PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

D J Emerson

Publications and source records attributed to D J Emerson.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

A longitudinal comparison of the psychological impact on mothers of neonatal and 3 month repair of cleft lip.

PURPOSE: This study investigates whether the timing after birth of babies' cleft repairs influences the psychological status of mothers. METHODS: Mothers of infants born with a cleft lip completed psychological assessments and semistructured interviews at four time points: 2-3 weeks, 3 months and 6 months following the birth. In addition, a preoperative assessment and interview was completed within the first week of birth for those with infants undergoing neonatal repair and within the week before surgery for the 3 month repair group. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between mothers of infants with early (neonatal) and late (3 month) repairs on the emotional measures at any time point or preoperatively. Means of measures for anxiety and depressive symptoms and the Impact of Event Scale were within the normal range. Measures of interaction with the infant, perceived infant difficulty, bonding and parental competence failed to show any impact of timing of operation. Women's emotional status improved significantly over the 6 month period regardless of operation timing. Qualitative analysis of interview data indicated most mothers preferred their infant to receive neonatal repair. CONCLUSIONS: There was no evidence to support the idea that repair neonatally or at 3 months led to differential levels of anxiety or depressive symptoms or differences in attachment to the infant. Nevertheless mothers expressed a preference for and greater satisfaction with neonatal repair. In the absence of definitive evidence of differences in physical outcome, parental preferences should routinely be considered in deciding the timing of this procedure.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1988

Squamous cell carcinoma of skin developing in a skin graft donor site.

We report a case of squamous cell carcinoma of the skin of the right ring finger which was treated by excision and split skin grafting. Three months later the patient presented with a further lesion at the margin of the skin graft donor site on the right thigh. Excision biopsy of this second lesion revealed a squamous cell carcinoma of a similar pathological appearance to the original lesion. We have been unable to trace any previous similar reports. A possible pathological basis for the sequence of events is discussed.

Carcinoma, Squamous Cell↗
PubMed1988

Whitehead's varnish and Jelonet--a better dressing for skin graft donor sites than Jelonet alone.

Two methods of skin autograft donor site management were evaluated in 40 patients in a prospective randomised double-blind clinical trial. Donor sites were dressed using either a standard dressing of Jelonet, gauze, wool and a crêpe bandage or Jelonet, Whitehead's varnish (compound iodoform paint BPC), gauze, wool and a crêpe bandage. Donor site pain was assessed daily using a linear analogue scale, and the healing time of the donor area was recorded. Whitehead's varnish significantly reduced donor site pain compared to the standard dressing (P = 0.0006). Although overall healing time was not statistically different in the two groups, larger donor sites treated with Jelonet and Whitehead's varnish healed more quickly than those treated with the standard dressing alone.

Bandages↗
PubMed1984

Immediate excision and skin graft of a friction burn in a replanted thumb with a note on its usefulness and indications.

A case is presented in which an area of friction burn was excised from the dorsum of a replanted thumb and the wound closed with a split-skin graft. In our experience successful revascularisation of similar injuries has often been followed by progressive venous failure. It is suggested that this technique, by decompressing the tissues, may prevent stagnation and propagation of thrombus, protect the interpositional graft and avoid subsequent venous failure with loss of the replanted digit.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Quantitative correspondence between the in vivo and in vitro activity of teratogenic agents.

We have tested 74 teratogenic and 28 nonteratogenic agents in a recently developed in vitro teratogen assay system. The assay identifies teratogens by their ability to inhibit attachment of ascites tumor cells to plastic surfaces coated with concanavalin A. There is a qualitative agreement between in vivo animal data and in vitro activity for 81 of the 102 agents (79%). Quantitative analysis shows a highly significant correlation coefficient of 0.69 between the inhibitory in vitro dose and the lowest reported teratogenic dose for 54 of the 60 inhibitory teratogens. The doses analyzed ranged over 5 orders of magnitude. We interpret these results to mean that attachment inhibition in concert with other, complementary, in vitro assay systems can become a useful method for the assessment of the teratogenic potential of environmental agents.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Extraction of Clostridium perfringens spores from bottom sediment samples.

Two extraction-separation procedures were developed and evaluated for use in conjunction with the mCP membrane filter method for the enumeration of Clostridium perfringens spores in bottom sediments. In the more facile of the two procedures, a distilled-water suspension of the sediment sample is pulse sonicated for 10 s and allowed to settle. Portions of the supernatant are then removed for membrane filtration. This procedure is recommended for general use. The more complicated procedure is recommended for situations in which the presence of high levels of toxic materials is suspected or in which relatively low spore densities are present in fine silts. In this procedure, sonication is followed by a distilled water wash. The centrifuged sediment is resuspended in distilled water and mixed with the components of a two-phase separation system (50% polyethylene glycol in distilled water and 25% sucrose in 3 M phosphate buffer [pH 7.1]). After equilibration of the system and low-speed centrifugation, the top phase and interphase are removed, mixed, and membrane filtered. The recoveries of C. perfringens spores by the two procedures, when used in conjunction with the mCP method, were comparable to each other and significantly greater than those by the British most-probable-number method. It was estimated that more than 85% of the spores were recovered by the procedures. The precision of the sonicate-and-settle-mCP procedure was markedly better than that obtained theoretically by the most-probable-number method and approached that theoretically attributable to counting an average of 85 colonies on each of two plates.

Centrifugation↗
PubMed1981

The effect of prostacyclin on experimental random pattern flaps in the rat.

In a controlled experimental study of the survival of random pattern flaps in rats it has been found that pre-treatment with prostacyclin prior to raising the skin flaps did not improve flap survival. However, if treatment was begun at the commencement of the operation and continued afterwards, there was a significant improvement in flap survival compared with the viability predicted by intravital dye injection. Possible explanations of these findings are discussed and the suggestion put forward that in addition to reducing platelet adherence and vasoconstriction PGI2 may also stimulate the formation of new capillaries in ischaemic areas. This hypothesis requires further investigation.

Animals↗
PubMed1981

The use of prostacyclin in preventing occlusion of microvascular anastomoses by platelet thrombus: an experimental study in rats.

A pilot study was carried out to assess the value of Prostacyclin in presenting the occlusion of microvascular anastomoses by platelet thrombus using the femoral vein of the rat as the experimental model. This study showed a much higher patency rate in those anastomoses bathed in a solution of Prostacyclin compared with the control group. The difference was statistically significant. The use of Prostacyclin to prevent platelet thrombus occlusion in man requires investigation but may be limited by the short half-life of the solution.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Teratogenic drugs inhibit tumour cell attachment to lectin-coated surfaces.

Interactions between embryonic cells are generally thought to have a central role in the control of development. When these morphogenic interactions are interrupted by either physical intervention or genetic defects, normal development is impaired. In accord with these experiments, specific interactions between embryonic cells have been demonstrated in several in vitro systems. Many investigators have described homotypic aggregation of chick embryo cells, and heterotypic specificity has been described. Because of the importance of morphogenic cell-cell interactions in development it follows that agents that interfere with these interactions, regardless of the interference mechanism, are potential teratogens. Here we have used a simple in vitro cell to surface recognition system in an attempt to screen for potential teratogens. We have found a very high correlation between inhibitory activity in the in vitro assay and reported teratogenic activity in human or animal studies. This suggests that many teratogenic agents may act by interfering, in an as yet unknown way, in normal cell to cell interactions.

Animals↗