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Biomedical subjects

R Hall

Publications and source records attributed to R Hall.

At least 415 records · Page 23Linked to original sources
PubMed1981

Immunopathological and clinical studies in herpes gestationis.

Herpes gestationis is a recurring pruritic, vesiculobullous disease of pregnancy and puerperium. Recently, Lawley et al (1979) reported a high frequency (38 per cent) of fetal morbidity and mortality in 40 cases of immunologically proven herpes gestationis. This study was undertaken to determine whether the antibody to skin basement membrane (found in most patients with herpes gestationis) is able to bind to the placenta basement membranes and thereby to threaten the pregnancy. We were unable to detect this antibody in the placental basement membranes of a patient with herpes gestationis, nor could we demonstrate that the anti-basement membrane antibody, found in the sera of herpes gestationis patients, binds to homologous or autologous placentas and fetal membranes. The importance of an accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment of this condition is discussed.

Basement Membrane↗
PubMed1981

Hyposplenism, adult coeliac disease, and autoimmunity.

Functional hyposplenism is associated with a variety of disorders including coeliac disease. The aims of this study were to estimate the need for a small intestinal biopsy in the investigation of hyposplenism, and to assess the relationship of autoimmunity to hyposplenism and coeliac disease. During one year, the features of hyposplenism were found in blood films of 27 patients who had not had a splenectomy. Ten patients were already known to have coeliac disease. Intestinal biopsy was performed in another 13 patients; coeliac disease was diagnosed in six. Of the 23 patients biopsied, coeliac disease was present in 16 (70%). Autoantibodies were detected in significantly more patients with hyposplenism than in healthy controls (P less than 0.05), and in significantly more coeliacs with hyposplenism than coeliacs with normal blood films (P less than 0.01). The increased incidence of autoantibodies in coeliacs with hyposplenism compared with other coeliacs was not associated with a difference in the incidence of HLA-B8. Small bowel biopsy should be carried out in the investigation of unexplained hyposplenism. There may be a link between hyposplenism and the autoimmune manifestations of coeliac disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

M-mode echogram as a means of distinguishing between mild and severe mitral stenosis.

Fifty-two patients with pure mitral stenosis (27 with severe stenosis and 25 with mild stenosis) were studied to assess the ability of different M-mode echocardiographic measurements to separate mild and severe disease. Variables related to valve motion, for example diastolic closure rate, the mitral valve closure index, and the amplitude of valve motion, accurately divided patients with mitral stenosis from normal subjects but did not distinguish usefully between mild and severe disease. In contrast, variables dependent on left ventricular dimension change in diastole, for example the rapid filling period and the peak rate of left ventricular diastolic dimension change, accurately separated mild and severe disease. No patient with severe mitral stenosis had a rapid filling period, whereas 21 of the 25 patients with mild disease did have one. The peak rate of left ventricular diastolic dimension change was less than 10 cm/s or less than 2.4 cm/s per cm when normalised for left ventricular dimension in all patients with severe disease and in only six of the 25 patients with mild disease.

Echocardiography↗
PubMed1981

Nuclear alterations during lymphocyte transformation: relationship to the heterogeneous morphologic presentations of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas.

A current hypothesis related to non-Hodgkin's lymphoma states that the wide variety of cytologic types in this disorder reflects morphologic alterations during different stages (G1, S, and G2) of the cell cycle involved in the blastogenic transformation of normal lymphocytes. In our investigations of biochemical and structural changes during lymphocyte transformation, we have used correlated stereologic morphometric analysis, assessment of chromatin organization, and autoradiography of human peripheral T-lymphocytes labeled with 3H-thymidine and stimulated with concanavalin A. These studies have confirmed that the characteristic increase in nuclear size and disaggregation of condensed chromatin masses precedes and is independent of DNA synthesis. Since the full range of morphologic alterations observed in lymphocyte transformation can occur in the G1 phase of this process, modifications to the above hypothesis are required. Assessment of the nuclear contour index following mitogen stimulation indicates that at least in this in vivo system, there is no cleaved or convoluted phase during the transformation of human peripheral T lymphocytes.

Autoradiography↗
PubMed1981

Acetylcholine receptor antibody synthesis in lymphocyte cultures.

