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Biomedical subjects

G Douglas

Publications and source records attributed to G Douglas.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Reputation enhancement theory and adolescent substance use.

Data pertaining to self-reported substance use, reputation enhancement, self-concept and coping strategies were obtained from 1,204 Western Australian metropolitan state high school adolescents using the High School Student Activity Questionnaire. Previous research has identified low self-concept levels and inadequate coping strategies as being major contributors to adolescent substance use. The findings of the present research offer some support for this. A 4 x 2 x 3 MANOVA revealed, however, that reputation enhancement differentiated between current substance users, ex-users and non-users to a greater extent than either self-concept levels or coping strategies. Differences between male and female students, however, were identified more through self-concept and coping variables than by reputation enhancement variables. No interaction effect and no main effect for year group were present. The implications for drug education are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1995

International Commission for Protection Against Environmental Mutagens and Carcinogens. Genetic risk extrapolation from animal data to human disease. A Taskgroup Report. No. 00105.

This report describes a model for producing quantitative genetic risk assessments for human populations. The model is patterned after current methods used in cancer risk analysis. The risk to humans is expressed as the number of additional dominant genetic diseases added to the existing genetic burden, in the offspring of the exposed individuals.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Plasma nitrate concentration and urinary nitrate excretion in patients with gastroenteritis.

The concentration of nitrate (the stable oxidation product of nitric oxide) in plasma and its excretion in urine was measured in 20 patients with a diagnosis of gastroenteritis. On day 1 of the illness plasma nitrate concentration was significantly elevated compared with a healthy control population (92.7 +/- 17.0 mumol/l vs. 33.1 +/- 1.6 mumol/l; P < 0.001) and continued to be elevated on days 2 and 3. Urinary nitrate excretion was also elevated. The plasma nitrate concentration correlated with disease severity as assessed by stool frequency and plasma urea concentration. Plasma nitrate concentration may be a sensitive and clinically useful indicator of severity of gastroenteritis.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

The short-time effect of latanoprost on the intraocular pressure in normal pressure glaucoma.

Latanoprost, a prostaglandin analogue, was given topically to 20 patients with normal pressure glaucoma in a double masked randomized study. Either latanoprost 0.006% or placebo (vehicle) was administered twice a day for 14 days. Latanoprost caused a statistically significant (p < 0.001) reduction in intraocular pressure from a diurnal baseline level of 16.8 to 14.3 mmHg, as measured on day 14. Latanoprost was well tolerated.

Administration, Topical↗
PubMed1995

The importance of self-efficacy as a mediating variable between learning environments and achievement.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the extent to which self-efficacy acts as a mediating variable between the learning environment and achievement. Seven year 5 classes (N = 179 students aged 9 to 10 years) were allocated randomly to cooperative, competitive or individualistic environments for twice-weekly social studies lessons, changing environments after five weeks. Data collected on self-efficacy and achievement in weeks 5 and 10 indicated that co-operative environments led to higher self-efficacy and achievement as well as more appropriate behaviour. The performance of particular tasks under competition appears to be enhanced when students have previously worked co-operatively, but may be difficult to sustain as self-efficacy and behaviour standards decline.

Child↗
PubMed1995

Corynebacterium afermentans subsp. lipophilum: multiple abscess formation in brain and liver.

Corynebacterium afermentans, a species recently identified, has previously been isolated from human blood cultures. We report the case of a previously healthy 39-year-old man who developed a brain abscess and a liver abscess due to Corynebacterium afermentans subsp. lipophilum. The liver abscess penetrated through the diaphragm to cause pleural effusion and periostitis of the ribs. We believe this is the first reported case of disseminated infection with abscess formation due to this organism.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Saving sight.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Blindness↗
PubMed1994

Integrated care for patients with asthma: views of general practitioners.

BACKGROUND: In 1989, a shared or integrated care scheme was developed for hospital outpatients with asthma, using the computerized patient record system of Grampian Health Board, Scotland. Patients with asthma attending hospital clinics were entered into this scheme and were invited to attend their general practitioner instead of an outpatient clinic for review of their asthma. Three-monthly questionnaires covering clinical aspects of asthma were sent to these patients and their general practitioners; the latter then returned them to the specialist. Patients could be recalled to the hospital clinic if either the general practitioner or consultant felt this was necessary and all patients were reviewed after one year by the specialist. The success of integrated care for patients with asthma relies on the cooperation of general practitioners. AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate how this scheme worked in general practice, and general practitioners' perceptions of it, in order to identify factors that enhance or inhibit integrated care for patients with asthma in general practice. METHOD: A qualitative survey was carried out with a random, stratified sample of 38 of the 317 general practitioners in the region. Semi-structured interviews were designed to elicit general practitioners' accounts of their operation of integrated care and their attitudes towards the scheme. RESULTS: General practitioners perceived the scheme to have several advantages: the continuity and quality of care provided was improved; and the transmission of information between general practitioner and specialist was enhanced. Regular general practitioner reviews, instigated by standard letters generated by computer, were favoured as being clearly structured. Concerns were raised about the processing of paperwork, and the possibility that unnecessary reviews might be generated. CONCLUSION: Integrated care for asthma patients is an acceptable management option among general practitioners.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

The effect of cognitive style and mode of presentation on learning performance.

