Search PubMedSearch

Biomedical subjects

E Neville

Publications and source records attributed to E Neville.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Bronchiectasis and rheumatoid disease: is there an association?

Rheumatoid arthritis is associated with a number of pleuropulmonary disorders. A retrospective study of the frequency of rheumatoid disease in patients with bronchiectasis and pulmonary fibrosis was performed. The results suggest that the frequency of bronchiectasis and rheumatoid disease is similar to that of the well established, but rare, association between pulmonary fibrosis and rheumatoid arthritis. We therefore suggest that bronchiectasis should be remembered as a pulmonary association of rheumatoid disease which occurs as commonly as pulmonary fibrosis.

Aged

Bone scan hot spots in a patient with lung cancer: ischaemic necrosis of bone mimicking metastatic carcinoma.

A 62-year-old man complained of a pain in his leg four months after radical surgery for a bronchial adenocarcinoma. Skeletal scintigraphy showed increased uptake of isotope in the lower femur and upper tibia corresponding to an abnormal area on the plain radiographs. Bone metastases were thought to be the most likely cause of these findings. Since the appearances were not entirely typical, bone biopsy was undertaken to confirm the diagnosis. This showed ischaemic necrosis of bone, related to a previous acute arterial occlusion. In view of the serious implications for a patient if an erroneous diagnosis of metastatic disease is made following potentially curative treatment for cancer, such a diagnosis should be proven, not assumed. Bone biopsy should be considered when solitary skeletal lesions develop in radically treated cancer patients with no other evidence of metastasis.

Adenocarcinoma

A fraction derived from brewer's yeast inhibits cholesterol synthesis by rat liver preparations in vitro.

Brewer's yeast was grown on a defined medium containing tracer 51Cr with or without added chromium. The two batches of yeast contained 10 microgram/g (high-Cr) or 80 ng/g (low-Cr). Extracts were prepared and fractionated. A third batch of yeast (third batch) was grown with added Cr, and fractionated. Rats were reared on either rat cubes (normal diet) or on a low-Cr diet (low-Cr), or on rat cubes with added cholestyramine (cholestyramine diet). Preparations of rat liver, both cell-free and intact hepatocytes, incorporated acetate-carbon into fatty acids and cholesterol. These processes were inhibited by a yeast fraction containing small, neutral, water-soluble compounds. The degree of inhibition was the same whether the liver came from normal rats or rats fed on the low-Cr diet. Similarly the inhibitory effect was found with identical amounts of extracts from low- or high-Cr yeasts. Therefore, Cr compounds do not appear to account for the inhibitory effects of brewer's yeast. Use of other substrates indicated that the site of inhibition of sterol synthesis was apparently between acetyl-CoA and mevalonate. One inhibitory substance was isolated from yeast and was found to be nicotinamide riboside. This may have been produced from NAD(P) during the preparation of yeast extracts, and it may be produced from dietary yeast supplements during digestion in vivo. Nicotinamide riboside may be partly responsible for the reported effects of yeast supplements on plasma lipids in humans.

Animals

Effects of extracts of high- and low-chromium brewer's yeast on metabolism of glucose by hepatocytes from rats fed on high- or low-Cr diets.

Brewer's yeast was grown on a defined medium containing glucose, ammonia, salts and vitamins plus tracer 51Cr without (low-Cr) or with (high-Cr) carrier Cr. The two batches of yeast differed by more than 100-fold in Cr content, containing 80 ng and 10 micrograms Cr/g dry yeast respectively. Extraction and fractionation procedures were designed to isolate Cr complexes with properties similar to those reported for glucose tolerance factor. After weaning, rats were reared on rat cubes (normal diet) or on a diet containing less than 0.1 microgram Cr/kg (low-Cr diet), or on the low-Cr diet supplemented with Cr (1 mg Cr/kg). Hepatocytes from these rats were incubated with [U-14C]glucose and incorporation of 14C into glycogen was measured. Incorporation of glucose-C into glycogen was enhanced by some yeast fractions in the presence of insulin, but had less effect in the absence of insulin. No difference could be detected between the responses to fractions from high- or low-Cr yeast extracts, or between responses by hepatocytes from animals fed on normal or low-Cr diets with or without Cr supplementation. Glycogen synthetase (EC 2.4.1.11) activity (total and percentage in the a form) was similar in hepatocytes isolated from animals on the normal and low-Cr diets. Those yeast fractions which enhanced the response to insulin in the 14C-incorporation experiments also enhanced the percentage of the enzyme in the a form in the presence of insulin, but not in the absence of insulin. The presence in yeast extracts of material which enhances the response to insulin by hepatocytes may help to explain the reported beneficial effects of dietary yeast supplements on glucose tolerance.

