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Biomedical subjects

R Davidson

Publications and source records attributed to R Davidson.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1998

P67L: a cystic fibrosis allele with mild effects found at high frequency in the Scottish population.

Only three mutant cystic fibrosis (CF) alleles have to date been established as conferring a dominant mild effect on affected subjects who are compound heterozygotes. We now add a fourth, P67L, which occurs on about 1.4% of Scottish CF chromosomes. Among 13 patients (12 unrelated) with this allele, the average age at diagnosis was 22.5 +/- 11.3 years. None of the cases had consistently raised sweat chloride concentrations, the average value being 57 +/- 9 mmol/l; 77% of the patients were pancreatic sufficient. When compared to three other established mild CF alleles, R117H, A455E, and 3849 + 10kb C-T, a compound heterozygote for P67L has minimal disease and clinical suspicions are unlikely to be confirmed other than by DNA typing.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

What's in a name?

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Dental Research↗
PubMed1998

A comparison of the effect of shoes on human tibial axial strains recorded during dynamic loading.

Percutaneous axial extensometers were mounted on the medial cortex of the midtibial diaphysis in seven male volunteers and the effect of three different shoes on in vivo peak-to-peak axial compression-tension strains measured during dynamic loading. Zohar shoes had lower axial strains and strain rates during treadmill walking than Nike Air Max running shoes or Israeli infantry boots. During running on a running track, there was no statistically significant difference between the axial strains or strain rates between the shoes tested. Shoe gear can modify tibial strains and strain rates that contribute to the development of tibial stress fractures.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Efficacy and safety of liposomal amphotericin B (AmBisome) for visceral leishmaniasis in endemic developing countries.

Reported are the results of a study to determine the efficacy and safety of liposomal amphotericin B (AmBisome) for treating visceral leishmaniasis (kala-azar) in several developing countries where the disease is endemic (Brazil, India, and Kenya). At each study site, sequential cohorts of 10 patients each were treated with AmBisome at a dose of 2 mg.kg-1.day-1 (2 MKD). The first cohort received regimen 1:2 MKD on days 1-6 and day 10 (total dose: 14 mg/kg). If the efficacy with this regimen was satisfactory, a second cohort received regimen 2:2 MKD on days 1-4 and 10 (total dose: 10 mg/kg); and a third cohort received regimen 3:2 MKD on days 1, 5, and 10 (total dose: 6 mg/kg). In India, regimens 1, 2, and 3 (which were studied concurrently) each cured 100% of 10 patients. In Kenya, regimen 1 cured all 10 patients, regimen 2 cured 90% of 10 patients, but regimen 3 cured only 20% of 5 patients. In Brazil, regimen 1 was only partially curative: 5 of 13 patients (62%). Therefore, 15 patients were administered regimen 4 (2 MKD for 10 consecutive days; total dose, 20 mg/kg) and 13 patients were cured (83%). These results suggest that for the treatment of kala-azar the following doses of AmBisome should be administered: in India and Kenya, 2 mg/kg on days 1-4 and day 10; and in Brazil, 2 mg/kg on days 1-10.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Veneral disease, public health and social control: the Scottish experience in a comparative perspective.

During the first half of the twentieth century, VD became in many countries a metaphor for the forces of physical and moral pollution that appeared to threaten social order and racial progress. By reference to some central aspects of the Scottish experience in a comparative perspective, this article seeks to identify the common denominator of anxieties and assumptions which fuelled public health initiatives towards VD and which defined the boundaries within which VD policy options were discussed. In particular, it will explore various dimensions of social control associated with the treatment and regulation of VD; the degree to which VD controls and procedures have targetted and stigmatised sexually active women, their use to regulate the sexual behaviour of the young, and the way in which discourses shaping medical practice and policy towards VD have enshrined both class and racial stereotyping. The article also examines the powerful moral agenda which shaped the categories and content of treatment and the focus of epidemiology and public health debate. Finally, the institutional and cultural factors shaping the distinctively compulsionist stance of Scottish public health administration towards VD will be explored as a means of identifying some of the possible comparators needed for broader comparative analysis of VD policy in the twentieth century.

Disease Transmission, Infectious↗
PubMed1996

A detailed investigation of two cases exhibiting characteristics of the 6p deletion syndrome.

Deletions of the short arm of chromosome 6 are relatively rare, only 16 cases having been described in the literature so far. Here we present a detailed investigation by fluorescence in situ hybridisation of two further cases with different but overlapping interstitial deletions involving 6p22, 6p23 and 6p24. The main features involved are craniofacial malformations, heart and kidney defects, mental retardation/developmental delay, hypotonia and hydrocephalus. By using 36 yeast artificial chromosome and cosmid clones from a contig covering 6p22.3-6p25 and other probes with defined cytogenetic locations within 6p21-6p22 we have precisely localised the breakpoints involved in each of the cases, estimated the sizes of the deleted regions and defined the region that is hemizygously deleted in both cases.

Abnormalities, Multiple↗
PubMed1996

'Searching for Mary, Glasgow': contact tracing for sexually transmitted diseases in twentieth-century Scotland.

Social historians of medicine and sexuality have focused in recent years upon various strands of public health policy towards sexually transmitted diseases. However, despite the fact that, from the 1930s, contact tracing became one of the primary weapons with which British government sought to contain the incidence of STDs, its history in twentieth-century Britain has been largely ignored. Based on a range of governmental and private archives, supplemented by interviews with former practitioners, this paper examines the development of contact tracing in Scotland from its origins in the interwar period, through its expansion under Defence Regulation 33B during the period 1942-7, to its postwar development within the National Health Service. Particular attention is paid to the discriminatory aspects of wartime controls and to the professional, resource, and legal constraints shaping contact tracing in postwar Scotland.

