Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

C S Smith

Publications and source records attributed to C S Smith.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

Health care economics. Part 2: The Australian health care "jigsaw".

In this article we look at how the health care industry is organised in Australia and make some international comparisons. First, we examine how Australia has reached the present, rather confusing set of arrangements--what the Macklin inquiry has called the health "jigsaw". Then we outline the current arrangements--how responsibilities are divided between local, state and federal governments; and the contribution of the private sector. Finally, we present international data to provide some comparative perspective on Australia's health care arrangements.

Australia↗
PubMed1992

Cytomegalovirus prostatitis.

Tissue demonstration of cytomegalovirus (CMV) within the male genital tract has rarely been reported. We present a case of extensive CMV prostatitis in a homosexual patient with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) dying of disseminated CMV infection.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1991

The normal fetus of an acardiac twin pregnancy: perinatal management based on echocardiographic and sonographic evaluation.

Experience with three prenatally diagnosed pregnancies complicated by an acardiac twin reveals that ultrasonography and echocardiography are helpful in detecting early signs of in-utero congestive heart failure in the normal twin. The use of Doppler blood flow analysis to determine direction of blood flow, post-mortem placental and fetal angiography, and umbilical cord blood gas determination provided proof that retrograde arterial perfusion occurs in the acardiac fetus. In a fourth pregnancy, an experimental approach to occlude the acardiac twin's umbilical cord was attempted, but was unsuccessful.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Psychometric equivalence of a translated circadian rhythm questionnaire: implications for between- and within-population assessments.

The fidelity of an English-to-Japanese translation of a circadian rhythm questionnaire was examined through simultaneous factor analysis in several populations (Jöreskog, 1971a). Results indicate significant differences in item responses between populations, although between-population convergence was obtained on one factor. Back translations revealed both major and minor content discrepancies between the original and translated scales, which preclude clearly separating linguistic or semantic and population differences in item responses. Within-population results based on classic measurement techniques were compared with results based on structural equation techniques (in the American sample only); each technique led to different data-based conclusions. On the basis of the structural equation results, refinements in the source (English) scale items are suggested.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Optimization and application of particle beam high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry to compounds of pharmaceutical interest.

Particle beam high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS) parameters were optimized for the sensitive analysis of several drugs in agricultural products such as milk and tissue. Sensitivity of the particle beam interface was greatest for solvents with low heat capacities (methanol greater than acetonitrile greater than isopropanol greater than water). Furthermore, optimal sensitivity was obtained at low solvent flow rates (about 0.4-0.6 ml min-1). Parameters such as desolvation temperature, helium flow rate to the nebulizer and nebulizer position resulted in minimal change in sensitivity. The source temperature was optimized to obtain suitable vaporization with minimal thermal degradation (200-300 degrees C). The determination of a variety of compounds (including beta-lactams, cephapirin, tetracyclines, methylene blue, furosemide, spectinomycin, cytidine, 2-chloro-4-nitrobenzamide and thiamine) was possible using the particle beam interface. Under full-scan conditions, detection limits were in the 100 ng range for most drugs. With selected ion monitoring, particle beam HPLC/MS was demonstrated for the analysis of p.p.m. levels of these drugs in milk and tissue extracts. Precision of the particle beam analysis was usually better than 15% RSD. For the same compounds, HPLC/MS with a thermospray interface often resulted in less structural information (single ion spectra) then obtained by particle beam with thermospray detection limits varying from 10 ng to 1 microgram.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Spore Yield and Microcycle Conidiation of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides in Liquid Culture.

The effect of V8 juice concentration (5 to 40%, vol/vol), spore inoculum density (10 and 10 spores per ml), and liquid batch or fed-batch culture condition on mycelium and spore production by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides was evaluated. The amount of mycelium produced, the time required for initiation of sporulation following attainment of maximum mycelium, and the time for attainment of maximum spore concentration increased with increasing V8 juice concentration in batch culture. Cultures containing V8 juice at >10% achieved a similar spore density (apparent spore-carrying capacity) of about 0.8 mg of spores per ml (1 x 10 to 2 x 10 spores per ml) independent of inoculum density and V8 juice concentration. The relative spore yield decreased from a high of 64% of the total biomass for the low-inoculum 5% V8 culture, through 13% for the analogous 40% V8 culture, to a low of 2% for the high-inoculum 27% V8 culture. Fed-batch cultures were used to establish conditions of high spore density and low substrate availability but high substrate flux. The rate of addition of V8 juice was adjusted to approximate the rate of substrate utilization by the (increasing) biomass. The final spore concentration was about four times higher (3.0 mg of spores per ml) than the apparent spore-carrying capacity in batch culture. This high spore yield was obtained at the expense of greatly reduced mycelium, resulting in a high relative spore yield (62% of the total biomass). Microcycle conidiation occurred in the fed-batch but not batch systems. These data indicate that substrate-limited, fed-batch culture can be used to increase the amount and efficiency of spore production by C. gloeosporioides by maintaining microcycle conidiation conditions favoring allocation of nutrients to spore rather than mycelium production.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1990

Gastric pneumatosis: sign of biliary stent-related perforation.

