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Biomedical subjects

H Abbey

Publications and source records attributed to H Abbey.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Psychiatric manifestations of homocystinuria due to cystathionine beta-synthase deficiency: prevalence, natural history, and relationship to neurologic impairment and vitamin B6-responsiveness.

Homocystinuria commonly affects the central nervous system (CNS), primarily as mental retardation, seizures, and stroke. Case reports have long suggested a predisposition to schizophrenia, but no careful study of predisposition to psychiatric illness has been performed. Accordingly, we evaluated 63 persons with homocystinuria due to cystathionine beta-synthase deficiency for psychiatric disturbance, intelligence, evidence of other CNS problems, and responsiveness to vitamin B6. The overall rate of clinically significant psychiatric disorders was 51%, predominated by four diagnostic categories: episodic depression (10%), chronic disorders of behavior (17%), chronic obsessive-compulsive disorder (5%), and personality disorders (19%). The average IQ was 80 +/- 27 (1 SD); and an IQ of less than or equal to 79 was two-thirds more common among vitamin B6-nonresponsive patients compared to vitamin B6-responsive patients. Aggressive behavior and other disorders of conduct were particularly common among patients with mental retardation and among vitamin B6-nonresponsive patients.

Cystathionine beta-Synthase↗
PubMed1987

Medications and diagnoses in relation to falls in a long-term care facility.

The association between falls, drugs, and diagnoses in elderly residents of a long-term care facility was explored using case-control methodology. The odds of being a faller rather than a control were significant (P less than .01) for those taking antidepressants, sedatives/hypnotics, or vasodilators, and for those with osteoarthritis or depression. When drug/diagnosis subgroups were examined, these same drug classes and diagnoses had high-odds ratios in the largest numbers of subgroups. In general, risk of falling appeared to be more strongly associated with drugs than with diagnoses.

Accidental Falls↗
PubMed1987

Smoking behavior among participants in the nurses' health study.

We analyzed smoking behavior of 91,651 married female nurses, aged 30-55 years in 1976. The prevalence of smoking was similar among all birth cohorts. The largest percentage increase in starting to smoke occurred between ages 15 and 25 years; by age 25, 50 per cent had started smoking. The cessation rate was lowest in earlier birth cohorts and among nurses starting to smoke at earlier ages. The cessation rate increased substantially between 1963-73 compared with the period 1948-58.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Rarity of cesarean delivery in cases of juvenile-onset respiratory papillomatosis.

Papillomas of the respiratory and genital tracts are caused by the same papillomavirus genotypes, and mothers of children with respiratory papillomatosis often have a history of genital warts. Only one of 109 cases reviewed gave a history of birth by cesarean section, whereas ten cesarean deliveries would have been the expected number for this group on the basis of national rates. The single case was delivered by elective cesarean section before the rupture of the membranes, and the child developed respiratory papillomatosis in the first year of life. These findings suggest that in juvenile-onset disease, the transmission of infection from mother to child occurs most often during passage through an infected birth canal, but that intrauterine infection of the fetus is also possible. Papillomavirus infection of the female genital tract is common, but respiratory papillomatosis is rare. On the basis of crude estimates of annual number of children born to infected mothers and of new cases of juvenile-onset disease, the risk of developing disease for a child born to an infected mother was calculated to be one in several hundred exposures.

Cesarean Section↗
PubMed1984

Quantitative analysis of wide-field endothelial specular photomicrographs.

Samples from the center of a wide-field specular micrograph adequately assessed cell density and frequency distribution of cell areas. A preliminary analysis of the spread of values indicated whether an increased sample size was required. An algorithm determined how large a sample taken from the central photograph (three, five, or nine rectangles) was necessary to permit detection of a 10% change in cell area. This analysis of sample size also indicated that sampling by small-field specular microscopy was not representative of the surrounding square millimeter of corneal endothelium.

Cell Count↗
PubMed1982

Prevalence of asthma and health service utilization of asthmatic children in an inner city.

To determine the prevalence of asthma and to examine the pattern of health service utilization of asthmatic children in Baltimore, we sent questionnaires randomly to 4096 first and sixth graders attending Baltimore City public schools; 2898 completed the questionnaire. Asthma was defined as "a condition which causes difficulty in breathing, with wheezing noises in the chest." On the basis of this definition, we found that the cumulative prevalence of asthma was 10.5% and the 12 mo period prevalence was 7.2%. The prevalence was significantly higher for boys (male:female = 1.6:1) and for blacks (black:white = 1.5:1). Nearly 50% of the children with active asthma missed 6 days or more out of the school year because of illnesses due to asthma. Almost half the asthmatic children obtained their care of asthma in the emergency room, and twice as many blacks as whites used the emergency room as their primary source of care. Moreover, emergency room users had a higher school absentee rate than non-emergency room users.

