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Biomedical subjects

D Cumming

Publications and source records attributed to D Cumming.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Ultrasonographic assessment of the rate of solid-phase gastric emptying in dogs.

Twelve healthy dogs were used in an ultrasonographic assessment of the effect of the composition of a solid meal on the rate of gastric emptying. The dogs were fasted for nine hours before they were fed either a standard or a high energy density test meal, in a cross-over study design. The gastric antrum was visualised with a 6.5 MHz microconvex transducer, and the area inside the elliptical shape defined by the craniocaudal and ventrodorsal diameters of the stomach was measured. Antral images were acquired at regular intervals for six hours after the ingestion of the test meal. Three indices to describe the rate of gastric emptying were computed: the gastric half-emptying time (t1/2), the time to 50 per cent maximal antral area (t50%), and the time of maximal antral area (tmax). The values of t50% and t1/2 calculated for the high energy density meals were significantly longer than for the standard meals, but there was no significant difference between the tmax values.

Animal Feed↗
PubMed2005

Extraskeletal chondroma as a cause of carpal tunnel syndrome: a case report.

We report a case of carpal tunnel syndrome as a result of an extraosseous chondroma in a 47-year-old gentleman. This case demonstrates the importance of clinical examination and occasional radiographs in this not uncommon condition. We also highlight that this well known entrapment syndrome is not only caused by the common causes that we all know, but also any space-occupying lesion in the carpal tunnel compressing the median nerve.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome↗
PubMed1997

CD45RA-RO+ (memory) but not CD45RA+RO- (naive) T cells roll efficiently on E- and P-selectin and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 under flow.

This study examines the molecular mechanisms that underlie the observed preferential interactions of memory vs naive T cells with activated vascular endothelium. Many more CD4+ CD45RO+ (memory) cells adhered to 6-h TNF-alpha-activated human umbilical vein endothelium under flow than CD4+CD45RA+ (naive) cells. Adhesion studies were performed using Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell monolayers expressing human E- or P-selectin (CHO-E and CHO-P, respectively) or with soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1)-coated glass surfaces. Under flow at 1.8 dynes/cm2, RO+ T cells rolled extensively at low velocity on both CHO-P and CHO-E monolayers and VCAM-1, whereas very few RA+ T cells interacted with these surfaces. VCAM-1-dependent rolling was blocked completely by anti-very late Ag-4 (VLA-4) Abs. Purified CD4+RA+ T cells could be converted to RO+ cells by mitogen stimulation and 7-day culture in vitro, and this correlated with the acquisition of the ability to roll on E- or P-selectin, but not on VCAM-1 under flow. In summary, these data indicate that CD45RO+ cells interact with E- and P-selectins and VCAM-1 much more effectively than do CD45RA+ cells under flow conditions, and these adhesion pathways may contribute, either individually or in combination, to the preferential recruitment of memory T cells to peripheral sites of inflammation.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

L- and P-selectins, but not CD49d (VLA-4) integrins, mediate monocyte initial attachment to TNF-alpha-activated vascular endothelium under flow in vitro.

Monocyte adhesion to the vascular endothelium is a pivotal step during their egress to tissues at sites of inflammation and immune reactions, and during atherogenesis. In this study, an in vitro flow model and blocking mAb were used to define the role of adhesion molecules in monocyte interactions with activated HUVEC under flow conditions. By videomicroscopy, freely flowing monocytes abruptly halted (initial attachment) on 6-h TNF-alpha-activated HUVEC under flow via L- and P-selectin, whereas E-selectin was not involved. CD49d/CD29 integrin (VLA-4), which can mediate initial attachment of certain T cells to VCAM-1 under flow, did not support monocyte initial attachment. Once initially attached, a small number of monocytes began rolling at 9 microns/s through a mechanism involving L-selectin, as well as CD49d and CD11/CD18 integrins, while the remaining monocytes became firmly adherent, or released to the flow stream. Monocyte stable arrest and subsequent transendothelial migration occurred rapidly and efficiently through either CD49d or CD18 integrin adhesion pathways. Transendothelial passage was also dependent on PECAM-1 (CD31). These data reveal monocytes initially attach to activated endothelium via an L-selectin-dependent mechanism, with a smaller contribution from P-selectin and no contribution by CD49d. Subsequent monocyte rolling, arrest, and transmigration require overlapping functions between multiple members of the selectin, integrin, and Ig gene families.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Personal styles and ways of coping in individuals who use wheelchairs.

