Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

S Hicks

Publications and source records attributed to S Hicks.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

Marketing ambulatory services in the 1990s.

The ability to predict, to adapt to change, and to develop strategic low cost marketing plans are the components essential to remaining financially solvent in today's health care environment. The marketing process is analogous to the nursing process and should support the institution's mission statement, philosophy, and goals. Managers who are able to empower their personnel to become the sales force and implement the marketing plan will be the survivors in the 1990s.

Ambulatory Surgical Procedures↗
PubMed1991

Stability and extractability of double-stranded RNA of pangola stunt and sugarcane Fiji disease viruses in dried plant tissues.

When leaves infected with pangola stunt virus (PaSV) were dried at 23, 37, 50, 70 or 105 degrees C, the dsRNA was stable and could be extracted after aerobic storage at room temperature for 1 month, although at 105 degrees C the amount obtained was reduced. The dsRNA was also recovered after leaves were freeze dried and stored in vacuo at room temperature for 6 months, or were dried and stored aerobically at room temperature for 10.5 months. dsRNA of sugarcane Fiji disease virus (FDV) was also stable when infected leaves were dried at 23, 37, 50 or 105 degrees C and stored aerobically for 3 months or for at least 6 months when infected leaves were dried at 70 degrees C. The unexpected high stability and extractability of both PaSV and FDV dsRNA when dried in leaves at low or high temperatures and stored at room temperature indicate that these, and probably other plant-infecting reoviruses, can be transported readily in desiccated host tissue between different countries for later extraction and comparison of their dsRNAs.

Desiccation↗
PubMed1990

An association of human congenital cardiac malformations and drinking water contaminants.

During an informal study in 1973 it was noted that approximately one third of patients with congenital heart disease lived in a small area in the Tucson Valley. In 1981 groundwater for a nearly identical area was found to be contaminated with trichloroethylene and to a lesser extent with dichloroethylene and chromium. Contamination probably began during the 1950s. Affected wells were closed after discovery of contamination. This sequence of events allowed investigation of the prevalence of congenital heart disease in children whose parents were exposed to the contaminated water area as compared with children whose parents were never exposed to the contaminated water area. The contaminated water area contained 8.8% of the Tucson Valley population and 4.5% of the labor force. Using their case registry, the authors interviewed parents of 707 children with congenital heart disease who, between 1969 and 1987, 1) conceived their child in the Tucson Valley, and 2) spent the month before the first trimester and the first trimester of the case pregnancy in the Tucson Valley. Two random dialing surveys showed that only 10.5% of the Tucson Valley population had ever had work or residence contact, or both, with the contaminated water area, whereas 35% of parents of children with congenital heart disease had had such contact (p less than 0.005). The prevalence of congenital cardiac disease (excluding syndromes, children with atrial tachycardia or premature infants with patent ductus arteriosus) in the Tucson Valley was 0.7% of live births and with syndromes was calculated to be 0.82%. The odds ratio for congenital heart disease for children of parents with contaminated water area contact during the period of active contamination was three times that for those without contact (p less than 0.005) and decreased to near unity for new arrivals in the contaminated water area after well closure. The proportion of infants with congenital heart disease as compared with the number of live births was significantly higher for resident mothers in the contaminated water area than for mothers with no exposure. No other environmental agent could be identified that was localized to the contaminated water area, but one could have been missed. The data show a significant association but not a cause and effect relation between parental exposure to the contaminated water area and an increased proportion of congenital heart disease among live births as compared with the proportion of congenital heart disease among live births for parents without contaminated water area contact.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

The psychiatric nurse in liaison psychiatry.

The role of nursing staff in a liaison consultative unit is by no means established in this country although precedents exist in the United States. Nevertheless, there are clear theoretical reasons for including psychiatric nurses in the liaison team. This report concerns a model of intervention based on one of three models identified in the US studies. The model involves a collaborative/consultative relationship between the psychiatric nurse and the psychiatrist, therefore maximising opportunities for successful intervention and cross-referral. Two clinical vignettes illustrate this. The clinical presentations of 200 patients presenting primarily to the nurse specialist are compared with 200 presenting to the psychiatric department. The patterns of referrals and also the agencies referring differed. The differences in those profiles, together with the management implications, are discussed. High stress areas of nursing, such as cardiology, neurosurgery and haematology, provided a fertile area for referrals to the nurse where referrals to the psychiatrists had not been high.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene meeting at Manson House, London, 14 December 1995. Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli--mucosal infection models.

The formation of attaching and effacing (A/E) lesions is central to the pathogenesis of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC)-mediated disease in humans and Citrobacter rodentium-mediated transmissible colonic hyperplasia in mice. Closely related outer membrane proteins, known as intimins, are required for formation of the A/E lesion by both EPEC and C. rodentium. In this study we found similar ultrastructural damage in small intestinal biopsies from an EPEC-infected child and large bowel specimens from C. rodentium-infected mice. The C. rodentium-infected large bowel biopsies revealed massive hyperplastic reactions and the infected human small intestinal biopsies showed an increase in total crypt cell number and mitotic index. EPEC-infected small intestinal organ cultures revealed bacteria adhering in a localized pattern and evidence of A/E lesions. Covaspheres coated with a biologically active cell-binding domain of intimin also adhered to cells in a localized fashion but did not induce the characteristic A/E lesions.

Adhesins, Bacterial↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Gastric cancer: diagnosis, risk factors, treatment and life issues.

Gastric cancer is the sixth most common malignancy in the UK. It is responsible for over 9000 deaths annually in the UK. Distal gastric cancer has a decreasing incidence, but proximal gastric cancer continues to increase. Gastroscopy remains the gold standards for accurate diagnosis. Early diagnosis is essential, but symptoms and signs are often mistaken for other less serious diseases. Major surgery is the only proven treatment, but 5-year survival rates postoperatively are only 34%, and many people will continue to suffer side-effects of the surgery. Open access gastroscopy and health promotion may be the best chance of detecting this disease early enough so that it is treated successfully.

Causality↗