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Biomedical subjects

J O Forfar

Publications and source records attributed to J O Forfar.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Magnesium therapy in neonatal tetany.

104 infants with symptomatic hypocalcaemia were randomly allocated to treatment with calcium gluconate, phenobarbitone, or magnesium sulphate. Infants treated with magnesium sulphate had higher plasma-calcium concentrations after 48 hours' treatment and fewer convulsions during and after the treatment period. Magnesium sulphate is recommended as the treatment of choice in symptomatic neonatal tetany whether or not there is hypomagnesaemia.

Administration, Oral

Clinical and biochemical assessment of a modified evaporated milk for infant feeding.

A clinical and biochemical evaluation has been made of a new milk formula, Modified Carnation milk (MCM), based on cows' milk but with the mineral content and concentration of caloric nutrients altered to make it correspond more closely to human milk. MCM produced higher plasma calcium and magnesium concentrations in 6-day-old infants than those produced by unmodified evaporated and dried milks, achieving concentrations closer to those of breast milk. Plasma free amino acid concentrations in MCM-fed infants are nearer breast-fed values than those in unmodified milk-fed infants where higher individual plasma amino acid concentrations persist during the first 3 months. MCM-fed infants had low plasma urea concentrations and lower urine osmolalities at 6 days, 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months than infants fed on the evaporated and dried milks, and similar plasma urea and urine osmolalities to those of breast-fed infants. MCM is likely to be superior to unmodified evaporated and dried milks in preventing convulsions of the hypocalcaemic/hypomagnesaemic/hyperphosphataemic type, and seems less likely to cause hypertonic dehydration. MCM is easily prepared, readily accepted by babies, and appears to be nutritionally adequate for the feeding of term infants.

Amino Acids

Erythromycin resistance in neonatal staphylococcal infection: a long-term survey.

Twenty years ago staphylococcal infection was a major problem among newborn infants in hospitals. Hygienic measures had not proved very effective and the use of antibiotics, although clearly open to question, seemed a possible method of control. Erythromycin, a new antibiotic effective against staphylococci, had just been introduced but reports from the United States suggested that resistance could occur within months of usage. In trials in two hospitals in which erythromycin was not being used elsewhere, erythromycin resistance developed but took years to do so. The longer the period of usage was extended the greater the resistance. Withdrawal of the drug resulted ultimately in the disappearance of resistance. The resistant staphylococci spread throughout the hospital. The staphylococcal infection rate in the units where erythromycin was used did not fall but the mortality rate from staphylococcal infection did.

Cross Infection

Hyaline-membrane disease, alkaline buffer treatment, and cerebral intraventricular halphaemorrhage.

In 55 preterm infants dying from hyaline-membrane disease (H.M.D.) in 1971-74, infants with associated cerebral intraventricular haemorrhage (H.M.D./I.V.H.) had been given more intravascular sodium-bicarbonate solution, but the same proportions of cases with H.M.D. and H.M.D./I.V.H. received bicarbonate at the time of birth. Much of the sodium-bicarbonate solution given to H.M.D./I.V.H. infants was injected in response to the clinical effects of I.V.H. Maximum serum-sodium concentrations correlated with sodium-bicarbonate dosage but not I.V.H. The incidence of I.V.H. in preterm infants in 1971-74 was unchanged from 1956-59 when alkaline buffer treatment was not used. These findings do not suggest that sodium-bicarbonate therapy plays a major part in the pathogenesis of I.V.H.

Bicarbonates

Pharmacology of some oral penicillins in the newborn infant.

Serum and urine concentrations of ampicillin, amoxycillin, and flucloxacillin achieved after oral administration have been measured in 27 newborn infants. Compared with adults and children, newborn infants show a delay in achieving adequate blood concentrations, presumably due to delayed absorption. However most infants achieve therapeutic concentrations in the serum. Infected newborn infants should be given these antibiotics by intramuscular injection for the first dose, but thereafter oral therapy (25 mg/lg every 6 hours begun concomitantly) should be satisfactory. The better absorption of amoxycillin compared with ampicillin reported in adults has not been confirmed in the newborn infant.

Administration, Oral