Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

James Johnson

Publications and source records attributed to James Johnson.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2002

The Management Academy for Public Health: a new paradigm for public health management development.

Research has established a need to develop management skills among public health professionals. The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill created the Management Academy for Public Health as a pilot program for this specialized training need. This article describes why a management academy for public health managers was formed, its curriculum and instructional methods, and the evaluation findings from its first year. The program sponsors hope to effect individual and organization level change, eventually leading to improved community health. Results suggest that this innovative program gives public health professionals needed skills and improves their job performance.

Curriculum↗
PubMed2002

Acyclovir cream for treatment of herpes simplex labialis: results of two randomized, double-blind, vehicle-controlled, multicenter clinical trials.

Acyclovir cream has been available for the treatment of herpes labialis in numerous countries outside the United States for over a decade. Evidence for its efficacy comes from a few small clinical trials conducted in the 1980s. To examine more comprehensively the efficacy and safety of this formulation, we conducted two independent, identical, parallel, randomized, double-blind, vehicle-controlled, large-scale multicenter clinical trials. Healthy adults with a history of frequent herpes labialis were recruited from the general population, screened for eligibility, randomized equally to 5% acyclovir cream or vehicle control, given study medication, and told to self-initiate treatment five times daily for 4 days beginning within 1 h of the onset of a recurrent episode. The number of patients who treated a lesion was 686 in study 1 and 699 in study 2. In study 1, the mean duration of episodes was 4.3 days for patients treated with acyclovir cream and 4.8 days for those treated with the vehicle control (hazards ratio [HR] = 1.23; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.06 to 1.44; P = 0.007). In study 2, the mean duration of episodes was 4.6 days for patients treated with acyclovir cream and 5.2 days for those treated with the vehicle control (HR = 1.24; 95% CI, 1.06 to 1.44; P = 0.006). Efficacy was apparent whether therapy was initiated "early" (prodrome or erythema lesion stage) or "late" (papule or vesicle stage). There was a statistically significant reduction in the duration of lesion pain in both studies. Acyclovir cream did not prevent the development of classical lesions (progression to vesicles, ulcers, and/or crusts). Adverse events were mild and infrequent.

Acyclovir↗
PubMed2002

Surveillance for unexplained deaths and critical illnesses due to possibly infectious causes, United States, 1995-1998.

Population-based surveillance for unexplained death and critical illness possibly due to infectious causes (UNEX) was conducted in four U.S. Emerging Infections Program sites (population 7.7 million) from May 1, 1995, to December 31, 1998, to define the incidence, epidemiologic features, and etiology of this syndrome. A case was defined as death or critical illness in a hospitalized, previously healthy person, 1 to 49 years of age, with infection hallmarks but no cause identified after routine testing. A total of 137 cases were identified (incidence rate 0.5 per 100,000 per year). Patients' median age was 20 years, 72 (53%) were female, 112 (82%) were white, and 41 (30%) died. The most common clinical presentations were neurologic (29%), respiratory (27%), and cardiac (21%). Infectious causes were identified for 34 cases (28% of the 122 cases with clinical specimens); 23 (68%) were diagnosed by reference serologic tests, and 11 (32%) by polymerase chain reaction-based methods. The UNEX network model would improve U.S. diagnostic capacities and preparedness for emerging infections.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Reactivity of the Verdoheme Analogues, 5-Oxaporphyrin Complexes of Cobalt(II) and Zinc(II), with Nucleophiles: Opening of the Planar Macrocycle by Alkoxide Addition To Form Helical Complexes.

The 5-oxaporphyrin macrocycle is a modified porphyrin (with an oxygen atom replacing a meso-methine unit) that is produced during heme degradation in biological and chemical systems. We have undertaken an investigation into the chemical reactivity of metal complexes of this macrocycle. Here we report that the diamagnetic zinc(II) and paramagnetic cobalt(II) verdoheme analogues, [Zn(II)(OEOP)](O(2)CCH(3)) and [Co(II)(OEOP)](PF(6)) (OEOP is the monoanion of octaethyl-5-oxaporphyrin), undergo ring opening when treated with alkoxide ions. The zinc(II) complex Zn(II)(OEBOMe), where OEBOMe is the dianion of octaethylmethoxybiliverdin, is sufficiently stable to be isolated in crystalline form, but the cobalt(II) analogue, Co(II)(OEBOMe), is less stable and has been characterized primarily by (1)H NMR spectroscopy in solution. The reactions are accompanied by a color change from blue-green for the verdoheme complexes to yellow-green for the ring-opened compounds. The ring-opened product Zn(II)(OEBOMe) has been subjected to a crystallographic study which reveals that the complex contains a four-coordinate zinc(II) ion whose geometry is significantly controlled by the helical tetrapyrrole ligand so that tetrahedral coordination is not achieved. The structure of this complex is compared to that of a closely related free ligand and those of copper and cobalt complexes of tetrapyrrole ligands that also form helical complexes.

Journal Article↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Pharmacokinetics and safety of binodenoson after intravenous dose escalation in healthy volunteers.

BACKGROUND: Binodenoson, a highly selective agonist of the adenosine A 2A receptor, is being developed as a short-acting coronary vasodilator as an adjunct to radiotracers for use in myocardial stress imaging. This study was designed to assess the single-dose pharmacokinetics, safety, and tolerability of intravenous binodenoson. METHODS AND RESULTS: This was a single-center, open-label, nonrandomized, dose-escalation study in 24 healthy volunteers. Each subject received 3 successive intravenous doses of binodenoson (0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 microg/kg), each infused over a period of 10 minutes and separated by washout periods of at least 120 minutes. Generally, binodenoson was well tolerated. There were no serious adverse events. However, there was a dose-related increase in adverse events (e.g., headache, nausea, vasodilation, chest pain), consistent with the pharmacology of the drug. Binodenoson exhibited linear pharmacokinetics as indicated by a dose-proportional increase in peak concentration (C max ) and area under the concentration-time curve (AUC). Systemic clearance was independent of dose but was correlated with body weight. The mean terminal half-life of binodenoson across all doses was 10 +/- 4 minutes. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, binodenoson was well tolerated and exhibited linear pharmacokinetics when administered intravenously over a 60-fold dose range from 0.1 to 6 microg/kg.

Adenosine↗
PubMedDate not supplied

UK doctors' morale.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Health Policy↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Meniscal ossicles in large non-domestic cats.

Radiographs of the stifles of 6 species of 34 large, non-domestic cats were reviewed foremost for the presence of meniscal ossicles and then for the presence of the other potential four sesamoids. The animals in the review included 12 lions, 7 tigers, 7 cougars, 3 leopards, 3 bobcats, and 2 jaguars. Fluoroscopy, arthrography, computed tomography, necropsy, and histology were also used to evaluate the stifles of one tiger after euthanasia. Ossicles were found in the region of the cranial horn of the medial meniscus in most of the lions, tigers, leopards, and jaguars. These ossicles were found in half of the cougars but in none of the bobcats. Among the large, non-domestic cats, meniscal ossicles had been reported previously only in Bengal tigers. The lions, tigers, and leopards having meniscal ossicles appeared to have a lateral but often not a medial fabella of the gastrocnemius muscle, an observation previously unreported. Popliteal sesamoids and patellas were present in all the skeletally mature cats.

Animals↗