Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to T M Amin.
Cutaneous and soft tissue lesions are uncommon manifestations of brucellosis. Though breast involvement in animal brucellosis is not uncommon, involvement of the breast in human brucellosis is extremely rare. We report a case of breast abscess in a 39-year-old female caused by Brucella melitensis. Treatment with combination of trimethoprim/sulphamethoxazole (TMP/ SMX; cotrimoxazole) and doxycycline for 3 months resulted in clinical cure.
Metastases from differentiated thyroid cancer are usually seen in the cervical or mediastinal lymph nodes, lung or bone. We report a case of papillary thyroid cancer metastasizing to lymph nodes in the porta hepatis. No other site of metastasis was apparent on neck or abdominal exploration or on iodine whole-body scans. The primary tumor was a multifocal papillary thyroid cancer arising on a background of multinodular goiter. The metastasis was observed on a diagnostic radioiodine scan after surgical resection of the primary tumor despite significant (11%) radioiodine uptake by residual thyroid tissue in the neck and was proven by histologic examination and thyroglobulin immunohistochemistry. Although rare, metastasis to porta hepatis lymph nodes should be considered in the differential diagnosis of abdominal radioiodine uptake in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer.
A preliminary investigation has been undertaken of blood rheology in horses and ponies, its variation in navicular disease and the changes following treatment with warfarin. Erythrocyte flexibility, measured by a centrifuge packing technique, is higher in horses (30 per cent min-1) than in ponies (23.8 per cent min-1). There are corresponding differences in blood viscosity. The high erythrocyte flexibility in horses is caused by an unknown factor present in plasma. The erythrocyte flexibility in horses with navicular disease is even higher, at 38.5 per cent min-1. Treatment with warfarin reduces the flexibility to just below the normal value. A significant fall in plasma viscosity and erythrocyte flexibility was found after treatment of four ponies with 6 mg warfarin daily for one week.
A comparative study has been made of the blood rheology, and its component factors, in horse, sheep, cattle, goat, camel, pig, dog, rabbit and man. The erythrocyte flexibility of horse red cells is high relative to man, that of pig, dog, camel and rabbit comparable, but less flexible, and sheep, cattle and goat relatively inflexible. The erythrocyte flexibility of horse, sheep, cattle and goats does not vary with the plasma fibrinogen level, as occurs with human and rabbit cells. Washing erythrocytes and then suspending them in isotonic saline makes the erythrocytes of all species relatively inflexible. There is a factor in horse plasma, which is not fibrinogen, that makes horse and human erythrocytes suspended in it very flexible. The blood viscosity of all species is comparable at high shear rates (230 s-1) due to the shape of the cells compensating for their flexibility. The variations of blood viscosity at low shear rates (11.5 s-1) were also found to depend on the erythrocyte flexibility, and only influenced indirectly by the fibrinogen concentration. There is no significant effect of temperature on the erythrocyte flexibility of horse, sheep, cattle, goat and a small number of human subjects. This is reflected in the way the viscosity of these bloods varies with temperature.
A stroboscopic recording centrifuge technique is described which can measure deformability of red blood cells in terms of the rate of packing at low g. It can be used to measure several whole blood samples simultaneously, with accurate control of the speed of rotation and recording time. Only 0.05 ml of blood is required per measurement, and no prior treatment or preparation of the sample is necessary. The calibration procedures to allow for variations of the haematocrit and plasma fibrinogen level are explained.