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Biomedical subjects

H J Walton

Publications and source records attributed to H J Walton.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Development of continuing medical education in Europe: a review.

This short review sets out some general facts and features concerning the development of continuing medical education (CME) in Europe. The review is intended as a basis for proposing plans and action for CME in the future. Europe, as it happens, was the birthplace and cradle of both scientifically based medical education in general and CME in particular. Three stages of development are distinguished: (1) Development of CME from the 19th century up to the beginning of the Second World War; (2) After 1945; (3) CME in the present.

Education, Medical, Continuing

The place of primary health care in medical education in the United Kingdom: a survey.

Primary health care has been held to be the foundation of any rational health system. The principle was fully endorsed by the Alma-Ata Conference in 1978, and has become the main policy of the World Health Organization. Important implications are involved for the education and training of doctors and other health care professions. An enquiry was conducted by personal interviews of those most responsible for the teaching of primary health care in the United Kingdom, to enquire about the status of primary health care in the curricula of U.K. medical schools, and about the standing of general practice. The enquiry also explored the degree of awareness among medical educators about the Alma-Ata Declaration. The leading representatives of primary health care in the medical schools made it clear that the teaching of primary health care varied greatly in the importance accorded to it and the resources made available for it by medical schools. Almost half the respondents were unaware of the support for greater emphasis on primary health care that had been specified in the Alma-Ata Declaration.

Curriculum

Ventricular cardiac arrhythmias during anesthesia: feasibility of preoperative recognition.

We investigated the occurrence of anesthetic ventricular cardiac arrhythmia (CA) in 104 systemically healthy consecutive patients undergoing general anesthesia, to evaluate the possibility of recognizing preoperatively those patients prone to CA. In 19 (18%) patients, control strips taken before anesthesia showed CA. During anesthesia CA developed in 34 (33%), including 16 during induction, ten during endotracheal intubation, and eight during both events. Older patients had a higher incidence of CA than younger ones (P less than 0.01), and patients with preoperative CA showed a greater trend toward anesthetic CA. There were no anesthetic deaths in this group. Early detection and treatment avoided complications and sequelae of CA. A second anesthetist in the operating room, to monitor the cardiac rhythm during induction and intubation, possibly contributed to early detection of CA and is strongly recommended.

Adolescent

Reduction of stereotyped body-rocking using variable time reinforcement: practical and theoretical implications.

The first experiment assessed the effectiveness of two schedules of reinforcement in reducing stereotypy engaged in profoundly retarded patients in ward environments. These schedules were the differential reinforcement of other behaviour (DRO) and variable time reinforcement (VT). This experiment was terminated prematurely because of problems in implementing the DRO contingencies. However, the VT contingency appeared to reduce stereotypy. The second experiment evaluated the VT schedule of reinforcement alone. Significant decreases in amounts of stereotypy from baseline measures were observed in all five profoundly retarded female subjects. It is tentatively concluded that stereotypies in ward and laboratory environments differ in function. This has implications for the treatment of patients who engage in stereotyped behaviour.

Adolescent

Distributions of body-rocking manifested by severely mentally deficient adults in ward environments.

Systematic observations were made of the stereotyped body-rocking engaged in by twenty-seven mentally deficient adults in ward environments. A significant decline in amount of body-rocking across the session was observed in each of the patients and other evidence suggested that this was an effect of fatigue. For eleven of the patients there was significant evidence of a 90--110 minute ultradian bio-rhythm in the amount of body-rocking. Rates of body-rocking showed less variation during the sessions. It was suggested that these results, plus other cited evidence, make it less likely that body-rocking in experimental, and in natural, environments are the same operants.

Adolescent

The effect of music on body-rocking manifested by severely mentally deficient patients in ward environments.

By controlling whether or not music was played in the wards, the effect of music on stereotyped body-rocking was assessed for twelve severely mentally deficient adults who engaged in this behaviour. There were significant differences between male and female patients. While music did not appear to affect rates, but increased the amounts, of body-rocking in both groups, the distribution of this increase was different. These results suggested that the effect of music was to increase the duration of body-rocking sequences. Once the music had been removed there was, for females, a persistence of the increased amount of body-rocking. It was hypothesised that there may be sexual dimorphism in the brain-hemisphere structures which organise rhythmic stimuli.

Adolescent

Growth hormone, insulin, and prolactin secretion in anorexia nervosa and obesity during bromocriptine treatment.

We studied secretion of growth hormone (GH), insulin, and prolactin in eight women with anorexia nervosa and nine women with refractory obesity before and during treatment with bromocriptine, 10 mg/day. In the anorexic patients the raised plasma GH concentrations occurring during an oral glucose tolerance test fell significantly while on bromocriptine treatment, but there was no change in plasma insulin or blood glucose concentrations. In the obese patients, however, plasma GH concentrations remained low during the oral glucose tolerance test, and were not modified by bromocriptine. Blood glucose and plasma insulin concentrations were also unchanged. Plasma GH and plasma 11-hydroxycorticosteroid responses to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia were unaffected. Serum prolactin concentrations which were raised in five anorexic patients and marginally raised in two obese subjects, fell significantly in both groups during treatment. We observed no consistent weight changes in either groups.

Adolescent