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Biomedical subjects

J Goldring

Publications and source records attributed to J Goldring.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

Reaction times of vertical prosaccades and antisaccades in gap and overlap tasks.

Horizontal saccadic reaction times (SRTs) have been extensively studied over the past 3 decades, concentrating on such topics as the gap effect, express saccades, training effects, and the role of fixation and attention. This study investigates some of these topics with regard to vertical saccades. The reaction times of vertical saccades of 13 subjects were measured using the gap and the overlap paradigms in the prosaccade task (saccade to the stimulus) and the antisaccade task (saccade in the direction opposite to the stimulus). In the gap paradigm, the initial fixation point (FP) was extinguished 200 ms before stimulus onset, while, in the overlap paradigm, the FP remained on during stimulus presentation. With the prosaccade overlap task, it was found that most subjects (10/13)-whether they were previously trained making horizontal saccades or naive-had significantly faster upward saccades compared with their downward saccades. One subject was faster in the downward direction and two were symmetrical. The introduction of the gap reduced the reaction times of the prosaccades, and express saccades were obtained in some naive and most trained subjects. This gap effect was larger for saccades made to the downward target. The strength of the updown asymmetry was more pronounced in the overlap as compared to the gap paradigm. With the antisaccade task, up-down asymmetries were much reduced. Express antisaccades were absent even with the gap paradigm, but reaction times were reduced as compared to the antisaccade overlap paradigm. There was a slight tendency for a larger gap effect of downward saccades. All subjects produced a certain number of erratic prosaccades in the antitasks, more with the gap than with the overlap paradigm. There was a significantly larger gap effect for the erratic prosaccades made to the downward, as compared to the upward, target, due to increased downward SRTs in the overlap paradigm. Three subjects trained in both the horizontal and the vertical direction showed faster SRTs and more express saccades in the horizontal directions as compared to the vertical. It is concluded that different parts of the visual field are differently organized with both directional and nondirectional components in saccade preparation.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

A direct comparison of the measurement of a random plasma glucose and a post-50 g glucose load glucose, in the detection of gestational diabetes.

We have compared the use of a random plasma glucose measured within 2 hours of a meal and a plasma glucose measured 1 hour after a 50 g glucose load to detect pregnant patients likely to have an abnormal 100 g glucose tolerance test at 28 weeks' gestation. The 50 g glucose load detected 24 of 28 women with gestational diabetes whereas the random plasma glucose detected only 13 of these patients. The 50 g glucose load gave fewer false positives, that is, patients who had an abnormal screening test but went on to have a normal glucose tolerance test (8.8% versus 13.4%). These data support the use of the 50 g glucose load to screen pregnant women for gestational diabetes as recommended by Australian authorities (1).

Blood Glucose↗
PubMed1993

Exercise-induced stress injuries to the femur.

Seventy-one athletes with 74 stress injuries to the femur were studied using a case-controlled design. Forty-three were females (26.6 yrs) and 28 were males (31.2 yrs). Each patient had exercise-induced pain in the hip, groin or thigh and a Tec-99m-MDP bone scan showing focal uptake of radionuclide in the femur. Running was the most common activity at the time of injury (89.2%) followed by triathlon (4.6%) and aerobic dance (4.6%). Thirty per cent of the runners had increased their training duration immediately prior to their first symptom. Anterior thigh pain was the most frequent site of exercise-induced pain (45.9%) followed by hip pain (27%) and groin pain (8.1%). During the clinical examination, when asked to hop on the affected limb, 70.3% of the patients had pain reproduced in the hip, groin or anterior thigh. There were 39 cases (53%) involving focal uptake of radionuclide in the femoral shaft, 15 (20%) in the lesser trochanter, 11 (15%) in the intertrochanteric region between the femoral neck and the greater trochanter, 8 (11%) in the femoral neck and 1 (1%) in the greater trochanter. Two patients suffered displaced fractures, one at the femoral neck and the other in the shaft of the femur. Neither patient had previously sought medical attention for their leg pain. Of 46 plain radiographs taken, only 11 (24%) were abnormal. The mean time to diagnosis and recovery were 6.6 and 10.4 weeks respectively. Substitution of cycling and water exercise for running were the most common therapeutic interventions.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Clinical and pathological aspects of parkinsonism in Alzheimer's disease. A role for extranigral factors?

To examine the natural history and pathogenesis of parkinsonism in Alzheimer's disease, 44 subjects with clearly established senile dementia of the Alzheimer type were studied during a 66-month period. Sixteen subjects (36%) developed idiopathic parkinsonism, and 12 subjects (27%) developed drug-induced parkinsonism; the chief clinical features of both types were bradykinesia and rigidity, but not resting tremor. The presence of parkinsonism was associated with global (rather than selective) cognitive impairment, as determined by psychometric testing, and with more rapid progression to advanced stages of dementia. The pathological correlates of clinical parkinsonism were heterogeneous in 10 subjects with Alzheimer's disease who were examined post mortem. Coexistent Parkinson's disease was observed in five cases and nonspecific nigral degenerative lesions were present in another three; however, two cases had neither histological changes nor reduced neuronal densities in the substantia nigra. These two cases suggested that extranigral lesions, possibly involving mesocortical dopaminergic pathways, may contribute to the development of parkinsonism in subjects with Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer Disease↗
PubMed1975

Prophylactic oral antimicrobial agents in elective colonic surgery. A controlled trial.

A controlled trial has been carried out in 50 patients undergoing elective colonic surgery to assess the efficacy of prophylactic oral metronidazole specifically directed against anaerobic colonic microflora in combination with kanamycin to reduce the aerobic flora. A control group received dietary and mechanical preparation alone. A significant reduction of both aerobic and anaerobic colonic microflora was achieved in the group receiving prophylactic antimicrobial agents, and this was reflected in a significant reduction in postoperative wound infections. 1 control patient died from Bacteroides septicaemia. No toxic or other side-effects from this prophylactic regimen occurred in this trial.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Childhood asthma surveillance using computerized billing records: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: This paper describes a pilot project to develop and implement a low-cost system for ongoing surveillance of childhood asthma in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. METHODS: The authors organized a planning workshop to solicit information and ideas for an asthma surveillance system, bringing together national experts with Milwaukee professionals and community representatives involved in the prevention and treatment of asthma. Based on recommendations from the workshop, a pilot surveillance project was implemented in Milwaukee County using records of emergency room visits and hospital admissions for asthma abstracted from the computerized billing records of the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin (CHW), retrospectively for 1993 and prospectively for 1994. Retrospective data were also sought from the other hospital emergency departments in Milwaukee County to evaluate the representativeness of the CHW data. Surveillance data were used to evaluate utilization of care by patient subgroups and to describe temporal patterns in emergency room visits. RESULTS: Of the emergency department visits for asthma in Milwaukee County in 1993, CHW accounted for 94% among infants less than 1 year of age, 89% among children ages 1 through 5 years, and only 59% among children between the ages of 6 and 18 years. In 1994, the 7% of asthmatic children with repeat hospital admissions accounted for 38% of all hospital admissions for asthma and the 20% with repeat emergency department visits accounted for 50% of all emergency visits. Emergency visits for asthma showed clear seasonality, with a peak in the fall and a smaller peak in the spring. CONCLUSIONS: Computerized medical billing data provide an opportunity for asthma surveillance at a relatively low cost. The data obtained are useful for tracking trends in exacerbations of asthma and the use of medical services for asthma care and should prove valuable in targeting interventions.

Adolescent↗