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Biomedical subjects

R M Ford

Publications and source records attributed to R M Ford.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

Visual abnormalities with multiple trauma.

The diversity of pathogenetic mechanisms involved in posttraumatic visual impairment was reviewed in a study of the hospital records of 24 patients admitted with multiple injuries. Most major visual abnormalities occurred in young people (average age 33 years) who presented with a wide range of overall severity of injury (injury severity score 13-47) and involvement of the central nervous system (Glasgow coma scale 5-15). Bilateral or monocular blindness developed in 63% of patients. Seventy percent of the injuries involved the anterior visual pathways with damage to the optic nerve alone accounting for 35%. Fractures of the sphenoid bone, particularly of the body, accompanied optic nerve and chiasmal injuries and some cases of traumatic carotid-cavernous fistulas. Pathogenetic mechanisms varied according to the site of injury and included vitreous hemorrhage and optic atrophy secondary to raised intracranial pressure, retinal hypoxia from carotid-cavernous fistulas, shearing and compression injuries of the optic nerve, traumatic chiasmal syndrome, temporoparietal and occipital contusions, and transtentorial herniation with occipital infarction. Visual abnormalities varied in severity from moderately reduced visual acuity and diverse hemianopias and scotomas to blindness. The incidence of posttraumatic residual visual abnormalities is likely to increase in the wake of improved acute care of the traumatized victim.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

CSF acetylcholinesterase in dementia and in sequential samples of lumbar CSF.

Acetylcholinesterase (AchE) activity (nmol/ml/min) was measured in lumbar CSF from 11 patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT), 8 patients with Korsakoff psychosis and 33 patients with low back pain who were undergoing myelography (controls). There was no significant difference in enzyme activity between the three groups. There was no significant correlation between age and AchE activity. AchE was also measured in 20 two-ml samples of CSF collected sequentially by lumbar puncture in two neurosurgical patients who had been recumbent for at least 8 hours. Variations in AchE between samples were small. In neither patient was there an increase in AchE activity with progressive sampling. These data indicate that (1) AchE is unchanged in Korsakoff psychosis (2) decreases in brain AchE which are found in DAT are not readily reflected in lumbar CSF (3) AchE in lumbar CSF has a diffuse origin including spinal cord (4) CSF AchE activity is unlikely to be a useful clinical marker for DAT.

Acetylcholinesterase↗
PubMed1984

Cyclic GMP in sequential samples of lumbar CSF in man.

cGMP was measured in 15 and 20 sequential 2 ml samples of CSF withdrawn by lumbar puncture in two patients respectively who were recumbent for at least 8 hours. cGMP showed a significant linear increase in concentration with progressive sampling (r = 0.70, p less than 0.01; r = 0.59, p less than 0.01, respectively). These data indicate (a) the presence of a rostrocaudal gradient in CSF cGMP (b) recumbency and volume of CSF are important variables to consider in clinical studies (c) the cerebellum may be a source of cGMP in lumbar CSF.

Aged↗
PubMed1983

Etiology of asthma: a continuing review (8071 cases seen from 1970--1980).

8071 cases of asthma seen during the years 1970--1980 were reviewed with regard to dominant causes of the disease in various age groups; findings were compared with a similar survey of 11,551 cases of asthma seen during the period 1958--1968. Patients were divided into two main groups--extrinsic, with dominant causes such as pollen, house dust mites, epidermals, foods, fungal spores etc. and intrinsic or cryptogenic where such allergic causes could not be incriminated. Findings confirmed those of the 1958--1968 survey with a high incidence of the cryptogenic type of disease in infants and small children and also older adults and a very high incidence of the extrinsic or allergic type of disease occurring in younger adults, particularly in the 15--29 year old age group. This latter survey also showed an increase over-all in the extrinsic type of disease (6.8%), particularly in older children with house dust and house dust mite sensitivities. It is postulated that these increases in the extrinsic type of disease may have resulted from additional methods of investigation such as RAST testing in patients who may previously have been classified as suffering from the cryptogenic type of disease without obvious allergic causes. These findings underline the need for a thorough allergic investigation of all asthmatics and the very high incidence of the extrinsic or allergic type of disease seen in young adults also poses the possibility that the high death rates seen from time to time in this group could perhaps be related to massive allergic, perhaps aerobiological, insults.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Management of acute anaphylaxis.

