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Biomedical subjects

L M Hunt

Publications and source records attributed to L M Hunt.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

Wheat fibre, lactulose and rectal mucosal proliferation in individuals with a family history of colorectal cancer.

In a single-blind study 38 individuals at increased risk of developing colorectal cancer because of a family history of the disease were randomized to take 10.5 g wheat fibre (Trifyba) or 60 ml lactulose daily for 12 weeks. Rectal biopsies were taken before and after treatment and rectal mucosal proliferation was measured by the crypt cell production rate (CCPR). The mean(s.d.) CCPR was significantly lower in those taking wheat fibre after 12 weeks (7.2(3.4) crypt cells per crypt per h) compared both with values obtained before treatment with wheat fibre (10.2(5.1) crypt cells per crypt per h; P = 0.02) and after treatment with lactulose (9.4(3.8) crypt cells per crypt per h; P = 0.05). Proliferation in the lactulose group was not significantly different at 12 weeks compared with the value obtained before treatment. This study confirms an antiproliferative effect of wheat fibre in a group of high-risk individuals.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Practicing oncology in provincial Mexico: a narrative analysis.

This paper examines the discourse of oncologists treating cancer in a provincial capital of southern Mexico. Based on an analysis of both formal interviews and observations of everyday clinical practice, it examines a set of narrative themes they used to maintain a sense of professionalism and possibility as they endeavored to apply a highly technologically dependent biomedical model in a resource-poor context. They moved between coexisting narrative frameworks as they addressed their formidable problems of translating between theory and practice. In a biomedical narrative frame, they drew on biomedical theory to produce a model of cellular dysfunction and of clinical intervention. However, limited availability of diagnostic and treatment techniques and patients inability or unwillingness to comply, presented serious constraints to the application of this model. They used a practical narrative frame to discuss the socio-economic issues they understood to be underlying these limitations to their clinical practice. They did not experience the incongruity between theory and practice as a continual challenge to their biomedical model, nor to their professional competency. Instead, through a reconciling narrative frame, they mediated this conflict. In this frame, they drew on culturally specific concepts of moral rightness and order to produce accounts that minimized the problem, exculpated themselves and cast blame for failed diagnosis and treatment. By invoking these multiple, coexisting narrative themes, the oncologists sustained an open vision of their work in which deficiencies and impotency were vindicated, and did not stand in the way of clinical practice.

Communication↗
PubMed1994

Congenital hypertrophy of the retinal pigment epithelium and mandibular osteomata as markers in familial colorectal cancer.

Congenital hypertrophy of the retinal pigment epithelium (CHRPE) and multiple mandibular osteomata are markers of familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). We have assessed their prevalence in non-polyposis familial colorectal neoplasia. Multiple mandibular osteomata were present in 1/29 (3%) patients with familial colorectal neoplasia. CHRPE was present in 11/33 (33%) patients with familial colorectal neoplasia compared with 3/36 (8%) with sporadic disease (P = 0.01) and 4/32 (12.5%) control subjects (P = 0.04). Seven patients with familial colorectal neoplasia had multiple areas of CHRPE compared with one with sporadic disease (P = 0.02) and one control subject (P = 0.02). There was no obvious correlation between calculated familial colorectal cancer risk and the presence of multiple areas of CHRPE. A proportion of patients with familial colorectal cancer have a marker found in FAP and may therefore have a constitutional genetic defect, at least in part responsible for their cancer, making them an interesting group for genetic study. Ophthalmoscopy may contribute to risk assessment in familial colorectal cancer.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

The cost of higher education and its implication for dental education.

In summary, the committee remains convinced that dental education and the dental profession continue to be valuable public resources, greatly respected in the eyes of the public and worthy of the educational investment by students, institutions, federal, and state governments and, ultimately, the public. Among the 54 dental schools, there are 54 different financial situations. It is difficult to generalize about them, but it is not difficult to see, from the information presented, that all are not optimizing their finances and their educational programs. It is the committee's perception that many of the private dental schools and some of the public dental schools are teetering on the verge of extinction. Unless substantial actions are taken, the irretrievable loss of some of these schools is likely to occur. While this committee cannot prescribe actions for all of the schools, it is evident that systematic and sustained effort is needed to prevent these losses. The solution to this complex problem cannot be solely that of dental education. It has to become the concern of all the related constituencies of the profession. Economic factors will continue to increase the cost of education.

