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Biomedical subjects

J Wilson

Publications and source records attributed to J Wilson.

At least 973 records · Page 54Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Fenestration of the Fontan circuit as treatment for plastic bronchitis.

Plastic bronchitis is a rare, potentially life-threatening condition in which protein casts form within and occlude the bronchus, resulting in pulmonary failure, and has been identified as a complication after the Fontan procedure. We present a case of a 5-year-old girl who had undergone an extracardiac fenestrated Fontan repair as a component of staged palliation for tricuspid atresia. Six weeks following surgery, the patient presented with airway obstruction, coughing a bronchial cast. Medical therapies to optimize heart function and attempt to control cast formation were implemented, with little clinical impact. Following cardiac catheterization to stent open the fenestration, the symptoms of plastic bronchitis resolved. Cast expectoration recurred following spontaneous closure of the stented fenestration and again resolved with recreation of the baffle defect. Fenestration of the Fontan circuit alters hemodynamics, thereby providing an additional therapeutic option for this devastating disorder.

Airway Obstruction↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of low cobalamin diet and chronic cyanide toxicity in baboons.

The effects of a low cobalamin (Cbl) diet, together with chronic cyanide or thiocyanate administration in some animals have been investigated in baboons over a period of 42 months. All animals remained healthy throughout the study and gained weight at a similar rate. None became anaemic or showed major haematological changes and there were no major neurological changes. Plasma total Cbl in the animals on the low Cbl diet fell within 9 months to values below the lower limit in man and were lowest at 24 months in baboons not receiving cyanide or thiocyanate. A striking feature in all animals, however, was an apparently seasonal increase in the plasma total Cbl each autumn with a corresponding decrease the following spring. This fluctuation was detected by radioisotopic assay but not by Euglena. Methylmalonic (MMA) excretion after oral valine ranged from 0.1--8.4 mg/24 h and was greatest in animals on the low Cbl diet and not receiving cyanide or thiocyanate. The results suggested an inverse relationship between MMA excretion and plasma total Cbl. Plasma thiocyanate was consistently higher in animals receiving cyanide or thiocyanate and at the end of the study plasma cyanide was highest in animals on the low Cbl diet receiving cyanide. The results support the suggestions that cyanide affects bodily handling of Cbl and that hydroxo-cobalamin plays a part in detoxication of cyanide.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Glycoprotein glycosyltransferases in male reproductive organs and their hormonal regulation.

The prostate glands of rats, mice, guinea pigs and hamsters were found to be a rich source of enzymes catalyzing the Mn2+-dependent transfer of galactose from UDP-galactose to glycoprotein acceptors such as ovomucoid and ovalbumin. The ventral prostate was also very active in promoting transfer of fucose from GDP-fucose to ovomucoid. The prostatic enzymes promoting both galactosyl and fucosyl transfers to glycoproteins were very largely membrane-bound, and were markedly activated by the non-ionic detergent Triton X-100. Castration of adult male resulted in a many-fold and roughly parallel decline in both glycosyltransferase activities over a period of two weeks, which was reversed by subsequent daily treatment with testosterone for 8 days. The very low galactosyltransferase of the ventral prostate of hypophysectomized rats was markedly enhanced by testosterone administration, whereas prolactin alone or in combination with androgen had no significant effect.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A study of mastitis bacteria and herd management practices to identify their relationship to high somatic cell counts in bulk tank milk.

Thirty dairy herds, selected to cover a wide range of bulk tank somatic cell count (BTSCC) values, were used to study the relationship between the levels of the principal species of mastitis-causing bacteria, herd management practices and the BTSCC. A good correlation was found between the number of mastitis streptococci (Streptococcus agalactiae, S. dysgalactiae and S. uberis) found in bulk tank milk and the BTSCC. Staphylococcus aureus was less significantly correlated to BTSCC, but was of increasing importance in borderline BTSCC herds, where lower excretion levels into milk were unlikely to trigger hygiene penalties and so alert producers to the presence of a significant mastitis problem. High BTSCC herds had significantly lower yields and were less likely to use a post-milking teat dip or to have a regular programme of milking machine maintenance or automatic cluster removal. These herds also tended to buy in replacements rather than breed their own. Overall the management of high BTSCC herds showed less commitment to implementing mastitis control procedures than herds with a consistently low BTSCC.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Medicare managed care: consumers' perspectives.

