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Biomedical subjects

G Murray

Publications and source records attributed to G Murray.

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

Effects of calcium chloride administration on the postischemic isolated rat heart.

Hypercalcemic reperfusion of the postischemic heart has been associated with ventricular dysfunction and with ultrastructural changes in the mitochondria. The isolated working rat heart model was used to correlate ventricular function, mitochondrial damage, and high-energy phosphate content with degree and timing of hypercalcemia during reperfusion. When administered early during reperfusion, calcium chloride caused a dose-dependent deterioration in ventricular function, whereas calcium augmented function when it was administered after a 15-minute period of normocalcemic reperfusion. Hearts treated with calcium early during reperfusion demonstrated more mitochondrial damage and decreased stores of adenosine triphosphate than those in which calcium administration was delayed. The data indicate that a period of normocalcemic reperfusion should precede calcium administration in the postischemic heart. Mitochondrial damage resulting in decreased synthesis of adenosine triphosphate is likely the cause of ventricular dysfunction associated with calcium administration in the postischemic heart.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1991

Management options in fulminant hepatic failure.

The diagnosis of FHF carries with it a high mortality rate. Though the early results of OLT for FHF are encouraging, some have called for caution as these results are in a select population and may be similar to the optimistic early reports of now-discredited therapies. However, OLT differs fundamentally from all other interventions and, as such, it is ethically unjustified to withhold potentially life-saving therapy from patients with a predicted mortality in excess of 60%. Therefore, patients with FHF should be transferred at an early stage to an experienced liver unit where the option of liver transplantation can be considered.

Acute Kidney Injury↗
PubMed1990

Risks of acute traumatic intracranial haematoma in children and adults: implications for managing head injuries.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the factors influencing the risk of an acute traumatic intracranial haematoma in children and adults with a recent head injury. DESIGN: Prospective study of incidence of risk factors in samples of patients attending accident and emergency departments and in all patients having an acute traumatic intracranial haematoma evacuated in one regional neurosurgical unit during 11 years. SETTING: Accident and emergency departments in Scotland or Teesside and regional neurosurgical centre in Glasgow. PATIENTS: 8406 Adults and children (less than or equal to 14 years) who attended accident and emergency departments and 1007 consecutive patients who had an operation for an acute traumatic intracranial haematoma. Data were complete in 8366 and 960 patients respectively. RESULTS: Overall, children were less at risk than adults (one in 2100 v one in 348 respectively). In both age groups the presence of a skull fracture and changes in conscious level permitted identification of subgroups of patients with widely differing degrees of risk. In children the absolute risk ranged from one in almost 13,000 without a fracture or altered conscious level to one in 12 for a child in a coma and with a fracture; the pattern was similar in adults, the risks in corresponding groups ranging from one in almost 7900 to one in four. CONCLUSIONS: Although children attending hospital after a head injury have a lower overall risk of a traumatic haematoma, the main indicators of risk, a skull fracture and conscious level, are the same as in adults, and the pattern of their combined effect is similar. Guidelines for managing adults with recent head injury may therefore be applied safely to children; with the increasing provision of facilities for computed tomography they should be revised to ensure early scanning of more patients with head injury.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1990

The effect of nimodipine on outcome after head injury: a prospective randomised control trial. The British/Finnish Co-operative Head Injury Trial Group.

To study the effect of nimodipine on the outcome of head injury, three hundred and fifty-two patients who were not obeying commands were randomised to placebo or nimodipine (2 mg per hour intravenously for 7 days). The 2 groups were well matched for important prognostic features. Six months after injury, more of the patients who were given nimodipine had a favourable outcome (moderate/good recovery) than in the control group, but the increase in favourable outcome (8%) was not significant statistically.

Craniocerebral Trauma↗
PubMed1990

Blood pressure, left ventricular mass and intracellular calcium in primary hyperparathyroidism.

