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Biomedical subjects

A Torres

Publications and source records attributed to A Torres.

At least 793 records · Page 44Linked to original sources

Gas exchange response to naloxone in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with hypercapnic respiratory failure.

It has been hypothesized that naloxone may alter the ventilation-perfusion relationship in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) with associated respiratory failure, through the release of hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction. To investigate the effects of naloxone on gas exchange, seven clinically stable patients with severe COPD (type B) (forced expiratory volume in one second/forced vital capacity (FEV1/FVC) 38.3 +/- 4.0%) with hypoxaemia and hypercapnia (PaO2 7.6 +/- 0.4 kPa; PaCO2 6.4 +/- 0.3; pH 7.37 +/- 0.02), aged 59.0 +/- 4.6 yr, were studied. Breathing patterns, haemodynamic and conventional and inert gas exchange measurements were made while breathing room air before, during and 60 min after i.v. naloxone infusion. Naloxone and catecholamine plasma levels were also determined. In three subjects (protocol A), measurements were made using increasing concentrations of naloxone (cumulative dose: 54 mg), while the remaining four patients were studied (protocol B) at a fixed concentration of naloxone (cumulative dose: 38 mg). Despite high levels of naloxone (up to 150 ng.ml-1), no significant differences from baseline were observed in any of the measurements, during or after infusion. It is concluded that i.v. naloxone given as described has no effects on pulmonary gas exchange in clinically stable COPD patients with chronic respiratory failure.

Breath Tests↗

Why do women have abortions?

Most respondents to a survey of abortion patients in 1987 said that more than one factor had contributed to their decision to have an abortion; the mean number of reasons was nearly four. Three-quarters said that having a baby would interfere with work, school or other responsibilities, about two-thirds said they could not afford to have a child and half said they did not want to be a single parent or had relationship problems. A multivariate analysis showed young teenagers to be 32 percent more likely than women 18 or over to say they were not mature enough to raise a child and 19 percent more likely to say their parents wanted them to have an abortion. Unmarried women were 17 percent more likely than currently married women to choose abortion to prevent others from knowing they had had sex or became pregnant. Of women who had an abortion at 16 or more weeks' gestation, 71 percent attributed their delay to not having realized they were pregnant or not having known soon enough the actual gestation of their pregnancy. Almost half were delayed because of trouble in arranging the abortion, usually because they needed time to raise money. One-third did not have an abortion earlier because they were afraid to tell their partner or parents that they were pregnant. A multivariate analysis revealed that respondents under age 18 were 39 percent more likely than older women to have delayed because they were afraid to tell their parents or partner.

Abortion, Induced↗

Family planning clinic services in U.S. counties, 1983.

Organized family planning clinics are a major source of contraceptive services for low-income women, who are less likely than higher income women to be using a contraceptive method. A 1983 study estimated that 9.5 million U.S. women with family incomes below 150 percent of poverty were at risk of unintended pregnancy, and identified a network of 5,106 clinics providing them with services. Seventy-six percent of all counties in the United States have organized clinics that offer family planning services; almost all of those without services are nonmetropolitan counties. An estimated 52 percent of low-income women at risk of unintended pregnancy were served by organized family planning clinics in 1983, while the rest either went unserved or sought care elsewhere. Ten percent of low-income women not served by clinics live in counties that have no family planning clinics, but 67 percent live in counties where existing clinics reach fewer than half of potential low-income patients. More sites may be needed, particularly in counties without clinics, to effectively serve low-income women at risk of unintended pregnancy. However, since the majority of unserved women live in counties where at least one clinic exists, coverage might be improved through increased accessibility and outreach.

Community Health Centers↗

The need for prenatal care in the United States: evidence from the 1980 National Natality Survey.

Seventy-eight percent of U.S. mothers begin prenatal care during the first three months of pregnancy; 18 percent wait until the second three months; and five percent wait until the third trimester or receive no care at all. Patterns of prenatal care vary widely among population subgroups: Mothers younger than 18 and unmarried mothers are the least likely to obtain first-trimester care (49 percent and 56 percent, respectively), and the most likely to obtain care only in the third trimester or none at all (about 12 percent of each group). Women aged 18-19, blacks, Hispanics, poor women and women with little education also have disproportionately high levels of very late or no care (7-9 percent). Married, white, nonpoor women, in contrast, obtain the most timely prenatal care: In 1980, only two percent initiated care in the third trimester or received no care. Compared with this subgroup of women, the population as a whole has two times the risk of obtaining inadequate care. Unmarried women run the highest relative risk (five times the risk for married, white, nonpoor women), followed by teenagers, Hispanic women, women with little education, poor women and blacks (who have from three to more than four times the risk of the comparison group).

Adolescent↗

Family planning clinic services in the United States, 1983.

Almost five million women were enrolled in family planning clinics in the United States in 1983, eight percent more than in 1981. The number of family planning provider agencies declined slightly, from 2,504 to 2,462, but the number of clinic sites that could be identified increased slightly, from 5,124 to 5,174. Family planning clinics operate in three-quarters of U.S. counties; in 1975, the last time county coverage was checked, four-fifths of the counties had clinics. About one in 20 women who are exposed to the risk of unintended pregnancy and live in unserved counties are teenagers or low-income women. Nonmetropolitan counties are more likely to be without clinics than are metropolitan counties. Overall, there are 417,000 low-income women and 249,000 teenagers at risk of unintended pregnancy living in counties where there are no family planning clinics. In 1983, health departments constituted six in 10 of all family planning agencies and served two-fifths of all family planning clinic patients; Planned Parenthood affiliates accounted for fewer than one in 10 agencies and served more than one-quarter of all patients. Hospitals and all other agencies served about one-third of the total 1983 caseload. These patterns were similar to those reported for 1981. Family planning clinics continue to serve primarily low-income women: Four-fifths of the nearly five million clinic patients in 1983 had family incomes below 150 percent of the federally defined poverty level. About 1.6 million women aged 19 and younger were served, representing one-third of all clinic patients in 1983.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗

Organized family planning services in the United States, 1976-1977.

In 1977, an estimated 4.2 million women received contraceptive services from organized family planning programs in the United States. The number of patients has grown each year since the late 1960s, but since 1973, growth has slowed concurrently with a diminished increase in the level of federal funding for family planning services. The proportion of clinic patients who are teenagers increased from 20 percent in 1969 to 31 percent in 1977. An estimated 1.3 million adolescents received services in 1977, compared with just 214,000 in 1969. Contraceptive services were provided during 1977 by 2,574 agencies at some 5,300 clinic sites. Health departments served 42 percent of all family planning patients; Planned Parenthood affiliates served 27 percent; hospitals served 13 percent; and community action groups, free clinics, neighborhood health centers and women's health programs together served 18 percent. Federal expenditures for medical family planning services provided by organized clinics and private physicians rose from an estimated $13.5 million in 1968 to $239.1 million in 1977. Estimated federal expenditures for clinic services were $192.5 million--three-quarters of the total $252.6 million in public and private expenditures for such programs. Federal project grant funds under Title X of the Public Health Services Act accounted for 42 percent of all medical family planning expenditures in clinics, and for 55 percent of all federal funds expended for this purpose. These findings are based on data from the most recent study of the organized family planning service network conducted by The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) for 1977.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