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Biomedical subjects

P Vickers

Publications and source records attributed to P Vickers.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Analysis of the acute postoperative pain experience following oral surgery: identification of 'unaffected', 'disabled' and 'depressed, anxious and disabled' patient clusters.

BACKGROUND: Pain is defined as both a sensory and an emotional experience. Acute postoperative tooth extraction pain is assessed and treated as a physiological (sensory) pain while chronic pain is a biopsychosocial problem. The purpose of this study was to assess whether psychological and social changes occur in the acute pain state. METHODS: A biopsychosocial pain questionnaire was completed by 438 subjects (165 males, 273 females) with acute postoperative pain at 24 hours following the surgical extraction of teeth and compared with 273 subjects (78 males, 195 females) with chronic orofacial pain. Statistical methods used a k-means cluster analysis. RESULTS: Three clusters were identified in the acute pain group: 'unaffected', 'disabled' and 'depressed, anxious and disabled'. Psychosocial effects showed 24.8 per cent feeling 'distress/suffering' and 15.1 per cent 'sad and depressed'. Females reported higher pain intensity and more distress, depression and inadequate medication for pain relief (p < 0.001). Distress and depression were associated with higher pain intensity. The developed questionnaire had tested reliability (test-retest r = 0.89) and estimated validity. CONCLUSION: Cluster analysis showed constituent groups with a range of psychosocial effects in acute postoperative dental extraction pain and is associated with an increase in pain intensity.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2001

Adolescent girls and their babies: achieving optimal birthweight. Gestational weight gain and pregnancy outcome in terms of gestation at delivery and infant birth weight: a comparison between adolescents under 16 and adult women.

AIMS: Pregnancy amongst under 16s has been reported to result in worse outcomes for the baby, including low birthweight. This study aimed to find out whether the under 16s need to gain more weight during pregnancy to avoid this outcome. METHOD: A retrospective case control study of pregnancy outcomes in girls delivering before the age of 16 and women delivering aged 25-30. Data was collected from medical case notes, including maternal age, pregnancy weight gain and infant birth weight. RESULTS: Although weight gain amongst under 16s was similar to that in the control group, average birthweight of babies born to under 16s was less than in the older group. For both girls and older women greater weight gain in pregnancy did result in higher birth weights. DISCUSSION: As younger girls are still growing it may be necessary for them to achieve a greater pregnancy weight gain in order to achieve a satisfactory birth weight.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Operational trial of ParaSight-F (dipstick) in the diagnosis of falciparum malaria at the primary health care level.

The rapid manual ParaSight-F test of Plasmodium falciparum malaria, an antigen capture test for detecting trophozoite-derived histidine rich protein-2 (PF HRP-2), is simple to perform and provides a definite diagnosis within 10 minutes. During an operational trial at health centers and mobile malaria units where microscopical diagnosis is not available and using defined symptom screening criteria, 3,361 subjects were tested yielding 618 positives (18.4%) for PF-HRP-2 by ParaSight-F. Microscopic examination of the same subjects by thick blood film examined 7 days later at a malaria clinic showed 578 falciparum, and 349 vivax and mixed infection (F+V) 41. The technology proved highly effective in detecting falciparum malaria at the peripheral levels where access to malaria laboratory services are difficult, thus allowing immediate administration of a complete course of treatment in the absence of a microscopic examination.

Humans↗
PubMed1993

Leukotriene generation and metabolism in dogs: inhibition of biosynthesis by MK-0591.

Peptidoleukotriene metabolism in dogs was investigated to determine the suitability of this species for the development of in vivo biochemical models of asthma and inflammation. Circulatory metabolism of [3H]leukotriene (LT)C4 (0.5 microCi/kg, i.v.) to [3H]LTE4 and subsequent clearance was rapid (T1/2 = 100 sec). After 3 h, the major urinary metabolite was [3H]16-carboxydihydrotetranor LTE4 (identified by radiochromatography), with [3H]LTE4 accruing to a significant 1.7 +/- 0.9% (n = 3) of the original [3H]LTC4 dose. Immunoreactive LTE4 was excreted into canine urine at 1.85 +/- 0.35 to 2.35 +/- 0.57 ng/h (n = 4) over a 6-h period, suggesting that this metabolite may be an index of acute in vivo 5-lipoxygenase activity. MK-0591, a high-affinity ligand for the canine homolog of the human 5-lipoxygenase activating protein, dose-dependently inhibited the systemic generation of peptidoleukotrienes as measured by urinary LTE4 excretion (ED50 1 microgram/kg/min), the time course of disappearance of LTE4 from the urine being similar to that of the clearance of [3H]LTE4. Because the therapeutic improvements in human allergic asthmatics treated with LT synthesis inhibitors and challenged with antigen appear to be related to the degree of in vivo inhibition of LT biosynthesis (measured by urinary LTE4), the dog may be an appropriate species for preclinical assessment of LT inhibitors.

5-Lipoxygenase-Activating Proteins↗
PubMed1983

Reading, demographic, social and psychological factors related to pre-adolescent smoking and non-smoking behaviors and attitudes.

The purpose of this study was to examine reading, demographic, social and psychological factors related to pre-adolescent smoking and non-smoking behaviors and attitudes. The school-home humanistic education program was implemented in a large, urban public school system. It stressed responsible decision-making, increased self-esteem and the inter-relationships among the acquisition of knowledge of the consequences of smoking, personal feelings, family relationships and behavior. The results showed that family involvement was necessary to affect smoking attitudes and behaviors. Of all the variables studied, reading had a most pervasive relationship. Peer influence and self-esteem also were related to smoking knowledge, smoking attitude, future smoking intentions and the "purchase" of cigarettes. Two of several conclusions drawn from the results are: 1. Family involvement is necessary to affect attitudes and behaviors. 2. Health education research that does not investigate the relationship between program outcomes and reading achievement may be misleading.

Achievement↗
PubMed1976

The familial incidence of allergic disease.

The familial incidence of asthma, hay fever, recurrent rhinitis, recurrent bronchitis, eczema and urticaria was studied in 176 normal families. When these diseases, with the exception of urticaria, were present in a parent there was an increase in prevalence of the same disease in the child. This suggests that there is a heritable component in the end organ most easily sensitized in the allergic response.

Adolescent↗