Biomedical subjects
W W Manser
Publications and source records attributed to W W Manser.
Lead--an essential trace element.
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Factors associated with elevated serum cholesterol levels in well-to-do Pakistani schoolchildren.
Cholesterol (CH) and triglyceride (TG) levels were determined in blood drawn after an overnight fast from 388 school children aged 5-19 years from private schools in Karachi. The mean CH levels ranged from 4.4 to 4.6 mmol l-1 (170.1 to 177.9 mg dl-1) for boys and 4.4 to 4.8 mmol l-1 (170.1 to 185.6 mg dl-1) for girls. The range of TG levels was 1.0 to 1.2 mmol l-1 (88.6 to 106.3 mg dl-1) and 0.9 to 1.1 mmol l-1 (79.7 to 97.4 mg dl-1) for boys and girls respectively. Sixty-two per cent of the girls and 54% of the boys had cholesterol values greater than or equal to 4.4 mmol l-1 (170 mg dl-1), a level at which dietary intervention is recommended for children. Thirty-two per cent of all the children had triglyceride levels above the 90th percentile of the levels for similar age groups in North America. The mean cholesterol intake was 469 mg/day for girls and 518 mg/day for boys. Overweight and inactivity were associated with raised serum cholesterol levels. Forty per cent of the girls and 25% of the boys reported a strong family history of hypercholesterolaemia and/or heart disease. The results show that the prevalence of hypercholesterolaemia is high in well-to-do Pakistani school children and factors which can be modified to lower serum cholesterol levels are identified.
Lead--an essential trace element.
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Trace element studies on Karachi populations. Part V: Blood lead levels in normal healthy adults and grammar school children.
Blood lead levels of healthy Karachi population were estimated. Mean levels for males, females, soldiers and school children were 34.4, 31.8, 29.9 and 38.2 micrograms/dl respectively. About 93% cases of either sex had elevated lead levels, of whom 30% males and 10% females had levels above the safety limits (40 micrograms/dl). Soldiers living in relatively pollution free area though had levels lower than the rest of the population but 91% had levels over 25 micrograms/dl and only two had acceptable levels. Ninety-two percent children showed levels above 25 micrograms/dl with a large number having levels over 40 micrograms/dl. A very small percentage had normal levels. Pollution by traffic exhaust was assumed to be the principal cause for these high levels.
Serum alkaline phosphatase in apparently healthy Karachi population.
Serum alkaline phosphatase (AP) was estimated in a total of 786 (418 males and 386 females) apparently healthy people aged between 1-75 years selected randomly from a sample of the Karachi population. Reference ranges for AP level were obtained for the males and females stratified into ten successive age groups. The study population was also divided into two main age groups, a paediatric aged between 1-14 years and an adult group aged between 15 to over 50 years to see if the mean AP levels differ significantly between the two groups. Mean AP level for the male paediatric age group was 225 IU/L, significantly higher (P less than 0.005) than those of the male adult mean level of 83 IU/L. Similarly the mean AP levels for the paediatric female age group was 205 IU/L significantly higher (P less than 0.005), compared to the mean AP level of 67 IU/L obtained for the female adult age group.
Management of inflammatory bowel disease.
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Blood lipids in a healthy Karachi population.
Serum levels for cholesterol and triglycerides were estimated in an apparently normal healthy population of Karachi, aged between 4 and 59 years. In total, there were 632 subjects, 322 males and 310 females. Hypercholesterolemia was defined as a cholesterol level greater than 6.2 mmol l-1 (240 mg dl-1) in subjects above 20 years of age. In the age groups 20-39 and 40-59 years hypercholesterolemia was present in 26-41% of the males and 10-38% of the females. When triglyceride levels of more than 2.8 mmol l-1 (250 mg dl-1) were taken as abnormal for healthy males and females, 0-2% of the females and 10-25% of the males above 20 years of age were hypertriglyceridemic. The mean cholesterol levels in the age groups 4-9 and 10-19 years varied from 4.4 to 4.9 mmol l-1 (169.8 to 189.1 mg dl-1).
Problems involving the use of aspiration flame atomic absorption spectroscopy in the estimation of metals in plasma, serum or whole blood.
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Diabetes mellitus: the trace element connection.
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Trace element studies on Karachi population, Part II: Normal ranges for blood copper, zinc and magnesium for children and adolescents.
Normal ranges for copper, zinc and magnesium in whole blood have been established for healthy school going children of Indo-Pak origin. Age groups of 7 to 11 years had slightly elevated levels of these metals when compared with the groups below 7 and above 12 years, except that for females levels increased with age for zinc and decreased for magnesium.
Trace element studies in Karachi populations. Part III: Blood copper, zinc, magnesium and lead levels in psychiatric patients with disturbed behaviour.
Blood levels of copper, zinc, magnesium and lead were determined in 29 males and 15 females suffering from disturbed behaviour. As far as we could ascertain they were under no medication and belonged to low income groups. Male patients had significantly higher levels than female patients for zinc (0.05 greater than P greater than 0.01) but there was no sexual difference for magnesium or copper. In patients copper and lead levels were higher than for normals (P less than 0.01), but no difference could be found for Mg and Zn. At least one metal abnormality was observed in 19 (65.5%) of the males and 9 (60.0%) of the female patients.
Trace element studies on Karachi population. Part IV: Blood copper, zinc, magnesium and lead levels in psychiatric patients with depression, mental retardation and seizure disorders.
Blood copper, zinc, magnesium and lead levels were determined by atomic absorption spectroscopy for 15 males and 16 females suffering from depression, 6 males and 1 female with mental retardation and 3 males and 4 females with seizure disorders. They were all under no medication and belonged to low income groups. No difference in copper levels was found between the sexes in any of the groups. The levels in all the groups were significantly higher than in the normals. In depressives, males had significantly higher zinc levels than females and only female depressives had significantly different (lower) levels from normals. In both depressives and normals, males had higher magnesium levels than females but no group of patients had significantly different levels from normals. Lead levels were significantly higher in female depressives and for those with seizure disorders than for controls. At least one metal abnormality was found in 21 (67.7%) depressive, 5 (71.4%) of those with mental retardation and 6 (85.7%) with seizure disorders.
Lead: a review of the recent literature.
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Disease: abnormalities of copper, zinc and magnesium in blood.
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Trace element studies on Karachi populations, Part 1: Normal ranges for blood copper, zinc and magnesium for adults.
Normal ranges in whole blood were established for copper, zinc and magnesium for a Karachi population. For copper, it is 71 - 116 micrograms/dl (mean 93.5), there being no significant difference between the sexes; for zinc, males 602.5 - 850 micrograms/dl (mean 726), females 519 - 853 (686), P less than 0.01 for males + females 563 - 859.5 (711); and for magnesium, males 2.97 - 4.80 micrograms/dl (mean 3.78), females 2.65 - 4.66 (3.50), 0.05 greater than P greater than 0.01; for males + females 2.75 - 4.80 (3.61). There were weak correlations only between pairs of blood metal levels for the population.