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Biomedical subjects

A E Ferguson

Publications and source records attributed to A E Ferguson.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Breastfeeding infants who were extremely low birth weight.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the clinical effect of breastfeedings and bottle feedings in extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants (birth weight </=800 g). METHODS: A total of 12 ELBW infants (mean birth weight, 672 +/- 95 g; mean gestation, 26 +/- 2 weeks) served as their own controls in this prospective study comparing physiologic parameters during bottle and breastfeeding. The infants were put to breast the same week they began on bottle feedings of human milk or premature infant formula (mean gestation, 35 weeks). One breastfeeding and one bottle feeding were observed each day for 10 days. Pre- and postfeeding weights were measured, and oxygen saturation, respiratory rate, heart rate, and axillary temperature were monitored continuously and recorded every minute during feedings. RESULTS: The infants demonstrated a higher oxygen saturation and a higher temperature during breastfeeding than during bottle feeding, and were less likely to desaturate to <90% oxygen during breastfeeding. Mean weight gain was greater during bottle feeding than during breastfeeding (31 vs 9 g). CONCLUSIONS: Breastfeeding the ELBW infant is desirable from a standpoint of improved physiologic responses, but such practice requires breastfeeding support and possible supplementation to optimize weight gain.

Bottle Feeding↗
PubMed1996

Comparison of skin-to-skin contact with standard contact in low-birth-weight infants who are breast-fed.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effects of maternal-infant skin-to-skin contact (SSC) vs standard contact (SC) on low-birth-weight infants' physiological profile, maternal milk production, and duration of breast-feeding. DESIGN: Prospective, randomized, interventional study with cohort followed up for 6 months after discharge from the hospital. SETTING: Special care nursery with follow-up telephone calls after discharge from the hospital. PATIENTS: Fifty infants, with birth weights less than 1500 g and whose mothers planned to breast-feed, randomized to 2 groups: SSC (experimental) and SC (control). INTERVENTION: In the SSC group, infants were clothed in diaper and held upright between mothers' breasts; both mother and infant were covered with a blanket. In the SC group, infants were clothed, wrapped in blankets, and held cradled in mother's arms. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Infant physiological data, ie, oxygen saturation, heart rate, respiratory rate, and axillary temperature; maternal milk production; and duration of breast-feeding. RESULTS: Oxygen saturation was higher during SSC than during SC (P < .001); 11% of the oxygen saturation recordings during SSC vs 24% during SC indicated the values less than 90% (P < .001). A more stable milk production was noted in the SSC group. No differences were noted in infant temperature, heart rate, or respiratory rate. Ninety percent of mothers in the SSC group vs 61% in the SC group continued breast-feeding for the duration of the infants' hospitalization (P < .05), and 50% in the SSC group vs 11% in the SC continued breast-feeding through 1 month after discharge (P < .01). CONCLUSIONS: During SSC with their mothers, low-birth-weight infants maintain a higher oxygen saturation and are less likely to have desaturation to less than 90% oxygen than are infants exposed to SC. Mothers in the SSC group are more likely to continue breast-feeding until 1 month after discharge.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Measured bronchodilator use in preschool children with asthma.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate how parents use bronchodilator treatment for relief of symptoms when treating their asthmatic preschool children. DESIGN: A commercial electromechanical timer device was attached to a large volume spacer to record the time and date of each use of inhaled bronchodilator over two months. The recorded time and dates were compared with symptoms noted in an asthma diary card. SETTING: Large paediatric teaching hospital in Glasgow. SUBJECTS: 29 preschool children with moderately severe asthma attending a specialist paediatric asthma clinic. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Inhaler use measured by the timer device; symptoms and inhaler use recorded by parents in a daily asthma diary. RESULTS: Satisfactory data were obtained in 22 of the 29 children; the median number of study days was 53 (range 18-77). Asthmatic symptoms were recorded on a median of 30 (3-77) days. Bronchodilator was used on a median of 19 (2-73) days, or on 63% (7-100%) of days when symptoms occurred. The median number of puffs used in a day was 1 (range 0-100) and was significantly related to symptom severity in only 14 of the 22 children. In only two of the 22 children was bronchodilator given more frequently than four hourly, and only five children ever used more than 12 puffs a day. CONCLUSIONS: The frequency of parental administration of bronchodilator treatment was variable and not closely related to the parent's record of symptom severity. Parents often recorded symptoms in their children but did not treat them.

