Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to L Lum.
A case of respiratory infection in a child due to Chlamydia pneumoniae is reported. The diagnosis was made by the detection of chlamydial antigen in the tracheal secretion and a significant increase in C. pneumoniae antibody titre. The infection responded well to erythromycin therapy.
In February 1988, the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of Canada (PMAC) published a Code of Marketing Practices which recommends that PMAC members provide essential product information to drug information centres a minimum of two weeks prior to the marketing of new prescription drugs. A one-year study was undertaken by our Drug Information (DI) Centre to assess the compliance of PMAC companies with this guideline. Product information was mailed to our DI Centre two weeks or more prior to marketing for only 3/28 (10.7%) new prescription drugs and for none of 27 (0%) new prescription drug dosage forms or strengths. No product information was received for 10/28 (35.7%) new prescription drugs and 21/27 (77.8%) new prescription drug dosage forms or strengths. In several situations, new drugs appeared in journal advertisements or were being detailed to physicians prior to receipt of new product information. Manufacturers are encouraged to review their procedures for disseminating new product information to ensure that DI centres are notified of new product introductions at least two weeks in advance of detailing or marketing.
Dietary administration of propylthiouracil (0.2%) to male Sprague-Dawley rats for a period of 8 weeks induced hypothyroidism and hypotension in these animals. Resting heart rate, body weight, colonic temperature and serum thyroxine (T4) were significantly lower in the treated hypothyroid rats than in the controls. Time-course study indicates that the maximal depression of these parameters occurred about the eighth week of PTU treatment; except T4 level which declined abruptly about the second week and remained steady thereafter. The mechanism(s) of hypotension is (are) unknown but there seems to be an interrelationship between hypothyroidism-induced hypotension and the parameters monitored, since discontinuation of PTU treatment reversed that trend of the response toward control levels.
Thirty-eight children between the ages of 0.8 and 17 years with acute nonlymphoblastic leukemia in first remission induced by chemotherapy were given cyclophosphamide, total body irradiation, and bone marrow transplants from HLA-matched donors. Six patients died of pneumonia, one died of metabolic problems, and one died of chronic graft-v-host disease complications. Five patients relapsed between six months and 3.2 years after transplantation. Three of the five died of leukemia, one survives with leukemia three years after transplantation, and one survives in remission off treatment following chemotherapy for 22 months. Twenty-five survive in continuous remission from 1.7 to 8.4 years after transplantation, and the actuarial analysis shows a disease-free survival rate of 64%, with a plateau extending from 3.5 to 8.4 years. All lead normal lives.
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A pregnant woman and her husband had proved chlamydial genital tract infections. She gave birth to a male infant who developed inclusion blennorrhea (inclusion conjunctivitis of the newborn infant). While on topical chemotherapy for his eye disease, the infant developed pneumonitis. Chlamydiae were recovered from his sputum at a time when conjunctival specimens were sterile. This finding raises the possibility that the agent of inclusion conjunctivitis may cause systemic infections in neonates exposed during passage through an infected birth canal.