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Biomedical subjects

E Roman

Publications and source records attributed to E Roman.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

Low birthweight, preterm, and small for gestational age babies in Scotland, 1981-1984.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The aim was to examine the effect of maternal age, gravidity, marital status, previous perinatal deaths, and parental social class on babies born low birthweight, preterm, and small for gestational age. DESIGN: The study used data on discharge summaries from all maternity hospitals in Scotland. SETTING: The study was based on all singleton deliveries in Scotland. PARTICIPANTS: The analysis involved information on 259,462 singleton babies born during the four years 1981-84 in Scotland. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Previous perinatal death was found to be the strongest predictor for both preterm and low birthweight. Single mothers were at particularly high risk of having a small for gestational age baby and those who were previously married of having a preterm baby. Women aged less than 20 years old, those over 34 years old, nulligravidae, and those of parity 3 or more were also at increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcome. Mothers and fathers in manual social classes and those who could not be assigned a social class on the basis of their occupation were at increased risk for all three adverse outcomes studied. The babies of parents who were in manual occupations were twice as likely as those of parents in non-manual occupations to be small for gestational age and almost twice as likely to be low birthweight. CONCLUSIONS: Mother's social class is a risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcome independent of maternal age, parity, and adverse reproductive history, and also independent of father's social class. Information on both parents' occupations should be collected in maternity discharge systems.

Female↗
PubMed1991

Pernicious anaemia in the textile industry.

The objective was to examine whether the observed excess mortality from anaemia in textile and clothing workers was associated with any specific anaemia type or occupational activity. The design was a death certificate based case-control study of textile and clothing workers who died in England and Wales in the years surrounding the decennial censuses of 1961, 1971, and 1981. The main outcome measures were type of anaemia, place of residence, place of birth, and occupation. The frequency of the different types of anaemia in textile and clothing workers differed from that of England and Wales with relatively more deaths from pernicious anaemia than in the country as a whole (74 observed v 55 expected deaths). Within the industry, those whose death was attributed to pernicious anaemia were more than twice as likely as other textile and clothing workers to have worked in textile mills (odds ratio = 2.4, 95% confidence interval 1.4-4.2). These results could not be explained by age, sex, place of residence, or place of birth, and review of the death certificates did not suggest that pernicious anaemia as a cause of death had been recorded in error. Historical support for the finding was found in the Registrar General's 1931 decennial supplement on occupational mortality, in which the standardised mortality ratio from pernicious anaemia in male textile mill workers was estimated to be twice that of the general population. In conclusion, occupational factors, specifically work in textile mills, could be implicated in the pathogenesis of pernicious anaemia. The aetiology of this disease is not well understood and further study of pernicious anaemia in textile mill workers is required.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Analysis of human T-cell epitopes in the 19,000 MW antigen of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: influence of HLA-DR.

The potential number of T-cell epitopes in the 19,000 molecular weight (MW) antigen has been investigated using overlapping peptides which comprise the complete sequence. Sixteen potential epitopes could be deduced from the responses to these peptides by polyclonal T cells derived from 22 antigen-responsive donors. The majority of epitopes were not predicted by either of the major paradigms, the Rothbard motif and the amphipathic helix. A hierarchy of epitopes was indicated by the responses, which ranged from strong and frequent in the N-terminal region, to moderate or weak elsewhere. Some epitopes were restricted by single HLA-DR determinants, or families of determinants sharing structural features in common, whilst the two N-terminal peptides were recognized by donors with a diversity of DR types. The high degree of T-cell recognition of the N-terminal region may be of relevance to the design of a sub-unit vaccine capable of priming T cells against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1990

The pill, parity, and rheumatoid arthritis.

We report on a case-control study investigating the relationship of oral contraceptive pill (OCP) use and parity to the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Women with RA were compared with 2 separate control groups, women with osteoarthritis (OA) and women randomly selected from a population-based electoral register. Nulliparity was found to be a risk factor for the development of RA, with age-adjusted odds ratios of 1.82 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.09-3.03) versus the OA control group and 1.83 (95% CI 1.03-3.06) versus the population control group. Use of OCPs before the age of 35 was negatively associated with RA (odds ratio 0.56, 95% CI 0.29-1.12 versus the OA control group; odds ratio 0.6, 95% CI 0.30-1.17 versus the population control group). Some evidence of a duration-response effect was seen, although the numbers were small. The 2 variables were also multiplicative, with nulliparous non-OCP users having a 4-fold risk of RA compared with parous OCP users. These findings suggest that pregnancy and OCP use have a "protective effect" on the development of RA, although the mechanism remains unclear.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Influence of balanced occlusion and canine guidance on electromyographic activity of elevator muscles in complete denture wearers.

