Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

M M Roberts

Publications and source records attributed to M M Roberts.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Oestrogen receptor activity in breast cancer detected at a prevalence screening examination.

In view of the possible introduction of screening programmes, this study compares oestrogen receptor (ER) levels in a series of women whose primary tumour was detected by screening and an age-matched consecutive series of women whose tumours were diagnosed after symptomatic presentation. Because of missing data and other statistical considerations, the comparison was made using T1 and T2 categories of tumour only. Some differences were found: the distribution of ER levels was significantly different in the two groups, with more extreme values in the symptomatic series; the screening series, however, had more moderate/rich ER levels than the symptomatic group. Tumours of special pathological type (for example, tubular, cribriform, lobular, medullary, and mucoid) were more likely to be ER-moderate or -rich, and there were more of these tumours in the screening series. The relationship of these findings to tumour growth rate is discussed. The study highlights the difficulty of obtaining sufficient tissue for conventional DCC biochemical assays from the small non-invasive tumours found by screening, and suggests that newer alternative methods employing monoclonal antibodies may be required for such types of tumour.

Aged↗
PubMed1987

Sensitivities of Pityrosporum sp. to selected commercial shampoos.

Sensitivity of 25 strains of Pityrosporum sp. to four commercial shampoos was tested using a gel diffusion method and determination of minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs). All the shampoos when undiluted gave inhibition zones in the gel diffusion test with 13 of the 15 strains tested. Two strains were resistant to 'Polytar'. 'Polytar' was fungistatic, 'Selsun' 'Cetavlon P.C.' and 'Genisol' were fungicidal. MIC results showed the yeast to be most sensitive to 'Cetavlon' and 'Selsun'.

Hair Preparations↗
PubMed1987

Risk factors for breast cancer with applications to selection for the prevalence screen.

There have been many studies of individual risk factors for breast cancer; most of the factors concerned may be broadly grouped into demographic and dietary, reproductive history, endocrine related, family history of breast cancer, and previous history of breast disease. Some of these studies have examined the combined effect of these factors. The present case-control study does this in the context of a randomised controlled trial of breast cancer screening. The relative risks that we have obtained are, in general, of similar magnitude to those in other reports. The relevance of the results to a screening programme is discussed.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1986

Three-dimensional structure of the adenovirus major coat protein hexon.

The three-dimensional crystal structure of the adenovirus major coat protein is presented. Adenovirus type 2 hexon, at 967 residues, is now the longest polypeptide whose structure has been determined crystallographically. Taken with our model for hexon packing, which positions the 240 trimeric hexons in the capsid, the structure defines 60% of the protein within the 150 X 10(6) dalton virion. The assembly provides the first details of a DNA-containing animal virus that is 20 times larger than the spherical RNA viruses previously described. Unexpectedly, the hexon subunit contains two similar beta-barrels whose topology is identical to those of the spherical RNA viruses, but whose architectural role in adenovirus is very different. The hexon structure reveals several distinctive features related to its function as a stable protective coat, and shows that the type-specific immunological determinants are restricted to the virion surface.

Adenoviridae↗
PubMed1986

Comparative pathology of prevalent and incident cancers detected by breast screening. Edinburgh Breast Screening Project.

In the Edinburgh Breast Screening Project 210 cancers were detected from commencement in 1979 up to December, 1984. By this time the full initial cohort had completed at least 3 visits and a proportion had attended for up to 5 visits, so pathological characteristics for prevalent and incident cancers could be compared. The main differences are in distribution of histological type of cancer, detection of occult invasive disease, and lymph-node positivity among incident tumours. Only the first of these was statistically significant. This evaluation shows that cancer detection by screening in Edinburgh conforms with screening theory, in which detection of good prognosis tumours is favoured at the prevalence screens, and faster growing, aggressive tumours are found at the incidence screens. Qualitative histopathology may provide a better measure than standard quantitative judgments of size and lymph node status to compare the varieties of cancer detected by screening programmes and to understand the biology of the disease.

