intrinsic-factor and Acute-Disease

Cimetidine is a specific competitive histamine H2-receptor antagonist which effectively inhibits gastric acid secretion and is advocated for the treatment of chronic peptic ulceration, haemorrhage from erosive gastritis, and the control of gastric hypersecretion and peptic ulceration in the Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. Placebo-controlled trials in outpatients have demonstrated its efficacy in promoting the healing of endoscopically diagnosed duodenal ulceration, during a period of 4 to 6 weeks, but its role in the treatment of gastric ulcer is less clear. Preliminary evidence suggests that maintenance therapy with cimetidine reduces the rate of recurrence of duodenal ulcer, but further studies are required to clarify its role in this situation and in the treatment of oesophagitis and acute gastrointestinal haemorrhage. Cimetidine controls the peptic ulceration of Zollinger-Ellison syndrome in most patients when given continuously for up to 2 years. Side-effects have generally been trivial and have very seldom necessitated withdrawal of therapy except in the rare occurrence of gynaecomastia. The haematological abnormalities particularly agranulocytosis, which lead to the withdrawal from clinical use of metiamide, have not been reported with cimetidine, except for 1 case of transient neutropenia. The safety of long-term cimetidine administration has yet to be determined.

Topics: Acute Disease; Animals; Cimetidine; Duodenal Ulcer; Gastric Juice; Gastrins; Gastrointestinal Hemorrhage; Guanidines; Humans; Intrinsic Factor; Recurrence; Stomach Ulcer; Zollinger-Ellison Syndrome

Topics: Acute Disease; Anemia, Pernicious; Chronic Disease; Gastric Juice; Gastritis; Humans; Intrinsic Factor; Stomach Neoplasms

Acute phase reactants are nonspecific indicators of tissue necrosis and/or inflammation but may be helpful in determining activity of disease. Rheumatoid factor is likewise rather nonspecific, but its presence is helpful in predicting the course, severity, and complications of rheumatoid arthritis. Numerous antinuclear antibodies have been identified in collagen vascular diseases; perhaps the most specific association is between anti-Sm antibody and systemic lupus erythematosus. Anti-smooth-muscle and antimitochondrial antibodies can aid in differential diagnosis of liver disease, while antithyroid antibodies can perform a similar function in diffuse goiter. Anti-parietal-cell and anti-intrinsic-factor antibodies are quite specific for pernicious anemia.

Topics: Acute Disease; Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Antibodies; Antibodies, Antinuclear; Arthritis, Rheumatoid; Autoantibodies; Blood Sedimentation; C-Reactive Protein; Child; Child, Preschool; Diagnosis, Differential; Female; Humans; Immunologic Techniques; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Intrinsic Factor; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic; Middle Aged; Pregnancy; Rheumatoid Factor

Rats were rendered iron deficient by a combination of diet and bleeding to study its effects on vitamin B(12) absorption. Small intestinal loops were isolated in vivo and the absorption of -57Co-vitamin B(12) bound to a known quantity of intrinsic factor was measured. Iron deficiency resulted in the impairment of both uptake and transport of B(12). This malabsorption was corrected within 5 days by parenteral iron repletion. The findings were not due to a non-specific effect of anaemia since no correlation existed between haemoglobin levels and B(12) absorption in rats anaemic as a result of acute blood loss. No evidence was found for an altered small-intestinal microflora, bacterial counts being similar in iron-deficient and control rats. It is concluded that iron deficiency in the rat results in impaired absorption of B(12) by the small intestine, probably as a result of some defect produced in the enterocyte.

Topics: Acute Disease; Anemia, Hypochromic; Animals; Bacteria; Cobalt Radioisotopes; Female; Intestinal Absorption; Intestine, Small; Intrinsic Factor; Kidney; Liver; Rats; Vitamin B 12

Topics: Acute Disease; Age Factors; Animals; Antibodies; Chronic Disease; Gastric Mucosa; Gastritis; Gastroscopy; Humans; Immune System Diseases; Immunity, Cellular; Intrinsic Factor