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C A Mills

Publications and source records attributed to C A Mills.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Current and future uses of breath analysis as a diagnostic tool.

The analysis of exhaled breath is a potentially useful method for application in veterinary diagnostics. Breath samples can be easily collected from animals by means of a face mask or collection chamber with minimal disturbance to the animal. After the administration of a 13C-labelled compound the recovery of 13C in breath can be used to investigate gastrointestinal and digestive functions. Exhaled hydrogen can be used to assess orocaecal transit time and malabsorption, and exhaled nitric oxide, carbon monoxide and pentane can be used to assess oxidative stress and inflammation. The analysis of compounds dissolved in the aqueous phase of breath (the exhaled breath condensate) can be used to assess airway inflammation. This review summarises the current status of breath analysis in veterinary medicine, and analyses its potential for assessing animal health and disease.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Models of the relationship of stress, depression, and other psychosocial factors to smoking behavior: a comparison of a cohort of students in grades 6 and 8.

BACKGROUND: Six specific hypotheses regarding putative mechanisms by which stressful life events might lead to initiation of smoking among adolescents were proposed and tested on a Grade 6 cohort of students in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada. In addition, the data were used to determine the set of risk factors for initiation of smoking most pertinent to the experience of the cohort. METHODS: The same relationships were examined for the 1,543 students when they were in Grade 8 and compared to the earlier Grade 6 results. The hypotheses include the effects of personal resources (coping, self-esteem, social support, and mastery), social conformity, rebelliousness, attitudes, smoking environment factors, and gender differences. RESULTS: The hypotheses were not unequivocally supported, except for the hypotheses about attitudes and smoking environment as well as gender effects. Males and females differ with regard to the variables and interrelationships in both years and in the final models developed. In Grade 6, there are more smoking environment items for males than for females. By Grade 8, male smoking is influenced by mastery, social conformity, and rebelliousness, while for females environmental smoking and rebelliousness are important. CONCLUSION: Male and female students differ in how stress, depression, and smoking are related in the presence of psychosocial factors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Slippery lexicon.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Cardiac Output, Low↗
PubMed2000

Longitudinal tracking and retention in a school-based study on adolescent smoking: costs, variables, and smoking status.

Methods used to track a cohort of Grade 6 students through Grades 8 and 11, and costs involved for survey completion in school and by mail for ever and never smokers from the original group are detailed. At baseline, 1,598 students in Scarborough, Canada, completed a questionnaire on smoking, drinking, and health, and again in Grade 8 (N = 1,543/1,598) and Grade 11 (N = 1,454/1,598). In Grades 8 and 11, tracking and administering the questionnaire was more costly per participant when the survey was administered by mail than in school. Average completion costs were highest for Grade 11 students who used tobacco at baseline ($52.44). Students categorized as ever smokers in Grade 6 were harder to locate at each phase of testing, which suggests that this group should be identified at baseline so that closer tracking procedures may be employed between data collection points.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Coordination of breathing and swallowing: effects of bolus consistency and presentation in normal adults.

Respiration and swallowing were recorded simultaneously by inductance plethysmography, submental electromyography, and a throat microphone in 10 normal subjects during eating and drinking tasks that included single boluses of varying volume (5-20 ml) and consistency presented with a syringe and cup, a 200-ml drink taken with and without the use of a straw, and a sandwich meal. Swallows were associated with a brief swallow apnea (SA) lasting approximately 1 s. Swallow effects on the duration or tidal volume of the preswallow, postswallow and swallow-associated breathing cycles varied depending on bolus characteristics and presentation. Expiration before and after the SA was the preferred pattern with all drinking and eating tasks. Inspiration followed SA in < 5% of single-bolus swallows, but this pattern increased significantly with a 200-ml drink administered by cup or by straw and during a sandwich meal (23.8 +/- 5.2, 27.0 +/- 2.6, and 16.3 +/- 2.7%, respectively. Hence, the swallow-associated breathing pattern seen with single-bolus swallows may not reflect that associated with regular eating and drinking behavior. This finding implies that the risk of aspiration may be reduced by teaching patients prone to aspiration to simplify the complex behavior of eating and drinking to a series of single-bolus swallows.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

The rubber fat pad retractor: use in arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

Arthroscopic anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction surgery requires adequate visualization of the anterior intercondylar area. Described is a quick, inexpensive, safe, and easily learned technique. Secondary benefits of the improved visualization provided by the technique include increased ease of the portal entry, facility for dry intraarticular arthroscopy, and harvest of drilled bone for later grafting of donor sites. The technique is described for use in arthroscopic knee surgery, but can be adapted for use in other joints and procedures.

Anterior Cruciate Ligament↗
PubMed1993

Cysts of the medial meniscus. Arthroscopic diagnosis and management.

