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Biomedical subjects

W B Blythe

Publications and source records attributed to W B Blythe.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Hypertension as a causative diagnosis of patients entering end-stage renal disease programs in the United States from 1980 to 1986.

Treatment of hypertension has decreased the incidence of stroke and congestive heart failure consequential to hypertension. To determine whether the incidence of hypertension as a causative diagnosis of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is also decreasing, we examined the records of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) from 1980 to 1986 regarding the causative diagnoses of patients entering ESRD programs. We found that the incidence of patients entering ESRD programs increased during the study period. Hypertension as a causative diagnosis was a constant proportion of the increase. The greatest increase occurred in patients age 55 or more years. This was strikingly true of black patients. We conclude that there has not been a decrease in the incidence of hypertension as a causative diagnosis for patients entering ESRD programs and that this may be a reflection that treatment of hypertension does not prevent the development of ESRD in some patients. We propose that prospective studies be undertaken to determine whether this is the case.

Age Factors

Analgesic use and chronic renal disease.

To examine the use of analgesics as a cause of chronic renal disease, we performed a multicenter case-control study of 554 adults with newly diagnosed kidney disease (serum creatinine, greater than or equal to 130 mumol per liter [1.5 mg per deciliter]) and 516 matched control subjects selected randomly from the same area of North Carolina. Histories of use of analgesics (phenacetin, acetaminophen, and aspirin) were obtained by telephone interview with the patients or their proxies. Daily users of analgesics had significantly more renal disease than infrequent users (odds ratio, 2.79; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.85 to 4.21). The risk of renal disease was highest in daily users of phenacetin (odds ratio, 5.11; confidence interval, 1.76 to 14.9, after adjustment for the effects of other analgesics). The risk of renal disease was also increased in daily users of acetaminophen; after adjustment for the use of aspirin and phenacetin, the odds ratio was 3.21 (confidence interval, 1.05 to 9.80). There was no increased risk in daily aspirin users (adjusted odds ratio, 1.32; confidence interval, 0.69 to 2.51). The risks with daily use of either phenacetin or acetaminophen changed little after adjustment for diabetes, hypertension, and the indication for analgesic use. We conclude that the long-term, regular use of phenacetin may increase the risk of chronic renal disease. The long-term, daily use of acetaminophen, the major metabolite of phenacetin, is associated independently with an increased risk of chronic renal disease. We could find no increased risk in daily users of aspirin.

Acetaminophen

The numbers racket.

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Clinical Laboratory Techniques

Natural history of hypertension in renal parenchymal disease.

This paper discusses the author's version of the known and unknown in the natural history of hypertension in renal parenchymal disease. Discussed in particular are the prevalence of hypertension in various forms of renal parenchymal disease at various levels of renal function, pathogenesis of hypertension in renal parenchymal disease, and the course of hypertension in these diseases.

Acute Disease

Saline-induced natriuresis in the dog without prior exposure of the kidney to the physical effects of expansion of the extracellular fluid compartment.

1. Experiments were carried out in dogs in which renal perfusion pressure was reduced 40 min before beginning expansion of the extracellular fluid space by 10% with isotonic sodium chloride solution. Sodium excretion increased up to 590% of control values in spite of the fact that the filtered load of sodium was below that of the control period and circulating mineralocorticoids were not suppressed. 2. The findings indicate that, in the dog, prior exposure of the kidney to the volume-expanded state is not a prerequisite for natriuresis to occur.

Animals

Failure of successful renal transplantation to reverse the dialysis-associated encephalopathy syndrome.

A patient is described who had been on home dialysis for two years before receiving a cadaver kidney transplant. In retrospect, minor speech difficulties were noted two weeks before the transplant. A week after the transplant the characteristic speech, movement and electroencephalographic (EEG) abnormalities of the dialysis encephalopathy syndrome abruptly presented. Relentless neurological deterioration ensued ending in death three months later despite excellent function in the transplant. The significance of this observation is related to current theories of pathogenesis.

Adult

Arginase activity of human erythrocyte ghosts in uremia.

Arginase activity of erythrocyte membrane fragments has been determined in normal subjects and in two groups of uremic patients: 1) those having a blood urea concentration of 100 mgm/100 ml or higher and with an elevated erythrocyte sodium concentration and 2) patients with a blood urea concentration of 100 mgm/100 ml and higher and a normal erythrocyte sodium concentration. No statistically significant difference was detected between the normal subjects and the uremic patients. It is concluded, therefore, that the effect of uremia on the magnesium dependant, Na and K activated adenosine triphosphatase of erythrocyte membranes is not applicable to all enzymes of the erythrocyte.

Arginase