A study of attendance patterns in general practice over three years.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to P Boyle.
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The occurrence of extrahepatic malignancy was studied in 195 unselected patients who satisfied predetermined biochemical, immunological, and histological criteria for the diagnosis of primary biliary cirrhosis. The incidence of breast cancer in women with primary biliary cirrhosis was found to be significantly higher than in an age and sex matched control population from the same well defined geographical area (p less than 0.0015). The association of breast cancer and primary biliary cirrhosis remains unexplained, though diminished immunological surveillance, fat soluble vitamin deficiency, or endocrine dysfunction may play a part.
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The purpose of this report is to present the descriptive epidemiology of colorectal cancer using the most recent data available to highlight two characteristics of the disease. First is the great variation which takes place in the frequency of this disease over geographic areas of all sizes. Colorectal cancer is common in most countries of North America and Europe, is rare in Asia and is particularly uncommon in Africa. Internationally, the variation in colon cancer is 60-fold, and within Europe there is a 4-fold difference in the incidence of colon cancer between areas with the highest and lowest rates. For cancer of the rectum, variation internationally is 18-fold and within Europe it is 3-fold. Within the United Kingdom, colon cancer is uniformly higher in the 5 Scottish Cancer Registry Regions than in their counterparts in England and Wales. Even within Scotland there is a 4-fold range of colon cancer incidence in rates, with the North and South clearly demarcated by a striking difference in colon cancer incidence in both sexes. Secondly, examination of international mortality rates for colorectal cancer demonstrates remarkable differences in trends over time between countries. In countries where colorectal cancer mortality rates were initially low, rates have increased substantially. In many countries where rates circa 1950 were moderately high, they have increased slightly or become stabilized. However, in countries such as Scotland, Canada, England and Wales and the United States, where rates were initially high, there have been gradual falls in mortality over time.
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The incidence rate for carcinoma of the tongue and floor of mouth has fallen in Scotland over the past 20 years (Fig. 1). Despite the fall in incidence rate and mortality rate many such tumours present late when the prognosis is poor (Pointon and Gleave, 1982; Decroix and Ghossein, 1981a; Shaw 1982). Until relatively recently most centres treated such lesions either by surgery or by radiotherapy alone. Over the past decade a number of centres have adopted a dual treatment policy involving both surgery and radiotherapy. The head and neck oncologists at the Royal Marsden advocate pre-operative radiotherapy (Shaw, 1982) while Glasgow and the Memorial in New York (Vikram et al., 1980) have adopted the practice of post-operative radiotherapy. A combined plastic surgery/radiotherapy clinic has been run in Glasgow for the past ten years and over that time a treatment protocol has evolved. The results of treatment of all advanced tumours of the tongue and floor of mouth referred to the Glasgow Institute of Radiotherapeutics and Oncology are presented here. The results of planned combined therapy-radical surgery followed by radical radiotherapy--are compared with the results of treating similar lesions by minimal surgery plus radical radiotherapy and the advantages of combined radical treatment are discussed.
The expression of the lymphoid marker, common leucocyte antigen and of the epithelial marker, epithelial membrane antigen by small cell anaplastic thyroid tumours was studied in 53 tumours, using the peroxidase--antiperoxidase and avidin--biotin techniques. Common leucocyte antigen was found in 33 of the 53 tumours; six tumours were positive for epithelial membrane antigen; and the remaining 14 tumours were negative for both markers. These results support the suggestion that most small cell anaplastic thyroid tumours are of lymphoid origin. Survival data for patients with tumours positive for common leucocyte antigen showed a significantly better prognosis than did the data for patients with small cell tumours that did not express this marker (p less than 0.02).
Autonomic function was assessed in subjects with acute intermittent porphyria and age- and sex-matched controls using five different bedside tests of cardiovascular reflexes. During the acute attack both parasympathetic and sympathetic tests were impaired, but subsequently improved during remission. Early parasympathetic dysfunction was also detected during remission and in latent asymptomatic acute intermittent porphyria.
The results of a survey of a population with a high risk of oral and esophageal cancer and the outline of a chemoprevention scheme for persons found to have a precancerous condition of the mouth and esophagus are presented. Of a total of 1,569 men examined, 11% had preleukoplakia and leukoplakia of the mouth, and 60% of the 1,344 men in whom esophagogastroscopy was performed had chronic esophagitis. The relative risk of oral leukoplakia was highest (11.5) among men who smoke and use nass quid. The relative risk was also elevated for persons who only use nass quid (5.6) or who only smoke cigarettes (7.8). Nass use had no effect on the risk of esophagitis. A slight elevation of risk (1.9) of esophagitis was observed for current smokers and drinkers. Of the men from whom blood was drawn for analysis, 4%, 66%, and 86% had low levels of retinol, carotene, and riboflavin, respectively. The high prevalence of oral and esophageal precancerous conditions and low blood levels of riboflavin, carotene, and vitamin A observed in the surveyed population, as well as the existing evidence on the possible protective effect of these nutrients in carcinogenesis, provide an opportunity and a justification for the chemopreventive trial, with the regression of observed precancerous lesions as the end point of the study.
