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Biomedical subjects

A Vickers

Publications and source records attributed to A Vickers.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1997

A proposal for teaching critical thinking to students and practitioners of complementary medicine.

It can be argued that it is only possible to promote research in complementary and alternative medicine once the importance of critical thinking is understood. Critical thinking can be defined as (1) the adoption of a cautious approach to beliefs and claims, and (2) the process of analyzing beliefs to see whether they are valid and useful. The Research Council for Complementary Medicine has considerable experience teaching critical thinking to students and practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine. We use several tactics to ensure that such teaching has maximum impact: stressing that criticism does not pose a threat, using an interactive approach, avoiding abstract or esoteric discussions, giving examples from conventional medicine and from everyday life, and so on. The actual structure of a class involves a series of logical steps: stating the reasons for critical thinking, linking beliefs to belief-forming processes, linking beliefs about health to personal experience, explaining why personal experience can be unreliable, completing the "skeptical argument" that many health beliefs are unreliable, discussing the implications for practice, etc. Learning about critical thinking in such a manner can be an important prerequisite for undertaking or using the results of research.

Complementary Therapies↗
PubMed1996

Methodological issues in complementary and alternative medicine research: a personal reflection on 10 years of debate in the United Kingdom.

There are certain immediate and obvious problems in using conventional research techniques for the evaluation of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). These have led some to argue that alternative medicine requires alternative methodologies. The experience in the United Kingdom has been that existing methodologies can be adapted and do not have to be discarded wholesale. Conventional research has developed a set of powerful techniques for generating reliable knowledge and these have been used with considerable success in a variety of different settings. In retrospect, the call for new methodologies appears to have been a reaction against the perceived dominance of the randomized controlled trial (RCT). This stemmed from the misperception that the RCT inevitably involves features, such as placebo controls or double-blinding, which are not feasible in many CAM therapies. There was also a desire to ask questions about medicine, the answers to which, it was felt, could not be decided by the RCT. A variety of different research designs need to be used to answer the variety of questions important in CAM. However, research designs do not have to be reinvented: appropriate methodologies can normally be found in one or another of the diverse branches of medical research. Successful research has been conducted in CAM using conventional research techniques and this refutes the claims that such techniques are inappropriate for CAM. Solving methodological problems in CAM is a matter of following simple guidelines, not the creation of complex and esoteric research designs.

Complementary Therapies↗
PubMed1995

A basic introduction to medical research. Part III: What can the practitioner do?

Practitioners can become involved in research in two ways. Firstly, they can and should use the results of research. Practitioners need to know how to access the research literature and how to critically appraise a research paper. They also need a sophisticated understanding of how to interpret the practical implications of a study. Secondly, practitioners can undertake original research. This starts from the choice of a research question or hypothesis. The researcher should carefully consider the relevance of the question and should undertake a literature review to ensure that the research builds appropriately on existing knowledge. Collaboration with experienced researchers can be especially valuable as can the use of methodological checklists to ensure that all aspects of trial design have been considered. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, research should be published, no matter what the findings.

Humans↗
PubMed1995

A basic introduction to medical research. Part II: An overview of different research methods.

Though health research has long been equated with the randomised control trial (RCT), there are, in fact, many different forms of research. These complement one another as different pieces in a jigsaw of evidence. Qualitative research can provide valuable insights into meaning, motivation, social significance and other aspects of patients' and practitioners' experience. Such data can be useful in the design of more quantitative research, such as surveys of attitudes or RCTs. Audits monitor and evaluate the quality of health care delivery and are an important means of ensuring the value of RCTs in everyday clinical practice. Laboratory research provides data on the mechanisms of a treatment or on its therapeutic effect in controlled conditions. This can provide a valuable background to subsequent clinical research. A prospective researcher should choose a methodology depending on the particular research question he or she wishes to ask: a good question immediately suggests the appropriate type of research.

Data Collection↗
PubMed1995

A basic introduction to medical research. Part I: What is research and why do it?

Our beliefs about health come from many sources, most of which come down to personal experience. This is often an unreliable way of finding out about health as it can be affected by the individual practitioner's own biases and beliefs. Moreover, changes observed in patients cannot always be ascribed to any treatments given. Research attempts to generate more reliable beliefs by carefully controlling for those factors likely to influence us incorrectly. Good research always starts by focusing on a question: what is the question which the researcher wants to answer? Questions enable the development of research designs. There is a particularly pressing need for good quality research in the complementary therapies typically used by nurses and midwives. We need to know: do the complementary therapies have specific effects on health? How should the therapies be used so that their effects are optimised? How should the therapies be used in health service settings? Unless these questions are answered, the use of complementary therapies by nurses and midwives is likely to remain sub-optimal.

Complementary Therapies↗
PubMed1988

Changes in the fatty acid profile of lung, liver and serum of rats intratracheally given silica.

The esterified (E) and nonesterified (NE) fatty acid level and profile in the lung, serum, and liver of rats are significantly altered after intratracheal administration of silica. The changes include a silica-specific increase of the total long chain (C16-C20:4) fatty acid content in the lung, and a decrease in the serum and liver of both groups of rats intratracheally given silica and/or saline. In the silicotic lung, arachidonate and palmitate accumulated at the highest rate. A heat-labile, high-molecular weight component from lung homogenates increases lipogenesis in isolated hepatocytes in vitro. These findings, taken together with evidence indicating increased lipogenesis in the liver of rats treated with silica under identical conditions, suggest a lung-liver communication mechanism which coordinates lipid uptake by the lung and lipid synthesis and release by the liver. The stimulatory factor identified in lung homogenates might play an important regulatory role-for hepatic lipogenesis in rats developing silicotic lungs.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Evaluation of the combined effects of atropine and domperidone on the lower oesophageal sphincter.

The effects of sequential administration of both domperidone followed by atropine, and atropine followed by domperidone were examined on the lower oesophageal sphincter of 10 healthy volunteers. Domperidone, 10 mg, increased lower oesophageal sphincter pressure (LOSP) within 10 min of injection. Atropine, 0.6 mg given at the time of peak effect of domperidone, subsequently decreased LOSP. However, frequent measurement of LOSP during the succeeding 40 min demonstrated that LOSP did not decrease significantly below control levels during this drug sequence. When the drugs were administered in the reverse sequence, atropine, 0.6 mg, decreased LOSP within 5 min of injection and subsequent administration of domperidone, at the time of peak effect of the atropine, resulted in a gradual increase in LOSP. However, control values were not approached until 30 min had elapsed after the administration of the domperidone.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Increases in liver microsomal phosphatidylethanolamine methyltransferase activity(s) in mice after short-term ethanol treatments.

Adult C57/BL mice subjected to short term ethanol liquid diets exhibited significant increases in liver microsomal phosphatidylethanolamine methyltransferase activity(s) as well as changes in microsomal lipid composition. Specifically, increases in [3H]-methyl incorporation into phosphatidyl-N-monomethylethanolamine and phosphatidyl-N,N-dimethylethanolamine were observed suggesting increases in phospholipid methyltransferase I and the first methyl transfer reaction of phospholipid methyltransferase II. Labeling of phosphatidylcholine was not affected, however. Dietary supplementation with 2% choline reduced liver methyltransferase activities of both control and ethanol treated mice. The ethanol induced increase in methyltransferase activity returned to control values upon removal of ethanol from the diet for 24 hours. It is suggested that the increase in phospholipid methyltransferase activity after chronic ethanol treatment may be responsible, in part, for alterations in the activities of certain microsomal enzymes known to be influenced by ethanol.

Alcohol Drinking↗