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Biomedical subjects

J Anderson

Publications and source records attributed to J Anderson.

At least 541 records · Page 30Linked to original sources

The TAPS project. I: Previous psychiatric diagnosis and current disability of long-stay psychogeriatric patients. A pilot study.

Of all 89 long-stay residents in four psychogeriatric wards at a large London psychiatric hospital, 18 had a previous functional psychiatric diagnosis. Although the total group was markedly impaired overall, male sex, younger age, and a previous functional diagnosis were independently associated with better cognitive performance. Males and those with previous functional disorders also had less behavioural disability. These subgroups within the psychogeriatric in-patient population must be recognised if an in-built distortion in community reprovision of hospital psychogeriatric services is to be avoided.

Activities of Daily Living↗

The TAPS project. 3: Predicting the community costs of closing psychiatric hospitals.

The planning of long-term care in the community as an alternative to in-patient care requires accurate information on the likely expense of altering the balance of provision. Unfortunately, as very few long-stay psychiatric hospitals have yet closed, the planning of these resource requirements has had to proceed in a vacuum. By examining the costs of community reprovision for the first 136 people to leave Claybury and Friern Hospitals, a prediction equation has been estimated from existing data which links the hospital-assessed characteristics (including psychiatric symptoms and behavioural problems) of these people to the subsequent cost of community care. About a third of the observed variation in these costs can be explained statistically by these 'baseline' characteristics. However, the first cohorts exhibit fewer behavioural problems and other symptoms of mental illness, they have been in hospital for shorter lengths of time, and they are younger. The prediction equation for the leavers is thus used to extrapolate community costs for those hospital residents yet to leave. It is found that community costs are lower than hospital costs, not just for the first cohorts of leavers, but for the full populations of the two hospitals scheduled to close.

Adult↗

The TAPS Project. 5: The structure of social-network data obtained from long-stay patients.

The Social Network Schedule was successfully completed on 489 (64%) of 770 long-stay patients in Friern and Claybury Hospitals and the data on 3774 social contacts of the patients subjected to log-linear modelling. This showed that the category 'confidant' was salient in understanding the data. Latent-class analysis highlighted the importance of the nature of the social interaction between patients and their contacts. In particular, non-verbal exchanges of goods and services emerged as important in creating social bonds.

Arousal↗

Occupational therapy for children with perinatal HIV infection.

This article discusses occupational therapy for children with perinatal HIV infection and their care-givers. An interdisciplinary early intervention and preschool program serving these children is described. Current medical and neurological research is reviewed to serve as a basis for occupational therapy intervention. Therapeutic approaches that integrate physical, neurological, developmental, and psychosocial needs are presented.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗

Administration of recombinant enkephalinase (neutral endopeptidase) prevents capsaicin-induced miosis in the rabbit eye in vivo.

Substance P induced a dose-dependent contraction of iris sphincter muscles when applied in the presence of atropine to the isolated rabbit iris in vitro as evidenced by a decreased pupil diameter. Pretreatment of the iris with 20 micrograms of recombinant enkephalinase (neutral endopeptidase; EC 3.4.24.11) totally abolished the contractile response to substance P. Injection of 10 micrograms of capsaicin into the anterior chamber of atropine-treated rabbit eyes in vivo induced an immediate and intense miosis. Injection of 100 micrograms of recombinant enkephalinase, 1 or 5 min before capsaicin injection, significantly inhibited this miosis. This effect of enkephalinase was totally abolished by preincubating the enzyme with thiorphan, a high-affinity enkephalinase inhibitor. These results show that enkephalinase, which is known to hydrolyze substance P in vitro with high efficiency, also hydrolyzes endogenously released substance P in vivo. Furthermore, our results suggest that enkephalinase application may represent a novel therapeutic approach to treat substance P-mediated pathologies.

Animals↗

Quality of life assessment of Hodgkin's disease survivors: a model for cooperative clinical trials.

