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Biomedical subjects

A M Shepherd

Publications and source records attributed to A M Shepherd.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1983

A non-invasive off-line method of measuring cardiac output.

The measurement of cardiac output has many clinical applications and the development of a reliable, non-invasive measurement technique would be of considerable value to clinicians, cardio-respiratory physiologists and cardiovascular pharmacologists. Currently-used methods of measuring cardiac output are either invasive, and therefore potentially dangerous, or require the use of expensive, sophisticated, complex equipment which often has to be kept exclusively for the purpose of measuring cardiac output. We describe a method based on the recently modified and validated acetylene rebreathing technique which avoids the necessity for on-line computer acquisition of data by employing semi-manual digitization of hard copy recordings. The method is non-invasive, accurate, sensitive and relatively inexpensive. In addition, the whole technique can be rapidly performed by minimally trained personnel.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Pads and pants for urinary incontinence.

Fifty-one female patients, incontinent of urine, were asked to compared two different combinations of pants and pads used in the ambulatory management of their incontinence. They were offered the Kanga pant with a Kanga pad and the Sandra pant with a Bambi pad. Each patient tried both pants and pads and thus comparisons could be made on a within-patient basis. Both systems kept a similar proportion of patients dry during the day and night. In terms of comfort, however, the Kanga pant was quite clearly preferred to the Sandra. The Bambi pad was rated more highly than the Kanga pad, although the difference between the two pads was not so pronounced as that between pants.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Changing attitudes in the management of urinary incontinence-the need for specialist nursing.

Much interest has been shown recently in the plight of the incontinent patient and how incontinence should be managed. Incontinence has a complex aetiology and may be part of many medical and social problems. Because there is a delay between completing investigations and making a diagnosis we have established a system of nursing care. Initially this was meant to provide the person protective garments and appliances, but it now covers management in both the community and the hospital. The preliminary results show that patient assessment is effective and that specialist nurses and a co-ordinated scheme to educate both doctors and nurses are needed.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1981

Variability of plasma hydralazine concentrations in male hypertensive patients.

The efficacy and toxicity of hydralazine differ widely among individual patients, possibly because of different sensitivities to drug effect or as a reflection of pharmacokinetic differences. Therefore, the variability in plasma hydralazine concentrations after single intravenous and single and multiple oral doses was studied in 9 male hypertensive patients. After an intravenous dose of 0.3 mg/kg the area under the plasma concentration time curve (AUC) varied over less than a twofold range 17.5-29.5 muM-minute. However, after a single oral dose, 1 mg/kg, and after at least the fifth dose of a regimen consisting of 1 mg/kg given every 12 hours, there were much wider variations in AUC values: 4.0-30.4 and 3.2-38.5 muM-minute, respectively. Similar ranges in peak hydralazine concentration, Cp, were also noted, 0.12-1.31 muM after single oral dose and 0.10-1.39 muM after the multiple dose regimen. A significant portion of the observed interpatient variability could be explained by differences in acetylation ability. The AUC and Cp values for both the single and multiple oral doses were significantly lower (P less than 0.001) in rapid than in slow acetylators. Therefore, determining the acetylation ability of patients requiring hydralazine may help to optimize therapeutic benefit and minimize toxicity.

Acetylation↗
PubMed1981

Plasma noradrenaline as a measure of baroreflex sensitivity in hypertensive man.

1. Changes in plasma noradrenaline levels and heart rate were used as measures of baroreflex sensitivity in six hypertensive subjects given serial incremental doses of sodium nitroprusside (intravenously) to lower blood pressure. 2. The rises in both heart rate and plasma noradrenaline concentration were linearly related to the decrement in blood pressure and inversely related to the severity of the hypertension. 3. A positive correlation between rise in heart rate and rise in plasma noradrenaline was found for each subject. With increasing severity of hypertension, a greater increase in heart rate occurred for each increment in plasma noradrenaline concentration. 4. Baroreflex sensitivity can be assessed by relating changes in heart rate to change in arterial pressure; however, this method does not distinguish the relative contributions of the vagal and sympathetic components of the autonomic neural response or variations in the chronotropic response to sympathetic stimulation. 5. Changes in plasma noradrenaline levels in response to graded reductions in blood pressure may be a more appropriate measure of baroreflex sensitivity than the methods currently used in clinical investigation.

Heart Rate↗
PubMed1981

Determination of moxalactam in human body fluids by liquid chromatographic and microbiological methods.

High-performance liquid chromatographic methods for determination of the isomers of moxalactam in plasma and urine have been developed. Conventional reverse-phase chromatography was used for plasma assays, and an ion-pairing reagent was included for urine assays. Detection limits were 1.5 micrograms/ml of plasma and 7.5 micrograms/ml of urine. The high-performance liquid chromatographic assays were extensively compared with a microbiological assay (detection limit, 1 microgram/ml), using samples from human volunteers to whom moxalactam had been administered as well as plasma and urine from untreated humans, to which moxalactam was added. The correlations between the assays were quite good, but the precision and accuracy of the high-performance liquid chromatographic methods were superior. Both types of assays were used in a study of the stability of moxalactam-containing samples at various temperatures.

Biological Assay↗
PubMed1980

Quantitative analysis of hydralazine pyruvic acid hydrazone, the major plasma metabolite of hydralazine.

A specific, high-performance liquid chromatographic technique for the measurement of hydralazine pyruvic acid hydrazone is described. This method utilized reversed-phase chromatography for the separation of this hydrophilic metabolite of hydralazine from other fluid constituents present in serum, plasma, or urine of human volunteers and rabbits receiving hydralazine. Detection of the compound of interest is accomplished spectrophotometrically at 250 nm.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Hydralazine kinetics in hypertensive patients after intravenous administration.

