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Biomedical subjects

P Saunders

Publications and source records attributed to P Saunders.

62 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Effect of ovariectomy on adipose tissue of mice in the absence of estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha): a potential role for estrogen receptor beta (ERbeta).

Adipose tissue deposition is highly responsive to estrogen; ovariectomy increases adipose deposition, and estrogen replacement reverses this. Estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) plays a major role in adipose tissue. ERalpha knockout (alphaERKO) mice show an increase in adipose tissue of over a 100 % compared to wild-type mice. However, alphaERKO mice undergo a 10-fold increase in 17beta-estradiol (E2), and persistent or even increased signaling through ERbeta could be a factor in obesity of alphaERKO mice. To test the hypothesis that ERbeta plays a role in adipose tissue, adult female alphaERKO mice were ovariectomized or sham-ovariectomized and fed a phytoestrogen-free diet. Ovariectomized mice were treated with vehicle or E2, and bodyweights and food consumption were measured. Mice were killed after 28 days and inguinal and parametrial fat pads collected. Sham-ovariectomized alphaERKO mice had increased body weight, ovariectomized alphaERKO mice showed a 6 % decrease, and E2 replacement restored body weight to sham levels. Fat pads of ovariectomized alphaERKO mice showed 45 % and 16 % decreases in weight and adipocyte circumference, respectively, compared to sham-ovariectomized or E2-replaced ovariectomized alphaERKO mice. Ovariectomized alphaERKO mice showed a trend towards decreased feed consumption that did not reach significance. Blood glucose levels were lower both before and after glucose injection in ovariectomized compared to sham alphaERKO mice, and E2 treatment reversed this. Insulin levels following glucose challenge were lower in ovariectomized compared to sham-ovariectomized alphaERKO mice, indicating that ovariectomy ameliorated the glucose intolerance and insulin resistance in alphaERKO mice. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed strong staining for ERbeta in adipose tissue. These observations indicate that removing E2/ERbeta signaling in alphaERKO mice by ovariectomy decreases body and fat-pad weights and adipocyte size, while improving insulin and glucose metabolism. ERbeta mediated effects on adipose tissue are opposite those of ERalpha, although E2 effects on adipose tissue are predominately through ERalpha.

Adipose Tissue↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The good practice of the police: an alternative approach in dealing with offenders who abuse/misuse alcohol.

The office of constable is taken by declaration and specifically says '... prevent all offences against the persons and properties ...'. The police service, like many hospitals and particularly casualty units, comes into initial contact with a high proportion of society's problems, including those related to people who cannot handle alcohol. This results directly or indirectly in a significant number of issues affecting social life detrimentally and at a tremendous cost to the public purse. These points at some time or another have been adequately illustrated by articles or television documentaries. The police service has a duty to prevent crime. The author maintains that, through the collaboration of the criminal justice agencies and health services, and using a simple approach, behaviour could be altered significantly enough to contribute towards a reduction in repeat offending and a consequent decline in the use of public funds. The author believes that a great number of people, too large to even contemplate quantifying, would have a better quality of life, a goal sought by many, and that the police service is well placed to participate constructively in the rehabilitation of offenders who have a 'drink' problem.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Encouraging patients to take part in their own care.

The patient is now being seen as a consumer of health care and as having certain rights. At the same time, the development of primary nursing and nursing theories, with their basis in the ethos of self-care, is also encouraging patient participation in decision-making and care-giving with the results that it is now viewed as being essential in providing individualised nursing care in the 1990s. This paper discusses some of the issues.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Depression in life-threatening illness and its treatment.

Health-care professionals may feel at a loss when caring for the individual faced with a life-threatening illness who is also depressed, and may even consider that depression in such circumstances is inevitable. Assessment of the individual's mental state may be made difficult by physical symptoms and other factors, meaning that the individual does not always receive the necessary care. This paper hopes to show how simple, humanistic nursing interventions may help to improve the quality of life of such individuals.

Critical Illness↗