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Biomedical subjects

M Newton

Publications and source records attributed to M Newton.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1998

Nursing research conferences: benefit or burden.

The benefits for presenters and participants of three annual nursing research conferences were investigated. Results from 133 on-site program evaluations were compared to results of surveys developed to capture presenter and participant perspectives, 6-22 months post conference. Data from surveys revealed that descriptive exploratory studies (the majority of presentations) were evaluated as least useful. One third of participants reported that they attempted to apply research findings or clinical innovations to their area of practice. A unique finding of this study was that presenters experience post-conference benefits, such as publishing, consulting, presenting, and project expansion. The results of the post conference evaluations differed from the surveys some months after the conferences. Planners of continuing education programs are cautioned against future conference development based solely on the initial "glow" of on-site program evaluations. Study findings clearly suggest that the benefits of nursing research conferences to both participants and presenters far outweigh the burdens.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1997

Pain relief with oral cannabinoids in familial Mediterranean fever.

Cannabinoids have analgesic and, possibly, anti-inflammatory properties but their clinical use has been restricted by legislation. This is the first United Kingdom report of the controlled use of a standardised pharmaceutical preparation of cannabinoids in capsular form. The therapy was assessed in a patient with familial Mediterranean fever, who presented with chronic relapsing pain and inflammation of gastrointestinal origin. After determining a suitable analgesic dosage, a double-blind placebo-controlled cross-over trial was conducted using 50 mg tetrahydrocannabinol daily in five doses in the active weeks and measuring effects on parameters of inflammation and pain. Although no anti-inflammatory effects of tetrahydrocannabinol were detected during the trial, a highly significant reduction (p < 0.001) in additional analgesic requirements was achieved. Future study designs can now incorporate prescribable forms of cannabinoids but the choice of previous cannabis users only as patients has clinical limitations. Cannabis naive patients would tolerate controlled investigations but may generate medicolegal problems.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1997

Evaluation of Helicobacter pylori in reflux oesophagitis and Barrett's oesophagus.

BACKGROUND: One of the major pathophysiological abnormalities in patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux disease is thought to involve transient lower oesophageal sphincter (LOS) relaxations. One component of the neural mechanism controlling the LOS appears to be a reflex are whose afferent limb originates in the gastric fundus. As inflammation is known to be associated with neural activation an investigation was made to determine whether gastric infection with H pylori is altered in prevalence or distribution in patients with reflux disease. METHODS: Five groups of subjects referred for endoscopy-group 1: 25 controls (asymptomatic individuals with anaemia and normal endoscopy); group 2: 36 subjects with erosive oesophagitis alone (Savary-Millar grades I-III); group 3: 16 subjects with duodenal ulcer alone; group 4: 15 subjects with oesophagitis with duodenal ulcer; group 5: 16 subjects with Barrett's oesophagus. No patients were receiving acid suppressants or antibiotics. An antral biopsy specimen was taken for a rapid urease test, and two biopsy specimens were taken from the antrum, fundus, and oesophagus (inflamed and non-inflamed) for histological evidence of inflammation and presence of H pylori using a Giemsa stain. RESULTS: Nine (36%) controls had H pylori. Patients with duodenal ulcer alone had a significantly higher incidence of colonisation by H pylori than other groups (duodenal ulcer 15 (94%); oesophagitis 13 (36%); oesophagitis+duodenal ulcer 6 (40%); Barrett's oesophagus 4 (25%)). H pylori was not more common in oesophagitis. When H pylori colonised the gastric antrum it was usually found in the gastric fundus. There was no difference in anatomical distribution of H pylori in the different patient groups. In Barrett's oesophagus H pylori was found in two of 16 in the metaplastic epithelium. CONCLUSION: H pylori is not more common and its distribution does not differ in those with oesophagitis compared with control subjects, and is therefore unlikely to be aetiologically important in these patients. H pylori, however, can colonise Barrett's epithelium.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Effect of exercise intensity on mood in step aerobics.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to examine how aerobic exercise and exercise intensity affect transient mood states. A two-level (high intensity exercise/low intensity exercise) pretest-post-test design was employed. METHODS: Subjects included 42 healthy male and female volunteers (M age = 39.12; SD = 11.53, range 17-64 years) enrolled in four aerobics classes. The classes were randomly assigned to either low intensity (< or = 60% maximum heart rate) or high intensity (> or = 75% maximum heart rate) conditions. Subjects participated in a 50-minute bench-stepping routine at their assigned intensity level. Pre-exercise and post-exercise assessment of transient mood was assessed with the Profile of Mood States (POMS) inventory. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Results from a 2 x 2 (pre-exercise/post-exercise x high intensity/low intensity) ANOVA suggested that tension, depression, fatigue and anger decreased while vigor increased in both conditions. Additionally, subjects in the high intensity group reported less fatigue and anger than those participants in the low intensity group.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

