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Biomedical subjects

D W Vere

Publications and source records attributed to D W Vere.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

The basis of the histamine assay in skin.

1. The assay of wheal response to histamine injected sub-epidermally has been reviewed. Several discrepant claims were found in earlier work. 2. The saline control injection may evoke a wheal, which if present should be allowed for in the assay procedure. 3. There was no evidence for a limb dominance effect. 4. Using a 3.26 mM (1 mg ml-1) standard solution of histamine acid phosphate (1.18 mM as free base) and 0.1 ml injections, the straight central portion of the assay curve was found to be between 0.3 and 2.3 x 10(-3) mM, as free base, with an ED50 of about 0.018 mM histamine base.

Histamine↗
PubMed1990

Determination of plasma nefopam by liquid chromatography and electrochemical detection.

A liquid chromatographic method for the determination of plasma nefopam is presented. A combination of liquid- and solid-phase extraction and electrochemical detection gave clean extracts and, hence, a low limit of detection. Calibration curves were linear over at least two orders of magnitude (1-100 ng/ml) making the method suitable for pharmacokinetic studies.

Chromatography, Liquid↗
PubMed1989

Teratogenic effects of some calcium channel blocking agents in Xenopus embryos.

Xenopus embryos, treated for three days from the early cleavage stage with the calcium channel blocking drugs nifedipine, diltiazem, verapamil or nicardipine continue to develop in water. By the seventh day many developmental abnormalities appear, the most reproducible affecting the central nervous system, failure of forebrain development, synophthalmia and neural tube defect. Other anomalies include failure of mandibular growth and malrotation of the gut. Failure of water and electrolyte transport are indicated by severe oedema in some animals. The defects appear to relate to calcium ion antagonism, and provide a pharmacological model for some forms of teratogenesis in which large populations can be studied readily.

Abnormalities, Drug-Induced↗
PubMed1986

Teaching and learning about terminal care.

Because the same three teachers at the London Hospital Medical College both taught and examined students over an 11-year period it was possible to compare what was taught with what was recalled at examinations. The results suggest that aspects of terminal care vary greatly in their perceived importance, at least as measured by their recall and selection for presentation in the final examination. Most aspects of the taught material increased their penetration into the students' recall over the 11 years. There is evidence that the caring aspects are stressed more by women; this difference was less for descriptions of pain, and absent from accounts of the pharmacology of analgesic drugs.

Education, Medical, Undergraduate↗
PubMed1984

Bopindolol: a new long acting beta-receptor antagonist; its effects on haemodynamics, and on the renin response to tilting.

Oral administration of single doses of bopindolol (1-4mg) caused significant reductions in the rises of systolic blood pressure and heart rate produced by exercise; only the reduction in the rise of heart rate was significantly dose-related. Resting heart rate was reduced by bopindolol. There were small effects on resting blood pressure. Bopindolol caused a significant attenuation of the rise in plasma renin activity produced by passive head-up tilting to 75-85 degrees. Bopindolol produced a dose-related attenuation of the increase in pulse rate evoked by passive tilting. All effects 1-4 were maintained for at least 24 h. There was no measurable effect on plasma potassium concentration, peak flow rate or forced expiratory volume (FEV1).

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

The hospital as a place of pain.

This paper was first presented at the London Medical Group's Annual Conference entitled Death: the last taboo held in February 1980. Dr Vere comments on the evidence of research done by him and his colleagues on the pain and discomfort suffered by patients who are dying and are in hospital. He contrasts this with the situation in hospices, analyses the differences, and attributes much of the unnecessary pain suffered in hospitals to attitudes of staff, as well as to a reluctance by relatives to allow patients with terminal pain to die at home. He deprecates the tendency in hospitals to separate 'curing' and 'caring' and suggests that sometimes the best help involves 'doing' less, not more.

Hospices↗
PubMed1978

A longitudinal study of the mechanisms of action of debrisoquine and propranolol.

1 The mode of action of hypotensive drugs is not necessarily the same early and late in a course of treatment. 2 It was aimed to study this possible difference of effects for the drugs debrisoquine and propranolol, using a clinical trial design and measuring as many cardiovascular functions as possible by noninvasive methods in out-patients. 3 Several well known effects of these drugs were noted; in addition it was found that in some subjects there was a small but progressive salt retention during propranolol treatment, that the displacements of the slopes in baroceptor function tests were different for the two drugs tested, and that venous distensibility was reduced at first with propranolol but soon increased again. 4 It is useful to combine longitudinal measures of body functions with a clinical trial when studying mechanisms of drug action.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Testing new drugs--the human volunteer.

Professor Duncan Vere lays before us the idealised guidelines used for recruiting volunteers on which to try and test new medicines. He points out that if these were followed rigidly, few, if any volunteers would be found for this vital work. Inducements are used, but the size of these determines whether society deems it right or wrong. However, the aim is to help and advise volunteers of the need for such tests and the risks involved and therefore the information leaflet reprinted as part of the article indicates how the drug testers are attempting to encourage volunteers in as ethical a way as possible. To abandon human tests with new drugs may be unethical. A balance is sought.

Disclosure↗
PubMed1978

The design of pharmacological experiments using unbiased models of agonist-antagonist interaction.

The methods which exist to represent agonist-antagonist interactions, and to distinguish between them are sufficient and effective. Their effective use depends on a set of criteria which are not always fulfilled in actual experiments. In some situations it is difficult or impossible to meet these criteria. An alternative representation is proposed, using straightforward geometry, which evades this problem. It also allows experimental data points to be selected without bias and makes it possible to apply orthodox criteria to more restricted sets of data than is otherwise the case. To do this, it is necessary to reverse the ordinary procedure in antagonist assays, by adding successive concentrations of antagonist to a preparation so that a constant response is evoked by squared multiples of the original agonist dose. This can only be done with rapidly reversible antagonists, but the method has been shown to be effective for such drugs.

Drug Antagonism↗