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Biomedical subjects

M J Ball

Publications and source records attributed to M J Ball.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Cardiovascular risk in patients with treated familial hypercholesterolaemia and patients with severe hypertriglyceridaemia.

A study was performed to determine the morbidity and mortality from ischaemic heart disease (IHD) in patients with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) and severe hypertriglyceridaemia (pretreatment plasma triglyceride greater than 5 mmol/l). Twenty-nine (38%) of 76 patients with FH and 8(44%) of 18 patients with hypertriglyceridaemia had evidence of IHD. Over a mean follow-up period of 5.5 years, 2 patients with hypertriglyceridaemia died but there were no deaths in patients with FH. This contrasts with earlier reports which showed a high mortality in FH patients. The lower mortality may be due to improved treatment and consequent lower levels of cholesterol.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Study of computer applications in dental practice.

The results of this study indicated that some new patterns are emerging in computer usage by dentists. The majority in this study reported utilizing micro- and minicomputers rather than commercial services. The increasing acceptance of personal computers and their decreasing costs will certainly contribute to increased utilization and the development of additional applications.

California↗
PubMed1986

The IAIMS initiative at the University of Maryland at Baltimore.

With support from the National Library of Medicine, the University of Maryland at Baltimore is creating an Integrated Academic Information Management System (IAIMS) that will serve as a prototype for academic health centers. A campus-wide undertaking, the IAIMS initiative at Maryland is characterized by its functional comprehensiveness and its planning model. The resulting strategic plan is serving as a guide in the ongoing model development within an interdisciplinary Hypertension Center.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed1986

Computers in dentistry.

Traditionally, each professional school has developed its own course or department of health care informatics. We may find it more efficient and productive to establish a department of Medical Informatics to serve all health science colleges. Therefore the initial costs would be reduced and the common knowledge bank would be greatly increased. In a position paper written for the Association of Academic Health Centers lies the detailed plans for the establishment of an integrated health sciences center computer resource. The inclusion of computer courses in the curriculum can be summarized in the following action step. The chief administrative officer of the academic health center should facilitate the work of the deans of the schools of the health professions in convening faculty task forces that will address the introduction of computer literacy and computer applications in health care to the curricula. Although dental informatics is still in its infancy, we must lay a solid foundation for the controlled growth and development of this field of dental science. The problems encountered in developing a course in dental informatics are not unique to this one area. All specialties of health care are grappling with the questions posed by medical informaticians. Although each specialty has its own needs and requirements, the basic underlying principles of medical informatics remains the same. The knowledge we can gain by the exchange of experiences between all fields can greatly increase the speed and accuracy of development. The primary goal of computer literacy in dental education should be to prepare our students for the changing practice environment of the future.

Computer Literacy↗
PubMed1986

The case for using computers in the operating room.

The largest cost center and revenue generator in most hospitals, the operating room is subject to demands for increased cost accountability and quality assurance. Information technology tools can be incorporated into the operating room and have the potential to positively affect practices there through addressing nursing, administrative/financial and medical needs. Microcomputer-based operating room systems now on the market can provide functions from scheduling and case costing to medical records and market analysis. Of 21 functions identified, 10 can be characterized as mandatory and the remaining as optional. Individual systems offer varied configurations, providing from 0 to 21 functions. These enhanced capabilities for data collection, monitoring and analysis enable health care professionals to provide both better and more cost-effective care for surgical patients.

Computers↗
PubMed1985

Laminar variation in the microvascular architecture of normal human visual cortex (area 17).

Diameters and densities of arterioles and capillaries were measured in thick alkaline phosphatase-stained sections of human visual cortex from normal young adults. Values were compared between laminae. Capillary diameters ranked: IV greater than V-VI greater than II-III greater than I; capillary densities ranked: IV greater than II-III greater than V-VI greater than I. The striking capillary density of lamina IV overlaps the stria Gennarii and, like it, is limited to area 17. The data suggest correlations with similar laminar distributions of some neurotransmitters and of certain common neuropathological lesions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

A new definition of Alzheimer's disease: a hippocampal dementia.

Preliminary data support the hypothesis that the decline of all higher cognitive functions in senile dementia of the Alzheimer type is attributable to histopathological changes in the hippocampal formation, with or without neocortical neuronal lesions. Previous literature amply supports the critical role of this "locus minoris resistentiae" in memory processing and cognitive physiology. New observations include quantitative morphometric evaluations of the hippocampal formation from a longitudinal study of prospectively tested patients and histological and neurochemical data from patients with a clinical presentation consistent with typical Alzheimer's disease, in whom the only neuropathological abnormality was devastating nerve cell loss and gliosis in the hippocampi.

