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Biomedical subjects

D B Caplan

Publications and source records attributed to D B Caplan.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Evidence for hypertyraminemia in Reye's syndrome.

Utilizing a specific and sensitive radioimmunoassay, palsma and urine tyramine were measured in 14 consecutive patients with liver biopsy-proven Reye's syndrome. Plasma tyrosine was measured in 11 of these patients. The results revealed significant (P less than .003) elevation in plasma (3.4 +/- .52 ng/ml) (mean +/- SEM) and urine (1.00 +/- .26 mg/24 hr) tyramine as well as plasma tyrosine (204 +/- 52.5 mumole/liter) at the onset of the disease when compared to the levels of tyramine and tyrosine in a group of hospitalized patients without hepatic disorders. Furthermore, there was a positive correlation between plasma tyramine and days in coma (r = .86; P less than .001), and between plasma tyramine and tyrosine (r = 0.80; P less than .001). These data suggest that there is s substantial disturbance of tyrosine metabolism in Reye's syndrome and that the accumulation of this amino acid and its metabolite, tyramine, may contribute to the encephalopathy of this disease.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Quantitative changes of serum lipoprotein-X after cholestyramine administration in infants with cholestatic biliary tract and liver disease.

Lipoprotein-X (LP-X) was determined before and after the administration of cholestyramine in fifty-five infants with persistent cholestatic jaundice to differentiate between intra- and extrahepatic disease. In twenty-seven infants with biliary atresia, serum LP-X prior to cholestyramine ranged from 0.87 to 11.42 g/l (mean: 3.43 g/l; the average concentration was significantly lower (P less than 0.001) in males. After cholestyramine, LP-X rose in twenty-three, remained the same in two, and decreased slightly in two infants. Serum LP-X was present in twenty of the twenty-eight infants with intrahepatic cholestasis prior to cholestyramine in concentrations from 0.84 to 14.19 g/l (mean: 3.13 g/l). After cholestyramine, LP-X decreased in all by an average of 78% (P less than 0.005). The other eight infants did not have LP-X before or after cholestyramine. This study shows that LP-X in the serum of infants with cholestatic jaundice indicates severe cholestasis, but is not itself diagnostic of biliary atresia. The differentiation of biliary atresia from other diseases is readily achieved, as the administration of cholestyramine for 2-3 weeks causes a marked decrease of serum LP-X in patients with patent extrahepatic bile ducts. The absence of serum LP-X excludes biliary atresia.

Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Treatment of lower respiratory tract infections due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa in patients with cystic fibrosis.

Twenty-nine patients with cystic fibrosis received either cefsulodin or a reference agent (tobramycin or ticarcillin) in a randomized manner for treatment of pulmonary infections associated with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Patients ranged in age from 12 to 30 years. Their infections were classified as mild (six), moderate (16), or severe (seven). Fourteen patients received cefsulodin, 14 patients were treated with tobramycin, and one patient received ticarcillin. Significant clinical improvement was noted in the majority of patients in both groups. Adverse effects and development of laboratory abnormalities were uncommon in both groups. P. aeruginosa was not permanently eradicated from the sputum of any of the patients. Resistance as measured by disk susceptibility testing may have developed during and immediately after therapy in the cefsulodin group but not in those treated with reference agents. However, this did not appear to affect the clinical outcome. Results of the nonrandomized portion of this multicenter study, in which 46 patients were treated with cefsulodin, were similar to those for the randomized group. Thus, cefsulodin was shown to be as clinically effective as the reference agents in the treatment of lower respiratory tract infections due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa in patients with cystic fibrosis.

Adolescent↗