1. Blood pressure, left ventricular mass and platelet cytosolic free calcium concentrations were measured in 23 patients with untreated primary hyperparathyroidism, 30 normotensive control subjects and 23 control subjects matched for age, sex and blood pressure. In 12 patients measurements were repeated after parathyroidectomy. 2. Patients with primary hyperparathyroidism had significantly elevated blood pressures (139 +/- 6/86 +/- 3 mmHg, mean +/- SEM) compared with control subjects (125 +/- 2/78 +/- 1 mmHg), but high values persisted after hypercalcaemia was corrected. 3. Despite chronic extracellular hypercalcaemia, intracellular free calcium levels were lower in patients with hyperparathyroidism than in controls matched for age, sex and blood pressure (median concentrations 81.5 nmol/l vs 93 nmol/l, 95% confidence interval 0.1 to 20.1; P less than 0.05) and values tended to increase after parathyroidectomy. 4. Left ventricular mass index was increased in the primary hyperparathyroid group as compared with control subjects matched for age, sex and blood pressure (123 g/m2 vs 100 g/m2, 95% confidence interval -36.1 to -3.1; P = 0.03). Parathyroidectomy resulted in a small reduction of the left ventricular mass index (123.5 g/m2 vs 104 g/m2, 95% confidence interval 46.5 to 2.5; P = 0.1) but no change in blood pressure. 5. Hypertension and left ventricular hypertrophy in primary hyperparathyroidism are associated with relatively low levels of free calcium in platelets.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

In vivo measurements of fibrin formation and fibrinolysis in operable breast cancer.

Fibrin formation and fibrinolysis were estimated in 89 breast cancer patients by measurement in plasma of Fibrin Fragment B beta 15-42 and Fibrinopeptide A (FPA), serum Fibrin(ogen) Degradation Products (FDPs) and plasminogen activator by Fibrin Plate Lysis Assay. Results were compared with (a) 26 patients with benign breast diseases; and (b) 45 healthy factory workers. FPA, FDP and B beta 15-42 levels were elevated in both breast cancer patients and benign disease patients, but there were no significant differences between these two groups. Cancer stage, patient age and smoking habits did not affect these results, but Oestrogen Receptor (ER) positive patients had higher B beta 15-42 values than ER negative patients (p = 0.017). These results show that fibrin formation is enhanced preoperatively in patients with either benign or malignant breast disease. The fibrinolytic response to activated coagulation may be relatively deficient in breast cancer. The roles of malignancy, stress and other factors in the causation of these abnormalities require further assessment.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1989

Platelet cytosolic free calcium in essential hypertension: responses to vasopressin.

1. Resting and stimulated free calcium concentrations have been measured in platelets loaded with the fluorescent probe quin2 from 30 patients with essential hypertension and from 30 age-matched controls. 2. Cytosolic free calcium concentrations were 94.6 +/- 2.7 (mean +/- SEM) in the hypertensive group and 91.7 +/- 2.8 nmol/l in the normotensive group, the difference was not significant. 3. Arginine vasopressin caused a transient increase in platelet free calcium concentration in all subjects. In the presence of extracellular calcium the increase was significantly higher in the control subjects than in the hypertensive patients (P = 0.005). In the absence of extracellular calcium, arginine vasopressin caused much smaller increases, and there was then no difference between the responses of the two groups. 4. Platelet free calcium concentrations were measured again in 13 patients after 8 weeks treatment with either verapamil (n = 6) or atenolol (n = 7). The reductions in systolic pressure after drug treatment were correlated with the changes in cytosolic free calcium concentrations (r = 0.75, P less than 0.01).

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Effect of metoprolol on serial measurements of exchangeable sodium, blood pressure, renin and pulse rate in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

The cardioselective beta-blocker metoprolol was mixed with the diet (6 mg metoprolol/g food) and given to 9 spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) for four weeks, while 9 other SHR were given the plain diet only and served as controls. All rats were also given 0.5% drinking saline labeled with isotope 22Na (37 kBq/1) to drink. Measurements of total exchangeable sodium, blood pressure, pulse rate and weight were performed before and repeatedly during treatment. Plasma renin activity was measured at the end of the study. Before treatment exchangeable sodium, blood pressure, pulse rate and weight were no different between the groups. Metoprolol reduced the pulse rate and prevented the usual blood pressure increase in SHR. Both groups gained weight similarly. Exchangeable sodium increased similarly in both groups along with the weight increase. Plasma renin activity was not significantly different in the two groups. Thus, chronic metoprolol treatment of SHR reduced blood pressure and pulse rate in SHR but did not lower plasma renin or cause measurable sodium or fluid retention.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

[Glomerular lesions and renal transplant].

Organ transplantation represents a revolutionary advance of Medicine in the XXth Century. However, a significant problem of renal transplantation is the development of silent glomerular lesions in the kidney from live related donor. The longterm outcome of these organs as well as that of the remaining kidney in the donor are uncertain. Most lesions correspond to mesangial deposits of IgA, a process with known familial incidence. A careful selection of donor is indicated for transplantation of patients with familial forms of nephropathy. Also, renal biopsy of the potential donor may be a necessary step for timely diagnosis of this serious problem.