With the growing number of patients surviving cancer, there has been an increasing concern with their long-term adaptation. Given the large number of Hodgkin's disease survivors, it was possible to conduct a study of their psychosocial adaptation. Two hundred seventy-three survivors of advanced Hodgkin's disease were interviewed over the telephone concerning the impact of cancer upon their lives, in terms of their psychological, social, and sexual functioning. The level of psychological distress was elevated by one standard deviation above normal on the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), for both men and women. Survivors in greater distress reported more problems in other areas of functioning, including sexual, social, vocational, and persistent conditioned nausea.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Morning light exposure for the treatment of winter depression: the one true light therapy?

The time of day when bright light should be administered to treat winter depression has become controversial. Results from clinical trials suggest that light given at any of several times of day can produce an antidepressant response. However, the basis for this effectiveness has been questioned and theoretical issues remain unresolved. It appears that individuals differ in their sensitivity to time of day as well as to dose. Unfortunately, important experimental details such as pretreatment severity of depression and order effects have not been taken into account, and this has made definitive conclusions impossible to reach. In order to understand the mechanism(s) by which light treatment works, we must discuss and employ common criteria for study design and data analysis. For clinical purposes, it currently seems that time of treatment can be adjusted to accommodate the physiological responsiveness and lifestyle requirements of individual patients.

Humans↗

Evaluation of red cell deformability by a filtration method in type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus with and without vascular complications.

Previous studies of red cell deformability (RCD) in diabetic patients have produced conflicting results. We have therefore reassessed this problem with the Carri-Med Filtrometer, which measures RCD independently of the rate of clogging of the filter. The initial red cell filtration ratio relative to buffer (mean +/- SD) of 69 diabetic patients (28 type 1 and 41 type 2) was significantly impaired in both type 1 (0.470 +/- 0.047) and type 2 diabetic patients (0.488 +/- 0.065), when compared to 66 non diabetic control subjects (0.540 +/- 0.032; both p less than 0.001). A significant difference in RCD was noted between type 1 and type 2 diabetics (p less than 0.03), but no association with vascular complications was found. No significant correlations were noted between RCD and the duration of diabetes, age, HbA1, leucocyte count, or mean red cell volume. However RCD was inversely related to mean red cell haemoglobin concentration (r = -0.43, p less than 0.01). Diabetics had significantly lower mean red cell volume and significantly higher mean cell haemoglobin concentration than non-diabetics, but these changes could not explain the difference in RCD, which may be related to alterations in the red cell membrane.

Adult↗

The natural history of burst fractures at the thoracolumbar junction.

Conservative management of 54 patients with thoracolumbar (T12 and/or L1) burst fractures was investigated. The fractures were subdivided according to the Denis classification and a modification was suggested. Most type A and B fractures showed good results regarding reduction and neurological improvement. However, severe type B (with anterior column compression and spinal canal narrowing exceeding 50%), D, and E fractures were to a large extent complicated by intractable low back pain, neurological involvement, and signs of instability. This study suggests predictors for complications in patients with burst fractures in the thoracolumbar junction. These are (a) compression rate of the anterior column exceeding 50%, (b) narrowing of the spinal canal exceeding 50%, (c) signs of rotational malalignment in fracture level, and (d) level of the injury (L1 fractures).

Adolescent↗

Effect of fasting on the lung glutathione redox cycle in air- and oxygen-exposed mice: beneficial effects of sugar.

