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Biomedical subjects

J M Rainey

Publications and source records attributed to J M Rainey.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Louisiana Tumor registry: new developments and services provided.

Recent major developments in the Louisiana Tumor Registry (LTR) have enhanced the operation of LTR and broadened its available services. As a population-based cancer registry, the LTR assesses the magnitude of cancer burden in the state, identifies high-risk groups and areas, monitors time trends, evaluated cancer control programs, and provides resources to the health professionals in the state to address the considerable cancer problem in Louisiana. The registry is also available to provide research collaboration as well as to participate in cancer control and prevention programs.

Humans

Cancer of the esophagus in Acadiana.

Cancer of the esophagus is a frequently fatal cancer whose incidence appears to be increasing. In Acadiana, esophageal cancer occurs predominantly in males, with a higher incidence in black males. Results of surgical treatment, with or without other therapy, are dismal. Combined treatment with chemotherapy and radiotherapy improved survival when compared to surgery. Survival benefits with chemotherapy and radiotherapy are, unfortunately, modest at present.

Adenocarcinoma

Cancer in south Louisiana. Part 1: Tobacco-related cancers.

Tobacco-related cancers comprise about one third of the newly-diagnosed cancer in South Louisiana. These cancers are three times more common in men than in women. For cancers originating from anatomic sites where there is a direct contact with tobacco, ie, lung, larynx, oral cavity and pharynx, and esophagus, incidence rates for blacks are either higher than or similar to the rates for whites. For cancers of the bladder and the kidney, sites which have no direct contact with tobacco products, incidence rates are higher in whites than blacks. In general, white men in South Louisiana tend to have risks significantly higher than national for tobacco-related cancers, in particular, cancers of the lung (31% higher) and the larynx (42% higher). A similar pattern is observed for white females but is less pronounced. Black men in South Louisiana, on the other hand, have significantly lower rates than the SEER averages for cancers of the esophagus, oral cavity, and pharynx. Risks for other tobacco-related cancers are very comparable. There are very small differences in rates for black women between South Louisiana and SEER areas. Tobacco-related cancers are most preventable. Any effective cancer program in Louisiana must emphasize prevention and cessation of tobacco use.

Cross-Sectional Studies

Cancer in south Louisiana. Part II: Gastrointestinal tract cancers.

Incidence rates for the most common cancers of the gastrointestinal tract are presented for the 5 geographic regions in South Louisiana for the period 1983-1986. The risk of colorectal cancer, the most frequent GI cancer in males and females, is uniformly lower in these regions of South Louisiana than in other areas of the United States. Gastric cancer rates are significantly high in black males, as are pancreatic cancer rates in whites of both sexes compared to national rates.

Black People

Cancer in south Louisiana. Part III: Cancers of the breast and the reproductive system.

Cancers of the breast and reproductive system are less common in South Louisiana than other parts of the nation. The only exception is invasive cervical cancer. Incidence rates for breast cancer in South Louisiana women are 20% lower than the SEER combined rates, and rates for cancer of the uterine corpus and the ovary among white women are 43% and 32% lower respectively than the SEER averages. South Louisiana men also have risks 14% (whites) and 30% (blacks) less than the national of developing prostatic cancer. These significantly low rates are observed for all regions in South Louisiana. The reasons for the low rates are not clearly understood. Possible explanations include: less frequent use of cancer screening tests, high prevalence of hysterectomy, lower risk exposures, and host/genetic factors. The low incidence rates for these cancers are not accompanied by more favorable mortality outcomes, suggesting a poorer survival among Louisiana cancer patients partially due to late stage disease at the time of diagnosis and treatment. Programs to increase the accessibility of cancer screening tests and improve early detection are greatly needed.

Breast Neoplasms

Central nervous system effects of lactate infusion in primates.

The concentration of total lactate in cisternal fluid increased threefold, from 12.3 +/- 2.1 to 37.6 +/- 8.9 mg/dl, during a 20-min intravenous infusion of 1 M racemic sodium lactate (10 mEq/kg) in 3 anesthetized, mechanically ventilated baboons. Rises in cisternal lactate lagged behind arterial lactate increases, but occurred during the time interval in which susceptible humans typically panic in response to lactate infusion. Subsequent to cisternal lactate increases, cisternal pH and HCO3- concentration progressively increased during a 105-min interval following lactate infusion. No consistent changes in cisternal pCO2 occurred during or subsequent to lactate infusion. These preliminary findings fail to support the hypothesis that lactate-induced panic is mediated by increasing central nervous system pCO2. Instead, these data demonstrate that lactate can rapidly increase in the central nervous system during lactate infusion, suggesting new lines of investigation for studying the mechanisms responsible for lactate-induced panic.

Animals

Ground water and oil field waste sites: a study in Vermilion Parish.

Water samples were obtained from 128 private water wells surrounding eight oil field waste sites in Vermilion Parish. The specimens were analyzed for five heavy metals: barium, arsenic, chromium, lead, and cadmium. Half of the specimens were then analyzed for 16 volatile organic compounds. A blood sample was obtained from healthy adults drinking water from the wells tested for volatile organic compounds and this blood sample was also analyzed for volatile organic compounds. None of the water samples had levels of heavy metals or volatile organic compounds that exceeded the National Primary Drinking Water Standards. Barium levels in excess of 250 parts per billion suggested that styrene, toluene, and chloroform might be present. Blood levels of volatile organic compounds were significantly higher than could be accounted for by water consumption with levels in smokers significantly higher than in nonsmokers. These data suggest that as yet there is no contamination of ground water supplies around these sites. Volatile organic accumulation in humans probably occurs from a respiratory rather than from an oral route.

