Investigations into the mechanism and treatment of chronic headache.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Amitriptyline↗
Biomedical subjects
M Anthony
Publications and source records attributed to M Anthony.
Soy phytoestrogens improve radial arm maze performance in ovariectomized retired breeder rats and do not attenuate benefits of 17beta-estradiol treatment.
OBJECTIVE: Soy phytoestrogens (SPEs) seem to have beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system with no adverse effects on the breast and uterus. Our objective was to examine the effects of oral estradiol alone, soy protein with phytoestrogens alone, and combinations of estradiol and SPEs on working memory of ovariectomized retired breeder female rats using the radial arm maze test. DESIGN: Eighty-four bilaterally ovariectomized retired breeder female rats were randomized into 12 groups to examine the effects of chronic treatment (10 months) with oral micronized estradiol (0, 0.5, 1, and 2 mg/1,800 Cal), SPEs (0, 72, and 144 mg/1,800 Cal), and all combinations of these doses of estradiol and SPEs on working memory. RESULTS: Oral administration of estradiol or SPEs resulted in a dose-dependent improvement in the performance of the radial arm maze tests. In addition, at each of the three doses of oral micronized estradiol tested, the performance of the radial arm tests was not significantly different in the presence or absence of SPEs. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that SPEs may function as estrogen agonists in improving working memory in the ovariectomized retired breeder female rats and that SPEs do not antagonize the beneficial effects of estradiol on the working memory of these rats. No additional benefits on the radial arm maze test performance were observed with the tested combinations of estradiol and SPEs.
Animals↗
Availability, wishful thinking, and physicians' diagnostic judgments for patients with suspected bacteremia.
A prospective cohort study was done to assess the effects of value bias and the inappropriate use of the availability heuristic on physicians' judgments of the probability of bacteremia. Subjects of the study were 227 medical inpatients in a university hospital who had blood cultures done. Estimates of the probabilities that individual patients would have positive blood cultures were collected from the house officers who ordered the cultures. Clinical data and culture results were also obtained. Based on the data the authors calculated "value variables," reflecting doctors' assessments of the risks that individual patients would die in the hospital if they were to have bacteremia. "Recalled experience variables" reflected the doctors' recollections of recent experiences with patients with bacteremia. The physicians significantly overestimated the likelihood of bacteremia for most of their patients. Their ROC curve for this diagnosis showed moderate discriminating ability (area = 0.687, SE = 0.073). Two recalled experience variables were significantly associated with the physicians' probability estimates. The value variables were significantly inversely associated with them. These relationships were independent of several clinical variables and measures of disease severity. The physicians' intuitive diagnostic judgments were thus influenced by the availability heuristic and by wishful thinking, a form of the value bias. The availability heuristic may mislead physicians by causing them to believe that random variations in the prevalence of a nonepidemic disease represent real trends. Wishful thinking may lead physicians to underestimate the likelihood of a disease for patients most at risk for its consequences. Teaching physicians to develop better judgmental strategies may improve the quality of their judgments and hence their patient care.
Anti-Bacterial Agents↗
Cervicogenic headache: prevalence and response to local steroid therapy.
Cervicogenic headache (CEH) has been said to be common among patients with idiopathic headache, but no information exists as to its prevalence among those who have not suffered whiplash or head injury. This study was designed to answer this question and in addition to determine whether headache relief could be achieved by blockade of the occipital nerves (greater and lesser occipital--GON, LON) in the upper neck, on the side habitually affected by the headache. Among 796 patients with idiopathic headache, 128 or 16.1% were found to be suffering from CEH. They were predominantly female, as in the case of migraine, older than the migrainous group (49.5 years as against 34.7 years), respectively, and with a monthly headache frequency of 18, against 6.9 in the case of migraine. Injections of depot methylprednisolone into the region of the GON and LON produced complete relief of headache in 169 out of 180 patients with CEH for a period ranging from 10 to 77 days, the mean duration of relief being 23.5 days. However, similar relief of headache could be achieved in patients with attacks of strictly unilateral migraine or cluster headache, suggesting that local steroid injections by blocking the cervico-trigeminal relay, can arrest other forms of unilateral headache.
Administration, Topical↗