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Biomedical subjects

R H Lee

Publications and source records attributed to R H Lee.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1982

Autophosphorylation of rhodopsin kinase from retinal rod outer segments.

Rhodopsin kinase has been identified as a 68K protein that is more readily extracted from dark-adapted rod outer segments (dark-extract) than from illuminated rod outer segments (light-extract). We observed that a 68K protein is phosphorylated by endogenous protein kinase of dark- or light-extract of bovine rod outer segments and that the amount of incorporated radioactivity (32P) was greater in the dark-than in the light-extract. Phosphorylation of the 68K protein is neither stimulated by cyclic nucleotides nor affected by the light or dark conditions of the phosphorylation reaction. Light-and dark-extracts were centrifuged simultaneously on individual sucrose density gradients revealing that the 68K phosphoprotein cosediments with endogenous rhodopsin kinase activity and that both greater 32P incorporation and higher rhodopsin kinase activity are found in dark-extract as compared to light-extract. These findings suggest strongly that the 68K phosphoprotein and rhodopsin kinase are identical and that rhodopsin kinase undergoes autophosphorylation.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Length of sickness absence from work after minor fractures.

Rehabilitation professionals sometimes believe that sickness absence from work is unduly prolonged. This paper examines the implications of factors that influence the timing of return to work, among patients with minor fractures, for the appropriateness of the time at which they should return to work. Data about a consecutive series of 85 employed hospital outpatients with fractures of the wrist, hand or foot bones were collected by means of interviews with the patients and from the orthopaedic case notes. The mean length of sickness absence from work was 3 weeks. Variations were related to the site and severity of the injury. Patients with physically heavy jobs, and patients with a husband or wife at home while they were off work, were off work for longer than average (6 and 5 weeks respectively). 76 per cent of the patients said they returned to work at the right time, and 23 per cent too early. Comparable findings relating to fracture patients, appear not to have been reported in the research literature previously. The patients in the series were away from work longer than advocates of aggressive rehabilitation might consider necessary, although the patients themselves felt they had returned to work at the right time or too early. The development of explicit criteria, based on the nature of the patient's injuries, recovery and job, might enable doctors to give patients more helpful advice about the time at which they should appropriately return to work.

Absenteeism↗
PubMed1981

Protein kinases of retinal rod outer segments: identification and partial characterization of cyclic nucleotide dependent protein kinase and rhodopsin kinase.

Protein kinase activity of dark-adapted bovine rod outer segments is partitioned by centrifugation into soluble and membrane-bound fractions. The soluble kinases are separated by DEAE-cellulose chromatography into three peaks of activity, which can be classified by substrate specificity and cyclic nucleotide dependence into two categories. One peak of protein kinase activity has the characteristics reported for rhodopsin kinase (category one); it phosphorylates only bleached rhodopsin, and its activity is not affected by light, exogenous adenosine cyclic 3',5'--monophosphate (cAMP), guanosine cyclic 3',5'-monophosphate (cGMP), or a protein kinase inhibitor from skeletal muscle. Rhodopsin kinase has an apparent molecular weight of 68 000. The second category of kinase includes two peaks of activity which are stimulated severalfold by cAMP or cGMP but not by light. These protein kinases phosphorylate soluble proteins including histones and a protein kinase substrate prepared from rat intestine but not rhodopsin. The two peaks elute from DEAE-cellulose with 0.09 and 0.20 M KCl, suggesting that they are similar respectively to type I and type II cyclic nucleotide dependent protein kinases that have been characterized in other tissues. The activity of type I kinase is variable and much less than that of the type II enzyme; its molecular weight was not determined. The type II protein kinase has an apparent molecular weight of 165 000. This study confirms that different protein kinase enzymes catalyze selectively the phosphorylation of bleached rhodopsin and soluble proteins, and it repudiates the speculation in a previous publication [Farber, D. B., Brown, B. M., & Lolley, R. N. (1979) Biochemistry 18, 370-378] that a single protein kinase might catalyze both phosphorylation reactions.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

Physicians' fees and public medical care programs.

