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Biomedical subjects

J Russ

Publications and source records attributed to J Russ.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

Cost-effectiveness of venlafaxine XL compared with diazepam in the treatment of generalised anxiety disorder in the United Kingdom.

This study used decision modelling to compare the cost-effectiveness of venlafaxine XL (Efexor XL) to that of diazepam to treat non-depressed patients suffering from generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), from the perspective of the United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS). Starting treatment with venlafaxine XL instead of diazepam significantly increased the expected probability of being in remission by 83% at 6 months (from 16.8% to 30.7%), and the expected probability of relapsing at 6 months was decreased by 79% (from 16.9% to 3.5%). The expected 6-month NHS cost of using venlafaxine XL to treat GAD was estimated to be pounds sterling 353 compared to pounds sterling 311 with diazepam. Hence starting GAD treatment with venlafaxine XL (75 mg per day) instead of diazepam (5 mg three times per day) is clinically more effective and the cost-effective strategy for managing non-depressed patients suffering from GAD in the UK.

Anti-Anxiety Agents↗

Observation of a narrow charm-strange meson D(+)(sJ)(2632)-->D(+)(s)eta and D(0)K(+).

We report the first observation of a charm-strange meson D(+)(sJ)(2632) at a mass of 2632.5+/-1.7 MeV/c(2) in data from SELEX, the charm hadro-production experiment E781 at Fermilab. This state is seen in two decay modes, D(+)(s)eta and D0K+. In the D(+)(s)eta decay mode we observe a peak with 101 events over a combinatoric background of 54.9 events at a mass of 2635.4+/-3.3 MeV/c(2). There is a corresponding peak of 21 events over a background of 6.9 at 2631.5+/-2.0 MeV/c(2) in the decay mode D0K+. The decay width of this state is <17 MeV/c(2) at 90% confidence level. The relative branching ratio Gamma(D0K+)/Gamma(D(+)(s)eta) is 0.14+/-0.06. The mechanism that keeps this state narrow is unclear. Its decay pattern is also unusual, being dominated by the D(+)(s)eta decay mode.

Journal Article↗

First observation of the doubly charmed baryon Xi(+)(cc).

We observe a signal for the doubly charmed baryon Xi(+)(cc) in the charged decay mode Xi(+)(cc)-->Lambda(+)(c)K-pi(+) in data from SELEX, the charm hadroproduction experiment at Fermilab. We observe an excess of 15.9 events over an expected background of 6.1+/-0.5 events, a statistical significance of 6.3sigma. The observed mass of this state is 3519+/-1 MeV/c(2). The Gaussian mass width of this state is 3 MeV/c(2), consistent with resolution; its lifetime is less than 33 fs at 90% confidence.

Journal Article↗

Precision measurements of the lambda(+)(c) and D0 lifetimes.

We report new precision measurements of the lifetimes of the Lambda(+)(c) and D0 from SELEX, the charm hadroproduction experiment at Fermilab. Based upon 1630 Lambda(+)(c) and 10 210 D0 decays we observe lifetimes of tau[Lambda(+)(c)] = 198.1+/-7.0+/-5.6 fs and tau[D0] = 407.9+/-6.0+/-4.3 fs.

Journal Article↗

Physical activity related energy expenditure in children by doubly labeled water as compared with the Caltrac accelerometer.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine whether the Caltrac accelerometer was a meaningful predictor of physical activity related energy expenditure (AEE) in free-living, pre-adolescent children. SUBJECTS: The sample consisted of 31 children (14 girls, 17 boys; 22 Caucasian, 9 Mohawk) with a mean age of 8.3 (+/- 2.0) y. MEASUREMENTS: AEE was measured by subtracting postprandial resting metabolic rate (RMR), measured via indirect calorimetry, from total daily energy expenditure (TDEE), derived from the doubly labeled water (DLW) method. Average daily activity counts (AC) were measured using a Caltrac accelerometer, which was worn for three days, two weekdays and one weekend day, within the DLW dosing period. RESULTS: AEE was related to gender (r = 0.42, P = 0.02), fat mass (FM, r = 0.32; P = 0.07), and fat free mass (FFM, r = 0.32; P = 0.07), but not to AC (r = -0.09; P = 0.63). After adjusting for gender, race, FM and FFM using multiple correlation regression analysis (R = 0.53), AC did not significantly increase the amount of variation explained in AEE. An estimate of the calories expended in physical activity was derived from AC using a formula developed by Sallis et al. This estimate was significantly higher than AEE (956 kcal/d vs 469 kcal/d, respectively, t = 5.9, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The Caltrac was not a meaningful predictor of AEE in our sample. The caloric estimates of energy expended in physical activity derived from the Caltrac AC, were significantly higher in comparison with measured AEE in these free-living children.

Asian People↗

Kinetics of peritoneal dialysis in children: role of lymphatics.

Intraperitoneal fluid is absorbed continuously by convective flow into the peritoneal cavity lymphatics. We evaluated the role of lymphatic absorption in the kinetics of peritoneal dialysis during standardized four hour exchanges in six children using 40 ml/kg of 2.5% dextrose dialysis solution. Cumulative lymphatic absorption averaged 10.4 +/- 1.6 ml/kg and reduced the total net transcapillary ultrafiltration during the dwell time by 73 +/- 10%. Due to the considerable lymphatic absorption rate, maximum intraperitoneal volume was observed before osmolar equilibrium. Extrapolated to four study exchanges per day, lymphatic absorption decreased the potential daily drain volumes in the children by 27 +/- 5% and daily peritoneal urea and creatinine clearances by 24 +/- 4% and 22 +/- 5%, respectively. Compared with four hour exchanges using two liters of 2.5% dextrose dialysis solution in 10 adult CAPD patients with average peritoneal transport, the children had more rapid equilibration of urea, greater absorption of dialysate glucose, higher lymphatic absorption and lower net ultrafiltration (P less than 0.01 to P less than 0.05). Lymphatic absorption therefore causes a relatively greater reduction in net ultrafiltration and solute clearances in children than in adults.