The synthesis of immunoglobulin and acetylcholine receptor antibody by lymphocytes extracted from the peripheral blood and thymus of patients with myasthenia gravis was investigated using the Marbrook culture system. Small amounts of immunoglobulin were synthesised by thymic lymphocytes cultured in medium without mitogen for 14 days and acetylcholine receptor antibody activity was detectable in cultures from 3 out of 5 patients with thymic hyperplasia. Addition of Pokeweed mitogen to the cultures increased both IgG and acetylcholine receptor antibody synthesis and under these conditions receptor antibody activity was detectable in all 5 thymic lymphocyte cultures studied. Peripheral blood lymphocytes also produced small amounts of IgG when cultured in the absence of mitogen but acetylcholine receptor antibody levels were undetectable. In the presence of Pokeweed mitogen, however, peripheral blood lymphocytes synthesised increased amounts of IgG and acetylcholine receptor antibody activity was detectable in cultures of lymphocytes from 3 out of 4 patients. The amount of acetylcholine receptor antibody per microgram IgG, the specific activity, was greater in cultures of thymic lymphocytes than the specific activity of IgG in serum, suggesting that the hyperplastic thymus may be a major site of acetylcholine receptor antibody synthesis. Therefore it should be possible to use the culture system described to investigate the processes involved in the breakdown of self-tolerance in myasthenia gravis.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

A stereological analysis of the cerebellar granule and Purkinje cells of 30-day-old and adult rats undernourished during early postnatal life.

Male rats undernourished from birth to 30 days of age were nutritionally rehabilitated till 160 days of age. Quantitative stereological procedures at the light microscope level were used to estimate, among other things, the numerical densities of cerebellar granule and Purkinje cells on a "per unit volume of cortex" basis. These were subsequently used to calculate granule-to-Purkinje cell ratios. The 30-day-old undernourished rats had a mean +/- S.E. of 290 +/- 27 granule cells for every Purkinje cell present, compared to 395 +/- 34 for the controls. This was a deficit of about 27% (p < 0.05). At 160 days of age, the previously undernourished rats still showed a persisting deficit of about 25% (p < 0.05) in this ratio, despite the lengthy nutritional rehabilitation. There were no statistically significant age-related changes in this ratio. The numerical density of Purkinje cells, but not that of granule cells, was significantly greater in the previously undernourished rats than in controls, for both age groups, Increasing age caused a fall in the numerical density of both cell types. Granule and Purkinje cell nuclear diameters were unaffected by nutrition. However, Purkinje cell nuclei decreased in size by between 7%--13% with increasing age. These results indicate that undernutrition during early life can cause a permanent distortion of the relative number of the various cell types in the cerebellum.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Carbimazole and autoantibody synthesis in Hashimoto's thyroiditis.

Serum thyroxine, thyrotrophin, and thyroid microsomal antibody levels were measured in 20 patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and hypothyroidism before, during, and after treatment with carbimazole or placebo. Thyroid microsomal antibody levels fell during treatment in the 10 patients who received carbimazole, while serum thyroxine and thyrotrophin levels did not change. There were no changes in the placebo group. The study proves support for the concept that carbimazole may act directly on autoantibody synthesising lymphocytes localised in the thyroid. Such an effect might be valuable in influencing the autoimmune process in autoimmune thyroid disease.

Autoantibodies↗
PubMed1980

Carbimazole and the autoimmune response in Graves' disease.

Microsomal antibodies and antibodies directed toward the receptor for thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) decreased in parallel while patients with Graves' disease were taking carbimazole, whereas no significant changes were observed during treatment with placebo or propranolol. The changes in autoantibody levels during carbimazole treatment were independent of changes in serum thyroxine and could have been due to a direct effect of the drug on autoantibody synthesis. Evidence for this suggestion was provided when low doses of methimazole (the active metabolite of carbimazole) were found to inhibit thyroid-autoantibody production in cultured lymphocytes. Since thyroid lymphocytes are probably a major site of thyroid-antibody synthesis in Graves' disease and methimazole is concentrated in the thyroid during treatment, a local action of the drug on antibody production seems likely. This possibility could be important in the use of carbimazole to control hyperthyroidism.

Antibody Formation↗
PubMed1980

Prediction of relapse in hyperthyroid Graves' disease.

Within a year of stopping a 6-month course of carbimazole treatment 41 of 65 patients (63%) with hyperthyroid Graves' disease had a recurrence of their hyperthyroidism. By combined analysis of the HLA-DRw3 status and the level of thyrotrophin-receptor antibody at the time of drug withdrawal relapse or remission could be predicted in 62 of the 65 patients.

Adult↗