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Biomedical subjects

J R O'Brien

Publications and source records attributed to J R O'Brien.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Effect of a diet of polyunsaturated fats on some platelet-function tests.

The fat in the normal diet of 19 apparently well men was partly replaced by linoleic acid. This produced striking changes in many platelet-function tests, suggesting decreased platelet activation. Twenty controls maintaining their normal diet showed no change. It is concluded that normal people have a degree of platelet activation which can be decreased. This may be relevant to the benefits attributed to a diet containing polyunsaturated fats.

Adult

Acute platelet changes after large meals of saturated and unsaturated fats.

Large amounts of saturated fats (S.F.) or unsaturated fats (U.S.F.) were given to healthy volunteers at a single meal. The heparin thrombin clotting-time, which may measure platelet factor 4 released from platelets into the plasma, was shortened after S.F. and prolonged after U.S.F. The antithrombin clotting activity decreased after S.F. and increased after U.S.F. The platelet-count decreased and the platelet volume increased after both S.F. and U.S.F.

Adult

Blood changes in atherosclerosis and long after myocardial infarction and venous thrombosis.

The following clinical groups of volunteers were studied: patients long after recovery from myocardial infarction (MI), others after recovery from deep vein thrombosis (DVT), patients with intermittent claudication, with diabetes, and male and female controls who were well matched. All were subjected to many platelet and clotting tests together with clinical, biochemical and haematological measurements in an attempt to find long term abnormalities in these various diseases. The male MIs differed very significantly from the controls in having much more heparin neutralizing activity (P less than 0.001)and less anti-thrombin (P less than 0.01). Less significantly, some bleeding time tests indicated less bleeding and the patients' platelets were larger. The females with MI had in general the same abnormalities but to a lesser degree. The patients with intermittent claudication, none of whom had a history of MI, had almost the same abnormalities and to the same degree. In deep vein thrombosis the heparin neutralizing activity was also clearly increased; the other tests were generally in the same direction but many were not significant. The diabetics had shorter bleeding times but little else abnormal relative to the controls, suggesting a different pathological process. When all male patients and controls were "scored" according to the degree of atherosclerosis there was a close overall correlation between the degree of atherosclerosis and the increase in the HNA level (r = --0.50, n = 66, P less than 0.001) and the decreased anti-thrombin (r = 0.25, n = 66, P less than 0.05).

Antithrombins