The importance of touch in patient care.
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Humans↗
Biomedical subjects
S Meredith
Publications and source records attributed to S Meredith.
The role of the centriolar region in animal cell mitosis. A laser microbeam study.
An argon ion laser microbeam (488 and 514 nm) was used to selectively irradiate one of the two centriolar regions of rat kangaroo Potorous tridactylis (PtK2) prophase cells in vitro. The cells were sensitized to the laser radiation by treatment with acridine orange (0.1-0.2 mug/ml). Ultrastructural examination of the irradiated centriolar regions demonstrated that the primary site of damage was the pericentriolar material. This result suggests that nucleic acid is present in the pericentriolar material. Behavioral and ultrastructural analysis demonstrated that cells with one damaged pericentriolar zone could undergo (a) nuclear membrane breakdown, (b) chromosome condensation, (c) metaphase plate formation, and (d) cytokinesis. However, the chromosomes neither separated nor exhibited any anaphase movements. Detailed ultrastructural analysis revealed the presence of kinetochore microtubules on both sides of chromosome mass and a lack of microtubules in the cytokinesis constriction. These results indicate that the pericentriolar material is important in spindle orgainization and essential for the formation of the interpolar microtubules.
Cell Line↗
The absence of centrioles from spindle poles of rat kangaroo (PtK2) cells undergoing meiotic-like reduction division in vitro.
Light and electron microscopy were used to study somatic cell reduction division occurring spontaneously in tetraploid populations of rat kangaroo Potorous tridactylis (PtK2) cells in vitro. Light microscopy coupled with time-lapse photography documented the pattern of reduction division which includes an anaphase-like movement of double chromatid chromosomes to opposite spindle poles followed by the organization of two separate metaphase plates and synchronous anaphase division to form four poles and four daughter nuclei. The resulting daughter cells were isolated and cloned, showing their viability, and karyotyped to determine their ploidy. Ultrastructural analysis of cells undergoing reduction consistently revealed two duplexes of centrioles (one at each of two spindle poles) and two spindle poles in each cell that lacked centrioles but with microtubules terminating in a pericentriolar-like cloud of material. These results suggest that the centriole is not essential for spindle pole formation and division and implicate the could region as a necessary component of the spindle apparatus.
Cell Line↗
The health systems agency: a new bureaucracy.
A Federal law signed by President Ford in 1975 (PL 93-641) mandates the establishment of Health Systems Agencies across the country. The major intent of the law is to provide local direction and control of health care planning. Each Agency shall have a professional staff under the aegis of a board of directors composed of a majority of consumers and a minority of providers. Data identifying health care needs shall be translated into a Health Systems Plan, which is a statement of goals for each Agency; an Annual Implementation Plan shall be developed as a statement of objectives, projects, and strategies requisite to achieving the Health Systems Plan. The concept of the Health Systems Agency has correlate state and federal bureaucratic strata to facilitate health care planning coordination.
Community Participation↗
Current laser microirradiation studies.
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Acridines↗
Argon laser microirradiation of mitochondria in rat myocardial cells in tissue culture. VII. fibrillation in ventricle and auricle cells.
Rat myocardial cells in vitro were irradiated in individual mitochondria with an argon ion laser microbeam. The contractile respone termed fibrillation in single and multicellular groups of both ventricle and auricle cells were compared. Specific correlations were made between fibrillation duration, the number of cells in the group, and the number of times the cells had fibrillated. Correlations were also made for the number of laser shots needed to induce fibrillation and the number of cells in the group. Another set of correlations were made between the pre-irradiation beat frequency and the beat frequency following recovery. Several differences and similarities of the above parameters were detected between auricle and ventricle cells. A comparison of the morphology and ultrastructure of auricle and ventricle cells also revealed significant differences.
Animals↗
Argon laser microirradiation of mitochondria in rat myocardial cells. VI. Correlation of contractility and ultrastructure.
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Animals↗
Light and electron microscopy of laser microirradiated nucleoli and nucleoplasm in tissue culture cells.
