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Biomedical subjects

C J Murray

Publications and source records attributed to C J Murray.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

Salmonella carriage rate amongst school children--a three year study.

As a part of three-years epidemiological survey of salmonellosis in South Kanara District, a southwest coastal region of India, an attempt was made to determine the human Salmonella carriage rate during the period between 1981 to 1983. One thousand and two asymptomatic school children 5 to 15 years of age, 42 restaurant employees and 17 dairy workers formed the subjects of this bacteriological study. The Salmonella carriage rate among healthy school children from a single fecal sampling was 1% and no Salmonellae were recovered from the feces of restaurant and dairy workers. Ten school children excreted Salmonellae which belonged to 6 different serotypes-Salmonella oslo, S. ohio, S. typhimurium, S. urbana, S. cerro and S. derby; S. oslo and S. ohio were the most frequent serotypes. No-S. typhi, S. paratyphi A or S. paratyphi B were recovered. All Salmonella strains recovered during this study were dual or multiple drug resistant, sulfadiazine and tetracycline resistance being commonly observed. The significance of excretion of potentially pathogenic, drug resistant Salmonellae by symptomless school children is discussed from public health point of view.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Treatment adherence and risk of death after a myocardial infarction.

The relation of treatment adherence to mortality after a myocardial infarction was investigated among 2175 participants in the Beta Blocker Heart Attack Trial, which had data for measures of treatment adherence, clinical severity, and the psychological and social features that may influence post-infarction mortality. Overall, patients who did not adhere well to treatment regimen (ie, who took less than or equal to 75% of prescribed medication) were 2.6 times more likely than good adherers to die within a year of follow-up (95% confidence interval, 1.2, 5.6). Poor adherers had an increased risk of death whether they were on propranolol (OR = 3.1) or placebo (OR = 2.5). Furthermore, this increased risk of death for poor adherers was not accounted for by measures of the severity of myocardial infarction, sociodemographic features (eg, race, marital status, education), smoking, or psychological characteristics (high life-stress or social isolation).

Adult↗
PubMed1990

A study of financial resources devoted to research on health problems of developing countries.

The Commission on Health Research for Development is an independent, international commission composed of 12 leaders from the fields of health research, social science research and development policy. Chaired by John Evans, the other Commissioners are Gelia Castillo, vice-chair, F. H. Abed, Sune Bergstrom, Doris Calloway, Esmat Ezzat, Demissie Habte, Walter Kamba, Adetokumbo Lucas, Adolfo Martinez-Palomo, Saburo Okita and V. Ramalingaswami. The Commission began its work in November 1987, charged with analysing the strengths, weaknesses and gaps in current research on health problems of developing countries, and making proposals and promoting action for improvement. The Commission is sponsored by a variety of foundations, bilateral donor agencies, and international organizations. The Commission's report was published in the spring of 1990. As part of the work of the Commission Secretariat, we have undertaken a study of financial resources devoted to research on the health problems of developing countries. The study which began in May 1988 has three objectives: (i) To describe the current pattern of funding for research on the health problems of developing countries. (ii) To provide a baseline against which future trends and/or new programmes can be measured. (iii) To explore the possibility of an ongoing information system on research on health problems of developing countries.

Developing Countries↗
PubMed1989

Rapid freeze- and chemical-quench studies of dopamine beta-monooxygenase: comparison of pre-steady-state and steady-state parameters.

The copper-containing enzyme dopamine beta-monooxygenase has been studied with regard to pre-steady-state kinetics of tyramine hydroxylation and reduction of enzyme-bound Cu2+ by chemical- and freeze-quench EPR techniques. The bulk of the enzyme-bound copper (approximately 70%) is reduced in a single-exponential process with a limiting rate constant of 250 s-1, Km = 0.9 mM, consistent with participation of both copper ions in the redox events of catalysis. The remaining copper is reduced much more slowly (k approximately 2 s-1) or not at all, attributed to a distribution of copper into inhibitory binding sites and the presence of some inactive enzyme. Knowledge of the Cu2+ reduction rate, together with rate constants calculated from steady-state isotope effects [Miller, S. M., & Klinman, J. P. (1985) Biochemistry 24, 2114-2127], has allowed prediction of pre-steady-state product formation transients. Measurement of these transients under conditions of excess ascorbate shows close agreement with prediction, supporting the validity of individual rate constants obtained from steady-state data. Kinetic modeling shows further that the predominant steady-state enzyme form is the enzyme-product complex (E-P), which is expected to show a correspondingly large (approximately 70% of total copper) EPR signal for bound Cu2+. Surprisingly, the steady state is characterized by a low (19% of total copper) EPR signal. This lack of correlation between the anticipated and observed steady-state EPR signal suggests either antiferromagnetic coupling in binuclear copper centers or reduction of Cu2+ in this enzyme form by ascorbic acid.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Hydrogen tunneling in enzyme reactions.

