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Biomedical subjects

J E Pickering

Publications and source records attributed to J E Pickering.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Prosodic characteristics of speech pre- and post-right hemisphere stroke.

Case-control studies have shown right hemisphere specialization in the production of intonation in speech. We examined spontaneous prosody in audiotapes of interviews with a 77-year-old right-handed woman recorded 6 months before and 6 weeks after she suffered a stroke affecting the right frontotemporo-parietal regions and the right basal ganglia. Post-stroke, the patient had a normal Mini-Mental Status Examination Score of 29, hemispatial neglect, and impairments in the comprehension of facial expression and prosody. Self-rated mood was within normal limits. We compared beginning, peak, and ending fundamental frequencies (fo) in breath groups, the timing of these fo changes, rate of speech, pause duration, and breath-group duration. We found that post-stroke, the patient had a more restricted fo contour, no changes in the timing of peak fo, an increased rate of speech, less variability in pause duration, and no changes in breath-group duration.

Affect↗
PubMed1994

Does non-diabetic hyperglycemia predict future IHD? Evidence from the Caerphilly and Speedwell studies.

We have examined the risk of subsequent ischemic heart disease (IHD) in men according to their initial fasting plasma glucose level in a prospective cohort study (Caerphilly Collaborative Study) of 4860 middle aged men from South Wales and Bristol, U.K. Ninety-four men reported themselves to be diabetic at initial screening and fasting venous plasma glucose levels were determined in these men and in a further 4519 non-diabetic men. At follow-up new IHD events occurred twice as commonly in diabetics compared to non-diabetics and overall mortality was increased 4-fold. Among non-diabetics however, increased IHD events only occurred in men with fasting values at the upper end of the distribution of baseline plasma glucose values [at 6.8 mmol/l (122 mg/dl) or more]. This association was reduced, but remained statistically significant, after adjusting for factors associated with plasma glucose levels; body mass index, plasma triglyceride, smoking habit and pre-existing IHD. In conclusion there is no evidence of a consistent, graded increase in risk of IHD by initial fasting plasma glucose level although the risk is significantly increased in men with baseline plasma values at 6.8 mmol/l (122 mg/dl) or more, and also in diabetics. This study suggests that such levels probably represent a pre-diabetic state in many individuals. Appropriate non-pharmacological intervention may be useful in halting the progression to the diabetic state, although this should be tested in experimental studies.

Blood Glucose↗
PubMed1994

Dietary indices of atherogenicity and thrombogenicity and ischaemic heart disease risk: the Caerphilly Prospective Study.

The aim of the study was to investigate whether proposed dietary scores of atherogenicity and thrombogenicity predict ischaemic heart disease (IHD) risk in a community sample of men aged 45-59 years. Dietary scores were calculated from consumption of various fatty acids, estimated from 7 d weighed intake data obtained from 665 men. Investigation of associations with blood lipids, lipoproteins and haemostatic factors revealed positive associations with low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (P < 0.05) and white cell count (P < 0.05), and a negative association with antithrombin III (P = 0.05), after taking into account the effects of age, body mass index and smoking. During a 5-year follow-up period, there were twenty-one new IHD events among the 512 men in whom there was no evidence of IHD at baseline. Men with higher atherogenicity or thrombogenicity scores at baseline tended to have a higher risk of subsequent IHD. The trend was consistent but not statistically significant. A similar trend was observed for total saturates, and an inverse trend for total polyunsaturates, expressed as a percentage of total fatty acids. It is, therefore, concluded that proposed dietary indices of atherogenicity and thrombogenicity may be weak predictors of IHD risk, but that these scores are unlikely to be substantially better predictors than more simple approaches such as intakes of total saturates. To enhance the predictive ability, more complex formulas which take into account other dietary factors as well as fatty acid intakes would probably be required.

Diet, Atherogenic↗
PubMed1982

Nutritional & pharmacologic management of hyperlipoproteinemia.

The results of the nutritional intervention on one of the twenty MRFIT centers is presented. The reduction in cholesterol was 5.78% after four years. Those results were compared with the changes found in serum cholesterol with a similar diet and the administration of either clofibrate or gemfibrozil. The reduction with clofibrate remained at 5%. However with gemfibrozil the reduction in cholesterol was 16%. The HDL level rose in half of these patients treated with either clofibrate or gemfibrozil. The results without concurrent dietary restriction usually show a greater reduction in VLDL and a greater rise in HDL than we found when nutritional and pharmacologic intervention were combined.

Cholesterol↗