To obtain information about the psychological needs of wheelchair users, 45 subjects participating in a university-based drop-in physical activity centre and outpatient rehabilitation program completed the Personal Styles Inventory and the Ways of Coping Inventory. Three groups of subjects were formed, differentiated by etiology for their disability. Results suggested that subjects with brain injury possessed the most limited coping resources. Subjects with multiple sclerosis were highest of the three groups in the frequency of utilization of emotional coping, they also revealed a fundamentally introverted and stability-based personality style. Subjects with spinal cord injuries utilized a predominantly Problem-solving means of coping: and they revealed a basic personality style characterized as extroverted and stable. The findings suggest that disease process (perhaps through common preexisting psychological characteristics, the nature of the onset and progression of the disease process, and/or tissue damage) may modify the ability to adapt and cope with the need to use a wheelchair. The nature of psychological support to be offered should reflect not only the use of a wheelchair but also the underlying personality and its modification by the nature of the disease process.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1996

A controlled trial of general practitioners' attitudes to patients with schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE: To examine general practitioners' attitudes to patients with schizophrenia. DESIGN: A random sample of primary care physicians were alternately sent a case vignette of a patient with or without schizophrenia, in an otherwise identical clinical abstract, and asked to indicate their level of agreement with fifteen statements based on it. SUBJECTS AND SETTING: A one-in-five sample of general practitioners who were identified from the Primary Care Services Register of Lothian Health Board. RESULTS: The median score for each statement was compared by the two-tailed Wilcoxon rank sum test. Doctors responding to the vignette of the patient with schizophrenia were significantly less willing to have the patient on their practice list, more likely to refer them to a specialist and more likely to think that they would be violent; whereas they did not think that they would take up any more time than the other patient. These impressions were no different between those who had or had not received work training in psychiatry. CONCLUSIONS: This controlled trial of primary care physicians' attitudes towards patients with schizophrenia amounts to an empirical demonstration of medical discrimination against the sufferers of this and potentially of other long term psychiatric disorders. Psychiatrists and general practitioners should share care in the management of schizophrenia and try to overcome the prejudices against such patients in an attempt to improve their overall clinical care.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1994

Testosterone, cortisol and catecholamine responses to exercise stress and autonomic dysreflexia in elite quadriplegic athletes.

Episodes of short high intensity exercise are associated with an increase in circulating total testosterone (T) in men. Mechanisms may include hemoconcentration, decreased metabolic clearance and/or increased synthesis. Beta-blockade abolishes the T response suggesting a direct beta-adrenergic effect on the testes. Some spinal cord injured (SCI) athletes deliberately induce autonomic dysreflexia (boosting) to enhance performance. Associated with this practice are elevated catecholamine (CA) levels and exaggerated responses to serum catecholamine levels. Since basal T levels are reported to be normal in the SCI male, the T response to acute high intensity exercise might be expected to be exaggerated by boosting and associated elevated CA levels. The acute exercise T response has not been examined in SCI men to date. To determine whether the increased CA values associated with boosting enhanced the exercise-induced T elevation we measured circulating levels of T, cortisol (C), norepinephrine (NE) and epinephrine (E) before and after maximal exertion and a simulated 7.5 km race with and without boosting in eight elite quadriplegic athletes. Maximal incremental exercise and a simulated 7.5 km race resulted in a rise in T similar to able bodied men under normal exercise conditions. Under boosted conditions the rise in T was eliminated while NE levels were significantly elevated above unboosted levels. The data may suggest an inhibitory role for CA on T production or release under conditions of extreme stress. Other possible mechanisms include C induced suppression, impaired gonadotropin stimulation of the Leydig cell and CA mediated alterations in gonadal blood supply.

Aerobiosis↗
PubMed1985

Characterization by nuclear magnetic resonance of the concanavalin A binding oligosaccharide on the beta b chain of placental beta-hexosaminidase B: lectin binding to the separated polypeptide chains of hexosaminidases A and B.

The type and distribution of the oligosaccharides on each polypeptide of human placental beta-hexosaminidases A (alpha (beta a beta b)) and B (2(beta a beta b)) were examined. The denatured polypeptides were separated by isoelectric focussing in a polyacrylamide slab gel and each gel was then overlaid with 125I-labelled lectins. The study indicated that the beta a chain contains negligible carbohydrate, the beta b chain contains both the high-mannose and a complex type oligosaccharide, and the alpha chain contains predominantly high-mannose or hybrid type moieties. Two asparagine-linked high-mannose type oligosaccharides present on the beta b polypeptide of beta-hexosaminidase B were isolated by concanavalin A chromatography and by reverse-phase high pressure liquid chromatography. Proton nuclear magnetic resonance characterization of the oligosaccharides revealed an equimolar glycan mixture of the high-mannose type structure Man5 and Man6.

Autoradiography↗