This manuscript describes in precise detail the ultrastructural alterations produced as a result of laser micoirradiation of nucleoli and nucleoplasm of tissue culture cells. Because of the general difficulty of single cell recovery, flat embedding, and serial sectioning, very few studies have ever been conducted on microbeam irradiated cells; yet the use of the microbeam technique has become widespread in functional studies of the nucleus. The results presented here demonstrate two classes of lesion material: small spherical electron dense bodies 0.05-0.02 mum in diameter and a larger, more irregular electron dense material up to 1 mum in length. The occurrence of these different types of lesion materials is described in control irradiated nucleoli and nucleoplasm, irradiated nucleoli and nucleoplasm in quinacrine treated cells, irradiated nucleoli and nucleoplasm in actinomycin D treated cells, and irradiated nucleoli and nucleoplasm in combined actinomycin D and quinacrine treated cells. In all the cells in which actinomycin D was employed, nucleoli were selectively irradiated in either their granular or fibrillar zones. The results of the ultrastructural studies are discussed in light of earlier functional studies.
Cell Line↗
Intestinal calcium absorption and vitamin D status in chronic cholestatic liver disease.
Metabolic bone disease is common in patients with cholestatic liver disease. The importance of vitamin D status and calcium malabsorption in the pathogenesis of bone disease in these patients remains undefined. We have measured intestinal calcium absorption in relation to vitamin D status in 14 patients with chronic cholestatic liver disease including 11 with primary biliary cirrhosis. Fractional calcium absorption was determined from radioactive counts in the right forearm after separate oral and intravenous doses of 47CaCl2 in the fasting state. Eight of 14 patients (57%) had a decreased calcium absorption compared to controls. A significant correlation was observed between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and fractional calcium absorption (r = 0.623, p less than 0.02). Treatment with oral 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 in three patients with low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels resulted in correction of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and improvement in fractional calcium absorption. No correlation was found between serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D levels and fractional calcium absorption (r = 0.221). Calcium malabsorption was common in this series of patients, and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were useful in predicting fractional calcium absorption. Treatment with oral 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 was accompanied by improved calcium absorption.
Adult↗
A model for improving medication use in home health care patients.
OBJECTIVES: (1) To develop a model for the identification and resolution of problems associated with suboptimal medication use in elderly patients receiving home health care; (2) To select the most important identifiable problems and develop structured procedures for their resolution. DESIGN: Expert panel review, problem selection, and development of a problem resolution model and guidelines. SETTING: Home health care. PARTICIPANTS: A panel with expertise in home health nursing, pharmacy, clinical pharmacology, gerontology, pharmacoepidemiology, and health services research. INTERVENTIONS: A list of potential problems associated with the most frequently used classes of drugs was compiled for review by the panel. Problems that were controversial or that could not be identified in the home care setting were excluded. Panel members individually ranked the remainder. Detailed procedures for identification and resolution of the 15 top-ranking problems were developed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Not applicable. RESULTS: Potential medication problems were defined by both drug use and symptoms or clinical signs associated with specific adverse effects, to ensure that clinically relevant problems would be identified. The model developed for problem assessment and resolution was centered on the drug utilization review (DUR) coordinator and the attending home health nurse. Following guidelines developed by the panel, the DUR coordinator advises the home health nurse about identified problems and how to resolve them. One of these practitioners, usually the nurse, then contacts the attending physician to explain their concerns, offer potential solutions, and request instructions. CONCLUSION: A potentially useful model for the identification and resolution of medication problems in the home health care setting was developed. This model is currently being evaluated in a randomized controlled trial.
Aged↗
Prostate carcinoma metastatic to the cervical lymph nodes: report of two cases and review of the literature.
The cervical lymph nodes are a common site of metastasis for cancers originating in the upper aerodigestive tract. Rarely, cancers originating from sites other than the head and neck can metastasize to the cervical lymph node chain. We report on 2 recent patients with metastatic prostate cancer to the cervical lymph nodes.
Adenocarcinoma↗
[Imported visceral leishmaniasis (kala azar) in a German infant].
