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Biomedical subjects

D P Mullan

Publications and source records attributed to D P Mullan.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1975

Masked primary (or tertiary) hyperparathyroidism.

Two patients are described in whom the preliminary clinical and laboratory investigations suggested a diagnosis of osteomalacia, from gluten-sensitive enteropathy in one and from anticonvulsant therapy in the other. However, when the primary disease was corrected by diet and extra vitamin D, respectively, both patients developed hypercalcaemia. A standard hydrocortisone test in the second patient failed to reduce the hypercalcaemia. In both patients parathyroid tumours were found at operation. It is suggested that both patients had tertiary hyperparathyroidism in which the normally tell-tale hypercalcaemia was at first masked by the other abnormalities, and that this masking may account for some cases reported as having normocalcaemic primary (or tertiary) hyperpatathyroidism. Interpretation of total plasma-calcium is likely to be unreliable unless the 25-hydroxyvitamin-D levels can be shown or assumed to be normal.

Adenoma↗
PubMed1967

Diagnostic value of liver function tests and Entamoeba histolytica antibody studies in East Africans.

Liver function tests and Entamoeba histolytica (E.H.) antibody titres have been studied in a variety of tropical and liver diseases. Patients with hepatic amoebiasis had a raised E.H. antibody titre and tended to have a low pseudocholinesterase activity. In two cases of amoebic liver abscess, which were treated by aspiration and emetine, there was a remarkable drop in the E.H. antibody titre. In a number of other hepatic and tropical conditions the E.H. antibody titre was not significantly raised and the liver function tests were typical of the various conditions studied.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1967

Urinary excretion of leucine aminopeptidase in pregnancy.

This paper describes enzyme studies in normal and abnormal pregnancy. Urinary leucine aminopeptidase (L.A.P.) excretion remained relatively low throughout normal single pregnancy. Urinary L.A.P. excretion was, however, raised towards term in four out of five cases of multiple pregnancy, but in one patient the predelivery urinary L.A.P. was not raised, and the second twin in this case died shortly after delivery with gross congenital abnormalities. Urinary L.A.P. was also investigated in ;high-risk' patients. One such patient had excessive loss of this enzyme throughout pregnancy, and in the discussion it is suggested that this could be due to excessive loss of oxytocinase in the urine. Patients with toxaemia were assessed on the basis of foetal survival and the maximum 24-hour pre-delivery urinary levels of leucine aminopeptidase. This urinary value could not be used to predict foetal outcome, but rose to over 120 mg. beta-naphthylamine per 24 hours in the presence of frank proteinuria. If intrauterine death occurred, the urinary L.A.P. value fell gradually. Urinary L.A.P. was also elevated in essential hypertension towards term, but in these patients there was no gross proteinuria.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