Glomerulonephritis, IGA↗
PubMed1988

Singing ability after right and left sided brain damage. A research note.

Capacity to sing following brain damage was investigated in a series of 15 right sided and 15 left sided lesioned subjects and 15 normal control subjects. All subjects were asked to sing the same well-known song and performance was judged by independent expert musicians using criteria of ability to pitch the melody, accurately produce the rhythm, and overall quality of the production. There was a lack of support for differential effect of right and left cerebral damage on pitch and rhythm aspects of singing, but a generalized effect of brain damage was found.

Aged↗
PubMed1987

Intestinal parasites in pet store puppies in Atlanta.

We examined 143 pups from 14 Atlanta area pet stores for intestinal parasites and reviewed deworming practices and information given to customers. Seventy-four (52 per cent) of the pups had at least one parasite including Giardia sp. (34 per cent), Toxocara canis (12 per cent), and Isospora sp. (9 per cent). Eighty-eight per cent received some form of anthelminthic treatment while at the store. Only six (43 per cent) of the stores routinely informed clients of the need to continue deworming procedures once the pup left the store.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Combination of verapamil and beta blockers in systemic hypertension.

The efficacy and safety of verapamil and propranolol were examined in 14 hypertensive patients (mean age 51.2, range 30 to 65) in a double-blind, randomized, crossover study of verapamil, 360 mg, propranolol, 240 mg, these 2 formulations in combination and placebo, each given for 4 weeks. Supine blood pressure, heart rate, atrioventricular conduction (PR interval) and left ventricular function were measured. All treatments reduced diastolic blood pressure (mean +/- standard deviation) (p less than 0.001): placebo to 106.6 +/- 8.1 mm Hg; propranolol to 93.8 +/- 7.7; verapamil to 89.8 +/- 7.8; the combination to 84.1 +/- 6.1, but the effect of the combination was significantly greater than that of either drug alone (p less than 0.05). Heart rate at rest (placebo, 80.2 +/- 12.2 beats/min) was reduced by propranolol (63.3 +/- 9.4, p less than 0.001), but not by verapamil (79.0 +/- 8.9). However, the addition of verapamil to propranolol led to a further reduction in heart rate (56.9 +/- 8.4, p less than 0.005). PR interval was prolonged significantly by the combination (185.5 +/- 35.3 ms) when compared with placebo (154.0 +/- 22.7); propranolol (159.1 +/- 21.2) and verapamil (165.5 +/- 32.4) (p less than 0.005 for each). The active drugs increased end-diastolic dimension and end-systolic dimension. For each variable, the effect of the combination was statistically significant (p less than 0.01). Fractional shortening was not altered significantly by any of the treatments. Thus verapamil plus propranolol is a very effective antihypertensive combination but heart rate, atrioventricular conduction and left ventricular function may be affected adversely, necessitating careful monitoring of therapy.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Ante-mortem and post-mortem meat inspection: an Australian Inspection Service perspective.

Australia, a major exporter of meat, has met and continues to meet the import requirements of various countries. It is free of many epizootic and zoonotic diseases and is eradicating bovine brucellosis and tuberculosis. Frequently, individual country requirements have not been relevant to the animal and public health status in Australia. Such a situation is unscientific, wasteful and unnecessary, and may divert priorities away from areas of major public and animal health significance which should be the main concern of consumers both in Australia and overseas. In recent years the Inspection Service of the Department of Primary Industry has reviewed meat inspection procedures necessary to protect public and animal health in Australia and in countries importing Australian meat. Priorities include attention to national or regional occurrence of disease in Australia and to the use of scientific principles in inspection, including disease identification, concepts of pathogenesis and effectiveness in removal of diseased tissue from meat. Revised post-mortem procedures for cattle, pigs, sheep and goats more relevant to disease occurrence and consideration of public health are described. In particular, this involves a reduction in the number of lymph node incisions. Future directions for meat inspection in Australia are postulated. Concern is expressed that the requirements of some importing countries are fixed in their legislation and consequently might inhibit desirable developments. In this context it is important that scientifically sound national codes for meat inspection of the exporting country be accepted by importing countries as providing public and animal health safeguards.

Animals↗