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Biomedical subjects

C Price

Publications and source records attributed to C Price.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed2001

The Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) archive is a dynamic component of a clinician image-related workflow solution.

The authors investigated clinician transactions against the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) archive within a clinical image management system (CIMS) in support of patient care. A Neurosurgical Oncology practice was audited for image utilization. There were 400 requests for 233 image studies during 297 sessions. Fifty percent were for current studies, and 50% were for historical studies. Current studies alone were requested in 37% of the sessions, current plus historical in 31%, and historical alone in 32% of the sessions. Seventy percent of studies were within 8 weeks old and were rapidly available from the CIMS disk cache without an archive image transaction. Conversely, 30% were older than 8 weeks, requiring a clinician transaction against the archive for image retrieval. Approximately 25% of studies were older than 3 months and 10% older than 6 months. Clinician image needs are complex and any CIMS solution must include a DICOM archive that can support clinician-based transactions.

Database Management Systems↗
PubMed2001

A phase I trial of amsalog (CI-921) administered by intravenous infusion using a 5-day schedule.

PURPOSE: Amsalog, a derivative of 9-aminoacridine, is an inhibitor of topoisomerase II. Early studies of intravenous amsalog administered either once weekly, or daily for 3 days repeated every 3 weeks, showed that myelosuppression is the dose-limiting toxicity (DLT). Phase II studies showed only limited activity in breast, head and neck, and non-small-cell lung cancer. The activity of other topoisomerase inhibitors is schedule-dependent. We therefore performed a phase I study to evaluate the use of amsalog on a more prolonged schedule. METHODS: A group of 19 patients with refractory malignancies were treated in six cohorts using 2-h infusions of amsalog daily for 5 days, repeated every 3 weeks. RESULTS: Myelosuppression was seen as DLT at 200 mg/m2 per day. Other toxicities included nausea and vomiting, fatigue, and, when administered via a peripheral venous line, severe phlebitis necessitating administration via an indwelling central venous catheter for doses greater than 100 mg/m2. Pharmacokinetic studies showed a linear relationship between Cmax and AUC, and dose. The terminal half-life was 2 h, consistent with previous studies. CONCLUSION: We conclude that amsalog can be safely given on a 5-day schedule every 3 weeks at doses up to 200 mg/m2. The dose recommended for further studies is 180 mg/m2 per day for 5 days repeated every 3 weeks. However, in view of the phlebitis, which necessitated the use of central venous catheters for administration, other routes of administration, for example oral formulations, should be explored.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Combination of electroporation and DNA/dendrimer complexes enhances gene transfer into murine cardiac transplants.

Electroporation is a new gene delivery method to increase gene transfer and expression in vivo. Starburst polyamidoamine dendrimers have been demonstrated to augment gene expression in vitro and in vivo. We hypothesized that the combination of electroporation and dendrimer could enhance the gene transfer and gene expression in cardiac transplants. After immersion in DNA/dendrimer complexes or intracoronary transfer of DNA/dendrimer complexes, both nonvascularized and vascularized syngeneic cardiac grafts, respectively, were subjected to serial electrical pulses before transplantation. beta-Galactosidase reporter gene expression in the graft was determined by X-Gal staining. Gene expression was enhanced 10- to 45-fold in grafts immersed in DNA/dendrimer complexes, or after intracoronary transfer of DNA/dendrimer complexes, and subjected to 20 square wave 25-ms pulses with a strength of 200 V/cm. The combination of electroporation and DNA/dendrimer complexes may provide a novel approach to enhance gene transfer and gene expression ex vivo.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Structure of TCTP reveals unexpected relationship with guanine nucleotide-free chaperones.

The translationally controlled tumor-associated proteins (TCTPs) are a highly conserved and abundantly expressed family of eukaryotic proteins that are implicated in both cell growth and the human acute allergic response but whose intracellular biochemical function has remained elusive. We report here the solution structure of the TCTP from Schizosaccharomyces pombe, which, on the basis of sequence homology, defines the fold of the entire family. We show that TCTPs form a structural superfamily with the Mss4/Dss4 family of proteins, which bind to the GDP/GTP free form of Rab proteins (members of the Ras superfamily) and have been termed guanine nucleotide-free chaperones (GFCs). Mss4 also acts as a relatively inefficient guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF). We further show that the Rab protein binding site on Mss4 coincides with the region of highest sequence conservation in the TCTP family. This is the first link to any other family of proteins that has been established for the TCTP family and suggests the presence of a GFC/GEF at extremely high abundance in eukaryotic cells.

