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Biomedical subjects

M E Ellis

Publications and source records attributed to M E Ellis.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1983

Amnesia attenuation specificity: propranolol reverses norepinephrine but not cycloheximide-induced amnesia.

Post-trial injections of norepinephrine (NE) or cycloheximide (CHX) into the amygdala produces a long-term retention deficity (amnesia) for a 1-trial footshock experience in rats. concomitant post-trial injections of the adrenergic antagonist, propranolol, prevents NE-, but not CHX-induced amnesia. These results indicate separate mechanisms of action for amnesia produced by intracranial CHX and NE injections.

Amnesia↗
PubMed1983

Hyperbaric oxygen treatment: 10 years' experience of a Regional Infectious Diseases Unit.

Ten years' experience of a Regional Centre for Infectious Diseases in the use of hyperbaric oxygen in 87 patients have been reviewed. Its efficacy in the treatment of non-infectious cases has been confirmed. Fifty-eight (67 per cent) patients had anaerobic infections associated with peripheral vascular disease, limb trauma, abdominal surgery or occurred spontaneously. All patients had failed to respond to surgery and antimicrobial agents, and were transferred for hyperbaric treatment as the infection was progressive. Marked improvement in general condition, wound infection and limitation of extension of the anaerobic infection occurred following hyperbaric treatment. These improvements had benefits in terms of surgical risk, demarcation and mortality. Symptoms suggestive of oxygen toxicity occurred in up to 24 per cent of all patients, but in many this took the form of anxiety and anxiety-related symptoms. Despite the beneficial effects of hyperbaric oxygen, many surgeons appear to be unaware or sceptical of the facility. A prospective controlled trial is advocated.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

The noradrenergic system of the amygdala and aversive information processing.

Water-deprived rats were trained to drink in a passive avoidance apparatus. After reaching a predetermined latency criterion, rats were given a single 3-sec, 3-mA footshock. Immediately or 12 hr after the footshock, rats were given intracranial injections of vehicular saline, norepinephrine (NE), propranolol, or dopamine (DA) into the amygdala, internal capsule, lateral ventricles, or caudate-putamen. Subjects were tested for passive avoidance at 30 min or 24 hr following footshock. No memory deficits were seen as a consequence of short-term retention or because of proactive or toxicity effects. Retention deficits were seen in the 24 hr test only in rats injected with NE in the amygdala, internal capsule, or lateral ventricles. However, qualitative differences in stress-indicative behaviors were noted in the NE groups and in the DA-amygdala animals. The results specifically suggest that the noradrenergic system of the amygdala is involved in the long-term processing of the emotional attributes of aversive information.

Adrenergic Fibers↗
PubMed1983

The ESR in the diagnosis and management of the polymyalgia rheumatica/giant cell arteritis syndrome.

A review of 80 patients with the polymyalgia rheumatica/giant cell arteritis (PMR/GCA) syndrome has revealed that the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) is normal in 22.5% of cases at presentation. Too much reliance on the ESR as a screening test led to delay in diagnosis in 10 patients. Serious complications occurred in 4 patients with a normal or minimally raised ESR. Analysis of follow-up data at 4 weeks showed no significant correlation between change in the ESR and change in symptoms, and at subsequent clinical attendances symptoms did not consistently parallel the ESR. Our results cast serious doubts on the use of the ESR as an entirely reliable diagnostic and therapeutic aid in the PMR/GCA syndrome.

Aged↗
PubMed1983

Chronic or fatal Q-fever infection: a review of 16 patients seen in North-East Scotland (1967-80).

Sixteen patients with serologically proven Q-fever infection are reviewed. Fifteen had significantly raised antibody titres to both phase I and phase II Coxiella burneti antigens, indicating persistent or chronic infection. One patient, a premature infant who died, had raised phase II titres only, but is included together with the mother who had chronic Q-fever and was the presumed source of infection. Chronic Q-fever infection has previously been regarded as virtually synonymous with Q-fever endocarditis, but only seven of the patients in this survey had evidence of valvular endocarditis. In those who did, the infection had arisen on prosthetic valves or those affected by rheumatic or syphilitic heart disease. One patient had inexorably progressive destruction of an infected congenitally bicuspid aortic valve. Eight patients had infections associated with extra-valvular sites and several of these associations have not been previously described. These include extreme prematurity with perinatal death, possibly following transplacental infection, the sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), multiple lower limb emboli from endocarditis of an abdominal aortic dacron graft, and colonization of ventricular endocardium following left ventricular myotomy/sub-aortic diaphragm resection. The current concept that chronic Q-fever is invariably associated with endocarditis is therefore untenable and the indications for phase I antibody screening should be extended to include patients other than those under investigation for 'culture-negative' endocarditis, for example those with unusual osteomyelitis of vertebrae.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Evolution of aversive information processing: a temporal trade-off hypothesis.

There is often a temporal relation in survival probabilities in life-threatening situations such as predator-prey encounters. As a situation intensifies or becomes more immediately dangerous, reflex responses usually dominate behavior, resulting in there being less time available to gather information for more complex processing by higher brain substrates. The only information to form a memory of such a threatening experience may be some neural code for 'avoid' (or a negative emotional attribute) and the context in which the experience has occurred. Hence, memory for aversive experiences may be more labile while reflexive responses to danger become much less labile to experimental manipulation as the severity of the threat increases. Natural selection may have preferentially acted on escape and avoidance responses such that plasticity to make decisions concerning other options in increasingly dangerous arenas may be much more limited. The possibility that time becomes a trade-off in an organism's attempt to more fully evaluate characteristics of a perceived threat underlies the 'temporal trade-off hypothesis'.

Amygdala↗
PubMed1981

Cardioselectivity of atenolol in asthmatic patients.

This double-blind, randomised, within patient, placebo-controlled study set out to investigate the effect of a cardioselective beta-blocker, atenolol, at different oral doses (50, 100 and 200 mg) and a non-selective agent, propranolol (40 mg), upon 1. airways resistance (forced expiratory volume at one second = FEV1) and 2. the bronchodilator action of increasing doses of inhaled isoprenaline, in patients with co-existent hypertension and reversible airways obstruction. In 10 patients, two hours after drug administration, the 3 doses of atenolol caused a significantly greater (P less than 0.05) degree of B1-blockade than propranolol. In contrast the 3 doses of atenolol caused significantly less (P less than 0.05 to 0.01) B2-blockade as evidenced by a smaller fall in FEV1. The isoprenaline FEV1 dose response curves were displaced progressively to the right of the placebo curve with increasing doses of atenolol, but the greatest displacement was with propranolol. It was concluded that patients with reversible airways obstruction who require beta-blockade should be given a low dose of a cardioselective agent in conjunction with, if required, a beta 2 stimulant such as isoprenaline. Such a treatment will be less likely to cause a troublesome increase in airways resistance and the bronchodilator action of the beta 2 stimulant will be almost fully preserved.

Airway Resistance↗
PubMed1981

Progressive lung disease in a malt-worker.

We described a malt-worker whose initial symptoms suggested extrinsic allergic alveolitis. The ensuing cavitating lung disease, Aspergillus fumigatus infection with mycetomata, vigorous immune response, and granulomatous liver disease are unusual features.

Adult↗