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Biomedical subjects

A T Wilson

Publications and source records attributed to A T Wilson.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Analgesia for day-case shoulder surgery.

BACKGROUND: Single-shot nerve blocks provide excellent postoperative analgesia for a limited period and are increasingly used in day-case units. They allow early patient discharge following painful operative procedures that would otherwise require overnight hospitalization. We investigated the adequacy of analgesia at home after the block had worn off. METHODS: A prospective audit by telephone 1 week after surgery of 50 consecutive patients who had had a single-shot interscalene block for day-case shoulder arthroscopic surgery. RESULTS: The mean length of adequate sensory block was 22.5 h (9-48 h) after which 20% of patients had a maximum visual analogue scale (VAS) score of 5/5. Most patients did not take analgesics as prescribed and two patients (5.4%) required additional analgesia from their family doctor or accident and emergency department. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that analgesia at home is often inadequate after painful day-case surgical procedures if single-shot local anaesthetic blockade is used.

Ambulatory Surgical Procedures↗

The effect of meals of differing composition on exercise tolerance in patients with angina pectoris.

In this study we compared different dietary constituents and their effect on the angina threshold. We compared carbohydrate-rich, fat-rich and balanced liquid diets on effort tolerance in 14 patients of mean (range) 61 (41-73) years of age with chronic stable angina. On four different occasions at least 1 week apart, patients had exercise treadmill tests after an overnight fast and then after a rest period of 1 h ingested one of three different approximately isocalorific (about 4000 kJ) liquid drinks of 600 ml consisting mainly of: fat, carbohydrate or a balanced meal with an equal volume of water as control. Meals were given in random order. Analysis of the mean (SD) differences in heart rate between fasting and the post-prandial state for the different meals revealed a significant increase between water and the other meals, fat (+4(6) beats.min-1 P < 0.002), balanced (+9(17) beats.min-1 P < 0.004), and carbohydrate (+10(12) beats.min-1 P < 0.0002). There was no significant difference between the groups as regards systolic or diastolic blood pressure. Cardiac output increased following the meals but decreased after water; however, there was a significant difference between water and balanced meals. Exercise tolerance fell following all the meals but was significantly greater after a balanced (mean (SD) -108(129) s P < 0.01) and carbohydrate meal (-92(52) s P < 0.001). The reduction in exercise duration following a fat meal (-36(53)s) was not significantly different from that following water (-8(43) s) but was significantly smaller than after a carbohydrate meal (P < 0.02). Time to 1 mm of ST depression showed similar changes to that of total exercise duration, being significantly lower after a carbohydrate (mean (SD) -76(77) s P < 0.01) and balanced meal (-76(63) s P < 0.005). Time to 1 mm ST depression, although reduced by a fat meal (-15(84) s) was significantly less than after a carbohydrate meal (P < 0.02). In conclusion, patients with chronic stable angina have impaired effort tolerance and a lower angina threshold after high calorie containing liquid meals. Meals rich in carbohydrate have greater effects than meals where the majority of calories are derived from fat. Patients should be advised to avoid exercise in the first 30 min after eating.

Adult↗

Anaesthesia and the obese patient.

The obese patient is likely to have pre-operative impairment of cardiovascular and respiratory function. These impairments will tend to increase in the per- and post-operative period and place the patient at risk of myocardial ischaemia and hypoxaemia. The physical effects of obesity mean that all patients require endotracheal intubation during anaesthesia and this may be difficult to achieve. The difficulties in moving and positioning the patient and difficulties in gaining access for monitoring and venous cannulation add to the problems. Anaesthesia and surgery may present a considerable risk for obese patients and should not be undertaken without full understanding of the potential problems.

Anesthesia↗

Psychological and war stress symptoms among deployed and non-deployed reservists following the Persian Gulf War.

The present study examined the incidence of war-related psychological distress among Persian Gulf War veterans. A total of 591 Army, Navy, and Marine reservists were administered the Mississippi PTSD Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory, and the SCL-90R. Combat-deployed reservists showed significantly higher levels of psychological symptomatology that non-deployed reservists, generally corresponding to levels of stress exposure. No significant effects were found for race or prior combat exposure, but significant differences were found between combat-deployed male and female reservists. Despite the brevity and the outcome of the Persian Gulf War, significant symptomatology exists among this population.