Primary and secondary protium-to-tritium (H/T) and deuterium-to-tritium (D/T) kinetic isotope effects for the catalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde by yeast alcohol dehydrogenase (YADH) at 25 degrees Celsius have been determined. Previous studies showed that this reaction is nearly or fully rate limited by the hydrogen-transfer step. Semiclassical mass considerations that do not include tunneling effects would predict that kH/kT = (kD/kT)3.26, where kH, kD, and kT are the rate constants for the reaction of protium, deuterium, and tritium derivatives, respectively. Significant deviations from this relation have now been observed for both primary and especially secondary effects, such that experimental H/T ratios are much greater than those calculated from the above expression. These deviations also hold in the temperature range from 0 to 40 degrees Celsius. Such deviations were previously predicted to result from a reaction coordinate containing a significant contribution from hydrogen tunneling.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗
PubMed1988

The infant mortality rate, life expectancy at birth, and a linear index of mortality as measures of general health status.

The infant mortality rate is not a good indicator of overall mortality or health status. Based on new empirical life tables from the UN Population Division, it can only predict life expectancy with 95% confidence to within a 14-year range. Two infant mortality rates must be nearly 80 units apart to be 95% confident that life expectancy in the two communities is different. Life expectancy itself is not an ideal general measure of mortality, because it implicitly weights deaths at different ages in an inconsistent fashion. A measure of potential years of life lost is preferable because it is ethically more consistent.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

A critical review of international mortality data.

Mortality data have become increasingly important not only in health related studies but also in development studies as a whole. The demand for data on life expectancy and the infant mortality rate is met by five publications-the UN Demographic Yearbook, World Population Prospects, World Development Report, World Population Trends and Policies Monitoring Report, and World Population. Within these statistical publications, life expectancy and the infant mortality rate are available for nearly every country each year. However, recent empirical information on mortality in most developing exists only for a handful of countries. The estimates published in the World Development Report and World Population Prospects are based on old empirical data updated with assumed rates of improvement in mortality. Neither of these sources provide technical notes explaining the original data source, estimation technique, and updating model used. Fortunately, two sources, the World Population Trends and Policies Monitoring Report and World Population, publish only empirically based data clearly identifying source, year of applicability, and estimation technique. The work in the World Development Report and the World Population Prospects could be made more useful if they provided adequate technical documentation for each estimate. At present, the Monitoring Report and World Population are the only appropriate sources for quantitative analysis of mortality or of change in mortality.

Developing Countries↗
PubMed1987

A critical re-examination of the economics of blindness prevention under the Onchocerciasis Control Programme.

This article is a critical re-examination of the recent cost-effectiveness analysis of the Onchocerciasis Control Programme (OCP) in West Africa, undertaken by Prost and Prescott in 1984. We use the same approach, namely, measuring effectiveness of the programme by the number of healthy years of life added by the prevention of blindness. This work focuses on certain technical aspects of the data used for estimating parameter values in the cost-effectiveness calculations. Through examination of available data and the relationships between certain key variables, we estimate values that differ substantially from Prost and Prescott for the population at risk, the incidence and prevalence of onchocercal blindness, and the years of healthy life lost due to blindness. Our final results suggest that depending on the discount rate that the OCP is 7-40 times more costly as measured by discounted years of productive life added than measles immunisation. These results are in contradiction to Prost and Prescott's estimation that the OCP was more cost-effective than measles immunisation. We, however, feel that our results do not demonstrate that OCP is an inefficient use of resources. Rather, they call into question the methods used and the relevance of comparing measles immunisation and onchocerciasis control. In a subsequent article, we hope to deal directly with these conceptual problems by presenting separate humanitarian and economic cost-effectiveness measures.

Blindness↗
PubMed1987

Detection of K88 and K99 fimbrial antigens on Escherichia coli by coagglutination.

Coagglutination was used to detect K88 and K99 fimbrial antigens on Escherichia coli, and results were compared to an enzyme immuno assay (EIA). When pili suspensions were tested by both methods, 28 of 66 cultures were shown to have K88 and 11 of 31 cultures had K99 antigens. No pili suspensions were positive by coagglutination that were not positive by EIA. Testing of cell suspensions gave equivalent results to pili suspensions for K99 when tested by coagglutination. Two cell suspensions reacted with the K88 coagglutination which could not be confirmed by testing of pili suspensions, while a further 20 out of 43 cultures gave equivalent results with both cell and pili suspensions for K88 when tested by coagglutination.

Agglutination Tests↗
PubMed1986

The resistance of antimicrobial agents in salmonella from veterinary sources in Australia from 1975 to 1982.

A survey of antibiotic resistance in 1,287 strains of Salmonella from bovine, porcine and avian sources in Australia was carried out from 1975 to 1982. Isolates were tested against ampicillin, chloramphenicol, furazolidone, neomycin, streptomycin and tetracycline. Resistance was found to streptomycin in 286 isolates and to tetracycline in 282 isolates. Resistance to other antimicrobials was low and was unrelated to source. One hundred and seventy-three isolates showed multiple resistance to 2 or more antimicrobial agents with resistance to streptomycin and tetracycline being the most common. The overall level of resistance did not change over the period examined.

Animals↗