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Biomedical subjects

J Hanley

Publications and source records attributed to J Hanley.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Effect of a long-acting octapeptide analogue of somatostatin on growth hormone and pancreatic and gastrointestinal hormones in man.

1. The biochemical specificity and duration of action of a single 5 mg subcutaneous dose of des-AA1,2,4,5,12,13-D-Trp8-somatostatin were evaluated in eight patients with symptomatic pancreatic endocrine tumours. 2. There was a reduction by more than 50% for at least 10 h in plasma concentrations of growth hormone, glucagon, gastrin and motilin and for 4--5 h in plasma insulin, pancreatic polypeptide, gastric inhibitory polypeptide and enteroglucagon. 3. This study shows that this octapeptide analogue of somatostatin, like somatostatin itself, lacks specificity in the hormones it suppresses. However, its prolonged duration of action against several hormones when given subcutaneously suggests that it may be of therapeutic use in a number of disease states where excessive plasma concentrations of one or more of these hormones occur.

Gastrointestinal Hormones↗

Utilization of computed tomography of the head in a tertiary care hospital.

Data were prospectively collected on the signs, symptoms, and physical findings in 2,225 patients who underwent computed tomography (CT) of the head in a tertiary care teaching hospital. These data were correlated with the results of CT in an attempt to identify evidence of inappropriate utilization of diagnostic cranial CT. If only those patients had been examined whose presenting complaints were statistically more often seen in patients with abnormal CT studies than in those with normal CT studies, 26% of all examinations would have been eliminated, but 18% of all abnormal patients would have been missed. Similarly, if only those patients who were thought by their physicians to have a high likelihood of intracranial disease or to be diagnostic dilemmas had been examined, 34% of all examinations and 26% of all abnormal CT studies would have been eliminated. It is concluded that, in the setting studied here, there is no evidence of inappropriate utilization of cranial CT for diagnostic purposes.

Brain Diseases↗

Chemotherapy in pancreatic cancer: results of a controlled, prospective, randomised, multicentre trial.

Forty patients with inoperable pancreatic cancer were included in a prospective, randomised, controlled trial of multiple chemotherapy. The survival of 19 untreated control patients was compared with that of 21 patients who received an initiation course of intravenous fluorouracil, cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and vincristine given over five days followed by intravenous fluorouracil and mitomycin given over three or five days at six-week intervals thereafter. Median survival in treated patients was 44 weeks, which was significantly longer than the nine weeks seen in controls. In patients without metastases median survival was 48 weeks in the treated group and 12 weeks in controls. In patients with metastases it was 30 weeks in treated patients and seven weeks in controls. The treatment was well tolerated and seemed to confer a significant prolongation of survival, comparing favourably with previous reports of chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy. If the results are confirmed this regimen may be useful in district general hospital practice.

Adult↗

Analysis of serial radionuclide bone images in osteosarcoma and breast carcinoma.

The authors first describe and illustrate didactically the use of the Kaplan-Meier actuarial technique for serial diagnostic studies. They then present an analysis of previously published data on the results of serial radionuclide bone images in patients with osteosarcoma or breast carcinoma, using this technique. The data indicate that patients with osteosarcoma show an almost linear increase in the occurrence of bone metastases between 5 and 29 months after diagnosis; the rate is approximately 1% per month. Patients with breast cancer, on the other hand, show a biphasic rate of development, averaging only 0.5% per month during the first year after diagnosis but increasing rapidly to approximately 2% per month after 15 months.

Actuarial Analysis↗

Psychomotor performance during ozone exposure: spectral and discriminant function analysis of EEG.

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of ozone on the electroencephalogram during psychomotor performance. The first experiment consisted of a 2-h visual sustained attention task in room air and 0.75 parts per million (ppm) ozone. The second experiment was a divided attention study which combined a visual choice reaction time situation with an auditory sustained attention task. Ozone levels in this experiment were 0.0 ppm, 0.3 ppm, and 0.75 ppm. Spectral and discriminant function analyses were performed on the EEG collected during these studies. Attempts were made to categorize the EEG between different ozone levels, at rest, during each task performance, and between task and no-task performance within each ambient air condition. Discriminations between conditions for individuals were quite good, but discriminations for the combined subjects were disappointing with the exception of those between task and no-task conditions, which were moderately good.

Adult↗

Treatment of advanced adenocarcinoma of the pancreas with combinations of streptozotocin plus 5-fluorouracil and streptozotocin plus cyclophosphamide.