Aged↗
PubMed1986

Psychiatric morbidity after screening for breast cancer.

One hundred and thirty two women with normal breast screening results were interviewed six months after their attendance at the Edinburgh Breast Screening Clinic. Eight percent of women said screening had made them more anxious about developing breast cancer. Thirty eight percent said they were more aware of the disease since screening but they regarded this as advantageous. Seventy percent of the women were still practising breast self-examination. There was no difference in the psychiatric morbidity of the screened sample when compared with a matched random sample community control group. Neither was there any difference in the General Health Questionnaire case rates before and after screening. Screening does not appear to increase the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity. Twenty nine percent of the interview sample were examining their breasts more than once a month--21% once a week or more. However, these frequent self-examiners did not have a greater prevalence of psychiatric morbidity than their matched controls.

Aged↗
PubMed1986

Edinburgh breast education campaign on breast cancer and breast self-examination: was it worth while?

A health education campaign was carried out at the start of a large trial of screening for breast cancer in Edinburgh. After preliminary studies the campaign concentrated on talks to small groups of women by specially trained health visitors. Over a year, 12,000 women attended. Systematic evaluation after 12 months showed that selected women who heard the talks were more knowledgeable about breast cancer, and a random sample of women in Edinburgh had a small but significant improvement in knowledge compared with women in Aberdeen. However, the random sample did not report an increase in the practice of breast self-examination (BSE) and there was no increase in workload for general practitioners. It is suggested that BSE is more likely to be accepted if combined with a physical examination.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

A women's health shop: a unique experiment.

A women's health shop in Edinburgh was open for 16 months to provide information and advice in a non-clinical setting and to allow an interchange between informal and formal care in the community. Staffed by nurses, it was visited by 5664 women and 400 men, an average of 24 people each working day. The most popular topics for discussion were women's health problems, and 17% of women had a personal discussion with the nurse. The shop provided a useful and popular service and offered a practical method of furthering the concept of health promotion.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Older women's attitudes towards breast disease, self examination, and screening facilities: implications for communication.

Qualitative research techniques were used in two studies in Edinburgh to explore older women's attitudes and motivations towards breast disease, self examination, and screening, with a view to identifying appropriate strategies for communication. The results indicated that knowledge of breast disease and screening facilities was poor and that many psychological and emotional issues inhibited self examination. Increasing information about self examination and clinics is unlikely to influence uptake unless it is presented together with emotional support rather than through conventional mass media channels. Such support may best be provided by setting breast screening within general health screening rather than emphasising the single disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Risk of breast cancer in women with history of benign disease of the breast.

A consecutive series of 791 women who had attended diagnostic breast clinics during 1967-70 and been found to be free of malignant disease were later traced to determine their subsequent incidence of breast cancer. Of the 770 (97%) successfully traced, 22 had developed breast cancer. Based on data from the Welsh Cancer Registry only eight cases of breast cancer had been expected, so that the excess risk for the group was 2.7. The increased risk occurred in all age groups and in women deemed "essentially normal" as well as in those who had had a pathological abnormality. The risk was increased when epithelial hyperplasia was present. No excess mortality from breast cancer was apparent, but follow up was short. More breast symptoms were experienced and more biopsies performed than expected in this group of women. Women with a past history of benign breast disease have a slightly increased risk of breast cancer. Selective screening of these women, however, may be uneconomic and a cause of groundless anxiety.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Breast cancer and breast self-examination: what do Scottish women know?

To aid the design of a health education campaign centred around a breast screening programme, a survey of knowledge about breast cancer and breast self-examination was carried out in 810 women selected randomly from the electoral registers in Edinburgh and Aberdeen. On the whole, the level of knowledge was poor, but was strongly related to age, social class, previous experience of breast problems and preventive health behaviour. Very few women knew of signs to look for other than a lump or of any treatments other than mastectomy or radiotherapy. Although 57% had tried or were practising self-examination, only a small minority knew of the correct technique and when to do it. There may be several reasons for our findings, including previous lack of appropriate information from professional sources, avoidance due to fear and anxiety about breast cancer or lack of motivation because this disease is not seen as an important single threat. These results will be compared with a later survey as part of the evaluation of our health education campaign.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

The Edinburgh randomised trial of screening for breast cancer: description of method.

