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Biomedical subjects

H L Smith

Publications and source records attributed to H L Smith.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Actions of the Clostridium botulinum binary toxin on the structure and function of Y-1 adrenal cells.

The binary toxin produced by Clostridium botulinum, also known as type C2 toxin, was examined for its ability to alter the structure and function of Y-1 cells, a murine adrenocortical tumor line. The toxin produced time- and concentration-dependent changes in morphology, characterized by retraction of cell extensions and by rounding of the cell body. These changes were not accompanied by increases or decreases in tissue levels of c-AMP or c-GMP, although there was an increase in the release of total steroids. When cells were exposed to toxin for 24 hr there was no evidence of cell death or lysis. Total nucleic acid content and the rate of incorporation of 14C-leucine into protein were comparable in control cells and intoxicated cells. The toxin has been shown to possess mono(ADP-ribosyl)ating activity, and actin is the presumed substrate. When Y-1 cells were ruptured and then exposed to the toxin in the presence of 32P-NAD, actin was ADP-ribosylated. When cells were exposed to the toxin before being ruptured, there was a subsequent loss in the amount of actin that was available for ADP-ribosylation (32P-NAD) in the broken cell assay. The data suggest that Y-1 cells can survive challenge with the botulinum binary toxin, and thus they are a suitable tissue in which to use the toxin as a pharmacological tool.

Actins↗
PubMed1988

Health promotion and allied health professionals: considerations for program design.

There is growing public and corporate interest in health promotion programs. Available literature suggests that health promotion may contribute to greater longevity and life satisfaction while resulting in lower health care costs. Allied health professionals are perfectly positioned to make the difference between a successful or unsuccessful health promotion effort, whether in their own lives or in the lives of patients. However, allied health professionals need to commit themselves to making behavior changes to improve their own health so that they can effectively assist patients in making similar changes. These ideas are demonstrated through a study of an employee health promotion program for allied health professionals in a health maintenance organization.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗
PubMed1988

Managing organizational mergers.

Reimbursement, competition, and other significant trends in the health field have stimulated an increase in mergers among health care organizations. Mergers inevitably produce significant ramifications for clinicians. Nurses have discovered that mergers produce a greater need for efficient patient care, but not necessarily the mechanism or guidance for achieving this goal. Nursing administrators are responsible for minimizing the negative impact of a merger on nurses while simultaneously promoting merger goals. Despite this increase in mergers and the subsequent challenge to clinicians, little information is available about how to manage mergers. This article reviews the impact of the merger between the Veterans Administration Medical Center and the Kirtland Air Force Base Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A nursing perspective is used to understand what problems arise and how nursing administrators can effectively manage these problems.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1988

Thinking about change in illegitimacy ratios: United States, 1963-1983.

What has been the recent trend in illegitimacy in the United States? The answer depends on what is being measured. If the focus is on illegitimacy rates, then the trend is mixed. Illegitimacy ratios, however, have been skyrocketing. We show that this is primarily the result of declining nuptiality (and rising marital dissolution) and secondarily the result of decreases in marital fertility. We argue that the illegitimacy ratio is the better index of the social consequences of out-of-wedlock childbearing and that the high ratios of recent decades are unlikely to abate in the foreseeable future.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Medical ethics in the primary care setting.

Much popular and professional understanding of 'medical ethics' is nowadays located in quandary ethics, exotic life-and-death decision-making, and tertiary care settings. Medical ethics in the primary care setting is concerned with very different matters. Among these are issues having to do with basic self-understandings of health professionals and patients and their fiduciary relationships; with fundamental social, political and economic notions which will and do shape the allocation and distribution of health care resources; with the goals and purposes appropriate to medical interventions of various sorts; and with the care of the whole person rather than the limited attention to a particular illness or disease syndrome. The commitments of primary care medicine challenge in radical ways some cherished claims of modern liberal societies by questioning the limits of autonomous individualism and by affirming the indispensability of social justice.

Bioethical Issues↗
PubMed1987

Integrating hospice and home health services: analysis of strategic factors.

Two types of strategic factors promote the development of hospice-home health care alliances. Enabling factors include favorable reimbursement policies, acceptance of innovative and noninstitutional modes of health care delivery, and existing supportive infrastructures. Factors supporting alliances include similar types of patient needs, potential for sharing provider and administrative staff, joint referral networks, and common cost containment methodologies. A study of a multi-institutional arrangement between a hospice and a home health care program provided data on patient demographics, staff utilization, and programmatic costs. An analysis of these data showed surprising similarities between the programs. These findings support the continued efforts for service consolidation and integration.

Home Care Services↗
PubMed1986

Managing medical supply logistics among health workers in Ecuador.

Operations research techniques are being used to solve business and government problems throughout the world. This paper discusses the use of an analytical technique--the location set covering algorithm--to determine placement of medical supply centers in Ecuador. By establishing the optimum location of supply centers it is possible to effectively utilize scarce health care resources in a developing country and to help community level health workers be better prepared to deliver primary health care services.

Community Health Services↗
PubMed1986

Isolation of non-O1 Vibrio cholerae serovars from surface waters in western Colorado.

Non-O1 Vibrio cholerae was isolated from rivers, creeks, washes, irrigation canals, and ditches in western Colorado during the summer of 1985. The organism occurred in fresh water (less than or equal to 5 mmol of Na+ per liter) as well as in water of higher salinity (approximately equal to 17 mmol per liter). Sixteen serovars of non-O1 V. cholerae were Sixteen serovars of non-O1 V. cholerae were identified among the environmental isolates. All of the isolates were cytotoxic to Y-1 mouse adrenal cells.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Factors influencing consumers' selection of health insurance carriers.

The authors examine the factors and information influencing consumers' selection of health insurance carriers. The results indicate that consumers are sensitive to rising insurance premium costs. They perceive that the decision to select a carrier is critical, yet they are often unprepared (i.e., lack information) to make a judicious decision. Further, consumers are found to rely generally on personal experience rather than the traditional marketing media during the process of selecting insurers.

Advertising↗