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Biomedical subjects

J Beaton

Publications and source records attributed to J Beaton.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

Genetic and environmental factors modify bovine spongiform encephalopathy incubation period in mice.

The incubation period (IP) and the neuropathology of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) have been extensively used to distinguish prion isolates (or strains) inoculated into panels of inbred mouse strains. Such studies have shown that the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) agent is indistinguishable from the agent causing variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), but differs from isolates of sporadic CJD, reinforcing the idea that the vCJD epidemic in Britain results from consumption of contaminated beef products. We present a mouse model for genetic and environmental factors that modify the incubation period of BSE cross-species transmission. We have used two mouse strains that carry the same prion protein (PrP) allele, but display a 100-day difference in their mean IP following intracerebral inoculation with primary BSE isolate. We report genetic effects on IP that map to four chromosomal regions, and in addition we find significant factors of host environment, namely the age of the host's mother, the age of the host at infection, and an X-cytoplasm interaction in the host.

Age Factors↗

A comparison of childbirth expectations in high-risk and low-risk pregnant women.

This study described and compared the childbirth expectations of high-risk and low-risk pregnant women and then examined the influence of anxiety, risk status, and childbirth preparation on these expectations. This descriptive correlational study employed a convenience sample of 75 high-risk nulliparas and 77 low-risk nulliparas. Results indicated that high-risk pregnant women had significantly less positive expectations for their childbirth experience than did low-risk pregnant women. In particular, high-risk pregnant women expected more medical intervention and more difficulty coping with pain during their labor and birth. For both groups of women, anxiety was negatively correlated with childbirth expectations, whereas childbirth preparation was positively correlated with childbirth expectations.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Childbirth expectations: a qualitative analysis.

Maternal childbirth expectations play an important role in determining a woman's response to her childbirth experience. As part of the initial phase in the development of a research tool to investigate maternal childbirth expectations, in-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of eleven urban Canadian women in their third trimester of pregnancy. Content analysis of interview data indicated that the women had developed detailed expectations of the childbirth experience as well as for the roles of support persons and health care personnel. Exploration of women's childbirth expectations is discussed as an important component of childbirth education.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

"Glaucoma affecting each crystalline lens": a long-lost manuscript by Dr. William Mackenzie.

Dr. William Mackenzie was one of the great pioneers of British ophthalmology in the 19th century. We present a newly-discovered manuscript in which Mackenzie described how he performed surgery for bilateral nuclear sclerosis of the lens, in 1842-1843. This case became the focus for a discussion of the nature of "cataract" and "glaucoma" in the fourth edition of Mackenzie's great work, A practical treatise on diseases of the eye. Mackenzie is generally remembered as a great compiler of knowledge, but the text Mackenzie built around this case shows him pursuing original arguments based on his own observation. This case report gives us a vignette of Mackenzie that illustrates aspects of Mackenzie's character and achievements in an intimate way, and it dramatizes in a lively manner how some of the most fundamental concepts in ophthalmology evolved.

Cataract↗

Profile of a leader: Caroline Wellwood: pragmatic visionary.

Caroline Wellwood is representative of a group of early Canadian nurses whose missionary ideals led them to innovative careers in other countries. Wellwood's visionary leadership laid the groundwork for the development of a modern system of nursing and nursing education in southwestern China.

Canada↗