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Biomedical subjects

J E Watson

Publications and source records attributed to J E Watson.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Treating self-injury: water mist spray versus facial screening or forced arm exercise.

In three experiments, the effect of water mist spray on self-injurious and collateral behaviors was compared with either facial screening or forced arm exercise. Water mist spray was as effective as facial screening in suppressing face-slapping in Experiment 1. However, it was not as effective as facial screening for self-injurious finger-licking in Experiment 2 or forced arm exercise for excessive ear-rubbing in Experiment 3. These results suggest that while water mist spray is effective, it may be less so than alternative procedures. In Experiments 2 and 3 there was a consistent decrease in the occurrence of untreated maladaptive behaviors. In addition, there was a moderate increase in appropriate social interaction in Experiment 2 and a substantial increase in Experiment 3.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Radiation, work experience, and cause specific mortality among workers at an energy research laboratory.

A retrospective cohort mortality study was conducted among 8375 white male employees who had worked at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory for at least one month between 1943 and 1972. This plant has been the site of energy related research, including uranium and plutonium reactor technology and radioisotope production. Radiation doses, primarily from gamma rays, were generally low; the median cumulative exposure for workers was 0.16 rems. Historical follow up was conducted for the years 1943-77 and ascertainment of vital status was achieved for 92.3% of the cohort. Standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) were computed to contrast the subjects' cause specific mortality experience with that of the United States white male population. The observed number of 966 deaths from all causes was 73% of the number expected. Mortality deficits were also seen for arteriosclerotic heart disease (SMR = 0.75; 344 observed) and all cancers (SMR = 0.78; 194 observed). These results are indicative of the healthy worker effect and the favourable influence on health of the cohort's relatively high socioeconomic status. Non-statistically significant raised SMRs were seen for all leukaemias (SMR = 1.49, 16 observed), cancer of the prostate (SMR = 1.16, 14 observed), and Hodgkin's disease (SMR = 1.10, 5 observed). Internal comparisons of mortality (standardised rate ratios, SRRs) were made between subgroups of the cohort according to radiation dose level and duration of employment in various job categories. No consistent gradients of cause specific mortality were detected for radiation exposure. Leukaemia mortality was highest among workers with greater than or equal to 10 years employment in engineering (SRR = 2.40) and maintenance (SRR = 3.12) jobs. The association of leukaemia with employment in engineering was unexpected; maintenance jobs entail potential exposures to radiation and to a wide range of organic chemicals; metals, and other substances.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Comparison of folic acid coenzyme distribution patterns in patients with methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase and methionine synthetase deficiencies.

Folic acid coenzyme distribution patterns were examined in the liver and kidney of two patients with homocystinuria due to different inborn errors of metabolism affecting the remethylation of homocysteine to methionine. One patient, with severe mental retardation (and death at 3 1/2 yr), had greatly reduced levels of methylenetetrahydrofolic acid (THF) reductase in fibroblasts as well as in liver and kidney. Chromatographic separation of folate coenzymes in liver showed an abnormal pattern with THF as the main component and almost no methyl-THF but total folate was normal. The other patient, who was dystrophic, microcephalic, and had megaloblastic anemia died at age 4 months. He had reduced levels of methionine synthetase in liver and kidney due to a defect of intracellular cobalamin metabolism. Chromatographic analysis of his tissues showed methyl-THF to be the principal folate form and a markedly reduced total folate. These results support the "methyl-THF trap" hypothesis and offer information with respect to the possible therapy of these two disorders.

5-Methyltetrahydrofolate-Homocysteine S-Methyltran↗
PubMed1985

A recommended core book list for public health libraries.

Public health is a multidisciplinary field ranging broadly across the health care spectrum. In light of this diversity the selection of basic reference books and textbooks in the field is a complex task. This paper first defines the components of what is public health and then presents such a list to serve as a guide to the librarian faced with this task.

Bibliographies as Topic↗
PubMed1984

Routine hand doses vs monitoring regulations at a nuclear power plant.

