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Biomedical subjects

R A Mason

Publications and source records attributed to R A Mason.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1983

Reduced hepatic blood flow does not limit gluconeogenesis in awake endotoxic minipigs.

Hypoglycemia associated with endotoxic shock is due to increased glucose utilization coupled with inadequate hepatic glucogenesis. Decreased hepatic blood flow is common in shock and could conceivably reduce hepatic gluconeogenic substrate and oxygen delivery, thereby limiting gluconeogenesis. A study was conducted to assess endotoxin-induced alteration of hepatic hemodynamics and its effect on glucose metabolism. Eight adult minipigs were fitted with jugular, portal, and hepatic vein and carotid artery catheters, and hepatic artery and portal vein flow cuffs for determination of transhepatic kinetics. Three days later they were infused with endotoxin at 15 micrograms/kg/hr. Hepatic blood flow and portal vein oxygen (O2) content became significantly (P less than or equal to 0.05) reduced thereby decreasing hepatic O2 input. Hepatic O2 extraction increased from 24 to 73% but never achieved the reported maximum of 97%. Therefore, reduction of O2 input did not seem to rate limit gluconeogenesis. Reductions in gluconeogenic substrate delivery were not involved since hepatic lactate and pyruvate input actually increased due to elevated blood lactate and pyruvate concentrations.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

A method for quantitation of hepatic, pancreatic, and intestinal function in conscious Yucatan miniature swine.

A right laparotomy was performed in anesthetized miniature swine. A hepatic vein was catheterized through the diaphragmatic surface of the left lateral lobe of the liver or through the cut surface of the right lateral lobe following a partial lobectomy. Continuous wave Doppler flow cuffs were applied to the hepatic artery and portal vein. Portal vein catheterization was accomplished through a stab incision made through the center of a preplaced purse string suture. Catheters and flow cuff wires exited the abdomen at the dorsal limit of the incision and were placed in nylon packs. Sterile surgery of the right ventro-lateral cervical region allowed catheterization of the right external jugular vein and carotid artery. These catheters were passed subcutaneously to the dorsum of the neck and inserted into another nylon pack. This method allowed repetitive experiments on conscious miniature swine after recovery from surgery. It allowed accurate quantitative determination of hepatic extraction of hormones as well as extraction of production of metabolites. Rates of intestinal absorption and pancreatic hormone secretion also could be assessed.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Use of omental pedicle graft to protect low anterior colonic anastomosis.

We feel that a pedicle graft of omentum makes an excellent protective wrapping about low anterior resections. We do not propose the technique to cover sloppily constructed anastomoses. Good nutrition, proper timing, adequate bowel preparation, and good surgical technique are the keys to successful low anterior resection, while omental pedicle grafting adds a further dimension in helping to assure a complication-free postoperative course.

Aged↗
PubMed1976

Coagulation changes in eclampsia: their frequency and pathogenesis.

The maternal coagulation mechanism has been investigated in an effort to identify its role, if any, in the pathogenesis of eclampsia. Thrombocytopenia was identified in 28 of 95 cases (29 per cent), a prolonged thrombin time in 19 of 38 (50 per cent), abnormally elevated serum fibrinogen-fibrin degradation products in two of 65 (3 per cent), and circulating fibrin monomer in one out of 20 (5 per cent). Overt hemolysis was rare (2 per cent). Thus the pattern as well as the degree of change in the maternal coagulation mechanism differed remarkably from that typical of severe abruptio placentae and of prolonged retention of a dead fetus, the classic obstetric models of fast and slow disseminated intravascular coagulation. It is concluded that the coagulation changes when present in eclampsia are effect rather than cause. Moreover, the changes may evolve primarily from platelet adherence at sites of vascular endothelial damage as the consequence of segmental vasospasm and vasodilatation rather than be triggered by the escape of thromboplastin from the placenta into the maternal circulation.

Abruptio Placentae↗
PubMed1976

Carcinoid syndrome: its relevance to the anaesthetist.

This paper presents the pathology, pharmacophysiology and therapy of the carcinoid syndrome. Forty reports from the literature are reviewed and the anaesthetic management of the patients is discussed. The carcinoid syndrome is a rare multihumoral endocrine disease. Secretions may be stimulated by certain anaesthetic and surgical manoeuvres and produce undesirable, and occasionally fatal, cardiovascular and respiratory complications. A radical surgical approach to the disease is current. Anaesthetists may therefore be involved in the management of these patients more frequently than before. The implication of both serotonin and bradykinin in the pharmacophysiology of this disease allows a more rational approach to the treatment of complications occurring during anaesthesia. However, other, as yet undiscovered vasoactive substances, may be involved.

Anesthesia, General↗
PubMed1976

Anaesthesia for a patient with carcinoid syndrome.

Anaesthesia for abdominal surgery in a patient with carcinoid syndrome is reported. Pre-operative symptomatic improvement was obtained using cyproheptadine hydrochloride. Handling of the tumour and liver metastases, during surgery, produced signs of excess serotonin secretion which responded to intravenous methotrimeprazine.

Anesthesia, Endotracheal↗
PubMed1976

Does coagulation have a causative role in eclampsia?

Alternations in the coagulation mechanism were looked for in a population of eclamptic women, most of when were young, nulliparous, and without evidence of chronic vascular disease, and all of whom survived. Thrombocytopenia was identified in 29% of these women. A prolonged plasma thrombin time was demonstrated in 51% yet elevated fibrinogen-fibrin degradation products in serum were uncommon, as was fibrin monomer in plasma. Overt microangiopathic hemolysis was rare. It is concluded that disseminated intravascular coagulation, when it does occur in eclampsia, is the consequence of the disease rather than the cause. Moreover, endothelial damage, rather contents, probably initiates the thrombocytopenia and other coagulation changes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1973

Yellow fever vaccine: direct challenge of monkeys given graded doses of 17D vaccine.

