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Biomedical subjects

R J Hurley

Publications and source records attributed to R J Hurley.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

Spinal opioids in the management of obstetric pain.

Spinal opioids have become increasingly popular agents for providing analgesia during labor, augmenting anesthesia during cesarean section, and providing pain relief after operative delivery. The development of spinal opioids in the management of obstetric pain is reviewed.

Analgesia, Epidural↗
PubMed1986

Plasma and cerebrospinal fluid progesterone concentrations in pregnant and nonpregnant women.

Pregnancy is associated with a wider dermatomal spread of local anesthetics after epidural and spinal anesthesia. This phenomenon also exists in the immediate postpartum period. The mechanism of this observation is unresolved. However, an increase in progesterone concentration in pregnancy has been implicated as one of the factors. Although plasma progesterone concentrations in humans have been well-documented, the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) progesterone levels, which may also be important in this regard, have not been determined. Therefore, this study was undertaken to measure plasma and CSF progesterone in the nonpregnant, term parturient and in the immediate postpartum patient and also to determine the relationship between the CSF progesterone concentration and the intrathecal spread of lidocaine used for spinal anesthesia. The plasma progesterone concentrations in 12 nonpregnant, 21 term and eight postpartum patients were 2.3 +/- 61 (SEM) ng/ml, 122 +/- 8 ng/ml and 16 +/- 2.2 ng/ml, respectively. The CSF progesterone concentrations in term parturients (3 +/- 0.28 (SEM) ng/ml) and postpartum patients (1.03 +/- 0.16 ng/ml) were eight and three times greater than that of nonpregnant women (0.39 +/- 0.01 ng/ml). Significantly less lidocaine was needed (P less than 0.05) for comparable segmental levels of spinal anesthesia in term and postpartum patients than in nonpregnant individuals. These data suggest that high CSF, plasma progesterone concentrations, or both may augment the anesthetic spread of lidocaine.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Vitamin C supplementation of old people with low blood levels.

Ascorbic acid blood levels were estimated in 828 elderly people living in the community. 297 subjects with low blood levels were admitted to a 2-year controlled trial of vitamin C. Despite a rise in plasma and leucocyte levels, vitamin C produced no apparent benefit in terms of mortality, morbidity or mental senescence. On following up all those who were originally seen, it was found that a higher proportion of deaths occurred among subjects whose leucocyte levels were below 15 mug/10(8) cells than among the rest. This association was especially marked in the men; it was not due to smoking and was probably attributable to an effect of ill-health on blood levels, either directly or through impairment of appetite.

Aged↗