Cost Control↗
PubMed1989

Compliance and the patient's perspective: controlling symptoms in everyday life.

Non-compliance with medical advice is poorly understood. Most of the existing literature considers the problem only from the doctor's point of view. We undertook a diachronic, qualitative study of the illness experiences of 19 women to try to understand non-compliance from the patient's perspective. Three-fourths of our study group had ceased to follow their doctor's recommendations by four months post-diagnosis. Their non-compliance could not be explained by the fact that the women held understandings of their illnesses which were incongruent with their physician's; nor were they unable to understand the diagnosis they received. A consideration of the roles that their diagnosis and treatments played in their daily lives proved more useful in explaining their failure to follow physicians' recommendations. Patients' use of treatments reflected their desire to control symptoms within the constraints of their daily routines.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1989

Views of what's wrong: diagnosis and patients' concepts of illness.

A group of women were interviewed about their construction of their illness experiences before they saw a physician and subsequently over a period of several months following consultation. It was found that the physician's input was one of many components of their post-consultation understanding of their illnesses. The women built up their understandings in an interactive process, drawing significantly on their prior histories, ongoing experiences and social worlds. They continually tried out, adjusted and reworked the construction of their illnesses to adapt them to the exigencies of everyday life. We conclude that illness explanations are dynamic entities whose adequacy is determined by their usefulness within the extra-medical social environment.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Differentiation between three species of Amblyomma ticks (acari: Ixodidae) by analysis of cuticular hydrocarbons.

Cuticular lipids were extracted from three species of Amblyomma ticks in hexane: dichloromethane and analysed by gas-liquid chromatography using both packed and capillary columns. Unlike many of the reported insect hydrocarbons, those of the Amblyomma ticks consisted mostly of branched paraffins and olefins and all three species of ticks are well differentiated on the basis of numbers and carbon-chain lengths of the hydrocarbons. Amblyomma maculatum has more olefins and A. cajennense has more paraffins than the other species, including A. americanum.

Alkanes↗
PubMed1985

Drug interactions and vasoconstrictors used in local anesthetic solutions.

This study examined widely advertised interactions between sympathomimetic amine vasoconstrictors currently used in dental local anesthetic solutions and MAO inhibitors (phenelzine, 5 mg/kg), phenothiazines (chlorpromazine, 2 mg/kg), and tricyclic antidepressants (desipramine, 2 mg/kg). Twelve greyhound dogs premedicated with morphine and anesthetized with urethane and alpha-chloralose were prepared for physiologic recordings. During a control period, the dogs received bolus injections of epinephrine, norepinephrine, and levonordefrin sufficient to construct log-linear dose-response curves for each agent. Commercial anesthetic solutions, with and without the vasoconstrictors, were also used. The dose-response curves were then reproduced 1 hour after the administration of a drug interactant. Cardiovascular responses were not influenced by the coadministration of local anesthetics or by the prior administration of phenelzine. Chlorpromazine ameliorated pressor responses to norepinephrine and levonordephrin and reversed the hypertensive effect of high-dose epinephrine. Desipramine significantly increased vasoconstrictor potencies, particularly those of levonordefrin and norepinephrine, which were multiplied more than sixfold.

Anesthetics, Local↗
PubMed1985

Relativism in the diagnosis of hypoglycemia.

It is a common assumption in our medicalized society that diagnostic labels simply describe facts, rather than express the diagnostician's own concepts of anomaly and dysfunction. Variability among physicians in diagnosing reactive hypoglycemia illustrates some fundamental problems of reifying the concept of disease. Although most physicians consider the same three variables in this diagnosis, their interpretations of them may vary widely. The disagreement centers around the credibility given standardized, technological measures versus the individual patient's experiences. Most physicians consider lab tests definitive in diagnosing hypoglycemia, while bypassing patients' subjective reports. Some, however, rely more heavily on patient-generated criteria to diagnose the condition. This lack of agreement about the criteria for diagnosing hypoglycemia, coupled with the psychological nature of many of the symptoms, make hypoglycemia and psychological disorder reasonable alternative diagnoses. These diagnoses, in turn, have very different effects on patients. These variations in physicians' diagnostic criteria illustrate that diagnostic labels are cognitive constructs, subject to the influence of the physician's culture, expectations, values and interests.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1985

Biochemical differentiation between species of ticks (Acari: Ixodidae).