Fasting increases susceptibility to hyperoxic lung damage in mice, at least in part, by decreasing lung glutathione level. To determine whether fasting alters other components of the glutathione redox cycle, and whether a diet of sugar alone reverses fasting's effects, normally fed, sugar-fed, and fasted mice were exposed to room air or 100% oxygen for up to 4 days. In air-exposed mice, fasting decreased glutathione peroxidase (GP) and glutathione reductase (GR) activities 15% to 20% on days 3 and 4 (p less than 0.01) and glutathione level 25% to 30% on days 2 to 4 (p less than 0.05). When corrected for protein concentration, GP and GR values were similar to those in the fed mice, but glutathione levels remained lower on days 2 and 3 (p less than 0.05). Oxidized glutathione (GSSG) was unchanged, but the ratio of GSSG to total glutathione (reduced glutathione plus GSSG) increased on day 2 (p less than 0.05). In oxygen-exposed fed mice, GP increased 62% and GR increased 39% on day 4 (p less than 0.05), the time when the lung injury was most severe; glutathione increased 30% on days 3 and 4 (p less than 0.05); and GSSG increased threefold and eightfold on days 3 and 4 (p less than 0.01). Oxygen-exposed fasted mice were all dead by day 3 (versus no deaths in the fed mice), failed to increase GR and total glutathione in response to the oxidant stress, and increased GP and GSSG on day 3 to the same extent as the fed mice did on day 4.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

Factors determining success and energy requirements for cardioversion of atrial fibrillation.

Factors thought to affect the success of and energy requirements for cardioversion of atrial fibrillation were studied in 80 (49 male, 31 female) patients aged 21-88 (mean 61.5 years). Transthoracic impedance was measured in advance of the countershock using a 30 kHz low amplitude AC current passed through self-adhesive ECG/defibrillator pads (diameters 8-12 cm) applied to the chest in the antero-posterior (AP) position in 57 patients and the anteroapical (AA) position in 23 patients. Mean transthoracic impedance for all patients was 69.3 +/- 16 (SD) ohms (range 39-131 ohms), but transthoracic impedance was significantly greater in the AA than the AP position (75.4 +/- 13 vs. 66.7 +/- 16 ohms, p = 0.02). Initial energy was 50 J (delivered) and was gradually increased to a maximum of 360 J if required. Cardioversion was successful in 73 of 80 (91.2 per cent), and low energy shocks (less than or equal to 200 J) were successful in 45 of 80 (56.2 per cent) patients. Using single factor analysis, sex, left atrial enlargement, electrode pad positions, aetiology of atrial fibrillation, presence of left ventricular failure, and prior treatment with verapamil or beta-adrenergic blockers were not significant determinants of cardioversion success or success of low energy shocks but prior treatment with digoxin was, both for cardioversion success and success at low energies. In patients with transthoracic impedance less than or equal to 70 ohms, low energy shocks were more often successful (33 or 50, 66 per cent) than in patients with transthoracic impedance greater than 70 ohms (12 of 30, 40 per cent), p = 0.04. Using univariate analysis, cardioversion success with low energy shocks was not only significantly associated with prior treatment with digoxin but also with the duration of atrial fibrillation (24 hours to one month and one month to three years) and for shocks of less than or equal to 100 J, with prior treatment with amiodarone. Multifactorial linear regression analysis selected, in rank order, only duration of atrial fibrillation of 24 hours to less than one month and one month to three years as significant predictors of both cardioversion success irrespective of shock strength, and success of low energy shocks.

Adult↗

Periodontal bone loss in the aging beagle dog. A radiographic study.

Studies in the beagle dog have clearly established the usefulness of this breed in periodontal disease research. However, little is known about the progressive nature of the disease with advancing age. It is the purpose of this paper to describe frequency and distribution of radiographically detectable lesions in an aging population of 166 colony dogs. 3 grades of alveolar bone loss were determined on high-quality postmortem radiographs. The number of teeth involved was similar in male and female and was age-dependent. Disease was more frequent in the maxillary arcades, with the 2nd upper premolar most frequently involved. Most extensive bone loss was noted around the 3rd and 4th upper premolars, and 1st and 2nd lower molars. It is felt that by the study of such a large group of older colony dogs, a better understanding can be gained of the expected alveolar bone loss with age as determined radiographically.

Aging↗