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Biomedical subjects

R Simmons

Publications and source records attributed to R Simmons.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1968

The maximum oxygen intake. An international reference standard of cardiorespiratory fitness.

Lack of cardiorespiratory fitness may well contribute to the increasing prevalence of degenerative cardiovascular disease throughout the world. As a first step towards co-ordinated and internationally comparable investigation of this problem, methods of measuring the reference standard of cardiorespiratory fitness-the maximum oxygen intake, (Vo(2))(max)-were compared by an international working party that met in Toronto in the summer of 1967.Repeated testing of 24 subjects showed that the (Vo(2))(max) was greatest on the treadmill, 3.4% smaller in a stepping test, and 6.6% smaller during use of a bicycle ergometer. There were also parallel differences in cardiac stroke volume. Uphill treadmill running was recommended for the laboratory measurement of (Vo(2))(max), and stepping or bicycle exercise for field studies. A discontinuous series of maximum tests caused some improvement in the fitness of subjects, and a "continuous" test (with small increases in load at 2-min intervals) was preferred.

Adult↗
PubMed1968

Standardization of submaximal exercise tests.

It is often impossible to measure the reference standard of cardiorespiratory fitness (the maximum oxygen intake) directly, and there is thus a need for subsidiary standard procedures based on body responses to submaximal exercise. In order to reach agreement on such procedures, a recent international working party has compared a variety of possible tests involving step, bicycle, and treadmill exercise; criteria of comparison included the extent of habituation and learning with each procedure, the physiological responses, and practical considerations. There was little to commend submaximal exercise on the treadmill. Anxiety and learning were least on the bicycle ergometer, but significant anaerobic metabolism developed at loads of more than 55% of aerobic power; the main role of the bicycle was thus in laboratory tests requiring arm immobilization. The step test was cheap and portable, subjects showed relatively little anxiety or learning, and good-quality electrocardiograms were obtained: it thus seemed the procedure of choice for field tests. The results of all forms of submaximal test should be extrapolated to maximum oxygen intake in order to overcome difficulties arising from differences in the age and fitness of subjects. Four common extrapolation procedures, based respectively on one to four measurements of oxygen consumption and pulse rate, yielded similar predictions of maximum oxygen intake. A single progressive test, in which the exercise load was increased at the end of every third minute, gave an identical prediction of maximum oxygen intake to that obtained from a series of 4 discontinuous tests. The progressive test was thus the preferred procedure; however, in subjects with some circulatory delay, it might be necessary to replace the four 3-min loads by three 4-min loads.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Growing older with cystic fibrosis: psychologic adjustment of patients more than 16 years old.

The 79 female and 147 male patients constituting the population with cystic fibrosis (CF) aged 16 years and older attending The Hospital for Sick Children were asked to complete the Cornell Medical Index (CMI) and Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS); 64 female (81%) and 112 male (76%) subjects participated. Analysis of CMI results showed 43% of female subjects to have moderate to severe emotional disturbance compared to 19% of male subjects. This female : male ratio for severity of emotional disturbance is found in ostensibly healthy groups, but the percentages of disturbance approach values for medical patient populations. The frequency of emotional disability is greater in those more than 20 than in those 16-19 years old. The TSCS results portray a generally normal self-concept except for scores of positive physical self and psychosis for patients aged 20 years and older; these scores approach psychiatric values, suggesting that some reality distortion facilitates emotional adjustment to adult life with CF. The TSCS and CMI results correlate significantly, indicating a connection between self-concept and emotional status. However, TSCS and CMI scores do not correlate with measures of disease severity except for correlations between lung function and physical self-concept in older male patients. These results suggest that psychologic functioning is independent of the degree of physical impairment in older patients with CF, with the long-surviving male patients more realistically appraising the limitations their disease imposes and utilizing denial and minimization to a lesser degree. Demographic data on the clinic population reveal that most patients aged 16 years and older cope with their intellectual, developmental, and socioeconomic tasks commensurate with normal age expectations.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Nit wit.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Employment in family planning and women's status in Bangladesh.

This study investigates how employment in family planning affects the status of community workers. The focus is on three critical variables: prestige, professional status, and social influence. The data are derived from a focus-group study conducted in 1987-88 in the Maternal and Child Health and Family Planning Project in Matlab, Bangladesh. Focus-group sessions were held with community workers, their husbands, community leaders, and community women. Results show that although community workers initially faced intense hostility in the community, they succeeded in maintaining the prestige that is traditionally accorded to women in their conservative, rural society. Moreover, they established themselves as valued health and family planning professionals in a social context where professional roles for women have been extremely circumscribed. Finally, they gained social influence by performing a range of functions in the community that exceed formally prescribed job responsibilities. The professional and social leadership roles that community workers now assume imply a degree of status that seemed inconceivable a decade ago. That such change could result from a well-designed and appropriately managed family planning project deserves careful attention.