Previous studies on intravenous hydralazine kinetics have been performed using nonselective analytical techniques that measure not only hydralazine but also certain hydralazine metabolites such as hydralazine pyruvic acid hydrazone (HPH). We studied the time course of hydralazine and HPH in eight hypertensive patients after 0.3 mg/kg intravenous with selective high-pressure liquid chromatographic assays. "Apparent" hydralazine concentrations were also determined using a nonselective gas-liquid chromatographic procedure. Total plasma clearance, CLT[72.9 +/- 4.9 (SEM) ml . min-1 . kg-1], apparent volume of distribution, Vd area (5.83 +/- 0.30 1 . kg-1), steady-state volume of distribution, Vd ss (1.83 +/- 0.17 . kg-1), and terminal half-life, t1/2 (53.7 min, harmonic mean) were independent of acetylator phenotype. The high ClT is compatible with rapid intravascular conversion of hydralazine to HPH and a high hepatic extraction ratio. Peak HPH concentrations occurred 10 to 60 min after dose; mean HPH t1/2 was 239 min. "Apparent" hydralazine concentrations were usually highest in the 2-min plasma sample and declined with a mean t1/2 of 296 min. Reports based on nonselective assay methods have underestimated CLT, Vd ss, and Vd area and have overestimated the t1/2 of hydralazine.

Half-Life↗
PubMed1980

Hydralazine kinetics after single and repeated oral doses.

In reports on hydralazine kinetics plasma hydralazine levels have been measured with nonspecific assay techniques. The techniques used also include acid-labile hydralazine metabolites and therefore markedly overestimate hydralazine levels. We have developed specific, sensitive assay methods for the measurement of hydralazine and its major plasma metabolite, hydralazine pyruvic acid hydrazone (HPH). By these methods, we determined hydralazine and HPH kinetics after single and repeated oral doses of hydralazine in eight hypertensive patients. Hydralazine bioavailability in the fast acetylator group (9.5% single dose, 6.6% repeated doses) and in the slow acetylator group (31.3% single dose, 39.3% repeated doses) was phenotype dependent. Peak plasma levels were lower than those reported with nonspecific assays: 0.32 microM for the single dose and 0.14 microM for repeated doses in the fast acetylator group and 1.03 microM for the single dose and 0.96 microM repeated doses in the slow acetylator group. There was no alteration in kinetics and no cumulation in plasma on repeated administration. HPH plasma levels were proportional to those of hydralazine in both acetylator groups and were 2.5 to 4 times as high as those of hydralazine. Elimination half-lifes were phenotype independent, ranging from 4 to 6 hr. HPH cumulated in the rapid but not in the slow acetylator group after repeated doses of hydralazine.

Acetylation↗
PubMed1979

High-pressure liquid chromatographic assay for hydralazine in human plasma.

A specific high-performance liquid chromatographic assay for hydralazine in human plasma was developed. Plasma hydralazine is reacted with 10 microliter of p-anisaldehyde for 7 min at room temperature to form hydralazine p-anisaldehyde hydrazone. This derivative is extracted into ethyl acetate, and the solvent is removed by evaporation. The residue is reconstituted in 100 microliter of methanol, and 90 microliter is injected onto a reversed-phase column. The mobile phase is 32% acetonitrile in 0.75 M acetate buffer, pH 3.4, at a flow rate of 2 ml/min. The retention time of hydralazine p-anisaldehyde hydrazone is 6.5 min. The average coefficient of variation over 10-200 ng/ml is 5.5%, and the sensitivity limit is 5 ng/ml. Under the assay conditions, hydralazine pyruvic acid hydrazone, a known plasma metabolite of hydralazine, yields less than 0.1% hydralazine. Detectable plasma hydralazine levels of 5-20 ng/ml were found 10-30 min after a 0.5-mg/kg oral dose of hydralazine hydrochloride was given to a male volunteer.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Urinary incontinence: prevalence and needs.

The prevalence of recognised urinary incontinence in a community was found to be 1%; the prevalence of unrecognised incontinence was 3.3% in men and 8% in women in a group practice of 7000 patients. The approach to investigation and management of urinary incontinence in a urodynamic unit and the staffing of this unit are described.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Pharmacokinetics and cardiovascular effects in rabbits of a major hydralazine metabolite, the hydralazine pyruvic-acid hydrazone.

The hydrazone of hydralazine and pyruvic acid (HPH) has been recognized as a quantitatively important metabolite of hydralazine in human plasma. We evaluated the disposition of [14C] HPH after its i.v. administration to normal, anephric and probenecid-pretreated rabbits. Renal clearance of HPH in normal rabbits exceeded the glomerular filtration rate by a factor of 3 to 4 and accounted for 80 to 90% of the total body clearance. Active tubular secretion was established by the effect of probenecid pretreatment to reduce the renal clearance of HPH by 80%. Total body clearance of HPH in anephric rabbits was 10% of that of normal animals, emphasizing the minor importance of metabolic conversion for the overall disposition of HPH. HPH in a maximum dose of 50 mumol/kg i.v. had no hypotensive effect in renal hypertensive rabbits and did not interfere with the subsequent hypotensive response to hydralazine. This HPH dose produced plasma levels at least 50 times in excess of those reported in humans after administration of therapeutic doses of parent hydralazine. HPH is consequently of negligible clinical significance, despite the relatively high plasma concentration of this metabolite which occurs after administration of parent hydralazine.

Animals↗