Asthma↗
PubMed1995

Compliance with inhaled asthma medication in preschool children.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have shown poor compliance with regular drug therapy in children and adults with asthma. In preschool children the parents supervise and are responsible for drug administration, but little is known of compliance in this group. In addition, there are few data on the patterns of drug use of inhaled prophylactic asthma therapy or of the relation between compliance and symptom control. A study was undertaken to address these issues with the hypothesis that parental supervision would result in good compliance. METHODS: The subjects were 29 asthmatic children aged 15 months to five years already established on inhaled prophylactic medication delivered through a large volume spacer. The prescribed drug regimens varied between subjects. This was an observational study using an electronic inhaler timer device to record the date and time of each actuation of the aerosol canister. Diary cards were used for parallel recording of symptoms and parentally reported compliance with a drug regimen. RESULTS: Variable and generally poor compliance was demonstrated with a median of 50% of study days with full compliance (subject range 0-94%) and an overall median of 77% of prescribed doses of therapy taken during the study period. No relation was found between frequency of prescribed regimen and good compliance. Day care was associated with poorer compliance. No relation between good compliance and low symptom scores was found. CONCLUSION: Compliance with inhaled prophylactic therapy is poor in preschool children with asthma whose medication is administered under parental supervision.

Administration, Inhalation↗
PubMed1994

Breast feeding in Scotland.

OBJECTIVE: To measure the prevalence of breast feeding and to examine the value of using information collected on Guthrie cards (used for detecting inherited metabolic disease and hypothyroidism when newborn infants are 7 days old) to calculate this prevalence. DESIGN: Analysis, by geographical area and maternity unit, of information on breast feeding collected on Guthrie cards for 131,759 babies born in 1990 and 1991, and comparison with prevalences from other sources. SETTING: Scotland. RESULTS: Of the 131,759 babies, only 46,949 (35.6%) were breast feeding on day 7. The prevalence of breast feeding ranged from 59.1% (376/636) in Shetland to 21.1% (1836/8719) in Lanarkshire and < 8% in some postcode districts of cities. Analysis of the data by hospital of birth showed that the prevalence ranged from 51.2% (2701/5275) to 16.4% (507/3090). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of breast feeding in Scotland is low and varies among areas and maternity units. Intervention to increase this prevalence is essential, and information collected on Guthrie cards is a useful indication of mothers' intentions to breast feed.

Breast Feeding↗
PubMed1992

Biliary function studies during multiple time periods in freely moving rats. A useful system and set of marker solutes.

Biliary output of endogenous and exogenous compounds is altered by anesthesia, depletion of bile salts, and hydrostatic pressure. The described system for bile function studies minimizes these confounding factors by substantially modifying existing methods. Experiments were conducted in freely moving rats which eliminates effects of anesthesia or restraint-induced stress. Depletion of bile salts was prevented by intraduodenal infusion of taurocholate which maintains bile volume. Bile was collected in containers taped to the rat's back which minimizes hydrostatic forces induced by lengthy or elevated biliary cannulas. Animals were prepared for hepatobiliary function studies 1 week before experiments by placement and exteriorization of a jugular cannula and a bile duct to duodenal fistula. Experiments involved monitoring biliary outputs of marker solutes for various pathways of bile formation during three sequential time periods of 120 min, that is, a basal period in the morning and two experimental periods in the afternoon. We found similar patterns of biliary output in each time period for small i.v. doses of conventional exogenous markers [3H-taurocholate, phenolphthalein glucuronide, indocyanine green, and horseradish peroxidase] and for less commonly studied endogenous markers [glucose, inorganic phosphate (Pi), total protein, and leucine aminopeptidase]. This temporal stability indicates a lack of confounding circadian variability for these markers during the course of the biliary function study. Biliary excretion patterns of these marker solutes (e.g., rapid high recoveries of phenolphthalein glucuronide and low concentrations of Pi and glucose) demonstrated that our system for bile function studies is associated with intactness of the examined pathways of bile formation. These results validate our system and set of marker solutes for in vivo biliary function studies.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Protection by L-2-oxothiazolidine-4-carboxylate, a cysteine prodrug, against 1,1-dichloroethylene hepatotoxicity in rats is associated with decreases in toxin metabolism and cytochrome P-450.

