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Biomedical subjects

T Sullivan

Publications and source records attributed to T Sullivan.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Functional electric stimulation to enhance systemic fibrinolytic activity in spinal cord injury patients.

Functional electric stimulation (FES) of muscle has been used to decrease the incidence of postoperative deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in neurologically intact individuals. This study was undertaken in order to determine whether a large-scale trial should be initiated using FES to prevent DVT in spinal cord injury (SCI) patients. The goals of this pilot study were to demonstrate the value of FES of calf musculature in (1) increasing plasma fibrinolytic activity and (2) promoting venous blood flow in the lower extremities. Plasma fibrinolytic activity was monitored in ten SCI patients before, immediately after, and 100 minutes after 60 minutes of calf FES. A significant increase in plasma fibrinolytic activity was noted using whole blood and platelet-rich plasma clot lysis assays. Continuous photoplethysmographic and Doppler ultrasound monitoring of venous flow was attempted during FES in four spinal cord patients, and a mild to moderate increase in flow was achieved. FES was not as successful as manual compression in promoting venous emptying of the lower extremity. FES may be a useful tool in the prevention of DVT in SCI patients due to a significant increase in fibrinolytic activity and a mild to moderate increase in venous blood flow. FES merits full-scale clinical evaluation for this purpose.

Electric Stimulation Therapy↗
PubMed1986

Magnetic resonance imaging compared with computed tomography in adrenoleukodystrophy.

Adrenoleukodystrophy was diagnosed in two siblings and confirmed by analysis of very-long-chain fatty acids in skin fibroblasts. Both boys had computed tomograms (CTs) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. In the most severely affected child, the CT and MRI examinations were both abnormal, but in the other child, the CT was mildly abnormal but the MRI was unequivocally abnormal. This suggests that MRI is more sensitive than CT in detecting the acute demyelinating changes of adrenoleukodystrophy and, in conjunction with very-long-chain fatty acid analysis, should be useful in screening unaffected or mildly affected siblings of patients with this disease.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Socioeconomic status, sex, age, and ethnicity as determinants of body fat distribution for Guatemalan children.

The distribution of subcutaneous fat at the triceps and subscapular skinfold sites is described for four groups of children living in Guatemala. These groups are high socioeconomic status (SES) children of Ladino (mixed Spanish and Indian) ancestry, high SES children of European ancestry, low SES Ladino children, and very low SES Indian children. The method of Healy and Tanner (1981) is used, employing regression and principal components analysis of log transformed skinfold values to divide "fatness" into two uncorrelated variables: size (amount of fat) and shape (fat pattern). Significant differences exist between groups in size, with lower SES groups having less fat than higher SES groups. No significant difference in fat pattern exists between the high SES Ladino and high SES European children. Significant differences do exist between the high SES groups and the low SES groups. The relative amount of subscapular fat increases from the high SES Ladinos and high SES Europeans, to the low SES Ladinos, to the very low SES Indians. In the high SES European and high SES Ladino samples, girls have significantly more arm fat than boys. There is no significant difference in fat patterning between boys and girls in the two low SES samples. Finally, the relative amount of subscapular fat tends to increase with age in all four samples. These results indicate that fatness and fat patterning are independent anatomical characteristics, SES influences fat patterning; low SES children of both Ladino and Indian ancestry show greater reductions in arm fat than in trunk fat compared to high SES children, sexual dimorphism in fat patterning is SES dependent.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adipose Tissue↗
PubMed1986

Single sample estimate of ethosuximide clearance.

Ethosuximide was administered in single oral doses (ca. 15 mg/kg) to each of 12 healthy, male subjects. Serial blood and salivary ethosuximide concentrations were measured by a polarization immunofluorescence technique. The following parameters were estimated: CL/F, V/F, and plasma disappearance t1/2. Mean (+/- SD) values were 0.0091 (+/- 0.0023) l X h-1 X kg-1, 0.063 (+/- 0.12) l X kg-1, and 48.8 (+/- 9.3) h, respectively. Estimates of CL/F (CL/F) were calculated from single plasma or single salivary measurements. When V/F was set at 0.63 l X kg-1 and the 120-h plasma concentration was used, CL/F was 0.0091 (+/- .0018) l X h-1 X kg-1. CL/F was 0.0089 (+/- .0020) when the 120-h salivary concentration was used. These data demonstrate that under specified conditions ethosuximide clearance (CL/F) can be estimated from a single measurement of ethosuximide in either plasma or saliva, thereby permitting ethosuximide to be used safely and noninvasively as a probe of hepatic mixed function oxidase activity in humans.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Functional arrangement of connective tissue in striated muscle with emphasis on cardiac muscle.

The presence and arrangement of connective tissue associated with cardiac and skeletal muscle and composed principally of collagen is clearly demonstrable by scanning and high voltage electron microscopy. The basic organization consists of a perimysium composed of bundles of collagen fibers that connect the epimysium to the endomysium. The endomysium has at least 4 components: (1) a dense weave network that surrounds myocytes, (2) myocyte-myocyte collagen struts that connect adjacent myocytes, (3) myocyte-capillary struts that connect capillaries and myocytes, and (4) a complex of single collagen fibers, glycoproteins, and glycosaminoglycans. The amount of collagen in each component varies with the function of the muscle. Different types of skeletal muscles contain different amounts of collagen depending upon the function and composition of the particular muscle. In cardiac muscle the amount of collagen varies with different species. Different regions of the heart show differences in the amount of collagen due to different functional requirements of those regions. Thus, the amount of collagen in atria is different than in the ventricles due to differences in pressure and volume of these components of the heart.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

The management of vesicoureteral reflux in the pediatric neurogenic bladder.

An integrated method of management has been used in 29 children with neurogenic bladders and vesicoureteral reflux. Radiological followup reveals that resolution or improvement of reflux occurred in 48 per cent of the renal units managed by close observation only, 48 per cent managed by intermittent catheterization, 75 per cent managed by vesicostomies and 100 per cent in which the ureters were reimplanted. As in the non-neurogenic bladder successful management of reflux and prevention of upper tract deterioration can be achieved by conservative management as well as by ureteroneocystostomy. A protocol of management is outlined.

Child↗
PubMed1978

Dissociation of the neutrophill functions of exocytosis and chemotaxis.

The peptide Gly-His-Gly is shown to be chemotactic for human neutrophils in vitro and for rabbit neutrophils in vivo but to be unable to induce lysosomal enzyme release from human neutrophils at sublytic concentrations. The failure of this chemotactic peptide to elicit lysosomal enzyme release provides evidence that interactions with a chemotactic receptor does not necessarily activate chemotaxis and exocytosis in the human neutrophil, thus suggesting that the presumed common pathway of exocytosis and chemotaxis may be divergent at the cell receptor and/or postreceptor level.

Albumins↗