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Biomedical subjects

K L Morgan

Publications and source records attributed to K L Morgan.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

Anaemia in housed lambs.

Anaemia was detected in housed lambs by clinical and haematological investigation. Conjunctival pallor was used as a clinical test for anaemia and the results indicate that this has high specificity (91 per cent to 95 per cent) and low sensitivity (53 per cent to 55 per cent). The haematological results indicated a non-regenerative anaemia with low packed cell volume, red blood cell count and haemoglobin. In a subset of lambs examined biochemically, anaemia was associated with low serum iron concentration and low serum iron binding: cobalt levels were within normal ranges and blood copper levels were slightly raised. At present it is unclear whether this is a primary or secondary iron deficiency.

Anemia↗
PubMed1993

Isolation of porcine IgE, and preparation of polyclonal antisera.

High Titre, Ascaris specific, porcine reaginic antibody was induced by combining parasitic infestation and antigen challenge. The reagin was characterised as being heat labile at 56 degrees C, possessing long term skin sensitising activity, and as having physicochemical properties similar to IgE in other species. Porcine IgE was purified by conventional immunochemical techniques, and an epsilon chain isolate prepared using SDS-PAGE gel excision and electro elution. Antisera raised against the intact IgE molecule and its epsilon chain were rendered monospecific by immunoabsorption and characterised by reverse cutaneous anaphylaxis (RCA) testing, passive cutaneous anaphylaxis inhibition, immunohistology and Western blotting. These antisera are currently being used to study the regulation of IgE responses in the pig.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Isolation and preparation of antisera to ovine IgE.

Elevated levels of ovine reaginic antibody were induced by immunization with Ascaris suum antigens. The PCA activity of this antibody persisted in the skin of sheep for 20 days and was abolished by heating to 56 degrees C, suggesting that it was immunoglobulin E. Attempts to isolate IgE from this hyperimmune serum by gel filtration, ion exchange and affinity chromatography resulted in the preparation of a PCA-positive fraction containing proteins with molecular weights of 70, 56 and 22 kD on SDS-PAGE. This preparation was used to raise an antiserum in a rabbit to IgE which was rendered specific by absorption. An antiserum to the heavy chain of ovine IgE was also raised in a rabbit by immunization with a fraction prepared from the 68- to 80-kD region of SDS-PAGE by excision and electroelution. Both antisera were positive in reverse cutaneous anaphylaxis tests and recognized a single protein with a molecular weight of 70-72 kD on SDS-PAGE immunoblotting. The presence of this protein in reaginic sheep serum, the molecular weight of its heavy chain, its heat lability and long-term skin-sensitizing ability are characteristic of IgE.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Creating organized delivery systems: the barriers and facilitators.

An organized delivery system is a network of organizations that provides or arranges to provide a coordinated continuum of services to a defined population and is willing to be held clinically and fiscally accountable for the outcomes and the health status of the population served. As such, organized delivery systems are at the center of efforts to implement health care reform. Based on analysis of 12 such systems, this article identifies key characteristics that influence what organized delivery systems are able to do, outlines the major obstacles or challenges to achieving greater levels of integration, and then discusses a number of approaches for effectively dealing with these obstacles.

Administrative Personnel↗
PubMed1993

Conceptualizing and measuring integration: findings from the health systems integration study.

Given the pressures for health care reform, interest in the concept of integrated or organized delivery systems as a means to offer more coordinated cost-effective care is growing. This article has two primary objectives: (1) to clarify the different types of integration associated with the notion of an organized delivery system, and (2) to share the results from an ongoing study of 12 organized delivery systems. The findings indicate a moderate level of integration overall, particularly in the areas of culture, financial planning, and strategic planning. The study found that corporate staff respondents perceive their systems to be more integrated and effective than do operating unit managers, and that some functional integration areas are positively associated with both physician-system and clinical integration that, in turn, are positively related to each other. Overall, perceived integration was found to be positively associated with perceived effectiveness.

Administrative Personnel↗
PubMed1992

Prevalence, regional distribution and control of blowfly strike in England and Wales.

The prevalence and control of blowfly strike in England and Wales was investigated by a postal survey of 2451 sheep farmers, divided into five regions, who were asked about the blowfly seasons of 1988 and 1989. These were important years for the control of blowfly strike because the number of compulsory dips for the control of sheep scab was reduced from two to one in 1989. The response rate was 74.2 per cent. A larger proportion of farmers in the south west and south east reported strike (90 per cent), than in the north of England (60 per cent). The proportion of sheep with strike showed a similar regional variation (0.7 per cent in the north of England to 2.8 per cent in the south west). Dipping was the most common method of blowfly control, followed by tail amputation, dagging, spraying and cyromazine. Twenty per cent of farmers reported reducing the frequency of dipping in 1989, and of those 20 per cent increased the frequency of spraying and 20 per cent used cyromazine.

