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Biomedical subjects

K Jones

Publications and source records attributed to K Jones.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources
PubMed1998

The special prenatal clinic: one approach to women and substance abuse.

We aimed to determine if the trend in substance use in this central core of a large inner-city area confirmed an increase in marijuana use among young women < 22 years of age as childbearing years were beginning or if marijuana use and harder drug use were greatest among women beyond the teens and the early second decade of life and to describe one prenatal care intervention. Statistical reports for the Special Prenatal Clinic, a Harlem clinic for women with a current or past history of substance use, were reviewed from 1985 (the clinic's inception) through March 1996 to determine the trends, patterns, and types of drug use. Findings chronicled the beginning and rise in crack cocaine use, especially after 1986, confirmed an increase in marijuana use by adolescents since 1992, and suggest that the risk for use of hard drugs increases with age, predominantly in the childbearing years. Intervention by the Special Prenatal Clinic aided case-finding, allowed for comprehensive care, offered women opportunities for behavior change, and increased their chances of keeping their babies after delivery.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Review of a general practice attachment for accident and emergency training.

General practice secondments are being increasingly undertaken by specialist registrars in accident and emergency (A&E) medicine. This paper describes how two A&E trainees arranged general practice secondments and the experiences gained. There follows a discussion of the benefits to the general practice and trainees involved, together with a contemporary consideration of the interaction between general practice and A&E services in the UK.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗
PubMed1998

Motor function of the proximal stomach and visceral perception in gastro-oesophageal reflux disease.

BACKGROUND: The abnormally high postprandial rate of transient lower oesophageal sphincter relaxations seen in patients with reflux disease may be related to altered proximal gastric motor function. Heightened visceral sensitivity may also contribute to reporting of symptoms in these patients. AIMS: To assess motor function of the proximal stomach and visceral perception in reflux disease with a barostat. METHODS: Fasting and postprandial proximal gastric motility, sensation, and symptoms were measured in nine patients with reflux disease and nine healthy subjects. Gastric emptying of solids and liquids was assessed in six of the patients on a different day (and compared to historical controls). RESULTS: Minimal distending pressure and gastric compliance were similar in the two groups, whereas the patients experienced fullness at lower pressures (p < 0.05) and discomfort at lower balloon volumes (p < 0.005) during isobaric and isovolumetric distensions respectively. Maximal gastric relaxation induced by the meal was similar in the two groups. Late after the meal, however, proximal gastric tone was lower (p < 0.01) and the score for fullness higher (p < 0.01) in the reflux patients, in whom the retention of both solids and liquids in the proximal stomach was greater (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Reflux disease is associated with delayed recovery of proximal gastric tone after a meal and increased visceral sensitivity. The former may contribute to the increased prevalence of reflux during transient lower oesophageal sphincter relaxations and the delay in emptying from the proximal stomach, whereas both may contribute to symptom reporting.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Preclinical prediction of Alzheimer's disease using SPECT.

BACKGROUND: Regional cerebral perfusion measured by single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) was examined as a preclinical predictor of the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHODS: Singular value decomposition was used to produce 20 SPECT factors (known as vectors) (n=152). Vector scores were then computed for four groups (n=136), differing in cognitive status: Group 1--normal controls at both baseline and follow-up; Group 2--subjects with "questionable" AD at both baseline and follow-up; Group 3--subjects with questionable AD at baseline who converted to AD on follow-up (Converters); Group 4--subjects with AD at baseline. All SPECT data in the analyses were gathered at baseline. RESULTS: The four groups could be distinguished on the basis of their baseline SPECT data (p < or = 0.00005; hit rate=83%). Regional decreases in perfusion were most prominent among Converters in the hippocampal-amygdaloid complex, the posterior cingulate, the anterior thalamus, and the anterior cingulate. Inclusion of apolipoprotein E status did not significantly improve the discrimination. CONCLUSIONS: SPECT data gathered and analyzed in this manner may be useful as one aspect of the preclinical prediction of AD. Three of the four brain regions important for discriminating Converters from normal controls involve a distributed brain network pertaining to memory, suggesting that this network may be selectively affected in the earliest stages of AD.

Aged↗
PubMed1998

Early-Onset Oppositional Defiant Disorder: What Factors Predict Its Course?

