Imperialism and professionalization: Dominion registration and Canadian physicians during the Boer War.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to B Beck.
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Nycthemeral variations in blood glucose (BG) and insulinemia (IRI) of four subjects with insulin-secreting pancreatic tumors were determined. Blood samples were drawn every 15 min over a 28-h period. After surgery, two of the subjects were retested. Meals were distributed during testing so that there was a minimum of eight meals per test. The meals before and after surgery were qualitatively, quantitatively and chronologically the same. Even though the circadian profiles of the glycemia and insulinemia varied greatly among the subjects, there were three common characteristics during the noctural period (24 h-8 h): Existence of one or several phases of at least 1 hour where the glycemia was less than 2.78 mmol/l, Existence of IRI peaks, without eating. Existence of a peak or of increased values (as compared to normal values) of the IRI/BG ratio, without eating. The IRI/BG ratio is a very sensitive index for insulin secretion dysfunction as compared to glycemia. The results suggest that the measurement of glycemia and insulinemia of sleeping subjects and then calculation of the IRI/BG ratio is sufficient to affirm the presence of an insulin-secreting adenoma.
Oral tests using 50 g of sucrose and 100 g of white bread were carried out in ten insulin-dependent diabetics (four with signs of residual B-cell function and in six without). Plasma glucose and C-peptide (CPR) were estimated during the 180 minutes after ingestion. After bread intake, plasma glucose increase was significantly delayed (30 min.). Hyperglycemia (greater than 2.5 g/l) lasted significantly longer after bread then after sucrose ingestion. Blood glucose decreased more quickly in subjects with residual B-cell function than in subjects without. CPR was not significantly modified by either of the carbohydrate loads. In the controlled insulin-dependent diabetic the hyperglycemia observed results from the ease of carbohydrates hydrolysis and from the amount of available glucose. The role of fructose seems weak in the case of sucrose because its conversion to glucose would be minimized in the presence of metabolic normalization as indicated by a well controlled blood glucose.
The pathological stereotypies frequently observed among severely mentally retarded and autistic persons are highly rhythmical in nature. Most attempts to quantify such behavior, however, have not analyzed stereotypy in terms of its cyclical properties. In the present paper we have detailed a method for electronically transducing stereotyped body-rocking and analyzing its frequency and amplitude characteristics with a standard polygraph and microprocessor. The relationship between stereotyped body-rocking and cardiac activity was also described using time-series analysis. The method described should provide a sensitive index of various experimental manipulations and treatment effects.
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The C-peptide immunoreactivity (CPR) is markedly increased after a short incubation of human plasma with trypsin. Three experiments (study of the action of trypsin-treated plasma on labelled CPR, precipitation of plasma proteins with polyethylene glycol, CPR measurement with three different radioimmunoassays kits) were made in order to account for this phenomenon. The concordant results obtained and the inhibitory action of aprotinin observed in these experiments led us to conclude to the existence in plasma of a trypsin dependent C-peptidase with a specificity for the COOH terminus of the complete CPR (Arg - Arg - C-peptide - Lys - Arg). The role of this protease is probably minor in the C-peptide degradation process but could have an effect on the insulin catabolism through the existence of the alpha 2 - macroglobulin - trypsin complexes and insulin protease. This suggests a possible influence of the exocrine pancreas on the endocrine pancreas.
The concentration of human platelet lactogen (hPL), pregnancy specific beta-1 glycoprotein (SP-1) and pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) were analysed in consecutive serum samples from a patient who gave birth to a child with Cornelia de Lange syndrome. HPL and SP-1 were present in normal concentrations from week 20 to week 35 of gestation whereas PAPP-A could not be detected in any of the samples examined. Immunohistochemical examination of two placentae from Cornelia de Lange syndrome revealed normal localization of hPL and SP-1 but the absence of PAPP-A from the syncytiotrophoblast. The significance of association between Cornelia de Lange syndrome and compromised synthesis of PAPP-A is discussed.
