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Biomedical subjects

R Markham

Publications and source records attributed to R Markham.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

Efficacy of mefenamic acid in patients with a complaint of menorrhagia.

Sixty-nine patients with a convincing history of menorrhagia completed a 4-cycle double-blind randomized placebo-controlled crossover trial of mefenamic acid taken during menstruation. Only 30 of these patients demonstrated objective menorrhagia with a measured menstrual loss greater than 80 ml during the placebo cycles, but the remainder reported passing clots and/or using 2 pads at a time. Fourteen of these women (20%) had a loss of less than 35 ml while taking placebos. This raises serious questions about the establishment of menorrhagia based on history alone. Overall, there was a mean reduction of 28.1% in menstrual blood loss between placebo and mefenamic acid cycles (P less than .001). The greatest reduction recorded was 80%, and most of the large percentage reductions were seen in patients with high loss during placebo cycles. Significant reductions in blood loss (P less than .001) were seen in patients with ovulatory dysfunctional uterine bleeding and menorrhagia that developed after tubal interruption. There was also an indication based on small sample sizes that mefenamic acid reduced blood loss in women with anovulatory dysfunctional uterine bleeding, fibroids, intrauterine devices, and von Willebrand disease. No reduction was seen during the mefenamic acid cycle in the group with a loss of less than 35 ml during the placebo cycle. There was a significant shortening of duration of bleeding (P less than .003). Fifteen patients (21.7%) experienced no objective reduction in blood loss.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Plasma prostaglandin F metabolite concentrations following cervical encerclage.

Peripheral plasma concentrations of 13, 14-dihydro-15-keto prostaglandin F2 alpha (PGFM) were measured in seven women having elective cervical encerclage in an otherwise normal pregnancy. Three of seven patients had a statistically significant elevation of PGFM levels at 60 minutes after commencement of surgery. On the basis that the majority of patients had no significant rise and that there was no objective evidence of uterine contractions post-operatively, the routine administration of prostaglandin inhibitory agents to patients having cervical encerclage cannot be recommended.

Cervix Uteri↗
PubMed1978

Oral vancomycin for antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis.

Nine patients with antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis were treated with oral vancomycin. All had severe diarrhoea, tissue-culture evidence of a clostridial toxin in stool, and typical lesions on sigmoidoscopic examination, despite discontinuation of all antimicrobials for periods of 10 days to 8 weeks. Oral vancomycin was given in doses of 2 g daily. All patients showed a good clinical response with gradual resolution of diarrhoea over 7 days and a rapid decrease in concentrations of the toxin in stools. Follow-up sigmoidoscopies in seven patients showed major improvement or complete clearing of lesions after 7-10 days of vancomycin treatment. The mean concentration of vancomycin in twenty-five stools obtained during treatment was 3100 microgram/g, levels in serum being very low. These results suggest a role for oral vancomycin treatment of antibiotic-associated pseudomembranous colitis which persists for extended periods despite discontinuation of the incriminated antimicrobial.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1978

Plasma prolactin levels and ovarian responsiveness to exogenous gonadotropins.

Standard gonadotropin stimulation tests of ovarian function and basal plasma prolactin measurements have been carried out in 151 patients with amenorrhea or severe oligomenorrhea. In 90 of these a standardized multiple pituitary stimulation test, including the prolactin response to thyrotropin releasing hormone, was also performed. There was a tendency for the basal estrogen excretion and the ovarian response to gonadotropin to be lower in patients with hyperprolactinemia. These correlations were weak and did not reach the levels of statistical significance except when compareing the ovariance response in patients with mild hyperprolactinemia to those with moderate or severe hyperprolactinemia. It is concluded that, in women, elevated plasma prolactin levels have little, if any, direct inhibitory influence on the ovariance response to gonadotropins in vivo.

Female↗
PubMed1976

Electron microscopy of tobacco mosaic virus prepared with the aid of negative staining-carbon film techniques.

The negative staining-carbon technique has been applied to suspensions of freshly prepared type strain tobacco mosaic virus particles in high concentrations. Electron microscope images show that paracrystalline arrays of the virus were formed, in which large areas of rods could be viewed along their long axes and in parallel arrays in horizontal positions. High-resolution micrographs showed the protein structure units in rods photographed in both vertical and horizontal orientations.

Crystallography↗
PubMed1976

Double-stranded DNA-binding capacity of serum in acute and chronic liver disease.

Serum antibodies to double-stranded 'native' DNA have been measured in acute and chronic liver diseases using the Farr technique. Elevated levels of DNA binding were found in all groups of patients, with the highest levels in acute viral hepatitis and lowest in primary biliary cirrhosis. All patients with hepatitis B surface antigen-positive chronic active hepatitis had elevated levels, hence persistent elevation of DNA binding after acute type B hepatitis might be an unfavourable prognostic marker indicating progression to chronic active hepatitis, DNA antibody levels will not offer diagnostic help in liver diseases, or help to follow the response of patients with 'lupoid' hepatitis to corticosteroid therapy. Production of DNA antibody may be a response to release of DNA from damaged hepatocytes.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1975

Biochemical aspects of a study of 100 obese white subjects.

The effect of a 7 100 kilojoule diet (50% of the energy derived from carbohydrate, mainly unrefined, 30% from fat, mainly unsaturated, and 20% from protein) on 100 overweight subjects was investigated. It was found that 45% of subjects did not complete the study, 9% continued with the study but did not lose weight, 25% lost weight moderately well and 21% responded very well and lost a mean of 15,9 kg over a 6-9 month period. Very little indication of water retention was found. The following biochemical changes occurred during the study period: 1. There was a marked improvement in the glucose tolerance of the groups that lost weight effectively. 2. This improvement in glucose tolerance was associated with a very marked decrease in the secretion of immuno-reactive insulin. 3. The tendency for serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels to decrease during the study was also evidenced in the changes which occurred in the lipoprotein electrophoresis patterns. Stepwise discriminant analysis performed on biochemical, clinical and psychological data failed to provide a practical means of discriminating in advance between the likely response of subjects to this dietary therapy with acceptable accuracy.

Blood Glucose↗