Electromyographic recordings were made from the anterior temporal and masseter muscles during maximal voluntary clenching with complete dentures in the intercuspal position and in the laterotrusive jaw position with balanced occlusion and canine guidance. The different pattern of activity of the two muscles in the laterotrusive occlusal schemes studied suggests that their motoneuron pools receive different inputs. The lower activity in both muscles with canine guidance suggests that canine guidance may be a significant factor for preventing parafunctional activity in edentulous patients.

Aged↗
PubMed1988

Regional differences in maternal mortality in Greece, 1973-1982.

Maternal mortality in the ten regions of Greece during the period 1973-82 is examined. In Greece as a whole, maternal mortality declined from 27.2 per 100,000 livebirths in 1973, to 12.0 in 1982. During these ten years, the age standardized maternal mortality ratios (SMRs) of two regions was significantly raised, Thrace (SMR = 295, 95% CL = 187-443) and the Aegean Islands (SMR = 197, 95% CL = 117-311). Greater Athens was the only region with significantly reduced maternal mortality (SMR = 77, 95% CL = 59-99). In two regions, Thrace and Epirus, maternal mortality increased during the ten years studied. To explore the possible reasons for the observed geographical differences in maternal mortality, data on three sociodemographic and three obstetric service indicators are presented. Regions with the highest proportion of hospital births had the lowest SMRs (p less than 0.05); and it is suggested that cultural factors in the case of Thrace, mainly emanating from the Muslim minority living in this region, and topographical factors, in the case of the Aegean Islands and Epirus, may have influenced maternal mortality by adversely affecting maternity service usage and availability.

Female↗
PubMed1988

Adverse reproductive outcomes in women who subsequently develop rheumatoid arthritis.

The rates of adverse reproductive outcomes in 40 women with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were compared with 67 of their unaffected female relatives. All women were aged between 35 and 65 years at the time of inquiry. Seven of the women with RA reported a perinatal death (six stillbirths, one early neonatal death) compared with one women in the unaffected group: estimated age adjusted relative risk (R) = 12.4, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.6-91.1. The rate of spontaneous abortions was, however, not significantly different between the two groups (R = 1.2, 95% CI 0.5-2.9). All the perinatal deaths occurred before clinical disease onset in the women with RA. It is possible that in these two groups of women with a similar genetic background perinatal loss may be related, at least in part, to disease expression.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗
PubMed1987

Childhood leukaemia in the West Berkshire and Basingstoke and North Hampshire District Health Authorities in relation to nuclear establishments in the vicinity.

During the years 1972-85, 89 children aged 0-14 were registered with leukaemia in the West Berkshire and Basingstoke and North Hampshire District Health Authorities. Two nuclear establishments are located within the health authorities, and a third is situated nearby. Fifty of the 143 electoral wards in the two district health authorities lie wholly within, or have at least half their area lying within, a circle of radius 10 km around the establishments. In those 50 electoral wards 41 children aged 0-14 were registered with leukaemia, 28.6 registrations being expected on the basis of leukaemia registration rates in England and Wales (incidence ratio = 1.4, p less than 0.05). This excess was confined to children aged 0-4, among whom there were 29 registrations of leukaemia, 14.4 being expected (incidence ratio = 2.0, p less than 0.001). In the remaining 93 electoral wards there was a small and non-significant increase in the number of registrations of leukaemia at age 0-14 (48 observed, 40.8 expected; incidence ratio = 1.2). There was no obvious trend in the incidence of childhood leukaemia over the 14 years and the overall occurrence of the malignancy in the 143 electoral wards was consistent with a random distribution. In the surrounding Oxford and Wessex Regional Health Authorities the number of registrations of leukaemia at age 0-14 was virtually identical with that expected on the basis of registration rates in England and Wales (362 observed, 372.5 expected; incidence ratio = 1.0). These data indicate that in the two district health authorities studied there was an excess incidence of childhood leukaemia during 1972-85 in the vicinity of the nuclear establishments. In the West Berkshire and Basingstoke and North Hampshire District Health Authorities an average of 60,000 children aged 0-14 lived within a 10 km radius of a nuclear establishment each year. The normal expectation of leukaemia in these children was two cases a year, whereas the recorded incidence was three cases per year, representing one extra case of leukaemia each year among these 60,000 children.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

The effects of propranolol stereoisomers on nomotopic and ectopic cardiac automaticity in the rat.

