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Biomedical subjects

M Schofield

Publications and source records attributed to M Schofield.

21 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Regional distribution of ethanol in the rat brain.

The regional distribution of ethanol in selected areas of the rat brain was studied after single intravenous and intraperitoneal injections. Ethanol concentrations (measured by gas-liquid chromatography) in cortex, striatum, and hippocampus were compared with arterial and venous blood alcohol concentrations. As previously reported, equilibrium between tissue and arterial blood occurred within 3 min and followed simple diffusion kinetics. At shorter time intervals (1 min) after injection, regional ethanol concentrations differed, possibly because of regional blood flow and tissue mass. Equilibrium between tissue and venous blood required 10--15 min and coincided with the disappearance of the arterial-venous difference. These findings suggest that tissue ethanol concentrations cannot be determined from venous blood samples until brain arteriovenous equilibrium has occurred. They also support the argument that alcohol concentrations in tissue perfusates do not necessarily provide a reliable guide to those in the tissue.

Animals↗

Community action for health promotion: a review of methods and outcomes 1990-1995.

OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to explore the effectiveness of community action as a strategy for health promotion, through a critical review of five years of community action evaluation literature. METHODS: Community action was defined as a health promotion, program that involved the community in implementation and control of the process of the program. Criteria for scientific evaluation of programs were proposed for sampling and control procedures, reliability and validity of instruments, analysis techniques, and specification of details of the intervention. A critical review of the literature, located by an on-line and related reference search, was undertaken for community action aimed at reducing cancer and cardiovascular disease, between January 1990 and May 1995. RESULTS: None of seven community action studies (17 articles) that examined cancer risk factors fulfilled all the criteria for rigorous scientific evaluation. The most methodologically adequate cancer study, the COMMIT intervention, had only a moderate degree of success in reducing community smoking rates. Similarly, none of the six studies (25 articles) on cardiovascular disease fulfilled all the criteria. The results for the most methodologically adequate study, the Minnesota Heart Health Program, were disappointing, with strong secular trends preventing adequate assessment of the intervention effect. CONCLUSIONS: The finding that none of the reviewed studies met all evaluation criteria was due to several factors, including political considerations, feasibility, and the continued evolution of the science of evaluation in health promotion. Some important questions are posed for researchers by the failure of methodologically superior projects, such as COMMIT, to show major gains in reducing health risk behaviors.

Cardiovascular Diseases↗