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Biomedical subjects

B Berry

Publications and source records attributed to B Berry.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

The West London Schools Study: the effects of chronic aircraft noise exposure on child health.

BACKGROUND: Previous field studies have indicated that children's cognitive performance is impaired by chronic aircraft noise exposure. However, these studies have not been of sufficient size to account adequately for the role of confounding factors. The objective of this study was to test whether cognitive impairments and stress responses (catecholamines, cortisol and perceived stress) are attributable to aircraft noise exposure after adjustment for school and individual level confounding factors and to examine whether children exposed to high levels of social disadvantage are at greater risk of noise effects. METHODS: The cognitive performance and health of 451 children aged 8-11 years, attending 10 schools in high aircraft noise areas (16 h outdoor Leq > 63 dBA) was compared with children attending 10 matched control schools exposed to lower levels of aircraft noise (16 h outdoor Leq < 57 dBA). RESULTS: Noise exposure was associated with impaired reading on difficult items and raised annoyance, after adjustment for age, main language spoken and household deprivation. There was no variation in the size of the noise effects in vulnerable subgroups of children. High levels of noise exposure were not associated with impairments in mean reading score, memory and attention or stress responses. Aircraft noise was weakly associated with hyperactivity and psychological morbidity. CONCLUSIONS: Chronic noise exposure is associated with raised noise annoyance in children. The cognitive results indicate that chronic aircraft noise exposure does not always lead to generalized cognitive effects but, rather, more selective cognitive impairments on difficult cognitive tests in children.

Aviation↗
PubMed2000

Idiopathic Cardiomyopathy.

Idiopathic cardiomyopathy is a very common cause of heart failure today. It is a diagnosis of exclusion, and careful attention should be paid to the patient history to exclude all other causes. ACE inhibitors have become the first line therapy for all classes of left ventricular dysfunction. Doses of all therapeutic drugs for CHF should be up-titrated to maximum targeted dosages. New agents are being developed that offer increasing hope for therapies that will alter the natural history of heart failure.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1997

Spatial learning and memory at defined points of the estrous cycle: effects on performance of a hippocampal-dependent task.

Learning based on hippocampal-dependent spatial navigation in female rats was assessed at identified points in the estrous cycle corresponding to low (estrus) and high (proestrus) circulating estrogen. With background training in water-maze procedures, rats learned the location of an escape platform in the maze in a single session of 8 training trials. A strong spatial bias for the escape platform was also evident in a probe trial used to assess retention of learning 30 min after the training session. This entire protocol was completed in less than an hour. The performance of the estrus and proestrus rats was indistinguishable on all behavioral measures, irrespective of the stage of estrous cycle during the task. These results indicate that rapid learning and retention for spatial information over a relatively short interval may be preserved despite morphological alterations in hippocampal dendritic spine density in the normally cycling female rat.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

The value of axillary dissection in T1a breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: Some authors have stated the undesirability of axillary lymph node dissections for very small breast cancers, because so few of their patients have lymph node metastases (3% for T1a lesions in one series). METHODS: Of 6,308 breast cancer cases reviewed from three large urban hospitals 3,077 single primary cases with both axillary dissection and accurate tumor measurements were statistically analyzed. RESULTS: For T1a lesions we found axillary metastases to be four times higher (12%) than others have reported. For each tumor size there was a statistically significant difference in the percentage of axillary metastases. There was also a statistically significant difference in the breast cancer-specific survival of patients with different tumor sizes (n = 3,077) at the 3-year, 5-year, 7-year, and 10-year periods. CONCLUSION: These results justify axillary node dissections even for very small invasive cancers of the breast, particularly for invasive ductal histology.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Surgical treatment of cancer of the pancreas in large community hospitals.

A retrospective study compares the success rates of surgical treatment of cancer of the pancreas in large community hospitals. Although none of the surgeons averaged as many as two pancreaticoduodenal resections per year for the period of this study, their results compared well with other published series except for a few centers and surgeons who did a very high volume of such resections. Results of the study indicate that well trained surgeons in well staffed and well equipped community hospitals can provide acceptable results in pancreaticoduodenectomies for cancer of the pancreas.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Long-term pulmonary hypertension produced by cigarette smoking is associated with subendocardial fibrosis and inflammation of the right ventricle: a morphometric analysis in the guinea pig model.