Gastric pneumatosis developed 4 months after a Carey-Coons biliary endoprosthesis was placed in an 85-year-old woman with pancreatic carcinoma. Radiographs revealed a change in the position of the stent. This combination of findings suggested that more than simple stent migration had occurred. At endoscopy, duodenal perforation was confirmed and the stent repositioned. Subsequently, the pneumatosis resolved.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Evaluation of three circadian rhythm questionnaires with suggestions for an improved measure of morningness.

Circadian rhythms, cyclic fluctuations in many physiological and psychological functions, are thought to influence adjustment to shiftwork. A widely acknowledged individual difference in circadian rhythms, commonly called morningness, indicates preferences associated with morning or evening activities. Various self-report instruments have been developed to measure morningness, although little measurement data have been published for these scales. Because morningness scales are being used to select workers for night shiftwork, psychometric evaluations of these scales are needed. Psychometric assessments of undergraduate responses (N = 501) on three widely used scales indicate internal (interitem) measurement deficiencies in all three. Therefore, a 13-item scale was developed that distills the best items from two of these scales. Relationships between the new composite scale and external criteria are comparable with or stronger than similar relationships between the published scales and external criteria.

Circadian Rhythm↗
PubMed1989

Colonization of a Submersed Aquatic Plant, Eurasian Water Milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum), by Fungi under Controlled Conditions.

A laboratory assay to assess colonization of a submersed aquatic plant, Eurasian water milfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum), by fungi was developed and used to evaluate the colonization potential of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Acremonium curvulum, Cladosporium herbarum, Aureobasidium pullulans, a Paecilomyces sp., and an unidentified sterile, septate fungus. Stem segments of plants were first immersed in suspensions of fungal propagules for 24 h and then washed to remove all but the tightly attached component of the population. Inoculation was followed by two growth cycles of 3 days each. At the start of each cycle, washed plants were transferred to a mineral salts medium to provide an opportunity for the attached fungal populations to grow. After each growth period, plants were again washed, and fungal populations in the medium (nonattached), loosely attached and tightly attached to the plant, and within the plant (endophytic) were assayed by dilution plating. The fungi differed in the extent to which they attached to water milfoil and in their ability to grow in association with it. There were relatively few significant differences among the tightly attached fungal populations after 24 h, but growth of the better colonizers led to a greater number of significant differences after 4 and 7 days. In addition, the better colonizers showed sustained regrowth of loosely and nonattached fungal propagules in the face of intermittent removal by washing. A milfoil pathogen, C. gloeosporioides, was the only endophytic colonizer; it was also among the best epiphytic colonizers but was not demonstrably better than A. curvulum, a fungus commonly found as an epiphyte on watermilfoil. The yeastlike hyphomycete Aureobasidium pullulans was the only fungus that consistently failed to establish an increasing population on the plant.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1988

Adolescent diabetic amyotrophy.

A 16-year-old boy with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus since age five years was admitted with severe ketoacidosis, and suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest from which he made a full recovery. He subsequently developed the typical clinical picture of diabetic amyotrophy with painful asymmetrical weakness and wasting of proximal lower limb muscles. Cerebrospinal fluid protein was elevated, and electromyography showed typical changes. Diabetic amyotrophy has not previously been reported in this age group.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Sources of variability in the measurement of fungal spore yields.

VARIABILITY IN THE PRODUCTION OF FUNGAL SPORES AND IN THE MEASUREMENT OF SPORE YIELDS WAS INVESTIGATED IN FOUR SPECIES OF FUNGI: Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Colletotrichum coccodes, Colletotrichum phomoides, and Acremonium strictum. When the fungi were grown on solid medium in microplates and spore yields were measured by counting the subsamples with a hemacytometer, the variability among hemacytometer squares was always the largest source of variation, accounting for 51 to 91% of the total variation. Variability among replicate cultures and results of repeat experiments were generally also significant. The effect of square-to-square variability on the precision of spore yield measurement was minimized by counting a moderate number (ca. 30) of squares per culture. Culture-to-culture variability limited the practical precision of spore production measurements to a 95% confidence interval of approximately the mean +/- 25%. We provide guidelines for determining the number of replicate cultures required to attain this or other degrees of precision. Particle counter-derived spore counts and counts based on spore weights were much less variable than were hemacytometer counts, but they did not improve spore production estimates very much because of culture-to-culture variability. Results obtained by both of these methods differed from those obtained with a hemacytometer; particle counter measurements required a correction for spore pairs, while the relationship between spore weights and spore counts changed as the cultures aged.

Journal Article↗