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Biomedical subjects

W Burnett

Publications and source records attributed to W Burnett.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Determinants of late stage diagnosis of breast and cervical cancer: the impact of age, race, social class, and hospital type.

Previous studies of the relationship between cancer stage, age, and race have not controlled for social class and health care setting. Logistic regression analyses, using information from the New York State Tumor Registry and area-level social class indicators, demonstrated that, in New York City, older Black, lower class women in public hospitals were 3.75 and 2.54 times more likely to have late stage breast or cervical cancer, respectively, than were younger White, high social class women in non-public hospitals.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Cancer among New York men at risk of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

In the United States, New York City has had the greatest number of subjects at risk of AIDS for the longest period of time. This population therefore serves as an indicator of changes in cancer risk which may emerge among persons at risk from AIDS. Using a proportional incidence method, we surveyed cancers occurring among single (a surrogate for homosexual) young men and married young men in Manhattan, the rest of New York City, and the remainder of New York State. The baseline period was established earlier to be 1973-76, during which time no cases of Kaposi's sarcoma were observed among single men in Manhattan. By 1985, the frequency of Kaposi's sarcoma in this group was increased 1,850-fold (compared with expected cases derived from other registries). In the same group, the increase of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was 6.2-fold (p for trend less than 0.0001), with excesses of Burkitt's lymphoma and immunoblastic lymphoma being most noticeable. Diagnoses of Hodgkin's disease increased markedly in 1985 but not earlier. Since this pattern did not follow that of the AIDS epidemic in this area, we suggest that Hodgkin's disease is not an AIDS-associated tumor. Hepatoma was diagnosed more frequently in single young men during the 1980s but similar increases also were observed in married men and thus may be unrelated to AIDS. Thus, only Kaposi's sarcoma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma appear to be AIDS-associated tumors, at least so far. With better treatment and longer survival, it remains possible that other tumors will emerge as part of the AIDS epidemic.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1979

The nature of piecemeal necrosis in chronic active hepatitis.

On the basis of histological studies, it is proposed that the type of liver-cell death in piecemeal necrosis is apoptosis. The characteristic inconspicuousness of apoptosis explains why the mode of hepatocyte elimination in piecemeal necrosis has hitherto remained obscure. Cell-mediated immune attack induces apoptosis, not classical necrosis, and the occurrence of apoptosis in piecemeal necrosis links the observed morphological changes in chronic active hepatitis with the other evidence for an autoimmune pathogenesis. It is significant that apoptosis does not evoke inflammation or fibroplasia. In attempting to elucidate the cause of the fibrosis that accompanies progression to cirrhosis in chronic hepatitis, it may thus be more relevant to study the effect on fibroblasts of substances liberated during lymphocyte-hepatocyte interactions than the death of the hepatocytes.

Autoimmune Diseases↗
PubMed1979

Genital cancer in wives of penile cancer patients.

We identified the wives or ex-wives of 227 males of the 256 reported with cancer of the penis to the New York State Cancer Registry from Upstate New York from 1960-64. Utilizing the Registry, death certificates, hospital and physician records, we ascertained those wives who developed cancer at any site from 1951-1975. We generated expected numbers of cases of cancer at each site by applying the age specific incidence rates experienced by women of a specific age in a specific year designated by the age of the wife of the index case in each year, estimating withdrawals from age-specific death rates. Thus, our expected numbers are based on the experience of the women in Upstate New York with traits like those of spouses of the men in the same population with cancer of the penis. We found significantly more cases of cancer of the cervix than expected. This was not true for other sites of cancer.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

In vitro studies of gallstone dissolution using the scanning electron microscope.

Scanning electron microscope studies on cholesterol gallstones, which had been subjected to, but had not been completely dissolved by, chenodeoxycholate and deoxycholate salts, have indicated the presence of an insoluble organic matrix, probably a mucopolysaccharide. Solution of a gallstone in vitro is enhanced by the addition of heparin which dissolved this matrix, thus allowing complete dissolution of cholesterol in a gallstone.

Chenodeoxycholic Acid↗
PubMed1978

Black pigment stone in a male child aged two years and seven months.

A case of cholelithiasis is reported occurring in a boy aged two years and seven months. The patient presented with biliary colic, and cholecystectomy was performed. Detailed analysis of the stone, including electron-probe studies, showed it to be an example of a polybilirubinate stone, containing also calcium, carbonate, and phosphate, with some sulphur, sodium, and magnesium. There were also traces of chlorine, aluminium, copper, nickel, and manganese.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1978

Chemoimmunotherapy in disseminated melanoma and colorectal carcinoma.

Non-specific immunotherapy with monthly intramuscular injection of Corynebacterium parvum has been investigated by randomized clinical trials in patients with advanced cancer. Thirty-six patients with disseminated melanoma were treated with either imidazole carboxamide (DTIC) alone or DTIC plus C.parvum. A 19% objective response rate was observed. The mean survival time was similar for both groups. Thirty-three patients with disseminated colorectal cancer were treated with either 5-fluorouracil (5FU) alone or 5FU plus C.parvum. No objective responses were observed. The mean survival time was similar for both groups. No advantage has been demonstrated in either tumour group by adding C.parvum to standard chemotherapy.

