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Biomedical subjects

H L Currey

Publications and source records attributed to H L Currey.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1979

A prospective study of low back pain.

Consecutive patients attending hospital for the first time with backache were entered into a prospective study, provided that certain defined causes (infective, neoplastic, metabolic and inflammatory etc.) were not apparent at the first visit. Amongst 188 available for analysis, 65% were discharged and 28% defaulted, together making a total of 93% who 'recovered uneventfully' (in the sense that they were no longer attending hospital) on average in about three months, 4% came to 'myelography' (radiculography using Dimer-X or Amipaque) including 2% to discectomy, 1.5% proved to have treatable underlying diseases accounting for their backache while 1.5% became 'chronic attenders'. Information available at the first visit (patient characteristics, history, examination, radiographs and psychological questionnaire) provided few pointers to what the outcome would be or how long the patient would attend hospital. In particular, routine X-ray examination did not provide clues to any important conditions not already suspected by the clinicians. A case is made for reserving routine radiography for patients who have not recovered within about three months.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Palindromic rheumatism. II. Failure to detect circulating immune complexes during acute episodes.

Thirty-eight samples of blood and 2 of synovial fluid were obtained from 19 patients suffering from palindromic rheumatism. In 12 cases samples were obtained from the same patient both during and between acute attacks. The presence of immune complexes was sought by a C1q-binding test. Most patients gave negative results: moderately elevated levels were obtained in a few. Broadly the pattern of results showed that individual patients were either positive or negative irrespective of whether they were in an attack or in remission. C3 and C4 measurements showed no significant abnormalities, confirming previous studies. Patients with elevated C1q-binding tests tended to be seropositive. We speculate that these are patients more likely to develop rheumatoid arthritis.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1979

Antibody-dependent and PHA-induced cellular cytotoxicity in rheumatoid arthritis.

One hundred and thirty nine observations of antibody-dependent cell mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) were made on 77 with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and 17 healthy controls. There were no differences in ADCC between these 2 groups or within the RA group with regard to disease activity, duration, seropositivity, or drug treatment. Sixty observations of phytohaemagglutinin induced cytotoxicity were made on 22 patients with RA and 10 healthy controls. Again there were no differences in cytotoxicity between the 2 groups.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

The management of inflammation in rheumatic diseases.

Drugs used to control inflammation in the rheumatic diseases are extremely diverse. Despite this, the pattern of clinical response and similarities in side-effects allow them to be subdivided into groups. These patterns also provide clues about the mode of action of the drugs. Conversely, studies of the mechanisms of action of drugs used to treat rheumatoid arthritis are beginning to throw light on the pathological process.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗
PubMed1977

Backache in pregnancy.

Replies to a questionnaire showed that, amongst 180 women delivered in The London Hospital, 48% experienced backache during pregnancy; in one third of these it was severe. The prevalence of back pain increased with both increasing age and increasing parity, and it was difficult to separate the relative contributions of these two factors. No evidence was found of an association between backache during pregnancy and height, weight, 'obesity index', weight gain, or baby's weight. Analysis of aggravating and relieving factors indicates some differences between backache in the pregnant and 'mechanical' back pain in the non-pregnant. Slightly less backache was reported amongst patients attending antenatal physiotherapy classes but the figures do not provide clear evidence of any protective effect of this attendance.

Back Pain↗
PubMed1977

Palindromic rheumatism. Clinical and serum complement study.

A review of 39 patients diagnosed as suffering from palindromic rheumatism showed that 17 cases had evolved into typical rheumatoid arthritis (RA), while 22 had remained palindromic. The pattern of palindromic attacks in the two groups gave no grounds for regarding palindromic rheumatism as a separate condition from RA with palindromic onset. At the first attendance minor clinical or radiological changes, raised erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and positive serology were more common along those patients who were about to develop the picture of RA. Rheumatoid disease developing in patients with a palindromic onset was at least as severe as that among other patients with RA. 5 patients gave a history suggestive of fluid retention during the palindromic episodes, suggesting that attacks might be related to circulating immune complexes and altered vascular permeability. However, samples of blood obtained from 6 patients both during and between attacks showed no reduction in any of a variety of complement components tested.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Comparison of the effects of alclofenac, flurbiprofen, and prednisolone on acute inflammatory response in the rat.

The fluid and cellular phases of the inflammatory response were measured using a technique employing subcutaneous implantation of polyurethane foam cubes impregnated with heat-killed Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Fluribiprofen and prednisolone were equipotent and were capable of almost completely suppressing fluid and cellular responses, while alclofenac was less potent at nontoxic dose levels. Study of the patterns of cellular exudation by image analysing computer showed that alcofenac appears unique in that it produces a well-defined cell-free zone between the edge of the implanted cubes and a band of neutrophil polymorphs within the cubes.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

The effect of anti-inflammatory and antirheumatic drugs on inflammation in the rat.

The anti-inflammatory effects of flurbiprofen and a number of other antirheumatic agents were studied in the rat using a model of inflammation, which involved the subcutaneous implantation of polyurethane cubes impregnated with an irritant. Results of acute and chronic studies indicated that flurbiprofen was extremely effective in suppressing both fluid and cellular phases of inflammation and, in this model, was comparable in potency to prednisolone.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1975

Influence of tubercle aggregate size on severity of adjuvant arthritis in the rat.

Incorporation into Freund's complete adjuvant of tuberculous aggregates smaller than 90 mum in size is essential to produce adjuvant arthritis in the rat, and this correlates with a significantly greater degree of cell-mediated immunity to tuberculous antigens produced by small aggregates (smaller than 90 mum), when compared with large (larger than 90 mum) aggregates. This requirement for small aggregates to render Freund's complete adjuvant arthritogenic is not paralleled by detectable differences in antimycobacterial humoral antibody production nor by a size-dependent requirement for a conventional adjuvant effect.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Assessment of anti-inflammatory drugs in the rat using subcutaneous implants of polyurethane foam impregnated with dead tubercle bacilli.

The fluid and cellular phases of inflammatory resonse have been measured using a technique employing subcutaneous implantation of polyurethane foam cubes impregnated with heat-killed Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Phenylbutazone, azathioprine, aspirin, cyclophosphamide, and prednisolone suppressed fluid response, whereas sodium aurothiomalate, hydroxychloroquine, and D-penicillamine had no effect. All the drugs used suppressed the infiltration of inflammatory cells into the cubes.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Adjuvant arthritis in the rat. Distribution of fluorescent material after footpad injection of rhodamine-labelled tubercle bacilli.

Adjuvant disease in the rat may represent a cell-mediated response to tuberculous material disseminated from the original injection site, but previous studies have provided only indirect evidence for this dissemination. In the present experiments tubercle bacilli labelled in vitro with rhodamine isothiocyanate (RITC) were injected into a footpad as Freund's complete adjuvant. Serial studies showed two varieties of fluorescent material in the tissues (1) intracellular and extracellular intact and fragmented bacilli, and (2) amorphous intracellular material. Both types of material were identified in the injected foot and draining lymph nodes. Bacilli were also identified in the contralateral knee joint, peritoneum, pleura, lung, and liver, while amorphous material alone appeared in the spleen. The presence of intact bacilli was confirmed by positive Ziehl-Nielsen staining of the organisms, but the amorphous intracellular material did not stain positively by this method. The use of RITC-labelled organisms considerably reduced the severity of adjuvant disease. Most of the organisms identified in sites distant from the injected limb were not situated within foci of inflammation. Marked differences in processing of the tuberculous material (and lack of dissemination of intact bacilli) were noted when labelled organisms were injected in saline instead of in oil.

Animals↗