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Biomedical subjects

B Jones

Publications and source records attributed to B Jones.

At least 307 records · Page 17Linked to original sources

Protocols for selection of cardiac radionuclide studies for use as a data base of normal studies and typical patterns of diseases. COST B2 Working Group II, in association with relevant working/task groups of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine and the European Society of Cardiology.

A data base of clinical studies is required for quality assurance of software used for analysis of radionuclide cardiac imaging procedures. Studies used must be rigorously validated in terms of both the clinical condition of the patient undergoing the procedure and the imaging protocol used. Selection protocols for the creation of a software phantom data base of normal studies and three typical patterns of cardiac disease--recent transmural myocardial infarction, isolated myocardial ischaemia and dilated cardiomyopathy--have been developed by the Cardiac Working Group of the European COST B2 project in association with the Cardiac Task Group of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine and the Working Group on Nuclear Cardiology of the European Society of Cardiology. These protocols include criteria for the interpretation of qualitative and quantitative non-radionuclide data. Compliance of the clinical data with the selection criteria will have to pass scrutiny by an international team for each study used as a software phantom. The radionuclide studies encompass stress and rest myocardial perfusion studies (planar and single photon emission tomography) using thallium-201 and technetium-99m methoxyisobutylisonitrile and rest gated blood pool studies. Methods for acquisition of data are defined for each type of study and for each individual study a portfolio of all clinical data is established. A pilot study is required to investigate the problems and logistics of distributing clinical radionuclide studies between a range of computers and institutes, and to ascertain the procedures necessary for analytical comparison of the results obtained.

Computer Communication Networks↗

Disseminated skeletal tuberculosis with skull involvement.

We report a patient with widespread osteolytic lesions, including extensive involvement of the skull, due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Response to treatment with antituberculosis drugs was slow with appearance of new lesions while on therapy despite a sensitive organism. Excision of diseased skull bone was eventually done, after which no new lesions appeared in the ensuing 14 months.

Adolescent↗

Silent renal damage in symptom-free siblings of children with vesicoureteral reflux: assessment with technetium Tc 99m dimercaptosuccinic acid scintigraphy.

Sixteen symptom-free siblings of children with vesicoureteral reflux were found to have the condition and underwent renal scintigraphy with technetium 99m dimercaptosuccinic acid. Of these 16 children, 6 had scintigraphic evidence of renal damage. Screening for vesicoureteral reflux in siblings of children known to have the condition should therefore be carried out early in life; when reflux is present, an immediate assessment of the renal parenchyma should be made.

Child↗

Research utilization in nursing administration. A graduate learning experience.

The authors describe a graduate learning experience designed to increase understanding and encourage the use of research utilization models to solve problems in nursing administration. One student project is described, and the extension of research utilization projects to include nursing administration research findings as well as clinical research findings is discussed.

Canada↗

Physical fitness, age, and injury incidence in infantry soldiers.

Injuries are a common occurrence in young, active civilian and military populations. This study examined injury incidence and the association of musculoskeletal injuries with age and physical fitness in soldiers. Subjects were a cohort of 298 male soldiers assigned to an infantry battalion in Alaska. The soldiers' ages were obtained from the battalion records and their physical fitness was assessed from 2-mile run times, sit-ups, and push-ups. Injuries were documented from a retrospective review of the soldiers' medical records for a 6-month period (October to March) before the fitness testing. Fifty-one percent of the soldiers suffered one or more injuries. The most common injury diagnosis was musculoskeletal pain, followed by strains, sprains, and cold-related injuries. Soldiers experienced a total of 212 separate injuries, which resulted in 1764 days of limited duty. The crude annualized injury rate was 142 injuries per 100 soldiers (one soldier could experience more than one type of injury). The proportion of soldiers injured decreased as age increased. Slower 2-mile run times and fewer sit-ups were associated with a higher incidence of musculoskeletal injuries. This study documents the injury incidence in infantry soldiers and identifies younger age and low physical fitness as potential risk factors for these injuries.

Accidents, Occupational↗

The regulation of empty spiracles by Abdominal-B mediates an abdominal segment identity function.

