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P Whitty

Publications and source records attributed to P Whitty.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

A new self-completion outcome measure for diabetes: is it responsive to change?

Self-completion instruments assessing subjective health are increasingly being used to measure patient outcome. However, there is very little evidence as yet of existing instruments' responsiveness to change. This paper describes a study to evaluate the responsiveness to change of a self-completion instrument for the measurement of clinical outcome in patients with diabetes. A prospective follow-up study of 48 patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes commencing insulin therapy was carried out, with assessments at baseline (i.e. pre-intervention), 6 weeks and 3 months post-intervention. The outcome measures used were the changes in scores on the self-completion instrument for symptom level, physical function, energy, depression, psychological distress and barriers to activity, HbA1c, non-fasting serum cholesterol and the body mass index (BMI). There were significant improvements in HbA1c and non-fasting serum cholesterol and worsening of the BMI, as expected. The self-completion instrument detected significant improvements in patient-reported symptoms within 6 weeks of the intervention (p < 0.01) and in energy levels (p < 0.05). There is evidence from this study of the self-completion instrument's ability to respond to change and it has potential for use in evaluative studies.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

Calculation of the need for paediatric intensive care beds.

A study of paediatric intensive care usage and need was undertaken in the former English Northern region to define appropriate local provision in the light of apparently conflicting published evidence. It was hypothesised that daily bed need would follow a Poisson distribution. All admissions of children aged less than 15 years who required intensive care in the region were recorded retrospectively for the financial year 1993/4. The mean number of beds occupied was 11.7 per day, which is equivalent to 20.7 beds per million children per day. The distribution of numbers of beds used mirrored a Poisson distribution closely, and the predicted bed requirement to cover 95% of days in the year was in agreement with that observed. Review of recommendations for paediatric intensive care provision from other studies suggests that apparent differences arise largely from the effect of different sizes of population served, and that, when allowance is made for this, underlying rates of bed requirement are strikingly similar, with a mean of around 20 per million children per day. A formula is given for the application of this model to local populations.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Communication of results of necropsies in north east Thames region.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the adequacy of reporting of results of necropsy to referring clinicians and to general practitioners. DESIGN: Questionnaire survey of referring clinicians and general practitioners of deceased patients in four districts in North East Thames region. Patients were selected by retrospective systematic sampling of 50 or more necropsy reports in each district. SETTING: One teaching hospital, one inner London district general hospital, and two outer London district general hospitals. PARTICIPANTS: 70 consultants and 146 general practitioners who were asked about 214 necropsy reports; coroners' reports were excluded. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Time taken for dispatch of final reports after necropsy, consultants' recognition of the reports, general practitioners' recognition of the reports or of their findings, and consultants' recall of having discussed the findings with relatives. RESULTS: Only two hospitals dispatched final reports including histological findings (mean time to dispatch 144 days and 22 days respectively). 42 (60%) consultants and 83 (57%) general practitioners responded to the survey. The percentage of reports seen by consultants varied from 37% (n = 13) to 87% (n = 36); in all, only 47% (39/83) of general practitioners had been informed of the findings by any method. Consultants could recall having discussed findings with only 42% (47/112) of relatives. CONCLUSIONS: Communication of results of necropsies to hospital clinicians, general practitioners, and relatives is currently inadequate in these hospitals. IMPLICATIONS AND ACTION: A report of the macroscopic findings should be dispatched immediately after necropsy to clinicians and general practitioners; relatives should routinely be invited to discuss the necroscopic findings. One department has already altered its practice.

Autopsy↗
PubMed1986

Sequence and domain relationships of ntrC and nifA from Klebsiella pneumoniae: homologies to other regulatory proteins.

We have determined the nucleotide sequences of two genes from Klebsiella pneumoniae, nifA, the nif-specific activator of transcription and ntrC, the bifunctional regulatory protein involved in 'nitrogen control'. These sequences differ significantly from those previously published. In particular, nifA extends 40 codons beyond the stop codon reported earlier. This extension encodes a putative DNA-binding domain strongly homologous to the Rhizobium meliloti nifA protein and to some extent to the ntrC protein. In all three proteins this domain is linked by a segment of variable length to a strongly conserved central domain of 240 residues. A short segment having the properties of an interdomain linker joins the central region to an N-terminal domain, which is weakly related in the case of the two nifA proteins. This homology is not shared by the N-terminal domain of ntrC, which is clearly but unexpectedly related to the N-terminal domains of a diverse set of procaryotic pleiotropic control proteins, including ompR, dye and nusA from Escherichia coli and spoOA and spoOF from Bacillus subtilis.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1986

Satranidazole: mechanism of action on DNA and structure-activity correlations.

Satranidazole (CG-10213-Go), a novel nitroimidazole possessing a C-N linkage at C2 of the imidazole ring has been examined, during reduction, for its ability to damage DNA. Physical damage to DNA was measured by viscometry, thermal denaturation and renaturation, and hydroxyapatite chromatography. Biologically relevant DNA damage was measured by a bacteriophage transfection assay. The drug produces extensive DNA damage characterized by helix destabilization and strand breakage. Its comparison with other 2- and 5-nitroimidazoles indicate it may be more active towards anaerobes than many 5-nitroimidazoles because its relatively high redox potential may make it more resistant to inactivation by oxygen.

Chromatography↗