Aged↗
PubMed1984

The morphological basis of dementia in Parkinson's disease.

The literature pertinent to the pathological anatomy subserving dementia in Parkinsonian patients is reviewed. Mechanisms discussed include cerebral cortical atrophy; hydrocephalus; Lewy body inclusions; neocortical lesions of the Alzheimer type; depletion of cholinergic, dopaminergic or noradrenergic transmitter systems; 'subcortical' dementia; and neuronal depopulation of the basal forebrain. New autopsy data are presented to confirm that, contrary to published reports, most patients with parkinsonism who exhibit dementia do not have concomitant Alzheimer's disease, and that some different pathogenetic mechanism must be sought to account for this increasingly common cause of cognitive decline in the sufferers of Parkinson's disease.

Aged↗
PubMed1983

Evidence for high affinity choline transport in synaptosomes prepared from hippocampus and neocortex of patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Sodium-dependent, hemicholinium-sensitive choline transport was measured in purified synaptosomes prepared from fresh necropsy brain of patients with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type and from control subjects. Choline transport velocity was standardized in terms of the occluded lactate dehydrogenase activity of the various synaptosomal preparations, rather than in terms of the protein content, since this enzyme is more representative of the synaptosome content of the purified homogenates. A regional difference in high-affinity choline transport was observed in purified synaptosomes prepared from brains of mentally normal controls; the velocities of sodium-dependent and hemicholinium-sensitive choline uptake into synaptosomes from hippocampus were about twice as great as that into synaptosomes from frontal cortex, indicating a greater relative density of cholinergic innervation in the hippocampus. Hippocampal and neocortical cholinergic nerve cell endings, prepared as synaptosomes, from brains of patients with Alzheimer's disease, also accumulated choline by a high-affinity mechanism; however, the velocity of uptake into both brain areas was decreased in comparison with controls. Choline transport into synaptosomes from Alzheimer frontal cortex was reduced approximately 50%, while uptake into Alzheimer hippocampal synaptosomes represented only 20% of the control activity. The reduction in synaptosomal high-affinity choline transport in Alzheimer's disease could be indicative of degeneration of cholinergic nerve terminal boutons resulting from cholinergic nerve cell death, or could result from an overall decrease in the number of carrier sites per nerve terminal or in the carrier transport velocity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Acetylcholine↗
PubMed1983

Paucity of morphological changes in the brains of ageing beagle dogs: further evidence that Alzheimer lesions are unique for primate central nervous system.

Twelve regions of grey matter from the brains of 25 Beagle dogs, varying from one to over 16 years in age, were serially sectioned and sequentially scanned with a semi-automated sampling stage microscope, in a morphometric search for neuritic plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and evidence of nerve cell loss. Examination of 227,776 light microscopic fields failed to reveal any senile plaques or neurofibrillary tangles. The neuronal densities, which ranged from 473 to 37,014 nucleolated neurons/mm3, showed no significant relationship with ageing. Neuronal lesions of Alzheimer type may be more typical of the human CNS; and physiological evidence for regionally reduced glucose metabolic rate in this animal model may require other structural alterations for its explanation.

Aging↗
PubMed1982

"Limbic predilection in Alzheimer dementia: is reactivated herpesvirus involved?".

In the brains of patients with senile dementia of the Alzheimer type (SDAT), the quantitatively pathognomonic neuronal lesions (tangles, plaques, granulovacuolar degeneration, Hirano bodies, and nerve cell loss) are predisposed to occur especially within the limbic system. Anatomical and physiological studies indicate that fibres from the trigeminal ganglia innervate meninges and vessels within the middle and anterior cranial fossae, especially in the same subfrontal and mesial temporal regions preferentially afflicted in acute herpes encephalitis. These limbic regions are critical for normal memory processing and recall. Explantation and cocultivation techniques have recently demonstrated Herpes simplex virus in many humans trigeminal ganglia, which also reveal a life-long lymphocytic infiltration in the absence of any pathological changes in the sensory neurones. These lymphocytes may represent a histological marker of latent herpes virus, which when reactivating is well-established as the ganglionic source of recurrent herpes labialis. It is suggested that reactivation of the same dormant viral material travelling centripetally instead might be the cause of the "degenerative" lesions typical both of Alzheimer's Disease and of the normal aged human brain.

Aged↗