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Biomedical subjects

J H Ferguson

Publications and source records attributed to J H Ferguson.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1983

Passive joint position sense after total hip replacement surgery.

Passive joint position sense was tested in 10 subjects after unilateral total hip replacement surgery (which included capsulectomy). Varied initial limb position, amplitude, and velocity of movement were used. The unoperated side was used as a control. Statistically barely significant errors (p less than 0.025) on the operated side were detected at 0.6 degrees per second but not at 2 degrees per second. No significant differences were noted among the different hip positions. The results indicate that the ability to detect passive hip joint position sense remains largely, but not completely, intact after hip joint replacement. The joint capsule, ligaments, and joint surfaces, although not essential for kinesthesia, may provide some limb movement and position information, the absence of which is not now clinically apparent.

Follow-Up Studies↗
PubMed1978

Hemifacial spasm and the facial nucleus.

Spontaneous and associated hyperkinetic facial movements and contracture which follow injury to the seventh cranial nerve (postparalytic hemifacial spasm) or arise without known previous injury (cryptogenic hemifacial spasm) are pathological motor phenomena not found in the distribution of other cranial or somatic motor nerves. The commonly expressed hypotheses of pathogenesis--aberrant regeneration and fiber excitation by false synapse formation (ephapses) at the site of injury--cannot account for all aspects of these phenomena or for the uniqueness of such movements to the distribution of the seventh nerve. The suggestion is made that the existing diversity of facial motor behavior, which encompasses voluntary, emotional, and especially automatic, associated, and reflexive movements, is based on a unique central organization that sets it apart from other motor groups. I hypothesize that because of this organization, the changes following axonal injury--which include selective deafferentation, glial response, axonal sprouting, functional reconnection, and hyperexcitability from dendritic spike generation--can unmask and augment automatic, associated, and reflexive movements already present in the facial neuronal network to result in facial hyperkinesia.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Effect of photoperiod and cold acclimation upon plasma free fatty acid levels in the white rat.

1. Animals were acclimated at 3 +/- 1 degrees C and at room temperature (22 degrees C) for 3 weeks. 2. At each acclimation temperature animals were maintained under either an 8:16 L:D cycle or a 16:8 L:D cycle. 3. Blood samples were taken before and after exposure to -38 degrees C for 30 min. 4. Free fatty acid levels were greatest in cold acclimated animals which were maintained on a short light cycle. 5. Interaction between acclimation and photoperiod was apparent.

Acclimatization↗
PubMed1977

A different form of "pure agraphia": syntactic writing errors in a patients with motor speech and movement disorders.

Three patients are described who displayed syntactic writing errors in combination with a motor speech disturbance and impaired motor limb function. Two of the patients had bulbar amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Agraphia appeared when verbal communication was no longer possible. Autopsy in one patient disclosed only lesions consistent with ALS. The third patient had palilalia and chorea and although not aphasic, his written language showed persistent syntactic errors. We hypothesize that the agraphia in these patients occurred because of the combination of disordered feedback from the motor speech apparatus and limbs.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Spontaneous infarction in pituitary tumors: neurologic and therapeutic aspects.

In addition to progressive endocrine dysfunction and progressive visual loss, pituitary neoplasms may annouce their presence by the more catastrophic alternative of spontaneous tumor infarction. In two patients reported, illness due to the spontaneous infraction of pituitary tumors was heralded by sudden onset of focal headache associated with diplopia. Stupor, confusion, and evidence of increased intracranial pressure occurred without subarachnoid hemorrhage or massive extrasellar extension of tumor. One patient developed inappropriate antidiuretic hormone secretion with spontaneous infarction in a large but clinically silent chromophobe adenoma. In both patients, skull x-rays suggested a long-standing intrasella mass. Both underwent prompt treatment with endocrinologic replacement therapy and subsequent successful transsphenoidal removal of voluminous, infarcted, pituitary masses.

Adenoma, Chromophobe↗