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Biomedical subjects

R Ferguson

Publications and source records attributed to R Ferguson.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1977

A prospective, randomised study of endoscopy and radiology in acute upper-gastrointestinal-tract bleeding.

318 patients admitted to hospital with acute upper-gastrointestinal-tract bleeding were entered into a prospective randomised comparison of investigation by either endoscopy or radiology. Although the diagnostic yield was higher in the endoscopy group than the radiology group, there was no difference between the two groups in management or survival, and the accuracy of the findings as judged independently at operation and/or necropsy was also similar in the two groups. These findings case doubt on the need to provide emergency endoscopic facilities for the investigation of patients with acute upper-gastrointestinal-tract bleeding where radiological services are already adequate.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1977

Dysphagia.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Aged↗
PubMed1977

Fibreoptic endoscopic palliative intubation of inoperable oesophagogastric neoplasms.

Palliative intubation for inoperable malignant strictures at the cardia was done on 16 occasions in 13 patients using fiberoptic endoscopy. Preliminary dilatation was performed, and the Celestin tube was mounted on an introducer and passed over a guide wire inserted with a fiberoptic endoscope. Only one death resulted from the procedure and all the 12 patients who left hospital were swallowing satisfactorily on discharge. The method provided a simple and relatively safe means of relieving dysphagia and improving nutrition.

Cardia↗
PubMed1977

Effect of cytochalasin B on human lymphocyte responses to mitogens: time and concentration dependence.

Human peripheral blood mononuclear cells were exposed to various concentrations of concanavalin A (Con A) and cytochalasin B (CB). Low concentrations of CB (0.5 to 2.0 microng/ml) augmented, whereas high concentrations of CB (greater than 2.0 microng/ml) inhibited the mitogenic response to Con A when Con A and CB were added at the initiation of culture. Augmented responses could also be found by adding normally inhibitory high concentrations of CB after 72 to 96 hr incubation with Con A. Preincubation of the cells with CB 5 min to 4 hr before adding Con A also resulted in potentiation of the mitogenic response. CB did not increase spontaneous transformation and worked as well in various solvents (dimethyl sulfoxide, acetone, and ethanol). The effect was totally reversible by removing CB before adding Con A. CB had no effect on 3H-Con A binding to cells. The potentiating effect of CB was still evident after removal of CB, Con A, or both from cultrues that had been simultaneously exposed to Con A and CB for at least 2 days. CB augmented the response of human lymphocytes to Con A-adsorbed, x-rayed autologous lymphocytes. In the presence of optimal concentrations of CB, x-ray-damaged cells respond better to Con A; the response to suboptimal and supraoptimal concentrations of Con A is better, and the response with delayed addition of alpha-methyl-D-mannoside is better. CB also potentiates the response of human lymphocytes to pokeweed mitogen and phytohemagglutinin. Direct observation of cells in culture demonstrated the development of huge clusters of cells during mitogenic responses to Con A in the absence of CB. Circumstances which inhibited the mitogenic response to Con A totally prevented the development of cellular aggregates (prolonged incubation with high concentrations of CB). Each of the conditions which augmented the mitogenic response to Con A was accompanied by the formation of multiple small, relatively uniform cellular aggregates. These observations suggest that CB affects cell-cell interaction possibly by affecting distribution of Con A on the cell surface, by affecting cell sruface net negative charge, or by increasing the response to chemotactic stimuli. CB may be acting in some manner to enable certain nonresponsive cells to respond to a mitogenic stimulus, although an increase in the response of individual cells cannot be ruled out.

Binding Sites↗
PubMed1976

Jejunal mucosal abnormalities in patients with recurrent aphthous ulceration.

Jejunal biopsies in 33 patients with troublesome recurrent aphthous ulceration seen over one year showed eight with flat mucosa compatible with coeliac disease. All remitted completely on a gluten-free diet, both clinically and haematologically, and the aphthous ulceration did not recur. Gluten sensitivity is aetiologically important in patients with recurrent aphthous ulceration and flat mucosa, and patients with recurrent ulceration should undergo jejunal biopsy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Familial aspects of coeliac disease.

