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Biomedical subjects

J Edwards

Publications and source records attributed to J Edwards.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

MCMI-II personality disorders in recent-onset bipolar disorders.

This study investigated the personality disorders of 21 recent-onset Bipolar Disorder patients using the revised Million Clinical Multiaxial Inventory (MCMI-II; Millon, 1987). Personality disorder assessments, conducted after patients' clinical symptoms had settled, indicated that 17 patients received at least one MCMI-II personality disorder diagnosis with a trend toward multiple diagnoses. Narcissistic, Antisocial, and Histrionic personality disorders were diagnosed most frequently and were the scales most elevated. Schizoid and Compulsive personality disorders were the scales least elevated. Diagnostic concordance between the MCMI-II and the Structured Interview for DSM-III Personality (SIDP; Pfohl, Stangl, & Zimmerman, 1983) was poor; the MCMI-II made more multiple diagnoses. Implications of the discrepancies between these instruments and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Metabolism of 1,2-dibromoethane in the human fetal liver.

1. Toxicity of 1,2-dibromoethane requires bioactivation via glutathione S-transferase. Since this enzyme is undetectable in the fetus of several laboratory animal species during early gestation, in vitro studies were carried out with human fetal liver to assess potential fetotoxicity. 2. Glutathione S-transferase occurs abundantly in the human fetal liver cytosol and its titer is equal to or exceeds that found in adult human liver when estimated using 1-chloro-2,4-nitrobenzene as the second substrate. 3. Human fetal liver cytosolic glutathione S-transferase metabolized 1,2-dibromoethane with a high efficiency (mean +/- SD specific activity of 3.10 +/- 0.83 nmol/min/mg protein). This reaction was enzymatic in nature and the rate of conjugation was proportional to the concentration of reduced glutathione, 1,2-dibromoethane and the enzyme present in the reaction medium. 4. A significant bioactivation with a possibility of only limited detoxication via cytochrome P-450-dependent oxidation suggests that human fetus may be at greater risk from 1,2-dibromoethane toxicity than adult.

Biotransformation↗
PubMed1992

Nurse-managed primary care. Tapping the rural community power base.

Involving community members into plans and projects is especially salient in initiating and maintaining nurse-managed centers. Nowhere is community involvement more crucial than in establishing a nursing practice in an isolated rural setting. The authors share their first-hand experiences in community interaction in establishing the state-funded health center.

Ambulatory Care Facilities↗
PubMed1992

Pitfalls in the use of color-flow duplex ultrasound for screening of suspected arterial injuries in penetrated extremities.

We compared color-flow duplex ultrasonographic scanning (CFD) to arteriography in 67 patients who sustained 75 penetrating injuries to the extremities without obvious arterial injury. There were 72 negative and three (4.0%) positive CFD studies and no failed attempts. With arteriography as the "gold standard," CFD had a specificity of 99% and a sensitivity of 50%, positive and negative predictive values of 66% and 97%, and an accuracy of 96%. Small pseudoaneurysms were missed in an axillary and an aberrant radial artery, and a genicular artery pseudoaneurysm was misread as originating from the popliteal artery. Cautious interpretation of negative studies appears warranted, particularly in the axilla and in bifurcated arteries. Extremity arteries should be completely imaged to rule out aberrant anatomy. Questionable studies should be confirmed arteriographically. With these caveats, color-flow duplex scanning may be useful for screening extremities with penetrating injuries thought to harbor occult arterial injuries.

Angiography↗
PubMed1992

Social skills training and negative symptoms.

Schizophrenic patients with severe negative symptoms may have an impaired capacity to benefit from social skills training (SST), and their negative symptoms may show little change as a result of SST. The present study, employing a multiple-baseline design across-behaviors with three patients who had prominent negative schizophrenic symptoms, combined nonverbal skills training with the Stacking the Deck social skills game. Further, the study examined changes in both social skills (assessed using role-play and conversation tests) and negative symptoms. Depression, extrapyramidal side effects, and positive symptoms were also monitored. Modest improvements in social skills and negative symptoms were achieved. There was little evidence of a training effect. The unstable baselines may have contributed to this finding. It is important for further research to employ comprehensive patient-assessment procedures.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed1992

Effects of the calcium channel blocker flunarizine on the hemodynamics and oxygenation of tumor microvasculature.

