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Biomedical subjects

D Murphy

Publications and source records attributed to D Murphy.

At least 289 records · Page 16Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Catheter-associated Candida utilis fungemia in a patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome: species verification with a molecular probe.

Candida utilis was cultured from the blood of a patient with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. The candidemia was apparently associated with catheter implantation. The isolate was identified initially by standard methods and verified by molecular probing. The pattern of actin-specific restriction fragments obtained from the DNA of the isolate, probed with C. albicans actin sequences, corresponded to that of C. utilis. This organism adds to the growing list of Candida species associated with human disease. Molecular probing offers a definitive identification when an unexpected etiological agent is found.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1988

Schizophrenic thought disorder. A psychological and organic interpretation.

It is suggested that schizophrenic thought disorder comprises four relatively independent components: delusion; intrinsic thinking disturbance; formal thought disorder; and deficient real-world knowledge--a new concept. Schizophrenic and neurotic control subjects were given tests of thinking, perception, appreciation of conversational discourse, and social and practical knowledge. Not all deluded schizophrenics had intrinsic thinking disturbance. Those that did tended to have overinclusive categorisation as the most apparent deficit. Formal thought disorder was associated with a poor performance on the test of conversational discourse. The most striking result was that 75% of schizophrenic patients were markedly deficient, relative to neurotic patients, on their knowledge of everyday social issues.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Cerebral electrical impedance: do indices derived from it provide information on cerebral blood flow in the neonate?

Cerebral electrical impedance was compared with simultaneous estimations of cerebral blood flow (CBF infinity) using the 133Xe clearance technique on 28 occasions in 9 neonates who had changes in PaCO2 and hence presumably cerebral blood flow between measurements. Various indices derived from the impedance waveform which have been reported in the adult to correlate with blood flow were analysed for their relationship with CBF infinity. Percentage change of the two variables was calculated and three indices showed a significant correlation using linear regression. They were peak amplitude (delta Zp), delta Zp times heart rate (delta Zp x HR), and backslope projection. The regression equation for the index with the closest correlation was delta Zp x HR = 0.57CBF infinity + 3.4 with r = 0.68 (p = 0.003) and standard error of the estimate = 29%. Some cerebral electrical impedance indices did correlate with cerebral blood flow changes under the conditions of this study and provide accurate information on the direction of changes but because of the wide confidence limits cannot be used for quantification of cerebral blood flow changes.

Blood Gas Monitoring, Transcutaneous↗
PubMed1987

Lymphocyte numbers in endogenous depression.

The blood counts of 80 patients with depression were examined (50 unipolar, 30 bipolar). Many had reduced numbers of circulating lymphocytes. This abnormality was more common in the unipolar group (52%) than in the bipolar group (27%). When those patients with an abnormal dexamethasone suppression test response in both groups were compared, the relative and absolute lymphocyte counts were significantly lower in unipolars. Although cortisol hypersecretion may reduce lymphocyte numbers it is not yet clear whether the findings can be satisfactorily explained in this way.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Mood-independent aberrancies of word responses and action of lithium on their repetition in manic depressed illness.

Following a preceding study, two samples of patients, one French (N = 20) and one American (N = 29), from two affective disorders clinics, were given free word-association tests consisting of two successive presentations of the same list of stimulus words separated by a 15 minute interval. On the one hand, commonness of word responses was not affected by changes of mood, and consequently aberrancies in associative processes may be a trait of persons with bipolar affective disorders. On the other hand, repetition of responses was directly correlated with lithium concentration in plasma, which allowed a prediction of the success of lithium therapy.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Impedance imaging in the newborn.

We have been investigating the use of electrical impedance methods for the study of cerebral haemodynamics in the newborn for many years. Of particular interest has been the early detection of intraventricular haemorrhage, which is a major cause of death or handicap in low birthweight infants. Several problems exist in obtaining representative impedance measurements from the newborn, most notably movement artefact, respiratory-based modulation and a blood-flow related pulsatile component. Movement artefact is by far the most significant problem; in order to perform long-term monitoring we have developed an effective algorithm for rejection of corrupted data. To remove the respiratory component, which can be 1-2% of the impedance measurement, we link to the output of a respiratory monitor (standard in intensive care units) as a means of synchronising measurements to a fixed point in the respiratory cycle. Similarly, to remove the blood-flow pulsatile component, measurements are gated from the R-wave of the recorded ECG. Our total system consists of a front-end measurement system that passes image data over a serial link to a host computer. Data storage, image reconstruction and display is performed on the host, which can be any of a wide range of personal computers. The front-end contains the impedance measurement circuit, electrode switching electronics and a microprocessor for control, and is of a sufficiently small size to fit into the incubator next to the baby. Incorporating a microprocessor into the front-end produces a very flexible system that has many benefits, including: asynchronous operation from host, 'intelligent' pre-processing of measurements, command driven operation from host, etc. Software development for the front-end is performed on the host with program down-load for interactive debugging. Details of the front-end electronics and software, system performance, preliminary clinical results and other application areas of the impedance imaging technique to the care of the newborn are presented.

Cerebral Hemorrhage↗
PubMed1987

Assessment of enzyme immunoassay and immunofluorescence tests for detection of Chlamydia trachomatis.

