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Biomedical subjects

C Turnbull

Publications and source records attributed to C Turnbull.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Perception and memory for faces in Parkinson's disease.

This study investigated face processing abilities in patients with late-onset Parkinson's disease. In the first experiment, the Parkinson's disease patients were impaired on a recognition memory test for unfamiliar faces but showed no deficit relative to controls in recognition memory for words. The Parkinson's disease patients were also impaired at matching different photographs of unfamiliar faces. Experiment 2 revealed that the memory deficit affected recognition of familiar as well as unfamiliar faces and extended the face perception impairment to sex decisions and to the analysis of facial speech. An additional verbal recognition memory test again revealed no significant differences between the performance of the Parkinson's disease and control groups. It is argued that the memory impairment is not accountable for simply in terms of the perceptual deficits, and the problems that the patients experience are discussed in terms of the functional model of face processing put forward by Bruce and Young (Brit. J. Psychol. 77, 305-327, 1986).

Aged↗

Verbal fluency in Parkinson's disease.

This study compares the performance of Parkinson's disease patients with age-matched controls on semantic and letter-initial verbal fluency tests. An analysis of variance revealed that Parkinsonian patients showed impaired word production. However when the covariates of age, present verbal ability (Mill Hill Synonyms) and severity of depression (Geriatric Depression Screening Scale) were included in an analysis of covariance, the significant effect of Parkinson's disease on verbal fluency disappeared. Instead, age and present verbal ability were revealed to be the significant sources of between subject variation in total verbal fluency performance; results indicated that increased age and lower present verbal ability resulted in poorer performance on the verbal fluency tests. Depression score was not a significant source of between subject variation. The results are discussed in relation to those recently reported by Gurd and Ward (1989).

Aged↗

A retrospective study of the incidence and causes of failed spinal anesthetics in a university hospital.

One hundred sequential spinal anesthetic procedures were reviewed retrospectively to study specifically the incidence and causes of spinal anesthesia. Variables examined included the patient population, the technical aspects of performing subarachnoid tap and subsequent blockade, and the level of training of the anesthetists. We found a 17% incidence of spinal failure, defined as the need to use general anesthesia during the surgical procedure. Failure was found to be significantly associated with a lack of free flow of cerebral spinal fluid, the use of tetracaine without epinephrine, and an increased administration of intravenous supplementation. Forty-one% of the failures represented errors in judgement, either in not properly anticipating the duration of surgery or injecting local anesthetic solution in the absence of a free flow of cerebral spinal fluid. An incidental finding was the lack of documentation in many of the variables examined. We attribute the high incidence of failed spinal anesthesia mainly to technical reasons, most of them avoidable. The use of local and regional anesthesia requires considerable technical skills and demands a precise and total understanding of regional anatomic relationships. With the decreasing use of regional anesthesia in our operating rooms, only those regional anesthesia techniques that require minimum dexterity, such as spinal and epidural anesthesia, continue to be utilized widely; and even these techniques, safe as they are, are being poorly taught.

Adult↗

Comparative diagnostic criteria for melancholia and endogenous depression.

Five scales were evaluated for the diagnosis of melancholia or endogenous depression. Of 21 total items, none appeared in all five scales, but four items occurred in four of the scales: autonomy of mood, prevasive anhedonia, psychomotor change, and guilt. Vegetative changes were represented inconsistently, with anorexia and weight loss in three scales, as was distinct quality of mood. Thereafter, item agreement between the scales fell off. Scale performance was tested in 50 depressive patients. Major differences were found in frequency of melancholia and scale orientation toward inpatients and outpatients. A number of old controversies remain dormant in these scales. Unresolved are the relationship between melancholia and severity of depression; the relevance of precipitating events, previous depressive episodes, type of onset, and adequacy of personality; and whether to classify by category or continuum. The merits of statistically and consensually derived scales also need to be evaluated.

Adult↗

The Newcastle Endogenous Depression Diagnostic Index: validity and reliability.

The newcastle Endogenous Depression Diagnostic Index of Carney et al. was studied for reliability and validity. Good inter-rater reliability was obtained for diagnostic category and for item scores in 36 patients. The scale showed construct validity with reference to the Hamilton and Montgomery-Asberg rating scales. Concurrent validity was shown relative to other diagnostic scales of endogenous depression. Predictive validity was demonstrated in that endogenous and nonendogenous depressive responded differently to isocarboxazid. The continued use of 5 as the point of separation between endogenous and nonendogenous depression is questionable.

Depressive Disorder↗

The importance of dose in isocarboxazid therapy.

Little information is available on the effectiveness and safety of particular doses of isocarboxazid. In a study using isocarboxazid doses of 30 and 50 mg/day in depressed inpatients, the higher dose was well tolerated and did not result in any greater toxicity than the 30 mg dose. Significantly greater elevation of plasma serotonin (Week 2) and platelet MAO inhibition were seen with 50 mg/day. In nonmelancholic depressions, 50 mg proved to be more effective than 30 mg in symptoms of depression and anxiety. However, this did not apply to the vegetative-physiologic symptoms of depression.

Anxiety Disorders↗

Isocarboxazid. Efficacy and tolerance.

In a double-blind study, isocarboxazid was found to have greater efficacy than placebo. Patients with weight gain, increased appetite, and increased sleep responded particularly well, with a rapid onset of improvement that was apparent by one week. Their response to placebo was poor. Using a flexible dose, the modal range was 30-60 mg per day. Higher doses were poorly tolerated. At the doses used, side effects were generally mild, the most common being dizziness and myoclonus.

Depressive Disorder↗

Localization of the neurofilament protein in neuroblastoma cells by immunofluorescent staining.

Neurofilament protein (54,000-56,000 daltons) has been localized in murine neuroblastoma cells by indirect immunofluorescent staining with antisera to purified calf brain neurofilament protein. In some cells with only short processes, specific staining of fibrous material was present in the perinuclear region while in other cells similar fibers, coiled to varying degrees, were present in other regions of the cytoplasm. In cells with longer processes a stained fiber extended throughout each process. The staining pattern observed followed the distribution of bundles of 100 A filaments as determined by electron microscopy. The fibers did not stain with antisera to tubulin or tropomyosin. The observations reported strongly indicate (i) that neurofilament protein isolated from calf brain is antigenically related to a component of the bundles of 100 A filaments in neuroblastoma cells, and (ii) that the neurofilament protein is an integral part of bundles of 100 A filaments in neuroblastoma cells, while neither tubulin nor tropomyosin is present in these bundles.

Animals↗

Death of a hospital.

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Anxiety↗

The role of the nurse-examiner in the National Breast Screening Study.

The National Breast Screening Study employed 75 nurse-examiners in 12 screening centres across Canada who screened 67,740 women, some of whom received up to 5 annual screening examinations. 17 nurses each performed more than 5,000 physical examinations of the breast, 38 performed 1,000-4,999 and 20 performed less than 1,000. The nurses' accomplishments were impressive: they taught women how to perform breast self-examination and collected data evaluating BSE compliance, they alleviated anxiety in frightened women, they transmitted and explained clinical information to women who had abnormal screening examinations and they enhanced communication between the NBSS and the family physicians. The excellence of their physical examinations is reflected by a sensitivity of 77-83% for all but one screen years in women age 50-59 assigned to physical examination as a single screening modality and by the cancer detection rates which were achieved. Consequently, we recommend that in the future nurse-examiners should be employed in breast screening centres.

Breast Neoplasms↗