Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

C A Alexander

Publications and source records attributed to C A Alexander.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

The UCSF post-baccalaureate reapplication program: a preliminary report.

The University of California San Francisco School of Dentistry initiated a pilot project in 1998 to assist economically and/or educationally disadvantaged students to gain admission to dental school. Students entering the program have completed the requirements for admission to dental school, have applied, and been denied admission, and have expressed a desire to care for underserved populations. The program features a summer preparation course for the Dental Admission Test (DAT), learning skill workshops, seminars, and assistance in the reapplication process. The students participate in clinical clerkships and during the fall and spring semesters are enrolled in upper-division and graduate-level science courses at a local university. Five students participated in the pilot project in 1998; they were admitted in 1999 and have successfully completed the first year of dental school. The sixteen students enrolled in 1999 have now been admitted to one or more dental schools. Fourteen students are currently enrolled in the 2000/2001 academic year program.

Clinical Clerkship↗
PubMed2000

[The military odyssey of Norman Bethune].

While visiting the People's Republic of China in 1982, I became aware of the work of the Canadian, Norman Bethune, as a military surgeon. Bethune first served as a stretcher - bearer in an ambulance unit and later as a medical officer with the Allies during the First World War. He also participated in the Spanish Civil War as a military physician. He died in China while serving with Mao Tsetung's Eighth Route Army, fighting the Japanese invaders in Yen'an. Bethune pioneered the use of whole blood transfusions in combat areas, first in Spain and then in China. In the annals of Chinese military history, he has been given an honored place as a military surgeon and a martyr. He is also credited in China, with improving the practice of battlefield medicine, as an organizer, teacher and innovator. Bethune's fame in China is now spreading to Canada.

Canada↗
PubMed1999

New York-Tidewater Chapters' History of Military Medicine Award. The military odyssey of Norman Bethune.

While visiting the Peoples Republic of China in 1982, I became aware of the work of the Canadian, Norman Bethune, as a military surgeon. Bethune first served as a stretcher-bearer in an ambulance unit and later as a medical officer with the Allies during the First World War. He also participated in the Spanish Civil War as a military physician. He died in China while serving with Mao Tse-tung's 8th Route Army, fighting the Japanese invaders in Yenan. Bethune pioneered the use of whole blood transfusions in combat areas, first in Spain and then in China. In the annals of Chinese military history, he has been given an honored place as a military surgeon and a martyr. He is also credited in China with improving the practice of battlefield medicine, as an organizer, teacher, and innovator. Bethune's fame in China is now spreading to Canada.

Blood Transfusion↗
PubMed1997

Genetically engineered large animal model for studying cone photoreceptor survival and degeneration in retinitis pigmentosa.

Patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP) typically develop night blindness early in life due to loss of rod photoreceptors. The remaining cone photoreceptors are the mainstay of their vision; however, over years or decades, these cones slowly degenerate, leading to blindness. We created transgenic pigs that express a mutated rhodopsin gene (Pro347Leu). Like RP patients with the same mutation, these pigs have early and severe rod loss; initially their cones are relatively spared, but these surviving cones slowly degenerate. By age 20 months, there is only a single layer of morphologically abnormal cones and the cone electroretinogram is markedly reduced. Given the strong similarities in phenotype to that of RP patients, these transgenic pigs will provide a large animal model for study of the protracted phase of cone degeneration found in RP and for preclinical treatment trials.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Relative mortality from overdose of antidepressants.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the fatal toxicities of antidepressant drugs in 1987-92. DESIGN: Retrospective epidemiological review of prescription data of the Department of Health, Scottish Office Home and Health Department, and Welsh Health Common Services Authority (excluding data from most private general practices and most hospitals), and mortality data from the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys and General Register Office in Scotland. SETTING: General practice, England, Scotland, and Wales. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Deaths per million prescriptions and deaths per defined daily dose. RESULTS: 81.6% (1310/1606) of deaths from antidepressant overdose were due to two drugs, amitriptyline and dothiepin. The overall average of deaths per million prescriptions was 30.1. The overall rate for tricyclic drugs was 34.14 (95% confidence interval 32.47 to 38.86; P < 0.001), monoamine oxidase inhibitors 13.48 (6.93 to 22.19; P < 0.001), atypical drugs 6.19 (4.04 to 8.80; P < 0.001), and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors 2.02 (0.64 to 4.17; P < 0.001). The numbers of deaths per million prescriptions of amoxapine, dothiepin, and amitriptyline were significantly higher than expected, while nine drugs had a significantly lower number of deaths per million prescriptions than expected. Analysis of deaths per defined daily dose showed a similar pattern. CONCLUSIONS: Safety in overdose should be considered in risk-benefit and cost-benefit considerations of antidepressants. A switch in prescribing, from drugs with a high number of deaths per million prescriptions to drugs with a low number, could reduce the numbers of deaths from overdose. Although this form of suicide prevention can be implemented easily and immediately, its introduction needs to be considered against the higher costs of some of the newer drugs.

Amitriptyline↗
PubMed1993

The laryngeal mask in cardiopulmonary resuscitation in a district general hospital: a preliminary communication.

For a period of 13 months adult patients sustaining a cardiopulmonary arrest in the Royal East Sussex Hospital, Hastings, were attended by nursing staff and Operating Department Assistants (ODAs) specially trained in the use of the laryngeal mask (LM) as an airway adjunct. The LM was used 41 times in 40 patients. The LM failed on only two occasions, and was successful in three cases where endotracheal intubation proved impossible. No instances of aspiration were directly attributable to LM use. LM trained staff adopted its use enthusiastically, and skills acquired during training appeared not to fade over the period of the study. These results are considered to justify the performance of a large-scale trial of use of the LM in cardiac arrest patients.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

Physicians in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Another perspective.

