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Biomedical subjects

S Porter

Publications and source records attributed to S Porter.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2000

The recurrence of deformity after surgical centralization for radial clubhand.

Fourteen children representing 19 cases of radial clubhand had centralization of the carpus on the distal ulna during an 18-year period. Age at the time of the initial surgery averaged 3.2 years (range, 0.7-8.1 years) and the follow-up periods averaged 6.5 years (range, 1.5-22.2 years). There were 16 type IV radial and 3 type III clubhands. Preoperative, postoperative, and follow-up x-rays were used to determine the initial deformity, amount of surgical correction, and degree of recurrence. The total angulation (the combination of the radial deviation of the hand and the ulna bow) was measured. The average preoperative angulation measured 83 degrees (range, 55 degrees to 110 degrees ). Centralization corrected the angulation an average of 58 degrees (range, 15 degrees to 95 degrees ) to an average immediate postoperative total angulation of 25 degrees (range, 5 degrees to 60 degrees ). At the final follow-up examination there was a loss of 38 degrees (range, 5 degrees to 105 degrees ) and the total angulation increased to an average of 63 degrees (range, 20 degrees to 120 degrees ). The difference between the preoperative, postoperative, and follow-up angles was statistically significant. There was a significant correlation between the preoperative angle and the final angle, the preoperative angle and the amount of correction, the amount of correction obtained at surgery and the recurrence of the deformity, and the age at time of initial surgery and the amount of recurrence.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗
PubMed2000

Human herpesvirus 8 and oral health care: an update.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this report was to review the current literature on human herpesvirus 8 (HHV-8) with particular attention to the aspects of interest for dental health care workers. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The authors searched original research and review articles on specific aspects of HHV-8 infection, including virology, epidemiology, transmission, diagnosis, natural history, therapy, and oral aspects. The relevant material was evaluated and reviewed. RESULTS: HHV-8 is a recently discovered DNA virus that is present throughout the world but with major geographic variation. In the Western world, the virus, transmitted mainly by means of sexual contact, is strongly associated with Kaposi's sarcoma and body cavity-based lymphoma and more controversially with multiple myeloma and non-neoplastic disorders. There is no specific effective treatment, but human immunodeficiency virus protease inhibitors may play an indirect role in the clearance of HHV-8 DNA from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus. HHV-8 DNA is present in saliva, but as yet, there are no documented instances of nosocomial transmission to health care workers. The prevalence of HHV-8 among dental health care workers is probably similar to that in the general population. CONCLUSION: HHV-8 does not appear to be ubiquitous in most populations, particularly in western Europe and the United States, where it may be restricted to a population at risk of having Kaposi's sarcoma develop (men infected with human immunodeficiency virus and patients who are iatrogenically immunosuppressed). Most serologic studies suggest a global HHV-8 seroprevalence of 2% to 10% and show that the virus may be under immunologic control in people who are healthy but infected with HHV-8. Also, HHV-8 certainly has the means to overcome cellular control and immune responses and thus predispose to malignancy. To date, there are no data to suggest that health care staff members are at particular risk of HHV-8 acquisition through occupational routes.

Antibodies, Viral↗
PubMed2000

Negotiating false memories: interviewer and rememberer characteristics relate to memory distortion.

In a recent study, more than half of the participants were led to create a partial or complete false memory for an emotional childhood event (e.g., serious animal attack). Using a subsample from that study, we examined the hypothesis that memory distortion is related to characteristics of interviewers and rememberers. The relations between susceptibility to memory distortion and (a) dissociation (Dissociative Experiences Scale) and (b) personality traits (NEO-Five Factor Inventory) were investigated. Results indicated that participants who exhibited memory distortion scored significantly higher on the dissociative scale than their counterparts who did not exhibit memory distortion. Further, susceptibility to memory distortion was associated with higher extraversion scores in interviewers and lower extraversion scores in participants. This pattern of findings suggests that false memories may derive from a social negotiation between particular interviewers and rememberers.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

HIV topic update: oro-genital transmission of HIV.

Several viruses, including the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), can be found in blood and many body fluids including saliva, and are transmissible sexually across genital and particularly anal mucosae. A persisting concern has been the question of transmission of HIV by oral sexual practices. This review discusses the evidence for oro-genital transmission of HIV, detailing the presence and infectivity of HIV in genital fluids and saliva, the case reports and epidemiology of oro-genital HIV transmission, and the evidence from animal studies. Oral intercourse is not risk-free. The evidence suggests that the risk of HIV transmission from oro-genital sexual practices is substantially lower than that from penile-vaginal or penile-anal intercourse, that exposure to saliva presents a considerably lower risk than exposure to semen, and that oral trauma and ulcerative conditions might increase the risk of HIV transmission.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Cost-effective prescribing of proton pump inhibitor therapy: an audit in general practice.

