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Biomedical subjects

A Joshi

Publications and source records attributed to A Joshi.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed2001

Parents' and children's perceptions of interparental conflict resolution.

This study examined the concordance between parents' assessment of their interpersonal conflict resolution with each other and their children's perception of the same. 61 parent dyads responded to the 1984 Communication Patterns Questionnaire of Christensen and Sullaway while their children completed the 1992 Children's Perception of Interparental Conflict Scale by Grych, Seid, and Fincham. Mothers' and fathers' perceptions of their conflict resolution were significantly correlated. Analysis indicated that overall, children's perception of interparental conflict was related to their mothers' perception of the communication patterns between themselves and their partner. However, this relationship was confounded with sex of the child indicated by different patterns of intercorrelations between mothers', fathers', and children's perceptions for boys and girls.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Pain control after routine dento-alveolar day surgery: a patient satisfaction survey.

OBJECTIVE: An audit study which examines patient's opinions on the efficiency of two analgesic regimes prescribed to them following dento-alveolar surgery in our Day Unit. DESIGN: Single centre prospective study. SETTING: Oral Surgery Day Case Unit SUBJECTS: One-hundred-and-seventy-four adults undergoing routine dento-alveolar surgery under general anaesthetic were asked to assess their pain control (on a five point scale) 1 hour after surgery, at discharge from hospital and at 24 and 48 hours post-operatively. Post-operatively, patients received ibuprofen 400 mg three times daily for five days or two tablets of paracetamol 500 mg with codeine 30 mg six hourly for 5 days if they were allergic to aspirin or were asthmatics sensitive to aspirin. Patients were not given local anaesthesia intra or post-operatively. RESULTS: Completed records were obtained for 161 (93%) patients. Ibuprofen was apparently adequate in controlling pain for 147 out of 161 patients but on further questioning 42 of these patients took supplemental analgesics and self-prescribed paracetamol or a paracetamol combination. Thirteen patients who were prescribed paracetamol with codeine had adequate pain control and did not take supplemental analgesics. One patient did not require any analgesics post-operatively CONCLUSION: Telephone contact with patients 24 and 48 hours post-surgery provides a valuable assessment of pain control following discharge from a day surgery unit. Ibuprofen offered satisfactory control of pain for 65% (95) of patients who underwent routine dento-alveolar surgery. Discharge prescriptions must be given with verbal and written instructions to ensure that patients take the correct dose and self-prescription is within safe doses.

Acetaminophen↗
PubMed2000

Orbitally degenerate spin-1 model for insulating V2O3

Motivated by recent neutron, x-ray absorption, and resonant scattering experiments, we revisit the electronic structure of V2O3. We propose a model in which S = 1 V3+ ions are coupled in the vertical V-V pairs forming twofold orbitally degenerate configurations with S = 2. Ferro-orbital ordering of the V-V pairs gives a description which is consistent with all experiments in the antiferromagnetic insulating phase.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2000

Efficacy and validity of radiofrequency neurotomy for chronic lumbar zygapophysial joint pain.

STUDY DESIGN: A prospective audit. OBJECTIVE: To establish the efficacy of lumbar medial branch neurotomy under optimum conditions. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Previous reports of the efficacy of lumbar medial branch neurotomy have been confounded by poor patient selection, inaccurate surgical technique, and inadequate assessment of outcome. METHODS: Fifteen patients with chronic low back pain whose pain was relieved by controlled, diagnostic medial branch blocks of the lumbar zygapophysial joints, underwent lumbar medial branch neurotomy. Before surgery, all were evaluated by visual analog scale and a variety of validated measures of pain, disability, and treatment satisfaction. Electromyography of the multifidus muscle was performed before and after surgery to ensure accuracy of the neurotomy. All outcome measures were repeated at 6 weeks, and 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery. RESULTS: Some 60% of the patients obtained at least 90% relief of pain at 12 months, and 87% obtained at least 60% relief. Relief was associated with denervation of the multifidus in those segments in which the medial branches had been coagulated. Prelesion electrical stimulation of the medial branch nerve with measurement of impedance was not associated with outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Lumbar medial branch neurotomy is an effective means of reducing pain in patients carefully selected on the basis of controlled diagnostic blocks. Adequate coagulation of the target nerves can be achieved by carefully placing the electrode in correct position as judged radiologically. Electrical stimulation before lesioning is superfluous in assuring correct placement of the electrode.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Direct access day case oral surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effectiveness of direct access referrals with standard letter referrals, and also assess the impact of the direct access system on the primary care provider, secondary sector and from the patients perspective. DESIGN: Surgical and anaesthetic guidelines were agreed and 12 general dental practitioners were recruited to participate in the study. Each practitioner was given 100 envelopes which contained randomly allocated 50 direct and 50 standard referrals. For direct referrals, GDPs completed a pre-operative assessment and obtained an operation date by telephone from the day case unit while the patient was in the surgery. The clinical history sheet was faxed to the day unit and the radiographs posted. The only contact the patient had with the hospital was on the day of surgery. Standard referral patients were referred in the traditional way with a referral letter being sent to an out-patient clinic. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the direct referral system versus standard letter method were made via completion of questionnaires by the patients, dental practitioners, hospital clinicians, day case anaesthetist and co-ordinator. SETTING: The study was carried out over 2 years commencing in 1997 at the Oral Surgery Day Case Unit at Manchester Royal Infirmary. RESULTS: A greater number of direct access referrals (409; 90%) were treated in comparison with (312; 75%) standard referrals (P < 0.001). Eighty nine per cent of direct access records were adequate pre-operatively. More than 70% of dentists and hospital clinicians preferred the direct access referral method. Sixty-three per cent of standard letter patients were satisfied with their mode of referral compared with 87% of direct access patients. CONCLUSIONS: Given appropriate guidelines dental practitioners are able to refer directly to oral surgery day case operation lists. This has proved to be the favoured method of referral for dental practitioners, the secondary sector and patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

ATP-hydrolysis-dependent conformational switch modulates the stability of MutS-mismatch complexes.