The empty spiracles (ems) homeo box gene is required for the development of the Drosophila larval filzkörper, which are structural specializations of the eighth abdominal segment. Filzkörper development is also dependent on the function of the homeotic selector gene Abdominal-B (Abd-B). Here, we show that ems is a downstream gene that is transcriptionally regulated by Abd-B proteins. This regulation is mediated by an Abd-B-dependent ems cis-regulatory element that in early- to mid-stage embryos is activated only in the eighth abdominal segment. Genetic epistasis tests suggest that both ems and Abd-B are required in combination for the specification of the filzkörper primordia. In a general sense, these results also provide evidence that the hierarchical level immediately downstream of the homeotic genes contains additional homeo domain transcription factors that define subsegmental domain identities.

Animals↗

Effects of intraarticular corticosteroid and sodium hyaluronate injections on synovial fluid production and synovial fluid content of sodium hyaluronate and proteoglycans in normal equine joints.

Hyaluronate and cartilage proteoglycan fragments in synovial fluid from normal equine joints were determined after repeated intraarticular injections of beta-methasone, methylprednisolone, hyaluronate, saline and a combination of beta-methasone + hyaluronate and methylprednisolone + hyaluronate. The experimental intraarticular treatments were given at the beginning of the study and after one and two weeks. Synovial samples were obtained at the onset of the study and after 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 weeks. The synovial volume was determined and showed no significant changes after the repeated arthrocenteses and the experimental treatments. Corticosteroid injections resulted in increased levels of hyaluronate in the synovial fluid which indicated a stimulatory effect on the synoviocytes to produce hyaluronate. The corticosteroids also resulted in high levels (up to 20 times the initial level) of proteoglycans which indicated joint cartilage degradation. A combined injection of corticosteroids and high molecular weight hyaluronate reduced proteoglycan breakdown which indicated a protective effect of hyaluronate on the articular cartilage.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗

CT evaluation of amyloidosis: spectrum of disease.

Amyloidosis is a rare systemic disease caused by extracellular deposition of an insoluble protein. Although it is usually seen in a systemic form, 10%-20% of cases can be localized. Systemic amyloidosis is subclassified into an idiopathic primary form and a secondary or reactive form. Patients with primary amyloidosis have no underlying condition or disease. Men are affected more than women, and the mean age at presentation is 55-60 years. Some causes of secondary amyloidosis are multiple myeloma (10%-15%), rheumatoid arthritis (20%-25%), tuberculosis (50%), or familial Mediterranean fever (26%-40%). Radiographic studies of 90 patients with biopsy-proved primary or secondary amyloidosis were reviewed. Computed tomographic (CT) scans demonstrated a wide spectrum of disease in the cardiothoracic, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, and musculoskeletal systems. Amyloid deposition simulated both inflammatory and neoplastic conditions. Amorphous or irregular calcifications were occasionally identified within the amyloid deposit. Definitive diagnosis requires biopsy confirmation, as CT findings are nonspecific.

Adult↗

Crohn disease: prone-angled compression view in radiographic evaluation.

A prone-angled compression radiographic view was compared with traditional radiographs in 17 patients with suspected Crohn disease. The angled view was clearly superior to the posteroanterior view in visualization of disease in the terminal ileum and small bowel and was superior to spot radiographs in six of 10 patients with disease in the small bowel. This view can be a valuable adjunct when small bowel loops overlap in the pelvic area.

Crohn Disease↗

A new Drosophila homeobox gene, bsh, is expressed in a subset of brain cells during embryogenesis.

Homeobox genes have been shown to control the determination of positional, tissue and cellular identity during the development of the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster. Because genes involved in the determination of internal structures derived from neural, mesodermal and endodermal tissues may have been overlooked in conventional genetic screens, we undertook the identification of new homeobox genes expressed in these internal tissues. Here we describe the characterization of one of these new Drosophila homeobox genes, called brain-specific-homeobox (bsh). In embryos, bsh is expressed exclusively in the brain. bsh protein accumulates in approximately 30 cells in each brain hemisphere. One of these bsh expressing cells is closely associated with the terminus of the larval visual nerve (Bolwig's nerve). While deletions of chromosomal interval containing the bsh gene show no dramatic changes in embryonic brain morphology, the expression pattern of the bsh gene suggests that it may play a highly specialized role in the determination and function of cell type in the Drosophila brain.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Radiologic assessment of the early postoperative total-laryngectomy patient.