Our objective was to determine if the intracellular cysteine precursor, L-2-oxothiazolidine-4-carboxylate (OTZ), would protect rats against the hepatotoxicity of 1,1-dichloroethylene (DCE) by altering the toxin's biologic fate. Fasted male rats were pretreated with 10 mmol of OTZ per kg s.c. in saline or with saline only 1 hr before administration of 14C-labeled DCE (50 mg/kg) p.o. in mineral oil. Serial blood samples were taken from permanent jugular cannulas between 1 and 24 hr to monitor the time course of injury and circulating levels of 14C-derived label. DCE caused less liver injury in the OTZ-pretreated group. This protection was associated with about 50% less total, acid soluble and acid precipitable 14C-label in serum; 30% less label in urine; and at 24 hr, 30 to 68% less covalently bound label in liver, kidney and lung. Extent of peak liver injury in individual animals correlated well with the amount of 14C-label in serum at early times and with the amount covalently bound to liver at 24 hr, but correlated poorly with label excreted into urine. An explanation for the apparent decrease in DCE metabolism by OTZ-pretreated animals was investigated by examining effects of OTZ on liver constituents known to have a role in DCE metabolism. Fasted rats given 10 mmol of OTZ per kg showed a persistent loss of hepatic cytochrome P-450 at 3 and 6 hr whereas their hepatic and renal reduced glutathione contents were transiently diminished at 3 hr.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1988

A stable colorimetric assay to measure toxin elevation of inorganic phosphate in bile.

A modified assay for the measurement of nanomole amounts of Pi in 50 microliters of bile is described. The assay is based on the formation of a complex between malachite green dye and phosphomolybdate under acidic conditions. Only three simple steps are required to produce a colored complex which remains stable for at least 3 h; these steps are precipitation with acid, addition of color reagent containing dye and surfactant, and incubation at 37 degrees C. Analysis of bile samples collected from a rat given the toxin 1,1-dichloroethylene demonstrated that the assay is well suited to routine assays of biliary Pi as an endogenous indicator of aberrant hepatobiliary function.

Animals↗
PubMed1988

Potentiation of 1,1-dichloroethylene hepatotoxicity: comparative effects of hyperthyroidism and fasting.

The responses of fed, fasted, and hyperthyroid (T4) Sprague-Dawley male rats to 50 mg 1,1-dichloroethylene (1,1-DCE)/kg were compared. Hyperthyroid rats received three sc injections of thyroxine (100 micrograms/100 g) at 48-hr intervals; all other rats were sham-injected. 1,1-DCE was given po in mineral oil 24 hr after the last T4 dose; controls received only mineral oil. Animals were killed at 2, 4, and 8 hr. Liver GSH contents were lowered about 55% by both fasting and T4 while GSH transferase activities were lowered about 20% by fasting and 35% by T4. Only T4 pretreatment lowered alcohol dehydrogenase activities. Liver injury (i.e., serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase, histology) after 1,1-DCE was minimal in fed rats, moderate in fasted rats, and intermediate in T4 rats. Fasted rats showed a more pronounced depletion of liver GSH after 1,1-DCE than T4 rats and only in fasted rats did the toxicant decrease activities of the detoxification enzymes. Hypoglycemia after 1,1-DCE occurred in fed rats, but more rapidly in T4 rats. In contrast, fasted rats unexpectedly became hyperglycemic after the toxicant. Patterns of body temperature change after the toxicant, which might be due to its metabolites, were dissimilar. Hypothermia was not observed in fed rats, was only transiently evident in T4 rats, but occurred rapidly within 1 hr in fasted rats and steadily became more severe. The dissimilar patterns of liver enzyme and body temperature and serum glucose change after the toxicant in the three groups are indicative of different pathways of injury potentiation by fasting and hyperthyroidism.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗
PubMed1981

Commercial pharmaceutical medicine and medicalization: a case study from El Salvador.

This study illustrates the impact of prepackaged pharmaceutical products, usually manufactured by multinational firms, on the health care sector of developing market economies. In many Third World countries Western biomedical practitioners do not exercise the degree of control over the use of one of their major healing resources, prescription medications, that is characteristic in most Western developed countries. Instead, these products have become integrated into healing strategies of alternative medical practitioners, giving rise to a popular sector of medical care, here termed to commercial pharmaceutical sector. In this context a form and process of medicalization has taken place which is only tangentially related to the presence of Western biomedical practitioners. A dependence has been created on a particular form of therapy, Western manufactured drug products, as well as on the agents and institutions that make the products available, that has produced cultural, social and clinical forms of commerciogenesis. These general propositions are examined in a case study of the impact of the pharmaceutical invasion of the health care sector in a Central American town.

Delivery of Health Care↗
PubMed1981

The extent and control of avian influenza in Canada.

