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Biomedical subjects

R C Hall

Publications and source records attributed to R C Hall.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

The mental status examination.

The mental status examination evaluates appearance and behavior, attitude, perception, orientation, judgment, cognition, abstraction and insight. It can be administered quickly and repetitively. This examination provides information to distinguish organic from "functional" illnesses and also provides objective data regarding the patient's improving or deteriorating sensorium. It helps substantiate clinical decisions on competance, potential for danger and hospitalization.

Affective Symptoms↗

Arterio-venous differences of choline and choline lipids across the brain of rat and rabbit.

The concentration of unesterified choline in the plasma in the jugular vein of the rat (0.85 nmol/ml) was found to be three times that of the arterial supply to the brain (0.25 nmol/ml), indicating a higher efflux than uptake of unesterified choline by the brain. No such difference was found for the rabbit and no arterio-venous difference for phosphatidylcholine or lysophosphatidylcholine was observed in either species. No arterio-venous difference was found for choline in blood cells. The infusion of [Me-3H]choline into the circulation of the rat or rabbit indicated an uptake of radioactive choline by the brain and an efflux of non-radioactive choline. In the rabbit such an infusion produced a steady rise in the labelling of phosphatidylcholine and lysophosphatidylcholine in the plasma. When [14C2]ethanolamine was injected intraperitoneally into the rat there was a labelling of phosphatidylcholine, lysophosphatidylcholine and sphingomyelin in the plasma and cells of blood from the jugular vein and the arterial supply, as well as in the brain tissue. However, no labelling of unesterified choline in these tissues could be detected. Unesterified choline was shown to be liberated into the plasma when whole blood from the rat or man, but not the rabbit, was incubated for short periods at 30 degrees C.

Animals↗

An assessment of the cardiovascular sympathectomy induced by guanethidine.

Guanethidine treatment of rate (30 mg kg(-1), i.p. daily for 6 weeks) produced a profound reduction in the catecholamine present (as indicated by fluorescence histochemistry and catecholamine determinations) in tissues taken from the cardiovascular system, but there was evidence of the return of catecholamines within 8 weeks. While these changes are consistent with a sympathectomy, the unaltered pressor responses to physostigmine (100 mug kg(-1), i.v.) and to carotid occlusion indicate an unimpaired functional capacity of noradrenergic nerves supplying the cardiovascular system. Although part of the response may be attributed to the unaffected adrenal medulla enhanced by the presence of considerable supersensitivity as shown to exogenous noradrenaline, there would appear to be a dissociation between the results obtained from physical and functional tests of the sympathectomy induced by guanethidine.

Animals↗

Psychiatric effects of prolonged Asian captivity: a two-year follow-up.

The authors have been following a group of 6 prisoners of war and their families since the men were returned from North Viet Nam. They found that most of the men experiences cognitive, social, work, emotional, and family difficulties during the first two years after their return. However, most of these problems were resolved after two years, and there was no evidence of the concentration camp syndrome, homicidal or suicidal behavior, violent physical aggression, impotence, fugue states, psychosomatic disorders, or major psychiatric illnesses in any of the men. On the basis of their findings, the authors make recommendations for future reentry programs.

Aerospace Medicine↗

Cyclic AMP in secretin choleresis. Evidence for a regulatory role in man and baboons but not in dogs.

Cyclic AMP output in the bile in response to intravenous secretin was measured in 11 patients, 12 baboons, and 15 dogs. Secretin was given to patients with bile drainage tubes as an intravenous bolus (1 U per kg). In baboons and dogs both secretin infusion (4 U per kg per hr) and bolus injection (1 U per kg) were used. In baboons cyclic AMP was also determined in liver, extrahepatic duct tissue, and in perfusate from isolated segments of extrahepatic bile ducts. Secretin induced a marked choleresis in all three species. In humans, biliary cyclic AMP concentration increased an average (+/- 1 SE) of 68% +/- 12% and in baboons 4-fold, but no increase occurred in dogs. In baboons, cyclic AMP concentration increased in both bile duct tissue and perfusate from isolated bile ducts concomitant with secretin choleresis, but not in liver. In humans the choleretic effects of sodium dehydrocholate, aminophylline, and glucagon were compared to dibutyryl cyclic AMP (DBcyclic AMP). All agents increased bile flow 2- to 3-fold. Cyclic AMP concentration in bile markedly increased after glucagon and DBcyclic AMP but not after sodium dehydrocholate and aminophylline. We conclude that cyclic AMP is implicated in secretin choleresis in both humans and baboons, but not in dogs. The bile duct appears to be the site of cyclic AMP elaboration induced by secretin in baboons and probably is also in man.

Aminophylline↗

Prostaglandins, antipyretic analgesics and adrenergic stimuli on the isolated artery.

In untreated, and cocaine- and DOCA-treated rabbit ear arteries, PGE2 and arachidonic depressed to responses to intramural sympathetic nerve stimulation. Constrictor responses to extraluminal NA in the treated arteries were also depressed. A comparison of its inhibitory potency on the two types of responses suggest that the effects of arachidonic acid, but not PGE2 on adrenergic nerve stimuli, were selectively blocked by aspirin 200 mug/ml and by indomethacin 3 mu/ml. In these concentrations, aspirin, but not indomethacin, enhanced the magnitude of the resoonses to the stimuli. Aspirin also selectively reduced the inhibition by arachidonic acid of the response to extraluminal NA (tested in cocaine0 and DOCA-treated arteries).

8,11,14-Eicosatrienoic Acid↗

Rapid and selective determination of free barbiturates by gas chromatography using the electrolytic conductivity detector.

A rapid and specific gas chromatographic method for the analysis of free barbiturates in serum and urine at all levels of clinical interest is described. The method employs an improved electrolytic conductivity detector, and can be used for the determination of barbiturate levels of 0.01 mg/dl without sample clean-up. The preparation of columns for the analysis of nanogram quantities of free barbiturates is also discussed.

Autoanalysis↗