We have developed a guinea pig model of cigarette smoking induced lung disease, whereby animals exposed for several months to cigarette smoke develop emphysematous lung destruction as well as mild pulmonary hypertension with increased muscularization of the arterioles. To ascertain whether the animals with pulmonary hypertension had structural alterations of the right ventricle, we morphologically determined the volume proportion of inflammatory cells, fibrosis, and muscle cytoplasm and nuclei, and compared these values to those of age matched animals not exposed to smoke. We found that there was a significantly increased volume proportion of both fibrous tissue and inflammatory cells in the subendocardial myocardium after 12 months of cigarette smoke exposure, but not after 3 or 6 months. Since the degree of pulmonary hypertension, and the weight of the right ventricle were similar at the 3 time periods, we conclude that the inflammatory cell infiltrate and fibrosis in the subendocardial myocardium are manifestations of long term pulmonary hypertension, rather than any indication of co-existant damage to the myocardium as a result of the smoke exposure. These features would be compatible with the "right ventricular hypothesis" of Morrison (8) for the development of cor pulmonale, with the pathological changes seen as a result of a dysequilibrium between oxygen supply and demand in the right ventricle.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Sensorineural hearing loss associated with Kawasaki disease.

In five children who met the diagnostic criteria for Kawasaki Disease, sensorineural hearing loss developed in association with the acute illness. The children, aged 7 months to 13 years, had deficits ranging from mild to profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. There were no associated neurologic abnormalities, and immunologic investigations and magnetic resonance imaging failed to reveal a cause. Treatment regimens differed among the children, but none had high salicylate levels (greater than 20 mg/dl) or received other ototoxic medications. Antiinflammatory therapy was not obviously beneficial in any case, and four of the children have persistent hearing deficits. We conclude that auditory involvement may be a complication of Kawasaki disease; screening of clinically affected children should be considered.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Children with AIDS: issues and future directions.

Throughout the history of nursing, the care of people with communicable disease has comprised a substantial part of nursing practice. With the advent of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic in the early 1980s, nurses once again began caring for persons with infectious disease. Lack of knowledge about the disease process itself, as well as fear of exposure to the virus, continue to cause concern within the health care community. This article is intended to provide nurses with current information about AIDS in the pediatric population as well as its implications for nursing practice.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1989

Pathologic findings in total esophagectomy specimens after intracavitary and external-beam radiotherapy.

Pathologic findings in 21 esophagectomy specimens from patients having preoperative combined intracavitary radiotherapy (ICR) and external-beam radiotherapy (EBR) are described. Eleven patients received 1500 cGY ICR and 4000 cGy EBR (Group 1) and ten patients received 1500 cGy plus 2000 to 3000 cGy EBR (Group 2). Effectiveness of radiotherapy was expressed as the ratio between depth of radiation effect and depth of tumor invasion. Depth was expressed as one of four levels: Level I, not deeper than the muscularis mucosa; Level 2, involving but not deeper than submucosa; Level 3, involving but not deeper than muscularis propria; and Level 4, involving periesophageal soft tissue. The depth of radiation damage to tumor cells was comparable between the two groups. However, residual tumor was present in the periesophageal tissue in only one of 11 patients after high-dose EBR compared to of ten patients with lower dose EBR (P less than 0.01, chi-square test). A ratio of one between radiation effect and depth of tumor invasion was present in six patients receiving high-dose EBR and one patient receiving lower dose EBR (P less than 0.05). The authors conclude that ICR combined with EBR affords good local tumor control in the majority of patients. Higher doses of EBR give a better radiation effect in deeper layers of the esophageal wall. The ratio between depth of radiation effect and tumor invasion provides a simple and objective approach to the pathologic analysis of esophagectomy specimens.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1989

Perturbation of the sarcolemmal membrane in isoproterenol-induced myocardial injury of the rat. Permeability and freeze-fracture studies in vivo and in vitro.

