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Biomedical subjects

D McCarty

Publications and source records attributed to D McCarty.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Impact of pre-hospital care in patients with acute myocardial infarction compared with those first managed in-hospital.

AIMS: To compare prospectively the impact of pre-hospital care by a physician-staffed mobile coronary care unit with patients managed initially in-hospital, all with acute myocardial infarction. METHODS AND RESULTS: This was a single centre registry of consecutive patients (n=750) admitted with acute myocardial infarction to the coronary care unit and cardiology wards of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast between 1998 and 2001. For the 750 patients, in-hospital mortality was 11% and was significantly lower for those managed pre-hospital (8% vs 13%, P=0.04): patients who received fibrinolytic therapy (n=474), the in-hospital mortality was significantly lower in the pre-hospital group (7% vs 13%, P=0.02). Those managed pre-hospital had significant reduction in the median delay times (25th, 75th percentiles) from onset of symptoms to call for help 1.0 (0.5, 2.2) vs 2.0 (0.9, 6.0) h, P<0.001, from call for help to receiving fibrinolytic therapy 1.0 (0.8, 1.5) vs 1.8 (1.2, 2.5) h, P<0.001 resulting in a shorter pain-to-needle time for fibrinolytic therapy 2.3 (1.5, 3.8) vs 4.0 (2.6, 7.2) h, P<0.001. For all patients, older age, haemodynamic indicators on admission (hypotension, higher heart rate, heart failure) and managed by the in-hospital route were significant independent variables for an adverse in-hospital mortality. Although for patients aged >or=75 years no statistical significant reduction in mortality occurred for those managed pre-hospital (P=0.051), nevertheless patients in this age group first treated pre-hospital who received fibrinolytic therapy had a significantly lower mortality than those first treated in-hospital (21% vs 43%, P=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Consecutive patients with acute myocardial infarction seen and managed initially out-of-hospital by a physician-staffed mobile coronary care unit had significantly lower in-hospital mortality.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Effects of managed care on programs and practices for the treatment of alcohol and drug dependence.

Managed care is affecting the organization and financing of treatment services for alcohol and drug dependence. This paper examines the effects of managed care on program operations including the use of clinical protocols, the administrative burden, information systems, staffing, and program consolidation. It also reviews the effects of managed care on system performance related to employer-sponsored health plans, state employee health plans, and Medicaid and other public plans. Our review of managed care's influences on the alcohol and drug abuse treatment system finds evidence of systemic reductions in access to inpatient care and increased reliance on outpatient services. Moreover, although analyses of behavioral health carve-outs often suggest increases in the use of outpatient care, evaluations of substance abuse claims report reductions in ambulatory utilization for the treatment of alcohol and drug dependence.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed2001

Public sector managed care for substance abuse treatment: opportunities for health services research.

Observations of reduced utilization of alcohol and drug abuse treatment following the introduction of managed behavioral health care suggest that substance abuse services may be especially responsive to managed care restrictions and limits. In publicly funded treatment systems, patient attributes, system and provider characteristics, and financing mechanisms may heighten susceptibility to unintended effects. The State Substance Abuse and Mental Health Treatment Managed Care Evaluation Program reviewed state managed care programs for publicly funded alcohol and drug treatment services and is evaluating programs in Arizona, Iowa, Maryland, and Nebraska. The article describes initiatives and outlines evaluation activities. It discusses the opportunities and challenges of assessing public managed care plans.

Arizona↗
PubMed2000

Treatment of warfarin-associated coagulopathy with oral vitamin K: a randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Warfarin-associated coagulopathy is a frequent clinical complication. We aimed to assess whether treatment with vitamin K is safe and more effective than placebo in rapidly lowering the international normalised ratio (INR) into the therapeutic range in over anticoagulated patients receiving warfarin. METHODS: We did a multicentre, double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised trial in five tertiary care hospitals. In this study, patients receiving warfarin who had an INR value between 4.5 and 10.0, and who did not have an indication for the immediate normalisation of their INR, had their warfarin withheld, and were randomly allocated to receive either 1 mg of vitamin K or placebo orally. The primary outcome measure was the INR value on the day after treatment. Secondary outcome measures included INR values on subsequent days, and the risk of haemorrhage and recurrent thrombosis over a 3 month follow-up period. FINDINGS: Patients given vitamin K had a more rapid decrease in the INR than those given placebo (25 of 45 (56%] vs nine of 44 [20%] patients with INR values of 1.8-3.2 on the day after treatment, respectively, p=0.001; odds ratio [OR] 0.21, 95% CI 0.07-0.57). Fewer patients given vitamin K had bleeding episodes during the follow-up period than those given placebo (two [4%] vs eight [17%] patients, respectively, p=0.050; OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.019-0.999). INTERPRETATION: Low dose oral vitamin K is more effective than placebo for the rapid lowering of raised INR values in patients taking warfarin.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed2000

Detoxification centers: who's in the revolving door?