Disease Transmission, Infectious↗
PubMed1995

Liposomal amphotericin B (AmBisome) in the treatment of complicated kala-azar under field conditions.

An open trial of liposomal amphotericin B (AmBisome [L-AmB]; Vestar, San Dimas, CA) for treatment of complicated visceral leishmaniasis was performed in Sudan. Forty-nine patients were treated, and there were six deaths (12% mortality); these were not attributed to therapy. Thirty-seven patients were selected for the trial because of (1) relapse after treatment with a combination of pentavalent antimony (Sbv) and aminosidine, (2) incomplete parasitological response to Sbv and aminosidine, or (3) severe illness. Drug regimen 1 (3 doses of 3-5 mg/kg, on days 0, 3, and 10) cured 8 (50%) of 16 patients; regimen 2 (6 doses of 3-5 mg/kg, on days 0, 3, 6, 8, 10, and 13) cured 14 (88%) of 16. For four of 10 partial responders, "rescue" therapy with L-AmB alone (3 mg/kg daily for 10 days) resulted in cure. Twelve less-unwell patients received regimen 3 (4 doses of 4-5 mg/kg, on days 0, 2, 5, and 7); seven of 11 patients evaluated (64%) were cured. The optimal regimen of L-AmB in these circumstances is administration of 4 mg/kg on days 0, 3, 6, 8, 10, and 13.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

'Stakes are even higher'.

While Congress continues to debate how and where to slice more than $450 billion out of the future growth of the federal Medicare/Medicaid programs, the American Hospital Association is in the midst of an aggressive advocacy campaign intended to minimize the impact on America's hospitals and health systems. In an exclusive interview with the editors of Georgia Hospitals TODAY, American Hospital Association President Richard Davidson outlined AHA's efforts and goals during the legislative process and stressed the need for all hospitals to be involved in educating their legislative representatives.

American Hospital Association↗
PubMed1994

A novel mutation of the fibrillin gene causing ectopia lentis.

Ectopia lentis (EL), a dominantly inherited connective tissue disorder, has been genetically linked to the fibrillin gene on chromosome 15 (FBN1) in earlier studies. Here, we report the first EL mutation in the FBN1 gene confirming that EL is caused by mutations of this gene. So far, several mutations in the FBN1 gene have been reported in patients with Marfan syndrome (MFS). EL and MFS are clinically related but distinct conditions with typical manifestations in the ocular and skeletal systems, the fundamental difference between them being the absence of cardiovascular involvement in EL. We report a point mutation, cosegregating with the disease in the described family, that displays EL over four generations. The mutation changes a conserved glutamic acid residue in an EGF-like motif, which is the major structural component of the fibrillin and is repeated throughout the polypeptide. In vitro mutagenetic studies have demonstrated the necessity of an analogous glutamic acid residue for calcium binding in an EGF-like repeat of human factor IX. This provides a possible explanation for the role of this mutation in the disease pathogenesis.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1994

Replication in cultured C2C12 muscle cells correlates with the neuroinvasiveness of California serogroup bunyaviruses.

The neuroinvasiveness of California serogroup bunyaviruses is determined by the ability of the virus to replicate in striated muscle after peripheral inoculation of mice. Neuroinvasiveness was mapped to the medium (M) RNA segment of the virus, which encodes the viral glycoproteins, when reassortants were made between La Crosse/original virus, a neuroinvasive isolate, and Tahyna-181/57 virus, a nonneuroinvasive clone. We have tested the murine muscle cell line C2C12 as a surrogate for myotropism and have found that there is a slight, but reproducible difference in the replication of virus clones bearing the M RNA segment of La Crosse/original virus compared to clones bearing the M RNA segment of Tahyna-181/57 virus, as determined by viral titer, antigen expression, and plaque formation.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

A family with adult-onset cerebral adrenoleucodystrophy.

A family in which three members presented with cerebral adrenoleucodystrophy in adulthood is described. The implications on our understanding for the mechanisms controlling the phenotypic expression of this genetic disorder are discussed.

Adrenoleukodystrophy↗
PubMed1994

Physician education on five complications of diabetes mellitus.

Five roving symposia series directed to primary care physicians addressing the complications of diabetes were designed, implemented, and evaluated. These roving symposia effectively reached physicians statewide and appeared to influence positive practice behaviors.

Diabetes Complications↗
PubMed1993

First web space contracture and hand function.

We studied 125 normal volunteers to determine the normal first web space angle and to evaluate the influence of thumb-index finger web space contracture on hand function. One hundred ninety-five hands were measured and found to have a mean web space angle of 100 degrees. There was no significant difference in the mean angle in relation to sex or hand dominance. The mean angle was significantly smaller for persons 50 to 79 years of age than for the two younger age groups. Twenty-five normal volunteers (50 hands) took the Jebsen-Taylor test three times: first, with no restrictions; second, with splints simulating a 60-degree web space contracture; and third, with splints simulating a 30-degree contracture. More than half of the volunteers had abnormal small-object subtests. Other abnormal subtests included card turning, feeding, and stacking checkers. Grasping large light and heavy objects was less difficult because of compensatory techniques used by the volunteers.

Adolescent↗