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Biomedical subjects

K Pitts

Publications and source records attributed to K Pitts.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Variations in feminine hygiene practices of military women in deployed and noncombat environments.

There is limited information on how military women manage feminine hygiene practices in combat and noncombat environments. The purpose of this study was to describe feminine hygiene practices of military women in deployed and noncombat (normal) environments. A nonexperimental descriptive research design was used. The study used a survey questionnaire, the Deployed Female Health Practice Questionnaire, which was developed specifically for military women to report their experiences with hygiene issues. Significant differences between deployed and normal environments were found in the areas of types of menses management products used and in douching and handwashing practices. Continuing education about safe feminine hygiene practices will help military women cope better in deployed (field) environments. Recommendations suggest further study on intervention strategies for hygiene management practices.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

When criminals are shot: A survey of Washington, DC, jail detainees.

INTRODUCTION: Criminals are at high risk of being victims of violence, but little is known about their victimization. METHODS: A screen of Washington, DC, detainees found that 1 in 4 had been wounded in events that appear unrelated to their incarceration. Extensive interviews were conducted with 79 men entering the city jail from March through June 1997; the men reported 93 prior events in which they had been shot within the past 5 years. RESULTS: Eighty-three percent had personally witnessed someone being shot, and 46% had a family member killed with a gun. In the incidents in which they were shot, most were victims of robberies, assaults, and crossfires. The shootings were serious -- 35% were hit by more than 1 bullet, more than 90% went to the hospital, and 40% still had some disability from the wounds. These detainees report being shot by other criminals rather than by law-abiding citizens. Ninety percent would prefer to live in a world without easy access to firearms. CONCLUSION: These young men live in a violent world of gunplay. The overwhelming majority would prefer that firearms were not so readily available.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Comparative efficacy and potency of long-term therapy with glipizide or glyburide in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

BACKGROUND: Long-term studies on the comparative efficacy and relative potency of glipizide and glyburide are sparse and controversial. METHODS: In a randomized prospective trial, we compared the effectiveness and relative potency of glipizide and glyburide over a 15-month period in 18 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) (9 on glyburide and 9 on glipizide) who were unresponsive to diet therapy. Glycemic control was assessed using 4 methods: 1) quarterly fasting plasma glucose (FPG), and 2-hour postprandial plasma glucose after a standard breakfast; 2) insulin and glucose response to Sustacal (test meal) challenge every 3 to 6 months; 3) quarterly hemoglobin A1c; and 4) intravenous glucose tolerance testing every 6 months to measure first and second phase insulin secretion. Patient characteristics were similar in each treatment group. RESULTS: Similar doses of glipizide (11 mg/day) or glyburide (10 mg/day) resulted in comparable reduction of FPG and hemoglobin A1c and increase in first phase insulin response to intravenous glucose tolerance testing. There was greater reduction in FPG and 2-hour postprandial plasma glucose with glipizide than with glyburide in 6 months. Contrary to the Physicians' Desk Reference, but consistent with another short-term study, our long-term study demonstrated that glipizide and glyburide are equipotent at similar doses in controlling hyperglycemia in DM2. CONCLUSIONS: Glipizide and glyburide are effective in controlling hyperglycemia with similar doses in DM2. Glipizide exhibits greater reduction in FPG and 2PPG at 6 months. Additional studies are needed to validate equipotency of these drugs.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Medical response to bioterrorism: are we prepared?

The 1995 bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City made terrorism a shocking reality for all Oklahomans. The fact that such an event could happen here, far from foreign political and ethnic conflicts and from large coastal cities, made us realize that no one is immune from the terrorist threat. But as horrific as that event and other terrorist incidents have been, the present threat of the use of infectious agents in acts of terrorism has the potential to cause far greater human death and suffering than any previously used terrorist weapon. Although health care professionals have not historically participated in terrorist planning and response activities, the addition of infectious agents to the terrorists' arsenal makes medical and public health professionals critical players in these efforts. Indeed, physicians have the ability to first recognize and report such an event and thereby diminish the impact. To meet the bioterrorism responsibility, physicians must be knowledgeable of this type of threat. In this article we present an overview of bioterrorism and review the organisms most likely to be used in a terrorist event.

Biological Warfare↗
PubMed1998

Thrombin induced inhibition of neurite outgrowth from dorsal root ganglion neurons.