Anaphylactic reactions are common in Australia and sometimes cause the death of a patient. It is important that undergraduate teaching and postgraduate instruction in the proper management be improved. Clear instructions to staff should be on display in all hospital departments which have direct patient involvement.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1980

Fenoterol hydrobromide (Berotec, Th 1165a) 0.1% solution in the treatment of allergic rhinitis.

Fenoterol hydrobromide (Berotec) was employed in a randomized double-blind crossover trial for the treatment of allergic rhinitis in 25 volunteer adults. Relatively small doses of 60 micrograms per nostril every six hours were compared with those of normal saline placebos. Sixteen patients showed some degree of improvement with the active substance, including two whose doses were doubled as compared with four using placebos. Toxic effects from Berotec were mild, mostly shakiness, in 11 patients. Doubling the dosage produced little improvement in efficacy but did increase somewhat the severity of side effects. Over-all results suggest that beta-adrenergic agents such as Berotec may have a wider pharmacological action than merely on smooth muscle bronchi and that they therefore may be useful in the treatment of a non-bronchial allergic disease such as allergic rhinitis.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Visual abnormalities after severe head injuries.

The authors studied 12 patients with major abnormalities of the afferent visual system following closed injury to the head. The anatomic sites of injury were the eye in five patients, the optic nerve in seven patients, the chiasm in four patients and the optic radiations in four patients. A technique for rapid evaluation of the afferent visual system in patients with multiple injuries is presented. Three representative examples of permanent visual loss following closed head injury are reported.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Asthma: some basic methods of prevention.

Present traditional measures employed in the prevention of asthma are reviewed. It is recommended that in view of the extensive and possibly increasing prevalence of the disease together with continuing high death rates more attention in our treatment programs should be devoted to basic prevention in possibly susceptible people. High risk groups such as among small children, in certain industries and in developing counties make this approach especially desirable. An outline of suggested measures is presented.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

How do you recognize allergy?

A suggested basic approach to the diagnosis of allergic diseases, which involves the characteristics of allergic diseases themselves, is presented. Using these characteristics as basic guidelines in investigation, not only should the condition be diagnosed but main cause or causes and triggering factors should be demonstrated in individual patients. Investigational procedures ranging from history, and including simple skin tests and more sophisticated immunological investigations, are briefly analyzed and it is stressed that if a really adequate allergic investigation of all patients with suspect allergic disease is carried out in an effort to demonstrate and subsequently control all causes and triggering factors, then development of chronic disease, sometimes intractible to our standard methods of therapy, could well be prevented in many cases.

Humans↗
PubMed1978

Standardization of early drug trials in allergic diseases (with reference to a trial of doxantrazole).

Attention is drawn to the long wait in certain countries before new drugs and other therapies for the treatment of allergic diseases are approved by the local authorities, even when good trials with them have been carried out elsewhere. The main reasons for requiring repeat trials are poor original case selection and inadequate parameters of assessment, particularly environmental variations. The results of re-assessing patients who in the previous year had undergone a trial of a new chromoglycate-like drug (Doxantrazole) are used to illustrate the need to introduce standard basic requirements when new drugs and other agents are being tested in allergic diseases. A suggested format of such requirements is presented.

Bronchodilator Agents↗
PubMed1978

Primary lung cancer and asthma.

6,021 40-year-old and older chronic asthma suffers, seen during the past 20 years, were analyzed with regard to the development of primary lung cancer and their smoking habits. Over this period only two developed lung cancer, 0.032% as compared with 0.314% in the general population. Only 16.9% of chronic asthmatics had smoked over any significant period during the five years prior to assessment as compared with approximately 40% of the general population. Of those who did smoke, the tendency was to a lesser extent. This survey adds further evidence that cancer develops less frequently in patients suffering from an allergic disease such as asthma, perhaps because of (1) some enhanced immunological activity preventing the advent of new growth or (2) reduced smoking habits of chronic asthmatics.

Adult↗