Animals

Progressive apical pleural fibrosis: a 'constrictive' ventilatory defect.

We report two patients with bilateral apical pleural fibrosis which may be a form of benign asbestos-related pleurisy, one of these being steroid responsive. The pulmonary function defect of reduced lung volumes with raised gas transfer coefficient is characteristic and is best described as 'constrictive'.

Adult

Sarcoidosis: the clinical problem.

This paper reviews the clinical manifestations of acute and chronic sarcoidosis. The indications for measuring serum angiotensin converting enzyme and for performing pulmonary function tests, bronchiolo-alveolar lavage and gallium scans are discussed and the modern indications for performing a Kveim Siltzbach test are also considered. The main treatment available for patients with sarcoidosis is systemic steroids and the indications in the various systems for using these drugs are discussed.

Acute Disease

Extracts of brewer's yeast contain GABA which enhances activation of glycogen synthetase by insulin in isolated rat hepatocytes.

Extracts of brewer's yeast have been fractionated, and the effects of fractions on the incorporation of 14C-labelled precursors into glycogen by hepatocytes have been studied. Purification of fractions which enhanced response to insulin resulted in the isolation of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) which stimulated glycogen synthetase activity in the presence but not in the absence of suboptimal insulin concentrations.

Animals

A phaeochromocytoma presenting with Cushing's syndrome associated with increased concentrations of circulating corticotrophin-releasing factor.

The case is described of a 61-year-old male who presented with hypertension and Cushing's syndrome which resolved on excision of a unilateral adrenal mass. Histology of the tumour revealed a benign phaeochromocytoma which immunostained for corticotrophin-releasing factor (CRF-41) but not for ACTH. Preoperative plasma concentrations of immunoreactive CRF-41 were increased, and gradients for both CRF-41 and ACTH were demonstrated across the tumour. Post-operatively, CRF-41 was undetectable in plasma. The tumour contained high concentrations of immunoreactive CRF-41 which co-eluted with synthetic human CRF-41 on reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. Tumour CRF-41 stimulated the release of ACTH in a dose-dependent manner from isolated rat anterior pituitary cells. We conclude that this tumour secreted CRF-41 and ACTH and had the capacity to produce ACTH-dependent Cushing's syndrome directly by secreting ACTH and indirectly by secreting CRF-41 to stimulate ACTH secretion from the anterior pituitary.

Adrenal Gland Neoplasms

HLA antigens in sarcoidosis.

The HLA antigens were identified in sixty-five patients with sarcoidosis, comprising forty-five with uveitis, twelve with erythema nodosum and eight with arthritis. In the group with arthritis, B8 was present in seven of eight (P = 0-0016) and the haplotype 1,8 in five of eight (P = 0-0053). A1 was present in 44% with uveitis (P = 0-04). There was no other significant disturbance of antigen frequencies in uveitis or in erythema nodosum, but it was noteworthy that B27 was present in only two patients with uveitis.

Arthritis

Sarcoidosis of bone.

Sarcoidosis of bone has been observed in 29 patients for up to 43 years. It was present in the hands and/or feet in 26 patients, in the nasal bone in three and once each in the hard palate and temporal bones. There were three types of bone lesion: (a) lytic in 25 patients; rounded cortical or medullary lesions ranging in size from 1 mm to 1 cm in diameter, which on healing left a residual punched-out 'cyst'; (b) permeative in nine patients; these showed progressive cortical 'tunnelling' with remodelling of trabecular and cortical architecture; (c) destructive in three patients: rapidly progressive with pathological fractures and secondary joint surface involvement. Soft tissue swelling preceded the radiological abnormality for up to four yearts in 10 patients, accompanied it twice, followed it once and was absent on 16 (55 percent) occasions. Bone involvement was usually an incidental finding when sarcoidosis presented elsewhere. Other features included intrathoracic sarcoid (86 per cent), lupus pernio (48 per cent), skin plaques (41 per cent), ocular inflammation (48 per cent), nasal mucosal disease (24 per cent), lymphadenopathy (24 per cent), hepatomegaly (13 per cent), splenomegaly (10 per cent), and parotid enlargement (10 per cent). Pulmonary infiltration with or without lymphadenopathy was observed in three fifths and hilar adenopathy alone in one third of patients. Abnormalities in chest radiographs of patients with bone sarcoid resolved in only 20 per cent. Hypercalciuria was noted in one and hypercalcaemia in the other two patients with bone distruction.

Adult