One hundred and sixteen patients with advanced and metastatic adenocarcinoma of the pancreas were randomized to treatment with combined Streptozotocin and 5-fluorouracil or combined Streptozotocin and cyclophosphamide. Toxic reactions to each regimen were qualitatively similar and consisted of nausea and vomiting during the time of treatment and subsequent leukopenia and thrombocytopenia. Renal toxicity was less frequent and only rarely severe. Among 51 eligible and evaluable patients treated with the Streptozotocin-cyclophosphamide combination, 12% showed objective response and among 42 patients treated with Streptozotocin + 5-fluorouracil, 12% showed objective response. The Streptozotocin + 5-fluorouracil-treated patients showed a slight advantage in survival. Neither regimen can be considered of substantive value to the patient with advanced pancreatic carcinoma.

Adenocarcinoma↗

Sequential and combination chemotherapy of advanced gastric cancer.

One hundred and forty-six previously untreated patients with advanced gastric cancer were assigned at random to therapy with the following regimens: 1) Methyl CCNU alone; 2) Methyl CCNU with cyclophosphamide induction; 3) 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) + methyl CCNU; and 4) 5-FU + methyl CCNU with cyclophosphamide induction. Cyclophosphamide induction produced an objective response rate of only 8%. In addition, it added to hematologic toxicity and detracted from the therapeutic activity of subsequent treatment. Methyl CCNU was relatively ineffective therapy with an overall objective response rate of 8%. The response rate to 5-FU + methyl CCNU without cyclophosphamide induction was 40% and this was significantly superior to all other regimens. The survival time of all patients treated with 5-FU + methyl CCNU was significantly superior to that of all patients treated with methyl CCNU alone.

Adenocarcinoma↗

Telemetry in health care.

This article reviews the use of telemetry in health care. Monitoring of biological signals of medical importance such as the EKG, EEG, and EOG are described. Employment of telemetry in critical medical and surgical environs such as the delivery and operating suites is covered. The enormous importance of telemetry compatible with public communication systems such as voice grade telephone lines for remote medical care is discussed. The article does not enter into strictly engineering systems aspects in any detail; this was not the intent of the author. Nor is there any pretence to a completeness obviously not possible within its confines. It does concentrate on radio (wireless) telemetry transmissions over relatively great distances with freedom of patient movement.

Cardiac Output↗

Spectral analysis of the EEG recorded during stimulation of the human fovea.

Computer spectral analysis was performed on the EEGs of 6 subjects recorded during monocular foveal stimulation. Stimulus wavelength and subjective brightness were varied independently to determine their importance to changes in the ongoing EEG. The contribution of oculomotor control to these effects and the retinal area of their origin were also investigated. The major results were as follows. (1) Stimulation of the fovea reduced the amplitude of the EEG and the coherence between hemispheres at all frequencies, but most dramatically in the alpha band. (2) It increased the variance of EEG amplitudes and widths of spectral peaks in the alpha band and shifted these peaks to lower frequencies. (3) Auto-spectral intensities in the alpha band were enhanced slightly at brightness levels near photopic threshold, but were unaffected by changes in stimulus wavelength. (4) The fovea appeared to be the most effective retinal area in which irradiation attenuated ongoing alpha activity.

Accommodation, Ocular↗

Non-Gaussian behavior of the EEG in Down's syndrome suggests decreased neuronal connections.

Computer analyses of the electroencephalograms of normal children, and children with Down's syndrome who were mentally retarded, revealed differences in the distribution of amplitude between the two groups. Normal children, in the early postnatal period, generate EEG's which have a non-Gaussian distribution of amplitude that becomes increasingly Gaussian before one year of age and remains so throughout subsequent development. Conversely, the EEG's of children with Down's syndrome exhibit highly non-Gaussian properties at all ages studied. The EEG's of two mentally retarded autistic children did not show this property, so it is not merely a concomitant of mental retardation. The first-order Gaussian distribution may reflect the degree of inteneuronal coupling; since an increased number of connections on any neuron implies decreased functional dependence of that neuron on any other particular single neuron, the present evidence, which indicates stronger interneuronal coupling in mongoloids, suggests that Down's syndrome may be associated with incomplete postnatal development of interconnections between cortical neurons.

Autistic Disorder↗

Electroencephalographic correlates of verbally induced stress in man.

This article is a review of some of the sparse investigation of EEG concomitants of verbally induced stress. The difficulties encountered in good experimental design in this formidable area, which may account for the paucity of work, are discussed. A recent experiment in which spectral analysis of EEG played a prominent role, with spectral estimators selected as correlated with stressful questions, is presented in some detail. Autonomic measurements provided the stress indicators. The value of animal experiments for psychiatry in the investigation of stress is briefly examined.

Alpha Rhythm↗