Absenteeism↗
PubMed1978

The familial component in longevity--a study of offspring of nonagenarians: III. Intrafamilial studies.

The effect of parental longevity on the length of survival of offspring has been examined according to selected demographic and environmental characteristics. The present study is based on 7,103 progeny, 20 years old or older. They were the sons and daughters of 1,766 men or women, 90 or more years old, who were alive in 1922-1930 at the time of ascertainment. The age at death of the other parent of the offspring is the basis of classification used in this analysis. A positive relationship was found between age at death of the non-proband parent and the age at death of the offspring. This relationship existed regardless of similarities or differences in the characteristics analyzed.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Relationship of necrosis and tumor border to lymph node metastases and 10-year survival in carcinoma of the breast.

The pathologic findings of 330 patients with invasive carcinoma of the breast who were followed for 10 years after radical mastectomy was reviewed. The presence or absence of necrosis and the character of the border of the tumor were two factors which were observable in all cases. Necrosis in the carcinoma was associated with a higher mortality rate, a higher incidence of axillary node metastases, and a higher mortality rate in patients with axillary node metastases than were primary carcinomas without necrosis. Tumors with necrosis and a root border showed significantly more aggressive behavior than did those tumors with a rounded border and no necrosis.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1977

Pseudoepidemics of heroin addiction.

Smooth unimodal skewed distributions, sometimes referred to as "epidemic-like" curves, are often used as evidence of time to time changes in incidence. Data on year of onset from groups of treated heroin addicts are generally alleged to reflect incidence, and this distribution is used to evaluate effectiveness and predict future needs. This paper describes the development of simple demographic models which demonstrate the production of epidemic-like curves without changes in incidence, ascertainment or duration of disorder. These graphic models are relevant to other non-infectious disorders where there is continuing exposure to the etiologic agents and where intervals between onset and ascertainment are not uniformly distributed.

Disease Outbreaks↗
PubMed1976

The genetics of specific reading disability.

Members of the immediate families of twenty children with specific reading disability were examined to determine the prevalence of reading disability within the families. A procedure was developed for identifying adults who may have compensated for a disability manifested more clearly in childhood. Forty-five percent of 75 first-degree relatives of the parents were affected and there was a significantly greater number of affected male relatives than females. No single mode of genetic transmission is evident after inspection of the pedigrees. It is suggested that the disorder is genetically heterogeneous and that subgroups of disabled readers should be looked for.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Mononuclear cell turnover in chronic inflammation: studies on tritiated thymidine-labeled cells in blood, tuberculin traps, and dermal BCG lesions of rabbits.

Rabbits were injected intradermally in multiple sites with BCG. Four days after the BCG injection, they were injected intravenously with a single pulse of tritiated thymidine (3H-TdR) at various times thereafter, the BCG lesions were biopsied and evaluated for 3H-TdR-labeled mononuclear cells (MN). Periodically, Old Tuberculin (OT) was injected intradermally, creating MN traps which were biopsied and evaluated 1 day after their onset. 3H-TdR-labeled cells were also evaluated in samples of blood. During the first 8 days after the 3H-TdR pulse, the labeled MNs represent short-lived cells, i.e., recently dividing monocytes and lymphocytes. During this time, the percentage of labeled MNs in the blood, in the traps, and in the BCG lesions rose and fell together. This result suggests that the majority of the MNs in the BCG lesions had a turnover rate of about a week. By 12 days and afterward, the percentage of MNs labeled by 3H-TdR in the blood was higher than that in the BCG lesions which was in turn higher than that in the traps. At this time the circulating MN population probably contained labeled long-lived lymphocytes that did not enter inflammatory sites (the traps) as readily as the short-lived lymphocytes. The labeled MNs remaining in the BCG lesions probably did not divide and dilute out their 3H-TdR label as readily as those that were trapped from the bone marrow via the blood. The percentage of MNs labeled with 3H-TdR in the traps had decreased to about one-fifteenth of its peak value by 12 days, suggesting that the bone marrow's supply of labeled MNs was depleted at this time, except for the few cells labeled as a result of 3H-TdR reutilization.

Animals↗