In this article we develop and estimate a model of physicians' pricing that explicitly incorporates the effects of Medicare and Medicaid demand subsidies. Our analysis is based on a multiperiod model in which physicians are monopolistic competitors supplying services to several markets. The implications of the model are tested using data derived from claims submitted by a cohort of 1,200 California physicians during the years 1972-1975. We conclude that the demand for physician's services is relatively elastic; that increases in the local supply of physicians reduce prices somewhat; that physicians respond strategically to attempts to control prices through the customary-prevailing-reasonable system; and that price controls limit the rate of increase in physicians' prices. The analysis identifies a family of policies that recognize the monopsony power of public programs and may change the cost-access trade-off.

Fees, Medical↗
PubMed1980

Regional physician supply and graduate medical education.

This paper examines the relationship between medical students' practice plans and residency plans. The paper concludes that most students surveyed knew where they wanted to practice and that, unless otherwise constrained, students who knew where they wanted to practice tended to apply to programs there. This finding suggests that the Weiskotten literature and its apparent policy implications should be evaluated critically. In particular, the results call into question the rationale for unrestricted subsidies of undergraduate and graduate medical education by the states.

Career Choice↗
PubMed1977

Based on cultural strengths, a school primary prevention program for Asian-American youth.

As Asian-American mental health workers in a community mental health center where there is very little being done to provide appropriate services to its Asian-American population, we felt a need to find effective mental health models for the unique cultural and linguistic characteristics of our people. The high-school primary prevention program described in this paper provides Filipino youth with a positive view of their cultural identity and a supportive place to examine how their cultural values and behavior differ from those of mainstream Americans. Recognizing that ethnic minorities need to rely on their own subculture for the kind of psychological and social support required for a positive mental health, the program is aimed at mobilizing the strengths and resources of that particular subculture. In this way, its members can more effectively cope with the larger culture.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Comparison of dantrolene sodium and diazepam in the treatment of spasticity.

The effects of dantrolene sodium and diazepam were compared in a double crossover study of 42 patients with spasticity due to stable multiple sclerosis. Both drugs reduced the findings of spasticity, clonus, and hyperreflexia, and the complaints of muscle stiffness and cramping. Each drug had different side effects which suggest indications and contraindications for its use in spastic patients.

Clinical Trials as Topic↗
PubMed1976

Breast reconstruction for malignant or premalignant disease.

In ten patients breast reconstruction was done after surgical treatment for a premalignant or malignant breast disease. In six of these, prophylactic subcutaneous mastectomy and implant reconstruction were carried out, and in the remaining four reconstruction was done after simple or modified radical mastectomy. It is suggested that these procedures should be considered by those physicians and surgeons who undertake evaluation and treatment of breast disease in women. Breast reconstruction should be considered and offered to patients who suffer from the severe personal and emotional trauma attendant to surgical operation for breast disease.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The use of QALYS (quality-adjusted life years) in health service planning.

There has been substantial interest in recent years, among research workers and in health service management, in the potential use of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) as an aid to decision-making about the development of services and use of resources in health services (Gudex, 1986; Drummond, 1986). In 1986 the North Western Regional Health Authority (RHA) initiated the first large-scale attempt to use QALYs as a practical aid to planning in the National Health Service. This paper draws on the experience of the North Western RHA in examining some methodological and practical issues relating to the future of QALYs as an aid to decision-making in the Health Service.

Abstracting and Indexing↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The role of voltage-sensitive dendritic conductances in generating bistable firing patterns in motoneurons.

Motoneurons receive a dense innervation from fibers that descend from the brainstem and release the monoamines serotonin and noradrenalin. When monoamines are present, motoneurons can produce plateau potentials, which are sustained depolarizations that outlast a brief excitatory input. During voltage clamp, steady monosynaptic input from Ia afferents produced a current that persisted after the Ia input ceased. The likely origin of this current was in dendritic regions, where plateau potential channels were probably activated due to the lack of voltage clamp control during the synaptic input. The functional significance of these data is discussed.

Animals↗