General practitioners must prescribe cost effectively to control drug expenditure and provide optimal treatment for patients requiring long-term management. An audit was implemented in general practices to review the management of dyspepsia, improve care, rationalise therapy and reduce costs. Policy included identifying patients receiving proton pump inhibitor (PPI) therapy and changing to low-dose cost-effective therapy. If PPI therapy was not required, patients were changed to antacids, H2 receptor antagonists or no treatment. This was an audit in general practice, not a clinical trial, therefore findings reflect outcomes in normal clinical practice. This paper describes the implementation and findings of the audit between January 1997 and July 1999 in 91 general practices involving 7121 patients. Extrapolation of the results concluded that savings of up to 50,000 Pounds could be made in a practice of 10,000 patients, allowing reinvestment in health improvement plans and optimal care.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

A case of discordant related abnormal karyotypes from chorionic villi and amniocytes.

A case of three discordant cell lines in prenatal diagnosis is described, of which two were abnormal related structural abnormalities of chromosome 11. One of the abnormal cell lines was seen in all metaphases examined from direct preparations of chorionic villi, the cultured preparations showing an apparently normal male karyotype; the other abnormal cell line was seen in conjunction with a normal cell line in cultured amniocytes. Prenatal diagnosis offered solely on chorionic villus sampling would have yielded a mistakenly normal result on the basis of established criteria for distinguishing true mosaicism from confined placental mosaicism.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Pulmonary epithelial expression of human alpha1-antitrypsin in transgenic mice results in delivery of alpha1-antitrypsin protein to the interstitium.

Alpha1-antitrypsin (alpha1AT) therapy is used as a treatment for alpha1AT deficiency. It has also been proposed as a therapy for cigarette smoke-induced emphysema, although the efficacy of such therapy is as yet unproven. Moreover, the optimal route of delivery of alpha1AT to the lung interstitium, the crucial locus of action, is unknown. We created transgenic mice with expression of the human alpha1AT gene directed by a human surfactant protein C (SpC) promoter fragment or a rat Clara cell 10-kDa protein (CC10) promoter fragment in order to examine the ability of pulmonary epithelial cell expression of alpha1AT to deliver protein to the interstitium, and to produce a model that would allow studies on the efficacy of alpha1AT in preventing lung damage after cigarette smoke exposure. Four transgenic lines were studied. In situ hybridization and light microscopic immunohistochemistry showed that two CC10 driven lines expressed human alpha1AT in type 11 alveolar cells and airway epithelial cells; alpha1AT expression was seen in the alveolar parenchyma in two SpC driven lines, and in small airway epithelium in one of the SpC lines. Electron microscopic immunochemistry showed the presence of the human alpha1AT protein in the interstitium in all lines. Mean levels of human protein varied from 0.37 to 2.9 microg/g lung protein and serum levels from 0.72 to 1.3 microg/ml, compared to normal human serum alpha1AT levels of 2-5 mg/ml. We conclude that transgene-mediated expression of alpha1AT in pulmonary epithelial cells results in diffuse expression of the transgene in the alveolar parenchyma and reproducibly leads to transfer of protein to the interstitium. The present model is, however, limited by low levels of protein production; limited protein production may be a problem in other forms of gene therapy in which relatively large amounts of extracellular protein are needed in the lung for a therapeutic effect.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

The nature of real, implanted, and fabricated memories for emotional childhood events: implications for the recovered memory debate.

A central issue in the recovered memory debate is whether it is possible to "remember" a highly emotional incident which never occurred. The present study provided an in-depth investigation of real, implanted, and fabricated (deceptive) memories for stressful childhood events. We examined whether false memories for emotional events could be implanted and, if so, whether real, implanted, and fabricated memories had distinctive features. A questionnaire was sent to participants' parents asking about six highly emotional, stressful events (e.g., serious animal attack) which the participant may have experienced in childhood. Next, across three sessions, interviewers encouraged participants (N = 77) to "recover" a memory for a false event using guided imagery and repeated retrieval attempts. In the first interview, they were asked about one real and one false event, both introduced as true according to their parents. In two subsequent interviews, they were reinterviewed about the false event. Finally, after the third inquiry about the false event, participants were asked to fabricate a memory report. Results indicated that 26% of participants "recovered" a complete memory for the false experience and another 30% recalled aspects of the false experience. Real, implanted, and fabricated memories differed on several dimensions (e.g., confidence, vividness, details, repeated details, coherence, stress). These findings have important implications for the debate over recovered and false memories.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Optimizing the balance between false positive and false negative error probabilities of confirmatory methods for the detection of veterinary drug residues.

