Browsing by Author "Schabort, I."

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    Comparison between umbilical artery and vein endogenous digoxin-like immuno-active factor levels in normal and pre-eclamptic patients
    (Health & Medical Publishing Group, 1991) Schabort, I.; Odendaal, H. J.; Lombard, C. J.; Bredell, L.
    Recent studies have pointed to the existence of an endogenous digoxin-like immuno-active factor (DLIF), which may be associated with hypertension and pre-eclampsia. The DLIF levels in the umbilical venous and umbilical arterial blood of neonates, as well as the maternal serum of primigravidas and multigravidas with and without pre-eclampsia, were determined by means of a commercially available radioimmunoassay kit, which is cross-reactive with DLIF, in 44 mothers and their babies in search for a possible placental, fetal or maternal origin of the DLIF. The mean placental and neonatal masses were significantly lower in the pre-eclampsia group than in the control group (P < 0,01). However, the DLIF levels in the maternal serum, umbilical cord venous and umbilical cord arterial serum were statistically significantly higher in the pre-eclampsia group than in the control pregnant group (P < 0,05). A very strong correlation was found between umbulical cord venous and arterial DLIF levels (r = 0,90; P = 0,001, Spearman rank-correlation coefficient). Although the mean DLIF level in cord arterial serum was lower than that of cord venous serum, statistical significance was not reached if the Bonferroni adjustment was applied to the P value.
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    Influence of disodium etidronate on Paget's disease of bone
    (Health & Medical Publishing Group, 1987) Muir, H. G.; Schabort, I.; Hough, F. S.
    The use of agents that decrease bone resorption, notably the calcitonins, diphosphonates and mithramycin, has been shown to result in symptomatic and/or biochemical improvement in patients with Paget's disease of bone (osteitis deformans). The effects of short-term (6 months), low-dose (5 mg/kg body mass/d) etidronate disodium, a diphosphonate compound at present subject to registration in this country, on the clinical and laboratory manifestations of this disorder were examined. Marked symptomatic improvement was noted in 70% of patients, while biochemical parameters of bone turnover, namely serum alkaline phosphatase level (44%) and urine hydroxyproline excretion (56%), decreased significantly (P less than 0.001). A technetium-99m bone scan revealed an impressive reduction in uptake of isotope in 50% of patients. The drug was well tolerated and no adverse reactions (clinical, biochemical or haematological) were evident. It is concluded that short-term low-dose etidronate disodium affords a convenient and effective therapeutic alternative in patients with symptomatic Paget's disease.