Amino Acid Motifs↗
PubMed2001

Sensitometric evaluation of a new F-speed dental radiographic film.

OBJECTIVE: To compare a new experimental Kodak (Eastman Kodak, Rochester, NY, USA) F-speed dental X-ray film with Ektaspeed Plus and Ultra-speed. METHODS: The three types of film were exposed and processed under standardized conditions. Values of base plus fog, speed, and film contrast were derived. Resolution was compared by a line-pair plate. RESULTS: Under these experimental conditions, the speed of the new film was just into the F-speed range, and a little over twice as fast as Ultra-speed. The Ektaspeed Plus emulsion was somewhat slower than previously recorded when it was first introduced, but around the centre of the E-speed range. Ektaspeed Plus and the new F-speed film had almost identical film contrasts, the F-speed film having slightly greater contrast in the higher density range. Ultra-speed contrast was marginally greater in the lower density range, but was overtaken by both of the other emulsions at higher densities. All three emulsions had low values of base plus fog. Both E- and F-speed films resolved 10 line-pairs per millimetre well, though both emulsions were inferior to Ultra-speed. CONCLUSIONS: The new F-speed film, since marketed as Insight, provides a further saving in radiation exposure, with no evident deterioration in film contrast or resolution.

Absorptiometry, Photon↗
PubMed2001

A report of an outbreak of Shigellosis in a primary school in Staffordshire.

This paper describes the management of an outbreak of Shigellosis, reported in the national media, in a village school in Staffordshire. The issues encountered by the outbreak team during the management of this incident have re-affirmed the need for public and environmental health departments to work closely with educational bodies to develop clear and consistent action plans for the management of communicable disease outbreaks. The management of communicable disease in schools, the workplace and other settings should be addressed, possibly as a component of local health improvement plans.

Child↗
PubMed2001

Multicenter study of obstetric admissions to 14 intensive care units in southern England.

OBJECTIVES: To identify pregnant and postpartum patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs), the cause for their admission, and the proportion that might be appropriately managed in a high-dependency environment (HDU) by using an existing database. To estimate the goodness-of-fit for the Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II, and the APACHE III scoring systems in the obstetrical population. DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of demographic, diagnostic, treatment, and severity of illness data. SETTING: Fourteen ICUs in Southern England. PATIENTS: Pregnant or postpartum (<42 days) admissions between January 1, 1994, and December 31, 1996. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We identified 210 patients, constituting 1.84% (210 of 11,385) of all ICU admissions and 0.17% (210 of 122,850) of all deliveries. Most admissions followed postpartum complications (hypertensive disease of pregnancy [39.5%] and major hemorrhage [33.3%]). Seven women were transferred to specialist ICUs. There was considerable variation between ICUs with respect to the number and type of interventions required by patients. Some 35.7% of patients stayed in ICU for <2 days and received no specific ICU interventions; these patients might have been safely managed in an HDU. There were seven maternal deaths (3.3%); fetal mortality rate was 20%. The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve and the standardized mortality ratio were 0.92 (confidence interval [CI], 0.85-0.99) and 0.43 for the Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, 0.94 (CI, 0.86-1.0) and 0.24 for APACHE II, and 0.98 (CI, 0.96-1.0) and 0.43 for APACHE III, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Existing databases can both identify critically ill obstetrical patients and provide important information about them. Obstetrical ICU admissions often require minimal intervention and are associated with low mortality rates. Many might be more appropriately managed in an HDU. The commonly used severity of illness scoring systems are good discriminators of outcome from intensive care admission in this group but may overestimate mortality rates. Severity of illness scoring systems may require modification in obstetrical patients to adjust for the normal physiologic responses to pregnancy.

APACHE↗
PubMed2001

Identification without naming: a functional neuroimaging study of an anomic patient.

The neural correlates of identification and name retrieval have proved difficult to characterise because both occur highly automatically in normal language processing. Thus, although some evidence points to the left anterior temporal cortex (ATC) as a brain region underlying these functions, its relative role in semantic and lexical retrieval processes is still a matter of debate. Positron emission tomography (PET) was used to measure regional cerebral blood flow responses to famous and non-famous visually presented faces and buildings in a severely anomic patient and in six control subjects, while they were performing a same-different matching task. Because the patient was able to identify the stimuli that he could not name, it was possible to investigate whether the left ATC would respond when identification occurred without name retrieval. Both the patient and the controls activated the left ATC when famous stimuli were compared with non-famous stimuli. This result supports the hypothesis of a predominantly semantic function of the left ATC.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

SNOMED clinical terms: overview of the development process and project status.

