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Biomedical subjects

T Palmer

Publications and source records attributed to T Palmer.

90 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Neonatal hyperammonaemia with complete absence of liver carbamyl phosphate synthetase activity.

Two newborn infants, male (A) and female (B), with lethal hyperammonaemia are described in the same family. In both, symptoms started on the second day of life. Lethargy and hypotonia were the most prominent initial findings and were followed by convulsions and coma. In both, blood ammonia levels rose to 570 mumol/u (795 microgram/100 ml) a few hours before death, which occurred on the third and fourth day of life respectively. Assay of liver urea cycle enzymes in baby B showed a complete absence of mitochondrial carbamyl phosphate synthetase activity.

Amino Acid Metabolism, Inborn Errors↗

Increased excretion of N-carbamoyl compounds in patients with urea cycle defects.

Increased urinary levels of N-carbamoyl-beta-alanine, and also, on occasions, of N-carbamoylaspartate, were observed in patients with ornithine carbamoyl-transferase (EC 2.1.3.3) deficiency, argininosuccinate synthetase (EC 6.3.4.5) deficiency and argininosuccinate lyase (EC 4.3.2.1)deficiency, but not in a patient with carbamoylphosphate synthase deficiency. The relevance of these findings to the diagnosis of urea cycle defects is discussed.

Alanine↗

Increased pyroglutamic acid levels in patients on artificial diets.

Increased plasma and urine levels of pyroglutamic acid were found in 4 patients being fed the low-lactose food Nutramigen. Pyroglutamic acid was detected and estimated by a variety of methods, and the merits of the techniques used and their application in a screening programme are discussed.

Carbohydrate Metabolism, Inborn Errors↗

Protein intake and plasma amino-acids of infants of low birth weight.

The plasma amino-acid levels in infants of low birth weight fed on expressed human milk and on a proprietary breast-milk substitute, S26, with a protein intake of not more than 4.5 g/kg/day were compared with those in infants fed on an evaporated milk formula whose protein intake ranged from 6.15 to 12.3 g/kg/day, as well as with normal infants on normal feeds and protein intake. In general, there was little difference between the levels in infants of low birth weight and in normal infants on the same protein intake. The five infants of low birth weight on high protein intake had generally higher levels of plasma amino-acids compared with the group on the lower protein intake, and in particular the levels of tyrosine, phenylalanine, methionine, and cystathionine could be extremely high. Apart from methionine these high levels may be the result both of a reduction in activity of the enzymes involved in the metabolism of these amino-acids, due to the immaturity of the infant, and of the increased stress of a high protein intake. In view of a possible long-term effect of abnormally high plasma amino-acid levels it is suggested that the protein intake of infants of low birth weight should not exceed 6 g/kg/day.

Amino Acids↗