There is an ongoing discussion pertaining to the mutually beneficial relationship between the medical centers of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and their affiliated medical schools. An earlier article analyzed the interorganizational conflicts prevalent at times between the VA medical centers and the medical school affiliates and assigned as reasons for such frictions value differences between professionals and administrators as well as between the VA medical centers and the medical schools. I propose somewhat different explanations for such conflicts and draw attention to the inapplicability of some of the old organizational theories that are being overtaken by the dynamics of modern health care organizations and their dependence on total quality management and resource allocation methods driven by diagnosis related groups. Furthermore, the strivings of other health professionals in the VA for equal treatment and the reluctance of physicians to concede coequality to others, the prevalence of risk avoidance as a necessary behavioral attribute for success within the VA, and the prevailing practice of allowing VA physicians to accept salary supplementation from the medical schools are major factors contributing to interorganizational conflicts.

Conflict, Psychological↗
PubMed1991

The Laryngeal Mask--an overview.

New equipment, like a new drug, encourages a high level of reporting of adverse events, which can lead to the very rapid identification of even relatively rare complications. When considering the merit of one drug versus another, unless either have major defects, then the result will depend upon the overall picture, i.e. the sum of the morbidities associated with one versus the sum associated with another. Other factors such as availability, purity, and cost will also be taken into consideration. The LM is very recent in the time scale of the history of 'anaesthesia', but it would appear to have survived the 'major defect' stage, and to have entered the trial by morbidity stage. A definite answer on the question of regurgitation and aspiration is not yet available. Present evidence indicates, however, that where there is no contra-indication to it and provided that meticulous attention is paid to mode of use, the LM can be helpful in a wide variety of situations. It is an extremely innovative, and occasionally life-saving piece of equipment, and the relatively small effort necessary to acquire skill in its use worth making. A future review will be able to incorporate the results of on-going and planned studies, and may more accurately define its place in anaesthesia and resuscitation.

Anesthesiology↗
PubMed1988

Use your Brain!

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Anesthesia, General↗
PubMed1986

Renal oncocytoma.

Oncocytic renal tumour is an uncommon tumour of the kidney, previously associated with a good outcome. Twenty-two patients are described in whom the incidence of metastatic disease was 18% and the overall 5-year survival rate 65%.

Adenoma↗
PubMed1979

Self-care in rural areas of India and Nepal.

Self-care during illness and pregnancies by individuals and their families is a ubiquitous and integral part of societies throughout the world. This paper reports findings about self-care practices identified during four studies carried out over a ten-year period involving about 14,000 interviews in 7,400 households comprising over 48,000 people in three Indian states and three districts of Nepal. The proportion of ill individuals using self-care over a two-week period in the different study areas ranged from 19 to 42 percent. This involved 5 to 9 percent of the total population in self-care activities during these two weeks. Much larger differences were found between India and Nepal in the use of self-care during pregnancies. Self-care or care by relatives and friends was the predominant source of maternity care in Nepal, including deliveries, while Indian maternal care was dominated by traditional birth attendants. Comparisons also were made between self-care and the use of professional healers or health care services during the same time period. Differences in the use of self-care by age, sex, caste, access to government or special project services, type of illness, and duration and severity of illness have also been shown. The need for similar, better standardized surveys in combination with intensive studies examining the details and rationale behind self-care practices in different societies has been stressed as an essential step in developing programs to expand or modify self-care practices of individuals and their families.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1976

Subcellular localization of B apoprotein of plasma lipoproteins in rat liver.

Multispecific antigen-binding fragments (Fab) from rabbit antisera against rat very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) and Fab against rat low density lipoproteins that were monospecific for the B apoprotein were conjugated to horseradish peroxidase. Conjugates were incubated with 6-mum frozen sections from fresh and perfusion-fixed livers and with tissue chopper sections (40 mum thick) from perfusion-fixed livers. In the light microscope, specific reaction product was present in all hepatocytes of experimental sections as intense brown to black spots whose locations corresponded to the distribution of the Golgi apparatus: along the bile canaliculi, near the nuclei, and between the nuclei and bile canaliculi. Perfusion fixation with formaldehyde produced satisfactory ultrastructural preservation with retention of lipoprotein antigenic determinants. In the electron microscope, patches of cisternae and ribosomes of the rough endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and particularly its smooth-surfaced ends, vesicles located between the rough ER and the Golgi apparatus, the Golgi apparatus and its secretory vesicles and VLDL particles in the space of Disse all bore reaction product. The tubules and vesicles of typical hepatocyte smooth ER did not contain reaction product, nor did the osmiophilic particles contained therin. The localization obtained in this study together with other evidence suggests a sequence for the biosynthesis of VLDL that differs in some respects from that proposed by others: (a) the triglyceride-rich particle originates in smooth ER where triglycerides are synthesized; (b) at the junction of the smooth and rough ER the particle receives apoproteins synthesized in the rough ER; (c) specialized tubules transport the particle, now a nascent lipoprotein, to the Golgi apparatus where concentration occurs in secretory vesicles; (d) secretory vesicles move to the sinusoidal surface where the particles are secreted into the space of Disse by fusion of the vesicular membrane with the plasma membrane of the hepatocyte.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Health care enigmas.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Comprehensive Health Care↗