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Biomedical subjects

W M Behan

Publications and source records attributed to W M Behan.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1982

Possible evidence for a Shwartzman reaction in pseudomembranous colitis.

Pseudomembranous colitis is a potentially fatal disorder associated with gastrointestinal surgery and the use of antibiotics. The aetiological agent has been shown to be Clostridium difficile but the pathogenesis of the disease is unknown. It has been suggested that the lesions produced are due to a local Shwartzman effect. Such an effect may be accompanied by activation of the serum complement system and we therefore looked for evidence of complement consumption in 4 patients with the diagnostic clinical and histological features of pseudomembranous colitis. Positive evidence was obtained suggesting that a Shwartzman phenomenon may be involved.

Aged↗
PubMed1982

Neuroimmunology.

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Brain Neoplasms↗
PubMed1979

Immune complexes in myasthenia gravis.

Complement components were measured and immune complexes were sought in 75 patients with myasthenia gravis. Thirty-four per cent had decreased concentrations of complement component C4, and 29% had circulating immune complexes. The greatest immunological abnormalities were found in patients with mild disease which supports recent immunoelectronmicroscopic findings.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Immunological studies in pre-eclamptic toxaemia.

Although five patients with severe pre-eclamptic toxaemia (PET) had increased anticomplementary activity in their serum, there was no evidence of complement activation in the plasma of four of the five patients. These results are not implicated in the pathogenesis of PET. No significant correlation was found between anticomplementary activity and pregnancy-associated alpha2-glycoprotein.

Antigen-Antibody Complex↗
PubMed1976

Transfer-factor therapy in multiple sclerosis.

The effect of transfer factor prepared from relatives of patients with multiple sclerosis (M.S.) and from unrelated donors on the clinical course of M.S. has been studied in fifteen male and fifteen female patients. Some patients were given transfer factor and some placebo (physiological saline). Results of three independent clinical examinations by different neurologists and subjective assessments by the patients showed no difference between those given transfer factor and those given placebo.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Absence of cellular hypersensitivity to muscle and thymic antigens in myasthenia gravis.

Humoral antibodies to skeletal muscle and its components and to thymus have been demonstrated in the sera of patients with myasthenia gravis. A role for cellular hypersensitivity to similar antigens in the pathogenesis of the disease has been suggested by some reports of the presence of cellular immunity. A detailed immunological study using muscle and thymic antigens, including those prepared from the patients' own tissues, failed to confirm these findings. It is suggested that previous reports of cellular hypersensitivity represent the demonstration of an epiphenomenon.

Cell Migration Inhibition↗
PubMed1974

Strümpell's familial spastic paraplegia: genetics and neuropathology.

Uncomplicated Strümpell's disease (Strümpell's familial spastic paraplegia) with a dominant mode of inheritance is recorded in six families. The neuropathological findings in two cases from these families are given, bringing the total of similar histologically documented reports in the literature to 11. It is concluded that, although exact classification and identification of the many different hereditary neurological degenerative diseases is not yet practicable, cases conforming to the picture described by Strümpell can be separated from larger general group of familial spastic paraplegias, show a consistent clinical picture, and have a standard pathology. It is suggested that, since the lesions are confined to the longest fibre tracts in the central nervous system, the pathological process may be different from that found in the `system' degenerations.

Adolescent↗