Two large health care reference terminologies, SNOMED RT and Clinical Terms Version 3 , are in the process of being merged to form a comprehensive new work referred to as SNOMED Clinical Terms. The College of American Pathologists and the United Kingdom s National Health Service have entered into a collaborative agreement to develop this new work. Both organizations have extensive terminology development and maintenance experience. This paper discusses the process and status of SNOMED CT development and how the resources and expertise of both organizations are being used to develop this new terminological resource. The preliminary results of the merger process, including mapping, the merger of upper levels of each hierarchy, and attribute harmonization are also discussed.

Clinical Medicine↗
PubMed2001

Mapping between SNOMED RT and Clinical terms version 3: a key component of the SNOMED CT development process.

SNOMED RT and Clinical Terms Version 3 are two large, controlled medical terminologies that are being merged to form a new work titled SNOMED Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT). One of the first steps in this process was to create maps between semantically equivalent and proximate concepts in the two terminologies. Same-as and is-a relationships were used to map the descriptions from one terminology to concepts in the other terminology. The objectives were to identify semantically equivalent concepts in the two terminologies, to find the most semantically proximate is-a relationships for non-equivalent concepts, and to evaluate the synonymy in the source terminologies. The results suggest that the rate of semantic overlap between descriptions in SNOMED RT and CTV3 is approximately 28%. This article discusses the methodology, issues, and findings of the description mapping process.

Clinical Medicine↗
PubMed2000

Monomer, dimer, tetramer, polymer: structural diversity in zinc and cadmium complexes of chelate-tethered nucleobases.

A series of ZnII and CdII complexes of adenine and guanine derivatives containing a diamine tether have been isolated from aqueous solutions and characterised by single crystal X-ray analysis. These studies reveal a wide range of structural types including monomeric, dimeric, tetrameric and polymeric architectures. The extended structures arise from the ability of the ligands to bridge metal ions using the chelating tether in conjunction with N7 of the nucleobase. Additional metal-nucleobase co-ordination is generally observed at the N3-site of the adenine derivatives. With CdII, ethylenediamine-N9-ethylguanine forms an inverted G-tetrad type structure.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2000

Evidence for a link between global lightning activity and upper tropospheric water vapour

Tropospheric water vapour is a key element of the Earth's climate, which has direct effects as a greenhouse gas, as well as indirect effects through interaction with clouds, aerosols and tropospheric chemistry. Small changes in upper-tropospheric water vapour have a much larger impact on the greenhouse effect than small changes in water vapour in the lower atmosphere, but whether this impact is a positive or negative feedback remains uncertain. The main challenge in addressing this question is the difficulty in monitoring upper-tropospheric water vapour globally over long timescales. Here I show that upper-tropospheric water-vapour variability and global lightning activity are closely linked, suggesting that upper-tropospheric water-vapour changes can be inferred from records of global lightning activity, readily obtained from observations at a single location on the Earth's surface. This correlation reflects the fact that continental deep-convective thunderstorms transport large amounts of water vapour into the upper troposphere and thereby dominate the variations of global upper-tropospheric water vapour while producing most of the lightning on Earth. As global lightning induces Schumann resonances, an electromagnetic phenomenon in the atmosphere that can be observed easily at low cost, monitoring of these resonances might provide a convenient method for tracking upper-tropospheric water-vapour variability and hence contribute to a better understanding of the processes affecting climate change.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2000

A cultural effect on brain function.

We present behavioral and anatomical evidence for a multi-component reading system in which different components are differentially weighted depending on culture-specific demands of orthography. Italian orthography is consistent, enabling reliable conversion of graphemes to phonemes to yield correct pronunciation of the word. English orthography is inconsistent, complicating mapping of letters to word sounds. In behavioral studies, Italian students showed faster word and non-word reading than English students. In two PET studies, Italians showed greater activation in left superior temporal regions associated with phoneme processing. In contrast, English readers showed greater activations, particularly for non-words, in left posterior inferior temporal gyrus and anterior inferior frontal gyrus, areas associated with word retrieval during both reading and naming tasks.

Adult↗