Administration, Topical↗
PubMed1992

Ataxia and head tremor in an alpaca (Lama pacos)

An 18-month-old alpaca developed nervous signs, including swaying of the head and neck, a wide-based stance and hind-limb ataxia. No certain diagnosis was made but the animal recovered after successive treatment with amoxycillin, vitamin B1, ivermectin and copper oxide, followed by vitamin E and selenium. The differential diagnosis rationale of treatment is described.

Amoxicillin↗
PubMed1992

Parasitic otitis in sheep associated with psoroptes infestation: a clinical and epidemiological study.

Parasitic otitis associated with psoroptes infestation was diagnosed in a small pedigree flock of sheep with aural haematomas, abscessation and cauliflower ears. Thirteen of the 15 lambs were affected but the clinical signs were mild; small, discrete, crusty lesions on the inner aspect of the ear at the junction of its anterior and posterior borders were typical. Nine of the 20 adults were affected but the lesions were more severe. Eighteen of the 64 members of the breed society who responded to a telephone survey reported sheep with similar clinical signs in their flocks. The proportion of animals affected ranged from 1 to 60 per cent with a median value of 16 per cent.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Neuromata in docked lambs' tails.

Docked and undocked lambs tails obtained after slaughter were examined grossly and histopathologically. Stump and complex neuromata were identified in docked tails.

Amputation, Surgical↗
PubMed1992

Development of an attractive target for the sheep blowfly Lucilia sericata.

Coloured, odour-baited, sticky targets, designed to catch the sheep blowfly Lucilia sericata Meigen are described and the results of field trials are presented. The number of L. sericata caught by the targets was positively related to target surface area and was dependent on target colour. The performance of the coloured targets is described by a model in which catch is related negatively to reflectivity in the 300-450 nm (ultra-violet/blue) band of the spectrum and positively to the reflectivity in the 450-580 nm (blue-green-yellow) band. Of the Lucilia blowflies caught by the targets, 13-16% were L.sericata and 72-75% of the L.sericata were female. The number of L.sericata caught appeared to be positively related to the availability of sheep over a relatively localized area and showed a marked decline following insecticidal dipping of sheep. The further development of targets and the implications of the results for L.sericata control are discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

A questionnaire survey of the prevalence of scrapie in sheep in Britain.

An anonymous, self-administered questionnaire has been used in two independent surveys to try to determine the prevalence of scrapie in the national sheep flock. The disease was recorded in 35 counties in England and Wales. About a third (26.5 and 37.3 percent) of respondents owning 100 or more sheep indicated that they had seen sheep with scrapie in their flocks. The incidences of clinical cases recorded in affected flocks in the two surveys were 0.5 and 1.1 cases/100 ewes/year. At present there is no control over the disposal of these animals. If as has been suggested, an increase in the prevalence of scrapie was a contributory factor in the emergence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, it would seem logical that measures should be introduced to monitor the prevalence and incidence of scrapie and to control the disposal of clinical cases.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

An epidemiological study of an outbreak of Q fever in a secondary school.

Five cases of clinical Q fever were identified amongst students and staff of a Somerset secondary school between 23 October 1987 and 21 December 1987. Five goats which were kept at the school were found to have antibodies to Coxiella burnetii phase II. A cross-sectional study was conducted at the school in July 1988. A single CF test was used to identify evidence of prior infection, and a self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on exposure variables and illness during 1987. Four hundred and ninety-nine eligible subjects took part in the study, and serological information was obtained from 461 of these. Eighty-seven subjects (18.9%) had CF titres of 20 or greater. It was estimated that only 1 in every 30 individuals with evidence of past C. burnetii infection had been recognized as a clinical case of Q fever. Antibody positive subjects were more likely to have been off school sick and to report having suffered chest pain than negative subjects. Contact with school animals, specifically cleaning the school poultry, collecting their eggs and visiting a school goat on the day of kidding, was associated with the presence of antibodies to C. burnetii. However, a large proportion of the antibody positives (24.2%) had no known contact with the school animals. Spread of organisms, either wind-borne or in straw or manure, may have been responsible for the high prevalence of unexplained infection.

Adolescent↗