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Biomedical subjects

K J Bennett

Publications and source records attributed to K J Bennett.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Physical disability among Canadians reporting musculoskeletal diseases.

About one million Canadian adults are estimated to have physical disabilities attributed to a musculoskeletal condition, a prevalence of 50.1/1,000 adults (all rates expressed/1,000). The specific musculoskeletal disease rates were arthritis/rheumatism (27.2), back (16.2), "other" (4.6), trauma (3.6) and bone (0.6). More women reported disabling musculoskeletal disease (61.0 versus 38.6, respectively). Prevalence rates increased with age from 6.2 among Canadians aged 15-24 years, to 264.7 aged 85 years and over. Limitations of mobility were more common than those of agility. Adults in institutions reported more disabilities than did adults in households (means 7.7 and 4.4, respectively).

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Low-dose cyclosporin versus placebo in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

144 patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis from six centres were randomised to receive oral cyclosporin or placebo for 6 months. The initial daily dose of cyclosporin was 2.5 mg/kg, which was increased cautiously with monitoring of serum cyclosporin levels and creatinine; the mean stabilisation dose was 3.8 mg/kg. There were significant improvements in the cyclosporin-treated patients compared with the controls in the major outcomes of reduction of active joints (23% improvement), pain (24%), and functional status (16%); global improvement was 27%. In the cyclosporin group serum creatinine increased by a mean of 15.6 mumols/l and mean arterial blood pressure by 6.27 mmHg; these increases were controlled in all but 2 patients by dose adjustment without withdrawal from the study.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1990

Methotrexate in rheumatoid arthritis. Impact on quality of life assessed by traditional standard-item and individualized patient preference health status questionnaires.

In a double-blind, randomized trial of methotrexate vs placebo in rheumatoid arthritis, the effect of treatment on physical, social, and emotional function was measured in two different ways: the same, standard measurements in all patients, and individualized measurements selected by the patients at the start of the trial as representing the functions they most wanted to have improved by treatment. On the standard measurements, methotrexate-treated patients fared better than placebo-treated patients in their physical, social, and emotional function by 11%, 5%, and 6%, respectively, results that, although statistically significant, were small. However, methotrexate-treated patients were 29% better in the individualized measures, a result that was both highly statistically significant and greater than the differences in the standard measurements or in joint counts, grip strength, proximal interphalangeal joint circumference, morning stiffness, or walking time. Because the individualized measurements were as efficient as the best direct joint examination measures, yet reflected functional outcomes of greatest importance to individual patients, they constitute useful measures for such trials.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Outbreak of cryptosporidiosis among young children attending a day-care centre in Durban.

During an outbreak of an enteric illness occurring among infants and toddlers in a day-care centre in Durban, Cryptosporidium was detected in 51 (73%) of 70 children. Two (10%) of 20 staff members were also found to have cryptosporidiosis. Symptoms occurred in all but 4 of the Cryptosporidium-positive infants and toddlers and lasted for 1-33 days. Oocyst excretion often persisted after cessation of symptoms and continued for up to 50 days in some children. Transmission is considered to have occurred predominantly by person-to-person spread. Measures to prevent transmission of enteric-type diseases were implemented and coincided with cessation of the outbreak.

Animals↗
PubMed1987

A controlled trial of teaching critical appraisal of the clinical literature to medical students.

We carried out a controlled trial of teaching the critical appraisal of clinical literature among final-year clinical clerks. Tutors at two of four teaching hospitals were offered a short course in the critical appraisal of clinical articles that describe diagnostic tests and treatments and were assisted in identifying and appraising specialty-specific articles that described those diagnostic tests and treatments that clinical clerks were sure to encounter during their clerkship tutorials. Tutors and clerks at the other two hospitals received no special intervention and served as controls. Experimental and control clinical clerks completed pretests and posttests of their ability to take and defend a stand on whether to apply specific diagnostic tests and treatments in specific clinical situations. Experimental clerks demonstrated both statistically and "clinically" significant increases in their critical appraisal skills, improving 37% on the diagnostic test exercise and 8% on the treatment exercise; control students' scores deteriorated for both.

Clinical Clerkship↗
PubMed1985

The measurement iterative loop: a framework for the critical appraisal of need, benefits and costs of health interventions.

A framework for organizing health services data is presented that subdivides the spectrum of health information into subgroups that constitute a logical progression from quantifying the burden of illness, through identifying its likely causes, to validating interventions that prevent or ameliorate it and evaluating their efficiency, to monitoring the application of these interventions and coming full-circle to determine whether the burden of illness has been reduced.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗
PubMed1975

The effect of pyruvate on nitrogenase activity in the blue-green alga Anabaena cylindrica.

Exogenous pyruvate added to cultures of the blue-green alga, Anabaena cylindrica stimulated nitrogenase activity (measured by acetylene reduction) only in the dark under low pO2 (0.05 atmospheres). Under aerobic conditions or in the light, stimulation was absent and replaced by an inhibition of activity above 5 mM added pyruvate. The curve of nitrogenase activity versus oxygen concentration had a similar maximal value of ethylene production with, or without added pyruvate, but in the presence of pyruvate this maximum occurred at 0.05 atmospheres O2, whilst in the absence of pyruvate the maximum occurred at 0.10 atmospheres O2. Malate, citrate, alpha-ketoglutarate, glucose and fructose were tested also, but none gave a similar effect to pyruvate. Addition of 14C-pyruvate and autoradiography indicated that exogenous pyruvate is metabolized through the interrupted Krebs cycle. These results are explained in terms of the activity of pyruvate: ferredoxin oxidoreductase and the ATP-induced oxygen sensitivity of nitrogenase.

Acetylene↗