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Biomedical subjects

J E Campbell

Publications and source records attributed to J E Campbell.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

A comparison of efficacy and tolerance of the short acting sedatives midazolam and zopiclone.

AIMS: To compare the efficacy and tolerance of midazolam, 15 mg and zopiclone 7.5 mg once daily for seven days in a prospective, double blind trial of 88 patients, aged 18 or over, with sleep disorders in general practice. METHODS: Efficacy was evaluated using the Leeds sleep evaluation questionnaire (LSEQ). Adverse reactions were recorded as volunteered. RESULTS: fifty-one patients completed all aspects of the trial without violation of the protocol. Patients taking zopiclone improved in all aspects of the Leeds questionnaire (p < 0.01). Patients taking midazolam improved in six out of 10 items (p < 0.01). Rebound insomnia was evident in the zopiclone group in five out of 10 items of the LSEQ. Rebound was not evident in the midazolam group. There were no significant differences between midazolam 15 mg, and zopiclone 7.5 mg, in comparison between groups. Thirty-eight patients suffered 49 adverse drug reactions and there were no differences between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: Zopiclone 7.5 mg daily improved more items on the LSEQ than midazolam 15 mg daily but was associated with significant rebound insomnia. Adverse reactions were frequent with both drugs.

Adolescent

Performance assessment of radioactive waste repositories.

The current plans for permanent disposal of radioactive waste call for its emplacement in deep underground repositories mined from geologically stable rock formations. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have established regulations setting repository performance standards for periods of up to 10,000 years after disposal. Compliance with these regulations will be based on a performance assessment that includes (i) identification and evaluation of the likelihood of all significant processes and events that could affect a repository, (ii) examination of the effects of these processes and events on the performance of a repository, and (iii) estimation of the releases of radionuclides, including the associated uncertainties, caused by these processes and events. These estimates are incorporated into a probability distribution function showing the likelihood of exceeding radionuclide release limits specified by regulations.

Evaluation Studies as Topic

The management of children with spinal dysraphism.

Improvements in technology have dramatically increased the survival of children with spinal dysraphism. Because this complex condition affects multiple organ systems as well as the psychosocial functioning of the child and family, these children require care from a host of specialists in order to achieve optimum functioning. This article reviews the pathophysiology and discusses the current management of the medical and psychosocial effects of spinal dysraphism. It also briefly discusses strategies for intervention, long-term outcomes, and some controversies regarding care and screening.

Child

Basic trauma life support.

The impact of traumatic injuries on modern society in terms of morbidity, mortality, and economic cost is enormous. Studies have shown that both advanced life support skills and rapid stabilization and transport of the trauma victim have a beneficial effect on the patient's ultimate outcome. The Basic Trauma Life Support (BTLS) course was designed to provide pre-hospital care providers with the skills necessary to provide a thorough assessment, initial resuscitation, and rapid transportation of the trauma victim. Early studies suggest that the material is easily learned by prehospital care providers and that the on-scene time for trauma cases is reduced following training in BTLS. More widespread training in BTLS may have a significant effect on the mortality and morbidity associated with traumatic injuries.

Allied Health Personnel

Dietary habits of Asian diabetics in a general practice clinic.

Initial dietary advice for Asian diabetics attending a general practice diabetic clinic was given in Asian languages. Between 2 and 3 years later a questionnaire interview was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the advice given. Forty of the 59 Asian diabetic patients in the practice attended for interview. The majority continued to use sugar or 'gur' (jaggery), Asian sweets, and Asian snacks (which have a high fat content). Fat and oil consumption per person per month was also high. Failure to achieve dietary objectives seemed to result from lack of sufficient emphasis on the types of foods usually consumed and an inadequate understanding of eating and cooking habits of Asians. We conclude that for dietary advice to be successful, emphasis must be placed on specific types of food eaten together with an understanding of the sociocultural implications of eating practices in ethnic groups.

Adult

A role for nurse psychotherapists: primary prevention counseling for general hospital staffs.

Providing a counseling and consultation service to general hospital employees through contractual arrangements is beneficial, and is an appropriate function for nurse therapists. Employees willingly use the service, and as stresses increase in the workplace the service can have a favorable impact on both personnel functioning and retention, as well as on the delivery of patient services.

Contract Services

Urinary tract trauma.

From a practical point of view, a woman who has blunt injury to the pelvic area with hematuria from the lower urinary tract, has a contused or ruptured bladder. In a man, such a situation calls for retrograde urethrography to determine if the injury is in the urethra or the bladder because the two organs are investigated differently. In both sexes, such injuries are usually associated with pelvic fractures. Massive bladder displacement and severe hemorrhage should alert one to the need for pelvic angiography to find and embolize the bleeding site within the first 24 hours after injury. For blunt trauma to the upper urinary tract an intravenous urogram with tomography is still the main examination. However, a normal intravenous urogram does not exclude serious injury. Therefore, if signs or symptoms persist, a computerized tomographic (CT) examination should be performed if available. Otherwise, a radionuclide study is advisable. Non-excretion on intravenous urography with tomography calls for selective renal arteriography to delineate the etiology. There can be serious renal trauma in the absence of hematuria, which may occur with renal pedicle injury or avulsion of the ureter. Minor forniceal ruptures may occasionally mask severe posterior renal lacerations.

Accidents, Traffic

Bias and the association of mammographic parenchymal patterns with breast cancer.