We here report the case of a 1 4/12 year old girl with visceral leishmaniasis. Returning from a trip to Mallorca she presented with pancytopenia, splenomegaly and fever and was admitted to hospital with suspected malignancy. Diagnosis was established microscopically from bone marrow smear and confirmed by PCR-assisted amplification of leishmania-specific DNA from peripheral blood. Treatment was conducted with stibogluconate for 25 days. Defervescence and improvement of clinical symptoms was seen after 4 days of treatment. Infection due to Leishmania donovani can be acquired throughout the entire mediterranean area and should therefore be included in the differential diagnosis of suspected malignancies in patients with a history of travel to mediterranean countries. PCR proved to be a sensitive tool for establishing the diagnosis of visceral leishmaniasis.
Antimony Sodium Gluconate↗
Osmotic homeostasis in Dictyostelium discoideum: excretion of amino acids and ingested solutes.
The response to osmotic stress in axenically cultured Dictyostelium discoideum was examined. Hypoosmotic buffers elicited two changes in the large (approximately 50 mM) cytosolic pool of amino acids: a) the total size of the pool diminished, while b) about half of the initial pool was excreted. Hyperosmotic stress had the opposite effect. Among the predominant amino acids in the pool were glycine, alanine and proline. Putrescine, the major diamine, was neither excreted nor modulated. Recently ingested radioactive amino acids were excreted in preference to those in the cytoplasm, suggesting that the endocytic pathway might be involved in water excretion. Furthermore, hypoosmotic stress stimulated the selective excretion of small, membrane-impermeable fluorescent dyes which had been ingested into endocytic vacuoles. Caffeine inhibited the excretion of the fluorophores but not the amino acids. We conclude that the response of Dictyostelium to osmotic stress is complex and includes both modulation of the cytoplasmic amino acid pool and the excretion of amino acids and other small solutes from the endocytic pathway.
Alanine↗
Influence of chemical treatments on glutathione S-transferases of maize with activity towards metolachlor and cinnamic acid.
The subcellular distribution of glutathione S-transferase (GST) activity extracted from shoots of 3-day-old etiolated seedlings of maize (Zea mays L., Northrup-King 9283 hybrid) and the induction of soluble and membrane-bound GST activity by the safener benoxacor, the herbicide metolachlor and their combination (CGA-180937) were investigated. GST activity extracted from maize shoots was detected in both cytosolic and microsomal fractions and utilized 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (CDNB), metolachlor, and trans-cinnamic acid (CA) as substrates. Soluble GST activity extracted from maize shoots was greater than microsomal with CDNB or metolachlor as substrate. Membrane-bound GST activity was greater than soluble with cinnamic acid as substrate. Washing the microsomal preparations from maize shoots with Triton X-100 increased GST(CA) activity. Pretreatment with the safener benoxacor or a formulated combination of the herbicide metolachlor with benoxacor induced soluble GST(CDNB), GST(metolachlor) and GST(CA) activities in maize shoots. Benoxacor and CGA-180937 induced also membrane-bound GST(CDNB) and GST(CA) activities in maize shoots, but did not affect membrane-bound GST(metolachlor) activity. These results confirm that maize contains multiple GST isozymes that differ in their substrate specificity and inducibility by safeners or other chemicals.
Acetamides↗
The remedial evaluation instrument. A new approach.
This article proposes a different approach to address a reality of the nursing world: that of the Registered Nurse displaying cumulative technical performance deficiencies. This situation, with its accrued practical, intellectual, moral and emotional costs, deserves closer examination and careful reflection. To rehabilitate or to dismiss--two dissenting viewpoints implying ambiguity and distress. The dramatic universal nursing shortage tempts one to override or suppress this problem as does human reluctance to make judgements regarding dismissal. However, the importance of maintaining performance standards is crucial to the well-being of our ultimate consumer--the patient. The authors wish to explore issues surrounding, and the implementation of, one instrument designed to challenge the use of a conventional Employee Performance Appraisal Evaluation. The Remedial Evaluation Instrument (R.E.I.) as proposed in this article, may aid in resolving the problem of substandard employee performance.
Clinical Competence↗
Peer review: preparing the evaluator.
This article proposes a different approach to address a key issue within the performance appraisal process: the preparation of Peer Evaluators. The need to regularly assess and verify the clinical expertise of registered nurses has long been recognized. Health care facilities have responded, acknowledging that competency--based evaluation systems can contribute to RN autonomy, accountability, and the refinement of professional standards. The evolution of peer review has expanded the benefits and efficacy of such systems.
Clinical Competence↗