem lesions are described along with discussion of the possible pathogenesis of the condition and treatment.

Animals

Subchronic toxicity test for two thermotolerant filamentous fungi used for single cell protein production.

Safety evaluations of two thermotolerant filamentous fungi, Cephalosporium eichhorniae 152 (C. 152) and Rhizopus chinensis 180 (R. 180), grown on a sugar-salts medium were carried out through feeding the biomases to rats at 20% or 40% dietary levels for 90 days. There was a control group fed soybean meal. Weight gain and feed consumption for rats fed 20% C. 152 were equal to those for the control animals, but were depressed in the other three groups, especially the rats fed R. 180. All animals appeared normal and healthy except that transient alopecia was found for a short duration in the fungi-treated rats in the initial period. The cause of this lesion is not clear. At the end of the feeding trial, clinical determinations of constituents in blood and urine samples were conducted. The animals were autopsied and weights for four organs were taken. Histopathological examinations for 26 different tissues were carried out. Mild changes were found in both C. 152 and R. 180-treated rats but most of the these were not considered to be related to treatment.

Acremonium

Serological types of Pasteurella haemolytica in Kenya.

The 12 known serotypes of P. haemolytica and two biotypes A and T were found to occur in Kenya. Biotype T was more common in disease conditions than biotype A, which was more common in the nasal passages of healthy animals. Only biotypes A strains were recovered from cattle and the majority were serotypes 1 and 2, but serotypes 4 and 11 were also isolated. All serotypes were found to occur in sheep and goats, but serotypes 3, 4, 6, 8 and 10 were more commonly associated with pneumonia. It was observed that chickens could harbour both biotypes A and T in pathological conditions. Biotype A serotype 2 was isolated from an adult wildebeest, but the prevalence of P. haemolytica in wild animals needs furter investigation.

Animals