Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

S Page

Publications and source records attributed to S Page.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

Evaluation of the dietary intake of homebound elderly and the feasibility of dietary supplementation.

OBJECTIVE: The dietary intake of elderly subjects receiving home care services (n = 145) was studied to assess the adequacy of their intake, and their ability to maintain normal body weight. In a second part of the study, the feasibility of providing nutrient supplements to underweight subjects or those with important recent weight loss was evaluated. METHOD: For the survey, three 24-hour recalls, height, weight and lifestyle habits were evaluated in a home interview and two follow-up telephone contacts. The effects of dietary supplementation of 14 subjects at risk of malnutrition (underweight or with substantial weight loss) over 12 weeks were evaluated. RESULTS: Mean energy intake for the entire group was low (males 1546 kcal; females 1152 kcal) and on average barely covered estimated resting energy expenditure. Recent weight loss was negatively correlated with energy intake among underweight subjects (R = -0.64; p < 0.001). Dietary supplementation resulted in an average increase in daily intake of 390 kcal with an average weight gain of 1.27 kg over the 12-week period. Weight change was directly associated with measures of functional status; hand-grip strength (r = 0.75; p = 0.002) and general well-being score (r = 0.46; p = 0.095). CONCLUSION: Homebound elderly were at high risk of inadequate protein and energy intake. Dietary supplementation in high risk individuals was well tolerated and led to modest weight gain and improvements in general well-being.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

Self-efficacy, perfectionism, and stress in Canadian nurses.

The current study examined the relationship between stress in nurses and their reported levels of job and life satisfaction, while also assessing the construct validity of theories of perfectionism and self-efficacy as these apply to the profession of nursing. One hundred and ninety-six nurses employed in Toronto and Windsor, Ontario completed measures of stress, perfectionism, self-efficacy, and job and life satisfaction as dependent variables. Generally, nurses who reported high levels of socially-prescribed and other-oriented perfectionism, and low levels of self-efficacy, also reported low levels of job satisfaction. Significant negative correlations were obtained between the number of reported nursing stressors and job satisfaction. The data also indicated that higher levels of socially-prescribed perfectionism and higher levels of self-efficacy were strongly related to both job and life stress. Some comments, interpretation, and implications of findings are presented.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Gender and support for mental health research.

Grants awarded by the Ontario Mental Health Foundation (OMHF) between 1986 and 1991 were analyzed for their relevance to male and female mental health topics following earlier research by Stark-Adamec in 1981. OMHF fellowships and scholarships, 1986 to 1991, National Health Research and Development Program funding, 1989 to 1990 and 1990 to 1991 funding by the Medical Research Council were also examined. Essentially, funding focused on neither gender; issues concerning gender and mental health were seldom involved in research funded by these agencies.

Bias↗
PubMed1992

Developmentally regulated expression of three slow isoforms of myosin heavy chain: diversity among the first fibers to form in avian muscle.

At least three slow myosin heavy chain (MHC) isoforms were expressed in skeletal muscles of the developing chicken hindlimb, and differential expression of these slow MHC isoforms produced distinct fiber types from the outset of skeletal muscle myogenesis. Immunohistochemistry with isoform-specific monoclonal antibodies demonstrated differences in MHC content among the fibers of the dorsal and ventral premuscle masses and distinctions among fibers before splitting of the premuscle masses into individual muscles (Hamburger and Hamilton Stage 25). Immunoblot analyses by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of myosin extracted from the hindlimb demonstrated the presence throughout development of different mobility classes of MHCs with epitopes associated with slow MHC isoforms. Immunopeptide mapping showed that one of the MHCs expressed in the embryonic limb was the same slow MHC isoform, slow MHC1 (SMHC1), that is expressed in adult slow muscles. SMHC1 was expressed in the dorsal and ventral premuscle masses, embryonic, fetal, and some neonatal and adult hindlimb muscles. In the embryo and fetus SMHC1 was expressed in future fast, as well as future slow muscles, whereas in the adult only the slow muscles retained expression of SMHC1. Those embryonic muscles destined in the adult to contain slow fibers or mixed fast/slow fibers not only expressed SMHC1, but also an additional slow MHC not previously described, designated as slow MHC3 (SMHC3). Slow MHC3 was shown by immunopeptide mapping to contain a slow MHC epitope (reactive with mAb S58) and to be structurally similar to a MHC expressed in the atria of the adult chicken heart. SMHC3 was designated as a slow MHC isoform because (i) it was expressed only in those muscles destined to be of the slow type in the adult, (ii) it was expressed only in primary fibers of muscles that subsequently are of the slow type, and (iii) it had an epitope demonstrated to be present on other slow, but not fast, isoforms of avian MHC. This study demonstrates that a difference in phenotype between fibers is established very early in the chicken embryo and is based on the fiber type-specific expression of three slow MHC isoforms.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

The nature of the proteins lost from isolated rat skeletal muscle during experimental damage.

Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel analysis of the incubation media surrounding isolated rat soleus muscles has been used to determine the nature of the proteins lost from skeletal muscle during damage. Following various forms of experimental trauma only selected proteins are lost to the medium when compared to the protein composition of the muscle cytosol. The proteins released do not appear to be released in a size dependent manner and their release is partly inhibited by an absence of calcium in the extracellular medium. alpha-Tocopherol entirely prevents the release of cytosolic enzymes induced by intracellular calcium overload.

2,4-Dinitrophenol↗
PubMed1991

The eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome: the Los Alamos Conference.

On June 12 and 13, 1990 the Los Alamos National Laboratory in cooperation with the New Mexico Department of Health and Environment, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) hosted a conference on the eosinophilia-myalgia syndrome. Fifty presentations covered a variety of important issues which are summarized herein.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.↗
PubMed1989

A cytosolic protein activator of cardiac sarcolemmal phosphoinositide phospholipase C.

Ca2+ dependent polyphosphoinositide phospholipase C (PLC) activity in cardiac sarcolemma hydrolyzed both endogenous and exogenous phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PIP) and phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2) with an associated increase in inositol bisphosphate (IP2). Dialyzed cytosol and certain fractions of cytosol isolated by anion exchange or gel filtration chromatography activated sarcolemmal PLC activity by approx. 100%. The PLC activator eluted with an apparent molecular weight of 160 Kdal on a Sephacryl 300 column and was destroyed by heat or trypsin treatment. Exogenous 3H-PIP2 was not hydrolyzed by cytosolic fractions containing sarcolemmal PLC activator. These studies demonstrate that the polyphosphoinositide PLC in cardiac sarcolemma is regulated by a cytosolic protein.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Isoforms of creatine kinase: MM in the study of skeletal muscle damage.

Isoforms of creatine kinase (CK) MM have been analysed in plasma from normal subjects and patients with muscular dystrophy using isoelectric focusing techniques. Most plasma samples analysed contained three isoforms of CK-MM of isoelectric points 7.26 (MMI), 6.85 (MMII) and 6.45 (MMIII) although in some plasma samples two additional isoforms of isoelectric points 7.12 and 6.65 were seen. Patients with muscular dystrophy were found to have a generally higher proportion of CK-MMI in their plasma than normal subjects and this was relatively unaffected by large variations in the total creatine kinase activity. By comparison eccentric exercise in normal subjects was found to result in a large increase in total plasma CK activity which then declined to normal over a period of approximately 6 days. CK-MMI was found to increase initially followed by CK-MMII and CK-MMIII. Analysis of the isoforms in biopsy samples of human muscle revealed the presence of two of the bands found in plasma (CK-MMI and MMII) and a third muscle specific isoform, while incubation of muscle homogenates in plasma induced the formation of CK-MMIII and the two isoforms of pI 7.12 and 6.65. It is concluded that analyses of CK-MM isoforms in human plasma can provide useful information on the extent and relative time course following an episode of muscle damage but that in patients with muscular dystrophy the large variations in plasma CK activity are not reflected in the proportion of CK found in each isoform.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Receptor-controlled calcium discharge in frog heart cells.

A brief account is given of previous work concerned with the effects which ATP (P2-'purinergic') and alpha-adrenaline receptors have on the activity of the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) in frog heart atrial cells. More recent experiments made with single atrial trabeculae are also described which suggest, among other things, that ATP and alpha-adrenaline receptors both facilitate the process by which an action potential induces SR calcium discharge in atrial heart cells. The facilitatory effect involved is considerable; at high (greater than or equal to 2 microM) ATP doses, SR calcium discharge seems to be increased about 14-fold and, quite possibly, more than this. Results obtained with different levels of [Ca2+]o during ATP action suggest that the process of calcium-induced calcium release plays little part in the facilitatory process. Its putative mechanism is briefly discussed.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed1989

Immune induction of major histocompatibility complex antigens on a human thyroid cell line (SGHTL-34).