An electrophoretic analysis of nine species of ticks representing three genera of the family Ixodidae was performed. Within the genus Ambylomma, the species are completely distinguished using ACPH and PEP-1. The phenotype of A. americanum is ACPH1-00 and PEP-1(1-00) or PEP-1(0-92); A. maculatum has phenotype ACPH0-92 and no expression of PEP-1; A. cajennense has phenotype ACPH1-04 and PEP-1(0-98); while the phenotype of A. inoratum is ACPH1-02 and PEP0-98. Among the Dermacentor, peptidase phenotypes completely distinguish the species. The species D. albipictus has phenotypes PEP-1(0-94) or PEP-1(0-88) and PEP-2(0-98); D. andersoni has phenotype PEP-1(1-00) and PEP-2(1-00); D. variabilis has phenotype PEP-1(0-94) and no expression of PEP-2; and D. nitens has phenotypes PEP-1(1-06) or PEP-1(0-98) and no expression of PEP-2. The final species, R. sanguineus can be distinguished from all the other species by its having the unique allele ACPH0-98.

Alleles↗
PubMed1979

Disinfection of nitrous oxide inhalation equipment.

Cross-infection by contaminated equipment is a potential hazard associated with conscious sedation with nitrous oxide and oxygen . Nosocomial infections have occasionally been linked wih the use of unsterile inhalation devices; microbial contamination of sterile nasal hoods routinely occurs during administration of nitrous oxide; and in vitro experiments indicate that subsequent use of contaminated nasal masks may lead to aspiration of microorganisms. Although the incidence of respiratory disease after such contamination is unknown, it is clear that disinfection of the nitrous oxide apparatus between patients is desirable. A simple cleaning method involving alkaline glutaraldehyde is described that provides adequate disinfection of the rubber goods used in the administration of gas. Superiority of this technique over previously recommended cleaning methods is shown.

Aldehydes↗
PubMed1979

Distribution and depletion of radioactivity in hens treated dermally with 14C-labeled permethrin.

The 25/75 cis-trans mixture of permethrin (BW21Z), one of the new broad-spectrum pyrethroid insecticides, was labeled with 14C in the alcohol methylene carbon moiety and mist sprayed at two rates (3.77 or 11.94 mg/hen) on 28 hens. Peak permethrin equivalents in both treatment groups were found in the skins, .414 and l.69 ppm, respectively. Total permethrin equivalents peaked 3 days after treatment, but permethrin equivalents in eggs peaked 5 days after treatment.

Adipose Tissue↗
PubMed1978

A comparison of intralingual and intravenous epinephrine before and during cardiovascular depression.

Dose-response methodology was used to evaluate the cardiopulmonary effects of epinephrine administered intravenously and intralingually to normotensive and acutely hypotensive dogs and monkeys. Results indicate that the intralingual route is much less effective than the intravenous route and that conventional doses of emergency drugs injected intralingually may not afford sufficient resuscitative effects to be lifesaving during cardiovascular depression.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1977

Bacterial contamination and transmission by nitrous oxide sedation apparatus.

Microbial contamination of sterile nasal hoods was demonstrated in nine of twenty-one clinical administrations of nitrous oxide-oxygen conscious sedation. In each case, bacteria isolated from the hood after 30 minutes' use were correlated morphologically with organisms recovered from the subject's nasal mucosa. A laboratory investigation utilizing an artificial respiration-sedation system revealed that there is a significant possibility of cross-infection between patients when improperly disinfected sedation equipment is employed.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Evaluation of a microcrystalline collagen preparation in extraction wounds.

The microcrystalline collagen preparation evaluated in this study appeared to create a slightly denser and longer lasting inflammation and to delay slightly the early phase of bone repair in this wound model. However, beneficial effects of more rapid achievement of hemostatis were also noted. On the basis of these findings, it would be of interest to compare this material with other more widely used materials, such as gelatin foam, in this wound model.

Animals↗