Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

J R Beck

Publications and source records attributed to J R Beck.

144 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

Citation analysis of the field of medical decision making: update, 1959-1985.

This article updates a prior citation analysis of medical decision making, published in this journal in 1984. Building on the original core list, decision making papers were added based on any of three criteria: citation of three papers already on the list, identification by a MEDLINE search (CATLINE for books) as relevant to the topic, or mention in a recent review article on decision analysis. The revised core list contains 105 articles and five books. The changes in the field of medical decision making from 1978 to 1981 are reviewed, and key areas of development are identified by co-citation clustering.

Bibliographies as Topic↗

Mediastinal staging in non-small-cell lung cancer.

Decision analysis was used to study the approach to staging mediastinal involvement in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Various diagnostic strategies for mediastinal disease staging using computed tomography (CT), mediastinoscopy, and bronchoscopy with transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA), either individually or in series, were compared and found to result in similar patient life expectancies. Two strategies, one using bronchoscopy and TBNA alone and the other using it in combination with CT, were consistently least expensive across a wide range of prior probabilities, test characteristics, and charges. The authors conclude that strategies for staging mediastinal involvement in NSCLC that rely on bronchoscopy and TBNA are preferable because they are least expensive.

Bronchoscopy↗

Decision-making studies in patient management: twenty years later.

This article surveys the contribution of decision analysis to diagnosis and treatment in medicine, beginning with a review of Dr. Lee B. Lusted's 1971 paper, "Decision-making studies in patient management." From this beginning methods of decision analysis were developed that were particularly appropriate to medical problems. The author reviews the effects of Dr. Lusted's interests in the field on subsequent research and publications, and critiques prophetic statements found in the early paper.

Clinical Protocols↗

Markov models in medical decision making: a practical guide.

Markov models are useful when a decision problem involves risk that is continuous over time, when the timing of events is important, and when important events may happen more than once. Representing such clinical settings with conventional decision trees is difficult and may require unrealistic simplifying assumptions. Markov models assume that a patient is always in one of a finite number of discrete health states, called Markov states. All events are represented as transitions from one state to another. A Markov model may be evaluated by matrix algebra, as a cohort simulation, or as a Monte Carlo simulation. A newer representation of Markov models, the Markov-cycle tree, uses a tree representation of clinical events and may be evaluated either as a cohort simulation or as a Monte Carlo simulation. The ability of the Markov model to represent repetitive events and the time dependence of both probabilities and utilities allows for more accurate representation of clinical settings that involve these issues.

Adult↗

Management of unruptured intracranial aneurysm in Japan: a Markovian decision analysis with utility measurements based on the Glasgow Outcome Scale.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the management of individual patients with unruptured intracranial aneurysms (UN-ANs) using a decision-analytic approach. Transition probabilities among Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) categories were estimated from the published literature and data from patients who had been treated at Kitasato University Hospital. Utilities were obtained from 140 health providers based principally on the GOS. Baseline analysis for a healthy 40-year-old man with an anterior UN-AN less than 10 mm in diameter showed that the quality-adjusted life expectancies for preventive operation and follow-up were 15.34 and 14.66 years, respectively. For a follow-up strategy to be preferred, the annual rupture rate had to be as low as 0.9%. These results were sustained through extensive sensitivity analysis. The results support preventive operation for UN-ANs, and identify problems that can be clarified with a well-designed stratified clinical trial.

Adult↗

The danger of applying group-level utilities in decision analyses of the treatment of localized prostate cancer in individual patients.

The optimal management strategy for men who have localized prostate cancer remains controversial. This study examines the extent to which suggested treatment based on the perspective of a group or society agrees with that derived from individual patients' preferences. A previously published decision analysis for localized prostate cancer was used to suggest the treatment that maximized quality-adjusted life expectancy. Two treatment recommendations were obtained for each patient: the first (group-level) was derived using the mean utilities of the cohort; the second (individual-level) used his own set of utilities. Group-level utilities misrepresented 25-48% of individuals' preferences depending on the grade of tumor modeled. The best kappa measure achieved between group and individual preferences was 0.11. The average quality-adjusted life years lost due to misrepresentation of preference was as high as 1.7 quality-adjusted life years. Use of aggregated utilities in a group-level decision analysis can ignore the substantial variability at the individual level. Caution is needed when applying a group-level recommendation to the treatment of localized prostate cancer in an individual patient.

Aged↗

Fatal encephalitis and myocarditis in young domestic geese (Anser anser domesticus) caused by West Nile virus.

During 1999 and 2000, a disease outbreak of West Nile (WN) virus occurred in humans, horses, and wild and zoological birds in the northeastern USA. In our experiments, WN virus infection of young domestic geese (Anser anser domesticus) caused depression, weight loss, torticollis, opisthotonus, and death with accompanying encephalitis and myocarditis. Based on this experimental study and a field outbreak in Israel, WN virus is a disease threat to young goslings and viremia levels are potentially sufficient to infect mosquitoes and transmit WN virus to other animal species.