Expression of major histocompatibility complex antigens by epithelial cells may play a role in the aetiology of autoimmune disorders. We have studied the effect of gamma-interferon on SGHTL-34, a human thyroid cell line which constitutively expresses class I but not class II antigens. gamma-Interferon induced the expression of class II and increased the expression of class I molecules (assessed by flow cytofluorimetry) in a dose-dependent manner. Thyrotrophin or phytohaemagglutinin had no effect on either class I or class II expression. However, a supernatant from phytohaemagglutinin-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells, containing 6400 U gamma-interferon/ml, was an effective inducer of both class I and class II antigens. These data clarify earlier studies using primary thyroid cultures, which are contaminated with cells of the immune system.

Cell Line↗
PubMed1988

Binding of plasma proteins to Candida species in vitro.

The ability of purified human albumin, fibrinogen and transferrin to bind to Candida species was measured by immunofluorescence. The proteins all bound with high avidity to germ-tubes formed by Candida albicans, but did not bind to blastospores of C. albicans or other pathogenic Candida species, not even to parent blastospores bearing germ-tubes. The extent of binding of the proteins to C. albicans germ-tubes varied between growth media and from germ-tube to germ-tube. Strains of C. albicans that did not form germ-tubes were incapable of binding any of the proteins. There was evidence that purified fibrinogen bound to germ-tubes with higher avidity than albumin and transferrin. When germ-tubes were treated with whole human plasma or serum, indirect immunofluorescence revealed that proteins were bound all over the surface of C. albicans blastospore-germ-tube units, indicating behaviour different from that seen with the purified proteins tested alone or in mixtures. C. albicans cells grown in the presence of azole antifungal agents bound purified plasma proteins in the same way as cells untreated with the drugs. The results of this study suggest that binding of host proteins to the surface of C. albicans may not be a property related directly to virulence of the fungus in vivo.

Antifungal Agents↗
PubMed1988

Gender role nonconformity and perception of mental illness.

The hypothesis that clinicians' perceptions of psychological maladjustment are related to the deviation of symptoms from prevailing gender role stereotypes was explored. Case history descriptions were sent to a random sample of practicing psychologists. These clinicians viewed female patients with "masculine" symptoms (e.g., alcoholism or antisocial behavior) as more psychologically disturbed than males with the same symptoms; they also perceived male patients with "feminine" symptoms (e.g., depression and anxiety) as more psychologically disturbed than their female counterparts. Significant main effects for psychologists' sex were found for both the perceived usefulness of drug treatment and prognostic outlook ratings.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed1986

Skin blood flow measurement with xenon-133 to predict healing of lower extremity amputations.

Many techniques have been proposed to help the surgeon select the most distal amputation level that will heal. Skin blood flow measurement with xenon-133 (133Xe) is one of the best documented predictors of amputation healing, but the lowest flow consistent with healing has not been agreed upon. Our early experience with the method is reported. Skin blood flow was measured in 16 patients undergoing 17 lower extremity amputations. Twelve amputations healed (mean skin blood flow 3.69 +/- 2.73 ml/100 g of tissue/min) and five failed (mean skin blood flow 0.80 +/- 0.61 ml/100 g of tissue/min) (P less than 0.05). No amputation healed if the skin blood flow was less than 1.0 ml/100 g of tissue/min. A skin blood flow above 1 ml/100 g of tissue/min, measured with 133Xe, may be a useful guide to the level at which to amputate while minimizing unnecessary proximal amputation, but the method requires further prospective evaluation.

Aged↗
PubMed1986

Portrayal of mental illness in Canadian newspapers.

The present article reports results from a content analysis of 103 newspaper reports taken from eight major Canadian newspapers, and selected at random from the Canadian Newspaper Index. The portrayal of mental illness and mentally ill persons in these reports was compared with that in samples of articles taken from two comparison mental health publications not receiving popular circulation. As compared with these latter publications, the content analysis indicated that the newspapers portrayed mental illness and the mentally ill in a manner which could be described as essentially pejorative, thus seeming to support frequent observations and complaints from the mental health establishment about inadequate or unfair coverage of mental illness in the popular print media. At the same time, the newspaper medium appeared to present more favourable images of nontraditional (example: community-based) mental health practices, than of traditional (example: hospital-based) practices. Implications of such results for the attitudes and beliefs of the general public vis-à-vis mental illness are offered, with special reference to the influence of the print media.

Attitude↗