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Biomedical subjects

A Holton

Publications and source records attributed to A Holton.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Factors predicting long-term outcome after chronic benzodiazepine therapy.

41 patients who took part in a withdrawal programme from long-term treatment with diazepam in a controlled clinical trial were followed up five years later. Assessments were made of outcome derived from clinical symptomatology, formal psychiatric diagnosis, psychotropic drug use and frequency of contact with both primary care and psychiatric services. Using discriminant function analysis it was found that better outcome was associated with younger patients, fewer symptoms at time of withdrawal and, more particularly, six months later, less personality disturbance, and longer duration of diazepam use before withdrawal. The implications are discussed with particular reference to policies for withdrawing benzodiazepines.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is retained in the bronchi of cystic fibrotics by the increased transepithelial potential.

There is no hypothesis which satisfactorily unifies the abnormal secretions of electrolytes in cystic fibrosis (CF) with the thickened mucus and the retention of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA). We have shown that mucus becomes opaque and more viscous adjacent to a positive electrode and that PA derived from CF sputum electrophoreses much faster than control PA. We propose that the increased transepithelial potential in CF respiratory tract acts to thicken mucus polymers thereby increasing its viscosity. We also suggest that as the thicker mucus forms on the epithelial surface bacteria with a high electrophoretic mobility (EM) are drawn into it and are thereby selected.

Bronchi↗
PubMed1989

Severe mental disorder in Afro-Caribbean patients: some social, demographic and service factors.

Forty-two consecutively identified Afro-Caribbean patients with a first episode of psychosis were compared with a similar group of non-Caribbean patients. A number of differences emerged, although the same proportion of patients in each group had symptoms for 6 months or more prior to psychiatric contact. Afro-Caribbean patients showed greater delay in seeking help, more 'disturbance' later in the course of their illness and were more likely to be admitted compulsorily. The social geography of the two groups suggests that the high rates of schizophrenia and related psychoses that we previously reported cannot be explained simply by differences in area of residence at the time of presentation.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

A prospective study of severe mental disorder in Afro-Caribbean patients.

Several previous studies have reported increased rates of schizophrenia among Afro-Caribbean immigrants, although doubt has been cast upon the value of case-note diagnoses and retrospective case-finding. A prospective study was therefore undertaken, including all patients of Afro-Caribbean ethnic origin with a first onset psychosis presenting to the psychiatric services from a defined catchment area. Utilizing several diagnostic classifications, rates for schizophrenia were found to be substantially increased in the Afro-Caribbean community, and especially in the 'second generation' British born. Mode of onset and symptom profiles of psychoses suggest that atypical syndromes, and by implication 'misdiagnoses', do not account for reported higher rates of schizophrenic illness in these patients.

Adolescent↗