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Biomedical subjects

L S Bowling

Publications and source records attributed to L S Bowling.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Reducing readmissions for congestive heart failure.

Hospital admission for congestive heart failure is extremely common and quite expensive, although it is frequently preventable. New drugs and therapies have been reported to reduce admissions, decrease morbidity and mortality, and improve the quality of life for these patients. Patients with an ejection fraction less than 40 percent (decreased systolic function) should be treated with medication to improve symptoms and prevent progression of heart failure. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors are a mainstay of treatment in patients who can tolerate them; in patients who cannot take these drugs, angiotensin II receptor blocking agents offer an alternative. Patients with New York Heart Association class II or III heart failure should also receive a beta blocker (metoprolol, carvedilol or bisoprolol). Recent research has shown that treatment with spironolactone improves mortality and hospital readmission rates. An exercise program should also be recommended for all patients with heart failure unless their condition is unstable.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗
PubMed1993

Lack of agreement between measurement of ejection fraction by impedance cardiography versus radionuclide ventriculography.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the limits of agreement between left ventricular ejection fraction estimated using systolic time intervals from impedance cardiography and left ventricular ejection fraction estimated by radionuclide ventriculography. DESIGN: A prospective study for diagnostic tests using radionuclide ventriculography as the criterion standard. SETTING: A large military teaching hospital. PATIENTS: Twenty ambulatory adults scheduled for radionuclide ventriculography. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: A regression equation to estimate ejection fraction from systolic time intervals is available in a widely used impedance-based cardiac monitoring device. The estimated ejection fraction is then used in an equation with stroke volume estimated by the same device to calculate an end-diastolic volume. We studied the agreement of the ejection fraction as estimated by this device with the ejection fraction estimated by radionuclide ventriculography by obtaining simultaneous estimates of ejection fraction over a broad range of adult patients. Twenty ejection fraction pairs were analyzed. The correlation of ejection fraction by impedance cardiography to ejection fraction by radionuclide ventriculography was significant (r2 = .55; p < .002). However, the mean difference between the technologies was -8.85%, with a standard deviation of the differences of 7.15%, resulting in a 95% confidence range for agreement of -23.2% to +5.5%. CONCLUSIONS: The 95% confidence range defining the limits of agreement between ejection fraction by impedance cardiography and ejection fraction by radionuclide ventriculography is not clinically acceptable. In the opinion of the authors impedance cardiography should not be used in place of radionuclide ventriculography for the assessment of ejection fraction at this time.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

The Maryland CNC Test: normative studies.

These studies were conducted to determine the performance-intensity functions of the Maryland CNC Test (male voice) with normal-hearing and hearing-impaired persons, to examine the equivalence of the 10 lists, and to determine test-retest reliability. There was a 2.1% increase per decibel in word recognition in the linear portion of the performance-intensity function for normal listeners and a 1.3% increase per decibel for hearing-impaired listeners. 6 lists were judged to be equivalent, and there was good test-retest reliability. Hearing-impaired subjects demonstrated a wide range of scores on the Maryland CNC Test, suggesting that this measure can distinguish among varying degrees of word recognition ability.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1983

A comparative evaluation of the Maryland NU 6 auditory test.

This study was conducted to determine the performance-intensity functions of the Maryland NU 6 Auditory Test (female voice) with normal-hearing and hearing-impaired persons, to examine equivalency of the four lists, and to compare performance scores on this test with those obtained on the CID W-22 Test and the Maryland CNC Test. Three lists were judged to be equivalent, and there was good test-retest reliability. The test made distinctions among individuals with varying degrees of high-frequency hearing loss. Word recognition scores for the Maryland NU 6 and Maryland CNC Tests were remarkably similar, but differed significantly from those obtained on the W-22 Test.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The influence of hearing aid nonlinear distortion on two auditory tasks.

A study is reported which examines the influence of hearing aid nonlinear distortion on multitone pitch perception. Normal-hearing subjects produced results indicating that hearing aid-generated harmonic and intermodulation components did significantly affect pitch judgments. Substantial differences in the amount of distortion between the two test aids was not, however, a critical factor. A follow-up study using closed-set intelligibility materials in noise further confirmed that relatively large measurable differences in nonlinear distortion between hearing aids do not seem to have the clinical significance which is often presumed.

Adult↗