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Biomedical subjects

K W Taylor

Publications and source records attributed to K W Taylor.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1976

ECG telephone transmission for monitoring pacemakers and cardiac arrhythmias.

A network of ECG telephone transmission has been established which uses simple and inexpensive equipment, and which is aimed particularly at arrhythmia monitoring. Hospitals in areas remote from major medical centers are able to transmit to the Toronto General Hospital for expert advice. 400 patients in their homes may transmit to any of these hospitals for monitoring of pacemaker function or intermittent cardiac arrhythmia. Any patients in the Toronto General Hospital not admitted for a cardiac problem may be monitored via telephone by the expert nurses in the coronary care unit if a cardiac arrhythmia should arise. Equipment for the system has been carefully designed to minimize cost and to make it simple to use, particularly for the old or infirm patients in their homes. Transmissions between hospitals meet American Heart Association specifications for ECG recording. Transmissions of arrhythmias from patients' homes are carried out with a reduced low-frequency response. Expert cardiologists find both transmissions acceptable for their particular purpose. Standards should be set for simple, economic transmission systems as well as for those meeting the most stringent criteria.

Amplifiers, Electronic↗
PubMed1976

Epidemiological background to diabetes.

Earlier seasonal inoidence studies indicated that juvenile diabetes is acquired mainly in the autumn and winter months, and more recent and extensive further studies conducted throughout Great Britain have confirmed these earlier findings. Studies relating the incidence of the disease to age among juveniles suggest that an initiating factor, probably viral in origin, is operative in early childhood and that after a latent period, a precipitating factor may then uncover the disease. This might explain the peak of juvenile diabetes which appears at age 11, in Britain. Studies on families in which diabetes has appeared almost simultaneously in two or more members, lends some support to the view that the disease may be precipitated by some infective process.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Improved diagnosis in coronary cinearteriography with routine use of 110 degrees oblique views and cranial and caudal angulations. Comparison with standard transverse oblique views in 100 patients.

Conventionally mounted X-ray systems for coronary cinearteriography limit angulation of the X-ray beam to the transverse plane of the patient, and use of the motorized cradle restricts rotation to 60 degrees to 70 degrees. These limitations of available projections seriously hamper adequate examination of the coronary arteries. With use of the Siemen's Cardoskop-U, which was designed to overcome this problem, the coronary arteries of 100 consecutive patients were examined with standard oblique projections, and in addition with cranial and caudal angulated oblique and 110 degrees oblique projections. These arteriograms were independently examined by two expert observers. In approximately 20 percent of patients the additional views unmasked lesions that would otherwise have been missed. In a further 34 percent the diagnosis was significantly improved because the full extent of a lesion was revealed, overlap of branches was avoided or the degree of an eccentric stenosis was upgraded. In 4 of 12 patients with apparently normal arteriograms in standard projections, lesions were unmasked by the additional views.

Cineangiography↗
PubMed1973

Coxsackie viruses and diabetes mellitus.

Serum specimens from 162 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes of recent onset and 319 controls were tested for neutralizing antibodies to Coxsackie viruses types B1 to B5. Antibody to type B4 virus was more often found in diabetics than in controls, particularly in the 10-19 year age group. Though controls were not matched for geographical area it was thought that this was unlikely to explain the difference found. The month of onset of diabetes in the patients studied showed a pronounced seasonal incidence, which resembled that found in earlier studies.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1973

Diabetes in mice after Coxsackie B 4 virus infection.

The intraperitoneal inoculation of CD(1) mice with Coxsackie virus B(4) resulted in the raising of blood sugar levels to diabetic values 12 days after the administration of the virus. Serum insulin remained inappropriately low. Light microscopy changes in the islets of Langerhans showed mononuclear cell infiltration of the islets and marked degranulation of the beta cells. The acinar tissue appeared to be little changed. It is concluded that Coxsackie B(4) virus may cause a diabetic state compatible with islet cell damage.

Animals↗
PubMed1973

Regulation of insulin release from isolated islets of Langerhans of the rat in pregnancy. The role of adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate.

1. The concentrations of cyclic AMP were compared in islets of Langerhans isolated from the pancreases of normal female and pregnant rats and were higher in islets in pregnancy. 2. There was also a significant increase in adenylate cyclase activity in homogenates of islets from pregnant rats compared with those from normal rats. 3. Increased cyclic AMP concentration in islets from pregnant rats was reflected in increased protein kinase activity. When the cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase activity was increased by 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine this stimulated activity was significantly greater in pregnancy. 4. Insulin-secretion studies with islets from normal and pregnant rats showed that theophylline or 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine, which raise intracellular cyclic AMP concentrations, caused a significantly greater insulin secretion in pregnancy. 5. It was also found that in the presence of a glucose concentration too low to stimulate insulin secretion, the latter could be induced if the cyclic AMP concentrations were raised sufficiently with 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine. 6. It is suggested that the higher cyclic AMP concentrations observed in islets in pregnancy mediate the greater insulin-secretory capacity, as well as the greater sensitivity of these islets to low glucose concentrations.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1973

Effect of phenylpyruvate on enzymes involved in fatty acid synthesis in rat brain.

1. The effects of azaserine and nicotinamide, agents which inhibit and stimulate hepatic NAD synthesis respectively, on the content of NAD(+) and NADH in isolated rat islets of Langerhans incubated in vitro were studied. The effects of these compounds on the rates of insulin release, from isolated islets incubated in vitro, in response to various secretagogues were also measured. 2. Preincubation of islets in the presence of azaserine (0.3mm) caused a marked depletion of the normal islet-cell content of both NAD(+) and NADH and prevented the secretion of insulin in response to stimulatory concentrations of d-glucose, xylitol, d-xylulose, l-arginine hydrochloride and l-leucine. 3. Preincubation of islets in the presence of nicotinamide (2mm) increased the islet content of NAD(+) and enhanced the rate of release of insulin in response to d-glucose. Also when nicotinamide was present the inhibitory effect of azaserine on insulin release and the azaserine-induced depletion of the islet content of NAD(+) and NADH was prevented. 4. Preincubation with azaserine was without effect on the stimulation of insulin release caused by theophylline or dibutyryl cyclic AMP. 5. It is suggested that insulin release caused by sugars and amino acids is dependent on the maintenance of NAD concentrations, though this may not be the case for release due to theophylline and dibutyryl cyclic AMP.

Journal Article↗