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Biomedical subjects

J E Gordon

Publications and source records attributed to J E Gordon.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome in morbidly obese children with tibia vara.

Morbid obesity and its association with obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome have been increasingly recognised in children. Orthopaedic surgeons are often the primary medical contact for older children with tibia vara, which has long been associated with obesity, but are unfamiliar with the evaluation and treatment of sleep apnoea in children. We reviewed all children with tibia vara treated surgically at one of our institutions over a period of five years. Thirty-seven patients were identified; 18 were nine years of age or older and 13 of these (72%) had morbid obesity and a history of snoring. Eleven children were diagnosed as having sleep apnoea on polysomnography. The incidence of this syndrome in the 18 children aged nine years or older with tibia vara, was 61%. All these patients required pre-operative non-invasive positive-pressure ventilation; tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy were necessary in five (45%). No peri-operative complications related to the airway occurred. There is a high incidence of sleep apnoea in morbidly obese patients with tibia vara. These patients should be screened for snoring and, if present, should be further evaluated for sleep apnoea before corrective surgery is undertaken.

Adenoidectomy↗

Limit on the electron electric dipole moment in gadolinium-iron garnet.

A new method for the detection of the electron electric dipole moment (EDM) using a solid is described. The method involves the measurement of a voltage induced across the solid by the alignment of the sample's magnetic dipoles in an applied magnetic field, H. A first application of the method to GdIG has resulted in a limit on the electron EDM of 5 x 10(-24)e cm, which is a factor of 40 below the limit obtained from the only previous solid-state EDM experiment. The result is limited by the imperfect discrimination of an unexpectedly large voltage that is even upon the reversal of the sample magnetization.

Journal Article↗

Retrosternal displacement after physeal fracture of the medial clavicle in children treatment by open reduction and internal fixation.

Retrosternal displacement of the medial aspect of the clavicle after physeal fracture is rare. We treated six patients with this injury between 1995 and 1998, all as an emergency in order to avoid complications associated with compression of adjacent mediastinal structures. Attempted closed reduction was undertaken, but all required open reduction and internal fixation using a wire suture. There were no associated complications. Five were reviewed clinically and radiologically at a minimum of one year after operation. All had regained full use of the affected arm without pain and had resumed their preinjury level of activity including sports. Follow-up radiographs showed union in the anatomical position in all patients. We recommend attempted closed reduction in the operating room, followed, if necessary, by open reduction. Internal fixation after open reduction gives stable fixation with minimal morbidity.

Adolescent↗

Differences between ECG and pulse when measuring heart rate and reactivity under two physical and two psychological stressors.

To test the level of agreement of heart rate and reactivity to stressor tasks as measured via noninvasive ECG and pulse, 38 healthy subjects underwent four stressor tasks: mental arithmetic, reaction time, cold pressor, and bicycling. Data on resting and stressor heart rate were collected via ECG and photoplethysmography, and heart rate reactivity was calculated via five methods noted in the wider literature. Results indicated that, although resting heart rate values did not differ significantly across the two instruments, there were some significant differences in heart rate during certain periods of mental and physical stress reactivity. Calculation of heart rate reactivity revealed that there were few significant differences between data from the two measures but that the tasks themselves produced markedly different patterns of reactivity, questioning assumptions underlying comparison of reactivity data under different stress tasks. Implications for the assessment of reactivity are discussed.

Adolescent↗

Goal attainment scaling as a measure of clinically important change in nursing-home patients.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the feasibility, validity and responsiveness of an individualized measure--goal attainment scaling-in long-term care. DESIGN: Prospective descriptive study. SETTING: One academic and three community-based long-term care facilities. SUBJECTS: 53 nursing-home patients seen in consultation between July 1996 and June 1997. INTERVENTION: Specialized geriatric medicine consultation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Effect size and relative efficiency of the Barthel index, hierarchical assessment of balance and mobility, global deterioration scale, axis 8 (behaviour) of the brief cognitive rating scale, cumulative illness rating scale and the goal attainment scale. RESULTS: Mean goal attainment scale at follow-up was 46+/-7. The goal attainment scale was the most responsive measure, with an effect size of 1.29 and a relative efficiency of 53.7. The goal attainment scale did not correlate well with the other measures (-0.22 to 0.17). CONCLUSION: Goal attainment scaling is a feasible and responsive measure in long-term care. Although fewer problems in nursing-home patients than elderly inpatients are susceptible to intervention, clinically important goals can be achieved in this population.

Activities of Daily Living↗

Pemberton pelvic osteotomy and varus rotational osteotomy in the treatment of acetabular dysplasia in patients who have static encephalopathy.

Forty-four patients (fifty-two hips) who had static encephalopathy and acetabular dysplasia were managed with a Pemberton osteotomy as part of a comprehensive operative approach. Thirty-three patients had quadriplegia and were unable to walk; the remaining eleven patients had diplegia and could walk. The age at the time of the operation ranged from four years and five months to sixteen years and five months, as an open triradiate cartilage is a prerequisite for the Pemberton procedure. Concomitant operative procedures included a varus rotational osteotomy in fifty of the involved hips, a soft-tissue release in thirty-seven hips, and an open reduction in thirteen hips. The mean center-edge angle preoperatively was -11 degrees (range, -80 to 17 degrees), which improved to a mean of 27 degrees (range, 5 to 62 degrees) at the time of the latest follow-up. The mean duration of follow-up was four years (range, two years to eight years and eight months). At the time of writing, none of the hips had redislocated but one hip had subluxated. Eight of the hips had been painful preoperatively, but none of these was painful at the time of the most recent follow-up. One patient who had not had pain in the hip preoperatively had pain at the time of the follow-up evaluation. There were no complications attributable to posterior uncovering of the hip. The age of the patient at the time of the operation had no discernible effect on the result.