Edinburgh was selected as one of the centres in the UK Seven-year Trial of Breast Screening of women aged 45-65 which began in 1979. Subsequently, our study was extended to a randomised trial with its own control population within the city. Half the practices were randomly allocated for screening, giving a cluster sampling of women. The total number in the trial is 65,000. Women with previously diagnosed breast cancer are excluded. Women allocated for screening are invited to the clinic and screened according to the procedures specified in the U.K. protocol, having clinical examination every year and mammography on alternate years. The two modalities of screening are assessed independently and the role of nurses is being evaluated. Breast cancer incidence is monitored by pathology register and the local cancer registry office and deaths from the General Register office. Long-term follow-up will be obtained through flagging at NHS Central Register. To determine the value of screening, standard statistical methods will be used to compare breast cancer mortality rates in the whole of the screening population with that of the controls. This trial has a power of 83% of detecting a reduction in mortality of 35% after 7 years of follow-up and a power of 95% of detecting a similar reduction at 10 years (alpha = 0.05, one-sided test).

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1984

Combined granulocyte and platelet transfusions: inter-relationship between granulocyte and platelet recoveries in the presence and absence of complicating factors.

191 combined collections of granulocytes (PMN) and platelets (PLT) obtained by discontinuous cytapheresis were given to 23 patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). The circulation in recipients of the concomitantly transfused cells was compared by measuring the % recovery of PMN at 1 h, and of PLT at 1 and 20 h. The recovery of both cells was greatly reduced in transfusions accompanied by a transfusion reaction. Fever in recipients had no effect on the recovery of either cell, but PMN recovery was significantly higher in patients receiving oral prednisolone. Alloimmunization to PLT, defined as recovery levels less than 15% at 1 h and/or less than 10% at 20 h, was recorded in 42 transfusions, and PMN recovery was significantly reduced in this group. In transfusions where PMN recovery was 'low' (less than 5%); the recovery of the coincidentally transfused PLT was significantly reduced only in transfusions accompanied by a reaction. These results emphasize the deleterious effects of transfusion reactions and suggest that donor PMN frequently circulate less well in recipients alloimmunized to PLT from the same donor.

Blood Group Incompatibility↗
PubMed1984

Oblique-view mammography: adequacy for screening. Work in progress.

Single oblique-view mammography has been recommended for screening purposes. The authors present data indicating that using the oblique view only can allow 11% of cancers to remain undetected. The smallest and potentially curable cancers are most likely to be overlooked in this way; any possible benefit of screening is thereby reduced. Data are also presented to show that 39% of women may require other views, for reasons not necessarily related to cancer detection. It is therefore recommended that all women have four-view mammography (oblique plus craniocaudal views of each breast) at their first screening visit.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1984

Protein concentrations in fluid from gross cystic disease of the breast.

Wide variations in the concentrations of IgA, IgG, lactoferrin, lysozyme and albumin were found in 96 cyst fluids obtained from 75 patients with gross cystic disease of the breast. Sedimentation coefficient determination were performed on 19 of the cyst fluids with the highest IgA concentrations in an attempt to discover the basis for the wide variation and two types of cyst fluids were found: cyst fluids that resembled external secretions such as colostrum of milk with the IgA wholly or predominantly in the 11S (secretory) form, and low concentrations of IgG and albumin, and cyst fluids that resembled serum with the IgA wholly or predominantly in the 7S (serum) form, and high concentrations of IgG and albumin. Some cyst fluids contained low concentrations of all proteins measured, and no relationship was observed between the concentrations of the proteins studied, and age, parity or menstrual status.

Adult↗