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Biomedical subjects

Colin Robertson

Publications and source records attributed to Colin Robertson.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Capillary blood gases in acute exacerbations of COPD.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the correlation and agreement between measurements of PO(2), PCO(2), H(+) and HCO(3)(-) in arterial and capillary blood in patients with acute exacerbations of COPD. To assess the repeatability of capillary measurements. DESIGN: Method comparison study. SETTING: Accident and emergency department in a university teaching hospital. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Measurements of PO(2), PCO(2), H(+) and HCO(3)(-) in one arterial and two capillary samples taken from consecutive patients with acute exacerbations of COPD. RESULTS: The agreement between measurements of PCO(2), H(+) and HCO(3)(-) in arterial and capillary blood was good with mean differences of 0.087 kPa, 1.044 nmol/l and 0.513 mmol/l, respectively. The corresponding 95% limits of agreement were narrow. The agreement between measurements of PO(2) was poor with a mean difference of 1.256 kPa and wide 95% limits of agreement. There was good repeatability between capillary samples with mean differences of 0.094 kPa, 0.674 nmol/l and 0.028 mmol/l for measurements of PCO(2), H(+) and HCO(3) respectively and narrow coefficients of repeatability. CONCLUSIONS: Capillary blood gas measurements provide an accurate assessment of PCO(2), H(+) and HCO(3)(-) and can be used to reliably measure the ventilatory status of patients. Combined with continuous pulse oximetry they can be used as an alternative to arterial blood gas measurements in patients with acute exacerbations of COPD.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2004

Chest wall injuries following cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

The forensic records were reviewed of 1823 deaths referred to Edinburgh City Mortuary for autopsy over a 15-month period, 2000-2001; 499 cases (343 males, 156 females) that received CPR prior to death were studied. Rib fractures were found in 29%, sternal fracture in 14%, and 11% of cases showed external chest wall bruising or abrasion. More females sustained rib fractures than males (37% versus 26%; P <0.05). There was no significant gender difference for sternal fracture (females 17%, males 12%; P=0.051). The incidence of rib fractures increased with age (P <0.001). There was no significant difference in the number of left or right ribs fractured (P=0.631). This study incorporates all cases of in and out-of-hospital CPR and does not discriminate for the CPR provider or technique employed, therefore, providing a current and representative overview of the incidence of rib and sternal fractures in non-survivors of CPR.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Influence of music and distraction on visual search performance of participants with high and low affect intensity.

This study examined the role of music and distraction on the performance of a visual search task (grid test) for 57 volunteer sports science undergraduates (M = 21.6 yr., SD = 3.0), comprising 39 men and 18 women who were subsequently classified as either high or low in Affect Intensity (responsiveness to emotional stimuli). Participants were instructed to identify as many numbers in sequence from an 8 x 8 concentration grid while being randomly exposed to four conditions: silence (Control), distraction (Talking), Instrumental Music, and Lyrical Music. Each trial lasted 120 sec., with 180-sec. rest periods between trials. A one-way repeated-measures analysis of variance and Newman-Keuls post hoc analysis for the entire sample (N = 57) indicated that significantly higher scores on the grid test were attained with Lyrical Music than with Instrumental Music (p < .05), Talking (p < .01), or Control conditions (p < .01). The Instrumental Music condition had significantly better performance than either the Talking or Control condition (p < .01). When the 20 highest and lowest Affect Intensity scores were analysed, no significant between-group mean differences in performance were evident. Results suggest that music may facilitate a simple visual search task.

Adult↗
PubMed2002

Reduced task-set inertia in Parkinson's disease.

This study investigated the relationship between cognitive inhibition and set-switching costs in 13 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) and 16 control subjects using a set-switching task with fully predictable switches. Incongruent colour-words and numerals were presented in either baseline (only colour-words or only numerals) or alternating lists (colour-words and numerals in alternation). Words required either a word-reading or colour-naming response whereas numerals required either a value-naming (value of the digits) or group-size naming (number of digits) response. Stroop interference was found to be increased and practice effects on nondominant tasks reduced in PD patients, suggesting that the ability to increase control over interference from irrelevant prepotent responses may be implicated in PD. Switch costs of PD patients were reduced on the first few trials of alternating dominant task lists and increased towards the end of alternating nondominant task lists. Both effects were explained as resulting from a reduced ability to maintain task-sets where selection of correct responses relies on inhibition of irrelevant stimulus-response mappings.

Aged↗
PubMed2000

Deterministic nonlinearity in ventricular fibrillation.

We provide numerical evidence that the electrocardiogram data collected from pigs during induced ventricular fibrillation cannot be described by a monotonic nonlinear transformation of linearly filtered noise. To establish this we use surrogate techniques and apply two test statistics: (1) the Takens' maximum likelihood estimator of the Grassberger-Procaccia correlation dimension and (2) an improved correlation dimension estimation routine. The improved dimension estimates provide evidence that the correlation dimension of the underlying dynamics during the episode of VF in the first 30 s is slightly less than 6. This result is consistent and reproducible among subjects. (c) 2000 American Institute of Physics.

Journal Article↗