Cytogenetic investigations by three different lymphocyte culture methods in 63 obligate and potential carriers of the fragile X [fra(X)] are reported. A difference was observed between normal and retarded carriers in the manifestation of the fra(X). An inverse relationship between percentage positive cells and age was demonstrated in normal carriers, whereas retarded carriers generally showed higher percentages at all ages. X-inactivation studies in retarded carriers compared with normal carriers showed a tendency towards a skewed inactivation pattern with an excess of early replicating fra(X) in both groups when carriers expressing high percentages of fra(X) positive cells were compared. In normal carriers with low percentage expression the tendency was apparently reversed. The relationship between the replication pattern of the fragile X and the mental status of the individual is more complicated than suggested by previous studies.
The influence of gastric inhibitory polypeptide (GIP) on fatty acid incorporation into adipose tissue (FIAT) was studied in the rat on epididymal fat pads at concentrations amounting to 1, 2 and 4 ng/ml. Without insulin in the incubation medium, GIP induced a slight though significant FIAT decrease with a maximum of 9% for 2 ng/ml concentration. In the presence of rat insulin (100 microU/ml), it significantly enhanced the insulin-induced FIAT increase, that progressed from 106.4% of the basal value to 110.5% for 1 ng/ml concentration (P less than 0.025) and to 118.2% for 4 ng/ml concentration (P less than 0.0025). The existence of such a phenomenon as well as that of an hyperactive enteroinsular axis in obese subjects could represent two important factors in the development of obesity.
The first Scandinavian hyperphenylalaninaemic patient with a cofactor deficiency is described. By neonatal screening the Guthrie test showed a serum phenylalanine of 302 mumol/1 (5 mg/dl), which at age 6 weeks had fallen to high normal values. At age 5 1/2 months the serum phenylalanine was around 2000 mumol/1 and the child presented with severe neurological symptoms. The diagnosis of defect dihydrobiopterin biosynthesis was made by high performance liquid chromatography of the urine. Loading tests followed by daily treatment of the missing cofactor was able to keep the serum phenylalanine in the normal level. Because of persisting, yet diminishing neurological symptoms neurotransmitter treatment was started. Breast feeding as the cause of the low neonatal levels of serum phenylalanine and the late start of clinical symptoms is proposed and the importance of screening all hyperphenylalaninaemic newborns for defect biopterin metabolism is stressed.
Plasma C-peptide immunoreactivity (CPR) was measured in 18 fasting subjects with three different commercial kits (RIA-mat C-peptide, Byk-Mallinckrodt : RIA-gnost - h C-peptide, Hoechst-Behring : human C-peptide radioimmunoassay kit, Novo). The subjects were chosen as to cover a wide range of CPR concentrations (five healthy subjects, six obese subjects, three insulin-dependent diabetics, four normal subjects whose plasmas had been kept at - 20 degrees C for periods of 16 or 36 months). CPR was measured with the Novo kit in eight other plasmas which were kept over a period of 36 months, with or without aprotinin. Good correlations have been established among the values found with the three kits. However, absolute concentration values for each subject as well as the dispersion of all plasma C-peptide values varied as a function of the kit used because of antibody specificity differences and because of the various separation methods. The normal range proposed changes with each kit and the blood CPR of a subject can be a normal, reduced or increased one, depending on the kit used. After several months of storage, plasma CPR degradation is observed with the three kits. A protease-inhibitor is necessary in order to avoid this C-peptide degradation due to the apparent existence of a plasma proteolytic enzyme.
A case report with pleural mesothelioma, asbestosis and silicosis after long time exposure to talc dust has been given. Pathological findings, professional exposure, diagnostic aspects, and medical assessment of disablement are described. The relationship between the diseases of lungs and the professional exposure to talc dust as well as the possibility of cause-distinction by co-working of pathologist and industrial hygienist are discussed.
Recommendations for announcement and legal recognition of dust induced chronic bronchitis are presented. They rely on practice and aim for improvements and support for decision finding in medical reports. Basic criteria for legal recognition are intensity and duration of exposure, temporal relations between development of disease and exposure as well as type and grade of disease. The problem of demarcating non-occupational factors of influence is discussed. Legal recognition of dust induced bronchitis as an occupational disease can be achieved in a a special procedure.