Hand radiation doses to workers at a nuclear power plant were monitored in this study to evaluate compliance with dose limits and to determine whether hand monitoring on a routine basis is necessary. Two hundred in-plant workers at Carolina Power and Light Co.'s H.B. Robinson Steam Electric Generating Plant were monitored with a ring TLD dosimeter on each hand for four months during routine plant operations. Study participants included plant operators, electricians, mechanics, health physics technicians and decontamination personnel. Ring dosimeters were worn, in addition to whole-body TLD dosimeters, at all times workers were in radiation control areas. Hand dosimeters were read on the same monthly schedule as the whole-body dosimeters to ensure correlation of exposure periods. The results of the analysis of hand-dose data obtained for these workers are summarized as follows: (1) No worker's hand dose exceeded 25% of the allowable quarterly dose. (2) Ninety-nine percent of hand doses were less than 600 mrem/month. (3) The highest hand dose observed in any month was 1074 mrem which if received for three months, is below regulatory dose limits and below the dose value where monitoring is required. The highest actual hand dose observed in the last quarter of 1981 was 1335 mrem. (4) Examination of hand dose to whole-body dose ratios revealed that if the whole-body dose limit is approached, hand doses are still below the dose level where monitoring is required. (5) A linear-regression analysis of hand and whole-body dose data provides the ability to predict hand doses from the whole-body doses. From these results, it is concluded that routine monitoring of hand doses is not required at the H.B. Robinson plant. This conclusion should also be applicable to routine operations at other similar nuclear plants.

Environmental Exposure↗
PubMed1984

Role of Chlamydia trachomatis in acute pharyngitis in young adults.

It has recently been suggested that Chlamydia trachomatis may be a common cause of acute pharyngitis in adults. In a prospective investigation of 95 college students with acute pharyngitis, C. trachomatis was not isolated from any pharyngeal cultures. Further investigations are needed to better define the role of C. trachomatis in upper respiratory tract infections.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1984

A journal core list for health administration libraries.

Health administration is an interdisciplinary profession practiced in various settings. This paper presents a core list of journals for libraries responsible for supporting the study or practice of health administration in any of these settings. This paper initially examines and defines the parameters of the field of health administration to guide in the selection and organization of the list of core health administration journals. The organization of the list is based on the definition of the field as presented in the paper. The most important journals have been indicated, and sufficient information is given to facilitate ordering.

Hospital Administration↗
PubMed1983

The impact of technology on the future of health/illness education.

The impact of technological advancement and societal pressure for comprehensive, cost effective health care are two current trends which will determine the future of health/illness education. This article predicts a future of health/illness education based on these trends. The issues of depersonalization, cost, privacy, and control involved in the use of computers in health care are identified and discussed.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1982

Folate pentaglutamate and folate hexaglutamate mediated one-carbon metabolism.

The proposal that folate polyglutamate cofactors of different chain lengths function differently in metabolism was investigated. We identified the one-carbon units present in rat liver folates within each of the liver folate polyglutamate groups, the folate penta-, hexa-, and heptaglutamates. This identification revealed that at the pentaglutamate level, 5-methyl-H4folate was the major form, accounting for 18% of the total liver folates, with small amounts of H4folate. At the hexaglutamate level, 5-methyl-H4folate and H4folate were major forms, accounting for 17% and 22% of the liver folates, respectively. At the heptaglutamate level, 5-methyl-H4folate occurred in small amounts while H4folate predominated. The rats used here had been fed a diet low in methionine and were exposed to N2O gas. These results are qualitatively similar to those from rat brain [Brody, T., Shin, Y. S., & Stokstad, E. L. R. (1976) J. Neurochem. 27, 409--413] where 5-methyl-H4folate was a major fraction of the folate pentaglutamates but a minor, if detectable, part of the hexa- and heptaglutamates. The folates 5-methyl-H4PteGlu5-7 were metabolically active in the liver, as illustrated by the severe contraction in the amounts of these folates following an injection of methionine. This indicates that "folate-binding proteins" do not prevent 5-methyl-H4folates from entering into one-carbon metabolism.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Diffusion in the vicinity of standard-design nuclear power plants--I. Wind-tunnel evaluation of diffusive characteristics of a simulated suburban neutral atmospheric boundary layer.

