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Biomedical subjects

S Griffiths

Publications and source records attributed to S Griffiths.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Relation between a career and family life for English hospital consultants: qualitative, semistructured interview study.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the relation between work and family life among hospital consultants and their attitude towards the choices and constraints that influence this relation. DESIGN: Qualitative study of consultants' experiences and views based on tape recorded semistructured interviews. SETTING: Former South Thames health region in southeast England. PARTICIPANTS: 202 male and female NHS hospital consultants aged between 40 to 50 years representing all hospital medical specialties. RESULTS: Three types of relation between work and family life (career dominant, segregated, and accommodating) were identified among hospital consultants. Most consultants had a segregated relation, although female consultants were more likely than male consultants to have a career dominant or an accommodating relation. Many male consultants and some female consultants expressed considerable dissatisfaction with the balance between their career and family life. A factor influencing this dissatisfaction was the perceived lack of choice to spend time on their personal or family life, because of the working practices and attitudes within hospital culture, if they wanted a successful career. CONCLUSIONS: Consultants are currently fitting in with the profession rather than the profession adapting to enable doctors to have fulfilling professional and personal lives. Current government policies to increase the medical workforce and promote family friendly policies in the NHS ought to take account of the need for a fundamental change in hospital culture to enable doctors to be more involved in their personal or family life without detriment to their career progress.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Development of a continuous IL-7-dependent murine pre-B cell line PB-1 suitable for the biological characterisation and assay of human IL-7.

Human interleukin-7 (IL-7) is a cytokine that appears to be critical for early T- and B-cell development and although IL-7 is currently under investigation as a therapeutic agent in a variety of hematolymphopoietic disorders, there have been few instances of the detection or investigation of this cytokine using a biological assay. This has been due, in the main, to the lack of a widely available, stable, easy to maintain and use, IL-7 responsive cell line. We have developed a pre-B-cell line, PB-1, from murine bone marrow, that is dependent on IL-7 for growth and has been maintained continually for up to 1 year without loss of responsiveness. The cells survive freezing and reviving, having been stored for periods of up to 4 years. The IL-7 bioassay is reproducible and sensitive, able to reliably detect 50 pg/ml IL-7. The assay is completely unresponsive to any other stimulatory cytokines tested and is not affected by a wide variety of inhibitory cytokines, with the exception of high levels of interferon alpha. The assay can be made completely specific for human IL-7 by including specific neutralizing antibodies for IL-7 and has been shown to be suitable for the estimation of IL-7 in both plasma and serum samples.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Inequalities in health: raising awareness among health authority staff.

A postal survey of all staff working for Bro Taf Health Authority (n = 237) was carried out during August and September 1998. The survey was concerned with tackling inequalities in health in terms of involvement, information needs, priorities and working patterns. The aim was to raise awareness of the Health Authority's commitment to tackling inequalities in health and to collect employees' opinions on methods of working effectively towards greater equity. The response rate was higher for senior grades (63%) than for basic grades (26%). Not all employees had access to background documents and many expressed a need for more information. There was a strong feeling that a change in working patterns would be beneficial and staff were particularly concerned that internal communications should be improved. The survey provided a good opportunity to raise awareness of health inequality issues and was beneficial in providing an opportunity for staff to express their opinions anonymously. Some suggestions have already been implemented and others are incorporated in the Health Authority's Equity Strategy.

Awareness↗
PubMed2000

Factors influencing use of digital prostheses in workers' compensation recipients.

The purposes of this study were to retrospectively identify factors associated with decreased use of digital prostheses in workers' compensation recipients 6 months after fitting and to identify characteristics of those individuals who requested and received a second set of prostheses after demonstrating consistent use of the first set. One hundred seventy-eight patients fitted with 281 digital prostheses completed a questionnaire 6 months after fitting. Forty-nine patients (28%) stated they never or occasionally used their prosthesis (low utilization) and 42 (24%) stated they used them more than 4 hours per day (high utilization). One hundred ten patients (62%) reported stump problems; 37 (21%) stated that the problem interfered with the use of the prosthesis. High utilization was associated with nonmanual employment after the injury. Low utilization was associated with male gender, stump problems, and a distal amputation level. Ring finger prostheses were least likely to be used; small finger prostheses, most likely. The country of origin of the patient was not associated with frequency of use. One hundred sixty-one patients had received the prostheses at least 3 years before the end of the study; 45% of these patients had requested and received a second set of prostheses. Women were more likely to request and receive a second set than men. We could not accurately predict future use of digital prostheses. Each case must be evaluated on an individual basis. (J Hand Surg 2000; 25A:80-85.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Molecular characterization of transforming plasmid rearrangements in transgenic rice reveals a recombination hotspot in the CaMV 35S promoter and confirms the predominance of microhomology mediated recombination.