Data from 443,812 admissions to publicly funded detoxification centers in Massachusetts (fiscal year 1984 to fiscal year 1996) were analyzed to assess changes in the population served. Substantial increases in admissions of women, African Americans, and Hispanics were apparent. Mean age at admission declined and unemployment increased. A 25% decline in admissions reporting alcohol use was coupled with a twofold increase in reported cocaine use and a fourfold increase in heroin use. Detoxification services have evolved. The older, white, male alcoholic is no longer the primary consumer. Policy initiatives (e.g., increased services for women) and the changing epidemiology of drugs abuse (e.g., increased access to heroin) contributed to the changing population served in detoxification centers.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

The costs of crime and the benefits of substance abuse treatment for pregnant women.

Although many pregnant, drug-dependent women report extensive criminal justice involvement, few studies have examined reductions in crime as an outcome of substance abuse treatment programs for pregnant women. This is unfortunate, because maternal criminal involvement can have serious health and cost implications for the unborn child, the mother and society. Using the Addiction Severity Index, differences in pre- and posttreatment criminal involvement were measured for a sample of 439 pregnant women who entered publicly funded treatment programs in Massachusetts between 1992 and 1997. Accepted cost of illness methods were supplemented with information from the Bureau of Justice Statistics to estimate the costs and benefits of five treatment modalities: detoxification only (used as a minimal treatment comparison group), methadone only, residential only, outpatient only, and residential/outpatient combined. Projected to a year, the net benefits (avoided costs of crime net of treatment costs) ranged from US$32,772 for residential only to US$3,072 for detoxification. Although all five modalities paid for themselves by reducing criminal activities, multivariate regressions controlling for baseline differences between the groups showed that reductions in crime and related costs were significantly greater for women in the two residential programs. The study provides economic justification for the continuation and possible expansion of residential substance abuse treatment programs for criminally involved pregnant women.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Chronic ethanol increases adeno-associated viral transgene expression in rat liver via oxidant and NFkappaB-dependent mechanisms.

Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) transduction is limited in vivo, yet can be enhanced by hydroxyurea, ultraviolet-irradiation, or adenovirus coinfection, possibly via mechanisms involving stress in the host cell. Because chronic ethanol induces oxidative stress, it was hypothesized that chronic ethanol would increase rAAV transduction in vivo. To test this hypothesis, rAAV encoding beta-galactosidase was given to Wistar rats that later received either ethanol diet or high-fat control diet via an enteral-feeding protocol for 3 weeks. Expression and activity of beta-galactosidase in the liver were increased nearly 5-fold by ethanol. The increase in transgene expression was inhibited by antioxidant diphenylene iodonium (DPI), which is consistent with the hypothesis that ethanol causes an increase in rAAV transduction via oxidative stress. Ethanol increased DNA synthesis only slightly; however, it increased the nuclear transcription factor kappaB (NFkappaB) 4-fold, a phenomenon also sensitive to DPI. Moreover, a 6-fold increase in rAAV transgene expression was observed in an acute ischemia-reperfusion model of oxidative stress. Transgene expression was transiently increased 24 hours after ischemia-reperfusion 3 days and 3 weeks after rAAV infection. Further, adenoviral expression of superoxide dismutase or IkappaBalpha superrepressor inhibited rAAV transgene expression caused by ischemia-reperfusion. Therefore, it is concluded that ethanol increases rAAV transgene expression via mechanisms dependent on oxidative stress, and NFkappaB likely through enhancement of cytomegaloviral (CMV) promoter elements. Alcoholic liver disease is an attractive target for gene therapy because consumption of ethanol could theoretically increase expression of therapeutic genes (e.g., superoxide dismutase). Moreover, this study has important implications for rAAV gene therapy and potential enhancement and regulation of transgene expression in liver.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Between despair and hope: health services research on treatment of alcohol abuse.

