Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to R Davis.
Results of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation in 31 patients with spinal cord injury are presented. Success and failure are tabulated according to injury location and for type of pain perceived. Results indicate that pain at the site of injury is treated more successfully than radiating or central pain.
A training system for the prevention of pressure sores has been designed to teach the paralytic person to relieve pressure intermittently from his ischium while sitting in a wheelchair. The system automates the training of wheelchair pushups, and conditions the person into exercising, based upon modified avoidance learning procedures. Results indicate that the paralytic person can be trained to pushup intermittently and efficiently using this system, thus reducing the incidence of pressure sore formation. Further long-term study is needed to assess the effectiveness of the training system as a preventative program for pressure sores.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Direct iodination of morphine or dihydromorphine with iodine-125 results in products that bind to antibody raised by immunization of animals with a 3-O-carboxymethylmorphine/bovine serum albumin immunogen. Iodination of morphine or dihydromorphine with iodine-127 under identical conditions failed to yield these immunologically active products, suggesting that the results obtained with iodine-125 are in part due to a radiolytic reaction not observed with the iodine-127.
A simple, rapid radioimmunoassay employing 125-I-labeled secobarbital derivative has been developed and has been shown to be capable of detecting at the nanogram level a variety of barbiturates in urine as well as in plasma.
Spasticity is a hyper-excitable state of the reflex arcs in the spinal cord below the level of injury. Not only is the skeletal motor system affected, but bladder, bowel, blood pressure, and erection reflex mechanisms are also involved. Spasticity gradually emerges from the initial phase of spinal shock one to two months after the injury, and usually reaches a plateau of a mild to moderate degree in 3 to 4 months. Neurophysiological mechanisms indicate an increase in the alpha and gamma reflex systems and that central excitability through the interneurons is also involved in these systems. Excessive spasticity should be recognized as a substitute for pain in the spinal cord injured patient, as infections, calculi, pressure ulcers, and other normally painful conditions set off the hyper-sensitive reflexes causing more spasticity. Education and health maintenance is the best prevention of severe spasticity. Definitive treatment of incapacitating spasticity is to find and treat the underlying disease condition, as well as to introduce medication which will also suppress the spasm (Valium and/or Dantrolene). Muscle motor points and/or nerve blocks with neurolytic agents is perhaps the best technique for quietening excessive spasticity. Intrathecal neurolytic agents, anterior or posterior rhizotomies and cordectomies are not advocated even in severe incapacitating spasticity as they are too destructive. Selective longitudinal myelotomy is by far the best surgical technique for disrupting excessive spasticity, if any such procedure is to be done. Tendonotomies may be necessary in chronic contractures of joints after the muscle spasticity has been reduced. Excessive spasticity is not regarded as a normal state in the spinal cord injured patient. The cause should be sought and treated. Nerve destruction techniques should not be used unless medical and nursing techniques have failed. Prevention is so important and can be achieved by education, health maintenance, and especially motivation.
It is important to distinguish between the part played by possible pathological processes which can cause pain and those emotional problems which are often somatosized as pain. So much depends upon the patient's own ability to cope with his problem and communicate them effectively. The acceptance of his disability and of the strange feelings where once he felt his body has to take place. There is often a long period of time and experiences that the patient has to go through before he accepts the reality that he is paralyzed permanently and that he has to make a life that is worthwhile.
In the dog the denervation supersensitivity response of the detrusor appears within 7 to 21 days after bilateral pelvic nerve transection. Unilateral denervation cannot be detected by the standard Urecholine test.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.