Adolescent↗

[Effectiveness of bronchial lavage with a new double-lumen catheter].

The effectiveness of tracheobronchial lavage in the traditional manner with application of a rinsing solution into the endotracheal tube of artificially ventilated patients is unsatisfactory. In order to improve this a new double lumen catheter was developed. Beside the suction channel with a normal diameter is another very small channel, through which a rinsing solution or drugs can easily be applied endobronchially. The rinsing solution can be poured with high speed through this small channel into the peripheral bronchi. In comparison with the traditional method, endobronchial saline instillation and suctioning can be done more quickly during continuous artificial respiration. The tube was compared with a common suction catheter in 16 patients. These patients were intubated and given artificial respiration. Endobronchial rinsing and suctioning were done periodically. The suctioned bronchial secretion was measured and arterial blood gases were evaluated. Using the dual lumen probe, the suctioned volume was 3.8 times higher. In a short time the arterial oxygen pressure rose from 100% to 123%. An obvious improvement in ventilation could be seen even after 1 h. There was a positive correlation between the suctioned volume and the rise in oxygen pressure. Only suctioning of more than 3.7 ml was accompanied by a rise in the arterial oxygen pressure. Because of continuous artificial respiration, the arterial carbon dioxide pressure was kept constant. Therefore, there is a catheter available that makes it possible to perform a much more effective endobronchial lavage in a shorter period of time.

Aged↗

To write "like a woman": transformations of identity in the work of Willa Cather.

Willa Cather's early life resembles one of the histories in Jonathan Katz's Gay American History. Her cross-dressing, invention of a male pseudonym, and details of behavior, together with her love for two women in her adulthood, Isabelle McClung and Edith Lewis, make it clear that Cather was a lesbian. Defensive about One of Ours, Cather nonetheless wrote much of her fiction in a male persona--A Lost Lady, The Professor's House, "Tom Outland's Story," Death Comes to the Archbishop, O Pioneers!, My Antonia, and One of Ours, as well as numerous short stories. Much of the fictional material in these works is curiously inconsistent with the male persona, but instead resembles lesbian experiences: the inaccessibility (to the narrator) of women who are nonetheless accessible to other men, absolute heartbreak at the untouchability of the women rather than anger or guilt or the search for sexual release elsewhere, and the women's intimacy with the men involved, as in One of Ours or O Pioneers!, without any suggestion of sexual involvement or explicit sexual history. Lesbian isolation, in adolescence at any rate, produces such situations; Carson McCullers's and some of May Sarton's work are cases in point. Speaking in masquerade, Cather is capable of describing lesbian experience with a fullness and unconsciousness which is now impossible. Innocence gave way to guilty self-consciousness, and that to politically conscious rebellion. The gain is in honesty, but Cather's record of lesbian experience, under whatever disguise, is nonetheless irreplaceable.

Famous Persons↗

Aspartate carbamoyltransferase activity, drug concentrations, and pyrimidine nucleotides in tissue from patients treated with N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartate.

Biopsy specimens were obtained from patients treated with N-(phosphonacetyl)-L-aspartate (PALA) in a phase I clinical trial. Activities of aspartate carbamoyltransferase (ACTase), the target enzyme, in ten specimens before treatment varied from 0.4 to 1.7 units/mg. PALA was measured in protein-free extracts of thirteen specimens by inhibition of rat ACTase. At 1.5 to 145 hr after doses of 1 to 6 g/m2, PALA concentrations were 0.9 to 89 micrograms/g; at 4 hr or later the tissue concentrations were similar to those in plasma (five samples). The observed inhibition of ACTase (17-87%) correlated with the PALA concentrations. Pyrimidine nucleotides were decreased (relative to purine nucleotides) in nine to ten specimens, by 16-72%. ACTase partially purified from human spleen had a Km for carbamoyl phosphate of 20.6 microM and the Ki for PALA was 0.011 microM. The results suggest that inhibition of ACTase by PALA affects the concentration of pyrimidine nucleotides in human tumors in a dose-dependent manner.

Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic↗

Glycosylated hemoglobins and diabetes mellitus in pregnancy.

The glycosylated hemoglobins (HA1) were measured in the blood of normal nonpregnant (n = 50) and pregnant (n = 29) volunteers and pregnant diabetic patients (n = 21). HA1 in normal pregnancy (6.7% +/- 1.03%) did not differ significantly from values in nonpregnancy (7.5% +/- 0.73%) and did not vary with the stage of gestation. HA1 was increased in diabetic pregnancy (8.4+ +/- 2.15%) and was positively correlated with serial fasting blood sugar (FBS) mean values in samples drawn up to 16 weeks (r = 0.57) prior to the measurement of HA1, although the highest correlation (r = 0.73, p less than 0.001) was with FBS levels over the prior 8 weeks. A large standard error of the estimate (26.9 mg/100 ml) showed HA1 to be insensitive as an indicator of prior FBS. There was a large overlap of HA1 from known diabetic patients with the normal range for pregnancy. There was no correlation of third-trimester HA1 and newborn birth weight. It was concluded that (1) normal pregnancy does not alter HA1; (2) HA1 is proportional to prior mean FBS; (3) marked elevations of HA1 (greater than 10%) reliably predict poor diabetic control, but HA1 is not useful for fine control of FBS; (4) HA1 is not useful as a screen for diabetes mellitus; (5) HA1 is not predictive of newborn birth weight.

Birth Weight↗