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Biomedical subjects

V Anderson

Publications and source records attributed to V Anderson.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1980

The use of cross-sectional echocardiography in a general hospital.

Three hundred and five patients routinely referred to a general hospital were surveyed to assess the advantages of cross-sectional echocardiography (CSE) over the conventional M mode method. CSE provided a dynamic display of the movement of the heart, particularly left ventricular function, and facilitated the location of cardiac structures. It was valuable in assessing the degree of mitral stenosis and the type of left ventricular outflow obstruction. Mitral valve prolapse, pericardial effusion, intracardiac tumours and congential heart disease were more easily diagnosed than by M mode techniques, but the origin of the basal systolic murmur still remained a problem. It was concluded that the 2 systems were complementary, and that CSE provided important additional information which improved the diagnostic capability of echocardiography.

Echocardiography↗
PubMed1980

The contribution of 24-hour ambulatory ECG monitoring in a general medical unit.

Twenty-four hour ambulatory ECG records were obtained from 163 patients attending a general medical unit of a district general hospital. The main indications for recording were palpitations, syncope and dizziness and 262 tapes were suitable for analysis. Problems and benefits of the system were discussed. Abnormalities detected were supraventricular tachycardia, ventricular tachycardia, atrial fibrillation, intermittent heart block, sinoatrial disease and pacemaker malfunction. Sixty-one patients were reassured and in 78 patients an alteration in drug regime was advised with clinical improvement in 63 cases. Vertebrobasilar insufficiency was diagnosed in 14 patients, 4 patients were referred for further cardiac investigations, 4 required insertion or replacement of a pacemaker, 1 was referred for psychiatric opinion, and 1 patient died. Selected 24-hour ambulatory ECG monitoring in a district general hospital provides a valuable service for investigation of symptoms that may be caused by cardiac arrhythmias. The question of local or centralised analysis of recordings should be decided on the grounds of time and staff available and the capital cost of equipment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

Prenatal diagnosis and management of nonimmunologic hydrops fetalis.

As problem pregnancies are increasingly subjected to ultrasound evaluation, the prenatal diagnosis of hydrops fetalis is being made more and more frequently. The authors encountered 5 cases of this disorder in 12,830 deliveries (1:2566) and made the diagnosis prior to delivery in 4 of the 5 cases. Amniocentesis and amniotic fluid bilirubin determination have been performed in association with ultrasound scan and a battery of other diagnostic tests, and the results have been correlated with fetal outcome. In general the combination of fetal ascites and increased amniotic fluid bilirubin denotes a poor fetal prognosis. Unless there are other mitigating circumstances, a conservative course of management is recommended.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Recurrent pulmonary thromboembolism presenting with cardiac arrhythmias.

Pulmonary emboli seldom recur, and when recurrence does occur it is not associated with permanent sequelae unless there is progressive pulmonary arterial hypertension. Five patients with clinical and perfusion lung scan evidence of recurrent pulmonary embolism presented with abnormal cardiac rhythms without evidence of progressive pulmonary hypertension. Twenty-four-hour ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring was valuable in diagnosis and in assessing the effectiveness of treatment. Although palpitation was the main complaint, other symptoms included tiredness, mild exertional dyspnoea, and chest discomfort unrelated to effort. Symptomatic improvement coincided with objective evidence of improvement from repeat lung scans and 24-hour ECG records. Antiarrhythmic agents controlled the arrhythmias but were subsequently withdrawn without the return of symptoms. Four of the five patients continued to take anticoagulants for two years. We believe that these five patients represent a group of patients with recurrent pulmonary emboli and a recognisable clinical picture dominated by arrhythmias unrelated to progressive pulmonary arterial hypertension. Long-term anticoagulant treatment was associated with clinical improvement.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Assessing executive functions in children: biological, psychological, and developmental considerationst.

Executive functions may be defined as those skills necessary for purposeful, goal-directed activity, and are generally considered to be largely mediated by the frontal and prefrontal cortices of the brain. These cerebral regions are relatively immature during childhood, with development thought to be a protracted process which continues into early adolescence. While early theorists suggested that executive skills were not functional until cerebral maturity, recent research provides evidence that such skills can be elicited in early childhood. The aim of this paper is to review current theories of development of executive functions throughout childhood. In keeping with contemporary approaches to child neuropsychology, three critical dimensions will be evaluated; biological factors, psychological dimensions, and developmental trajectories. In addition, the literature which addresses assessment of these functions will be examined, with reference to developmental trajectories observed in normal populations, and in brain-damaged samples, where there may be disruption to the underlying neural substrates thought to be subsuming these functions.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Planning, problem-solving and organizational abilities in children following traumatic brain injury: intervention techniques.

Due to the mechanisms involved in traumatic brain injury (TBI), the frontal lobes are often impacted. As the frontal regions of the brain are believed to subsume executive functioning, then it follows that post-TBI deficits may be seen in this domain. Executive functioning broadly refers to a set of inter-related skills necessary to maintain an appropriate problem-solving set for the attainment of a future goal and may include areas such as attentional control, planning, problem-solving, cognitive flexibility, abstraction and information processing. The literature available on interventions for executive difficulties following TBI is minimal, with that focused on the paediatric population even more limited. From the few evaluation studies available, results tend to suggest that specific types of intervention lead to positive outcomes. However, as the interventions are few and often based on case studies, there is much need for more evaluation studies to be conducted.

Brain Injuries↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Early effects of traumatic brain injury on young children's language performance: a preliminary linguistic analysis.

Language skills undergo rapid development during the early childhood years, so that by the time children start school they are competent communicators with well established syntactic, semantic and pragmatic abilities for their age. Little is known about the effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI) on the acquisition of these language skills during the early childhood years. This study used a prospective, cross-sectional design to compare the language abilities of young children following their head injury. Fifteen brain injured children, aged between 4-6 years, were divided into three injury groups depending on severity of injury, i.e. mild, moderate and severe, and compared with a matched community control group. They were assessed within 3 months of sustaining their injury on a range of expressive and receptive language tests, and free speech conversation samples, which were analysed pragmatically and syntactically. Results indicated that the severe group performed most poorly on language tasks. It is suggested that linguistic evaluation is an important component of follow up at least for the severe head injured population.

Analysis of Variance↗