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Biomedical subjects

J Stuart

Publications and source records attributed to J Stuart.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Medical student concentration during lectures.

A simple procedure, based on a questionnaire, was used for the assessment of student concentration during lectures. Analysis of 1353 questionnaires from 12 lectures showed that student concentration rose sharply to reach a maximum in 10-15 min, and fell steadily thereafter. The data suggest that the optimum length of a lecture may be 30 instead of 60 min. This method by which student feedback is obtained may also be used to improve lecturing performance.

Analysis of Variance

Haemophilia A home therapy in the United Kingdom 1975-6.

Data on home treatment for patients with haemophilia A (factor VIII deficient haemophilia) were compiled for 1975 and 1976 from questionnaires answered by directors of haemophilia centres throughout the United Kingdom. There were 48 haemophilia centres in 1975 and 71 in 1976. The number of patients on or in training for home treatment increased from 267 to 488 in the two years, and a further 241 haemophiliacs were considered suitable for home therapy by the end of 1976. Apart from a small (but increasing) number of haemophiliacs on prophylactic treatment, most patients were on low-dose (250-500 units) on-demand regimens, using a mean of 20 000 factor VIII units per patient per year in 1976. An estimated 55% of the blood product used for home therapy in the UK in 1976 was imported from commercial sources. Despite the fact that the numbers of patients on home treatment have increased, so that about 60% of the potential population were receiving or being considered for home treatment in 1976, inadequacies in the service still remain. In some centres follow-up is clearly inadequate; about 15% of patients still rely on cryoprecipitate; and too little money has been invested in making the NHS self-sufficient in factor VIII production.

Antibodies

The development of serum immunoglobulins G, A and M in Australian Aboriginal infants.

Serum levels of immunoglobulins G, A and M (IgG, IgA and IgM) were studied in a population of Aboriginal infants from birth to 2 1/2 years of age. Serum levels of all three immunoglobulins were found to be consistently higher than in studies of white children. This is attributed to increased exposure of Aboriginal infants to infectious agents from early in life.

Australia

Coagulation and fibrinolytic activity of cerebrospinal fluid.

Fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products (fragments D and E) were detected in cerebrospinal fluid in 23.4% of 252 patients admitted to a neurological/neurosurgical unit. Other coagulation proteins of low molecular weight (plasminogen and factor IX) were also present but larger proteins (fibrinogen and factor V) were not. These findings are consistent with protein leakage across a blood-CSF barrier damaged by inflammatory, vascular, or neoplastic disease. Fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products in cerebrospinal fluid after subarachnoid haemorrhage may not, therefore, be a reliable index of increased fibrinolytic activity in the subarachnoid space and may be misleading when selecting patients for fibrinolytic blockade.

Acute Disease

Lysosomal enzyme cytochemistry of blood neutrophils.

Patients with bacterial infection may show altered membrane permeability of the primary azurophilic lysosomes of blood neutrophils. A new enzyme cytochemical technique, sensitive to increased membrane permeability caused by contact of neutrophils with acetone, saponin, low pH, Streptolysin O, bacteria, and nylon wool, has been developed. The method is of potential value as a screening test for bacterial infection and for detecting neutrophil damage during filtration leucopheresis.

Acetates

A new host gene (groPC) necessary for lambda DNA replication.

The isolation of a bacterial mutation in a gene, designated groPC, which affects the growth of phages lambda and P2 is described. Lambda replication is severely limited in the strain, and some lambda pi mutations, which map in (or near) the P gene, allow growth. The gro mutation, groPC259, is recessive to wild type and maps between threonine (thr) and diaminopimelate (dapB) on the E. coli chromosome. The possibility that the groPC gene is concerned with host DNA replication is discussed.

Chromosome Mapping

Hyperfibrinogenaemia and hyperviscosity in sickle-cell crisis.