Although the early onset of Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) is associated with an elevated risk of later psychopathology (including but not limited to conduct disorder and antisocial personality disorder), little is known about the factors influencing the course of this disorder in early life. In this article we first review data and theory from four conceptually-distinct domains of risk factors for disruptive disorders (child characteristics reflecting biologic vulnerabilities, parent-child attachment, parenting practices, and family adversity). Then we describe an empirical study that examined the power of these four domains (representing 10 specific risk factors) to predict the prognosis of clinic-referred, preschool boys with ODD; risk factors were assessed when these youngsters were first evaluated in the clinic and outcomes were measured 2 years later. The primary goal was to determine the unique importance of risk factors in the context of others examined simultaneously, a strategy that few previous studies have used. We found that the four-factor risk model predicted significant variance in mother's reports of externalizing (disruptive) behavior problems at the 2-year follow-up; however, the model did not predict teacher externalizing scores or clinicians' assessments of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) disorders, as hypothesized. Analyses of specific factors within domains suggested that three were most consistently related to the negative outcomes of ODD boys: greater use of physical discipline by parents, greater life stress for families, and a greater number of pre- and perinatal complications. Nearly a third of the variance in mothers' reports of internalizing (inhibited) problems was attributable to two of these risk factors (life events stress and birth history) and to a third factor, delayed child development.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1998

Use of singular value decomposition to characterize age and gender differences in SPECT cerebral perfusion.

UNLABELLED: The main objective of this study was to characterize changes in brain perfusion associated with normal aging and gender. METHODS: Perfusion SPECT images using 99mTc-hexamethyl propyleneamine oxime (HMPAO) were obtained from 152 healthy subjects (67 men, 85 women) aged 50-92 yr. An automated method was developed to objectively assess image data from a large number of brain regions. Image data were reduced with singular value decomposition (SVD), which produced 20 eigenvectors capturing 97.05% of the total information content of 4320 regions from each subject. Subjects were scored individually on each vector. RESULTS: Multivariate analyses demonstrated that there were no significant differences in whole-brain HMPAO uptake with age, but age-related regional declines were seen in lateral ventricular regions. Women had higher HMPAO uptake than men in estimates of global perfusion and regional perfusion in the midcingulate/corpus callosum, inferior temporal and inferior parietal areas. CONCLUSION: These discriminations demonstrate that singular value deomposition of SPECT data may be used to assess differences in perfusion patterns between groups of subjects. They replicate several previous findings, both with respect to age-related changes in perfusion and with respect to gender differences. In addition, they identify a previously unreported gender difference in biparietal regions.

Aged↗
PubMed1998

Elecsys CEA, PSA and AFP. Clinical results of a multicentre evaluation.

Three tumormarker assays, Elecsys CEA, PSA and AFP, have been evaluated in an international multicentre study to characterize their clinical performance and to verify the comparability with the corresponding tests of the Enzymun-Test product line and other methods. For each of the markers results were obtained from four laboratories. On the basis of 314 and 199 specimens respectively, (preliminary) reference ranges could be established for CEA and PSA. For the prostate marker, the age dependence of the antigen level could be clearly confirmed. Mean concentrations range between 0.51 ng/ml (< 40 years) and 3.57 ng/ml (> 70 years). Referring to CEA, 95th percentiles of 4.31 ng/ml and 2.69 ng/ml were elaborated for smokers and nonsmokers. In general, good to excellent correlations (r > 0.98) were found between the Elecsys and Enzymun-Tests. Regarding the systematic comparability of both systems, most of the slopes derived from the individual method comparison studies are within the +/- 10% range of the respective standardization results. The specific distribution pattern of the individual tumormarker values elaborated with sample material of known clinical background, reflects the well established categorization of different benign and malignant diseases according to their characteristic marker levels. Of utmost importance, however, is the excellent comparability of the Elecsys assays with the corresponding Enzymun-Tests and the FDA approved AIA 1200 tests from TOSOH in follow-up studies. Almost superimposable concentration curves guarantee that identical diagnostic information is derived from all three methods. Especially for PSA, a series of measurements on sera of prostatectomized patients proved the usability and clinical value of the test also for this particular indication. For either one of the Elecsys tests, the feasibility of using plasma as sample material was verified.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Nurse triage for house call requests in a Tyneside general practice: patients' views and effect on doctor workload.