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The most recent data available demonstrate a 120-fold difference between the lowest and highest incidence rates of prostatic cancer, the disease being very common in North America, particularly among Blacks, and in Scandinavia, while it is rare in Japan and other oriental countries. The highest mortality for prostatic cancer is reported from St. Vincent and Grenadines, Martinique and Bermuda, from countries where the morbidity statistics are not available; the mortality rates reported from the United States and Canada are considerably lower. The incidence of and mortality from prostatic cancer have increased in most countries, in particular in areas with an initially low frequency of this disease. The ratio of mortality to incidence for prostatic cancer varies rather widely, being low in North America, Hawaii and Scandinavia. It is suggested that the observed variation in the mortality to incidence ratio for prostatic cancer could be due to differences in diagnostic practices between countries. This could explain, at least in part, the fact that the increasing trends of prostatic cancer incidence in North America are not accompanied by an increase in mortality from this tumour. This notion, however, does not exclude advances in treatment as possible determinants of the improved survival rate from prostatic cancer in this part of the world. The available statistics on prostatic cancer are based on the sum of clinically diagnosed carcinomas and those latent tumours found unexpectedly at prostatectomy and autopsy. The proportion of latent carcinomas among all prostatic cancer cases depends on the detection rate and varies from country to country, thus casting uncertainty on the comparability of prostatic cancer statistics from different areas. To avoid confusion in the statistics of prostatic cancer, it would be useful to consider introducing latent prostatic cancer as a separate entity in the next revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD).
A prospective study was completed of 30 shocked patients admitted consecutively to an intensive therapy unit; the majority of the patients had shock of septic origin. Measurements were made of whole blood lactate together with mean arterial pressure, hourly urine volume and core: peripheral temperature difference at the start of treatment and 3 and 24 hours later. Serial lactate measurements were better at predicting outcome than single measurements. However, lactate measurements were much less valuable than serial measurements of the simple haemodynamic variables.
A 5-yr double-blind fluoridated milk study has been completed and, following baseline stratification, 94 children aged 4 1/2/5 1/2 yr were allocated to the test group and 93 to the control. Each subject received 200 ml school milk daily, identification between the test and control plastic packs being by colour-coding alone with the former containing 1.5 mgF- giving a potential topical benefit of approximately 7 ppmF- per school day. After 5 yr, 50 of the test children remained and 56 of the controls. While the mean DMFT incremental data relating to permanent teeth was always in favour of the test group, it was not until the fourth year that a significant difference was obtained (P less than 0.01) between the fluoridated group (mean, 1.65) and the non-fluoridated group (mean, 2.56). For permanent teeth which were unerupted at baseline, the mean DMFS differences increased to 39.6% at the same time and to 48.0% by the fifth year. No benefit was noted for previously erupted primary teeth. Cavitation was less in the test group throughout the study. When the third, fourth and fifth year DMFT reductions obtained were compared with previously published artificial water fluoridated data where children were of comparable age at the onset of water adjustment, similar caries inhibition data were noted.
This retrospective study reviews our experience of the management of colorectal cancer in 481 consecutive patients. Details of presentation, surgery, Dukes staging, histological grading, recurrence and survival were analysed. We have compared patients 50 years of age and over with their younger counterparts. Thirty-six (7.5%) were less than 50 years of age. Half of the older group presented to hospital within 3 months of the onset of symptoms. Only 17.5% of the younger group presented so promptly (p less than 0.01). There was a higher proportion of younger patients with metastatic disease at the time of presentation. While there was no evidence to suggest a more aggressive surgical approach in the younger patients, 27.8% had adjuvant therapy compared with only 14.2% of the over 50s (p less than 0.05). The median survival was significantly better in the younger group (p less than 0.02).
A prospective randomized controlled trial was performed to assess the value of transcutaneous electrical stimulation as an analgesic technique for postoperative pain. Forty patients who underwent cholecystectomy were studied. Patients in group A (control group) complained of more severe wound pain than either patients in group B (wound stimulation) or group C (remote stimulation). However, the treated groups showed no evidence of a significant reduction in opiate demand or of improved ventilatory function.
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Epidemiologic studies have documented a rapid rise in the mortality and incidence of malignant melanoma of the skin in many countries. This paper presents an analysis of malignant melanoma time trends in data from the Norwegian Cancer Registry, 1953-1978, by subsite and sex. The purpose of this study is to quantify previous qualitative analysis of the same data, mainly to distinguish birth cohort effects from time period effects. This analysis shows that time trends in malignant melanoma in Norway can be explained economically by a common age effect and a separate cohort effect for each subsite in both sexes or alternatively, by a common cohort effect but different age effects for each sex and subsite. In neither case is a time period effect required. Mathematical modelling can never fully explain any situation exactly and it is more than likely that the increases observed have been produced by a measure of both extreme descriptions. The different cohort effects and age effects are discussed in terms of their implications for etiology.
The importance of a medical history to identify potential problems in dental management is self-evident but the means of collecting medical data vary widely. This study has assessed the reliability of a self-administered questionnaire (SAQ) used by 292 randomly selected adult dental out-patients (mean age 41.7 years) attending the oral medicine clinic of a dental teaching hospital. Results of the SAQ were compared with the history taken by receiving surgeons. Significant discrepancies were revealed not only in the SAQ but also in the history taken by the receiving surgeon, although the latter produced a more comprehensive record. Maximum yield of information regarding known medical problems was only produced by using the self-administered questionnaire with a check of this by the receiving surgeon.