In rhesus monkeys a wide dosage range of 17D yellow fever (YF) vaccine extending to a level even below that recommended for vaccination of man elicited an immune response providing solid protection to challenge with virulent YF virus. Forty-three of 45 monkeys vaccinated with 10(2.3) or greater weanling mouse mean lethal doses of 17D vaccine were resistant to challenge 20 weeks later with virulent Asibi strain YF virus. Monkeys given graded doses of lesser amounts of vaccine were progressively more susceptible to challenge. With a vaccine dose >/= 10(2.3) weanling mouse mean lethal doses, plaque neutralization (PN) seroconversion rates were 90% or greater, whereas hemagglutination-inhibiting (HI) and complement-fixing (CF) seroconversion rates were unrelated to vaccine dosage and were generally in the range of 20 to 80%. Ninety-six percent (51 of 54) of immune monkeys had PN titers >/=0.7 log(10) (fivefold) neutralization index as compared to approximately 55 to 65% who showed HI or CF titers >/=2 log(2) (fourfold) neutralization index. After challenge with Asibi strain YF virus, antibody titers of all three tests increaed equally. In rhesus monkeys PN antibody titers were well correlated with YF immunity, whereas HI and CF antibody titers were not.

Animals↗
PubMed1972

Yellow fever vaccine. V. Antibody response in maonkeys inoculated with graded doses of the 17D vaccine.

A dosage equal to or greater than approximately 3.4 Dex (decimal exponent, log(10)) weanling mouse intracerebral 50% lethal dose (LD(50)) was sufficient to elicit a yellow fever antibody response, as determined by the plaque neutralization (PN) test, in better than 90% of vaccinated rhesus monkeys. Lower dosages were progressively less effective in terms of PN titers and the PN and hemagglutination-inhibition serological conversion rates observed. A dose of between 3.4 and 4.2 Dex weanling mouse intracerebral LD(50), or one-tenth to one times the dosage recommended for man, provided an optimal antibody response in monkeys. In rhesus monkeys, in contrast to the findings for man, pre-existing yellow fever antibody did not interfere with the antibody response to yellow fever vaccine. The PN test was felt to be a more sensitive and specific indicator of yellow fever antibody in rhesus monkeys after vaccination than the hemagglutination inhibition or complement fixation tests.

Animals↗
PubMed1970

Propagation and growth cycle of Rickettsia quintana in a new liquid medium.

The growth cycle of Rickettsia quintana was studied for the first time in liquid culture. Growth of the microorganism in a transparent broth medium was made possible by the finding that fetal calf serum (FCS), but not calf serum (CS), satisfied the requirement of R. quintana (Fuller strain) for red blood cell lysate. The three constituents of the medium, other than FCS, were autoclavable. The growth cycle was characterized by a lag phase of approximately 24 hr, an exponential growth phase of 72 hr, and a doubling time of approximately 4.5 hr. In FCS medium, titers increased 10(5)-fold over starting titers and reached a peak after 5 days of greater than 10(8) colony-forming-units (CFU)/ml. Optical density readings at 520 nm (OD(520)) served as useful estimates of the titers only during the last 30 hr of exponential growth. Before this time, titers were below 3 x 10(7) CFU/ml and could not be detected at OD(520). The growth-promoting activity of FCS appeared to be a normal serum component widely distributed among fetal calves. FCS from five commercial suppliers supported growth of R. quintana. The active factor(s) was: (i) non-dialyzable, (ii) resistant to heating at 56 C for 30 min, and (iii) partially inactivated at 100 C in 2 min and completely lost at 100 C in 10 min. The results emphasize the presence of erythrocyte and serum factors other than hemoglobin which stimulate the growth of R. quintana.

Agar↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Comparison of contrast-enhanced power Doppler ultrasound (Levovist) and computed tomography in alveolar echinococcosis.

BACKGROUND: To date, no study has compared unenhanced and contrast-enhanced (Levovist) power Doppler ultrasound with three-phase helical computed tomography (CT) for the analysis of the vascularization of hepatic lesions in patients who have alveolar echinococcosis. METHODS: Fifteen patients (11 female and four male; average age, 45.8 years) with confirmed Echinococcus multilocularis infection underwent unenhanced and contrast-enhanced (Levovist) power Doppler ultrasound (2- to 5-MHz transducer head) and three-phase helical CT. The largest identified lesion in each patient was studied. RESULTS: CT visualized vascularization peripheral or central to the largest echinococcal lesions in 11 of 15 patients. Vascularization in the area of the echinococcal lesions was not visualized by unenhanced or contrast-enhanced power Doppler ultrasound in any of the 15 patients studied. CONCLUSION: Three-phase helical CT visualizes the vascularization associated with Echinococcus multilocularis lesions in the liver. Neither unenhanced nor contrast-enhanced ultrasound in power mode is suitable for this application.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Epiphora associated with dacryops in a dog.

A six-month-old basset hound was presented with unilateral right epiphora and medial canthal and maxillary bone swelling. Skull radiographs and dacryocystorhinography revealed a nasal cyst, right nasolacrimal duct dilatation, and obstruction. Laboratory examination of the cyst confirmed the diagnosis of dacryops, a cyst of lacrimal gland origin. The cyst was treated successfully with surgical drainage and curettage.

Animals↗