BACKGROUND: Demand for consultations in primary care has risen recently, necessitating a change in working practices. As part of this process, the possible contribution of practice nurses in the telephone assessment of home visit requests merits attention. AIMS: To survey the views of our patients encountering our nurse triage system for home visit requests, set up in June 1995, and to plot its effect on the routine visiting workload of our doctors and thus their availability at the surgery. METHOD: The outcome of each request was categorized as: doctor to visit (DV), surgery consultation with doctor (SC), nurse advice given and accepted (NA), or call passed to doctor for advice (DA). Frequency data from September 1995 to December 1996 were recovered. Questionnaires for self-completion were sent to all those requesting a routine weekday house call during two four-week periods in 1995 and 1996. RESULTS: Analysable activity data revealed 1764 house call requests, with 41% DV, 18% SC, 24% NA, and 8% DA. In the first survey, 121 questionnaires were sent out and 84 returned (69% response rate) and, in the second, the corresponding figures were 113, 85, and 75%. About 80% of responders reported that they were satisfied with the help received from the nurse. CONCLUSIONS: Nurse triage of house call requests has led to more efficient care for our patients, as we have increased the availability of surgery consultations by reducing the number of house calls made by our general practitioners.

Family Practice↗
PubMed1998

The impact of medical therapy on bother due to symptoms, quality of life and global outcome, and factors predicting response. Veterans Affairs Cooperative Studies Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia Study Group.

PURPOSE: We determine the effect of placebo, finasteride, terazosin and a combination of drugs on bother due to symptoms, quality of life and patient perception of improvement, and identify baseline clinical factors that predict clinical response to medical therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 1,229 subjects with clinical benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) were randomized to 1 year of placebo, finasteride, terazosin or drug combination. The primary outcome measures were American Urological Association (AUA) symptom score and peak flow rate. Relevant secondary outcome measures were symptom problem score, BPH impact score and global rating of improvement. RESULTS: Group mean differences in symptom problem and BPH impact scores between the finasteride versus placebo, and terazosin versus combination groups were not statistically or clinically significant. Group mean differences in all outcome measures were highly statistically significant between the terazosin and finasteride, and combination and finasteride groups. The percentage of subjects who rated improvement as marked or moderate with placebo, finasteride, terazosin and combination was 39, 44, 61 and 65%, respectively. In the subsets of men in the placebo, finasteride, terazosin and combination groups with prostates greater than 50 cm.3 group mean decrease from baseline in AUA symptom score was -2.5, -3.6, -6 and -7, group mean increase in peak flow rate was 0.6, 2.7, 3.6 and 3.7 ml. per second, group mean decrease in symptom problem score was -2.2, - 1.9, -3.1 and -4.5, and group mean decrease in BPH impact score was -0.6, -0.3, -1.1 and -1.5, respectively. A correlational analysis failed to show a significant relationship between baseline prostate volume and treatment response to finasteride. There was a significant but weak relationship between change in AUA symptom score and peak flow rate in the finasteride and combination groups. The symptom responses with terazosin were independent of baseline peak flow rate. CONCLUSIONS: In men with clinical BPH finasteride and placebo are equally effective, while terazosin and combination are significantly more effective. In men with clinical BPH and large prostates the advantage of finasteride over placebo in terms of symptom reduction, impact on bother due to symptoms and quality of life is small at best, while the advantage of terazosin and combination over finasteride and placebo is highly significant. Baseline prostate volume was not a predictor of response to finasteride in the overall study population. On the basis of our results alpha1 blockers, such as terazosin, should be first line medical treatment for BPH.

Adrenergic alpha-Antagonists↗
PubMed1997

A biological monitoring study of 1-methoxy-2-propanol: analytical method development and a human volunteer study.

1-Methoxy-2-propanol (M2P) is finding increasing industrial use as a less toxic alternative to the short-chained ethylene glycol ethers. Like most glycol ethers, M2P is readily absorbed through the skin and biological monitoring is therefore appropriate in assessing occupational exposure. An analytical method, suitable for routine monitoring, was developed for the determination of free M2P in urine. The method involves solvent extraction, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and is sensitive (detection limit 1 mumol/l), specific and reproducible (intra- and inter-assay coefficients of variation 5% and 9%, respectively). A human volunteer study, involving six volunteers, was also conducted. Volunteers were exposed to 100 ppm M2P for 8 h (the occupational exposure standard in the UK) including a 30-min break. Post-exposure levels of free M2P in urine were found to reach up to 110 mumol/l). Levels of M2P were also monitored in blood (maximum 103 mumol/l) and exhaled air samples (up to 252 nmol/l). The volunteer study showed that M2P is rapidly excreted in urine with a half-life of less than 2.6 h.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Primary care--opportunities and threats. Developing professional knowledge: making primary care education and research more relevant.

The trio of recent government white papers heralds a new world for primary care. Many changes in the education of future primary health care professionals and in the research ethos of the discipline will be needed to realise this vision. New skills and attitudes, not least in multidisciplinary working; lifelong learning; and greater understanding of and participation in primary care research will have to emerge from educational efforts in the next few years.

