Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J E Burkhart.
The variety of devices for administering supplemental oxygen and aerosolized drugs for hospital inpatients allows physicians to tailor the therapy to patient's needs, but presents a challenge in determining which device is best for the individual patient. We describe the selection process, appropriate use, and the advantages and disadvantages of various devices.
Veterinary clinics are typically small businesses without access to sophisticated occupational safety and health programs that may exist for larger firms or hospitals. Exposures to waste anesthetic gases have been linked to a myriad of adverse health-related conditions. Excessive exposures to anesthetic agents are possible because many of the clinics use portable gas delivery carts that are not designed to capture waste gases. While scavenging systems are available to remove waste anesthetic gases, the cost may be prohibitive for smaller clinics and the effectiveness of these systems has not been fully established in veterinary clinics. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommends limiting exposures to nitrous oxide (N2O) to a time-weighted average (TWA) concentration of 25 ppm and halogenated agents to 2 ppm. The NIOSH TWA is based on the weight of the agent collected from a 45-L air sample by charcoal adsorption over a sampling period not to exceed 1 hr. The NIOSH criteria state that, in most situations, control of N2O to the TWA as defined will result in levels of approximately 0.5 ppm of the halogenated agent. At present, no Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) permissible exposure level (PEL) exists for exposure to anesthetic agents; nor do specific recommendations exist for veterinary scavenging systems. Waste anesthetic gas exposures were determined using a modified MIRAN 1A at five veterinary clinics operating within the Morgantown, West Virginia, vicinity. For unscavenged systems of methoxyflurane and halothane, 1-hr time-weighted average exposures ranged from 0.5 to 45.5 ppm and 0.2 to 105.4 ppm, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The use of CNS stimulant medication for the treatment of attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADDH) in subnormal intelligence children remains controversial, and the majority of the literature does not support the use of CNS stimulants in these children, although the choice of dependent variables and research designs may have contributed to this outcome. A single case research design was used to assess the effectiveness of CNS stimulant medication (methylphenidate and dextroamphetamine) in three subnormal intelligence children with ADDH, using excessive movement and on-task behaviors as dependent variables. The results and implications for future research are discussed.
This paper reports the results of a sampling program undertaken by NIOSH to determine the particle size distributions in underground coal mines. The program made use of newly developed cascade impactors capable of being operated with personal sampling pumps. Particle size distribution samples were collected at selected areas in 10 continuous mining sections in three states. Results plotted as mass frequency distributions indicate that a bimodal distribution may exist in areas away from the operations of the continuous miner. A primary size mode of about 17 micron and a secondary size mode of about 5 micron were measured consistently throughout the 10 mines studied.
Effects of various behavioral interventions on stereotyped aerophagic responding by a profoundly mentally retarded, 5-year-old girl were assessed. Aerophagic responding was defined as air swallowing with extreme stomach protrusion, followed by breath-holding. Observations of air swallowing, as well as physiologic measurements related to heart rate and respiratory patterns, were recorded across both baseline and treatment phases of the study. Multiple behavioral interventions were assessed within a laboratory setting using an alternating treatment design format, with the most effective treatment systematically extended to additional settings. Results indicated that a behavior modification treatment package was effective in suppressing the high frequency of this rare stereotyped act to near-zero rates.
Performance on a test of submaximal cardiovascular endurance and on measures of self-concept and anxiety was studied with 22 obese and 20 nonobese mentally retarded adults. Results indicated that the endurance test successfully discriminated between the obese and nonobese groups while the personality measures did not. Implications of this finding for obesity treatment were discussed.
Triceps skinfold thickness and body weight measures were obtained for 44 female and 40 male mentally retarded adults participating in a sheltered workshop setting. Subjects' relative weights and skinfold thicknesses were found to correlate reasonably well for females and males, rs = .88 and .59, respectively. Use of only height and weight tables for determining the presence of obesity, however, resulted in 22.5 percent of the males and 13.7 percent of the females being misclassified as nonobese. The distinction between overweight and obesity was discussed. Clinical/research implications of the findings were delineated.
An obese group and a nonobese group of moderately mentally retarded adults were identified through use of body weight and tricep skinfold thickness measures. Subjects were observed individually in a sheltered workshop cafeteria during their normal lunch period. A variety of eating behavior measures were obtained. Results indicated that the obese retarded subjects did not differ from their nonobese peers in eating rate, total meal time, or caloric intake. Large variability was observed in the measures for both groups. Implications of these data for behavioral treatments of obesity and the need for alternative explanations of an obese condition were discussed.
In patients with abnormal neuropsychiatric symptoms and a reactive fluorescent treponemal antibody absoption (FTA-ABS) test in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or serum, a normal CSF cell count and total protein concentration does not exlude late syphilis involving the central nervous system. In these patients, the presence of plasma cells in the CSF cytogram, increased concentration of CSF immunoglobulin G (IgG), immunoelectrophoretic abnormalities in the precipitates of the IgG and of the Fab fragments of IgG in the CSF immunoelectropherogram, and an increased serum level of immunoglobulin M (IgM) suggest an active, potentially treatable neurosyphilis.