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J Carmody

Publications and source records attributed to J Carmody.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

Correlating CBC profile and infectious outcome. A study of febrile infants evaluated for sepsis.

The cases of 1,009 febrile infants who were evaluated for sepsis as outpatients during a seven-year period were reviewed to correlate their complete blood count (CBC) profiles with the infectious outcomes. Eighty-one infants had serious bacterial infections (SBIs); the remainder (928) were culture-negative. The infants with SBIs had a significantly greater mean total white blood cell (WBC) count and absolute band count (ABC) than did those who were culture-negative, whereas the difference in mean percent of polymorphonuclear leukocytes was not significant. The sensitivity of the ABC was significantly superior to that of total WBC count in predicting the outcome of SBI. The diagnostic data provided by the ABC can aid physicians in determining the predictive value of CBC profiles for infectious outcome in febrile infants receiving outpatient sepsis evaluation.

Blood Cell Count

Effects on recovery of soleus and extensor digitorum longus muscles of prolonged wheel running during a period of repeated nerve damage.

The right sciatic nerve in NMRI mice was frozen under anaesthesia 13 times at three-week intervals for a total period of 8.5 months. During this period, but not afterwards, one sub-group of these mice had access to running wheels in which the animals ran several kilometres per night, thereby actively or passively training reinnervated or denervated leg muscles, as well as the intact contralateral muscles. A number of distinct effects persisted for as long as 14-18 weeks after the termination of this "endurance training". In reinnervated soleus muscle, tetanic force was significantly higher (37%) in the trained muscles as was muscle weight (36%); in general, negative effects of the nerve damage persisted. In the reinnervated extensor digitorum longus, tetanic force and muscle weight were significantly smaller in the trained animals (by 11 and 16%, respectively) which are considered typical effects of endurance training. The resistance of the soleus neuromuscular junction to block by both curare and Mg2+ was depressed on the damaged side but this property was not influenced by the training; in extensor digitorum longus the pattern was similar. It is concluded that training during the period of repeated cycles of denervation-reinnervation produced significant effects which impressively outlasted the training period. The possible nature of these effects is discussed.

Animals

Nimodipine reduces morbidity, mortality after disruption of cerebral blood flow.

Nimodipine is a 1,4 dihydropyridine with Ca++ channel blocking properties. It is more lipophilic than most calcium channel blockers, and thus has a greater volume of distribution within the brain. Many actions of nimodipine have been proposed from work done in animal models following induction of complete or partial cerebral ischemia for varying lengths of time. However, these experimental results have not been sufficiently documented in patient populations, and there exists conflicting data as to nimodipine's mechanism of action in the cerebral ischemic patient. Regardless of the exact mechanisms of action, studies suggest that nimodipine may significantly reduce morbidity and mortality in patients following disruption of cerebral blood flow.

Animals

Low temperature worsens mammalian oxygen toxicity.

Oxygen toxicity was assessed in mice exposed to 5 ATA of oxygen. Central nervous system toxicity was measured as the latent period before convulsions, and lung damage estimated by wet and dry weight measurements. Our results confirmed previous findings that hyperbaric oxygen induces hypothermia in animals, and this effect is profound in mice exposed to 5 ATA of oxygen at ambient temperatures of 15 degrees C and 5 degrees C. However, even marked hypothermia had very little effect on the latent times to convulsions in mice. Unexpectedly, the combination of hypothermia and hyperbaric oxygen produced much more severe lung damage than either treatment alone, with a 2.7-fold increase in weight in the 5 degrees C group (average rectal temperature of 16.1 degrees C). These results indicate that hyperoxic-induced hypothermia cannot be considered a protective mechanism against oxygen toxicity and indeed hypothermia can markedly potentiate hyperbaric oxygen toxicity.

Animals

Swim stress reduces chronic pain in mice through an opioid mechanism.

Chronic nociception has been studied in male mice by means of the formalin test in which forelimb motor behaviour is scored after subcutaneous formalin injection. The rating remained above 2.0 for 30 min after the injection (scale range 0-3). The magnitude of the nociception has been compared with that reported in other animal types. Mice are more sensitive than rats, cats and monkeys. The stress of a swim of 3 min has been found to reduce nociception by up to 25%. This analgesia is wholly opioid in nature, being abolished by a moderate dose of naloxone (1 mg/kg).

Animals

Endogenous opioids are not involved in the pathology induced by hyperbaric oxygen treatment.

In mice, oxygen at hyperbaric pressures (515 kPa; 5 ATA) induces convulsions and lung damage (edema and hemorrhage). Morphine treatment (15 mg X kg-1, i.p.) significantly protects against the development of this pathology. The protection is abolished by naloxone (1 mg X kg-1, i.p.). Electric footshock, which induces diverse opioid effects, affords no protection against hyperbaric oxygen damage. Possible mechanisms of the morphine action are discussed.

Animals

Opioid-independent hyperalgesia induced in mice by pentobarbitone at low dosage.

The abdominal constriction (writhing) test was used to investigate the effect of pentobarbitone on nociception in mice. At dosages of 10, 20 and 30 mg/kg, pentobarbitone produced marked increases in nociceptive scores. The extent of the enhancement of nociception was uninfluenced by naloxone or swim-stress. The swim-stress induced analgesia but, in contrast to previous results using other tests for nociception, the analgesia was wholly non-opioid with the abdominal constriction test.

Animals

Patterns of the use of benzodiazepines in Australia.

In six suburban areas of Sydney, chosen to provide a socioeconomic cross-section of the city, complete records of dispensing of benzodiazepine were collected over a four-week period. These drugs constituted 3.7% of all dispensing, female patients outnumbered males by 2.3:1, and 98% of patients were over 20 years of age. The predominance of females, and higher age groups was found in all the areas studied, but no socioeconomic correlation was detected in the use of the drugs. Analysis of national dispensing figures confirmed the higher consumption in higher age groups, and revealed no heterogeneity in per capita prescribing rates amongst the States.

Adolescent

Inhibition within the trigeminal nucleus induced by afferent inputs and its influence on stimulus coding by mechanosensitive neurones.

1. In decerebrate, unanaesthetized cats two thirds of slowly adapting mechanosensitive neurones sampled in the trigeminal nucleus oralis exhibited inhibition in response to conditioning mechanical stimulation applied beyond their excitatory receptive fields. The influence of this inhibition was examined over the response range of these neurones using controlled, reproducible natural stimulation procedures.2. The extent of the inhibition was graded according to the intensity of the conditioning stimulus. It was evoked most strongly by vibratory skin indentation which very effectively excites rapidly adapting afferent fibres. Tonic conditioning inputs associated with steady skin indentation were less effective.3. The slope of stimulus-response relationships constructed from responses to inputs from the excitatory receptive field was reduced in 42% of trigeminal nuclear cells in the presence of afferent-induced inhibition. In the remainder the slope was unchanged.4. There was no evidence, in the neurones subject to inhibition, of an expansion of their dynamic range defined as the range of stimulus intensities over which a neurone exhibited a graded responsiveness.5. The variability in responses of an individual neurone at a given stimulus intensity was unchanged by this inhibition.6. Analysis of the stimulus-response data using information theory statistics revealed that neurones which underwent a reduction in the slope of their stimulus-response relationship in the presence of inhibition displayed a reduced capacity for defining the intensity of skin indentation. This capacity was not modified in those neurones where the slope was unchanged by the peripherally evoked inhibition.

Action Potentials

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General Surgery