Flunarizine is a diphenylpiperazine calcium entry blocker that has been shown previously to increase tumor blood flow and sensitivity to radiotherapy via reduction in the radiobiologically significant hypoxic fraction. Two mechanisms of action have been proposed previously (vasodilation, altered blood viscosity), but no studies have been performed to examine its mechanisms of action in vivo. Such information would be invaluable in determining the role of flunarizine in multimodality approaches to reduce tumor hypoxia. Fisher-344 rats bearing R3230Ac tumors transplanted into dorsal flap window chambers were used to examine microcirculatory changes after administration of flunarizine (1.0 mg/kg, iv). The drug increased the diameters of the microvasculature and red cell velocities specifically in central tumor regions (producing an average increase in vessel flow by a factor of 1.96), which was accompanied by an increase in perivascular pO2 of 12 mm Hg, on the average. The drug did not change the diameters of tumor "feeding" vessels, nor did it change vascular length densities. Thus the improvement in central tumor blood flow and oxygenation could not be attributed to dilation of feeding vessels. The oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood was not altered either since hemoglobin saturation (measured in vitro) and the hematocrits of the microvasculature were unchanged after drug administration. Therefore, by a process of elimination, the most likely explanation for the effect of the drug is modification of blood viscosity. Additional studies are under way in this laboratory to examine whether changes in viscosity occur after flunarizine administration.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1991

Demonstration that bone mass is greater in black than in white children.

Osteoporosis and hip fractures are less common and bone mass is greater in black than in white women. To determine if bone mass is greater in black than in white children, bone mineral density (BMD) of the midradius by single-photon absorptiometry and BMD of the lumbar spine (L1-L4), trochanter, and femoral neck by dual-photon absorptiometry were measured in 20 black boys, 18 black girls, 33 white boys, and 35 white girls between the ages of 7 and 12 years. Mean age (10.4 +/- 0.3 versus 10.2 +/- 0.2 years) and body weight (39 +/- 2 versus 38 +/- 2 kg) in the blacks and whites, respectively, were not different in the two groups, and the ages and weights of the boys and girls were not different from each other. BMD were significantly greater in black than in white children at each site, in the black than in white boys at the trochanter and femoral neck, and in the black than in white girls at each site. In both races, BMD varied directly with age and body weight. Multivariate analysis showed that BMD were greater at the midradius, lumbar spine, trochanter, and femoral neck in the black than in the white children, that BMD of the lumbar spine was greater in the girls than in the boys, and that BMD of the trochanter and femoral neck were greater in the boys than in the girls. There were significant partial correlations between race and BMD and between BMD and body weight at each site, between sex and BMD at the lumbar spine, trochanter, and femoral neck, and between age and BMD at the midradius, trochanter, and femoral neck. Race, sex, age, and body weight together accounted for 49-66% of the variation in bone mass. Thus, BMD of the midradius, spine, and hip are greater in black than in white children, body weight and age are important determinants of bone mass, and some sex differences in bone mass are present at this age.

Absorptiometry, Photon↗
PubMed1991

Hormonal receptors in locally advanced breast cancer: change with response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy?

Twenty-one cancers in 20 patients with locally advanced breast cancer were studied. Incisional biopsy was performed without using electrocautery. Tissue was obtained for histology and estrogen (ER) and progesterone (PR) receptors. Patients received chemotherapy after biopsy. All responded and had radical mastectomy performed. Tissue was removed from the mastectomy specimen to confirm residual tumor and for repeat receptor measurements. Initial receptor levels were negative in 13 cancers. Following chemotherapy, both ER and PR levels were unchanged in 11 cancers. Levels in one cancer changed from ER-PR- to ER+PR- and one changed from ER-PR- to ER+PR+. Six cancers were ER+PR+ at initial examination. Repeat receptor levels after chemotherapy were ER+PR+ in three. One ER+PR+ tumor became ER-PR+, one changed to ER+PR-, and one to ER-PR-. One ER+PR- cancer remained ER+PR- after treatment and an ER-PR+ cancer became ER-PR- after treatment. Chemotherapy dose not significantly alter hormonal levels in breast cancer tissue.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

Sindbis virus infection of a Chinese hamster ovary cell mutant defective in the acidification of endosomes.