Pharyngocutaneous fistula is a significant cause of postoperative morbidity following total laryngectomy. The records of 132 patients at the Johns Hopkins Hospital were reviewed retrospectively to determine the role of radiographic contrast studies in the early postoperative period after total laryngectomy. Radiographic studies were performed in 41 cases, of which 38 were cinepharyngoesophagograms. Fistulae occurred postoperatively in 28 patients (21%). In patients with no clinical signs or symptoms suggestive of an impending fistula (fever, wound erythema, wound swelling, or persistent elevated neck drain output), there is no need to perform a cinepharyngoesophagogram before starting oral alimentation. The presence of soft-tissue air in the neck seen on preliminary scout spot films, suggestive of an impending fistula seen in patients who also underwent a neck dissection, did not correlate with a clinical fistula if no extravasation of contrast was observed.

Adult↗

Can IT (information technology) help in Working for Patients.

The Government's White Paper, Working for Patients, identified as a key objective the improvement in quality and quantity of care available to NHS patients. This, the Government argued, is to be achieved by the introduction of a market economy within the NHS. But is the introduction of intra competition and contracting for patients sufficient? Can these measures alone improve the quality and quantity of care available for the patients? Bernard Jones and Graham Worsdale argue that the strategic use of information technology (IT) is an essential element in Working for Patients.

Economic Competition↗

A Canadian multicenter placebo-controlled study of fixed doses of risperidone and haloperidol in the treatment of chronic schizophrenic patients.

In a double-blind study, 135 inpatients with a diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia were randomly assigned to 8 weeks of treatment with one of six parallel treatments: risperidone (a new central 5-hydroxytryptamine2 and dopamine D2 antagonist), 2, 6, 10, 16 mg/day; haloperidol, 20 mg/day; or placebo, after a single-blind placebo washout period. Doses were increased in fixed increments up to a fixed maintenance dose reached after 1 week. On the Clinical Global Impression-Severity of Illness and Improvement, all active medications were superior to placebo except for risperidone (2 mg) on the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement. On the total Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) score and positive subscale, superiority to placebo was observed for all treatment groups except for haloperidol and risperidone (2 mg), which tended to be superior to placebo on total PANSS and the positive subscale, respectively. On the PANSS negative subscale, only risperidone (6 mg/day) was significantly better than placebo. Risperidone (6 mg) was superior to haloperidol on the total PANSS, General Psychopathology, and Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale subscales. Although there was a linear increase in parkinsonism with increasing risperidone dosage, there were no statistically significant differences between risperidone (2, 6, and 16 mg/day) and placebo. At doses of 6 to 16 mg, risperidone displayed a marked antidyskinetic effect compared with placebo. This effect was more pronounced in patients with severe dyskinesia. By contrast, haloperidol produced significantly more parkinsonism than placebo and risperidone (2, 6 and 16 mg), with no effect on tardive dyskinesia. These data suggest that risperidone, at the optimal therapeutic dose of 6 mg/day, produced significant improvement in both positive and negative symptoms without an increase in drug-induced parkinsonian symptoms and with a significant beneficial effect on tardive dyskinesia.

Adult↗

Schizophrenia: into the next millennium.

In spite of the daunting nature of schizophrenia and its negative impact on individuals and society as a whole, recent developments in schizophrenia research have brought much cause for optimism. Findings in the neurobiology of schizophrenia have led to new insights into the pathophysiology of this disorder. The introduction of novel antipsychotics promises to improve the quality of treatment for many patients with schizophrenia. The clinical and psychosocial implications of these developments are manifold; potentially, improved clinical outcomes will promote greater autonomy in the patient, which in turn promises better social outcomes through increased patient advocacy and client-based rehabilitation programs.

Antipsychotic Agents↗