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Biomedical subjects

John Woods

Publications and source records attributed to John Woods.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

The self-report of Andi.

This fictional account of a teenage girl's treatment is based on the author's experience of working with troubled young people. He shows how cases of self-harm and antisocial behaviour can be helped not only by an understanding of the intra-psychic world, but by a therapeutic regime based on psychodynamic principles. In residential treatment there are opportunities for adolescents to learn from relationships with staff, peers and educational input but sometimes they are wasted by the repetition of abuse. While psychoanalytic psychotherapy by itself may be insufficient for a young person in need of a more comprehensive residential treatment, nevertheless psychodynamic concepts may make significant contributions to the process of therapeutic change.

Antisocial Personality Disorder↗
PubMed2006

Chronic inhibition of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 with a sitagliptin analog preserves pancreatic beta-cell mass and function in a rodent model of type 2 diabetes.

Inhibitors of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4), a key regulator of the actions of incretin hormones, exert antihyperglycemic effects in type 2 diabetic patients. A major unanswered question concerns the potential ability of DPP-4 inhibition to have beneficial disease-modifying effects, specifically to attenuate loss of pancreatic beta-cell mass and function. Here, we investigated the effects of a potent and selective DPP-4 inhibitor, an analog of sitagliptin (des-fluoro-sitagliptin), on glycemic control and pancreatic beta-cell mass and function in a mouse model with defects in insulin sensitivity and secretion, namely high-fat diet (HFD) streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice. Significant and dose-dependent correction of postprandial and fasting hyperglycemia, HbA(1c), and plasma triglyceride and free fatty acid levels were observed in HFD/STZ mice following 2-3 months of chronic therapy. Treatment with des-fluoro-sitagliptin dose dependently increased the number of insulin-positive beta-cells in islets, leading to the normalization of beta-cell mass and beta-cell-to-alpha-cell ratio. In addition, treatment of mice with des-fluoro-sitagliptin, but not glipizide, significantly increased islet insulin content and improved glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in isolated islets. These findings suggest that DPP-4 inhibitors may offer long-lasting efficacy in the treatment of type 2 diabetes by modifying the courses of the disease.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

Mice lacking dipeptidyl peptidase IV are protected against obesity and insulin resistance.

Dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DP-IV), a member of the prolyl oligopeptidase family of peptidases, is involved in the metabolic inactivation of a glucose-dependent insulinotropic hormone, glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), and other incretin hormones. Here, we investigated the impact of DP-IV deficiency on body weight control and insulin sensitivity in mice. Whereas WT mice displayed accelerated weight gain and hyperinsulinemia when fed a high-fat diet (HFD), mice lacking the gene encoding DP-IV (DP-IV-/-) are refractory to the development of obesity and hyperinsulinemia. Pair-feeding and indirect calorimetry studies indicate that reduced food intake and increased energy expenditure accounted for the resistance to HFD-induced obesity in the DP-IV-/- mice. Ablation of DP-IV also is associated with elevated GLP-1 levels and improved metabolic control in these animals, resulting in improved insulin sensitivity, reduced pancreatic islet hypertrophy, and protection against streptozotocin-induced loss of beta cell mass and hyperglycemia. Together, these observations suggest that chronic deletion of DP-IV gene has significant impact on body weight control and energy homeostasis, providing validation of DP-IV inhibition as a viable therapeutic option for the treatment of metabolic disorders related to diabetes and obesity.

Animals↗
PubMed2003

The healthcare manager as catalyst for evidence-based practice: changing the healthcare environment and changing experience.

This thoughtful essay conveys a logically ordered series of concepts that may help develop a process to more fully integrate evidence into healthcare management decisions. In responding to this article we have tried to think broadly about what might be discovered if the ideas of Browman, Snider and Ellis were put into practice. We have chosen to focus on factors that could confound the five-point plan suggested by the authors. Browman, Snider and Ellis provide an interesting overview and advocacy for evidence-based medicine and its application. The authors recognize that the area under investigation, oncology, may lend itself more readily than others to the facilitation of evidence-based practice. They introduce the concept of healthcare as a negotiating environment and the healthcare manager as a potential catalyst for change. In their conclusions the authors offer healthcare managers a five-point plan: 1. Express the value that knowledge is a core resource. 2. Structure decision-making to involve the stewards of knowledge and stimulate negotiation while encouraging the parties to express shared goals. 3. Invest in strategies that support knowledge management, including arbitration. 4. Demonstrate leadership and develop organizational metaphors to encourage participation. 5. Share the results and experiences of evidence-based decision-making.

Decision Making, Organizational↗