Animals↗

Flow cytometric DNA analysis.

Flow cytometric DNA analysis, including principles, techniques, and applications, is reviewed. Flow cytometry, a relatively recently developed technology, is being increasingly used in the diagnosis and treatment of a wide variety of benign and malignant diseases. Current major applications include phenotypic analysis of cells, cell sorting, and DNA analysis. DNA analysis by flow cytometry is rapid, reliable, and reproducible. Flow cytometric DNA analysis offers a quick, reliable method of analyzing cellular DNA content capable of identifying cell populations with abnormalities in total DNA content.

Aneuploidy↗

Failure of a recombinant fowl poxvirus vaccine containing an avian influenza hemagglutinin gene to provide consistent protection against influenza in chickens preimmunized with a fowl pox vaccine.

Vaccines against mildly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) have been used in turkeys within the United States as part of a comprehensive control strategy. Recently, AI vaccines have been used in control programs against highly pathogenic (HP) AI of chickens in Pakistan and Mexico. A recombinant fowl pox-AI hemagglutinin subtype (H) 5 gene insert vaccine has been shown to protect specific-pathogen-free chickens from HP H5 AI virus (AIV) challenge and has been licensed by the USDA for emergency use. The ability of the recombinant fowl pox vaccine to protect chickens preimmunized against fowl pox is unknown. In the current study, broiler breeders (BB) and white leghorn (WL) pullets vaccinated with a control fowl poxvirus vaccine (FP-C) and/or a recombinant fowl poxvirus vaccine containing an H5 hemagglutinin gene insert (FP-HA) were challenged with a HP H5N2 AIV isolated from chickens in Mexico. When used alone, the FP-HA vaccine protected BB and WL chickens from lethal challenge, but when given as a secondary vaccine after a primary FP-C immunization, protection against a HP AIV challenge was inconsistent. Both vaccines protected against virulent fowl pox challenge. This lack of consistent protection against HPAI may limit use to chickens without previous fowl pox vaccinations. In addition, prior exposure to field fowl poxvirus could be expected to limit protection induced by this vaccine.

Animals↗

Pathogenicity of West Nile virus for turkeys.

In the fall of 1999, West Nile virus (WNV) was isolated during an outbreak of neurologic disease in humans, horses, and wild and zoological birds in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey. Turkeys could potentially be a large reservoir for WNV because of the high-density turkey farming and the presence of large wild turkey populations in the eastern seaboard of the United States. Little is known about the pathogenicity of WNV in domestic or wild turkeys. Specific-pathogen-free 3-wk-old turkeys were inoculated subcutaneously with 10(3.3) mean tissue culture infective doses of a WNV strain isolated fromthe index case in a New York crow. No clinical signs were observed in the turkeys over the 21 days of the experiment. One turkey died abruptly at 8 days postinoculation (DPI). Many turkeys developed viremia between 2 and 10 DPI, but the average level of virus was very low, less than needed to efficiently infect mosquitos. Low levels of WNV were detected in feces on 4 and 7 DPI, but no virus was isolated from oropharyngeal swabs. WNV wasnot transmitted from WNV-inoculated to contact-exposed turkeys. All WNV-inoculated poults seroconverted on 7 DPI. In the turkey that died, WNV was not isolated from intestine, myocardium, brain, kidney, or cloacal and oropharyngeal swabs, but sparse viral antigen was demonstrated by immunohistochemistry in the heart and spleen. Turkeys in contact with WNV-inoculated turkeys and sham-inoculated controls lacked WNV specific antibodies,and WNV was not isolated from plasma and cloacal and oropharyngeal swabs. These data suggest that WNV lacks the potential to be a major new disease of turkeys and that turkeys will not be a significant amplifying host for infecting mosquitos.

Animals↗

Efficacy of vaccines in chickens against highly pathogenic Hong Kong H5N1 avian influenza.

In 1997, highly pathogenic (HP) H5N1 avian influenza virus (AIV) caused infections in poultry in Hong Kong and crossed into humans, resulting in a limited number of infections including 18 hospitalized cases and six associated deaths. The unique ability of this, AIV to infect both poultry and people raised a concern for the potential of humans to be biological as well as mechanical vectors of this AIV to poultry. The current study was undertaken to determine if existing vaccines and their technologies could be used during an outbreak to protect poultry. Commercial and experimental inactivated whole H5 AIV and baculovirus-expressed AIV H5 hemagglurinin protein vaccines provided protection from clinical signs and death in chickens after lethal challenge by human-origin HP H5N1 Hong Kong strains 156/97 and 483/97. The commercial and experimental inactivated vaccines had mean protective doses ranging from 0.25 to 0.89, which represents the milligrams of viral protein in the vaccines that provided protection from death in half of the birds. Furthermore, the vaccines reduced the ability of the challenge AIV to replicate in chickens and decreased the recovery of challenge AIV from the enteric and respiratory tracts, but the use of a vaccine will nor totally prevent AI virus replication and shedding. Existing vaccines will protect poultry from mortality and reduce virus replication from the new HP AIV strain that can infect both poultry and humans.

