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Biomedical subjects

M McPherson

Publications and source records attributed to M McPherson.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Responding to the needs of children with chronic illness. The Title V approach.

We have established an approach through Title V which involves 1) the Title V state system; 2) the tertiary level in universities, children's hospitals, and other major institutions; and 3) the community level, with local physicians, school staff, and community health, mental health, and social service providers for building a system of care for specific groups of chronically ill and disabled children using all available resources--public, private, and voluntary. The challenge in the 1990s as we move to the twenty-first century is to use that experience to support a generic system of care; each disease may have medically different consequences but all chronic illnesses share important characteristics for the child and family. The nation will be better served by programs that address children with special health needs as a class than by programs that are duplicated 200 times or more. The system developed cannot be a rigidly controlled or structured system. We live in a free pluralistic society where services to children are provided by public, private, and voluntary resources and by many different agencies and professionals. But it can be a more rational and better developed approach to long-term care based on the experience and knowledge we have gained in the past 50 years.

Child↗
PubMed1986

Community programs for children with rheumatic diseases.

There is an evident need for both qualitative and quantitative expansion of services to children with rheumatic or connective tissue diseases. These are necessary for diagnosis, amelioration, rehabilitation and reconstruction at the physical level. They are equally important for the development of appropriate and gratifying career and other biopsychosocial goals and for the achievement of them. Two model programs have been described. Such programs should be designed to accommodate local and regional conditions within the broad context of comprehensive care. Numerous governmental and private agencies are available to assist in this process, but it is still dynamic and evolutionary.

Arthritis, Juvenile↗
PubMed1985

A comparative study of captopril and enalapril in patients with severe hypertension.

Twenty patients with moderate to severe essential hypertension were randomized in a paralleled, double-blind, 22-week study of captopril (ten) and enalapril (ten) following four weeks of hydrochlorothiazide (50 mg/d) baseline treatment. The captopril group was administered 25 mg tid and increased to 100 mg tid, while the enalapril group began with 5 mg bid and increased to 20 mg bid, depending on the patient's blood pressure (BP) response. Methyldopa, 250 mg to 500 mg bid and 1,000 mg bid, was administered to patients in both groups if BP was not adequately controlled. Patients were seen every two weeks for BP monitoring and metabolic evaluation. Each group showed a significant and equal decrease in BP, with the effect being the greatest on the diastolic pressure, supine and upright. Of the 20 patients, ten (four whites and six blacks) required methyldopa for adequate BP control. Four patients, two from each group, developed reversible prerenal azotemia (BUN [blood urea nitrogen] congruent to 50 mg/dL). No other clinical or metabolic side effects were noted. We concluded that captopril and enalapril were equally effective in lowering BP in the dosages given; no racial differences in BP response were noted, although more black patients required the addition of methyldopa for adequate BP control; and both drugs were safe and well tolerated.

Antihypertensive Agents↗
PubMed1983

Attitudes of New Zealand general practitioners to alcohol-related problems.

The attitudes of a self-selected group of general practitioners indicated majority support for a traditional disease conception of alcoholism embodying abstinence as the goal of treatment. Separate attitudinal factors which emerged represented a modified disease conception, a moralistic attitude and a belief in a drinking-problem continuum. The general practitioners' attitude structure was significantly related with their practice and belief in the efficacy of giving advice to patients with alcohol-related problems.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed1982

Doctors and alcohol. The responses of a self-selected group of general practitioners to patients with alcohol-related problems.

A postal survey of New Zealand general practitioners gathered information from a self-selected sample about their response to alcohol problems. Responses to a series of attitude statements measured the extent to which doctors held traditional beliefs about alcoholism as a disease, the management of which requires abstinence; emerging concepts of alcohol dependence and more moralistic attitudes. General practitioners who responded to the survey were found to be largely in sympathy with the disease concept of alcohol problems though some of the more recently emerging concepts were also widely accepted. The majority reported that they felt they did have an active role to play in connection with the alcohol problems of their patients, both in terms of treatment or advice giving, and referral to specialist agencies. Over half of the respondents requested guidelines for treatment and advice giving. Only a small proportion of general practitioners reported pessimism about their personal role in relation to their patients' alcohol problems. The results are discussed in the context of recent research evidence showing the relative efficacy of a structured advice-counseling session of the type in which general practitioners might engage.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1981

Developing bilingual patient education materials. Problems and solutions.