The characterization of plasmid-genomic DNA junctions following plant transformation has established links between DNA double-strand break repair (DSBR), illegitimate recombination and plasmid DNA integration. The limited information on plasmid-plasmid junctions in plants comes from the dicot species tobacco and Arabidopsis. We analyzed 12 representative transgenic rice lines, carrying a range of transforming plasmid rearrangements, which predominantly reflected microhomology mediated illegitimate recombination involving short complementary patches at the recombining ends. Direct end-ligation, in the absence of homology between the recombining molecules, occurred only rarely. Filler DNA was found at some of the junctions. Short, purine-rich tracts were present, either at the junction site or in the immediate flanking regions. Putative DNA topoisomerase I binding sites were clustered around the junctions. Although different regions of the transforming plasmid were involved in plasmid-plasmid recombination, we showed that a 19 bp palindromic sequence, including the TATA box of the CaMV 35S promoter, acted as a recombination hotspot. The purine-rich half of the palindromic sequence was specifically involved at the recombination junctions. This recombination hotspot is located within the 'highly recombinogenic' region of the full-length CaMV RNA that has been shown to promote viral recombination in dicot plants. Clustering of plasmid recombination events in this highly recombinogenic region, even in the absence of viral enzymes and other cis-acting elements proves that the plant cellular machinery alone is sufficient to recognize and act on these viral sequences. Our data also show the similarity between mechanisms underlying junction formation in dicot and monocot plants transformed using different procedures.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1999

The costs of recurrent syncope of unknown origin in elderly patients.

Although syncope has been shown to reduce quality-of-life, its impact on resource costs has not been documented. The objective of this study was to quantify the annual medical costs of caring for elderly patients with syncope, especially recurrent syncope of unknown origin. Administrative data from the Health Care Financing Administration were obtained on 7,959 Medicare patients who had at least one inpatient admission with a diagnosis of syncope in 1993. The costs of any inpatient admissions, outpatient procedures, or physician visits with an ICD-CM-9 diagnosis for syncope were summed for a 365-day period from the date of the initial hospitalization for syncope. Patients who had at least two hospitalizations with admission and discharge diagnosis of syncope were deemed to have recurrent syncope of uncertain origin. To better estimate syncope costs for those whose syncope costs could have been attributed to other diagnoses, a regression analysis was performed including variables representing the most frequent secondary diagnoses. The average annual costs of those who were admitted with syncope but who were discharged with another diagnosis was $4,942 in 1993. The average annual cost of patients with recurrent syncope deemed to be of unknown origin was $5,165. For those patients with secondary diagnoses of atherosclerosis, urinary tract infections, or hypokalemia, the annual costs of syncope averaged $6,820, $7,013, or $7,949, respectively.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1999

Antipronation taping and temporary orthoses. Effects on tibial rotation position after exercise.

Abnormal lower-limb biomechanics--in particular, abnormal pronation of the subtalar joint with concomitant increased internal rotation of the tibia--is one of the major causes of overuse injuries of the lower limb. A randomized, controlled, within-subjects research design (N = 14) was used to investigate the effect of a temporary felt orthosis and an antipronation taping technique to control the transverse tibial rotation position immediately after application and after each of two 10-minute periods of exercise. The results showed that the taping technique was superior to both the orthosis and no intervention in controlling tibial rotation position immediately after application and after 10 minutes of exercise. After 20 minutes of exercise, neither the tape nor the orthosis was significantly superior to the control; however, the trends suggested that some residual control was maintained. Future studies are needed to determine the amount of foot pronation control required to relieve symptoms in a symptomatic population in order to determine the clinical effectiveness of these treatment methods.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Effect of glucosinolate breakdown products on beta-naphthoflavone-induced expression of human cytochrome P450 1A1 via the Ah receptor in Hep G2 cells.