Two rapid diagnostic tests for Chlamydia trachomatis (Microtrak, Syva Co., Palo Alto, Calif.; and Chlamydiazyme, Abbott Laboratories, North Chicago, Ill.) were evaluated in comparison with growth of the organism in tissue culture for 2,030 urogenital specimens from men and women. Neither test performed as well as culture, which detected 296 of 310 positive specimens. The overall sensitivity and specificity for Microtrak were 73 and 99%; corresponding values for Chlamydiazyme were 83 and 98%. The majority of false-negative results with both rapid tests occurred when cultures contained less than 10 inclusions per cover slip. There were also areas of unconfirmed reactivity for both tests that led us to suggest that a reporting category of "suspicious" be developed for certain test results. For Microtrak, the suspicious result is a slide containing fewer than 10 elementary bodies; for Chlamydiazyme, it is any absorbance reading less than 0.4. Creation of a "suspicious" category would lower the sensitivity for Chlamydiazyme considerably, to 64%, and increase the positive predictive value for females to 95%. Although this may result in the underreading of some specimens from males, the tests could then be used with greater confidence in females for whom testing is essential for appropriate treatment.

Chlamydia Infections↗
PubMed1987

The nature of overinclusive thinking in schizophrenia.

Schizophrenics were compared with neurotic controls on four tests of categorical thinking in an attempt to discover the nature of overinclusive thinking. The tests provided both verbal and nonverbal measures of conceptual loosening, the proportion of out-of-category items, distortion of the internal structure of a category and any tendency towards overcategorization. The results showed that schizophrenics were relatively worse on nonverbal than on verbal categories with, in particular, a greater degree of conceptual loosening and a tendency towards overcategorization. The most striking abnormality emerged during observation of the actual sorting strategy itself. Schizophrenics tackled the task in a way which suggests that they lack the ability to form a Gestalt of the task.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Early-onset Huntington's chorea. Diagnostic clues.

A patient with early-onset Huntington's chorea is described. The diagnosis had been overlooked during previous contacts with psychiatric services because there was no family history, and features typical of the adult disease were absent. Distinctive findings on CT scan and electroencephalography were observed.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Systemic absorption of a leucovorin mouth wash: a pharmacologic study.

Mucositis is one of the major problems encountered after the administration of systemic chemotherapy. Leucovorin, routinely used as a rescue agent for methotrexate may reduce toxicity, but may also reduce the effectiveness of the chemotherapeutic agent. If leucovorin is administered as a mouth wash, local toxicity may be reduced without loss of methotrexate efficacy. In order to study this, 15 normal human volunteers were given leucovorin mouth wash and then had plasma determinations of 5-methyl-tetrahydrofolate and citrovorum factor. Small but statistically significant increases in plasma levels of 5-methyl-tetrahydrofolate were observed with no increase in levels of plasma citrovorum factor. It is concluded therefore that a small amount of leucovorin is absorbed systemically when administered as a mouth wash, but such an amount would most likely not be significant enough to reduce the effect of methotrexate therapy, but may reduce mucositis.

Absorption↗
PubMed1987

Mice transgenic for a vasopressin-SV40 hybrid oncogene develop tumors of the endocrine pancreas and the anterior pituitary. A possible model for human multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1.

The authors have used transgenic mice to study the activity of a hybrid oncogene made up of 1.25 kb of 5' upstream sequences, derived from the bovine vasopressin gene, promoting the expression of the large T-antigen coding sequences of the early region of simian virus 40. Rather than promoting tumorigenesis in vasopressinergic cells of the hypothalamus, expression and activity of the hybrid oncogene, and consequent tumor formation, were confined to insulin-producing beta cells of the endocrine pancreas and to cells in the anterior pituitary. These observations suggest that the specificity of vasopressin gene expression normally results from an interaction between several regulatory elements, some of which are absent from the hybrid oncogene. The possible relationship between the endocrine tumor syndrome found in the vasopressin-SV40 transgenic mice and familial human multiple endocrine neoplasia is discussed.

Adenoma, Islet Cell↗
PubMed1987

Perioperative myocardial infarction with coronary artery surgery: diagnosis, incidence and consequences.

Perioperative myocardial infarction is a potential consequence of coronary artery bypass surgery. The diagnosis is difficult due to multiple factors including postoperative chest discomfort, serum enzyme elevations and nonspecific electrocardiographic changes. No one test is reliable, but a combination of electrocardiogram, MBCK serum enzyme analysis and technetium pyrophosphate scanning should increase the probability of correct diagnosis. Using this method, the incidence of perioperative myocardial infarction in this study was six out of 100. Left ventricular function in the early postoperative period was adversely affected by perioperative myocardial infarction with a reduction in left ventricular ejection fraction (63 +/- 9% preoperative to 54 +/- 12% postoperative; P less than 0.05), whereas left ventricular ejection fraction was unchanged in the absence of perioperative myocardial infarction. The long term left ventricular function, however, appears to recover, and at two years after surgery there was no difference in rest or exercise left ventricular function between patients who suffered perioperative myocardial infarction versus those who did not. All patients with perioperative myocardial infarction survived to be discharged from hospital, and all returned for follow-up at two years. Their functional and work status was no different from those without perioperative myocardial infarction. This would suggest that, if patients survive a perioperative myocardial infarction, their long term functional status is no different from those patients without perioperative myocardial infarction.

Adult↗