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Biomedical subjects

R N MacSween

Publications and source records attributed to R N MacSween.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Assessment of nutritional status and in vivo immune responses in alcoholic liver disease.

Nutritional status and in vivo immune responses were investigated in 30 patients with alcoholic liver disease who were drinking heavily up until emergency hospital admission. Investigations were performed on admission and after 2 wk abstention and adequate hospital diet. No relationship was found between the severity of liver disease revealed histologically and the recent quantity or total duration of alcohol intake, inadequacy of diet, or nutritional status. Skin anergy was more common in those patients with cirrhosis but did not relate to depletion in circulating T lymphocytes, poor nutritional status, or to the direct effect of alcohol toxicity. Acute alcohol toxicity did, however, produce extensive and rapidly reversible metabolic and cellular changes including reduction in serum potassium, magnesium and phosphate and depletion of all circulating lymphocyte subpopulations.

Alcoholic Intoxication↗

A case of longstanding primary sclerosing cholangitis.

A 45-year-old man is described in whom there is currently ERCP and histological evidence of primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). A liver biopsy obtained 29 years ago shows similar histological features confirming that he had PSC at that time. This case indicates that PSC may follow a relatively benign course.

Biopsy↗

Liver membrane antibodies in alcoholic liver disease. II. Antibodies to ethanol-altered hepatocytes.

Using an indirect immunofluorescence technique, circulating liver membrane antibodies against normal rabbit hepatocytes and ethanol-altered rabbit hepatocytes have been sought in a series of patients with histologically confirmed alcoholic liver disease. Liver membrane antibodies against normal hepatocytes were found in 18 (28%) of the 65 sera examined, but with ethanol-altered hepatocytes as substrate liver membrane antibodies were found in 48 (74%) of the sera. Isolation of F(ab')2 fragments confirmed that the positive results were due to antibody binding. Liver membrane antibodies against ethanol-altered hepatocytes are peculiar to alcoholic liver disease, and there is a similar incidence in the various histological types of alcoholic liver disease. Absorption studies suggest that the liver membrane antibodies are directed against new or altered antigens which are not present in normal hepatocytes. These new or altered antigens may also appear after pretreatment with other primary alcohols and seem likely to be induced by a haptenic effect of the alcohol or a metabolic break-down product. These studies represent a novel approach to the further investigation of the possible role of immunological mechanisms in alcohol-induced liver injury.

Absorption↗

Familial occurrence of primary sclerosing cholangitis and ulcerative colitis.

Members of three families had primary sclerosing cholangitis and chronic ulcerative colitis. In each family, two siblings were affected; in one instance, they were twin brothers. All six individuals had primary sclerosing cholangitis and five also had ulcerative colitis. These cases represent the first reported instances of the familial occurrence of both primary sclerosing cholangitis and chronic ulcerative colitis; illustrate the typical clinical, laboratory, radiologic, and pathological features of primary sclerosing cholangitis; and support the hypothesis that genetic factors may play a role in the etiology of this obscure disorder.

Adolescent↗

Ultrasonic characterisation of diffuse liver disease - the relative importance of frequency content in the A-scan signal.

Successful methods of ultrasonic characterisation of alcohol-induced diffuse liver disease using texture analysis (Lerski et al. 1979, 1980a, b) have studied the radiofrequency (RF) A-scan ultrasonic signal. In the present paper the Fourier spectra of such signals have been partitioned and a statistical analysis implemented to determine the diagnostic usefulness of certain frequency groups present in the signal. Although this method has not, of itself, been found to compared favourably with texture analysis it has shown that useful information is present in the high frequency portion of the frequency spectra. This information would not be available if the smoothed and denodulated A-scan signal were studied.

Fatty Liver, Alcoholic↗

Liver membrane antibodies in alcoholic liver disease: 1. prevalence and immunoglobulin class.

Using an indirect immunofluorescence technique liver membrane antibodies of IgG and IgA class have been demonstrated in a statistically significant proportion of sera from patients with alcoholic hepatitis and alcoholic cirrhosis. IgG and IgA class antibodies were found respectively in 23 and 25% of 48 patients with alcoholic hepatitis, in 27 and 33% of 84 with active cirrhosis, and 67 and 58% of 12 with inactive cirrhosis. These results provide evidence of a humoral immune response in alcoholic liver disease which is directed against, as yet undefined, liver-cell membrane antigens.

Fluorescent Antibody Technique↗

Primary biliary cirrhosis: an increased incidence of extrahepatic malignancies?

In a retrospective review of 85 patients with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), 10 (11.8%) were noted to have extrahepatic malignant neoplasm. In seven female patients the tumour developed within a mean of 3.5 yr after the clinical onset of PBC. This observed number of tumours, 3.5 times more common than the expected age-adjusted incidence, was statistically significant at the 0.5% level.

Aged↗

Serum glutamate dehydrogenase as a marker of hepatocyte necrosis in alcoholic liver disease.

Serum glutamate dehydrogenase concentration was assessed as a marker of the degree of hepatocyte necrosis found at liver biopsy in 95 patients suspected of having alcoholic liver disease. Although the serum concentration was raised in 54 patients, no relation between it and the severity of hepatocyte necrosis could be established. Glutamate dehydrogenase was therefore not confirmed to be a useful indicator of hepatocyte necrosis in patients with chronic alcoholism.

Glutamate Dehydrogenase↗

Sensitisation to Mallory bodies (alcoholic hyalin) in alcoholic hepatitis.

Using a leucocyte migration inhibition test sensitisation to Mallory bodies (alcoholic hyalin) was found in a statistically significant 41% of 17 patients with alcoholic hepatitis. Patients with alcohol-induced fatty liver and cirrhosis did not demonstrate sensitisation. Mallory bodies are a characteristic feature of alcohol-induced liver damage, and immunological sensitisation to them might lead to liver cell death and cell progression of the hepatitis process.

Cell Migration Inhibition↗

Serological markers of hepatitis B in patients with alcoholic liver disease: a multi-centre survey.

In a study of 195 patients derived from five centres in northern Britain and with histologically confirmed alcoholic liver disease we have found an increased prevalence of serological markers of hepatitis B. This increased prevalence was found in each of the five centres; the overall frequency ranged from 11% sero-positivity in fatty liver, 12% in alcoholic hepatitis and 27% in cirrhosis.

Adult↗