Animals↗

Desaturated venous-to-arterial shunting reduces right-sided heart failure after cardiopulmonary bypass.

BACKGROUND: Right-sided circulatory failure is a major cause of morbidity in heart transplant and ventricular assist device recipients. METHODS: Several systems for managing right-sided circulatory failure with use of a right-to-left shunt without need for an oxygenator or systemic heparinization were designed and used clinically. RESULTS: A right-to-left shunt was successfully used to treat severe right-sided circulatory failure in both a transplant and a left ventricular assist device recipient. CONCLUSIONS: If constructed between the femoral vein and artery, such a shunt could (1) be easily inserted and removed, (2) selectively infuse the lower extremities with desaturated blood while maintaining cerebral and cardiac perfusion with saturated blood, (3) selectively reduce the risk of paradoxical emboli to the head and heart, and (4) provide a known and adjustable degree of shunting depending on the condition of the patient, a major advantage of this system compared with creation of an atrial septal defect.

Cardiopulmonary Bypass↗

Assessment of the ability of ratite-origin influenza viruses to infect and produce disease in rheas and chickens.

Pathobiologic characteristics were determined for three mildly pathogenic (MP) ratite-origin avian influenza viruses (AIVs). Ratite-origin AIVs produced respiratory disease in rheas, and virus was reisolated from oropharyngeal and cloacal swabs on days 2-6 postinoculation. Inoculation of two ratite-origin AIVs in the upper respiratory tract of chickens resulted in viral infections, but the mean chicken infectious dose (CID50) for A/emu/Texas/39924/93 (H5N2) (Emu/Texas) virus was 500-fold lower than the CID50 for the A/rhea/North Carolina/39482/93 (H7N1) virus. In ovo and in vivo passage of the MP parent Emu/Texas isolate resulted in emergence of a highly pathogenic (HP) variant that had high plaquing efficiency in chicken embryo fibroblast cultures and was highly lethal in chicken pathotyping tests. This variant virus produced gross lesions in chickens similar to those reported for other HP AIVs. These findings demonstrated that ratite-origin AIVs can produce significant clinical disease in rheas and have a realistic potential for interspecies transmission to domestic poultry. Furthermore, HP variants can emerge from MP H5 ratite-origin AIVs if introduced and allowed to circulate in chicken populations.

Animals↗

Efficacy of recombinant fowl poxvirus vaccine in protecting chickens against a highly pathogenic Mexican-origin H5N2 avian influenza virus.

Internationally and nationally, governments and the poultry industries have used various strategies to control avian influenza (AI), ranging from a minimum of living with mildly pathogenic AI virus (AIV) infections to the other extreme of implementing a total quarantine-slaughter approach for eradication of highly pathogenic (HP) forms of the disease. However, recent economic considerations in various countries have prompted a broader reevaluation of vaccination as one of several tools to be used in AI control programs, including H5 and H7 HP AI. In the current study, 1-day-old chickens were immunized with a recombinant fowl poxvirus vaccine containing a hemagglutinin gene insert (Vector-HA) from an H5 AIV. Vector-HA- and negative control (vector-control)-vaccinated chicks were challenged with a HP H5N2 AIV isolated from chickens in Mexico. All immunized chickens were antibody negative on the agar gel precipitin test, indicating that vaccination would not interfere with routine AI serologic surveillance programs in the United States. However, in the hemagglutinin-inhibition test, a few immunized chickens (8%) had low serologic titers. Protection against illness (90-100%) and death (90-100%) was provided by the vector-HA vaccine from 3 wk of age to the end of the 20-wk study. The number of chickens shedding the challenge AIV from their enteric tracts was significantly reduced (50-75%) and the quantity of challenge AIV shed from respiratory and enteric tracts was significantly reduced (10(1)-10(2.1) mean embryo lethal dose/ml) in most vector-HA vaccine groups when compared with vector-control groups. Furthermore, vector-HA vaccination reduced in contact transmission of HP AI challenge virus to both vector-HA- and vector-control-vaccinated chickens. These findings indicate the recombinant fowl poxvirus vaccine can be a useful tool in an AI control program by preventing illness and death in chickens and reducing intestinal and respiratory shedding of H5 AIV. However, for an AI control program to be successful, enhanced biosecurity and surveillance must be practiced, and the vaccine's use must be controlled by an industry and/or government task force.

Animals↗