The 1997 CareData survey of members of Medicare risk health maintenance organizations (HMOs) measured the degree of satisfaction of Medicare managed care members with emphasis on pharmacy-related issues and specific disease treatment perceptions. The survey was a 12-page, self-administered questionnaire assessing more than 150 issues; it was distributed to 23,140 known enrollees of Medicare risk HMOs by their former employers between May and July 1997. A total of 12,265 Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in more than 70 major health plans in 23 US geographic markets completed and returned their questionnaires (response rate, 53%). The pharmacy benefit was cited by 75% of the respondents as the reason for joining their plan; 81% of the respondents reported being highly satisfied with the pharmacy benefit overall, with regional variations from a low of 60% to a high of 82%. The issues driving enrollees' satisfaction after being in their plan for a minimum of 6 months and a mean length of slightly more than 3 years were: satisfaction with customer service and plan administration (11.6% explained variance); the plan's concern for the member's well-being (10.6%); the belief that the care improved the member's health and well-being (9.2%); satisfaction with choice of specialists (5.3%); satisfaction with the pharmacy plan (5.1%); and satisfaction with the primary care physician (4.8%). Significant variations were seen among regions, plans, and the self-reported health status of the respondents.

Consumer Behavior↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Mental health services in New Zealand.

The development and reorganization of mental health services in New Zealand is underpinned by a national strategy, with increased funding from the government, and is occurring on a background of radical change in health service policy and delivery. The major challenge will be to sustain the developments to date, and increase the quality and quantity of services in a climate of ongoing change. A more integrated form of service delivery and funding would potentially enhance the development of population-based mental health services, which will allow the alignment of targeting specialty service to the 3% of the population with the highest need, with a more comprehensive approach to overall mental health service through the primary sector.

Cost Control↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Cyanide in human disease: a review of clinical and laboratory evidence.

Experimental cyanide exposure in animals causes demyelination and circumstantial clinical and laboratory evidence suggest that there are human parallels. In Leber's hereditary optic atrophy there appears to be a defect in the conversion of cyanide to thiocyanate because of deficient rhodanese activity. For transmitters of the disease smoking carries the risk of blindness and in the most severely affected patients, there is diffuse neurological disease. It is possible that other hereditary optic atrophies (dominant and recessive) may also reflect inborn errors of cyanide metabolism. In the retrobulbar neuritis and optic atrophy of vitamin B12 deficiency there may be a conditional abnormality of cyanide metabolism in smokers, and likewise in so-called tobacco-alcohol amblyopia in which there are more complex nutritional deficiencies. Epidemiological evidence (differing sex ratios, excess of smokers) indicates that defective cyanide metabolism may contribute to the development of sub-acute combined degeneration of the cord in vitamin B12 deficiency. In protein-malnourished populations consuming large amounts of cyanide or cyanogens, viz. in tropical Africa where the staple diet includes cassava containing large amounts of linamarin, similar maladies occur as acquired disorders. There may be a similar explanation for lathyrism. The known pathways of human cyanide metabolism are reviewed and evidence supporting the clinical data is presented.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Anesthetic management of a parturient with an incompletely resected cerebral arteriovenous malformation.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The anesthetic, neurosurgical, and obstetric literature regarding management of parturients with intracranial arteriovenous malformations is relatively sparse. A case report is given of a parturient, with a recent subtotal resection of a cerebral arteriovenous malformation, who presented for delivery of a viable male fetus. METHODS: The patient was scheduled for an elective labor induction, with early epidural analgesia advocated as a strategy to minimize the cardiovascular changes of labor and prevent involuntary Valsalva maneuvers. An elective instrumental delivery was planned when the fetal head had descended appropriately. RESULTS: Epidural analgesia was initiated when the patient reached 3 cm cervical dilation and provided excellent labor analgesia. After a passive fetal descent during the second stage of labor, Luikart-Simpson forceps were used to facilitate this stage. The newborn Apgar score was 9 at both 1 and 5 minutes after delivery. Both the patient and the infant have done well. CONCLUSIONS: The available obstetric and neurosurgical literature does not offer firm recommendations for the optimal route of fetal delivery or the timing of neurosurgical resection of an arteriovenous malformation in the parturient. Anesthetic management is predicated on the principles of minimizing the cardiovascular changes of labor and preventing involuntary Valsalva maneuvers during the second stage of labor. Both of these goals are readily accomplished with epidural anesthesia.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Australian nurses' personal constructs about effective nurses--a repertory grid approach.