Conference papers have highlighted the difficulty of conducting valid analyses of alcohol and drug abuse treatment services. Because of these difficulties, investigators, providers and policy makers could feel overwhelmed and be reluctant to initiate studies. The papers, however, also offer guidance and encourage researchers to apply these methods and improve their investigations. Common features of the papers are noted and the potential for making contributions to the state of the art is examined. Aspects of health services research that are not addressed in the papers are also discussed. Although alcohol services research is not easy and can be improved, the state of alcohol services research is where it belongs--in the middle of the personal, programmatic and policy level struggles to achieve stable recoveries from alcohol and drug dependence.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed2000

Type 2 diabetes worldwide according to the new classification and criteria.

Two major reports have recently revised the classification of and diagnostic criteria for diabetes. Classification was previously based on the need for insulin (insulin-dependent or non-insulin-dependent), but this has become increasingly confusing. Now, the type of diabetes is determined by the etiological process rather than the treatment modality. Type 1 diabetes is thus characterized by islet cell destruction and type 2 diabetes by a combination of defects in insulin secretion and action. An individual with either type of diabetes may be on any treatment modality. This classification should prove to be more logical and, for example, allow latent autoimmune diabetes in adults, which typically does not require insulin at presentation, to be classified as type 1 diabetes. The fasting plasma glucose diagnostic threshold for diabetes has been lowered to 7.0 mmol/l (126 mg/dl), and impaired fasting glucose (fasting plasma glucose 6.1-6.9 mmol/l [110-125 mg/dl]) has been introduced as a new category of intermediate glucose metabolism. These changes recognize that the old fasting threshold did not match the 2-h (postload) threshold well and that both micro- and macrovascular disease develop at lower fasting glucose levels than previously recognized. Although the prevalences of diabetes according to the new fasting and 2-h criteria are now similar in most populations, the actual individuals identified as having diabetes are often different. Over 30% of all those with diabetes have a nondiabetic fasting glucose but still have increased cardiovascular mortality. Thus, it is important to retain the oral glucose tolerance test for the diagnosis of diabetes.

Blood Glucose↗
PubMed2000

Welfare reform and the changing landscape of substance abuse services for low-income women.

Recent welfare reform policies could fundamentally change the nature of public-sector substance abuse services available to women. This review summarizes what is presently known about substance abuse services and women on welfare, and identifies limitations in our current knowledge about the potential effects of welfare reform. Five crucial areas are examined in which research on services has fallen short: (1) assessing the need for substance abuse services across a broad spectrum of welfare populations, (2) exploring the role that alcohol and drug problems play in welfare dependency, (3) examining how welfare programs can serve as pathways to alcohol and drug treatment, (4) evaluating the effectiveness and costs of innovative welfare-treatment programs, and (5) understanding systems-level adaptations in substance abuse services for women that result from changing welfare policies. We conclude that researchers who study services should take a broad view of these issues-one that considers the unique situation of poor women and single mothers, that views substance abuse within a work impairment or disabilities framework, and one that is attuned to future changes in the effects of welfare reform as the economy and labor markets undergo change.

Female↗
PubMed2000

The Lupus Foundation as an additional source for case ascertainment: developing a community-based lupus registry.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the local Lupus Foundation of America (LFA) chapter would provide a unique source of additional lupus incident cases for a population-based incidence registry of SLE. METHODS: We reviewed membership and telephone records from the LFA to identify potential lupus cases. These potential cases were compared with the names on our previously developed incidence registry. Non-matches were interviewed concerning demographic characteristics and the signs and symptoms of lupus. RESULTS: Of the 449 potential lupus cases identified through the LFA Western Pennsylvania Chapter (WPC), 108 (24%) were already in the incident lupus registry. Of the remaining unmatched cases, 26 reported a diagnosis of lupus in Allegheny County between 1985 and 1990. Of these, 5 patients met the criteria for definite or probable lupus. CONCLUSION: The LFA-WPC provided a negligible advantage in identifying additional incident lupus cases to those already identified through an established registry.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

New directions in alcohol and drug treatment under managed care.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the potential effects of the introduction and expansion of managed care on the financing and organization of public and private alcohol and drug abuse treatment systems by reviewing studies on managed care and substance abuse. STUDY DESIGN: Spending on treatment for alcohol and drug abuse, the organization of treatment, treatment workforce composition, provision of services, and their implications for access and treatment outcome were examined by review of the treatment literature. RESULTS: Managed care has had major effects on the organization of service delivery, the workforce, and the provision of services. Most of the changes have occurred without the benefit of clinical or policy research. Although managed care has the potential ability to address longstanding problems associated with alcohol and drug treatment, it also presents additional barriers to access and improving treatment outcome. CONCLUSIONS: The review suggests that organizational approaches, particularly the settings in which treatment is placed, will differ in their impact on ties between treatment agencies and the medical community, and ties with other health and social service agencies. Also of importance is a new emphasis on accountability of treatment through the mechanisms of outcomes monitoring and performance indicators. It remains to be seen whether these innovations will be meaningfully linked with outcomes research. It is incumbent on researchers and clinicians to explore these issues.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1999

Methadone maintenance and state Medicaid managed care programs.