Education, Medical, Continuing↗
PubMed1997

Are the pharmacokinetics of ibuprofen important determinants for the drug's efficacy in postoperative pain after third molar surgery?

The aim of the present placebo-controlled, crossover study was to evaluate the efficacy and pharmacokinetics of ibuprofen after a single oral dose of soluble ibuprofen 400 mg in 18 patients with postoperative pain after bilateral third molar surgery. Throughout a 5-hour investigation period, patients reported significantly less pain (P < 0.001) after treatment with soluble ibuprofen than after placebo. Peak plasma concentrations of ibuprofen occurred approximately 30 minutes after dosage. No significant correlations (P > 0.05) were observed between efficacy measures and the various pharmacokinetic parameters (AUC0-300, Cmax and Tmax) for ibuprofen after the soluble dose. It is concluded that a single dose of soluble ibuprofen 400 mg is an effective analgesic for the control of postoperative pain in the early period after third molar surgery. Efficacy of this preparation does not appear to be directly related to the drug's pharmacokinetic variables in plasma.

Acetaminophen↗
PubMed1997

Racial differences in the renal response to blood pressure lowering during chronic angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition: a prospective double-blind randomized comparison of fosinopril and lisinopril in older hypertensive patients with chronic renal insufficiency.

This study was undertaken to compare the effects of chronic angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition on blood pressure (BP) and renal hemodynamics in older black and nonblack hypertensive patients with chronic renal insufficiency. A multicenter, placebo lead-in double-blind, parallel group study was performed to compare the antihypertensive efficacy and renal hemodynamic response to the once-daily ACE inhibitor fosinopril (n = 14) and lisinopril (n = 13) over a 22-week period. The study goal was to lower diastolic blood pressure (DBP) to 90 mm Hg or less. Furosemide was added after 6 weeks if blood pressure goal was not achieved. At outpatient clinics at university medical centers, 27 older hypertensive patients (> or = 45 years; 12 blacks, 15 nonblacks; 19 male, eight female) with DBP of 95 mm Hg or higher and 4-hour creatinine clearance 20 to 70 mL/min/1.73 m2 were studied. Changes (delta) from baseline in BP, glomerular filtration rate (GFR), and renal plasma flow (RPF) were measured. Mean systolic blood pressure (SBP) and DBP decreased significantly and to a similar extent in randomized groups: fosinopril (mean +/- SEM) delta DBP at 6 weeks was -13 +/- 2 (P < 0.0001; 95% CI, -16 to -9) and at 22 weeks was -12 +/- 2 (P < 0.0001; 95% CI, -16 to -9); lisinopril delta DBP at 6 weeks was -14 +/- 6 (P < 0.0001; 95% CI, -10 to -18) and at 22 weeks was -16 +/- 2 (P < 0.0001; 95% CI, -12 to -21). GFR and RPF did not change significantly in either group. BP was significantly reduced and to a similar extent in blacks and nonblacks: for blacks, delta DBP at 6 weeks was -11 +/- 3 (P < 0.05; 95% CI, -0.01 to -9) and at 22 weeks was -16 +/- 2 (P < 0.0001; 95% CI, -11 to -20); for nonblacks, delta DBP at 6 weeks was -14 +/- 1 (P < 0.0001; 95% CI, -12 to -17) and at 22 weeks was -12 +/- 2 (P < 0.0001; 95% CI, -16 to -8). Eight patients (five blacks and three nonblacks) required an addition of furosemide after 6 weeks to reach the DBP goal of < or = 90 mm Hg at 22 weeks. GFR was not significantly altered for either racial group at 6 weeks; however, at 22 weeks; however, at 22 weeks, GFR decreased significantly in blacks (delta GFR, -16 +/- 5; P < 0.006; 95% CI, -26 to -5) and tended to increase in nonblacks (delta GFR, 7 +/- 6; P > 0.25). delta GFR correlated directly with the delta RPF (delta GFR = 0.0611* delta RPF -2.35 +; r = 0.68; P < 0.003). There was no correlation between delta MAP and delta GFR or delta RPF in blacks or nonblacks. We conclude that chronic ACE inhibition with fosinopril and lisinopril alone or in combination with furosemide lowers BP in older blacks and nonblacks with hypertension and chronic renal insufficiency. Racial differences in the renal hemodynamic response to chronic ACE inhibition were noted and appear to be independent of diuretic use and the magnitude of BP lowering.

Aged↗