The mechanism whereby cardiotoxic doses of isoproterenol (ISO) induces early permeability alteration of the sarcolemmal membrane is unknown; both beta-receptor overstimulation and direct toxic effect of ISO oxidation products have been implicated. There has been no morphologic observation, furthermore, on the structural basis of permeability alteration during this process. The purpose of the present study was to compare the morphology of cardiocyte injury induced by ISO and oxidized ISO (ISO-O2) and to visualize perturbation of the sarcolemma correlating with the leaky membrane. The authors studied the left ventricular myocardium of rats 10 and 60 minutes after subcutaneous administration of 85 mg/kg ISO and isolated perfused rat hearts exposed for 10 minutes either to ISO or ISO-O2 in a dose of 100 mg/l (10(-4) M) to determine the permeability of the sarcolemmal membrane using the extracellular diffusion tracer horseradish peroxidase (HRP) by light and thin section electron microscopy, the morphology of the sarcolemmal membrane by means of freeze-fracture electron microscopy, and the density of intramembrane particles (IMP) in the sarcolemmal membrane by planimetry using freeze-fracture electron microscopy. In in vivo rat hearts both 10 and 60 minutes after ISO and in vitro (isolated perfused) rat hearts exposed to either ISO or ISO-O2 for 10 minutes, HRP labeled the sarcoplasm of focally located cardiocytes implicating leakiness of the sarcolemmal membrane. HRP positive cardiocytes (with the exception of the in vivo 10 minute group) showed characteristic features of contraction band necrosis (both on light and thin-section electron microscopy) in all groups. Freeze-fracture electron microscopy of sarcolemmal protoplasmic (P) membrane faces revealed two populations of cardiocytes in all groups. P-membrane faces in one population of cardiocytes appeared as in the control. In the other population of cardiocytes, P-membrane faces showed irregular tears. Planimetry demonstrated a significant decrease of IMP numerical densities in P-membrane faces with tears in the in vivo 10 minute group and both with or without tears in the in vivo 60 minutes group and the in vitro groups compared with the control values. Furthermore, with the exception of the 10 minute in vivo group, IMP densities significantly decreased in sarcolemmal membranes with tears compared with those without tears in all experimental groups. These observations are consistent with the view that catecholamine induced myocardial injury is, at least partly, related to the direct toxic effect of catecholamine oxidation products on the sarcolemmal membrane.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Cryotherapy in the management of cervical ectopy.

Sixty-five patients with benign ectopy of the uterine cervix were treated by cryosurgery in the departments of genitourinary medicine at St Luke's Hospital, Bradford, and the Airedale General Hospital, West Yorkshire, without analgesia or anaesthesia. A symptomatic cure rate of 98% was achieved. There were no serious complications. This treatment is considered to be appropriate in genitourinary clinics in the United Kingdom as these have routine screening procedures for various genital infections.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Numerical densities of intramembrane particles in the cardiac sarcolemma of normal and myopathic Syrian hamsters.

The purpose of this study was to examine the density of intramembrane particles in the cardiac sarcolemma of normal and myopathic Syrian hamsters in a search for a morphological marker of a putative membrane defect. Hereditary cardiomyopathy in hamsters is manifested by progressive multifocal skeletal and cardiac muscle necrosis. Although pharmacological and biochemical data suggest a molecular defect in the cardiac sarcolemma, there has been no morphological observation that would substantiate this suggestion. We quantified numerical densities of intramembrane particles in freeze-fractured sarcolemmal membrane protoplasmic and extracellular faces from the left and right ventricular myocardium of female 25-day-old hamsters of the U.M.-X 7.1 cardiomyopathic line compared with sex- and age-matched randomly bred Syrian hamsters. Intramembrane particle numerical densities significantly increased above control values in cardiomyopathic hamsters for protoplasmic face (from 2188 +/- 61 to 2454 +/- 89 microns-2 in left ventricle (P less than 0.025) and from 2255 +/- 83 to 2574 +/- 56 microns-2 in right ventricle (P less than 0.001]. There was no significant difference between intramembrane particle densities of normal and cardiomyopathic hamsters for extracellular face (707 +/- 45 and 687 +/- 49 microns-2 in the left ventricle and 742 +/- 41 and 746 +/- 28 microns-2 in the right ventricle). These results implicate an increase of protoplasmic face-associated integral proteins in the sarcolemmal membrane of cardiomyopathic hamster. The significance of this finding is not known. It may represent an adaptive change related to a molecular defect in the sarcolemmal membrane of cardiomyopathic hamster.

Animals↗