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Biomedical subjects

R B Fraser

Publications and source records attributed to R B Fraser.

48 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1983

A controlled trial of a high dietary fibre intake in pregnancy--effects on plasma glucose and insulin levels.

Non-obese women in the second half of pregnancy were randomised into a control group receiving standard dietary advice and a group advised to make high fibre whole-food substitutions in their diets at every opportunity. Glucose and insulin profiles were performed over 24-h periods at 29 and 35 weeks gestation when the diets were equivalent in available carbohydrate, protein and fat, but the control group ingested 12.4 g dietary fibre/24 h and the high fibre group 51.4 g/24 h. Glucose homeostasis was similar in both groups but there was a significant attenuation of post-prandial insulin secretion in the high fibre group. It is suggested that the characteristic post-prandial peaks of plasma insulin observed in Western pregnant women are an unphysiological response to dietary fibre depletion.

Blood Glucose↗
PubMed1982

The fate of the pregnant diabetic in the developing country: Kenya.

A six-year survey of pregnancies complicated by diabetes has been performed at the Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi. Fifty-five babies were delivered with 14 perinatal deaths-a perinatal mortality rate of 254/1000, which was five times that of the nondiabetic population. There was one maternal death. Diabetes tended to be of short duration compared with similar series reported from developed countries. There were no perinatal deaths within a small sub-group managed according to a simple plan based on early referral for antenatal care, monitoring of diabetic control by blood glucose, and timing of delivery by use of the "shake test".

Developing Countries↗
PubMed1975

Prediction of maximum expiratory flow rate from area-transmural pressure curve of compressed airway.

The site of greatest airway deformation in dog lungs was located during maximum expiratory flow by use of tantalum bronchography, fiberoptic bronchoscopy, and airway pressure measurements. A series of area vs. transmural pressure curves for each of these segments of the airway was produced after stepwise changes in transmural pressure. Measurements of area were made using cinephotography to elucidate the effect of time on airway compliance. The maximum flow rate was calculated using the t = 0.1 s compliance curve of the airway. An equation was derived so that maximum flow (V) could be calculated from the area (A) and transmural pressure (Ptm) of the flow-limiting segment. This equation, V = K-A square root of Ptm, implied that if V were constant then A must vary as Ptm-1/2. It was demonstrated that the area-transmural pressure curve of the flow-limiting segment showed this relationship between A and Ptm and that the flow calculated from this equation and the data from the A-Ptm curve gave flows identical to those measured during maximum expiration. The phenomena of effort-independent flow and negative effort dependence are also explained in terms of the area-transmural pressure curve of the flow-limiting segment.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Migration of macrophage-like cells within encapsulated islets of Langerhans maintained in tissue culture.

Islets of Langerhans isolated from the pancreas and encapsulated in alginate-polylysine-alginate micro-spheres can potentially serve as a self-regulating supply of insulin in response to glucose loads. A longitudinal ultrastructural and immunohistochemical study of encapsulated rat islets cultured in CMRL-1969 media at a constant glucose concentration of 5.5 mmol/L (100 mg%) allowed several observations. First, acinar cells, which remain attached to isolated islets, disappeared within 1 wk in tissue culture. Damaged endocrine cells also disappeared at this time. Phagocytic cells having ultrastructural features suggesting that they are macrophages emerged from the islets within about a week and ingested portions of the inner layer of capsule polymer. These macrophage-like cells retained these polymers until their death which occurred at around 1-2 mo after isolation; at no time did we observe phagocytic cells actually breaching the microsphere capsules. Beta cells remained well-granulated over 90 days of culture but accumulated lipofuscin-like residual bodies. Under these conditions, these bodies began to accumulate appreciably after about one week in culture.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Perianal ependymoma presenting in the neonatal period.

Extraspinal ependymomas are a rare type of glioma that may arise in the sacrococcygeal region, presenting as a pelvic mass in an infant or child. Ependymoma presenting in the newborn period has not been described previously. Herein we describe a case of a newborn boy who presented with a perianal ependymoma, which was subsequently found to have presacral extension. The major diagnostic challenge this case presented was to rule out the alternative diagnosis of sacrococcygeal teratoma or a developmental malformation/heterotopia.

Anus Neoplasms↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Monoamniotic twins delivered liveborn with a forked umbilical cord.

Monoamniotic twins are rare and are associated with high intrauterine mortality rates. This case appears to represent the first report of liveborn monoamniotic monochorionic twins delivered with a bifurcated umbilical cord. Pathological and angiographic studies of the placenta demonstrated a marginally inserted two-vessel umbilical cord that bifurcated at 8.4 cm from the disk into three-vessel umbilical cords supplying each twin. This probably represents the last opportunity for cleavage of the embryo prior to the formation of conjoined twins. A review of eight prior reports of monoamniotic twins with a single, bifurcating umbilical cord is provided.

Adult↗