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Biomedical subjects

A Smith

Publications and source records attributed to A Smith.

At least 1,261 records · Page 70Linked to original sources
PubMed1980

Health and safety--3: Hazards on hospital roads.

Problems of road transport in hospitals and health premises are discussed by Mr A. Smith, safety liaison officer, Haringey HD, in his continuing series on health and safety problems.

Accident Prevention↗
PubMed1980

Health and safety--2: An explosive problem.

Continuing his series on health and safety, A. Smith, safety liaison officer for Haringey HD, points out the hazards of using liquid petroleum gas heaters in hospitals and gives detailed safety guidelines.

Accident Prevention↗
PubMed1980

Haemophilus influenzae type B meningitis: a contagious disease of children.

The families of 126 consecutive patients with Haemophilus influenzae type B meningitis were surveyed for secondary invasive H influenzae disease among household contacts. A total of 120 of the families were contacted. In six cases no contact was possible and the medical record was reviewed. Some 555 household contacts were found; 31% (171) were under 5 years of age. A secondary case was defined as a household contact with H influenzae type B isolated from blood or cerebrospinal fluid more than 24 hours, but less than 30 days, after admission to hospital of the index case. Four secondary cases were identified, all in children aged under 5 years. The secondary attack rate in children under 5 years or less in the month after exposure to an index case was thus 2.3%, 800 times the endemic attack rate for H influenzae meningitis. This is a conservative estimate since five additional contact cases were documented, but not included in the secondary attack rate. Young contacts of a child with H influenzae meningitis are thus at significant risk of life-threatening secondary disease.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1980

Bone marrow transplantation in a child with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

A caucasian female infant with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in second remission received a bone marrow transplantation. Engraftment was confirmed at 14 days following infusion of bone marrow from a sex-matched, ABO and HLA compatible sibling. 171 days posttransplantation the patient is clinically well and in haematological remission. A mild transient skin rash and hepatocellular disturbance, the only manifestations of graft versus host disease, responded successfully to high dose prednisone.

Bone Marrow Transplantation↗
PubMed1980

A girl with the Prader-Willi syndrome and Robertsonian translocation 45,XX,t(14;15)(p11;q11) which was present in three normal family members.

A 21-year-old girl with classical Prader-Willi Syndrome was found to have a 14;15 Robertsonian translocation--45,XX,t(14;15)(p11;q11). This type of Robertsonian translocation was not found in any patient from 8 surveys covering 6144 patients with mental retardation. Chromosome 15 has been involved in translocations in patients with the Prader-Willi Syndrome with greater than expected frequency. This is the first report of a 14;15 translocation and the Prader-Willi Syndrome. The same balanced translocation was present in the patient's mother and 2 normal siblings. Future genetic counselling for these 2 siblings will be difficult.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Hepatic tissue perfusion studies during distal splenorenal shunt.

Hepatic tissue perfusion was measured by the krypton-85 clearance technique during surgery in four patients with bleeding esophageal varices before and immediately after Warren distal splenorenal shunt. No significant reduction in perfusion was found in any patient, thus confirming the concept that this type of portasystemic shunt maintains portal flow to the liver.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Urine screening for aminoacidopathies: is it beneficial? Results of a long-term follow-up of cases detected bny screening one millon babies.

One million 6-week-old infants were screened for aminoacidurias and the long-term follow-up analyzed to assess the benefits of the screening program. Apart from phenylketonuria, now normally detected by blood screening at five days, the most frequent abnormalities identified were cystinuria, histidinemia, Hartnup disease, and iminoglycinuria. Other disorders occurred less frequently than 1:100,000. Early diagnosis provided unequivocal clinical benefit only for phenylketonuria. There was probable benefit to patients with cystinuria, homocystinuria, argininosuccinic aciduria, and to some patients with Hartnup disease. However, benefit of early diagnosis in these disorders, of which the combined incidence was 1:10,000, was not clear-cut; for example, in 68 cystinuric children, four had already developed renal stones despite close medical supervision and a regimen of increased fluid intake to the limits of tolerance. No patient detected with any other condition benefited, either because the condition appeared benign and was not treated, or because the disorder was serious or lethal and there was a bad outcome despite early diagnosis and treatment. Existing urine screening programs should explore the incidence and clinical significance of further biochemical abnormalities detectable in the newborn infant, but there is no indication at present for the initiation of new urine screening programs designed to detect only aminoacidurias.

