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Biomedical subjects

F L Williams

Publications and source records attributed to F L Williams.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Associations between data for male lung cancer and female breast cancer within five countries.

Mainly on the basis of associations noted between international rates of male lung cancer and female breast cancer, passive smoking has been suggested recently as a major risk factor for female breast cancer. In this report, the authors describe the associations between data for female breast cancer and male lung cancer within five countries. For one country (Scotland) the authors examined the mortality rates of these cancers over time, and their relationship to trends for tobacco consumption. The correlations between female breast cancer and male lung cancer were significantly positive in Italy, USSR, and West Germany, weakly positive in Canada, absent in Scotland, and significantly negative in England and Wales. In Scotland, the mortality rates of these cancers over time were significantly correlated. There was a clear relationship between male lung cancer and tobacco consumption, but only a weak relationship between female breast cancer and tobacco consumption.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1989

Influence of age and testosterone levels on masculine development in rams.

Fifty wethers and 51 spring-born rams were divided into five groups and slaughtered at different seasons of the year at average ages of 271, 361, 459, 557 or 652 d to determine the age and season at which differences in secondary sex characteristics could be detected. Serum testosterone concentrations and testes weights were low in January when the rams were 271 d of age and again in April at 361 d of age. By July, at 459 d of age, testosterone concentrations and testes weights had peaked and then decreased the following November at 557 d and February at 652 d. In contrast with plasma testosterone concentrations and testes weights, buckiness scores, splenius to semimembranosus or semitendinosus muscle ratios, splenius muscle weights and neck and shoulder percentages were not seasonal. All of these measures increased significantly up to July and continued to increase slowly, but not significantly, thereafter. Muscle color and texture scores and rib eye color scores tended to increase in a linear manner for both rams and wethers as age increased. Subcutaneous fat from rams was yellower and softer than that from wethers over all age groups. Ram fat firmness did not change (P greater than .05) with age, and the only significant change in ram fat color was between the groups at 271 and 361 d of age. Overall, season of year coupled with higher levels of serum testosterone was related to initial development of secondary sex characteristics in ram lambs.

Adipose Tissue↗
PubMed1989

Influence of gender, breed and age on maturity characteristics of sheep.

Fifty-one ewes, 50 wethers and 51 rams of Finn x whiteface or Suffolk x whiteface breeding were slaughtered at an average age of 271, 361, 459, 557 or 652 d to study changes in maturity characteristics with changes in age. When metacarpal epiphyseal cartilage (growth plates) ossifies with age, break joints on the distal end of the metacarpals fuse and the end of the bone then appears as a spool joint rather than as a break joint. This fusion occurs earlier chronologically in ewes than in rams or wethers. Most Finn x whiteface-cross ewes, which normally reach reproductive maturity earlier than Suffolk x whiteface-cross ewes, exhibited ossified metacarpal growth plates by 459 d of age; break joints of Suffolk x whiteface crosses were not fused until 557 d of age. Both breed groups of rams exhibited fused joints by 557 d of age, but only 3 of 10 wethers exhibited spool joints at 652 d of age. Microscopic examination showed that even in these three wethers the epiphyseal growth plate could still be detected. Yearling 2-yr-old classifications of sheep from teeth were not gender-dependent within the discrete age classes of this study. About half the sheep in each gender group were classified as yearlings at 459 d of age and about half in each group were classified as 2-yr-olds by 652 d of age. Stepwise multiple regression equations to estimate age of sheep in days were developed. Overall maturity, lean color and texture and rib bone maturity were the best carcass measures of maturity. Maturity scores for characteristics of the break joint did not enter any of the equations studied. When eye lens weight was included in equations with the best measures of carcass maturity, accuracy of estimates for age of sheep was improved.

Age Determination by Teeth↗
PubMed1989

Cerebrovascular disease in Scotland during 1959 to 1983: its geographical distribution and associations.

