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Biomedical subjects

M Ireland

Publications and source records attributed to M Ireland.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

Platyspondylic lethal osteochondrodysplasia: Shiraz type with radiological-pathological correlation.

We report two cases of a platyspondylic lethal osteochondrodysplasia in siblings. The condition affects predominantly the metaphyses of the axial skeleton associated with limb shortening and mild platyspondyly. The radiological and pathological features correlate very closely with Sedaghatian's lethal metaphyseal chondrodysplasia, which has previously been described only in Iranian Nationals. Both the radiological and pathological appearances will be described, together with a discussion of the differential diagnosis, the genetical implications and a review of literature.

Female

Functional characterization of insulin and IGF-I receptors in chicken lens epithelial and fiber cells.

Insulin and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) play a role in lens cell growth and development. The binding of these hormones to their respective receptors with its concomitant signal transduction is an important step in these cellular processes. Hormone binding to adult chicken lens insulin and IGF-I receptors, partially purified from epithelial and fiber cells, was studied to examine this activity in lens. The associated stimulation of receptor-mediated tyrosine kinase by the hormones was also studied. At an insulin concentration of 0.02 nM, specific binding was similar for epithelial and fiber receptor preparations (Epi = 0.23 +/- 0.03 fmol, Fib = 0.19 +/- 0.02 fmol). Displacement studies revealed that there was also no difference between epithelial and fiber receptor preparations in the concentration of insulin necessary for half maximal displacement of specific [125I]-insulin binding (IC50: Epi = 0.32 nM +/- 0.07 nM, Fib = 0.31 nM +/- 0.05 nM). Comparison of IGF-I (0.02 nM) binding to receptor preparations from epithelial and fiber cells demonstrated that specific binding was similar in the two preparations (Epi = 0.50 +/- 0.05 fmol, Fib = 0.42 +/- 0.05 fmol). Also, there was no difference in the concentration of IGF-I necessary for half maximal displacement of specific [125I]-IGF-I binding (IC50 = Epi: 0.27 +/- 0.05 nM, Fib: 0.28 +/- 0.04 nM). The ability of IGF-I to displace bound [125I]-insulin was also examined. The IC50 for IGF-I binding to the insulin receptors isolated from epithelial and fiber cells was 37.4 +/- 2.4 nM, and 35.4 +/- 2.8 nM, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals

Variability in classification of consultations by content-based descriptors.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the reliability with which general practitioners use content-based descriptors of consultations. Our hypothesis was that there would be considerable variety in the opinion of general practitioners on the classification of consultations by descriptors. DESIGN: General practitioners in Newcastle, New South Wales, assessed videotaped consultations and the written consultation records by 12 general practitioners. SETTING: The medical faculty of the University of Newcastle and the general practitioners' own homes and offices. PARTICIPANTS: Twelve general practitioner participants were selected from consultation tapes recorded in 1983 by the Primary Care Research Group at the University of Newcastle. Thirty-nine observer general practitioners were randomly selected from a list of general practitioners practising in the Newcastle area maintained by the Hunter Postgraduate Medical Institute. Those whose videotapes had been selected were excluded. RESULTS: There were high levels of variation between assessments made from the original records and from viewing the tapes. Doctors varied greatly in their use of the descriptors. This variation included estimation of the duration of consultations and of the individual components of the consultation (history, physical examination, problems dealt with). No systematic relationships were found between any characteristics of the doctors and their ratings of consultations. CONCLUSIONS: There is potential for enormous variation in the use of content-based descriptors currently available in Australia. Observer general practitioners tended to underestimate the content of the consultations and overestimate the duration. It would be inappropriate to use the general practitioner patient record for audit of the content or difficulty of a consultation.

Adult

A family of lens fiber cell specific proteins.

A family of related polypeptides of molecular weights 97 kd, 93 kd, 64 kd, 62 kd, 51 kd and 49 kd is unique to chick lens fiber cells, and is not found in the epithelial cells. Cross-reacting proteins were also detected in bovine and human lenses. This family of membrane-associated proteins is cytoskeletal in nature and localized to the beaded-chain filaments.

Animals

Comparison of pulsed Doppler and thermodilution methods for measuring cardiac output in critically ill patients.

We obtained 145 consecutive cardiac output measurements in 38 critically ill patients, using the invasive thermodilution and the noninvasive pulsed Doppler methods. The mean thermodilution cardiac output (TDCO) was 5.7 +/- 1.87 L/min and the mean pulsed Doppler cardiac output (PDCO) was 5.16 +/- 1.66 L/min. The mean difference between the two measurements was 0.51 L/min with an SD greater than 1.6 L/min, reflecting the scattering of results. The overall correlation coefficient was .58. The intercepts were large and the regression equation some way from the line of equal values (TDCO = 2.28 + 0.66 PDCO). When the results were analyzed according to diagnosis or by group experience, there were some differences in the bias of the estimate; however, the SD of the difference between methods was greater than one liter/min in all groups. Thus, the pulsed Doppler method failed to estimate accurately TDCO in critically ill patients.

Cardiac Output