HIV, HAART and dentistry: what you need to know.
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Anti-HIV Agents↗
Biomedical subjects
J Hogan
Publications and source records attributed to J Hogan.
Bringing together technology and market roadmaps.
Effective technology development is a difficult challenge. This article reports on one company's system, which has helped it achieve consistent, predictable success.
Biomedical Technology↗
Marriage guidance for collaborators.
Collaboration with external partners is a way to accelerate product innovation. Tips on building successful partnerships are offered here.
Biotechnology↗
Open innovation or open house: how to protect your most valuable assets.
Many businesses have difficulty in effectively managing their intellectual property. This article offers advice, particularly for smaller companies, on how to protect their ideas and thereby be able to benefit from an open system of product innovation.
Entrepreneurship↗
The benefits of design partnership.
Collaboration with outside agencies on product design is still often regarded as a risky venture. Its advantages, and the advice on getting the most out of a design partner described here, suggest it is a good option, particularly for small companies.
Biotechnology↗
Being sucessfully disruptive.
Small companies can more easily create "disruptive" innovation than large companies. This article discusses why and how they can introduce some basic processes to make sure they do not become victims of their own success.
Biomedical Engineering↗
Insights on ideation and innovation.
Even when companies are struggling or seeking to cut costs, it is still important for them to generate new ideas. This article discusses the concept of ideation and provides strategies for successful innovation.
Biotechnology↗
Create products by going virtual.
A virtual organisation is a business that outsources the majority of its operations. This enables it to be highly responsive to the market and to fast track the creation of specialist products. Tips for the successful implementation of this approach are offered here, with an example of one profitable business.
Biotechnology↗
Are Maori under-served for cardiac interventions?
AIMS: To examine hospitalisation rates for selected heart-disease-related diagnoses by age, gender, ethnicity and deprivation. METHODS: Four years' data on publicly-funded hospital discharges for: (i) heart failure and (ii) cardiac interventions were cross-classified by age group, gender, ethnicity (Maori/non-Maori) and deprivation (NZDep96). Population hospitalisation rates were calculated and displayed in multi-dimensional trellis graphs. RESULTS: The graphs show patterns of hospitalisation for chosen variables simultaneously. The expected increase in heart failure with age is found, as is an increase for the cardiac group up to ages 65-74 years. Clear gender differences were found. A further increase of heart failure with higher deprivation is evident throughout. For cardiac interventions, the relationship with deprivation is complex. Differences by ethnicity are disturbing. Hospitalisation rates for heart failure for Maori are typically more than double the non-Maori rates. In contrast, for the cardiac group Maori intervention rates are much lower. CONCLUSIONS: Graphical analysis that displays age, gender, ethnicity and deprivation simultaneously provides great insight into hospitalisation rates. Ethnic differences are particularly concerning and raise important questions about how well Maori needs are being met and how equitable is access to cardiac interventions for Maori.
Adult↗
HIV infection in families of HIV-positive and 'at-risk' HIV-negative women.
Research of HIV infection within the family has focused upon sexual partners and vertical transmission. The scope of the problem of multiple infections and clustering of HIV among family members has, thus far, been less extensively explored. The objectives of this study are to investigate HIV infection in family members of HIV-seropositive and HIV-seronegative high-risk women and to consider the impact of multiple HIV infections within the family. Baseline data were evaluated from a prospective observational cohort of 871 HIV-seropositive and 439 seronegative at-risk women who are participants in a longitudinal study of HIV in women at four sites in the USA (Montefiore, Bronx, NY; Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD; Brown University, Providence, RI; Wayne State University, Detroit, MI). Women were asked if anyone close to them had HIV/AIDS or had died from HIV/AIDS. Responses which included HIV-positive family members were analyzed. In the seropositive cohort, 35% (307/871) of the women had a family member with HIV infection. Of these 307 women, 38% reported having a sibling, 24% a husband and 27% had more than one family member with HIV/AIDS. Forty-nine per cent of Latina women, 34% of black women, and 21% of white women reported having a family member with HIV/AIDS. Using logistic regression analysis, we found that Latina and black women were significantly more likely than white women to have a sibling, extended family member or more than one family member with HIV/AIDS. Compared to seropositive women, seronegative high-risk women enrolled in this study appear equally likely to have an HIV-infected family member. In this study of HIV-positive women and high-risk seronegative women, a third reported having multiple family members with HIV infection, most often in a sibling. The high prevalence of HIV within families, particularly in the families of Latina and black women, mandates attention in planning both prevention and care.
Black or African American↗
Thriving in health care ... learning every day.