Amino Acid Metabolism, Inborn Errors↗
PubMed1980

Neuropsychological deficits in Cushing's syndrome.

In contrast to well documented reports of medical symptoms in Cushing's syndrome (an endocrine disorder with the hallmark of corticoid overproduction), vague and infrequent references to associated mental changes reflect the subjective nature of previous clinical studies of psychological symptoms. This report presents neuropsychological test findings of 35 Cushing's syndrome patients before initiation of medical therapy, and documents the frequency, nature, and severity of deficits. Performances on the Michigan Neuropsychological Test Battery revealed equivocal or no signs of neuropsychological deficits in 13 patients. Ten other patients had few and mild deficits, eight had moderate and more frequent signs of impairment, and four had frequent and marked deficits in language and nonlanguage tests of higher (cognitive) and/or lower (sensory and/or motor) level cerebral functions. The findings thus indicate varying degrees of diffuse bilateral cerebral dysfunction in two thirds of this population. Impairment was more frequent and severe in nonverbal visual-ideational and visual memory functions. This pattern of deficits is similar to that in patients with other types of diffuse bilateral neuropathological processes such as toxicity, anoxia, and infectious cerebral disorders.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Aneuploidy in culture.

On one hundred consecutive clinically referred patients, a total of 3,175 cells was fully analysed. The parameters of culture and analysis were the same for all patients, and a breakdown of cells showed 258 cells (8.1 per cent) with hypomodal counts and sixty-two cells (1.9 per cent) with hypermodal counts. The great majority of the hypomodal cells contained forty-five chromosomes and the distribution of chromosome loss from these cells was non-random, with fewer than expected of the large chromosomes (groups A, B and C) being lost, and more than expected of the small chromosomes (group E and G) being lost. The distribution of the chromosomes gained in the hypermodal cells was random (except for the C group where the numbers were small). In this data, there was no significant difference of aneuploidy in culture noted for sex, age, or patient referral group.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Occurrence of sex chromosome mosaicism and translocation Down's syndrome in the same family.

The proband in this family has translocation Down's Syndrome 46,XX,t(14;21)(p11;q11), and this translocation was present in other family members. Sex chromosome mosaicism was demonstrated in three generations of the family, providing another example of familial mosaicism. There was also excessive foetal wastage in different family members. It was not possible to assign the common aetiological factor to account for these various abnormalities. Dermatoglyphic studies showed dominant inheritance of finger-tip arch patterns in one branch of the family.

Child↗
PubMed1980

The search for occult metastases in breast cancer: does it add to established staging methods?

In 1974 a project was initiated in which patients with apparently operable breast carcinoma underwent special investigations in an attempt to identify occult metastasis in bone and liver. One hundred and seventy-two patients have been followed for two years or more and their axillary node histological findings reviewed. From analysis of these patients the following conclusions may be drawn. Careful clinical assessment, especially measurement of the primary tumour and palpation of the axillary nodes, remains a fundamental guide to the likelihood of early recurrence. Histological confirmation of node metastases is as valuable as clinical assessment, but is not superior unless other features of node histology are considered. Micrometastases do not increase the probability of early recurrence except in comparison with a group whose nodes lack both metastases and other unfavourable features. The majority of special investigations do not have additional predictive value, though a bone scan is useful in the small number (less than 10%) in whom it is positive.

Axilla↗
PubMed1980

Acceptors and rejectors of an invitation to undergo breast screening compared with those who referred themselves.

All women aged 50--79 were invited by two group practices to undergo screening and 57% accepted. Women of the same age range in other practices, who referred themselves, were also screened. Interview with random samples of 100 invited screened women (acceptors), 100 invited unscreened women (rejectors), and 50 self-referred women enabled comparisons to be made of personal and social characteristics, previous health behaviour, and beliefs about cancer in the three groups. Self-referral was associated with lower age, higher social class, and higher educational levels. Women accepting invitations included more who had previously used other screening procedures, for example, cervical smears and chest x rays, than those rejecting invitations. Previous use of screening was even more among self-referred women. Acceptance of screening was associated with belief in the possibilities of curing cancer.

Age Factors↗