The bilingual format presents a challenging set of problems for media producers. Four factors seem to be of primary importance to the success of bilingual materials: 1. Identifying the unique educational and cultural characteristics of the target audience. 2. Developing strategies to establish credibility with the target audience. 3. Determining the most appropriate dialect for non-English scripts. 4. Designing a 'tri-script' to allow all project planners to easily follow the script in both languages. The article describes the development of a series of bilingual patient education materials on Renal Transplantation, particularly focussing on the efforts of the development team in regard to each of the four factors listed above.

Audiovisual Aids↗
PubMed1980

Further studies on the occurrence of volatile and non-volatile nitrosamines in foods.

Approximately 250 samples of various foods, such as cured meat products, fried bacon, cooked-out bacon fats, baby foods containing meats, tomato products, cooked pizza, powdered and evaporated milk, mushrooms and different varieties of alcoholic beverages, were analysed by GLC-TEA for the presence of volatile nitrosamines. The levels detected in cured meat products (both cooked and uncooked) were very low, and both their incidence (at greater than 1 microgram/kg) and concentrations were much lower than those observed in a 1974 survey. The levels of N-nitrosopyrrolidine (NPYR) in fried bacon and cooked-out bacon fats were also somewhat lower than those observed at the end of 1976, but the decrease may not be significant. Traces (mean, 1.5 micrograms/kg) of N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) were detected in 21 of 22 samples of beers and ales. Most of the remaining foods gave negative results, excepting the skim milk powders, which contained minute traces (mean, 0.4 micrograms/kg) of NDMA. An HPLC-TEA method was developed for the analysis of N-nitrosoproline (NPRO) and N-nitrososarcosine (NSAR) in raw and fried bacon. A study of the heat-induced decarboxylation of these nitrosamino acids suggests that these compounds are heat-labile and would not be expected to occur in fried foods at significant levels. Their presence, however, may lead to the formation of traces of NPYR and NDMA during frying at lower temperatures.

Beverages↗
PubMed1979

Comparison of two extraction procedures for recovering nitrite from cured meat products.

A study was undertaken to determine the extent of loss of nitrite during the analytical workup of cured meats for nitrite analysis. Two extraction techniques were compared: (A) a relatively long (2 hr) and hot (80 degrees C) procedure carried out at the natural pH of the sample, and (B) the method of Sen and Donaldson that specifies an alkaline solution and much milder conditions (20 min at 50 degrees C at pH 8) for extraction. The data obtained suggest that considerable losses of nitrite can occur with the former procedure, especially in acidic samples. The overall percentage recoveries of added nitrite by the 2 methods ranged between 20 and 112, and 80 and 114, respectively. Average percentage recoveries for the acidic (pH less than 5) samples only were 47.2 for Method A as compared with 100.2 for Method B.

Meat↗
PubMed1974

The effect of nickel on secretory systems. Studies on the release of amylase, insulin and growth hormone.

The effects of Ni(2+) on the release of amylase from rat parotids, insulin from mouse pancreatic islets and growth hormone from bovine pituitary slices were investigated. In all these secretory systems, Ni(2+) was shown to inhibit release evoked by a variety of stimuli both physiological and pharmacological. Measurements of rates of substrate oxidation and tissue concentrations of ATP and 3':5'-cyclic AMP suggest that this inhibitory action of Ni(2+) does not arise through an effect on energy metabolism or cyclic AMP metabolism. It is concluded that although some effects of Ni(2+) may involve antagonism between Ni(2+) and Ca(2+) in stimulus-secretion coupling, others appear to be independent of Ca(2+). It is suggested that Ni(2+) may block exocytosis by interfering with either secretory-granule migration or membrane fusion and microvillus formation. The possible mode of action of Ni(2+) and its potential use as a tool in the study of exocytosis are discussed.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1974

Requirement for adenosine triphosphate for stimulation in vitro of ox growth-hormone release.

Rotenone, carbonyl cyanide chloromethoxyphenylhydrazone and 2,4-dinitrophenol cause parallel falls in ox pituitary ATP content and growth-hormone release in the presence of 65mm-K(+). Carbonyl cyanide chloromethoxyphenylhydrazone (0.4mug/ml) prevented the rise in growth-hormone release, but not the rise in 3':5'-cyclic AMP content after addition of prostaglandin E(2) (1mug/ml). The rate of hormone release from unstimulated slices and from slices in the presence of Ba(2+) at 2.3 or 6.9mm was proportional to the ATP content of the slices. Carbonyl cyanide chloromethoxyphenylhydrazone at concentrations that inhibited release in the presence of the three secretagogues did not alter the pituitary contents of Na(+), K(+) or Ca(2+). The implications of these observations are discussed in terms of the mechanism of stimulus-secretion coupling.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1974

Increase in pituitary adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate content and potentiation of growth-hormone release from heifer anterior pituitary slices incubated in the presence of 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine.