Three cases of malignant pericardial mesotheliomas are presented with evidence of occupational asbestos exposure. Examination results are compared with findings from experimental and epidemiological research on biological effects of asbestos dust. There are sufficient indications that time-limited effects of asbestos dust established either by measurements or assessment of the amount of concentration after a latency of more than 20 years are apt to result in the development of mesotheliomas of the pleura and peritoneum and, moreover, the pericardium. It is suggested that malignant pericardial mesothelioma also be recognized as another form of occupational disease caused by asbestos dust.
Three methods of creating chronic bacterial prostatitis in dogs were evaluated. Injection of Escherichia coli into the prostatic or caudal vesicle artery after the prostate was pierced with a 22-gauge needle caused prostatic infection in 4 of 5 dogs. The infection persisted up to 28 days. Direct injection of E. coli into the prostate gland resulted in infection in 5 of 6 dogs which persisted up to 42 days. Injection of E. coli into the prostatic urethra after occlusion of the bladder neck caused infection in 2 of 8 dogs not subjected to piercing of the prostate gland and in 5 of 7 dogs subjected to prostate gland trauma. Infection persisted up to 28 days. Although all 3 methods resulted in persistent, chronic bacterial prostatitis, direct injection of bacteria into the prostate gland was technically the easiest to perform and resulted in the lowest incidence of concomitant infections of the rest of the urinary tract. Positive urine cultures for E. coli were found in all dogs at some time after infection. Positive urine and bladder tissue cultures were also found at necropsy in some dogs.
The effect of protein deprivation on the activities of hepatic drug-metabolizing enzymes was studied in young rats whose mothers had previously been on a protein-restricted diet during pregnancy. Dietary protein deficiency (5% lactic casein as the protein source) lowered the amount of cytochrome P-450 and the activities of epoxide hydrolase and UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UDPGT) (l-borneol as the substrate) by about 45, 63, and 48%, for the first 8 weeks, respectively. Interestingly, UDPGT estimated with p-nitrophenol as the substrate was far less affected than that estimated from l-borneol glucuronidation. This finding provides further evidence of the heterogeneity of UDPGT. Restoration of a balanced diet for 15 days following protein deprivation quickly restored cytochrome P-450 and enzyme activities to control values. Our experiments showed that the development of drug-metabolizing enzymes was changed more by the diet in young rats than in older rats. This could affect the toxicity of drugs that are normally metabolized by these pathways.
Immunoreactive insulin (IRI) and its three constituents as determined by gel filtration: high molecular weight substances with insulin immunoreactivity (HWIRI), proinsulin (PI) and insulin (I), were measured hourly during 28 hours in the portal, hepatic and peripheral venous systems of a patient operated for a nesidioblastoma. The PI levels were constant from one system to the other (7.1 +/- 0.8 microU/ml; 7.3 +/- 0.8 microU/ml; 9.2 +/- 1.2 microU/ml). The I levels decreased from the portal (53.3 +/- 5.2 microU/ml) to the hepatic venous system (28.0 +/- 1.0 microU/ml) and from the latter to the peripheral venous system (19.8 +/- 2.0 microU/ml). The HWIRI levels were stable between the portal and the hepatic venous systems (4.7 +/- 0.7 microU/ml; 4.8 +/- 0.6 microU/ml) and higher in the peripheral system (8.2 +/- 1.2 microU/ml). Our results demonstrate that: --I is essentially degraded by the liver. --There is no variation of PI in the three compartments. --HWIRI is formed in the circulation. --Variations of IRI levels between venous systems acquire physiological significance only when accompanied by the variations of the levels of each constituent.
The authors report on the observation of a woman treated with isoniazide, who presented clinical symptoms of hypoglycemia during treatment (seating, confusion, anxio-depressive syndrome, lipothymia). After the antitubercular treatment was stopped, a moderate hypoglycemia without clinical manifestations accompanied by a marked hyperinsulinemia and normal C-peptide values was detected during a Conn's test. Serum gel filtration on Sephadex G 50 Fine showed that the measured hyperinsulinemia was effectively due to an insulin excess. This excess did not seem caused by surreptitious insulin injection. This seems to be the consequence of a deficiency in insulin catabolism because the C-peptide level was normal. The possible role of isoniazide on carbohydrate metabolism is discussed.