Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to W Hall.
An unusual case of lymphomatous infiltration of the kidneys presenting as uremia of unknown cause is described. The diagnosis was established by renal biopsy. The severe renal impairment in this patient proved to be almost completely reversible by treatment with chemotherapy.
A cross-sectional study was carried out to compare psychiatric impairment in young unemployed men and apprentices from Sydney's western suburbs. The unemployed men were found to have a psychiatric case rate (as defined by the GHQ) of 48% as against a rate of 28% for the apprentices. Comparisons of the unemployed men and apprentices on other measures indicated that they did not differ in physical health nor in the value they attached to work. The unemployed, however, were older on average, less well educated and had experienced a poorer quality of parental upbringing than the apprentices. A log-linear analysis revealed that the adverse effects of unemployment on mental health were not attributable to poor quality of upbringing.
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The views of practising psychiatrists on the treatment of agoraphobia were investigated as part of a Quality Assurance Project. A one in six random sample of psychiatrists was mailed a questionnaire. This asked for treatment recommendations for each of three case descriptions of patients with agoraphobia and respondents were asked to choose three treatments from a predetermined list of treatments. Eighty-six percent of the sample responded. Behavioural psychotherapy was recommended most often, usually in conjunction with psychodynamic psychotherapy. Recommendations varied across the three cases and were also marginally affected by the format of the question used to elicit them.
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Peripheral blood lymphocytes from MS patients and from healthy control donors were compared for their ability to mediate spontaneous and antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity. They were also compared for their ability to respond to infection with various strains of measles and sSPE viruses with interferon production and enhanced NK activity. Neither SLMC nor ADCC against several different target cells was found to be impaired in the MS population. Furthermore, no defect was detected in the response of patients' lymphocytes to virus challenge in vitro in terms of both activation of NK cells and interferon production. Enhanced NK activity was also induced by an exogenous interferon preparation and by Poly I:C to the same extent in patients and controls.
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Monoclonal antibodies against a variety of antigens can be produced using techniques of somatic cell hybridization between cells of rodent myeloma lines and B cells derived from animals immunized against a given antigen. However, because of the monoclonal antibodies secreted by these hybridomas are of rodent origin, their use in human immunotherapy is limited. Thus the production of B-cell hybrids that secrete human monoclonal antibodies may be of considerable value. We have hybridized a hypoxanthine phosphoribosyl transferase (HPRT)-deficient human B-cell line derived from a patient suffering from multiple myeloma with peripheral lymphocytes obtained from a patient with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE). These hybridomas were found to secrete human IgM specific for measles virus nucleocapsids.
A survey of 500 patients who were administered lumbar epidural analgesia by an obstetrician as opposed to an anaesthetist is described. The procedure is safe, patients prefer it, and it has numerous advantages over alternative methods of analgesia in labour. A plea is made for more obstetricians to be trained to use this method, so that it may become more widely available.
William Chidley was a unique Australian. He lectured frequently on his beliefs that the answer to society's problems was a three-fold program of correct dress, proper diet and a new method of sexual intercourse. His compulsory admissions to psychiatric hospitals were on the grounds that he was insane and a danger to public morals. The case raised basic questions in psychiatry, morality and lunacy law. These questions, which are discussed, are still of contemporary significance.
The incidence of gonorrhoea in urban Black women seen in an antenatal clinic, a gynaecological clinic and a family planning clinic, was studied. Swabs taken from the urethra, endocervix and rectum were cultured by means of the Clinicult system. The overall incidence of gonorrhoea was 9.7%. In the antenatal clinic the incidence was 2%, in the gynaecological clinic it was 11% and in the family planning clinic it was 12%.
The lower esophageal high pressure zone of eight Rhesus monkeys was characterized by manometry and reflux testing. It was found to respond characteristically to pentagastrin infusions. After excision of the lower esophageal segment and tis replacement by a stomach tube, an apparently normal, functional high pressure zone was demonstrable within the substitute.
Electron beam therapy with its high energy capabilities appears promising as a therapeutic modality in head and neck neoplasms. Over a 10-year period, 153 cases of head and neck neoplasms involving the alveolar ridge, floor of mouth, buccal mucosa, retromolar trigone, tonsil, parotid, tongue, and pharynx were treated. The pharyngeal group was removed from consideration because of the unsuitability of this lesion for single port therapy. Normal standard doses and time-dose fractions are included as a basis for treatment comparison, and the influence of stage on survival is noted. Survival and tolerance of this form of treatment is comparable to photon therapy and may in fact result in fewer complications.
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The cell culture lines HTG2 and HTG3 were established from a transplantable hamster tumor induced by a murine sarcoma virus (strain Gz-MSV) after 17 and 60 in vivo passages, respectively. The viruses released by these two cell lines markedly differ in morphology, antigenic composition, infectivity, transforming ability, and enzymatic activity. HTG2 virions contained the sarcoma genome but were noninfectious for mouse and hamster cells (S+H-virus). HTG3 virions transformed hamster but not mouse cells. Whereas HTG2 cells and its virus contained murine type C virus gs-1 antigen, all HTG3 clonal lines expressed both murine and hamster type C virus gs-1 antigens. The RNA-dependent DNA polymerase activity of HTG2 virus was very low, whereas that of HTG3 virus was relatively high. HTG2 virions contained electron-lucent centers only. HTG3 virus consisted of the expected mixture of virions with electron-dense and electron-lucent centers. Many broken or incomplete virions were present in both viruses. HTG2 virus is a noninfectious "defective" sarcoma virus without detectable helper virus. Data obtained in these experiments suggest that HTG3 virus is a hamster type C virus pseudotype of Gz-MSV (Gz-MSV [HaLV]). The genome of Gz-MSV is capable of antigenic expression in heterologous cells and in the presence of heterologous viruses. Attempts to chemically activate hamster type C virus (HaLV) from HTG2 cells were unsuccessful. The HTG1 cell culture line, established from another Gz-MSV-induced hamster tumor, initially released a virus indistinguishable from the HTG2 virus. After in vitro passage, spontaneous activation of HaLV occurred in HTG1 cells, and the resultant Gz-MSV (HaLV) had properties similar to those of the HTG3 virus.