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Diagnostic Imaging↗
Outcome of very low birth weight infants with histopathologic chorioamnionitis.
OBJECTIVE: To determine neonatal outcome at 7 months of corrected age in very low birth weight (VLBW) infants with placental chorioamnionitis. METHODS: We conducted a cohort study of 287 VLBW infants delivered as a result of preterm premature rupture of membranes (PROM) or preterm labor. Control subjects (n = 123) had placentas with absent umbilical cord inflammation and absent or low-grade membrane inflammation. Case subjects (n = 164) had moderate membrane inflammation or any umbilical cord inflammation. Neonatal and 7-month outcomes were compared. A power analysis showed that 98 total subjects were needed to reject the two-sided null hypothesis with a difference in mean Bayley index scores of at least 8. RESULTS: Infants in the study group had significantly more preterm PROM, antenatal antibiotics, lower birth weight, lower gestational age, longer duration of ruptured membranes, and clinical chorioamnionitis. Intraventricular hemorrhage occurred more commonly in infants with placentas demonstrating chorioamnionitis (relative risk = 1.6, 95% confidence interval 1.1, 2.4, P =.013). One hundred sixty-seven (69%) of the 243 surviving infants had 7-month follow-up. There was no difference between cases and controls in mean Bayley mental developmental index (93 compared with 90, P =.25), psychomotor developmental index (89 compared with 90, P =.68), or in the number of infants that were developmentally delayed. CONCLUSION: Despite a higher frequency of intraventricular hemorrhage, no difference in developmental scores was detected at 7 months of corrected age in VLBW infants with histologic chorioamnionitis.
Adult↗
Pregnancy and pregnancy outcome in hepatitis C type 1b.
A large cohort of rhesus-negative women in Ireland were inadvertently infected with hepatitis C virus following exposure to contaminated anti-D immunoglobulin in 1977-8. This major iatrogenic episode was discovered in 1994. We studied 36 women who had been infected after their first pregnancy, and compared them to an age- and parity-matched control group of rhesus-positive women. The presence of hepatitis C antibody was confirmed in all 36 by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and by recombinant immunoblot assay, while 26 (72%) of the cohort were HCV-RNA-positive (type 1b) on PCR testing. In the 20 years post-infection, all members of the study group had at least one pregnancy, and mean parity was 3.5. They had a total of 100 pregnancies and 85 of these went to term. There were four premature births, one being a twin pregnancy, and 11 spontaneous miscarriages. One miscarriage occurred in the pregnancy following HCV infection. There were two neonatal deaths due to severe congenital abnormalities in the PCR-positive women. Of the children born to HCV-RNA positive mothers, only one (2.3%) tested positive for the virus. Significant portal fibrosis on liver biopsy was confined to HCV-RNA-positive mothers apart from one single exception in the antibody-positive HCV-RNA-negative group. Comparison with the control group showed no increase in spontaneous miscarriage rate, and no significant difference in obstetric complications; birth weights were similar for the two groups.
Adult↗
Comparison of maternal serum total activin A and inhibin A in normal, preeclamptic, and nonproteinuric gestationally hypertensive pregnancies.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to compare maternal serum levels of activin A and inhibin A in pregnancy complicated by preeclampsia, pregnancy complicated by gestational hypertension, and normal pregnancy from 25 to 42 weeks' gestation. STUDY DESIGN: Activin A and inhibin A levels were measured by 2-site enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 60 subjects with preeclampsia, 60 control normotensive pregnant women matched for gestational age, and 51 unmatched subjects with gestational hypertension. RESULTS: Activin A levels were higher in the preeclampsia group (median 31.5 ng/mL and interquartile range 10.5 ng/mL) than in the control group (median 10.6 ng/mL and interquartile range 9.5 ng/mL, P <.0001) and the gestational hypertension group (median 21.4 ng/mL and interquartile range 15.2 ng/mL, P <.003). Inhibin A levels were greater in the preeclampsia group (median 1833 pg/mL and interquartile range 1464 pg/mL) than in control subjects (median 698 pg/mL and interquartile range 583 pg/mL, P <.0001). Control levels were significantly related to gestational age. CONCLUSIONS: Levels of both analytes were greater in preeclampsia and activin A levels were greater in gestational hypertension than in normotensive pregnancy. These analytes may prove to be clinically useful laboratory markers for preeclampsia.
Activins↗
Linkage of familial schizophrenia to chromosome 13q32.
