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Biomedical subjects

L McPherson

Publications and source records attributed to L McPherson.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber (KTW) syndrome: the use of in utero magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in a prospective diagnosis.

The diagnosis of the Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber (KTW) syndrome is rarely made antenatally. We report the use of both ultrasound and in utero magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the prenatal diagnosis of this syndrome. This is the first report of the use of prenatal MRI in the diagnosis of this condition. There was concordance in the findings of both modalities, with limb hypertrophy, and multiple haemangiomata - both subcutaneous and internally - demonstrated with ultrasound and MRI. The patient elected to terminate the pregnancy because of associated oligohydramnios and a small fetal chest noted at 20 weeks. The postmortem examination confirmed the antenatal diagnosis.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed1996

Discourse connectedness in manic and schizophrenic patients: associations with derailment and other clinical thought disorders.

The language performance of hospitalised manic ( n = 12) and schizophrenic (n=15) patients was compared in order to test hypotheses based on previous models of communication disorder in these patient groups. It was hypothesised that the derailments of manic and schizophrenic patients were discriminable by virtue of differences in the level of connectedness of the speech during this type of language disorder. Previous hypotheses have suggested that manics derail because they discuss multiple concurrent topics and schizophrenics derail as a pattern of general vagueness and poorly interconnected speech. These hypotheses were supported by the finding that manic patients manifested a higher level of overall discourse connectedness during derailments, even when the overall increased amount of speech was accounted for. Manics were not simply more competent overall, because they failed to differ from schizophrenics in their discourse connectedness during nondisordered segments. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for clinical and linguistic differentiation of the language of psychotic patients.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1995

Effectiveness of a cytokine restraining agent (CRA (TM)) in attenuating disuse deconditioning induced by hindlimb unloading in rats.

Spaceflight alters many immune responses and among the regulatory components of an organisms response system that have been to be affected by spaceflight is the cytokine network. Spaceflight, as well as ground-based model systems of spaceflight, have been shown to affect the production and activation of various cytokines including interleukins (IL) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF). Levels of urinary IL-2 are elevated on the first day of spaceflight and again after returning from space. Most results from ground-based studies in rodents indicate either no alterations in cytokines or decreased levels. Results from this experiment indicate that HP 228, a potent cytokine restraining agent (CRA (TM)) was effective in attentuating many of the disuse deconditioning changes induced by the ground-based hindlimb suspension model that simulates weightlessness in rats. HP 228 is a novel heptapeptide with unnatural amino acids and can effectively restrain lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced increased levels of several key cytokines, including plasma TNF alpha, IL-1 beta and IL-6. HP 228 has also been shown to be effective in several rodent models of pain, inflammation and LPS-induced lethality, as well as in reducing inducible nitric oxide synthase.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

Content overlap inflates the relation between negative cognition and dysphoria.

We investigated whether the presence of items assessing negative cognition on the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) inflates the relation between BDI scores and measures of negative cognition. In four student samples, we examined the relation between measures of self-esteem, dysfunctional attitudes, control beliefs, perceived social support, and BDI scores calculated with and without negative cognition items. There were significant reductions in the strength of the relations between self-esteem, dysfunctional attitudes, and BDI scores when overlapping content was removed. Moreover, this was not due to the increase in error variance resulting from reducing the number of items on the BDI. Although the magnitude decreased, the relation between negative cognition and dysphoria remained significant in all comparisons even when overlapping content was removed. Thus, although content overlap appears to inflate the relation between some measures of negative cognition and dysphoria, it cannot completely account for their relation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

The Queenscliff study: a community screening programme for hypertension.

The Victorian community of the Borough of Queenscliffe (Queenscliff and Point Lonsdale) was screened for high blood pressure in May, 1975, and a high response rate was achieved. The prevalence of hypertension was lower than that reported from Albury in 1971, Brunswick in 1972 or Busselton in 1969, but the difference from the latter is likely to be due to a higher treatment rate in Queenscliff. The difference from the Albury (and, to a lesser extent, the Brunswick) data is substantial and cannot be explained in this way. While geographic variability in high blood pressure cannot be excluded, it is possible that different screening circumstances were a major factor.

Adult↗
PubMed1976

Analgesics and the kidney: a community-based study.

The adult population of a small Victorian town was interviewed for current analgesic consumption and the replies were validated by urine testing. One thousand four hundred and fifty-six subjects were ranked by stated analgesic consumption, and the 50 highest consumers matched for age and sex with non-consumers. Early morning urine specimens were collected and no significant difference in osmolality or white cell excretion rates was found between the two groups. It was concluded that the absolute risk of renal impairment on chronic analgesic consumers is low, and that patients on therapeutic regimens, including analgesics, may be reassured that any risk is minimal.

Adult↗