PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

J T Foster

Publications and source records attributed to J T Foster.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Prostaglandin production by amnion and decidual cells in response to bacterial products.

Media from bacterial cultures have been tested for actions on prostaglandin biosynthesis by human amnion and decidual cells. The bacterial species, which are commonly associated with intrauterine infections, were Group B streptococcus, Escherichia coli, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Bacteroides fragilis, Gardnerella vaginalis, Neisseria gonorrhea, Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum. Overall, low doses of bacterial products were stimulatory of amnion prostaglandin production, whereas high doses were inhibitory. A similar pattern of results was obtained for effects on decidual prostaglandin production, although stimulatory actions at low doses were less pronounced. In all experiments interleukin 1 beta consistently induced a stimulation of prostaglandin production that greatly exceeded that caused by any bacterial product. It is possible that the inhibitory action of high doses of bacterial products on prostaglandin biosynthesis may contribute to the poor course of labor experienced by women with chorioamnionitis. Furthermore, these data lend credence to the view that the host response to infection (i.e. cytokine secretion) is the major mediator of subsequent preterm labor.

Amnion↗
PubMed1989

Hospitals in the year 2000: a scenario.

Hospitals came into the twentieth century as creations of local, usually altruistic, interests and wrestled with accelerating change throughout the decades. Their success brought third-party financing, employee health plans, and government guarantees for charity care. Success seemed to breed success, and they raced ahead with capital investment in bricks, mortar, and high technology, only to find themselves in increasing trouble as 1990 approached. Writing from the precarious perch of the year 2000, the author views the worsening hospital situation and raises questions about the contradictions of federal interventions, the efforts to create "systems," the plight of small hospitals, and the love-hate role of medical staffs. Offered for consideration is a scenario of a health care crisis in the early 1990s comparable to the savings and loan crisis of 1988. However, this time the federal intervention is not simply in dollars, but, instead, brings on a "health for all" program with national financing and decentralized "district health" management. As in other nations of the world, hospitals become an integral part of the commitment to attack the root causes of ill health.

Data Collection↗