Adolescent↗

Chorismate mutase:prephenate dehydratase from Acinetobacter calcoaceticus. Purification, properties and immunological cross-reactivity.

The bifunctional P protein (chorismate mutase: prephenate dehydratase) from Acinetobacter calcoaceticus has been purified. It was homogeneous in polyacrylamide gels and was more than 95% pure on the basis of the immunostaining of purified P protein with the antibodies raised against the P protein. The native enzyme is a homodimer (Mr = 91,000) composed of 45-kDa subunits. A twofold increase in the native molecular mass of the P protein occurred in the presence of L-phenylalanine (inhibitor of both activities) or L-tyrosine (activator of the dehydratase activity) during gel filtration. Chorismate mutase activity followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics with a Km of 0.55 mM for chorismate. L-Phenylalanine was a relatively poor non-competitive inhibitor of the mutase activity. The chorismate mutase activity was also competitively inhibited by prephenate (reaction product). Substrate-saturation curves for the dehydratase activity were sigmoidal showing positive cooperativity among the prephenate-binding sites. L-Tyrosine activated prephenate dehydratase strongly but did not abolish positive cooperativity with respect to prephenate. L-Phenylalanine inhibited the dehydratase activity, and the substrate-saturation curves became increasingly sigmoidal as phenylalanine concentrations were increased with happ values changing from 2.0 (no phenylalanine) to 4.0 (0.08 mM L-phenylalanine). A sigmoidal inhibition curve of the dehydratase activity by L-phenylalanine gave Hill plots having a slope of -2.9. Higher ionic strength increased the dehydratase activity by reducing the positive cooperative binding of prephenate, and the sigmoidal substrate-saturation curves were changed to near-hyperbolic form. The happ values decreased with increase in ionic strength. Antibodies raised against the purified P protein showed cross-reactivity with the P proteins from near phylogenetic relatives of A. calcoaceticus. At a greater phylogenetic distance, cross-reaction was superior with P protein from Neisseria gonorrhoeae than with that from the more closely related Escherichia coli.

Acinetobacter↗

Profile of the breast center: one year's experience.

The Grant Regional Breast Center (GRBC) has proven to be an effective means to offer radiologic breast exam. Not only has the service been very well received by patients but it has also shown a profit for the institution. The numbers are too small to show that there has been an increase in early screening. The numbers do suggest, however, that there has been an increased access to screening. Hopefully, this increased access and awareness will lead to increased early detection and increased long-term survival.

Breast Neoplasms↗

Oxygen and hydrogen isotopes in fruit and vegetable juices.

(18)O/(16)O ratios from the juices of a number of fruits and vegetables were measured and found to be isotopically more enriched than the water in which they grew. Fast-growing high-water-content vegetables exhibited less enrichment than slower growing fruits such as apples, pears, and plums. (18)O/(16)O measurements were also made on the water from various sections of several plants, and the enrichment was found to occur in the following order: leaves > fruit > stem >/= ground water.D/H and (18)O/(16)O measurements were made on a series of grape juice samples and, when plotted against each other, gave a slope of 3.9, indicating that the physical process causing this enrichment was probably evaporation, i.e. evapotranspiration.

Journal Article↗

Mechanism of induction of RNA tumor viruses by halogenated pyrimidines.

Frome these studies on JLS V-9 cells, a number of conclusions can be drawn about the mechanism of MuLV induction by halogenated pyrimidines. The compounds can induce virus from otherwise healthy cells as long as deoxycytidine is present along with the inducing agent. The compounds must be present during the S phase of the cell cycle and must be incorporated into DNA in order to induce virus (Teich et al. 1973). Only one strand of DNA need be substituted by BrdU or IdU in order to induce virus, because a one-hour period of incorporation leads to induction. From these results it is possible to construct a model for how halogenated pyrimidines are able to induce viruses from otherwise uninfected cells. Because the critical period for the incorporation of the compound is a restricted segment of the S phase of the cell, there would appear to be a critical segment of the genetic information of the cell which, when substituted with BrdU or IdU, leads to a transcriptional derepression. Presumably the critical segment of DNA is either a controlling element of the integrated provirus or it is a separate gene which controls the expression of the integrated provirus. Whichever is true, these results strongly imply that the search for specific repressors of the segments of mammalian DNA is likely to be successful and that RNA tumor viruses may offer a system in which such repression systems can be identified and investigated.

Bromodeoxyuridine↗