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Biomedical subjects

L Ashton

Publications and source records attributed to L Ashton.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Promoting the health and social care of older people: gaining a perspective from outside the UK.

With people living longer, getting sicker and entering nursing home care later in their lives, the global trends point to preventing premature institution as a major public health and social care goal. Compared with the UK--Australia, Canada and the USA have a longer track record for introducing government Acts, policies and strategies which contribute to supporting older people in maintaining their health, safety and independence. They also have government Ministers for the Aged. In the UK, it is only very recently that we are witnessing new Government programmes such as the NHS Plan and Modernizing Social Services that begin to demonstrate its more determined approach to improve the life of the older person. An ageing population brings new challenges to policy-makers and planners in the statutory sectors. Various international conferences have been held to address ways in which countries are providing or developing their services, and their research regarding older people. Yet, whatever country one considers, nursing home care continues to give rise to many concerns. Developments in the USA managed care programmes have recently come under even more scrutiny from the Federal and State governments, insurance agencies, nursing home owners and, of course, older people themselves. This article raises issues that still need to be addressed in the UK. It reports briefly on an international conference (attended during the undertaking of a Winston Churchill Fellowship) which had some forward-thinking presentations addressing existing and future care needs of older people. It then concentrates on highlighting some of the current developments in the USA care system that might be learning lessons for UK policy-makers. It concludes with some additional considerations for delivering a National Service Framework for Older People in order that "The needs of older people are at the heart of the reform programme for health and social services."

Aged↗
PubMed2000

Characterization of three nef-defective human immunodeficiency virus type 1 strains associated with long-term nonprogression. Australian Long-Term Nonprogressor Study Group.

Long-term survivors (LTS) of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection provide an opportunity to investigate both viral and host factors that influence the rate of disease progression. We have identified three HIV-1-infected individuals in Australia who have been infected for over 11 years with viruses that contain deletions in the nef and nef-long terminal repeat (nef/LTR) overlap regions. These viruses differ from each other and from other nef-defective strains of HIV-1 previously identified in Australia. One individual, LTS 3, is infected with a virus containing a nef gene with a deletion of 29 bp from the nef/LTR overlap region, resulting in a truncated Nef open reading frame. In addition to the Nef defect, only viruses containing truncated Vif open reading frames of 37 or 69 amino acids could be detected in peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated from this patient. LTS 3 had a viral load of less than 20 copies of RNA/ml of plasma. The other two long-term survivors, LTS 9 and LTS 11, had loads of less than 200 copies of RNA/ml of plasma and are infected with viruses with larger deletions in both the nef alone and nef/LTR overlap regions. These viruses contain wild-type vif, vpu, and vpr accessory genes. All three strains of virus had envelope sequences characteristic of macrophagetropic viruses. These findings further indicate the reduced pathogenic potential of nef-defective viruses.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2000

Cingulate abnormalities associated with PANSS negative scores in first episode schizophrenia.

There is evidence for the involvement of the cingulate gyrus in schizophrenia. We present details of a Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM) analysis of SPECT data from the largest study (N = 39) of drug naive schizophrenic patients. The main findings are that there is decreased perfusion in the anterior cingulate during verbal fluency when patients are compared to controls (matched individually by age, gender and father's social class as determined by occupation) and also that PANSS negative scores correlate negatively with regional cerebral blood flow in the cingulate gyrus (Pearson's Correlation coefficient of r = - 0.49 and significance p< 0.005). This suggests that measurement of change of perfusion in this region could be a useful biological marker in assessing the effect of neuroleptics on negative symptoms.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1994

A common source outbreak of gastroenteritis in a teaching hospital.

An outbreak of gastroenteritis at a large teaching hospital affected at least 52 workers. Investigation implicated a tuna salad, and the circumstances suggested Clostridium perfringens as the etiologic agent. The risk of such outbreaks may be reduced by cooling of ingredients prior to mixing and refrigeration in small steel containers.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Planning for the ageing workforce.

A changing and ageing workforce will influence how occupational health services are organised in the future. Lorraine Ashton describes demographic trends affecting the labour market.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1988

Sensitisation by mycobacteria and the effects of BCG on children attending schools in the slums of Bombay.

Quadruple skin testing with new tuberculins was used to evaluate the effects of previously administered BCG Madras in children attending schools in the slums, or living in Kopri Leprosy Colony in Bombay. There were differences between schools both in the level of sensitisation of children without BCG scars and in the effects of BCG vaccination. Results obtained at one school resembled those obtained in a previous study in Agra, where BCG was thought to be ineffective. Results from the other schools and Kopri were more like those previously reported from Ahmednagar, where BCG was considered to be much more effective. Thus within the same city groups of children of the same social status may vary widely both in their contact with mycobacteria and in their capacity to benefit from BCG vaccination.

Adolescent↗