A large meteorological wind tunnel was used to simulate a suburban atmospheric boundary layer. The model-prototype scale was 1:300 and the roughness length was approximately 1.0 m full scale. The model boundary layer simulated full scale dispersion from ground-level and elevated release points over surfaces of comparable roughness length. This information should prove useful in a variety of transport and diffusion studies over short to moderate downwind distances. It will be used in Part II as the baseline data set with which to compare diffusion downwind of standard-design nuclear power plants.

Air Pollution, Radioactive↗
PubMed1982

Diffusion in the vicinity of standard-design nuclear power plants--II. Wind-tunnel evaluation of building-wake characteristics.

Laboratory experiments were conducted to simulate radiopollutant effluents released to the atmosphere from two standard-design nuclear power plants. The main objective of the study was to compare the dispersion in the wakes of the plants with that in a simulated atmospheric boundary layer. Dispersion functions are determined that describe the spread of the effluent plume in the wake of each plant. These dispersion functions are described by power laws. They are determined for three incident wind angles and the number of stacks associated with each plant. Lateral plume spread was directly related to the silhouette area of the plants. A graphical technique is presented relating the lateral dispersion to the associated silhouette area of the building or building complex.

Air Pollution, Radioactive↗
PubMed1982

Nitrous oxide inactivates methionine synthetase in human liver.

Activity of methionine synthetase was measured in liver biopsies of seven patients who had received 50% to 70% nitrous oxide supplemented by a combination of a narcotic and/or barbiturate with or without a volatile anesthetic, and from seven patients who were anesthetized without nitrous oxide (control group). Methionine synthetase activity (+/- SE) averaged 219 +/- 28 nmol of methionine per hour per gran of liver in patients given nitrous oxide, and 414 +/- 29 in control patients. Inactivation of methionine synthetase progressively increased as the product of the concentration of nitrous oxide and the exposure time increased. These results in humans are similar to those in animals and suggest that inactivation of methionine synthetase may play a role in the development of the pathologic effects seen in patients and medical personnel after exposure to nitrous oxide.

5-Methyltetrahydrofolate-Homocysteine S-Methyltran↗
PubMed1981

Inactivation of methionine synthetase by nitrous oxide in mice.

To characterize the nitrous oxide-induced inhibition of the enzyme, methionine synthetase, we measured enzyme inactivation as a function of nitrous oxide concentration and exposure time. Mice exposed to 0.8 atm nitrous oxide exhibited more than a 50 per cent decrease in liver methionine synthetase activity within 30 min, and activity dropped to 5--25 per cent of the original value after a 4-hour exposure. Although 4-hour exposures to low nitrous oxide partial pressures (less than 0.05 atm) did not significantly alter methionine synthetase activity, higher concentrations of nitrous oxide caused a progressive inhibition over this time period. Continuous exposure to trace levels of nitrous oxide (approximately 1100 ppm) for eight to 22 days produced a small but significant reduction in liver and brain methionine synthetase activity. Methionine synthetase activity returned to control levels two to four days following inactivation. Other anesthetics (xenon, halothane, isoflurane, enflurane) did not produce inactivation.

5-Methyltetrahydrofolate-Homocysteine S-Methyltran↗
PubMed1981

Hepatic folate metabolism in the chronic alcoholic monkey.

To assess the role of altered hepatic folate metabolism in the pathogenesis of the folate deficiency of chronic alcoholism, the hepatic metabolism of a tracer dose of 3H-PteGlu was compared in monkeys given 50% of energy as ethanol for 2 years and in control monkeys. Long-term ethanol feeding resulted in mild hepatic injury, with a significant decrease in hepatic folate levels. Chromatographic studies of liver biopsies obtained after the tracer dose indicated that the processes of reduction, methylation, and formylation of reduced folate and the synthesis of polyglutamyl folates were not affected by long-term ethanol feeding. Hepatic tritium levels were significantly decreased in the ethanol-fed group. These studies suggest that the decrease in hepatic folate levels observed after long-term ethanol ingestion is due to a decrease in hepatic folate levels observed after long-term ethanol ingestion is due to a decreased ability to retain folates in the liver, whereas reduction and further metabolism of folates is not affected.

Alcoholism↗