A study of the geographical distribution of cerebrovascular disease in Scottish communities during three quinquennia between 1959 and 1983 showed a marked tendency for high SMRs to be present in the west of Scotland and low SMRs in the east. Cerebrovascular disease was significantly correlated with coronary heart disease, with bronchitis, emphysema and asthma, and to a lesser extent with other heart disease, with other circulatory disease and with indices of overcrowding. It was not associated with either urbanization or industrialization.

Cardiovascular Diseases↗
PubMed1988

Healthy cities.

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Health↗
PubMed1988

Twinning in human populations and in cattle exposed to air pollution from incinerators.

Human populations and animals are often exposed to the airborne pollutants in plumes from incinerators. The incineration of chemical and other waste may release polychlorinated hydrocarbons, some of which have oestrogenic properties. Increased numbers of twins had been reported anecdotally in cattle at risk from plumes from two incinerators near the town of Bonnybridge in central Scotland and also in cattle near a chemical factory in Eire. It was decided to follow up these reports in central Scotland and also to test the hypothesis that the frequency of human twinning might be increased there. Data on human twin and single births in hospitals in central Scotland were obtained for the years 1975-83. The twinning rates in areas exposed to airborne pollution from incinerators were compared with the background rates present in neighbouring areas. Farmers provided information on calving among the herds of two farms close to the incinerators. The frequency of human twinning was increased, particularly after 1979, in the areas most at risk from air pollution from the incinerators. Among the dairy cattle, there was a dramatic increase in twinning at about the same time.

Air Pollution↗
PubMed1988

Influence of diet on growth rate and carcass composition of steers differing in frame size and muscle thickness.

One hundred seventy-three steer calves, selected at weaning to represent USDA classifications for frame size (Large, L; Medium, M; Small, S) and muscle thickness (No. 1, No. 2, No. 3), were assigned to three finishing diets (grain, 3.03 Mcal ME/kg DM; silage, 2.46 Mcal ME/kg DM; forage, 2.06 Mcal ME/kg DM), forming a 3 x 3 x 3 factorial with unequal subclass numbers. The steers were slaughtered at constant weights corresponding to their respective frame size classifications (L = 590 kg, M = 499 kg; S = 408 kg). Individual live weights were recorded every 28 d during finishing and, following slaughter, one side of each carcass was dissected into muscle, bone and fat. Diet interacted with frame size to affect growth rate. Frame-related differences in growth rate were very pronounced among grain-fed steers (L greater than M greater than S) but became smaller in magnitude as feeding intensity was reduced. Diet also had a significant effect on percentage separable carcass fat, despite the fact that the steers were slaughtered at a similar percentage (approximately 60%) of their estimated potential mature weights. Carcasses produced by grain-finished steers were fattest, and those produced by forage-finished cattle were leanest. The comparative fatness of steers finished on silage was dependent on frame size. Within the L class, carcasses produced by silage-finished steers were comparatively lean and were similar in fatness to carcasses produced by forage-finished cattle. Conversely, S steers finished on silage produced carcasses that were comparable in fatness to carcasses from grain-finished cattle. Frame-related differences in percentage carcass fat were significant only within the silage treatment group (S greater than L). Differences in carcass muscle-to-bone ratio were directionally consistent with visually discernible differences in feeder cattle muscling (No. 1 greater than No. 2 greater than No. 3). The effects of muscle thickness on muscle-to-bone ratio were most pronounced within the L class.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1987

Respiratory cancer and air pollution from iron foundries in a Scottish town: an epidemiological and environmental study.

