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Biomedical subjects

D Prentice

Publications and source records attributed to D Prentice.

28 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

The Biosure Study: influence of composition of diet and food consumption on longevity, degenerative diseases and neoplasia in Wistar rats studied for up to 30 months post weaning.

The 1200-rat Biosure Study had six interrelated aims: (1) To see whether dietary restriction (80% ad lib.) reduces the age-standardized incidence of fatal or potentially fatal neoplasia before the age of 30 months. (2) To see whether the beneficial effects of diet restriction can be achieved by (a) limiting the daily period of access to food to 6 hr, or by (b) limiting the energy value of the diet. (3) To see whether reduced calorie intake between weaning and age 4 months influences survival and/or incidence of non-neoplastic and neoplastic diseases. (4) To compare effects of food consumption, energy intake and protein intake on survival and disease. (5) To study the relationships between body weight at different ages with eventual survival and disease incidence. (6) To provide a database for studying relationships between various in-life measurements and eventual survival and disease incidence in individual animals. Twelve groups of SKF Wistar rats consisting of 50 animals of each sex were fed according to different dietary regimens from when they were weaned at the age of 3 wk until they died, or had to be killed because they were sick, or until the experiment was terminated at 30 months. For five of the 12 dietary regimens, satellite groups consisting of 30 animals per sex were maintained in parallel and used to supply information on the effect of diet on circulating hormone levels during the course of the study. During the 13 wk post weaning a Standard Breeder diet (SB) was provided either ad lib. (four groups), 80% ad lib. (three groups), or with access to food limited to 6 hr per day (one group). During this same period two other groups were fed a Low Nutrient Breeder diet (LB) ad lib. A further group was fed a Low Nutrient Maintenance (high fibre) diet (LM) ad lib. Finally, one group was fed the high protein Porton Rat diet (PR) ad lib.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Age Factors↗

Pulmonary complications of trauma.

Pulmonary complications can be the result of direct chest trauma or can occur from indirect trauma outside of the thorax. Understanding the mechanism of pulmonary function in determining intrapulmonary shunt and physiologic deadspace can assist the clinician in assessing the severity and monitoring the progression of pulmonary injury in patients. This article reviews assessment parameters, physiology, and treatment of direct and indirect pulmonary trauma.

Contusions↗

Risks of premature death and cancer predicted by body weight in early adult life.

In a study of 30 months duration, involving 600 male and 600 female Wistar rats fed on 12 different diets/dietary regimes, none of which involved deliberate exposure to any known genotoxic carcinogen, highly significant between-group differences were observed in survival and incidence of various neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases. A full report of the findings is being prepared. Here we report that, irrespective of diet or dietary regime, there were highly significant correlations of body weight at 29 weeks of age with premature death (P less than 0.0001 in both males and females), with development of benign or malignant neoplasm of any site (P less than 0.0001 in males and P less than 0.01 in females) and with development of malignant neoplasm at any site (P less than 0.0001 for sexes combined). Numerous kinds of neoplasm contributed to these overall correlations. The most significant were pituitary tumour (P less than 0.0001), mammary gland tumour (P less than 0.0001), squamous or anaplastic carcinoma of the jaw (P less than 0.001), and subcutaneous mesodermal tumours (P less than 0.05). The 20% of rats that were heaviest at 29 weeks were more than twice as likely to die prematurely than the lightest 20% (2.56 times--males, and 2.11 times--females), and almost twice as likely to develop a malignant tumour (1.87 times for the sexes combined). These findings have important implications for the design and interpretation of carcinogenicity tests in rodents and of laboratory and human studies of relationships between diet, ageing-related degenerative diseases, and cancer.

Animals↗

A decentralized admission screening protocol for a geriatric rehabilitation program: does it make a difference?

The purpose of this retrospective evaluation study was to compare outcomes related to two distinct processes for screening people referred for admission to a geriatric rehabilitation program at a chronic care hospital in southern Ontario. Data were collected through chart review and focus group methods. The results were unexpected in that the projected outcomes associated with the newer referral screening process did not materialize. For both referral screening processes, findings are discussed in terms of the percentage of achieved patient rehabilitation goals. The average lengths of patient stay associated with both screening processes were also compared. No statistically significant differences between the two processes were found in terms of either the percentage of goals achieved or the length of patient stay. Focus group sessions were held to elicit team members' perceptions of the effectiveness of each of the referral processes. Participants in the focus groups were supportive of the newer referral screening and admission process although the evidence gathered from the chart review did not demonstrate improvements in patients' length of stay or an increase in the percentage of rehabilitation goals achieved.

Aged↗

A comparison of infrared ear thermometry with electronic predictive thermometry in a geriatric setting.

This project had three purposes: to determine the test/retest reliability of three thermometers--an infrared ear thermometer, an oral electronic predictive thermometer, and an oral mercury-in-glass thermometer (MIGT); determine the validity (accuracy) of the first two thermometers using the MIGT as the gold standard; and calculate the thermometers' sensitivity and specificity for detecting fever using 37.5 degrees C on the MIGT as the criterion. The MIGT had the best reliability, followed by the electronic predictive and infrared ear thermometer (for validity, the former was more accurate than the latter). Little difference existed in the latter two thermometers' sensitivity and specificity. However, the confidence intervals were wide, and further studies with larger samples need to be done to elucidate the thermometers' diagnostic properties.

Aged↗