The effect of text-plus-text versus text-plus-picture computer presentation conditions, and the students' cognitive styles, on learning performance was investigated. In the text-plus-text condition, the learning material content described the working of car braking systems. The text-plus-picture condition consisted of text with additional pictorial information. Fifty-nine 15-16-year-old students in a secondary school were randomly assigned, within sexes, to one of the conditions. Having worked through the computer presented material, they were given a post-test overall learning performance. Immediately following this, they did the Cognitive Styles Analysis (CSA) (Riding, 1991) which measures an individual's position on two cognitive style dimensions; Verbal-Imagery and Wholist-Analytic. It was found that the Verbal-Imagery cognitive style and presentation condition interacted in their effect on overall learning performance (p < .05). In the text-plus-picture condition Imagers were superior to Verbalisers, while the text-plus-text condition Verbalisers did better than Imagers. It was also observed that Imagers used more diagrams to illustrate their answers than Verbalisers. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for instruction.

Achievement↗
PubMed1992

Social effects of wheeze in childhood: a 25 year follow up.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the outcome of childhood wheeze in terms of education, employment, housing, and social class. DESIGN: 25 year follow up study. SETTING: Community study based at the department of thoracic medicine, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. PARTICIPANTS: Three groups of subjects who had been identified in a random community survey in 1964: those who had had asthma in childhood (n = 97), those who had wheezed only in the presence of upper respiratory tract infections (n = 132), and a comparison group who had had no respiratory symptoms as children (n = 131). Subjects were aged 34 to 40 years at the time of the current study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Interview and questionnaire data on education, employment, housing and social class, ventilatory function, and peak flow rate. RESULTS: Pulmonary function testing showed that only the "asthmatic" group had airways obstruction; this group showed greater peak flow variation than the "wheezy" group, which did not differ from the comparison group. The asthmatic subjects were more likely to have experienced respiratory problems during their school years and associated with their work. Despite these problems, educational attainment, employment, housing, and eventual social class were similar for all three groups. CONCLUSION: Childhood wheeze did not adversely affect education, employment, housing, or social class in this population.

Asthma↗
PubMed1991

Characteristics of the normal central visual field measured with resolution perimetry.

The ring perimeter is an innovative device that measures the resolution threshold at 50 locations in the central visual field in approximately 6 min. This study was undertaken to define the characteristics of the resolution visual field in normal eyes using this instrument and to check the repeatability of the measurement. A total of 114 perimetrically naive, normal subjects aged from 20 to 79 years were prospectively enrolled; 55 randomly chosen subjects were tested twice, with a rest period of less than or equal to 60 s elapsing between examinations. The resolution threshold increased towards the periphery in all subjects. A small but significant decline in sensitivity occurred with age; this loss was greatest in the inner part of the field. Variability in threshold between subjects was not found to increase towards the periphery or in the upper field as compared with the lower. The field was highly repeatable when reexamined in the same subject. This study defines the resolution visual field in normal subjects, along with its inter- and intra-observer variability, and gives age-corrected predictive confidence intervals for each location of the field using the ring perimeter.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Umbilical cord blood hematopoietic stem and repopulating cells in human clinical transplantation.

This paper reviews our recent laboratory and clinical studies demonstrating the efficacious use of human umbilical cord blood for HLA-matched allogeneic sibling stem/progenitor cell transplantation in cases of Fanconi's anemia. Future implications and potential problems are discussed with regards to (a) the possibility of maternal cell contamination, (b) the broadness of applicability with regards to other diseases that might be transplanted, and whether such transplants are feasible in adults, as well as in children, and (c) the immunological reactivity of cord blood cells, and whether these cells can be used to cross histocompatibility barriers more easily than that of bone marrow from adults.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Comparison of three assays for genetic effects of antineoplastic drugs on cancer patients and their nurses.

Three assays have been compared for their ability to detect genetic damage caused by antineoplastic drugs in cancer patients and possible damage in the nurses who administered these drugs. The assays were sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) and chromosomal aberrations in peripheral blood lymphocytes, and the Salmonella/mammalian microsome assay on urine. Three comparisons were made: 1) patients before versus after treatment; 2) the administering nurses immediately after their work period versus after a few days off that followed (work and off-work); 3) the exposed nurses versus other nurses who did not administer antineoplastic drugs (controls). The SCE assay detected the treatments in all eight patients from whom complete data were obtained, and was positive in two nurses with a long history of smoking. The Salmonella/mammalian microsome assay detected eight of ten treatments in patients but failed to detect smokers. Four of nine patients receiving treatment were detected by the analysis of chromosomal aberrations. The SCE assay did not distinguish between the work and off-work samples in either the exposed or control nurses. The exposed nurses, as a group, had slightly fewer SCEs than the controls due to the two smokers detected in the latter group. Chromosomal aberration was the only assay which showed significant difference between the two samples of the exposed nurses and, consequently, between the exposed and control nurses. These differences, however, arose primarily from a higher frequency of aberrations found among the exposed nurses in samples taken after a few days away from work, rather than at the end of their work period. There is no evidence that the increase was connected to occupational exposure.

Adult↗