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Biomedical subjects

E Kennedy

Publications and source records attributed to E Kennedy.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Health and nutrition effects of cash crop production in developing countries: a comparative analysis.

The paper presents results of a comparative analysis of the health and nutritional effects of cash crop production in 6 countries--The Gambia, Guatemala, Kenya, Malawi, the Philippines, and Rwanda. The 6 country case studies were conducted during the same time period and used a similar, although not identical, research protocol. Participation in cash crop schemes resulted in increases in household income. Short-term increases in household income did not result in a decrease in the incidence of illness in preschool-aged children nor in the total time that preschoolers were ill. Increases in household income did result in increases in the preschooler's energy consumption; however, the income/calorie consumption links, although significant, were weak. The household income gains did not have an immediate or large impact on preschooler nutritional status. While, in the longer term, increases in income may bring about improvements in preschooler health, in the short term, it appears that increases in income must be accompanied by improvements in the health environment in order to have a significant effect in reducing preschooler morbidity and improving child nutritional status.

Agriculture↗
PubMed1991

Cytotoxic effects of children's faeces: relation to diarrhoea due to Clostridium difficile and other enteric pathogens.

Cytotoxicity of faecal extracts was demonstrated in 47 of 88 children (54%) referred for microbiological investigation of stools. Cytotoxic Clostridium difficile and vertotoxigenic Escherichia coli (VTEC) were the pathogens identified most commonly but cytotoxicity was also found in association with Campylobacter jejuni, Salmonella spp, Shigella sonnei, Giardia lamblia, rotavirus, adenovirus and poliovirus type 1 which had been acquired by oral immunization. In two patients, one of whom had cystic fibrosis, cytotoxicity of faecal extracts was associated with isolation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In five of 13 patients with diarrhoea and cytotoxic C. difficile, other pathogens were also present, in agreement with the view that C. difficile are more readily recovered when the intestinal flora have been altered by colonization with other micro-organisms. There was no correlation between previous treatment with antibiotics and isolation of C. difficile. Cytotoxicity neutralized by antitoxin, usually to C. sordellii, is used to detect cytotoxic C. difficile. We suggest that cytotoxicity not neutralized in this way should be an indication for further investigation of stools for the presence of other pathogens such as VTEC or viruses.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Survival of patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome and disseminated Mycobacterium avium complex infection with and without antimycobacterial chemotherapy.

The contribution of disseminated Mycobacterium avium complex (DMAC) infection to the morbidity and mortality of patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is unclear. Previous studies that suggested the decreased survival of patients with AIDS and DMAC had incomplete information on patient immunologic status and follow-up. We studied patients with AIDS and DMAC and compared their survival with that of AIDS patients without DMAC but with other comparable risk factors for survival. Case and control subjects were similar in terms of CD4 cell count, prior AIDS status, history of antiretroviral therapy, history of Pneumocystis carinii prophylaxis, and year of diagnosis. A group of 39 patients with untreated DMAC had significantly shorter survival, mean of 5.6 +/- 1.1 months (median 4 months), than 39 matched patients with AIDS but without DMAC, mean 10.8 +/- 1.3 months (median 11 months, p less than 0.0001). The survival of 16 additional patients with DMAC who received antimycobacterial therapy, mean of 9.5 +/- 1.4 months (median 8 months), was not significantly shorter than that of an additional 16 matched control subjects, mean 11.7 +/- 1.9 months (median 11 months, p = 0.58). Patients with treated DMAC survived significantly longer than those with untreated DMAC (p less than 0.01). We conclude that untreated DMAC significantly shortens survival. Moreover, these results indicate that patients with DMAC who receive antimycobacterial therapy do not experience the shortened survival seen in untreated DMAC.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1990

Distribution of primaquine in human blood: drug-binding to alpha 1-glycoprotein.

To clarify the distribution of the antimalarial primaquine in human blood, we measured the drug separately in the liquid, cellular, and ultrafiltrate phases. Washed red cells resuspended at a hematocrit of 0.4 were exposed to a submaximal therapeutic level of 250 ng/ml of carbon 14-labeled primaquine. The tracer was recovered quantitatively in separated plasma and red cells. Over 75% of the total labeled drug was found in red cells suspended in saline solution, but only 10% to 30% in red cells suspended in plasma. The plasma effect was not mediated by albumin. Studies with alpha 1-acid glycoprotein (AGP), tris(2-butoxyethyl)phosphate, an agent that displaces AGP-bound drugs, and cord blood known to have decreased AGP established that primaquine binds to physiologic amounts of the glycoprotein in plasma. Red cell primaquine concentration increased linearly as AGP level fell and as the free drug fraction rose. We suggest that clinical blood levels of primaquine include the red cell fraction or whole blood level because (1) erythrocytic primaquine is a sizable and highly variable component of the total drug in blood; (2) this component reflects directly the free drug in plasma, and inversely the extent of binding to AGP; (3) the amount of free primaquine may influence drug transport into specific tissues in vivo; and (4) fluctuations of AGP, an acute-phase reactant that increases greatly in patients with malaria and other infections, markedly affect the partition of primaquine in blood. Because AGP binds many basic drugs, unrecognized primaquine-drug interactions may exist.

Carbon Radioisotopes↗
PubMed1989

An examination of the relationship between childhood depression and social competence amongst primary school children.

Forty-three primary school children who scored in the clinical range of the Children's Depression Inventory were compared with 43 children who were categorized as fearful but not depressed and a control group of 43 children who were classed as nondepressed-nonfearful. Subjects were matched across groups on the basis of grade and sex. The analyses were performed twice, initially with a depressed sample that excluded any depressed-fearful children and again with a depressed group that included such children. The results revealed that, independent of whether the depressed category included children who were also fearful, the depressed group reported lower levels of assertiveness and greater submissiveness, less adequate social skills performance, received lower ratings of peer popularity, fewer positive nominations from peer sociometry and more negative nominations. Depressed children were much more likely to be rejected or isolated by their peers than were their fearful or control counterparts.

Child↗
PubMed1987

Towards a general measure of distortion.

An approach to the measurement of distortion in hearing aids is presented. Distortion is first defined in general terms. The technique is then applied to the specific problem of predicting the detectability of non-linear distortion. Distortion indices have been obtained for two common, but very different forms of distortion: peak clipping (common to most conventional hearing aids); and, quantization (a form of distortion common to digital systems including digital hearing aids). Distortion indices were derived for the two forms of distortion in steady-state vowels. The results showed good agreement between the distortion indices at the just-detectable level of distortion.

Acoustics↗
PubMed1980

Kennedy - on health.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Delivery of Health Care↗
PubMed1978

Localization of the site of urinary tract infections by means of antibody-coated bacteria in the urinary sediments.

A prospective study was conducted in children with urinary tract infections to examine the relationship between the presence of antibody-coated bacteria in the urinary sediments and the presence of pyelonephritis. The site of the urinary tract infection was localized as upper or lower urinary tract by the bladder washout technique. Antibody-coated bacteria in the urinary sediments were identified by an immunofluorescent method. In 4 of 12 children with upper urinary tract infections, less than 1% of the bacteria in the urinary sediments were antibody coated. In 10 of 35 children with lower urinary tract infections more than 50% of the bacteria in the urinary sediments were antibody coated. These studies show no significant correlation between the presence of antibody-coated bacteria in urinary sediments and infection of the upper urinary tract.

Adolescent↗