A geographical association between respiratory cancer and air pollution from steel foundries has been shown previously in Scotland and elsewhere. In the present study the iron-founding town of Kirkintilloch was found to have standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) for respiratory cancer in 1959-63, 1964-8, and 1969-73 that were unexceptional in comparison with Scotland. Nevertheless, when SMRs were calculated for respiratory cancer for the period 1966-76 in five zones of the town arranged, a priori, according to probable exposure to fumes from two iron foundries, and in the individual enumeration districts of the 1971 census, higher SMRs were found in the residential areas most exposed to pollution from the foundries. The gradient of the zones' SMRs--high close to the foundries to low at some distance from them--persisted despite standardisation of the SMRs for social class. A survey of the concentrations of several metals in soil cores sampled at 51 sites throughout the town showed a pattern of pollution that probably illustrated the effects of prevailing winds and topography on the pollution plumes from the foundries. The value of sampling soil cores in investigations where historical sources of metallic air pollution are of epidemiological interest was emphasised by the detection of high concentrations of Ni in an area where a nickel refinery had been located many decades previously.

Aged↗
PubMed1985

Effects of long-term therapy with naltrexone on body weight in obesity.

The endogenous opiate system is thought to be associated with the regulation of food intake and body weight. Opiate antagonists decrease food intake in animals, but there are no controlled studies in obese man to evaluate body weight response to naltrexone. Sixty obese people were randomized into three groups and given 0, 50, or 100 mg of the opiate antagonist naltrexone for 8 weeks in an outpatient, double-blind study. Weight loss was not significant in either the 50 or 100 mg groups as compared with placebo. However, when broken down by sex, women had a significant (P less than 0.05) weight loss of 1.7 kg, while men did not lose weight. Side effects were modest, but six subjects had one or more abnormal liver function test results; in one subject these abnormalities appeared to be clinically significant. The effects of naltrexone on weight loss were less than expected in light of prior animal studies, but further studies with a wider dose range of naltrexone may be indicated.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1985

Is the Armadale epidemic over? Air pollution and mortality from lung cancer and other diseases, 1961-82.

In Armadale, a town in central Scotland, the standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) for lung cancer were exceptionally high during 1968-74. A large cluster of cases was found in a residential zone downwind from a foundry. In the present study death certificates in the mortality registers of three town parishes were analysed for 1961-82 and the time trends of mortality from major categories of disease were examined. The distribution of mortality from lung cancer within Armadale's six residential zones was compared with that of the other diseases for the periods 1968-75 and 1976-82; the zone of particular interest was that containing the original cluster of lung cancer. The distribution of lung cancer was also compared with the pattern of air pollution by metals, collected by Sphagnum moss bags. The annual numbers of deaths from respiratory cancer in Armadale rose to a plateau in 1968-77; after a fall during 1978-80, the numbers returned in 1981 and 1982 to their previous high values. Between 1968-75 and 1976-82 the mean SMRs for all the disease categories except respiratory cancer rose. The SMR for total mortality in 1976-82 was the same as in preceding years when the standardised death rate for Armadale was the highest for Scotland in the annual reports of the Registrar General. In the zone with the highest mortality from lung cancer in 1968-75 the SMR for that disease continued to be higher than expected. That zone also showed the highest SMRs for cancer of the upper alimentary tract, cerebrovascular disease, hypertension, and coronary heart disease; its SMR for bronchitis was the second highest in the town. Pollution studies indicated that zones with high SMRs for respiratory and non-respiratory cancer were exposed to air pollution by metals. The temporal and spatial patterns are consistent with the view that the problem of mortality from cancer and non-malignant diseases in Armadale remains.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Design, synthesis, and testing of potential antisickling agents. 4. Structure-activity relationships of benzyloxy and phenoxy acids.

In this paper we further establish the activity of two classes of small molecules, benzyloxy and phenoxy acids, as potent inhibitors of hemoglobin S (HbS) gelation. Structural modifications with a large number of each class confirm our earlier work that the highest activity is observed with compounds that contain dihalogenated aromatic rings with attached polar side chains. We have also found a halogenated aromatic malonic acid derivative to be quite active. Compounds reported in this paper are compared with other antigelling agents studied in our laboratory. Comments are made concerning the antigelling activity and binding sites of four derivatives and their effect on the allosteric mechanism of hemoglobin (Hb) function.

Acetates↗