Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

J D Brown

Publications and source records attributed to J D Brown.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

Hepatitis BS antigen, malaria titers, and primary liver cancer in South Vietnam.

A total of 306 individuals from South Vietnam were studied: 61 had a diagnosis of primary liver cancer (38 had a tissue diagnosis, and 23 had a clinical diagnosis and a positive alpha-fetoprotein); 9 had viral hepatitis; 101 were hospitalized patients (60 with various other forms of liver disease and 41 without liver disease); 94 were blood donors; 29 were drug users, and 12 were medical students. Alpha-fetoprotein was present in 45 of 61 (74%) of those with a diagnois of primary liver cancer (PLC) and in none of the other patients. Using immunoelectroosmophoresis, hepatitis BS antigen (HBSAg) was found no more frequently in those with PLC than in the other groups studied. In contrast, using a radioimmunoassay technique HBSAg was present 3 to 8 times as frequently in the PLC patients as in other subjects without viral hepatitis. There was a close relationship between the presence of alpha-fetoprotein and HBSAg in the patients with PLC. Malaria seropositivity rates were no different in the PLC groups than the other groups. It appears that in South Vietnam PLC is associated with an increased frequency of HBSAg.

Adolescent↗

Tuberculous peritonitis. Low ascitic fluid glucose concentration as a diagnostic aid.

Five Vietnamese patients with tuberculous peritonitis are described. Fever, x-ray evidence of pulmonary tuberculosis, or positive PPD skin tests were absent in several patients. The diagnosis was considered only when routine paracentesis demonstrated ascitic fluids with increased protein concentrations and lymphocytic pleocytosis. Ascitic fluid glucose concentrations were less than 30 mg./100 cc. in three of five patients.

Adult↗

Immunization of mice against Coxsackievirus B3 and prevention of foetal growth retardation.

Coxsackievirus B3 infection in pregnant mice leads to a severe pancreatitis with a retardation of foetal growth and increased wastage. The present study demonstrates that animals may be immunized actively or passively against this infection to allow foetal development to proceed normally. Active immunization was achieved by injecting a low dose of live virus into 4-week-old animals. These mice were then mated at 10 weeks and given a high dose of virus on the eighth day of pregnancy. Examination at 18 days' gestation revealed that foetal growth was not significantly different from the controls injected with heat-killed virus, and pathological changes in the mothers were not seen. Animals were passively immunized against Coxsackievirus B3 in pregnancy by injecting serum from immunized animals 1 day before the high dose of live virus was given. This procedure also protected against the effects of the virus and litter sizes and foetal weights were normal.

Animals↗

Chloramphenicol-resistant Salmonella typhi in Saigon.

Chloramphenicol-resistant Salmonella typhi was detected in Saigon in September 1971. Subsequently, 163 strains of S typhi were isolated, 46 percent of which were resistant to choramphenicol by the agar-disk method. Sixty-two strains were studied by the broth-dilution method; 37 percent had minimal inhibitory concentrations for chloramphenicol greater than 250mug/ml, but all strains were susceptible to 0.4mug/ml of ampicillin and to a disk of a combination of trimethoprim and sulfamethoxazole (Bactrim). Persons infected with chloramphenicol-resistant strains of S typhi responded poorly to chloramphenicol alone, but ampicillin or the combination drug was effective.

Adult↗

Fatal falciparum malaria among narcotic injectors.

Eleven narcotic injectors from a prison in Saigon were hospitalized with falciparum malaria. Coma and intense parasitemia were common and eight patients died soon after admission. Two of three autopsied cases also had purulent pulmonary infections. No non-addicted prisoners were hospitalized for malaria. Nine more unsuspected falciparum infections were found among 29 other addicts in the prison. The clustering of malaria infections among narcotic injectors who had not been in malarious areas indicates that the malaria was transmitted by the common use of needles and syringes. Cerebral malaria in an addict may be misdiagnosed as drug intoxication. Malaria surveillance is recommended for the increasing addict population in the cities of Southeast Asia.

Adolescent↗

Serological studies with purified neuraminidase antigens of influenza B viruses.

Neuraminidase (N) can be extracted from virus particles of influenza B strains by treatment with trypsin, in a form which is free from the viral HA and has specific immunological activity. The N antigen of B/LEE/40 behaves differently from that of 1965-6 strains in gel diffusion and enzyme inhibition tests with animal antisera raised by infection or by artificial immunization with the homologous or heterologous strains. The frequency and titres of NI antibody detected in human sera by B/LEE antigen are different from those found with antigen from B/Eng/13/65. The latter antibody appears to contribute to the effect of serum HI antibody in protecting volunteers exposed to a deliberate intranasal challenge infection of the B/Eng/13/65 strain.

Animals↗