Acetabulum↗

Racial misclassification of American Indians: its effect on injury rates in Oregon, 1989 through 1990.

OBJECTIVES: We assessed the extent to which injury rates among American Indians in Oregon are underestimated owing to misclassification of race in a surveillance system. METHODS: The Oregon Injury Registry, a population-based surveillance system, was linked with the Indian Health Service patient registration file from Oregon, and injury rates for American Indians were calculated before and after correcting for racial misclassification. RESULTS: In 1989 and 1990, 301 persons in the Oregon registry were coded as American Indian. An additional 89 injured persons who were coded as a race other than American Indian in the registry were listed as American Indian in the Indian Health Service records. The age-adjusted annual injury rate for health service-registered American Indians was 6.9/1000, 68% higher than the rate calculated before data linkage. American Indian ancestry, female sex, and residence in metropolitan counties were associated with a higher likelihood of concordant racial classification in both data sets. CONCLUSION: Injury rates among American Indians in an Oregon surveillance system are substantially underestimated owing to racial misclassification. Linkage of disease registries and vital records with Indian Health Service records in other states may improve health-related data regarding American Indians.

Adult↗

Closed intramedullary femoral osteotomy. Shortening and derotation procedures.

Closed osteotomy and nailing were performed on 37 patients for leg-length inequality or rotational deformities. Shortening operations were performed in 31 patients, derotation in six. Preoperatively, the leg-length discrepancy ranged from 2 to 6.6 cm. All femoral shortenings resulted in correction to less than 1 cm. Preoperatively, rotational deformities averaged 58 degrees; all were corrected to within 5 degrees of normal. Follow-up observation averaged 3.3 years. There were no nonunions or infections. All patients regained preoperative joint range of motion (ROM). Thirteen patients were Cybex tested one year or more postoperatively; all had quadriceps and hamstring strength equal to or greater than the contralateral leg, except for two patients who had suffered additional trauma to the shortened femur. Closed femoral osteotomy is an effective, safe, and reproducible means to obtain lower limb length correction in patients with leg-length inequality or rotational abnormality.

Adolescent↗

Effects of bone ingrowth on the strength and non-invasive assessment of a coralline hydroxyapatite material.

The dependence of strength on the amount of bone growth into a hydroxyapatite material made from coral was investigated. Block and granular forms of the material were implanted into cortical and trabecular regions of the skeletons of 16 dogs. The results were examined after 4, 8, 12 and 16 wk, with four dogs in each experimental group. When implanted into cortical bone, the bending strength of the implant material was found to be highly correlated with the amount of pore space which had become occupied by bone (r = 0.92, P less than 0.005 for the block form; r = 0.84, P less than 0.005 for the granular form). Multiple regression analysis showed that six histomorphometric measures of ingrowth accounted for 96% of the variability in bending strength of the block material, and there were no significant differences between block and granular forms of the material. On the other hand, when implanted into trabecular bone, the block form of the material achieved greater compressive strength than the granular form. While both strength and ingrowth increased with time, there were poor correlations between these two variables. Finally, when the material is implanted into trabecular bone, it becomes stronger in compression than the surrounding bone; when implanted in cortical bone, linear modelling suggests that resorption and replacement of the implant would be required to approximate the bending strength of the surrounding bone.

Animals↗

Compression-plate fixation of acute fractures of the diaphyses of the radius and ulna.

A retrospective study was done of eighty-seven patients who had 129 diaphyseal fractures of either the radius or the ulna, or both, and who were treated with fixation using an AO dynamic-compression plate. Open fractures were internally fixed primarily, and both comminuted and open fractures routinely had bone-grafting. Ninety-eight per cent of the fractures united, and 92 per cent of the patients achieved an excellent or satisfactory functional result. The rate of infection was 2.3 per cent. Refracture occurred after removal of a 4.5-millimeter dynamic-compression plate in two patients, but there were no refractures after removal of a 3.5-millimeter plate. The 3.5-millimeter-plate system gave excellent results in patients who had a fracture of the forearm, and it minimized the risk of refracture. Our results demonstrated that immediate plate fixation of an open fracture of the forearm, with a low rate of complications, is possible.

Acute Disease↗

Epidemiological insights on malnutrition: some resurrected, others restructured, a few retired.

In its modern sense, epidemiology has progressed from a classical concern of causality as expressed within biological limits to recognition that a variety of social factors have proportionate significance in the origin and behavior of human nutritional disorders. Basically an analytical process, nutritional epidemiology has grown to include, among objectives for prevention and control, a synthesis of plans for intervention; the monitoring of action programs introduced; and again a parallel analytic mission to evaluate such accomplishments as programs bring forth. Nutritional epidemiology, so employed, becomes a general scientific discipline, widely purposed and incorporating objectives beyond public health: measures concerned with social welfare, economic growth, political stability, and behavioral compatibility with fellow humans and other living things. Specifically, nutritional epidemiology comprises a branch of knowledge utilizing human ecology to solve problems in three broad dimensions--a defined causality, a prescribed intervention (planning, operations) and an evaluation of results, concurrently made and terminally. The groundwork is medical ecology, the approach holistic. A population of pregnant mothers and their newborn children is accorded first priority among fields of interest, past any single disease entity or technical method of control. Community programs enlarge from that base.

Community Health Services↗

Midwifery pioneers.

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History, 17th Century↗