Coverage for methadone services in state Medicaid plans may facilitate access to the most effective therapy for heroin dependence. State Medicaid plans were reviewed to assess coverage for methadone services, methadone benefits in managed care, and limitations on methadone treatment. Medicaid does not cover methadone maintenance medication in 25 states (59 percent). Only 12 states (24 percent) include methadone services in Medicaid managed care plans. Moreover, two of the 12 states limit coverage for counseling or medication and others permit health plans to set limits. State authorities for Medicaid and substance abuse can collaborate to ensure that appropriate medication and treatment services are available for Medicaid recipients who are dependent on opioids and to construct payment mechanisms that minimize incentives that discourage enrollment among heroin-dependent individuals.

Humans↗
PubMed1999

Crucial points at diagnosis. Type 2 diabetes or slow type 1 diabetes.

Two major types of diabetes have been recognized since the late 1930s. However, in recent times there have been major changes in classification and understanding of these types, including improved knowledge of maturity-onset diabetes in the young, with the identification of mutations relating to impaired insulin secretion and the recognition of slow-onset type 1 diabetes in adults now designated as latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA). A major problem area in diabetes classification concerns cases of slowly progressive forms of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, particularly in adults aged 25-50 years. This is a more contemporary problem because cases of type 2 diabetes are presenting at an increasingly younger age. In the landmark U.K. Prospective Diabetes Study of type 2 diabetes, islet cell antibodies (ICAs) and antibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase (anti-GAD) were measured at diagnosis in 3,672 patients. The overall proportion with ICAs was 6%, and anti-GADs was 10%. These subjects clearly had type 1 diabetes or LADA by both phenotypic and genotypic features. The presence of auto antibodies correlated particularly with a younger age and phenotypic features consistent with type 1 diabetes (e.g., early age at diagnosis, lower BMI, and reduced beta-cell function). Overall, of patients requiring insulin by 6 years, 38% were anti-GAD+ at baseline compared with 5.3% of those not on insulin at 6 years. Antibodies to GAD indicate an underlying autoimmune process and have a high positive predictive value for type 1 diabetes and future insulin dependency in adults.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Factors influencing adeno-associated virus-mediated gene transfer to human cystic fibrosis airway epithelial cells: comparison with adenovirus vectors.

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors appear promising for use in gene therapy in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, yet many features of AAV-mediated gene transfer to airway epithelial cells are not well understood. We compared the transduction efficiencies of AAV vectors and adenovirus (Ad) vectors in immortalized cell lines from CF patients and in nasal epithelial primary cultures from normal humans and CF patients. Similar dose-dependent relationships between the vector multiplicities of infection and the efficiencies of lacZ gene transfer were observed. However, levels of transduction for both Ad and recombinant AAV (rAAV) were significantly lower in the airway epithelial cell than in the control cell lines HeLa and HEK 293. Transduction efficiencies differed among cultured epithelial cell types, with poorly differentiated cells transducing more efficiently than well-differentiated cells. A time-dependent increase in gene expression was observed after infection for both vectors. For Ad, but not for AAV, this increase was dependent on prolonged incubation of cells with the vector. Furthermore, for rAAV (but not for rAd), the delay in maximal transduction could be abrogated by wild-type Ad helper infection. Thus, although helper virus is not required for maximal transduction, it increases the kinetics by which this is achieved. Expression of Ad E4 open reading frame 6 or addition of either hydroxyurea or camptothecin resulted in increased AAV transduction, as previously demonstrated for nonairway cells (albeit to lower final levels), suggesting that second-strand synthesis may not be the sole cause of inefficient transduction. Finally, the efficiency of AAV-mediated ex vivo gene transfer to lung cells was similar to that previously described for Ad vectors in that transduction was limited to regions of epithelial injury and preferentially targeted basal-like cells. These studies address the primary factors influencing rAAV infection of human airway cells and should impact successful gene delivery in CF patients.

Adenoviruses, Human↗