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Biomedical subjects

R M Murray

Publications and source records attributed to R M Murray.

At least 361 records · Page 20Linked to original sources
PubMed1976

Alcoholism amongst male doctors in Scotland.

An investigation was carried out into first admissions to, and all discharges from Scottish psychiatric inpatient beds of male doctors and other social class I males who had a primary diagnosis of alcoholism. The rates were more than two-and-a-half times higher amongst doctors. Middle-aged doctors were particularly at risk, and 58% of all psychiatric hospitalisations of male doctors between the ages of 45 and 54 years were attributed to alcoholism.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Urinary dimethyltryptamine and psychiatric symptomatology and classification.

The excretion of dimethyltryptamine (DMT) was studied amongst 122 recently admitted psychiatric patients and 20 normal subjects. DMT was detected in the urine of 47% of those diagnosed by their psychiatrists as schizophrenic, 38% of those with other non-affective psychoses, 13% of those with affective psychoses, 19% of those with neurotic and personality disorders and 5% of normal subjects. Ninety-nine patients were interviewed in a semi-standardized fashion, and also categorized according to a variety of operational definitions of the psychoses. The operational definitions failed to reveal any group significantly more correlated with urinary DMT than a hospital diagnosis of schizophrenia, but a discriminant function analysis of symptomatology could be used to define a group of 21 patients of whom 15 (71%) excreted detectable DMT. There was a general relationship between psychotic symptoms and urinary DMT, but specifically schizophrenic symptoms did not appear to be major determinants of DMT excretion.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Methane production and digestibility measurements in the grey kangaroo and sheep.

Three grey knagaroos and three sheep were given a diet of lucerne chaff and measurements were made of feed intake, digestibility coefficients, methane production rate and volatile fatty acid content of the "stomach" and caecum for each animal. The kangaroos had lower intakes of digestible dry matter and organic matter than the sheep; this was related to lower intakes of dry matter and lower apparent digestibility coefficients particularly of the crude fibre fraction. Methane production in the sheep (collected in respired air through a mask) was 0-81 litre/h; no methane was collected in the respired air from kangaroos. Anal release of methane in sheep and kangaroos indicated that some methane was produced in the hind gut of kangaroos and that all of this methane was lost via the anus. This finding was different to the sheep which apparently excreted 80-90% of the hind gut methane via the lungs. Thus in both sites of apparent high microbial growth in the gut of kangaroos methane production is negligible or lower than in the same sites in sheep. Possible explanations for the absence of measurable methane production in the kangaroo fore-stomachs are discussed.

Anal Canal↗
PubMed1976

Rates of production of methane in the rumen and large intestine of sheep.

1. An isotope tracer method for estimating methane production in sheep is described. 2. The technique was used to estimate methane produced in both the upper and lower digestive tract and to determine the routes by which it was excreted. 3. Four Merino ewes given lucerne chaff (33 g every hour) were used. 4. Total methane production rate was 21 +/- 1-1 (SE) ml/min; production in the rumen accounted for 87 +/- 1-2% of the total production; 95 +/- 1-4% of the methane produced in the rumen was excreted by eructation. 5. Of the methane produced in the lower digestive tract, 89 +/- 2-3% was excreted through the lungs and 11% through the anus.

Anal Canal↗
PubMed1976

Trainees assessment of vocational training in psychiatry: a pilot study at the Maudsley Hospital.

The adequacy of postgraduate trainees is assessed rather more frequently than that of the teaching process. A survey was therefore undertaken of the views of sixty-two junior psychiatrists regarding the clinical units they had worked on during their 3-year rotational training programme at the Maudsley Hospital. The quality of the training experience was felt to be related to work load (not too light), to the number of trainees attached to each consultant, and to the attention given by the consultant to instruction on practical management. The factors felt to need most attention were feedback from consultants on the trainee's performance, and the standards of academic instruction and of interdisciplinary teamwork.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1976

Some factors affecting the measurement of blood inorganic phosphorus in cattle.

Sixty cows were studied over 3 days, to determine the effect of site of sampling, handling stress and the tranquilliser xylazine hydrochloride, on blood inorganic phosphorus (P). Jugular venous and coccygeal mixed arterial and venous blood were compared. Saliva was also analysed for P. Buffered and unbuffered trichloracetic acid (TCA) were compared as deproteinising agents. Tail blood P was consistently 12% (range 7-17%) higher than that from the jugular vein (P less than 0.01). This difference decreased when jugular blood was sampled first but increased following administration of the tranquilliser. The drug significantly (P less than 0.01) increased the concentration of P in the saliva on 2 out of 3 days. The possible role of salivary P in affecting jugular P values, is discussed. The buffered TCA analyses gave consistently lower P readings than the unbuffered analyses. The magnitude of this effect was time dependent, being greater when the samples were left for 4 days (P less than 0.05) than when analysed the next day. There was a very strong correlation between plasma and whole blood P. It was concluded that the tissue of choice in phosphorus studies is tail blood (plasma or serum) treated with buffered TCA.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Visual failure during replacement therapy in primary hypothyroidism with pituitary enlargement.

A 34-year-old woman with longstanding untreated thyroprivic hypothyroidism and pituitary enlargement is reported here in whom visual failure coincided with thyroid hormone replacement. Visual fields were normal after 30 years untreated hypothyroidism, but severe concentric field constriction developed during the first 6 months of therapy and was relieved by hypophysectomy. Plasma TSH and prolactin remained elevated during 10 months replacement therapy, but both were suppressed by preoperative hyperreplacement with T3 and T4. The paradoxical pressure symptoms suggest imbalance between pituitary TSH content and TSH release during treatment with thyroid hormone; a finding previously reported in animal studies. This sequence suggests that patients with known pituitary enlargement secondary to thyroid hypofunction should be observed for pressure symptoms during thyroid hormone treatment.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

The radiological diagnosis of analgesic nephropathy.

A study was made of the radiological findings in 57 patients with a clinical diagnosis of analgesic nephropathy. The ages of the patients ranged from 27 to 72 years, and females predominated over males in the ratio 4-7 to 1. Renal failure varied from mild to very severe and the patients showed the usual high incidence of analgesic-induced gastro-intestinal, haematological and neurological disorders. In 82% of cases, kidneys were of normal size, but there was radiological evidence of reduced renal function in 85%. Thus, a small kidney with good renal function was unlikely to be due to analgesic nephropathy. Medullar necrosis was observed in 65%, and papillary atrophy and papillary necrosis each in 46%. Although usually gradual, acute massive sloughing of necrotic papillae could occur and occasionally led to ureteric obstruction. Papillary cavitation was seen in 39% but fistulae and ring shadows were observed in only 11% and 14% respectively, while renal calcification occurred in 26%. With the use of high dose techniques and retrograde pyelography, it is almost always possible to make a positive radiological diagnosis of analgesic nephropathy, even in patients with markedly reduced renal function.

Adult↗
PubMed1972

Analgesic nephropathy: removal of phenacetin from proprietary analgesics.

Since phenacetin was withdrawn from Askit Powders and Beecham's Powders in 1966 these preparations have declined in importance as a cause of analgesic nephropathy in Western Scotland. In most patients with analgesic nephropathy who persist in abuse of compound analgesics renal function continues to decline. The deterioration, however, is less rapid among those taking aspirin and caffeine mixtures than in those taking preparations which also contain phenacetin.

Analgesics↗