The effect of the two isomers of propranolol was tested on nomotopic and ectopic cardiac automaticity in the rat. The spontaneously beating isolated right atria of the rat was used as a model for studying the effect of these drugs on nomotopic automaticity. Ectopic automaticity was induced by local injury of the isolated right ventricle. Both dextro and levopropranolol reduce nomotopic and abolish ectopic automaticity (ID50 was 0.17 microM for d-propranolol and 0.96 microM for 1-propranolol) in the rat heart. We conclude that the membrane stabilizing activity, which is present functionally in both stereoisomers, plays a significant role in the effect of these drugs on cardiac automaticity. On the other hand, the property of competitive blocking of beta-adrenergic receptors, which mainly resides in the levoisomer of propranolol does not seem to be essential for this effect.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Occupational mortality among women in England and Wales.

Occupational mortality in women who died in England and Wales from 1970 to 1972 was analysed. Many of the associations found were consistent with those that have been described for men, with high mortality ratios for cirrhosis in barmaids and publicans, for suicide in the medical and allied professions, and for respiratory disease in textile workers. Parity is a determinant of patterns of disease in working women, and the relative excess of cancer of the breast, ovary, and uterine body in professional and clerical workers probably reflected the high proportion of nulliparous women in these groups. Other associations may have reflected true occupational hazards; one observation requiring further attention was the high proportional mortality ratio for anaemia in textile and clothing workers. The description of the occupational mortality among women in England and Wales is hampered by the incomplete recording of information about women's occupations at registration of death. As women now constitute 40% of the workforce, often have their own specific occupations, and possibly also have their own diseases related to specific occupations it is time for the registrar's guidelines on the recording of women's occupation--last reviewed at the beginning of this century--to be revised.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Poor reproductive outcome in insulin-dependent diabetic women associated with later development of other endocrine disorders in the mothers.

In a prospective study of insulin-dependent diabetic women who in the 1950s were involved in a drug trial, 13 (14%) of those who were still alive 27 years later were reported to have acquired thyroid disease or pernicious anaemia during the follow-up period. This suggests that their diabetes mellitus was a manifestation of a more generalised polyendocrine disorder. The pregnancy history of these 13 women differed strikingly from that of the other 82 insulin-dependent diabetic women: in the diabetic women who subsequently acquired other endocrine disease 69% of pregnancies resulted in a fetal or infant death, compared with 44% in other insulin-dependent diabetic women (p less than 0.01). This risk increased with pregnancy order, the odds ratio of an unfavourable outcome in women who later acquired thyroid disease or pernicious anaemia, compared with the other diabetic women, being 1.2 for the first pregnancy, 3.1 for the second pregnancy, 7.3 for the third pregnancy, and 14.0 for the fourth pregnancy. The mean birthweight of offspring of the women with other endocrine disease was substantially lower than the mean birthweight of offspring of other diabetic mothers (2977 g and 3430 g, respectively). These differences in birthweight and mortality could not be explained by the severity of the mothers' diabetes at the time of their pregnancies, and were evident even before the diabetes was diagnosed.

Abortion, Spontaneous↗
PubMed1984

Fetal loss rates and their relation to pregnancy order.

Much of the recent controversy surrounding the relation between fetal death and pregnancy order has centred around the appropriateness of different types of analyses. In the present paper the interpretation of various methods are discussed with reference to "real" and "hypothetical" data. The pattern of results obtained when the fetal loss rates of a group of pregnancies are tabulated by pregnancy order was found to depend on the risk and parity distributions of the study population. These two parameters did not, however, appear to affect the within "sibship" or "gravidity" group patterns. These findings support the hypothesis that the frequently observed increase in fetal death rates in pregnancy orders above two could be largely artifactual. It is concluded that in any investigation of reproductive events women, and not their pregnancies, should form the prime unit of analyses.

Birth Order↗