Thrombin is a multifunctional protease. Recent studies on cultured neuronal cells have suggested a function for thrombin in the development and maintenance of the nervous system. Thrombin has been found to induce neurite retraction and reverse stellation in neuroblastoma cell lines and rat astrocytes, respectively. The major focus of our study was to investigate the potential role of thrombin in peripheral nervous system development using the rat embryonic dorsal root ganglion model. We found a dose dependent inhibition of neurite outgrowth from explant dorsal root ganglion cultures upon exposure to 2 to 200 nM thrombin. This effect was reversed by the specific thrombin inhibitor, hirudin. A synthetic peptide that imitates the fully active receptor, thrombin receptor activating peptide, was also found to inhibit neurite outgrowth from dorsal root ganglia. bis-Benzimide stained neuronal cultures did not show any evidence of cell death after exposure to thrombin or thrombin receptor activating peptides. Immunohistochemical studies revealed specific staining of the thrombin receptor on neurons, with intense labeling along neurites. Enriched neuronal cultures exposed to thrombin and thrombin receptor activating peptides revealed rapid activation of phospholipase Cgamma-1, a second messenger associated with the thrombin receptor. These findings are the first to describe the localization of the thrombin receptor to dorsal root ganglion neurons. We propose that receptor activation is associated with thrombin induced inhibition of neurite outgrowth.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Mood, cue and gender influences on motivation, craving and liking for alcohol in recreational drinkers.

The effects of exposure to an alcohol-related cue (drinking low-alcohol beer) and a musical depression/elation mood induction procedure, on craving, motivation and liking for alcohol, were studied in male and female recreational drinkers. Alcohol craving was assessed using the multidimensional desires for alcohol questionnaire (DAQ), motivation for alcohol was assessed by performance on a progressive ratio (PR) task reinforced with small volumes (25 ml) of low-alcohol beer, and liking for the reinforcers earned in the PR task was assessed using a visual analogue scale. Consumption of a half-pint of low-alcohol beer increased alcohol craving in male subjects but had no effect or decreased craving in female subjects. Subsequent induction of a depressed mood increased craving scores, relative to elated or neutral mood groups, but these effects were confined to abstinent (non-cued) subjects, both male and female. Performance on the PR task correlated significantly with one of the four factors of the DAQ, negative reinforcement, and was increased by induction of a depressed mood in abstinent female and cued male subjects. Reinforcer liking was unchanged following mood induction in male subjects, but decreased in both groups of female subjects. To summarize, the cue of drinking low-alcohol beer increased alcohol craving in men but not in women, and induction of a depressed mood increased alcohol craving and motivation, but also decreased alcohol liking. These effects were present to different extents in different cue/gender subgroups, and were partially independent.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Bacterial oxidation of mercury metal vapor, Hg(0).

We used metalloregulated luciferase reporter fusions and spectroscopic quantification of soluble Hg(II) to determine that the hydroperoxidase-catalase, KatG, of Escherichia coli can oxidize monatomic elemental mercury vapor, Hg(0), to the water-soluble, ionic form, Hg(II). A strain with a mutation in katG and a strain overproducing KatG were used to demonstrate that the amount of Hg(II) formed is proportional to the catalase activity. Hg(0) oxidation was much decreased in stationary-phase cells of a strain lacking KatG, suggesting that the monofunctional hydroperoxidase KatE is less effective at this reaction. Unexpectedly, Hg(0) oxidation also occurred in a strain lacking both KatE and KatG, suggesting that activities other than hydroperoxidases may carry out this reaction. Two typical soil bacteria, Bacillus and Streptomyces, also oxidize Hg(0) to Hg(II). These observations establish for the first time that bacteria can contribute, as do mammals and plants, to the oxidative phase of the global Hg cycle.

Artificial Gene Fusion↗
PubMed1995

Capital decisions. Where is the smart money being invested?

Health care executives are faced with a welter of priorities when it comes to allocating their increasingly scarce capital: they need to build information systems, organize primary care physicians, and expand outpatient services. But what are the defining issues? We asked five executives to explain how their strategies are changing as a result of managed care growth and integration. What emerges is a snapshot of the new capital allocation reality.

Capital Expenditures↗
PubMed1989

Capital management helps hospitals face hard times.

Financial officers of healthcare organizations in severe financial distress must map out an effective capital management strategy to help their institutions avoid disaster. An executive's plan of action should include streamlining and restructuring the organization, studying long- and short-term assets to improve cash flow, and investigating ways to refinance debt. Healthcare organizations must develop warning signals for impending financial difficulties and contingency plans that address operating and capital responses to such a crisis. Learning to guide an organization through financial difficulties may be an executive's most important financial skill in the decade to come.

Accounts Payable and Receivable↗