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Biomedical subjects

K Burrows

Publications and source records attributed to K Burrows.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

Psychiatric illness in women: a review of the function of a specialist mother-baby unit.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to describe a specialist program in a psychiatric mother-baby unit and to review the characteristics (including mothering skills) and outcomes on discharge of 36 women consecutively admitted to the unit over an intensive 6-month observation period. Changes in admissions to the same unit over 10 years were also compared. METHOD: Consecutive admissions were studied in terms of demographics, ethnicity, diagnosis, psychiatric history, psychiatric information and mother-infant data. RESULTS: The majority of women admitted suffered from schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders, with the second largest diagnostic criteria being depression. For 20 mothers, this was the first psychiatric admission and most admissions were voluntary. The mean length of stay was 21.7 days, representing a highly significant decrease in stay when compared to the past 10 years in the same unit. Mothering skills were found to be incompetent or only passable in 57% of women. A small improvement occurred by discharge, and the majority of women were not separated from their infants. CONCLUSIONS: The critical need to support these women and their infants in the long term was highlighted, with recommendations of outpatient and day programs, as well as supported accommodation.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

A peptidergic circuit for reproductive behavior.

A projection from the medial amygdaloid nucleus to the hippocampus and septum probably uses vasopressin as a transmitter. The nucleus synthesizes vasopressin and activation of the nucleus has a hippocampal effect that is completely blocked by a vasopressin antagonist. The afferent and efferent projections of this peptidergic nucleus suggest a possible role for the system in sexual behavior. Stimulation of the nucleus inhibits the output of the hippocampus in both genders and reorganizes behavior for a period of 15-20 min. In males, the effect of peptidergic activation is to produce a behavior that resembles the post-ejaculatory interval in coitus. This state is characterized by an EEG that resembles slow-wave sleep and by ultrasonic vocalizations at a characteristic frequency of 22 kHz. Castration in either gender causes depletion of the peptide from the target fields and eliminates the peptidergic signal in the hippocampus after about 15 weeks. The effects of castration in males can be reversed by testosterone replacement. The fluctuation of estrogen levels in rat plasma during the estrus cycle happens too quickly to impact the peptidergic system, and thus there is no significant change in the strength of the peptidergic signal among the proestrus, estrus, metestrus and diestrus stages. This fact permits study of the physiology of the system without concern for stage of estrus but does not permit conclusions regarding its function in females.

Amygdala↗
PubMed1986

Cardiovascular and pharmacokinetic effects of isoxsuprine in the horse.

Isoxsuprine (0.6 mg/kg) administered IV to 6 standing horses produced substantial, transient decreases in systemic blood pressure, systemic vascular resistance, and stroke volume. It also produced substantial, transient increases in heart rate, cardiac output, and purposeful movement. Plasma concentrations of isoxsuprine peaked soon after the drug was administered IV and then decreased over a 12-hour period in a biexponential manner, with distribution and elimination half-lives of 14 minutes and 2.67 hours, respectively. Total body clearance and steady-state volume of distribution were calculated to be 53.8 ml/min/kg and 10.5 L/kg, respectively. When a recommended therapeutic dosage regimen (0.6 mg/kg 2 times a day, per os) was used in 4 of these horses, changes were not detected. Isoxsuprine was not detected in plasma after the drug was given orally. We conclude that 0.6 mg of isoxsuprine/kg given orally every 12 hours is not likely to produce cardiovascular changes in the resting horse and that this is probably because plasma concentrations are not high enough to do so.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1983

Hospital costs and return to work after coronary bypass surgery.

A study to assess the cost and some of the benefits of coronary bypass surgery was carried out at the Alfred Hospital, Melbourne. The minimum cost to the hospital of a typical coronary bypass graft procedure in 1980 was estimated to be $4700. The benefit of the procedure in terms of symptomatic relief and return to work was assessed by means of questionnaires. In the working-age group (55 years and under) of 591 patients, assessed from two to nine years after surgery, 68% of patients were working. In a group of 100 patients, aged 55 years and under, and interviewed from one to two years after surgery, 56 patients were working before surgery, but only 16 of these at full capacity. After surgery, 78 patients were working; 64 of these at full capacity. The cost of a coronary bypass graft operation is considerable, but this is offset in the majority of patients in the working-age group by a return to gainful employment.

Adult↗