We report the clinical and arthroscopic findings in 20 cases of medial meniscal cyst with a mean follow-up of 20 months. These were studied prospectively from a series of 7435 knee arthroscopies in which there were 1246 stable non-arthritic knees with medial meniscal tears. The diagnosis on referral was incorrect in seven, and incomplete in seven. There was coexistent meniscal injury in 17 (85%), but in the other three no tear was visible at arthroscopy. Ten knees had additional intra-articular abnormalities. Treatment of the cyst was by open resection in 12 and arthroscopic evaluation at meniscectomy in seven. In one case the cyst resolved after arthroscopic partial meniscectomy alone. Meniscal tears were treated by arthroscopic partial medial meniscectomy. Medial meniscal cysts are an important but under-diagnosed cause of knee pain and are frequently related to arthroscopically diagnosable and treatable meniscal pathology. Treatment should be directed towards both the meniscus and the cyst, which may require open surgery.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Narcotic reversal in hypercapnic dogs: comparison of naloxone and nalbuphine.

Reversal of opioid effects by naloxone (NX) can lead to significant cardiovascular problems. We have reported previously that hypercapnic dogs develop greater increases in blood pressure and plasma catecholamine (CA) levels than hypocapnic ones when reversed with naloxone. We have also demonstrated differences between NX and nalbuphine (NBPH) in producing excitatory adrenergic responses when administered during normocapnia. The present study was designed to investigate possible dissimilarities in cardiovascular and sympathetic events after administration of either NX or NBPH in dogs made hypercapnic following fentanyl administration. After induction of anaesthesia with thiopentone and intubation, two groups of dogs were maintained with controlled ventilation on enflurane in oxygen anaesthesia and given 50 micrograms.kg-1 fentanyl IV. This caused a significant decrease in heart rate (HR) (P less than 0.001), mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) (P less than 0.001), and plasma concentrations of norepinephrine (NE) (P less than 0.002). Then, ventilation was decreased to produce a PaCO2 of 60 mmHg; this was accompanied by a significant elevation in plasma level of both epinephrine (EPI) (P less than 0.02) and NE (P less than 0.001). Administration of 20 micrograms.kg-1 NX to six dogs resulted in immediate increases in HR (P less than 0.01) and MAP (P less than 0.01), and a further rise in CA levels to greater than pre-fentanyl baseline values. In six other dogs, NBPH (0.3 mg.kg-1) caused increases in HR (P less than 0.001) and MAP (P less than 0.001) only, and the MAP rise was significantly less than that seen in the NX group (P less than 0.01).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1988

Sustained pectin ingestion: effect on gastric emptying and glucose tolerance in non-insulin-dependent diabetic patients.

The effects of sustained pectin ingestion on gastric emptying, glucose tolerance, and hormone responses were studied in 12 stable, non-insulin-dependent (type 2) diabetic patients. Patients were placed on a 2400 kcal, low-fiber (3 g) diet for 2 wk, followed by 4 wk of an isocaloric diet supplemented with 20 g apple pectin/d. Gastric-emptying half-time, plasma glucose, glucagon, and human pancreatic polypeptide levels were determined. Gastric-emptying half-time was prolonged 43% (p less than 0.025) by pectin supplementation and returned to normal 3 d after its discontinuation. Fiber supplementation decreased the incremental area under the glucose tolerance curve from 34.8 +/- 3.0 to 27.9 +/- 3.2 mmol/L (p less than 0.01) but did not affect hormonal responses to a meal. Sustained pectin ingestion slowed the gastric-emptying rate and improved glucose tolerance; however, a direct relationship could not be demonstrated between changes in gastric emptying and changes in the incremental area under the glucose curve (r = 0.22).

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Cardiovascular effects of fentanyl reversal by naloxone at varying arterial carbon dioxide tensions in dogs.

Clinical reports, as well as animal studies, have described cardiovascular and sympathetic stimulation after the administration of naloxone (NX) to reverse opioid-induced respiratory depression. This investigation examines the effect of PaCO2 on hemodynamic and adrenergic responses to NX, by means of 24 experiments carried out in six dogs. Each dog underwent NX reversal of fentanyl (FEN) at three different PaCO2 levels: 20, 35, and 60 mm Hg. In a final series of six experiments, the dogs were exposed to increasing PaCO2 after autonomic block by total spinal anesthesia and vagotomy. During enflurane anesthesia, 50 micrograms/kg FEN decreased mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), heart rate (HR), and plasma concentrations of norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (EPI) significantly. NX 0.4 mg promptly returned HR and MAP to baseline or above in all experiments; catecholamine (CA) levels increased only in hypercapnic dogs. Increases in HR were the same in all series. MAP, EPI, and NE levels were significantly greater than pre-FEN baseline values only in hypercapnic dogs 1 minute after NX and were also significantly higher in hypercapnic than in hypocapnic dogs at this time. NE levels were greater in hypercapnic dogs at all time periods after NX. In blocked dogs, neither F nor NX had any effects on hemodynamic functions or plasma CA levels; the institution of hypercapnia caused significant decreases in HR, MAP, and systemic vascular resistance. This direct circulatory depressant action of an elevated PCO2 may have attenuated the indirectly mediated excitatory hemodynamic effects of NX in intact dogs, thus explaining the relatively greater effect of hypercapnia on adrenergic than on hemodynamic responses to reversal.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