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Biomedical subjects

H W Ward

Publications and source records attributed to H W Ward.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

Cognitive function testing in comprehensive geriatric assessment. A comparison of cognitive test performance in residential and clinic settings.

Tests of cognitive function are frequently used in geriatric assessment, but the effect of test setting has rarely been explored. To determine the effect of testing site on the performance of elderly patients undergoing a comprehensive geriatric assessment, we administered the Mini-Mental State Exam to 116 geriatric patients in the clinic and at their residence. Their cognitive abilities varied from normal to severely impaired. The patients' scores were 1.5 +/- 3.6 (mean +/- SD) higher at their residence. The clinical importance of a difference in score of 1.5 is not clear. For this reason a second analysis was performed in which a difference in scores of five points or greater between settings was considered clinically meaningful. Twenty-five percent (29 of 116) differed by five points or more. Of these 29 patients, 22 (76%) tested better in the residential setting. These differences were statistically significant (P = .001). We conclude that the testing site may affect test performance and that in-home assessment may reveal the optimal cognitive function of geriatric patients.

Aged↗
PubMed1986

Analysis of 585 burn patients hospitalized over a 6-year period. Part I: Demographic comparison with the population of origin.

There has been a large number of studies on the epidemiology, aetiology and demography of burn injury. However, no previous study has been able to compare the burn population with detailed data on the general population from which it derived. Data on the Standard Metropolitan Area (SMSA) of San Diego provided by the US Census Reports of 1970 and 1980 have made this possible. In this paper we have examined age, sex, ethnic origin, level of education, gross family income and occupation in a population of 585 burn patients taken from this SMSA.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed1986

Analysis of 585 burn patients hospitalized over a 6-year period. Part II: Aetiological data.

In a population of 585 burn patients from a well-defined urban area, the contribution of a number of factors to the occurrence of the burn injury is examined. These are: place where burned; activity of the patient at the time; contribution of various appliances and materials; the influence of clothing on the extent of the injury. These findings should prove helpful in future efforts at burn prevention.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed1986

Analysis of 585 burn patients hospitalized over a 6-year period. Part III: Psychosocial data.

We have examined the physical and psychosocial aberrations found in a series of 585 hospitalized burn patients. The implications of this data have been discussed as they apply to identifying persons at high risk for burn injury, and as they apply to estimation of the prognosis in severe burn injury. This is a step towards identifying a psychosocial profile for the evaluation of burned patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Effects of caffeine on tactile startle in rats.

The effects of graded doses of caffeine (1.5 to 100 mg/kg) on tactile startle responding were examined in rats given 121 air-puff stimuli at 15 second intervals. Doses of caffeine up to 50 mg/kg were found to significantly increase tactile startle consistently throughout the 30 minute test session. The highest dose of caffeine tested initially increased and subsequently decreased startle amplitude. An examination of the time-course of the augmentation in startle produced by 12 mg/kg caffeine revealed that the effect was maximal 15 minutes after the subcutaneous injection. The results are discussed in relation to the differences between the effects reported here for caffeine and the known effects of other psychostimulants.

Animals↗
PubMed1980

Simplified scaling for life change events.

A relative simple interval scaling method for adjustment to life change events was compared to the original, more difficult, proportinate scaling method. Ranking of life events by both methods was extremely similar. Evidence also was found that today Americans scale several minor life change events as requiring greater adjustment than that estimated for these events a decade earlier.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Brief group therapy in myocardial infarction rehabilitation: three- to four-year follow-up of a controlled trial.

A trial of brief group therapy as part of a rehabilitation program for postmyocardial infarction (MI) patients was carried out. Forty-four patients surviving their first MI were randomly allocated to either group therapy or control group status and were followed over 4 years. An additional group of 17 patients were referred for post-MI group therapy sessions after the termination of the controlled experiment and were followed for 3 years. Patients who received group therapy had significantly less follow-up coronary morbidity and mortality, and returned to work at significant higher percentages than control patients. Although neither group therapy nor control group patients meaningfully altered conventional coronary risk factors, group therapy patients (in the controlled trial) successfully altered selected coronary-prone behaviors. Educational information regarding the physiological and psychological aspects of coronary heart disease, presented in the group therapy sessions, was forgotten over follow-up. It is concluded that the supportive aspects of the group therapy experience played the most important role in determining the rehabilitation advantages seen for treatment patients.

Anxiety↗
PubMed1978

Central nervous system tumors of childhood treated with CCNU, vincristine, and radiation.

