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Biomedical subjects

C McManus

Publications and source records attributed to C McManus.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Physician-poets.

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History, 20th Century↗
PubMed1996

Psychological adjustment and family functioning in a group of British children with sickle cell disease: preliminary empirical findings and a meta-analysis.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a family of inherited blood disorders of variable severity which have in common haemolytic anaemia, recurrent painful crises, end-organ failure and the risk of reduced life expectancy. In Britain, the condition predominantly occurs among families of African or Afro-Caribbean origin. This study examines the effects of the condition on the psychological adjustment and family functioning of 39 children with SCD and 24 control children. Participants were assessed on measures of behaviour, depression, self-esteem, IQ and reading skills, family relationships and maternal mental health. Assessment on the Family Environment Scale showed that SCD children came from families who reported more cohesion and less conflict than did the families of controls. Maternal mental health showed no significant differences between the SCD group and controls. Children with SCD showed an IQ deficit of five points, a difference that was not statistically significant. However, a meta-analysis of six studies in the literature, including this one, did show a highly significantly decreased intellectual ability. SCD children did not show significant differences from controls on measures of depression and self-esteem. However, differences in behavioural problems were found between the three groups, with the SC group showing more behavioural problems. Results of regression analyses suggest that maternal mental health is associated with children's behavioural problems.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1995

Pruritus.

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Pruritus↗
PubMed1993

Pediatric critical care pharmacodynamics.

Dosage requirements are different in the pediatric population due to ongoing development in pediatric patients from birth to adulthood. The pharmacologic response will depend on how the patient absorbs, distributes and excretes the drug as well as the sensitivity of "pediatric" receptors to the drug. The subjects of pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics encompass these relationships and help to explain the pharmacologic differences seen in children relative to adults.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Self-criticism in adulthood and recalled childhood experience.

We investigated in a sample of 75 medical students the hypothesis that higher levels of self-criticism, a major vulnerability factor for depression, are related to retrospective reports of less satisfactory parenting, even when the potentially confounding factors of mood state and social desirability response set are controlled. At each of 2 measurement times, there were significant cross-sectional correlations between parental ratings and both depression and self-criticism, but the associations with self-criticism were no longer significant when depression was controlled. However, even after controlling for the effects of mood state and social desirability, persons with high levels of self-criticism at both measurement points (high trait self-criticism subjects) reported significantly worse relationships with their mothers than did the remaining subjects. They were also more likely to report below average relationships with both parents jointly.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Genetic selection in farmed deer.

Selection is the major tool used by breeders to improve the genetic quality of their livestock. Traditional methods of selection are well proven and useful in improving the economic merit of livestock. The performance of an animal is affected by its genetic quality and by the environment in which it is reared. While environmental improvement is expensive and requires continuous inputs, genetic improvement is cumulative and permanent, provided that selection is maintained. To select an animal on its genetic merit account must be taken of the environmental effects on its performance. Comparisons between the performance of animals on different farms or in different years are not valid unless they have genetic material in common. The speed at which genetic improvement is passed on to the rest of a population is affected by the variation and heritability of the traits being selected, the selection intensity and the generation interval. The deer population in the United Kingdom has a high degree of variation for important traits but the selection intensity is low and the generation intervals are larger than in other farmed species. Central performance testing, group breeding schemes and the use of artificial insemination are tools which will be important in the genetic improvement of farmed deer.

Agriculture↗
PubMed1991

Fourth report of the cooperative, open-ended study of slowly growing mycobacteria by the International Working Group on Mycobacterial Taxonomy.