Humans

Evaluation of fludarabine phosphate in small cell carcinoma. A Southwest Oncology Group Study.

Fludarabine phosphate was given as a 5 day bolus infusion to eleven evaluable patients with recurrent small cell lung carcinoma. Patients had failed on one prior treatment regimen. There were no responses in the eleven evaluable patients. Severe neurologic toxicity occurred in one patient. Fludarabine phosphate as given in this protocol was not an effective agent in recurrent small cell lung carcinoma.

Adult

Isoproterenol-induced panic attacks.

Eighty-six panic disorder patients and 45 nonpsychiatric controls were infused with isoproterenol at a rate of 1 microgram/min for up to 20 min in a placebo-controlled, double-blind study. Sixty-six percent of panic disorder patients experienced panic attacks during isoproterenol infusions, compared to 16% during placebo infusions. Nine percent of control subjects panicked with isoproterenol, but none panicked with placebo. Patients were more sensitive than controls to the anxiogenic effects of isoproterenol, as measured by subject self-ratings on a panic description scale. The frequency of panic attacks induced in patients was related to the dosage of isoproterenol; 79% of the patients who received a mean of 18.5 ng/min/kg of isoproterenol panicked. The panic attacks experienced by patients during isoproterenol infusions were similar to those experienced during placebo infusions.

Adolescent

Sodium lactate infusions after treatment with tricyclic antidepressants: behavioral and physiological findings.

Fourteen patients with panic disorder were infused with sodium lactate both before and after treatment with tricyclic antidepressants. All patients had panic attacks before treatment, and only five after treatment. There was a significant decrease in measures of anxiety prior to and during infusions after treatment. The patients were able to tolerate more lactate during reinfusions. The comparison of reinfusion panickers and nonpanickers revealed that the reinfusion panickers had higher levels of anxiety, as measured by psychological symptoms on the Panic Description Scale, during both their pretreatment and posttreatment infusions. Tricyclic antidepressants appear to increase the threshold for lactate-induced panic attacks.

Antidepressive Agents, Tricyclic

Lactate- and isoproterenol-induced panic attacks in panic disorder patients and controls.

In a double-blind study using sodium lactate and isoproterenol infusions to provoke panic attacks, 73 of 86 panic disorder patients and 10 of 45 controls panicked with lactate, and 58 of 86 patients and 4 of 45 controls panicked with isoproterenol. We measured baseline and peak anxiety ratings in 10 controls with lactate-induced panic attacks, 31 controls who did not panic during lactate infusions, and 63 panic disorder patients who did panic during lactate infusions. The controls who panicked with lactate had robust increases in their anxiety ratings very similar to the increases experienced by patients who panicked with lactate.

Adolescent

Effects of laboratory-induced panic-anxiety on subsequent provocative infusions.

The effects of infusion-induced panic-anxiety on subsequent pre-infusion anxiety ratings and infusion-induced panic attacks were studied in 64 panic disorder patients, in a double-blind randomized study using sodium lactate, isoproterenol, and placebo infusions. While there was a decrease of preinfusion anxiety from one infusion to the next infusion both for panickers and nonpanickers, there was no evidence of either a significant decrease or an increase in the frequency of subsequent panic attacks. These results suggest that there is neither a desensitizing nor a sensitizing effect of pharmacologically induced panic attacks on subsequent infusions in a serial three-infusion design.

Adult

Follow-up study of control subjects with lactate- and isoproterenol-induced panic attacks.

Eleven of 45 normal control subjects experienced panic attacks during lactate and/or isoproterenol infusions. Ten of the 11 subjects were followed up for a mean period of 32.5 months. Two subjects reported the development of spontaneous panic attacks during the follow-up period; one related the development of these attacks to the infusion experience. Neither subject met DSM-III criteria for panic disorder either before or after the infusions. Twenty-six healthy control subjects who did not experience panic attacks during the infusion experience did not report any attacks during a follow-up period of 31.1 months.

Adult

Preinfusion anxiety and laboratory-induced panic attacks in panic disorder patients.

Seventy panic disorder patients participated in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized infusion study in which sodium lactate and isoproterenol were used to induce panic anxiety. Patients who panicked during lactate, isoproterenol, and placebo infusions generally had higher preinfusion anxiety scores. These findings held true irrespective of the order the infusions were given. Stepwise multiple regression analyses comparing panickers with nonpanickers as the criterion variable revealed that the items "afraid of going crazy," "feeling unsteady," and "feeling paralyzed" on the Panic Description Scale had the highest predicting values.

Adolescent

Plasma MHPG levels in lactate and isoproterenol anxiety states.

It has been claimed that an increase in brain noradrenergic activity plays a role in panic disorder and that enhanced noradrenergic activity may be reflected by plasma levels of MHPG. We investigated plasma MHPG levels in panic disorder patients at baseline and during lactate- and isoproterenol-induced anxiety states. These infusions and 5% dextrose infusions were given to 10 panic disorder patients and 9 healthy control subjects. Each subject received all three infusions, double-blind, in random order, and at 1-week intervals. When compared to controls, plasma free MHPG levels in panic patients were not elevated at baseline, during lactate or isoproterenol infusions, at the point of panic, or up to 20 min after the onset of panic. MHPG values were also not elevated in subjects who panicked compared to those who did not. MHPG values were significantly lower in three patients who failed to panic with isoproterenol, but the patient panickers had MHPG values similar to those of controls. Significant correlations between MHPG levels and anxiety ratings were infrequent and could be accounted for by chance alone. These results did not support the noradrenergic model for panic anxiety states induced by lactate or isoproterenol.

Adult