Increased synthesis of prostaglandins in ulcerative colitis.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to C H Swan.
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The case history, clinical course and laboratory findings in a 66-year-old woman with fibrogenesis imperfecta ossium are reported, the sixth case in the literature. The condition is characterized clinically by intractable skeletal pain and progressive immobility. Though serum alkaline phosphatase has been raised in all patients, there are no specific haematological or biochemical findings. The radiological features of coarse and dense trabecular pattern with symmetrical and diffuse involvement of all bones without expansion or change of shape, together with periosteal reactions and soft tissue calcification are characteristic. The macroscopic appearance of bone shows large areas of opaque white and brittle trabeculae. The histological findings mimic those of osteomalacia unless examined under polarized light which shows the loss of normal birefringence. On electron microscopy the normal lamellar pattern made up of orientated collagen fibrils all about 80 nm diameter is replaced by a random tangled pattern of much thinner irregularly curved fibrils, some as thin as 5nm. The condition appears to be acquired, leading to erosion of the normal skeleton and replacement with an abnormal fibre deficient matrix. There is no definitive therapy at present.
Accidental ingestion of sodium azide in 0-1% solution by a patient and a laboratory technician in a haematological laboratory has demonstrated that very small quantities of sodium azide can give rise to toxic symptoms and that Isoton should be handled with care.
Calciferol therapy for 12 months in white, Asian, and West Indian schoolchildren resulted in a highly significant increase in height and weight when compared with schoolchildren not so treated. The rate of fall of serum alkaline phosphatase was similar in both the treated and untreated schoolchildren and in other children treated in hospital for rickets. Dietary studies on 9% of the total survey by weighed inventory methods showed a low average intake of vitamin D, while random estimates of 25-hydroxycalciferol levels on 6% of the children were less than 3.8 ng/ml in 40% of those studied (principally Asian). It was concluded that there was a significant problem of vitamin D deficiency among Asian and West Indian teenagers and that white children were also affected to a less degree.
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Among 569 schoolchildren (386 boys and 183 girls) aged 14-17 years, 233 had serum alkaline phosphatase values of 30 K.A. units or greater. There was no significant difference in the results in Asian, white, or West Indian children. The mean values were significantly greater in boys than girls and both showed a fall in mean values with increasing age. Radiological rickets occurred in at least 4% of the survey, and was more common in Asians. Low calcium and high hydroxyproline excretion in most of those investigated and the response to vitamin D therapy suggests that most children with alkaline phosphatase levels above 30 K.A. units have rickets.Since the decline of the widespread supplementation of the diet with vitamin D, the demands of the physiological growth spurt for extra vitamin D in adolescents already on a borderline intake may be responsible for the great increase in "biochemical" rickets. Once the growth spurt is over the condition subsides but the results of impaired growth or permanent pelvic deformity will not necessarily be eradicated.
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The administration of pteroylmonoglutamic acid and either sodium bicarbonate or phenytoin sodium in normal subjects and epileptics results in lower serum levels of folic acid than when administered alone. Bicarbonate administration was shown to produce a more alkaline pH in the jejunum, while an alkaline pH was found in some epileptics on phenytoin therapy. The physicochemical mechanisms whereby folic acid absorption is reduced in an alkaline medium are considered, and the implications on folate absorption in other disease states are discussed. The mechanism by which phenytoin sodium alters the intrajejunal milieu is obscure.
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Fibrinolytic activity of colic venous and arterial blood has been studied at laparotomy in 18 patients with ulcerative colitis or Crohn's colitis and compared with that of 17 patients with colonic carcinoma or diverticulosis. Using the dilute blood clot lysis time technique, no difference was detected between the fibrinolytic activity in colic venous blood from the two groups. When the clinical complications of bleeding or thrombosis are compared with fibrinolytic activity the only important association is between a low peripheral venous fibrinolytic activity and the occurrence of postoperative thrombo-embolic complications.
Tetrazolium bioautography has been applied to the identification of folates in solutions of known concentration, and satisfactory resolution has been obtained between pteroyl-L-monoglutamic acid, calcium leucovorin, and N-5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid. The technique is suitable for the identification of folates in biological solutions, and is more specific than differential microbiological assay.