Bacterial Vaccines↗
PubMed1977

In vitro studies of gallstone dissolution using bile salt solutions and heparinized saline.

A controlled in vitro study of gallstone dissolution has been carried out using a model designed to simulate the in vivo situation in the bile ducts. Sodium taurocholate, sodium cholate, heparinized saline and physiological saline were infused for 10 days over 81 stones from 32 patients and changes in weight and structure were recorded. The bile salt solutions caused weight loss in 81-5 and 85-7 per cent respectively of the stones treated, but the two saline solutions caused weight gains in 74-5 and 88 per cent respectively. Fragmentation occurred in 18-5% of stones treated with sodium taurocholate, in 25% of those treated with sodium cholate and in 11-8 per cent of those treated with heparinized saline. Small stones lost a lower absolute amount of weight than large stones but this represented a greater proportion of their initial weight. These investigations confirm the advantages of a dynamic in vitro model to study gallstone dissolution. Bile salt solutions infused into the bile ducts may clear retained stones by causing reduction in stone weight or fragmentation or both, but heparinized saline appears to be unsuitable for gallstone dissolution. Larger stones may require longer periods of infusion.

Bile Acids and Salts↗
PubMed1977

An electron microscopic study of the mode of donor cell death in unmodified rejection of pig liver allografts.

The only type of cell death found in pig liver allografts 1 week after technically successful operation was apoptosis. Its extent paralleled the degree of mononuclear cell infiltration of the liver parenchyma, and mononuclear cells were found applied to the surfaces of hepatocytes showing early stages of the process. The results suggest that cellular immune attack induces apoptosis of donor cells, and that the action is a direct one. However, implication of other factors such as vascular damage in the induction of apoptosis in the grafts could not be excluded.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Epidemiology of cancer of the testis in upstate New York.

We collected data on the 434 individuals reported with cancer of the testis to the New York State Tumor Registry, 1960-64, from upstate New York. We compared these with the 410 members of a random sample of the upstate population interviewed from 1959 to 1962. A high risk of developing cancer of the testis was associated with professional occupations, native-born parentage, rural residence, and having been married, especially while young. These findings paralleled some other studies, as well as our earlier inquiry. Each of these factors carried a higher risk even when considered in the context of the other traits, and risk increased with an increase in the number of characteristics possessed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Angiosarcoma of the liver: an epidemiologic survey.

Diagnosed from 1970 through 1975, the annual incidence rate for angiosarcoma of the liver among residents of New York State (excluding New York City) was 0.25 per million. A case-control study indicated that direct exposure to arsenic, vinyl chloride (VC), and thorium dioxide was a significantly important factor in the etiology of this disorder (P less than 0.02). Direct exposure to these chemicals could not be demonstrated for 19 (73%) of the 26 study patients. The fact that 5 of these patients lived nearer to VC fabrication or polymerization plants than did their matched controls lent some support to the hypothesis that indirect modes of exposure, not specifically related to occupation, might be important in the etiology of this disorder.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

The simplification of a clinical data base: application to gallstone patients.

In patients with gallstones, recommendations for cholecystectomy depend on evidence of abnormality in the cholecystogram. Symptoms and signs, usually related as a syndrome, are employed to identify patients who should have a cholecystogram. Triplet combinations of clinical data from gallstone patients and controls were examined to find which combination was the best discriminator between diseased and non-diseased, and between those who should be investigated radiologically and those who need not. The cholecystogram was confirmed as the best overall discriminator, but right costal margin pain by itself was as efficient as any triplet. The performance of a cholecystogram on all patients with right costal margin pain is as efficient a system for identifying patients with gallstones as the consideration of any quantity of clinical data.

Cholecystography↗
PubMed1977

In-vitro studies of gallstone dissolution: the effect of added heparin in bile salt solutions.

The dissolving effect of four bile salt solutions (sodium cholate, sodium taurocholate, sodium deoxycholate and sodium chenodeoxycholate) upon gallstones was tested in an in-vitro preparation, using 226 stones from 38 patients. The effect of each solution was measured by recording weight loss in the gallstone at the end of a ten-day period of immersion in the bile salt solution. Sodium deoxycholate and sodium chenodeoxycholate produced the greatest average weight loss in the groups of stones tested with pure bile salt solutions, but the addition of heparin to solutions of sodium cholate and sodium deoxycholate produced a significant increase in weight loss in these solutions. This effect of heparin in the presence of bile salts, in comparison with the failure of heparinized saline to induce weight loss in gallstones, is discussed. Sodium chenodeoxycholate cannot be recommended for clinical use on the grounds of its toxicity, and in view of the possible toxicity of sodium deoxycholate it is concluded that a combination of sodium cholate with heparin is the optimum solution for the dissolution of retained intraduct calculi in vivo.

Bile Acids and Salts↗