The incidence of coeliac disease amongst first-degree relatives of 115 patients with coeliac disease aged between nine and 75 years has been studied. Of 689 relatives 526 were living of whom 324 were willing to be investigated. One hundred and eighty-two relatives underwent jujunal biopsy. Forty-one were considered to have coeliac disease, 22 per cent of those biopsied, or 11-2 per cent of the available relatives. One-third of the relatives discovered to have coeliac disease were asymptomatic but all had at least one abnormal result amongst the laboratory indices used. Twenty-two per cent of the relatives with haemoglobin less than 13-0 g, 43 per cent with serum folate less than 3-0 pg/ml, 24 per cent with serum albumin less than 4-0 g/100 ml, with serum iron less than 60 mug/100 ml or with serum alkaline phosphatase above 13 K.A. units had coeliac disease. Less than 5 per cent of relatives with H.L.A. antigens other than H.L.A. 8 had coeliac disease compared with one in four of those with H.L.A. 8. The high percentage of relatives with H.L.A. 8 antigens or with anticonnective tissue antibodies, amongst those with non-specific biopsy appearances suggests that these groups also contain a number of relatives with varying degrees of gluten intolerance.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Effect of Vibrio cholerae neuraminidase on the generation of cell-mediated cytotoxicity in vitro.

Vibrio cholerae neuraminidase (VCN))12.5 units/2 X 10(6) cells/ml) continuously present for a standard 5-day MLC will significant (p less than 0.02) increase the cytotoxic activity generated by a given number of responding spleen cells without reducing the specificity. Heat-inactiviated VCN produced no such augmentation. This augmented cytotoxicity could be reproduced by preincubating (1 hr) the responding spleen cells with VCN (25 units/2.5 X 10(6) cells/ml) before addition of stimulating spleen cells. Preincubating the stimulator spleen cells with VCN had no effect. VCN preincubation of target cells or presensitized effector cells produced no augmentation. The addition of soluble VCN to the killing assay also did not increase cytotoxicity. Thus, VCN acts only during the generation of specifically sensitized cytotoxic T cells. When the effect of VCN on MLC reactivity, cell recovery and total cytotoxicity (lytic units/10(6) cells) were compared, it became apparent that VCN increases the proliferation of responder cells after stimulation resulting in both an increased number of cells and also an increase in the proportion of specifically sensitized cytotoxic cells in the culture. VCN treatment of responder cell membrane apparently permits a more ready response to allogenic antigens in culture facilitating both increased proliferation and the increased development of specific cytotoxic killers.

Animals↗
PubMed1975

Further evidence for selective differences between isoalleles in Drosophila.

A number of separate strains of Drosophila pseudoobscura were inbred for 38 generations of brother-sister mating with forced heterozygosity for two alleles of either the octanol dehydrogenase or esterase-5 locus. Crosses were set up within each of these inbred lines such that simple mendelian ratios were expected, and eggs from these crosses were placed on media with additions simple chemicals likely to interact with alleles of the two loci--octanol and ethanol for the ODH locus and tributyrin and triacetin for the E-5 locus. Similar crosses were set up involving parental flies with normally heterozygous genetic background as a control.--Significant deviations from mendelian expectation were observed in inbred E-5 flies grown on tributyrin, inbred ODH males grown on octanol, and inbred ODH females grown on ethanol. There was also a strong effect of octanol medium on males of one of the inbred E-5 lines, and a weak effect of tributyrin medium on ODH inbred females.--The probability that these results reflect interactions between these loci and the environment is assessed in the light of differences between the present results and those obtained at earlier stages of inbreeding.

Alcohol Oxidoreductases↗
PubMed1975

A study of the cellular infiltrate of the proximal jejunal mucosa in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

The cellular infiltrate of the proximal jejunum has been compared between 20 subjects without gastrointestinal disease, 20 subjects with ulcerative colitis, and 26 subjects with Crohn's disease. A significant increase (P smaller than 0.001) in the plasma cell infiltrate was noted in subjects with ulcerative colitis and a more marked increase in subjects with Crohn's disease (P smaller than 0.001). Such increases may be relevant to raised serum IgA levels following panproctocolectomy for ulcerative colitis or recurrence in the small intestine in Crohn's disease.

Biopsy↗
PubMed1974

The jejunal cellular infiltrate in coeliac disease complicated by lymphoma.

Lymphocytes and plasma cells in the lamina propria and lymphocyte in the epithelium have been quantitated in jejunal biopsies from 18 patients with coeliac disease who developed lymphoma. In six patients two or more serial biopsies were available for study. Counts were compared with those obtained in 15 healthy controls and 30 other coeliacs, 15 of whom have been on a gluten-free diet for more than 12 months. Results showed that although the lymphoma patients have abnormal counts compared with controls, they differed from untreated coeliacs in that they had lower plasma cell and higher lymphocyte counts in the lamina propria and lower lymphocyte counts in the epithelium. Such changes tended to be present for up to five years before the diagnosis of lymphoma was made. The results suggest that the immunological status of coeliac patients with lymphoma differs from that of other coeliacs and it could represent a primary abnormality and also be relevant to the development of lymphoma.

Biopsy↗