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Biomedical subjects

D Poole

Publications and source records attributed to D Poole.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

The question of the operating department.

Why are there so many reports and studies of operating departments? Lewin, Oxford, National Audit Office and the Bevan Report, all covering much the same thing--organisation, staffing and management of operating departments. Why are there so many investigations regarding the operating theatre? Obviously because of its importance, the capital cost of the buildings and the high nursing expenditure. Why is there so much examination of the staffing of operating departments? Because of staffing difficulties, general everywhere in the nursing profession but, owing to the nature of the work, these are exacerbated in the operating department. There are also senior nurses and general managers who do not understand the need for nurses in the operating department. Again why? Is it because they know little about the complexities of operating department nursing and believe that by putting others in the operating department there will be more nurses available for work on wards and other departments? Who will take over the work in the operating department if nurses move out?

Health Services Research

The uptake and intracellular distribution of [35S]trithiomolybdate in bovine liver in vivo.

[35S] trithiomolybdate was administered intravenously to a group of four steer at two dose rates, 1 and 26 mg Mo per animal. Radioactivity appeared rapidly in the liver and was distributed in all the subcellular fractions examined. Examination by Sephadex G-100 gel-filtration of the cytosol fraction showed that distinct 35S-binding protein peaks were present. The protein-bound radioactivity was displaceable and was identified as [35S]thiomolybdates. No radioactivity eluted with metallothionein, but 35S was associated with the high molecular weight copper fraction, eluted in the void volume of the column, which increased transiently after the administration of the higher dose. It was suggested that the presence of protein-bound thiomolybdates in the liver gave rise to new ligands, which altered the equilibrium of copper between the different metal-binding proteins. This might be similar to the alteration in the copper-binding of albumin produced by the presence of thiomolybdates.

Animals

Type II diabetes mellitus update: diagnosis and management.

Diabetes mellitus type II (currently known as non-insulin-dependent diabetes) is apparently the result of genetically imposed insulin resistance. Type II diabetes is far more common than insulin-dependent (type I) diabetes, which is probably an autoimmune disease resulting in inadequate insulin production. The decade of the '80s has seen several changes in the management of type II diabetes, including: more widespread use of glycosylated hemoglobin and home blood glucose monitoring as surveillance tools; modification of the dietary regimen by advocating increased amounts of complex carbohydrates; use in this country of the second-generation oral sulfonylureas; and therapeutic trials of tricyclic antidepressants for relief of painful diabetic neuropathy. Diabetes mellitus type II is potentially preventable through encouragement of weight loss and regular screening for those genetically at risk.

Administration, Oral

Some studies on the metabolism of labelled molybdenum compounds in cattle.

An initial experiment showed that [99Mo]di- and trithiomolybdates could be detected in bovine plasma after the introduction of [99Mo]molybdate into the rumen. It was felt that this justified the use of [99Mo]trithiomolybdate for the subsequent studies made of plasma thiomolybdate metabolism in vivo in cattle. Rapid intravenous injection of [99Mo]trithiomolybdate into cattle showed that doses of 50 mg Mo were subject to extensive hydrolysis over the first few minutes postinjection, but at lower dose rates this was reduced so that tracer doses (less than 1.5 mg Mo) were relatively stable. The plasma metabolism was unaffected by copper status within the limits of the experiments (that is, liver copper levels down to 9 mg/kg d.m.) The disappearance of [99Mo] and [35S]trithiomolybdate (1 mg Mo) from plasma was delayed for up to 10 hr by the immediate preinjection of copper, although no chemical modification of the thiomolybdate appeared to occur.

Animals

Naloxone-precipitated withdrawal: a method for rapid induction onto naltrexone.

We examined naloxone-precipitated withdrawal as a means for rapid opiate detoxification and induction onto naltrexone. In 29 patients dependent on methadone (5 to 20 mg/day), abstinence was precipitated by an injection of naloxone. Repeated injections of naloxone were given subsequently until symptoms of abstinence were no longer induced. Successive injections induced less intense withdrawal assessed by vital signs and ratings on abstinence scales. The most rapid procedure consisted of 1.2 mg naxolone every 30 min for 3 to 6 hr, for 3 to 6 hr, followed by hourly increasing doses of naltrexone. This procedure allowed transition from opiate dependence to naltrexone maintenance (50 to 100 mg/day) within 48 hr. The results are consistent with assumptions that antagonists actively displace opiates from receptor sites.

Adult

Further decline of breast-feeding.

In a personal survey, by structured interview, we have investigated some of the factors which led 100 healthy mothers (63 primiparae) to decide to breast-feed their healthy babies, and 100 comparable mothers (43 primiparae) to decide to bottle-feed. Past experience (either personal or that of their family and friends) was of considerable but not overriding importance, and the decisions were apparently made surprisingly early in most cases. But much more effective educational approaches are needed, perhaps starting in the schools, and concentrated in the antenatal clinic, to allow mothers to reach the right decision for themselves and their babies. The reasons for early cessation of breast-feeding were also investigated, and suggested that those mothers opting for breast-feeding need better technical information and support.

Adult