The release of growth hormone from heifer anterior pituitary slices and the cyclic AMP content of the slices were increased by the phosphodiesterase inhibitor 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine, both increases being related to inhibitor concentration over the range 0.1-1.0mm. Neither Ba(2+) (6.9 or 2.3mm), K(+) (72mm), nor p-chloromercuribenzoate (20mum) had any effect on pituitary cyclic AMP content over a 20min period. 3-Isobutyl-1-methylxanthine potentiated the release of growth hormone in response to Ba(2+) (2.3mm) and K(+) (24mm), but the degree of potentiation did not depend on inhibitor concentration in the same way as did tissue cyclic AMP content. 3-Isobutyl-1-methylxanthine decreased the concentration of K(+) required to give maximum stimulation of growth-hormone release, but did not significantly increase the maximum response to Ba(2+). Growth-hormone release in the presence of prostaglandin E(2) (1mum) was increased by 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine and was inhibited by the prostaglandin antagonist, 7-oxa-13-prostynoic acid, although this antagonist increased the pituitary cyclic AMP concentration and potentiated the prostaglandin E(2)-induced rise in cyclic AMP content. The stimulation of growth-hormone release by p-chloromercuribenzoate was not potentiated by 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine. The data suggest that Ba(+) and K(+) act at the same point in the secretory process as 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine, although by a different mechanism, and that p-chloromercuribenzoate has a different point of action.

Animals↗
PubMed1972

The effect of prostaglandins on ox pituitary content of adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate and the release of growth hormone.

1. An assay, based on competition between adenosine 3':5'-cyclic monophosphate (cyclic AMP) and cyclic [(3)H]AMP for binding to a rabbit skeletal muscle protein, has been used to measure tissue contents of cyclic AMP. The assay has a sensitivity of 0.05pmol of cyclic AMP. Cyclic GMP and cyclic CMP have 0.5%, and cyclic IMP 6.5%, of the ability of cyclic AMP to displace cyclic [(3)H]AMP from binding protein; AMP, ADP and ATP have no effect. 2. By using this method, the cyclic AMP content of ox pituitary slices exposed to prostaglandin was determined; release of growth hormone was measured by radioimmunoassay. 3. Release of growth hormone was increased by 45min incubation in 1mum-prostaglandin E(2) in the absence of theophylline, or in 10nm-prostaglandin E(2), 0.1mum-prostaglandin A(1) or 1mum-prostaglandin B(1) in the presence of 0.5mm-theophylline. 4. Pituitary cyclic AMP content was increased by 10min incubation in 1mum-prostaglandin E(2) in the absence of theophylline, or in 0.1mum-prostaglandin E(2) in the presence of 0.5mm-theophylline. 5. The maximum increase in cyclic AMP content was observed 10min, and significant changes in growth hormone release 30min, after introduction of prostaglandin E(2). 6. The increase in pituitary cyclic AMP content, but not in the rate of release of growth hormone, was observed in the absence of external Ca(2+). 7. The stimulation of release of growth hormone by prostaglandin was decreased by preincubation of tissue for 2h in colchicine (100mum) or cytochalasin B (10mug/ml). 8. These results support the suggestion that increased release of growth hormone after treatment with prostaglandin is the result of increased tissue cyclic AMP content, and possibly involves a microfilamentous or microtubular protein.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Histologic study of artificial skin used in the treatment of full-thickness thermal injury.

Integra artificial skin is an effective means of treatment for full-thickness burns. In extensive burn injury the use of such skin substitutes may become the treatment of choice. The artificial skin consists of a dermal substitute of bovine collagen and chondroitin-6-sulfate and an epidermal layer of synthetic polysiloxane polymer (Silastic). Serial biopsy specimens were obtained from 131 patients during a period of 7 days to 2 years after application. In this histologic study, six sequential phases of repair were discerned. In addition, there were occasional unusual histologic features, eosinophilic infiltration, and/or macrophage-derived giant cell formation in the wound area; however, such findings did not clinically correlate with a negative response to Integra artificial skin. Good repair was obtained, with rare exceptions. An intact dermis was achieved as well as definitive closure of a complete epidermal layer with a minimum of scarring.

Artificial Organs↗