Repertory grids were completed by nurses (N = 56) enrolled in university courses to elicit the personal constructs they used to characterize nurses as effective and to elicit the extent to which participants believed themselves to be effective nurses. The personal constructs of "good knowledge base," "good interpersonal and communication skills," were ranked, respectively, as the four most frequently elicited constructs associated with nurses. "Good knowledge base," "caring, compassionate," "good clinical skills," and "good decision-making and problem-solving skills" were ranked, respectively, as the four most frequently elicited constructs associated with "effective" nurses. Cluster analysis of individual repertory grids showed that there was a significant difference between self-perceptions of participants as effective nurses and the nurses they would like to become.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The mutagenicity and interactions of 2- and 4-(acetylamino)fluorene with cytochrome P450 and the aromatic hydrocarbon receptor may explain the difference in their carcinogenic potency.

A study has been undertaken to identify the properties of 2-(acetylamino)fluorene which render it carcinogenic, in contrast to the 4-isomer, the carcinogenic potential of which is, at best, very weak. Compared to the 4-isomer, 2-(acetylamino)fluorene was a more potent inducer of cytochrome P450 1A (P450 1A) activity, as exemplified by the O-deethylation of ethoxyresorufin (P450 1A1), the metabolic activation of Glu-P-1 (P450 1A2), and immunoblot analysis. These findings were consistent with the relative affinity of these compounds for the cytosolic aromatic hydrocarbon receptor, determined by the displacement of tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin. In the presence of Aroclor 1254-induced hepatic microsomal and cytosolic preparations 2-(acetylamino)-fluorene elicited a potent mutagenic response in the Ames test whereas the 4-isomer, in both cases, elicited a weak mutagenic response. Molecular orbital calculations of the relative energetics of the nitrenium ions revealed that the ion of the 2-isomer was more stable than the nitrenium ion of 4-(acetylamino)fluorene. Control hepatic microsomal and cytosolic fractions could activate 2-(acetylamino)fluorene to mutagens in the Ames test. Pretreatment of animals with 2-(acetylamino)fluorene enhanced both the microsome- and cytosol-mediated activation. In contrast, microsomal and cytosolic fractions from control animals could not activate 4-(acetylamino)fluorene, but following pretreatment with the compound itself, a weak mutagenic response in the presence of microsomes, but not of cytosol, was evident.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

2-Acetylaminofluorene↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Psychometrics for two short forms of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale.

The Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CES-D; L. S. Radloff, 1977) assesses the presence and severity of depressive symptoms occurring over the past week. Although it contains only 20 items, its length may preclude its use in a variety of clinical populations. This study evaluated psychometric properties of 2 shorter forms of the CES-D developed by F. J. Kohout, L. F. Berkman, D. A. Evans, and J. Cornoni-Huntley (1993): the Iowa form and the Boston form. Data were pooled from 832 women representing 6 populations. Internal consistency estimates, correlations with the original version of the CES-D, and omitted-included item correlations supported use of the Iowa form over the Boston form when a shortened version of the scale is desired. Regression statistics are provided for use in estimating scores on the original CES-D when either shortened form is used. Factor analytic results from two populations support a single-factor structure for the original CES-D as well as the short forms.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Prediction of body density from skinfold thickness in elderly subjects: are the existing equations valid?

In 33 healthy elderly subjects, body density was measured using hydrodensitometry and predicted from the sum of four skinfold thicknesses. In the men, mean measured density was 1.045 kg/l and mean predicted density 1.041 kg/l, with bias and limits of agreement 0.004 (+/- 0.016) kg/l and 95% confidence interval (CI) for the difference 0.001-0.008 kg/l. In the women, mean measured density was 1.012 kg/l and mean predicted density 1.020 kg/l, and 95% CI for the difference was -0.016-0.000 kg/l. The bias was therefore in the opposite direction in women than men, and limits of agreement were wider (-0.008 +/- 0.030 kg/l) in the women. Biases in prediction of density lead to systematic error in estimation of body fatness in elderly subjects, and this systematic error is more likely to be of practical significance in women than men.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Preparative electrofocusing for industrial applications.

This paper presents a case study of using a multicompartment isoelectric focusing apparatus to determine the isoelectric points and focus preparative quantities of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and neurotrophic factor 3 (NT3). A separation of PEGylated from unPEGylated forms of granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) is described as well. Both BDNF and NT3 have substantially higher pI values in this system than is predicted from sequenced based modeling. Although PEGylated forms of G-CSF can be separated from the unPEGylated forms, separation of protein with differing degrees of PEGylation was not achieved. The paper additionally demonstrates that this technique can be used simultaneously as an analytical and preparative tool, eliminating the need for analytical IEF gels.

Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor↗