Over the past 4 years, a number of investigators have reported findings suggestive of linkage to schizophrenia, with markers on chromosomes 13q32 and 8p21, with one recent study by Blouin et al. reporting significant linkage to these regions. As part of an ongoing genome scan, we evaluated microsatellite markers spanning chromosomes 8 and 13, for linkage to schizophrenia, in 21 extended Canadian families. Families were analyzed under autosomal dominant and recessive models, with broad and narrow definitions of schizophrenia. All models produced positive LOD scores with markers on 13q, with higher scores under the recessive models. The maximum three-point LOD scores were obtained under the recessive-broad model: 3.92 at recombination fraction (theta).1 with D13S793, under homogeneity, and 4.42 with alpha=.65 and straight theta=0 with D13S793, under heterogeneity. Positive LOD scores were also obtained, under all models, for markers on 8p. Although a maximum two-point LOD score of 3.49 was obtained under the dominant-narrow model with D8S136 at straight theta=0.1, multipoint analysis with closely flanking markers reduced the maximum LOD score in this region to 2. 13. These results provide independent significant evidence of linkage of a schizophrenia-susceptibility locus to markers on 13q32 and support the presence of a second susceptibility locus on 8p21.
Canada↗
Distribution of uranium in rats implanted with depleted uranium pellets.
During the Persian Gulf War, soldiers were injured with depleted uranium (DU) fragments. To assess the potential health risks associated with chronic exposure to DU, Sprague Dawley rats were surgically implanted with DU pellets at 3 dose levels (low, medium and high). Biologically inert tantalum (Ta) pellets were used as controls. At 1 day and 6, 12, and 18 months after implantation, the rats were euthanized and tissue samples collected. Using kinetic phosphorimetry, uranium levels were measured. As early as 1 day after pellet implantation and at all subsequent sample times, the greatest concentrations of uranium were in the kidney and tibia. At all time points, uranium concentrations in kidney and bone (tibia and skull) were significantly greater in the high-dose rats than in the Ta-control group. By 18 months post-implantation, the uranium concentration in kidney and bone of low-dose animals was significantly different from that in the Ta controls. Significant concentrations of uranium were excreted in the urine throughout the 18 months of the study (224 +/- 32 ng U/ml urine in low-dose rats and 1010 +/- 87 ng U/ml urine in high-dose rats at 12 months). Many other tissues (muscle, spleen, liver, heart, lung, brain, lymph nodes, and testicles) contained significant concentrations of uranium in the implanted animals. From these results, we conclude that kidney and bone are the primary reservoirs for uranium redistributed from intramuscularly embedded fragments. The accumulations in brain, lymph nodes, and testicles suggest the potential for unanticipated physiological consequences of exposure to uranium through this route.
Animals↗
A comparison of bronchodilator therapy delivered by nebulization and metered-dose inhaler in mechanically ventilated patients.
BACKGROUND: The optimal method of delivering bronchodilators in mechanically ventilated patients is unclear. The purpose of this study was to compare the pulmonary bioavailability of albuterol delivered by the nebulizer, the metered-dose inhaler (MDI) and spacer, and the right-angle MDI adaptor in ventilated patients using urinary analysis of drug levels. METHODS: Mechanically ventilated patients who had not received a bronchodilator in the previous 48 h and who had normal renal function were randomized to receive the following: (1) five puffs (450 microg) of albuterol delivered by the MDI with a small volume spacer; (2) five puffs of albuterol delivered by the MDI port on a right-angle adaptor; or (3) 2.5 mg albuterol delivered by a nebulizer. Urine was collected 6 h after the administration of the drug, and the amounts of albuterol and its sulfate conjugate were determined in the urine by a chromatographic assay. RESULTS: Thirty patients were studied, 10 in each group: their mean age and serum creatinine level were 62 years and 1.3 mg/dL, respectively. With the MDI and spacer, (mean +/- SD) 169+/-129 microg albuterol (38%) was recovered in the urine; with the nebulizer, 409+/-515 microg albuterol (16%) was recovered in the urine; and with the MDI port on the right-angle adaptor, 41+/-61 microg albuterol (9%) was recovered in the urine (p = 0.02 between groups). The level of albuterol in the urine was below the level of detection in four patients in whom the drug was delivered using the right-angle MDI adaptor. CONCLUSION: The three delivery systems varied markedly in their efficiency of drug delivery to the lung. As previous studies have confirmed, this study has demonstrated that using an MDI and spacer is an efficient method for delivering inhaled bronchodilators to the lung. The pulmonary bioavailability was poor with the right-angle MDI port. This port should not be used to deliver bronchodilators in mechanically ventilated patients.
Administration, Inhalation↗