The open-ended study of the International Working Group on Mycobacterial Taxonomy is an ongoing project to characterize slowly growing strains of mycobacteria that do not belong to well-established or thoroughly characterized species. In this fourth report we describe two numerical taxonomic clusters that represent subspecies or biovars of Mycobacterium simiae, one cluster that encompasses the erstwhile type strain of the presently invalid species "Mycobacterium paraffinicum," one cluster that is phenotypically very similar to Mycobacterium avium and Mycobacterium intracellulare but may be a separate genospecies, one cluster that appears to be phenotypically distinct from M. avium but reacts with a nucleic acid probe specific for M. avium, and three tentatively defined clusters in proximity to a cluster that encompasses the type strain of Mycobacterium malmoense. Of special practical interest is the fact that one of the latter three clusters is composed of clinically significant scotochromogenic bacteria that can be misidentified as the nonpathogenic organism Mycobacterium gordonae if insufficient biochemical tests are performed.

Agglutination Tests↗
PubMed1990

Sensitivity to the displacement of facial features in negative and inverted images.

Subjects have previously been reported to show difficulties in recognising faces which are either inverted or in photographic negative. Experiments are reported in which a two-alternative forced-choice technique was used to measure sensitivity for distinguishing faces which have been modified by having the eyes moved vertically or horizontally. Subjects were less sensitive to such changes for inverted faces or negative faces, and were even less sensitive for faces that were both inverted and negative. No such effects were found for a control stimulus consisting simply of three solid circles in the same positions as the eyes and mouth of a face. When the stimuli consisted of eyes, nose, and mouth, but without a surround, no evidence of inversion or negation effects was found, which suggests that a facial surround is necessary. When the stimulus consisted of a facial surround with the eyes, nose, and mouth replaced by solid circles, effects of negation were found, but no effects of inversion. This dissociation of the effects of negation and inversion may suggest that they are the result of different underlying mechanisms.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

The influence of measurement precision on medical findings.

Medical researchers, epidemiologists and clinicians are all concerned with the observed incidence rates of various diseases and diagnostic findings. Such findings are necessarily based on imprecise procedures and instrumentation. The present study describes the theoretical extent to which the precision of instruments and procedures contributes to reported distribution curves and incidence rates of diagnostic findings. A numerical method is described for separating underlying distribution curves from the observed distribution curves which are distorted by measurement error. The method is illustrated by two examples: blood pressure measurements and QRS axis distributions in the ECG.

Blood Pressure Determination↗
PubMed1985

Bioenergetic studies in adult patients recovering from semi-starvation.

A model of energy-nitrogen balance developed in animals was adapted to the study of human bioenergetics. By creating balance conditions and steady-state formula infusion rates, each of the needed components of energy and nitrogen balance can now be measured with a high level of accuracy. A comprehensive description of energetic efficiency at the whole body level is possible using appropriate mathematical modeling. Key questions in human bioenergetics await these results, and our laboratory is currently undertaking these studies.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Nutrient bioavailability from nasojejunally administered enteral formulas: comparison to solid food.

The net absorption and retention of energy, fat, nitrogen, and six elements (potassium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, sodium, and chloride) from two intrajejunally infused enteral formulas were compared to solid food. Undernourished patients (group 1) underwent two consecutive 7-day balance studies on a predigested protein-low fat (elemental) formula and an intact protein-standard fat (polymeric) formula, the initial diet selected randomly. Periods were isocaloric and isonitrogenous, but differed in the amounts of remaining elements. The undernourished patients in group 2 ate a solid food standard hospital diet for the 7-day balance study in an amount equal in energy and protein to group 1. There were no major differences in the nutrient absorption between the three diets. Nitrogen balance was similar for the two formulas (mean +/- SD) (elemental 6.1 +/- 3.5 g/day; polymeric 4.8 +/- 3.2 g/day) and solid food (5.2 +/- 3.5 g/day), and the balance for the six remaining elements was approximately proportional to the amount supplied. Subjective tolerance of both formulas was good, with a tendency for superior tolerance of the polymeric formula. We conclude that for the nutrients investigated, 1) intrajejunally administered enteral formulas are capable of renourishing hospitalized patients with an efficacy similar to that of solid food, and 2) predigestion of the formula does not improve absorption.

Biological Availability↗