Plasma fibrinogen concentration and whole-blood viscosity, the latter measured at two shear rates (23 and 230 sec-1), were estimated during eight episodes of sickle-cell crisis and compared with values in 26 sickle-cell anaemia patients who were not in crisis. Painful crisis was associated with a significant increase in both plasma fibrinogen and whole-blood viscosity. Increased fibrinogen-erythrocyte interaction in vivo may be a significant contributory factor to raising blood viscosity and precipitating vaso-occlusive crisis in sickle-cell disease.

Adolescent

Fibrin-fibrinogen degradation products in cerebrospinal fluid.

An increase in low molecular weight fibrin-fibrinogen degradation products (FDP) was demonstrated in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from 17 of 18 patients with bacterial or viral meningitis compared with 29 patients without meningitis. The CSF also showed an increase in coagulation proteins of molecular weight less than 90000 (factors VII, IX, and plasminogen) but did not contain fibrinogen (MW 340000) or plasminogen activator. It is concluded that low molecular weight FDP in the CSF in infective meningitis result from leakage through a damaged blood-CSF barrier rather than from local digestion of fibrin deposited on the meninges.

Child

Bacterial flora of the ear, nose and throat in aboriginal infants from brisbane and cherbourg.

A total of 1,044 nose and throat swabs and 54 ear swabs were collected from 219 Aboriginal babies in Brisbane and at Cherbourg over a two-and-a-half year period. The incidence of Staphylococcus aureus was found to be similar for both localities (approximately 20% in nasal swabs and 12% in throat swabs). Enterobacteria were found much more commonly at Cherbourg (43% in nasal swabs, 60% in throat swabs). Fifty-four ear swabs produced a wide variety of organisms with proteus species most common. Changes in the nose and throat flora over the period of examination are noted.

Australia

Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia: a heterogenous disease.

By using several techniques to detect surface markers on T and B lymphocytes, 11 cases of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (A.L.L.) were studied. In four cases an insignificant number of markers were detected on the lymphoblast populations. In one case a significant number of blasts formed both sheep red blood cell rosettes and Fc rosettes, suggesting a T-cell origin for the neoplastic cells, and in another case the presence of Fc and C3 receptors on the lymphoblast population indicated a B-cell origin. In a further five cases 14-43% of the blasts had detectable surface immunoglobulin. It is concluded that A.L.L. is a heterogeneous disorder, some cases failing to express surface markers and others having either a T-or a B-lymphocyte origin or both.

Adolescent

Enzyme cytochemistry of blood and marrow cells.

Diseases of the blood and bone marrow are commonly associated with abnormalities of oxido-reductase and lysosomal enzymes within individual erythrocytes and leucocytes. There are considerable technical difficulties, however, in adapting enzyme histochemical techniques to the study of haemopoietic tissue since individual cells are readily disrupted during processing, show variable enzyme activity according to the stage of maturation, and possess a lipoprotein cytoplasmic membrane which hinders reagent penetration. Cytochemical techniques for the study of oxido-reductase systems are of importance in the study of the neutrophil in infected patients, the erythrocyte in glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, and the primitive blast cell in acute leukaemia. Lysosomal enzymes are of importance in the study of the neutrophil in infected patients and in the differential diagnosis of acute leukaemia. Some examples of recent studies of these enzyme systems are given to illustrate technical procedures involving cytocentrifugation of cells on to glass slides, adjustment of the osmolality of the reaction mixture, and the study of smeared cells as opposed to cells incubated in suspension.

Acid Phosphatase

Serum gonadotrophins in young children.

LH and FSH were assayed in serum samples from children ranging from newborn to 13 years. In boys, LH was found in most samples up to 4 months of age, in many up to 10 months, but in only 38 percent between 1 and 8 years. In girls, it was found in only 29 percent of the samples under 1 year and the frequency and concentration changed little thereafter until 8-10 years. FSH was detected in all samples from boys up to 4 months and in most of those from girls up to 2 years. After these ages the frequency declined in each sex and there was little further change until 8-10 years. Between 1 and 8 years the proportion of samples containing either FSH or LH was similar for the two sexes, but whereas in boys high LH tended to be associated with high FSH, and vice versa, there was no such correlation in girls. The results are discussed in relation to gonadal development and steroid synthesis.

Adolescent