CCNU was used in the treatment of 18 patients with childhood tumors of the CNS. Severe bone-marrow toxicity was noted. The initial dose was 130 mg/m2 given every 6 weeks, but it was often necessary to reduce the dose and prolong the interval between doses. The toxicity appeared to be much the same whether previous radiotherapy had been given to the whole CNS or to the brain only. In assessable patients with pur medulloblastoma, three out of three showed marked responses to CCNU. In those with a mixture of medulloblastoma and other tumor components, two out of two showed responses to CCNU. In children with astrocytomata of various types, only two out of six showed responses to CCNU, and in these the degree of response was slight. The results suggest that CCNU is a useful treatment for medulloblastoma but its value in the treatment of childhood astrocytoma is uncertain. In 6 patients who received both radiotherapy and CCNU, the contribution of the CCNU was not assessable.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Therapeutic consequences of antitumour drug interactions: methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil in the chemotherapy of C3H mice with transplanted mammary adenocarcinoma.

Methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil at fixed dosages of 1.5 mg/kg and 50 mg/kg, respectively, were employed in combination chemotherapy for transplanted mammary adenocarcinoma in C3H mice. Tumour regression analyses demonstrated the importance of drug sequence and scheduling. Significantly, a drug synergism and antagonism was exhibited under certain conditions. Results indicated a superior therapeutic efficacy when methotrexate was administered 6-12 h before 5-fluorouracil; the reverse proved antagonistic. However, at longer intervals a commutative additivity was apparent. Judicious scheduling of methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil would seem appropriate, as both drugs are widely employed in the current management of neoplasms, such as breast carcinoma.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1978

Psychiatric consultation in a Vietnamese refugee camp.

The authors provided psychiatric consultation to medical personnel in charge of a Vietnamese refugee camp in California. Although the emergency measures that supplied clothing, food, shelter, and medical care to nearly 60,000 refugees were immensely successful, consultation was requested to assist with selected mental health problems. The recommendations of the consulting team were related to the stage of camp development: early recommendations concerned easing adaptation to the camp setting; later efforts included creating a psychiatric crisis clinic and carrying out a mental health survey on a random sample of refugees. The results of this survey helped camp directors to understand how refugees responded to the camp experience.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1977

Recurrent breast cancer treated with the antioestrogen tamoxifen: correlation between hormonal changes and clinical course.

Forty-five post-menopausal women with recurrent breast cancer were treated with the antioestrogen, tamoxifen, 20 mg twice daily. Clinical assessment after 12 weeks indicated that 18 (40%) showed some remission. Gonadotrophins were suppressed within two weeks to relatively constant concentrations within the post-menopausal range, responses to luteinising hormone-releasing hormone (LH-RH) did not change, and androgen concentrations remained within the normal range in all patients. Oestradiol concentrations rose steadily only in women in whom treatment failed. Serum prolactin concentrations were raised in 18 out of the 44 (41%) patients in whom they were measured; 13 of these did not respond to treatment. Treatment did not change the average prolactin concentration when this was within the normal range, but it significantly reduced prolactin concentrations in hyperprolactinaemic patients--within two weeks (P less than 0-01) in those who responded well and by six weeks (P less than 0-05) in those who showed no remission. Among patients with normal prolactin values the release of prolactin after thyrotrophin-releasing hormone was significantly greater in those with no remission than in those who responded to tamoxifen. Responses in those with hyperprolactinaemia were reduced to about half the control values, and again this change occurred faster in those who were successfully treated. Patients therefore seem to have a better chance of responding to anti-oestrogen treatment if prolactin secretion is low.

Androgens↗
PubMed1977

The comparative toxicity and therapeutic efficacy of adriamycin and the adriamycin-DNA complex in the chemotherapy of C3H mice with transplanted mammary adenocarcinoma.

Tissue analyses and tumour regression studies using the oncolytic antibiotic, adriamycin (14-hydroxydaunomycin), and its DNA complex at adriamycin dosages of 5 mg/kg and 10 mg/kg were made on C3H mice with transplanted mammary adenocarcinoma. Chemical analysis indicated a significantly lower (P < 0.05) uptake of adriamycin into cardiac tissue for the adriamycin-DNA complex. Tumour regression was comparable for both the complex and free adriamycin. Results suggest an advantageous role for the adriamycin DNA complex in the chemotherapy of metastatic breast carcinoma.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1977

Immunological investigations of meningococcal disease. III. Brevity of group C acquisition prior to disease occurrence.

A surveillance program to determine group C meningococcal acquisition in military personnel during an epidemic was made. Data from fortnightly nasopharyngeal cultures show that individuals who were admitted with meningococcal disease acquired the organism within a week of disease onset. There were 24 company/platoons in which a single case occurred. Six company/platoons had 2 cases each. While other conditions which could act as predisposing factors were not ruled out, the data here favor acute respiratory disease as a predisposing factor(s) that may cause the increased incidence of meningococcal disease seen in military recruits. The exact mechanism is yet to be defined.

Antibodies, Bacterial↗