The correlation between the loss of chromosome 14q with histologic tumor grade, pathologic stage, and outcome of patients with nonpapillary renal cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Conventional pathologic classifications of human renal cell carcinoma (RCC) give little insight into oncogenesis and little assistance in predicting the clinical behavior of this disease. Identification of specific genetic alterations involved in the development of RCC using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) however, may help provide foundations for classification, prognosis, and clinical management of the patients. METHODS: Archival, paraffin embedded tissue sections from 30 human non-papillary RCCs were examined with a dual color FISH technique for loss of chromosomes 3p and 14q. Telomeric DNA probes from 3p or 14q and an internal ploidy control probe, centromeric probe of chromosome 2, were applied directly to the tumor sections. The correlations between loss of 3p or 14q, and tumor ploidy, with tumor grade, pathologic stage, and patient outcome were assessed. RESULTS: Ninety percent of the patients (27) lost chromosome 3p, and 36.7% of the patients (11) had chromosome 14q deletions. The loss of 3p in the samples tested was unrelated to patient age, gender, outcome, tumor stage, or histologic grade. However, the deletion of 14q was significantly correlated with higher stage (P = 0.01), histologic grade (P = 0.01), and patient outcome (P < 10(-4)). CONCLUSION: The close correlation of 14q loss with higher stage, higher histologic grade, and poorer outcome for patients with nonpapillary RCC indicates that it may be a promising prognostic marker.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Evaluation, by a statistically designed experiment, of an experimental grade of microcrystalline cellulose, Avicel 955, as a technology to aid the production of pellets with high drug loading.

A statistically designed experiment has been undertaken to evaluate an experimental grade of microcrystalline cellulose (Avicel 955) as a technology to aid the production of pellets by extrusion spheronization of formulations with high drug load. An attempt has been made to relate the properties of the drugs to the ability to produce spherical pellets which have a narrow size distribution and are round, as assessed by a 2-dimensional shape factor by the process of extrusion/spheronization. Twenty drugs were tested at a level of 80%, and in all cases pellets could be produced. In some cases in terms of either size distribution or shape they were not of the highest quality. Nevertheless, a best level of water was identified for each drug. Principal component analysis did allow structuring of the data characterizing the process and the pellets, identifying a relationship between the water content and the steady state extrusion force as one component with the median pellet size and its interquartile range as the other. When multivariate analysis was used with the whole data set, it was not possible to relate the drug properties of pKa, freezing point depression, or solubility to the water content, steady state extrusion force, median pellet diameter, its interquartile range, and its shape satisfactorily. Thus other properties of the drug must be involved in the extrusion/spheronization process. Prediction of the best water content to use in a formulation was possible for 50% of the formulations by using a nonlinear model to relate the above drug properties to the water content.

Cellulose↗
PubMed1996

Excimer laser phototherapeutic keratectomy.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of excimer laser phototherapeutic keratectomy in the treatment of anterior corneal pathology in a group of 45 patients. Forty-five patients were treated with the Visx Excimer Laser System for various types of anterior corneal pathology including postinflammatory and postsurgical scars, stromal dystrophies, surface degenerations, pterygia, and epithelial basement membrane dystrophies. Excimer laser phototherapeutic keratectomy (PTK) has been used to treat anteriorly located corneal pathology since 1990; however, most published studies thus far have been composed of small numbers of patients with limited duration of follow-up. The present study is one of the largest domestic PTK series with one of the longest mean follow-ups. Forty patients were followed for > or = 6 months with a mean follow-up of just less than 1 year (11.25 months). Statistically significant improvement was achieved in irritative symptoms and visual acuity. Best spectacle corrected visual acuity (BSCVA) improved a mean of two lines (range, -3 to +7) with 20/50 or better BSCVA present in 29% of patients preoperatively improving to 60% postoperatively. Refractive changes were unpredictable. Mean spherical equivalent underwent a hyperopic shift of 2.81 diopters (D). Fifty percent of patients developed > or = 1 D of refractive astigmatism. Complications occurred in six patients with loss of BSCVA, three patients with topical corticosteroid associated increased intraocular pressure, and three patients with recurrent herpes simplex stromal keratouveitis. Excimer laser phototherapeutic keratectomy can consistently achieve a modest to a more substantial improvement in irritative ocular symptoms and/or visual acuity with significant potential for adverse results that appear to be less severe than the complications associated with alternative treatment by keratoplasty.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Relations of goal orientations and expectations on multidimensional state anxiety.

This study examined the relationships among task and ego orientation, expectations for success, and multidimensional state anxiety in a competitive sport situation. Subjects (N = 107) enrolled in a tennis skills class were gender- and ability-matched and asked to play an eight game pro-set. One week prior to the match goal orientations were assessed. Immediately prior to competition multidimensional state anxiety and performance expectations were measured. Multiple regression analyses predicting multidimensional state anxiety revealed that somatic and cognitive state anxiety were only predicted by performance expectations. Also, lower ego orientation and positive match expectations were predictive of state self-confidence. Results are interpreted in light of goal perspective theory.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Benign intracranial hypertension during prednisolone treatment for inflammatory bowel disease.

Benign intracranial hypertension (BIH, pseudotumour cerebri) is a rare condition with unknown aetiology although hormonal influences have been implicated. It occurs spontaneously, particularly in young obese women, and is associated with several drug treatments including corticosteroids. Two young adult women are described in whom headache and papilloedema in association with raised intracranial pressure occurred during prednisolone treatment for inflammatory bowel disease. This provides further evidence of the risk of BIH during corticosteroid treatment and has not been described before in adults with this condition. Advice is given to gastroenterologists to use corticosteroids with caution in adults, particularly young, fertile female patients. The treatment of a severe relapse of colitis in a patient who has had one episode of steroid related BIH remains a dilemma.

Adult↗