GC-MS data on veterinary drug residues in bovine urine are used for controlling the illegal practice of fattening cattle. According to current detection criteria, peak patterns of preferably four ions should agree within 10 or 20% from a corresponding standard pattern. These criteria are rigid, rather arbitrary and do not match daily practice. A new model, based on multivariate modeling of log peak abundance ratios, provides a theoretical basis for the identification of analytes and optimizes the balance between the avoidance of false positives and false negatives. The performance of the model is demonstrated on data provided by five laboratories, each supplying GC-MS measurements on the detection of clenbuterol, dienestrol and 19 beta-nortestosterone in urine. The proposed model shows a better performance than confirmation by using the current criteria and provides a statistical basis for inspection criteria in terms of error probabilities.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Media reviews

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1999

The contribution of the intrinsic muscles to grip and pinch strength.

Profound deficiencies occur in the intrinsic minus hand with loss of the interossei, thenar, hypothenar, and adductor pollicis muscles. The purpose of this study was to define the load-generating deficiencies of grip and pinch after simulated low median and/or low ulnar nerve lesions. Twenty-one healthy volunteers underwent median and ulnar nerve blocks at the wrist level with mepivacaine HCI injection. Key pinch and grip data were recorded before injection and after each nerve block was determined to be effective. A computerized dynamometer that simultaneously recorded individual force data from each digit and cumulative grip was used to record grip strength. Grip strength data showed a significant decrease in total grasp at all 3 handle sizes after initial median or ulnar nerve block. The average decrease in grip strength was 38% after ulnar nerve block and 32% after median nerve block. The total grip loss after both injections averaged 49% compared with the preinjection strength. After ulnar or median nerve block there was a significant decrease in the force production of the long, ring, and small fingers but not the index finger. Pinch data revealed a significant decrease in key pinch of 77% after ulnar block and 60% after median block with a further significant change after combined block to decrease pinch 85%.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Sexual harassment of psychiatric trainees: experiences and attitudes.

A survey was carried out of psychiatric trainees' work-related experiences of unwanted sexual contact. A structured postal questionnaire was administered to 100 psychiatric trainees from senior house officer to specialist registrar level in a large psychiatric rotation. There was an 85% response rate; 86% (73) of the sample had experienced unwanted sexual contact, with 47% (40) experiencing deliberate touching, leaning over or cornering, and 18% (15) receiving letters, telephone calls or material of a sexual nature. Three-quarters (64) of respondents had experienced unwanted sexual contact from patients and 64% (54) from staff. Experiences and attitudes did not generally differ by gender, grade or training experience. Four out of 48 female respondents described stalking by patients. Of the 39 respondents who had reported harassment by patients, 31 felt supported by colleagues, while of the 13 who had reported harassment by colleagues, eight felt supported. Two-thirds of the respondents considered sexual harassment 'some-times' or 'frequently' a problem for the profession. Diagnoses of confusional states, mania or schizophrenia made subjects less likely to consider unwanted sexual behaviour to be 'sexual harassment' (86%, 80%, and 67%, respectively), but not for other diagnoses. Levels of threatening and intrusive sexual harassment are unacceptably high in this study group. Health trusts should adopt policies of 'zero tolerance' and all incidents should be reported. Psychological impact on victims should be acknowledged even when the behaviour of the perpetrator can be explained by diagnosis.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Orofacial disease: update for the dental clinical team: 3. White lesions.

White lesions usually contain an increased amount of keratin. Some are rare congenital conditions, such as white sponge naevus and dyskeratosis congenita, unlikely to be seen in general dental practice. Inflammatory causes include candidosis and hairy leukoplakia, both now common in HIV disease. Non-infective causes include the common lesion of lichen planus, and the less common condition lupus erythematosus. Neoplastic and possibly preneoplastic causes include carcinoma, keratoses and leukoplakia. This article discusses the more common causes of oral white lesions. The first article in this series presented several general observations on diagnosis and treatment which should be borne in mind in relation to this article.

Burns, Chemical↗