We have carried out a case-control study to evaluate the association between Wolfe's mammographic patterns and the risk of breast cancer, and to examine the influence of control selection and the radiologist who read the films upon the results obtained. Mammograms of the non-cancerous breast of 183 women with unilateral breast cancer were compared with mammograms from two age-matched control groups: a group of asymptomatic women attending a screening centre, and a group of symptomatic women referred for the diagnostic evaluation of suspected breast disease. Films were arranged in random sequence and independently classified by 3 radiologists. A strong and statistically significant association was found between mammographic dysplasia and breast cancer when controls from the screening centre were compared to cases, but not when cases were compared to women referred for the diagnostic evaluation of breast disease. This result appears to arise in part because of an association between symptoms of benign breast disease and mammographic dysplasia, and suggests that some previous negative studies of the association of mammographic patterns with breast cancer may have arisen from the inclusion of symptomatic subjects as controls.

Adult

Mammographic signs as risk factors for breast cancer.

We have carried out a case-control study to examine the relationship between mammographic signs and breast cancer. The mammographic signs assessed were prominent ducts and dysplasia. The cases were a group of 183 women with histologically verified unilateral breast cancer. The controls were a group of women attending a screening centre. Cases and controls were individually age-matched. Mammograms from the non-cancerous breast of the cases were randomly assembled with those of the controls and classified by 3 radiologists without knowledge of which films were from cases and which from controls. Mammographic dysplasia was found to be strongly associated with breast cancer, particularly in women aged less than 50. Prominent ducts were only weakly associated with breast cancer. Multivariate analysis showed that the association between dysplasia and breast cancer could not be explained on the basis of other risk factors for breast cancer, and that classification of dysplasia discriminated more strongly between cases and controls than did classification of Wolfe's mammographic patterns. These results show that mammograms contain information about risk of breast cancer. Mammographic dysplasia is strongly associated with breast cancer, is present in a substantial proportion of patients with the disease, and may offer opportunities for prevention.

Adult

Mammographic patterns and bias in breast cancer detection.

Wolfe's finding that some mammographic patterns (P2 and DY) are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer has been challenged by some authors who suggest that this is due to denser patterns concealing cancers present on the first examination: these cancers, it is argued, are diagnosed in later years, creating the spurious impression of increased cancer incidence. The authors examined this hypothesis in a series of patients with breast cancer but failed to find any evidence that the diagnosis was subject to systematic delay in patients with the P2 or DY pattern. Moreover, studies of a hypothetical model showed that bias in the detection of breast cancer was unlikely to account for more than a small increase in apparent cancer incidence. Thus it appears unlikely that such a bias is responsible for the risk of breast cancer observed in patients with these mammographic patterns.

Adult

Body weight and prognosis in breast cancer.

We have examined the relationship between risk factors for breast cancer incidence and the subsequent prognosis of breast cancer among patients in a randomized controlled trial of adjuvant ovarian ablation. Body weight was the only risk factor found to be associated with statistically significant differences in survival. This finding could not be explained by a disproportionate number of anatomically more advanced tumors in the heavier women. In premenopausal women aged 45 years or more, the only group to benefit from adjuvant ovarian ablation, there was an interaction of treatment and weight, suggesting that weight exerts its influence on prognosis by a hormonal mechanism. The prognostic effect of weight was generally most marked in patients with tumors whose prognostic characteristics were favorable, and in these patients weight loss as an adjuvant treatment may reduce the frequency of disease recurrence.

Adult

The development of a passive dosimeter for airborne aniline vapors.

A passive diffusion dosimeter has been suggested as an economical and accurate means of sampling airborne concentrations of gases and vapors in the working environment. The dosimeter utilizes molecular diffusion through a tube of known geometry to obtain a quantitative determination of airborne concentrations of the contaminant of interest. A passive sampling dosimeter was designed to measure concentrations of aniline vapor in air. Diffusion tubes of 1.5, 3.0, and 4.5 cm lengths were tested under controlled conditions of relative humidity, air temperature, and vapor concentrations. The results indicate that the use of a passive diffusion dosimeter for determining time-weighted average concentrations of aniline is feasible. It was shown that a 1 cm diameter 3.0 cm length diffusion tube gave the most consistent results. It is suggested that further investigations be conducted in the development of passive diffusion dosimeters for other gaseous contaminants.

Air Pollutants

Lymphangitic ureteral metastases from prostatic carcinoma.

Apart from an occasional focal lesion, ureteral metastases diagnosed during life are rare. We have encountered, on intravenous urography and retrograde pyelography, a rather characteristic appearance of multiple undulating areas of narrowing produced by diffuse lymphatic involvement of the periureteral fat in occult prostatic carcinoma with normal regional lymph nodes. Over a 10-year period, six such patients were reviewed. Four patients presented with colicky pain and three proceeded rapidly to either azotemia or acute anuria. A fifth patient with vague symptoms were into acute anuria. In three patients the prostate gland felt benign, but four-corner biopsies of the prostate disclosed the occult malignancy. The serum acid phosphatase was normal in two patients and only slightly elevated in four. In addition to ureteral lymphangitic involvement, five of the six patients had bone or lung involvement. All areas responded well to orchidectomy and estrogen therapy. The survival time was surprisingly good with two patients alive and well after 5 years.

Aged

Guilt and shame.

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Guilt

Renal pseudotumor due to gas-filled hepatic flexure.

Renal pseudotumors--both intrinsic and extrinsic--are numerous. On a recent urogram, performed with abdominal pressure and tomography, a mass lesion was simulated by the gas-filled colon. The problem was resolved with a combination of ultrasonography, nephrotomography, and barium enema examinations.

Aged