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Biomedical subjects

W S Watson

Publications and source records attributed to W S Watson.

70 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1980

Oral absorption of lead and iron.

Oral lead and iron absorptions have been measured by the use of radioactive tracer techniques in ten subjects, five of whom had low iron stores as shown by low serum ferritin. The absorption of both elements was abnormally high in these five and also in one subject with normal serum ferritin. The other 4 subjects, who were iron-replete, had absorption values in the normal range. The statistically significant positive correlation between oral lead and iron absorptions suggests that the sizeable proportion of the population "overabsorbing" iron may absorb two to three times more lead than the generally accepted value of 10% of dietary input.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Red cell magnesium as a function of cell age.

The variation in the magnesium content of human red cells as a function of cell age has been measured by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The cell population was split into different age fractions using discontinuous density gradient centrifugation, since it is known that cell density increases with age. A mathematical model relating predicted cell age to cell density has been developed which allows the quantification of the observed fall-off in magnesium content with cell age. This model suggests that cells lose magnesium monoexponentially with age, the half-life being approximately 100 days. A previously proposed hypothesis that magnesium could enter the cells only at erythropoiesis and then decay monoexponentially predicted a half-life of 22.4 days and is therefore seen to be an oversimplification of magnesium kinetics in the red cell. The relevance of the present findings to pathologic conditions with abnormal red cell magnesium concentrations is discussed.

Erythrocyte Aging↗
PubMed1980

Application of the occupancy principle in studies of the metabolism of vitamin B12 in man.

1. The long-term clearance of radioactive vitamin B12 from serum and from whole body was measured in control subjects and patients with treated pernicious anaemia and the data were analysed by the occupancy principle to provide estimates of dietary intake, daily requirements and whole-body mass of vitamin B12. 2. In six cases the daily requirement for vitamin B12 ranged from 0.15 to 1.9 microgram with an average of 1.0 microgram. The whole-body vitamin B12 in four cases ranged from 780 to 1350 microgram with an average of 1060 microgram. 3. Estimates of the whole-body vitamin B12 on the assumption of single-pool equilibrium gave constantly changing results, which, together with discrepant half-lives for serum radioactivity and whole-body radioactivity, constitute evidence against the concept of single-pool equilibrium.

Anemia, Pernicious↗
PubMed1980

An evaluation of the 14C-glycocholic acid breath test in the diagnosis of bacterial colonisation of the jejunum.

In order to assess the performance of the 14C-glycocholic acid breath test as an indicator of bacterial colonisation of the jejunum, 145 combined breath tests and jejunal aspirate cultures were carried out on a total of 50 subjects who had an increased probability of being colonised. Ninety-one of the 145 cultures were positive while only 31 of the breath tests were positive. This poor performance of the breath test relative to the aspirate culture can be predicted with reasonable accuracy from known bile deconjugating capabilities of bacteria found in the small intestine.

Bacterial Infections↗
PubMed1979

Diet, absorption, and hormone studies in relation to body weight in obstructive airways disease.

Sixteen male patients with stable chronic obstructive airways disease were separated into two groups of eight according to arterial carbon dioxide tensions. Hypercapnia was associated with lower arterial oxygen tensions, higher red cell volume, and increased weight, while normocapnic subjects were decidedly thin. The considerable difference in body weight between the two groups could not be explained by variation in caloric intake, and malabsorption was excluded as a cause of weight loss in the underweight subjects. Serum tri-iodothyronine, thyroxine, cortisol, and oestradiol concentrations were similar and normal in each group, but both groups had significantly low testosterone values as compared with controls, values in the hypercapnic being appreciably lower than in the normocapnic group. The adrenal androgen dehydroepiandrosterone was significantly high in the normocapnic group and low in the hypercapnic group compared with controls. Serum pituitary luteinising and follicle stimulating hormones were normal, but three hypercapnic individuals had high serum prolactin values. Early morning urinary aldosterone values were significantly higher in the hypercapnic than in the normocapnic group. Such hormone comparisons have not previously been made in subjects with chronic obstructive airways disease grouped according to arterial blood gas values, and it is concluded that major alterations in adrenal and testicular function may occur, possibly due to pituitary suppression from hypoxia. Such hormonal changes might in part account for the contrasting alterations in body habitus found in this condition.

Aged↗
PubMed1978

Assessment of rheumatoid inflammation in the knee joint. A reappraisal.

Subjective pain score, clinical assessment, 99m technetium joint uptake, infrared thermography, and thermistor skin temperature measurements were evaluated and compared in patients with rheumatoid knee treated with intra-articular hydrocortisone. In 11 patients with definite and classical rheumatoid arthritis, 10 of whom had unilateral knee involvement, the affected knee joints were assessed by the above techniques before and at intervals after treatment of up to 14 days. The anti-inflammatory property of the steroid therapy was shown by all the assessment parameters, values having decreased significantly from the pretreatment values. However, the only parameter still showing a statistically significant decrease on the 14th post-treatment day was 99mTc joint uptake. Correlations were obtained between the two clinical measurements assessed by a physician i.e. pain score and index of joint inflammation. Both of these also correlated with the 99mTc joint uptake but not with skin temperature measurements. Using the clinical assessments as a yardstick, 99mTc joint uptake seemed to provide a useful index of changes in disease activity in the group as a whole. However, skin temperature measurements by infrared thermography and by the thermistor were of considerably less value.

Arthritis, Rheumatoid↗
PubMed1978

Potassium studies in chronic obstructive airways disease.

Seventeen male patients with chronic obstructive airways disease in remission were separated into two groups according to arterial carbon dioxide tensions. Hypercapnia was associated significantly with hypoxia and increased red cell volume whereas normocapnia was not. Normocapnic patients were significantly lighter than those with hypercapnia. Total body potassium (TBK) measured by the whole body monitor was significantly low in two of the patients studied (P less than 0.005). The mean value for TBK for the normocapnic group as a whole was significantly low (P less than 0.005), but the mean value for the hypercapnic group was not. Serum potassium and erythrocyte potassium concentrations were normal even when TBK was low, and diuretics had no apparent influence on these potassium values. Of four patients (two in the series and two others) who had TBK measured after a recent episode of cor pulmonale, three had significantly low values. The only previous studies using a whole body monitor to measure TBK in chronic obstructive airways disease found no such low values, though other workers estimating exchangeable potassium by isotope dilution techniques had found evidence of gross potassium depletion. It is concluded that low TBK does indeed occur in patients with chronic obstructive airways disease and that gross depletion is more likely to follow an episode of cor pulmonale.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Amelioration of bendrofluazide-induced hypokalemia by timolol.

The beta adrenergic blocking drug, timolol, tended to correct the hypokalemia of short-term bendrofluazide treatment in 6 healthy male subjects and although the effect was small it was significant. Timolol also reduced the rise in plasma aldosterone and urine potassium excretion following bendrofluazide and increased the urine sodium/potassium ratio. There was no evidence of a shift of potassium from the intracellular to the extracellular space.

Bendroflumethiazide↗