The mismatch repair pathway in Escherichia coli has been extensively studied in vitro as well as in vivo. The molecular mechanisms by which nucleotide cofactors regulate the whole process constitute an area of active debate. Here we demonstrate that nucleotide (ADP or ATP) binding to MutS mediates a switch in protein conformation. However, in MutS that is DNA bound, this switch ensues only with ATP and not with ADP and is similar, irrespective of whether it is bound to a homo- or a heteroduplex. The results envisage a minimal model of three confor-mational states of MutS as reflected in: (i) a specific and highly stable MutS-mismatch complex in the absence of a nucleotide; (ii) a specific but less stable complex in the presence of ATP hydrolysis; and (iii) an irreversibly dissociated complex in the presence of ATP binding (ATPgammaS). Such transitions are of relevance to the protein's function in vivo where it has to first recognize a mismatch, followed by a search for hemimethylated sites.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed2000

Identification of parasitic genes by computational methods.

A number of parasite genome projects are under way, and large amounts of nucleotide sequence data are becoming available for analysis. There is an urgent need for development of theoretical tools to analyze the genome data, including identification of protein-coding sequences. The majority of the methods developed to date require prior information about the genome before accurate predictions can be made. Because such information is not available for many parasites, these methods cannot be directly applied. In this article, Alok Bhattacharya and colleagues describe some of the gene-prediction methods commonly in use, and a new method, GeneScan, that they have developed for the analysis of parasite genomes.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Enhanced sensitivity and long-term G2 arrest in hydrogen peroxide-treated Ku80-null cells are unrelated to DNA repair defects.

While the Ku complex, comprised of Ku70 and Ku80, is primarily involved in the repair of DNA double-strand breaks, it is also believed to participate in additional cellular processes. Here, treatment of embryo fibroblasts (MEFs) derived from either wild-type or Ku80-null (Ku80(-/-)) mice with various stress agents revealed that hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) was markedly more cytotoxic for Ku80(-/-) MEFs and led to their long-term accumulation in the G2 phase. This differential response was not due to differences in DNA repair, since H(2)O(2)-triggered DNA damage was repaired with comparable efficiency in both Wt and Ku80(-/-) MEFs, but was associated with differences in the expression of important cell cycle regulatory genes. Our results support the notion that Ku80-mediated cytoprotection and G2-progression are not only dependent on the cell's DNA repair but also may reflect Ku80's influence on additional cellular processes such as gene expression.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Evolution of reduced pre-adult viability and larval growth rate in laboratory populations of Drosophila melanogaster selected for shorter development time.

Four large (n > 1000) populations of Drosophila melanogaster, derived from control populations maintained on a 3 week discrete generation cycle, were subjected to selection for fast development and early reproduction. Egg to eclosion survivorship and development time and dry weight at eclosion were monitored every 10 generations. Over 70 generations of selection, development time in the selected populations decreased by approximately 36 h relative to controls, a 20% decline. The difference in male and female development time was also reduced in the selected populations. Flies from the selected populations were increasingly lighter at eclosion than controls, with the reduction in dry weight at eclosion over 70 generations of selection being approximately 45% in males and 39% in females. Larval growth rate (dry weight at eclosion/development time) was also reduced in the selected lines over 70 generations, relative to controls, by approximately 32% in males and 24% in females. However, part of this relative reduction was due to an increase in growth rate of the controls populations, presumably an expression of adaptation to conditions in our laboratory. After 50 generations of selection had elapsed, a considerable and increasing pre-adult viability cost to faster development became apparent, with viability in the selected populations being about 22% less than that of controls at generation 70 of selection.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed2000

Chromosomal responses of blowfly Lucilia cuprina to heat and heavy metal stress.

Chromosomal responses to heat and heavy metal shocks were studied in the pupal trichogen polytene chromosomes of Lucilia cuprina. Heat shock induced seven distinct puffs on different chromosomes at the following loci: 1C2, 21A1, 21C, 23B, 24B, 42A and 95B3. Arsenate and mercury, two of the most common toxic environmental chemical pollutants also, induced almost the same set of puffs except 20B2, which appeared to be induced by metals only and 95B3, which was not induced by arsenate. The findings suggest that a common set of gene loci encoding the heat shock proteins is responsive to these diverse environmental stresses.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Lichen planus after HBV vaccination in a child: a case report from Nepal.

Vaccination against hepatitis B virus has rarely been associated with lichen planus. We report a case of this kind in a child from Nepal. A 12-year-old boy had developed generalized itchy violaceous papules and plaques six weeks after the second dose of hepatitis B virus vaccine. Serum HBsAg and HBeAb were negative, but HBsAb was positive. New crops of generalized, similar eruptions developed after the booster dose of vaccine. All the lesions resolved within three months of systemic steroid therapy. There was no recurrence after one year of follow up. Awareness of such an association is necessary, especially in children, because vaccination campaigns are increasing.

Administration, Topical↗
PubMed2000

Reticulate acropigmentation of Kitamura: first case reports from Nepal.

Two young Nepalese females, aged 34 and 17 years, presented with multiple small brown macules in a reticulate pattern on the distal extensor aspects of their limbs. The first patient's daughter also had similar lesions. The second patient had similar lesions on her eyelids and palmar pits as well. The clinical diagnosis of reticulate acropigmentation of Kitamura (RAK) was made in both the patients and was confirmed histopathologically. These are the first case reports of this condition from Nepal.

Adolescent↗