Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

I Kennedy

Publications and source records attributed to I Kennedy.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

The donation and transplantation of kidneys: should the law be changed?

It is now eighteen years on since the Human Tissue Act 1961, but this legislation is still unchanged in England, Scotland and Wales. Ian Kennedy, in this paper, lays before us the law as it is, the problems of its interpretation and his opinion of what government should be doing to help clarify the situation and remove some of the problems which exist daily for the doctors who face the dilemma of seeking consent for transplants at the moment of extreme grief for the surviving spouses or relatives of the patient who has been in his care only moments before. Ian Kennedy suggests that by doing nothing the Department of Health and the government are being both callous and less than honest.

Adolescent↗

A novel antenatal record to help midwives.

An antenatal questionnaire and graph for plotting weight and fundal height gives immediate warning of women at risk in pregnancy in a simple and visually striking way. It saves midwives' time, improves their clinical awareness and gives them more confidence in referring patients.

Botswana↗

Genome of infectious bronchitis virus.

Techniques are described for the growth and rapid purification of the avian coronavirus infectious bronchitis virus (IBV). Purified IBV has a sedimentation coefficient of 320S and a buoyant density of 1.22 g/ml in sucrose-deuterium oxide equilibrium gradients. IBV RNA extracted by proteinase K in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate and further purified by phenol extraction and gradient centrifugation is single stranded and has a sedimentation coefficient of 64S, as determined by isokinetic gradient centrifugation. Analysis on sucrose gradients under both aqueous and denaturing conditions together with agarose gel electrophoresis in the presence of the chaotropic agent methylmercuric hydroxide gave a value of 8 X 10(6) for the moleclar weight of IBV RNA. This value was confirmed by RNase T1 fingerprinting, which also indicated that IBV RNA is haploid. No evidence was found of subunit structure in IBV RNA. From these results together with the recently reported observation that IBV RNA is infectious and contains a tract of polyadenylic acid (Lomniczi, J. Gen. Virol., in press), we conclude that the genome of the coronaviruses is a single continuous chain of about 23,000 mononucleotides that is of messenger polarity.

Base Sequence↗

Combined alpha- and beta-adrenoceptor blocking drug AH 5158: further studies on alpha-adrenoceptor blockade in anaesthetized animals.

1. AH 5158, 5-(1-hydroxy-2-((1-methyl-3-phenylpropyl)amino)ethyl)salicylamide, competitively antagonised phenylephrine-induced vasopressor responses in anaesthetized dogs, thus confirming that the drug possesses alpha-adrenoceptor blocking activity. 2. In contrast, AH 5158 was a relatively ineffective antagonist of vasopressor responses to noradrenaline in anesthetized dogs. Thus, at the lowest dose-level tested (1 mg/kg) AH 5158 abolished the increase in pulse width caused by noradrenaline, but otherwise had little or no blocking effect in doses as high as 10 mg/kg. Propranolol (0.1 mg/kg) also abolished the increase in pulse width caused by noradrenaline. With both drugs this effect is thought to be a consequence of blockade of the beta-adrenoceptor-mediated cardia stimulant action of noradrenaline. 3. The interaction between AH 5158 and noradrenaline in spinal dogs, anaesthetized cats and pithed rats was very similar to that seen in anaesthetized dogs. 4. Noradrenaline pressor responses were effectively antagonized by AH 5158 in anaesthetized dogs pretreated with cocaine. The degree of block was similar to that obtained when phenylephrine was the agonist in untreated dogs. 5. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that AH 5158 blocks a cocaine-sensitive inactivation process for noradrenaline in addition to blocking alpha- and beta-adrenoceptors. The resultant increase in the level of circulating noradrenaline would tend to counteract the adrenoceptor blocking action of the drug. 6. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists↗

Pharmacology of AH 5158; a drug which blocks both - and -adrenoceptors.

1. AH 5158 differs from conventional adrenoceptor blocking drugs in producing competitive blockade of both alpha- and beta-adrenoceptors.2. AH 5158 is 5-18 times less potent than propranolol in blocking beta-adrenoceptors. It resembles propranolol in its non-selective blockade of beta(1)-cardiac and beta(2)-vascular and tracheal adrenoceptors and in its lack of intrinsic sympathomimetic activity.3. AH 5158 is 2-7 times less potent than phentolamine in blocking alpha-adrenoceptors. AH 5158 itself is more active on beta- than alpha-adrenoceptors.4. Blockade of noradrenaline vasopressor responses by AH 5158 in anaesthetized dogs was dose-dependent up to 1 mg/kg but no further blockade was obtained with larger doses of AH 5158. ;Self-limiting' blockade was not observed in dogs pretreated with cocaine, or in untreated dogs if the vasopressor agent was oxymetazoline instead of noradrenaline. A possible cause of ;self-limiting' blockade is discussed.5. In doses higher than those required for either alpha- or beta-adrenoceptor blockade, AH 5158 produced effects on cardiac muscle that are attributable to membrane-stabilizing activity. This was manifested as a negative inotropic action in spinal dogs and in guinea-pig left atrial strips, as a negative chronotropic action in syrosingopine pre-treated dogs, and as an increase in the effective refractory period of guinea-pig left atrial strips. AH 5158 was 3-11 times less potent than propranolol in these tests.6. In open chest dogs AH 5158 resembled propranolol in reducing cardiac output, rate and contractility, effects which are attributable to beta-adrenoceptor blockade. The drug differed from propranolol in decreasing rather than increasing total peripheral resistance and in causing larger decreases in arterial blood pressure at equipotent beta-adrenoceptor blocking doses. These differences are attributable to the alpha-adrenoceptor blocking actions of AH 5158.7. In anaesthetized dogs, intravenously administered AH 5158 antagonized both catecholamine and ouabain-induced arrhythmias. Orally administered AH 5158 lowered systolic arterial pressure in conscious renal hypertensive dogs.8. These results show AH 5158 to possess a novel profile of activity. Possible uses of the drug in cardiovascular disorders such as hypertension, angina pectoris and cardiac arrhythmias are discussed.

Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists↗