The large variety of influenza A virus types circulating among wild birds in their northern breeding grounds represents a menace to the Canadian poultry industry. The principal victims of avian influenza in the past were turkeys, exceptionally affected were ducks, but never chickens. Influenza in Ontario turkeys reached a peak incidence at the end of the 60's, then it declined steadily to isolated infrequent infections. The decline is attributed to efforts made to avoid contact between domestic turkeys and wild birds. The prospect of controlling avian influenza by vaccination is discounted, and it is recommended to place more emphasis on isolation of the turkeys and improved sanitation on the farms.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Efficacy of salinomycin and stenorol against various species of Eimeria and effect on chick performance.

Three experiments were designed to test the efficacy of salinomycin and stenorol against infection by various Eimeria species on cage reared broiler type chicks. Efficacy was based on a coccidial index. Sixty parts per million salinomycin alone or in combination with 50 ppm 3 nitro significantly improved the index over basal treatments or when 3 nitro was used alone. The differences in index values recorded for coban and salinomycin were not significant. Stenorol significantly improved the index and appeared to be a most effective anticoccidial product. Broiler chickens reared in floor pens to 8 weeks showed a significant reduction in weight gain when the diet contained salinomycin +3 nitro or coban. Stenorol at 3, 6, or 9 ppm reduced body weight, with linear regression for this effect being highly significant (P less than .01). No coccidiosis was observed.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Leg bone abnormalities and histopathology of caged and floor reared broilers fed diets devoid of selected vitamins and minerals.

Summers et al., 1978, described an experiment in which performance and leg conditions of birds fed diets devoid of synthetic biotin, choline, folic acid, manganese, and miacin were observed and recoreded. This is a report on birds from the same experiment. Dyschondroplasia of the tibia was documented and the distal end of each tibia examined histologically. Metatarsal length and condyle depth of the distal tibia were also determined. Metatarsal length was influenced by vitamin deficiencies as well as the type of floor on which binds were raised. The depth of the intercondyle space was affected more by a manganese deficiency than by vitamin deficiencies and, in this case, was greater on plastic and litter as opposed to wire floors. There did not appear to be a correlation between the space depth and slipping of the tendons; however, a large number of birds should be examined to provide more data. Dyschondroplasia was more prevalent in choline deficient birds, particularly those birds raised on litter or plastic floors. Histology changes in relation to nutrient deficiencies were comparable to those reported previously.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Dietary salt and round heart disease in turkey poults with a note on the minimum level of supplementary salt necessary in corn-soybean diets.

Round heart disease in turkey poults has been associated with high levels of dietary salt and when it occurs in the field recommendations often include a reduction in the level of dietary salt. Poults fed diets containing up to 1.5% salt and 1.5% sodium did not exhibit signs of round heart disease. A high mortality rate occurred with poults fed a salt-free diet. Post-mortem analysis generally revealed enlargement of the kidneys with urates; exudate was present in both abdominal and thoracic air sacs. Growth trials indicated that in order to maintain an optimum feed:body weight gain ratio, corn-soybean diets should contain at least 0.1--0.2% supplemental salt, and at least 0.2--0.3% salt when growth rate is considered. Minimum salt levels could not be reduced further by adjustment of the total dietary sodium:chloride ratio to unity.

Animal Feed↗
PubMed1975

The effects of elevated levels of sodium chloride on ascites and related problems in turkeys.

The response of young poults to diets containing 0.7, 1.2, 1.7 and 2.7 per cent sodium chloride was studied. Water intake, feed intake and wieght gain were not significantly influenced by treatment. Only the highest level caused a significant increase in mortality. Ascites was not a consistent finding even on high levels of salt. A straight line best described the response but confidence limits were large and this was also true for heart, kidney and lung lesions. Lesions showing myocardial distension with pericardial adhesions, severe congestion of the lungs and enlarged pale kidneys seemed more indicative of salt intoxication than classic ascites. Microscopically heterophilic (eosinophilic) lung and meningeal infiltrates accompanied by myocardial degeneration and adhesions were suggestive, but not specific, of salt intoxication.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1975

Studies on the control of Mycoplasma gallisepticum in hatching eggs.

Lincomycin-spectinomycin, while effective in eliminating Mycoplasma gallisepticum from hatching eggs when administered via the yolk sac, had a marked deleterious effect on hatch-ability when given by this route. On the other hand when lincomycin-spectinomycin was injected into the air cell there was a reduction in the level of experimental infection with an acceptable effect on hatchability.

Animals↗