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Biomedical subjects

B McCloskey

Publications and source records attributed to B McCloskey.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Acute oesophageal obstruction 18 months after an abdominal shotgun wound.

A 32-year-old man presented to the otolaryngology department with acute dysphagia after vomiting. Radiological investigation suggested a piece of meat lodged in the lower oesophagus and rigid oesophagoscopy was performed. However, a plastic shotgun cartridge was found and removed. This had gained access to the stomach when the patient had been shot at point-blank range 18 months previously, and appeared to have been forced into the oesophagus by the vomiting, where it caused obstruction.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

An epidemiological study after a water contamination incident near Worcester, England in April 1994.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether exposure to tap water contaminated in a major river pollution incident with 2 ethyl 5,5 dimethyl 1,3 dioxane (EDD) and 2 ethyl 4 methyl 1,3 dioxolane (EMD) was associated with an increase of self reported symptoms. To assess the extent of association between noticing the water had an unusual taste or odour and self reported symptoms. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: A city and two nearby towns in a semi-rural area of England, UK. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 3861 people who replied to a postal questionnaire asking about symptoms and water consumption sent to a sample of 1000 households in each of three areas--one area supplied with contaminated water (study group) and two control areas that were unaffected (control groups). MAIN RESULTS: The household response rates were 65% for the study group and 56% and 57% for the two control groups. Self reporting of 10 individual symptoms was significantly increased in the study group compared with controls. Within the study group, reporting of one or more symptoms was significantly higher in subjects who consumed contaminated water but not among subjects who used it to wash or cook. Subjects who drank contaminated water showed a dose-response relationship for self reporting of one or more symptoms and for seven individual symptoms. Within the study group, however, only 62% (867 of 1398 subjects) noticed that the water had an unusual taste or odour. Among subjects who did not notice that the water had an unusual taste or odour, no association was found between drinking contaminated water and reporting one or more symptoms, or between drinking contaminated water and reporting of individual symptoms, although a dose-response relationship was shown between the amount of water consumed and self reporting of nausea. Among subjects who noticed the water had an unusual taste or odour, both an association and a dose-response relationship were found between consumption of contaminated water and the self reporting of six symptoms--diarrhoea, nausea, headache, stomach pains, skin irritation, and itchy eyes. CONCLUSIONS: Higher rates of symptom reporting were associated with the water contamination incident. Reported symptoms seemed, however, to be associated with the ability to detect an unusual taste or odour in the water. Because concentrations of the contaminants would be expected to be evenly distributed in the tap water in the affected area, irrespective of taste or odour, and because of the known toxicity of the parent compounds of EMD and EDD, it is concluded that the increase in self reported symptoms in the study group respondents was associated with noticing the unpleasant taste or odour of the tap water and not with the chemical contamination. It is concluded that the observed increase in reporting of nausea with increasing water consumption was due to public anxiety caused by the incident but did not pose a serious risk to the public's health. The increase in self reported symptoms in the area affected by the contamination was an important reminder of the wider health implications of "health scares".

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

An introduction to quality assurance with an application for perfusionists.

Cardiovascular perfusionists have always been interested in quality assurance (QA), most often in the form of equipment maintenance and record keeping. However, these activities have tended to be fragmented. In an attempt to define a more global approach to QA, basic concepts are identified and the steps used to start a formal QA program are illustrated. In the usual approach to QA, three areas are commonly assessed: Structure, Process, and Outcome. Structure evaluates the adequacy of facilities and personnel. Process involves review of the activities concerned with the management of patients. Outcome represents evaluation of the end points of care. In starting our formal QA program, five steps were delineated. These were planning the program, setting up an administration, assessing preexisting activities, initiating the program, and finally evaluating results. A QA specialist helped to define a number of concerns about perfusion from perfusionists, surgeons, anesthesiologists, and nurses. Using a standard approach to QA, these areas were defined according to Structure, Process, and Outcome.

Cardiology↗
PubMed1987

Knowledge about hand shaping and knowledge about objects.

Our two experiments investigated associations between cognitive representations of objects and hand-shape categories. Hand configurations were partitioned according to prehensility and the size of the contacting surface, resulting in the classes: pinch, poke, palm, and clench. Experiment 1 elicited object names in response to configuration-name cues, provided ratings of the relevance of each configuration to a set of objects, and probed for the functions determining such relevance. Cueing with a configuration class elicited an associated object category with substantial intersubject agreement, and vice versa. Both the object categories and the functions associated with the four hand-configuration classes differed substantially, although the same object could be associated to some extent with multiple configurations, given variations in function. Experiment 2 elicited the names of hand-configuration classes in response to unfamiliar forms, which varied systematically in depth and the size of the projecting picture-plane surface. The modal response, response time, and degree of intersubject agreement were directly related to these variables. These structural variables, however, did not adequately predict shaping responses to real objects, as ascertained from Experiment 1. The results have implications for cognitive representation of motor categories and hand shaping in response to objects.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1979

Two year sequential haemodynamic data on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) grafts used for haemodialysis.

Forty-one PTFE grafts were studied prospectively with measurement of intragraft pressure and flow. As well, cardiac function was assessed by measuring cardiac output, ejection times and ejection fraction. It was shown that graft failure was associated with changes in graft pressures and flow. No untoward effects of graft flows of 1-2L/min were found on cardiac function.

Brachial Artery↗