Bangladesh↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Maternal-child health and family planning: user perspectives and service constraints in rural Bangladesh.

This article presents a microanalysis of interactions between female fieldworkers and women in rural Bangladesh, and a discussion of the broader organizational constraints that hamper service delivery. It is argued that the fieldworker, herself a rural woman, is faced with considerable demand for both maternal-child health (MCH) and reproductive health care services, but that operational constraints prevent her from realizing her potential in both of these areas. Qualitative data show that, in the eyes of rural women, contraceptive use and health care are intricately intertwined, and that this association often raises a range of questions that the worker cannot address competently. A number of specific operational barriers--worker densities, staff motivation, supervision, technical competence, supplies--are identified. These barriers reflect a general institutional weakness in the Ministry of Health bureaucracy that prevents it from organizing itself to deliver user-oriented health and family planning services while maintaining adequate and appropriate standards of care.

Bangladesh↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Disposition of flavodilol in laboratory animals.

The disposition of flavodilol, a novel antihypertensive agent, was investigated in rats, rabbits, and dogs following iv or oral administration of 14C-flavodilol or unlabeled drug. Peak, plasma levels occurred within 6 hours of an oral dose in all three species. Following an iv dose, plasma elimination half-lives of flavodilol in rats, rabbits, and dogs were 3.0, 3.0, and 4.0 hr, respectively. Total body clearances were 0.71 liter/hr/kg for the rat, 1.89 liters/hr/kg for the rabbit, and 3.07 liters/hr/kg for the dog. Renal clearances were a small fraction of total clearance at 0.042, and 0.114 liter/hr/kg for the rat and dog, respectively, suggesting extensive nonrenal clearance. The volumes of distribution of 3.04 for the rat, 8.10 for rabbit, and 18.13 liters/kg for dog are large, suggesting significant extravascular distribution of flavodilol. Following 10 and 50 mg/kg po doses of 14C-flavodilol in rats, recovery of total radioactivity after 79 hr was 100.7% and 88.4% of the dose, respectively, most of which was recovered in the feces (77.5% and 66.6%, respectively). Tissue distribution studies of 14C in rats at 1.5, 5, 24, and 48 hr after a single po dose of 10 mg/kg 14C-flavodilol showed that the majority of the radioactivity was in the gastrointestinal tract and organs of elimination at all time points. Less than 1% of the dose remained in the body at 48 hr. 14C-Flavodilol was administered to rats iv at 1 mg/kg and orally at 10 mg/kg to assess comparative (label vs. nonlabel) absorption and distribution characteristics.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Administration, Oral↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Determinants of reproductive change in a traditional society: evidence from Matlab, Bangladesh.

A decade has elapsed since a project was launched in Matlab, Bangladesh to test the hypothesis that contraceptive services can induce and sustain fertility decline in a rural traditional population. The demographic impact of this project has been pronounced, lending support to the view that supply-side policies can succeed even where institutional supports for demand are weak. This paper reviews the relationship between the Bangladesh climate of demand and the Matlab system of supply with the aim of explaining how such effects arise. A sociologically appropriate system of supply can induce fertility change in a society where such change would not spontaneously arise. The study of programs and the "sociology of the supply side" thus deserve the same degree of rigor accorded to research on the "sociology of demand."

Bangladesh↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Beyond supply: the importance of female family planning workers in rural Bangladesh.

Using participant observation data on worker-client exchanges from Bangladesh, this article examines the interface between a government family planning program and the rural women it serves. Case material focuses first on the program function typically identified in the literature: meeting unmet demand for contraception by providing convenient supply. Functions that have been less recognized are then illustrated: (1) the worker's role in reducing fear of contraceptive technology; (2) her effort to address religious barriers, child mortality risks, and high fertility preferences; and (3) her role in mobilizing male support. The range of functions performed by the female family planning worker in the cases discussed here demonstrates that her role transcends the boundaries of what is conventionally implied by the concept of supply. She acts as an agent of change whose presence helps to shift reproductive decision-making away from passivity, exposing women long secluded by the tradition of purdah to the modern notion of deliberate choice.

Bangladesh↗