Sindbis virus infection of a Chinese hamster ovary temperature-sensitive mutant cell line defective in its ability to acidify endosomes was examined to evaluate the importance of this step in the process of alphavirus penetration of host cells by measuring the time at which viral RNA synthesis was initiated. We found that RNA synthesis was initiated in these mutant cells at the same time after addition of virus at either permissive or nonpermissive temperature. We conclude that exposure to the acidic environment of an endosome is not a prerequisite for alphavirus infection.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

HIV prevalence and risk behaviours for HIV transmission in South Australian prisons.

During the latter half of 1989, HIV prevalence in South Australian prisoners was 1.4%. The prevalence of HIV infection across the prison system did not change significantly during 1989 but there was clustering of HIV-infected prisoners in some prisons. Almost half the prisoners from all of the South Australian prisons agreed to participate in our studies, from which we estimate that about 42% of prisoners engage in risk behaviours at least once while incarcerated. Prisoners estimated that 36% of all prisoners inject drugs intravenously at some stage during their stay and that 12% engage in anal intercourse at least once. Interviews with former prisoners who had a history of intravenous drug use revealed that about half had injected themselves while in prison, 60% shared needles and most did not clean shared needles adequately. Most of these prisoners injected themselves once a month or less frequently. The conditions for spread of HIV within the prison system exist but at the current prevalence of infection, transmission can be expected to be infrequent. The opportunity exists now to improve and expand preventive measures.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Modification of pain on injection of propofol--a comparison between lignocaine and procaine.

Pain on injection of propofol was assessed in a controlled, randomised study of 273 patients. They received either lignocaine 10 mg, procaine 10 mg or isotonic saline 0.5 ml, 15 seconds before the injection of propofol into a vein on the back of the hand. The incidence of pain on injection in the control group (51%) was comparable with other studies. Lignocaine and procaine both significantly reduced the pain (35% and 34% respectively, p less than 0.05) but there was no statistical difference between these two groups.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Diagnosing personality disorders in psychiatric inpatients.

This study investigated assumptions made by DSM-III and DSM-III-R regarding Axis I-Axis II associations and sex differences for the 11 personality disorders (PD). A total of 112 patients formed 4 Axis I diagnostic groups: recent-onset schizophrenia (n = 35); recent-onset mania (n = 26); unipolar affective disorder (n = 30); and a mixed diagnostic group (n = 21). The prevalence of PD was determined using the Structured Interview for DSM-III Personality Disorders (SIDP). Schizophrenia was associated with antisocial PD and schizotypal PD; manic disorder was associated with histrionic PD; and unipolar affective disorder was associated with borderline, dependent and avoidant PD. Some of these results were consistent with DSM-III/DSM-III-R postulates. However, there was little support for the DSM-III/DSM-III-R statements on sex differences in the prevalence of PD, except for antisocial PD. The implications of the results for DSM-III/DSM-III-R assumptions are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

The articulatory kinematics of final lengthening.

In order to understand better the phonetic control of final lengthening, the articulation of phrase-final syllables was compared with that of two other contexts known to increase syllable duration: accent and slow tempo. The kinematics of jaw movements in [pap] sequences and of lower lip movements in [pe] sequences for four subjects were interpreted in terms of a task-dynamic model. There was evidence of two different control strategies: decreasing intragestural stiffness to slow down some part of the syllable, and changing intergestural phasing to decrease overlap of the vowel gesture by the consonant. The first was used in slowing down tempo, whereas the second was used to increase the duration of accented syllables over unaccented syllables. Both strategies were implicated in phrase-final lengthening. In accented syllables, final closing gestures generally were longer and slower, but not more displaced. The two slowest subjects, however, used the other strategy in their slow-tempo final syllables. Final lengthening in reduced syllables was more difficult to interpret. The relationship between peak velocity and displacement suggested that a lesser stiffness is obscured by an increased gestural amplitude. Thus, by comparison to lengthening for accent, final lengthening is like a localized change in speaking tempo, although it cannot be equated directly with the specification of stiffness.

Adult↗