The ability of glucosinolates, the main bioactive components of brassica vegetables, to influence beta-naphthoflavone-induced transcription of human cytochrome P450 1A1 was examined. Human Hep G2 cells, which contain a functional Ah receptor, were transiently transfected with a reporter construct containing the entire promoter sequence of the human CYP1A1 gene. Breakdown products of four of the glucosinolates tested (prop-2-enyl, 3-methylsulphinylpropyl, 2-hydroxybut-3-enyl and p-hydroxybenzyl), at a concentration as low as 1 microM, reduced the level of beta-naphthoflavone-induced transcription of CYP1A1. It is already known that certain glucosinolate breakdown products can induce phase II enzymes and inhibit the catalytic activity of some cytochrome P450 isoenzymes. This study demonstrates that certain alkyl and aromatic glucosinolates may also influence cytochrome P450 1A1 transcription.

Carcinoma, Hepatocellular↗
PubMed1997

Early changes in peritumorous oedema and contralateral white matter after dexamethasone: a study using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

AIMS: To study the mechanism of action of steroids in patients with peritumorous oedema. METHODS: To investigate early cerebral metabolic changes proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) was used before and 11 to 14 hours after treatment with dexamethasone (12 mg oral loading and 4 mg four times daily maintenance). Nine patients (two men, seven women, mean age 54) with pronounced oedema associated with various intracranial tumours (two astrocytomas, three meningiomas, two glioblastoma, and two metastases) were examined using MRI and MRS. SE1500/135 volume selected MRS (mean volume 21 ml) were performed on an oedematous region and a contralateral region. All spectra were acquired with and without water suppression. Metabolite peak area ratios were determined. RESULTS: Regions of oedema had significantly (P < 0.01) higher unsuppressed water than the contralateral regions, as expected. There was no change at this early time point after dexamethasone. The ratio of the area of choline containing compounds to that creatine and phosphocreatine compounds was determined after which the serial ratios of these before and after were calculated (a serial ratio of 1.0 would indicate no change in the choline to creatine ratios after steroid administration). The mean serial ratios for the area of oedema were 1.02 (SEM 0.08) and 1.10 (0.08) for the contralateral volume of interest, indicating no significant changes. However, significant changes (P < 0.02) were found in the N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA)/choline serial ratios (0.86 (0.06) in the area of oedema, 1.20 (0.10) in contralateral brain) and the NAA/creatine serial ratios (0.86 (0.08) for the oedema, 1.25 (0.11) in contralateral brain). CONCLUSIONS: Such rapid changes may be explained either by relatively large alterations in the relaxation characteristics of NAA or, more controversially, by actual changes in the amounts of NAA. It is proposed that steroids act primarily by causing early metabolic changes that are later expressed in improvements in intracranial volume relations.

Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal↗
PubMed1996

Molecular cloning of MADM: a catalytically active mammalian disintegrin-metalloprotease expressed in various cell types.

A peptide sequence of a metalloprotease purified from bovine brain [Chantry, Gregson and Glynn (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 21603-21607] was used to design an oligonucleotide probe for screening a bovine brain cDNA library. A contig of the two overlapping cDNA clones that were isolated encoded a 748-amino-acid polypeptide with similarity to the disintegrin-metalloprotease precursor proteins of haemorrhagic snake venom. The bovine protein has been named MADM, for mammalian disintegrin-metalloprotease. The predicted mature protein has 534 amino acids arrayed as extracellular metallo-protease and disintegrin (potential integrin-binding) domains, a transmembrane helix and a basic/proline-rich cytoplasmic C-terminus. Highly conserved homologues of bovine MADM were found in cDNA libraries of rat brain and a human U937 histiocytic lymphoma cell line. A wide variety of mammalian cell lines expressed low levels of MADM mRNA (4.5 and 3.2 kb transcripts) and mature polypeptide (M(r) 62000), as assessed by Northern analysis and Western blotting with an antiserum raised to a peptide within the disintegrin domain. MADM appears to be a rather distantly related member of the reprolysin protein family, which includes both the snake venom disintegrin-metalloproteases and a number of predicted cell-surface disintegrin-containing mammalian proteins.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1996

Men's health.

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Health Behavior↗