PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

L Sexton

Publications and source records attributed to L Sexton.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Genetic characterization of a large, historically significant Utah kindred with facioscapulohumeral dystrophy.

In 1950, Tyler and Stephens reported a remarkable kindred affected with facioscapulohumeral dystrophy (FSHD), consisting of 1249 descendants of a man who emigrated to Utah in 1840. Members of this kindred are still seen in our clinic and, to our knowledge, no member had been tested for deletions at the FSHD1A locus on chromosome 4q35, the common chromosomal rearrangement associated with FSHD. We have identified 971 additional members of this kindred who either were not included in or unborn at the time of the report by Tyler and Stephens, and have identified 120 living members as affected by history or by examination. Members of this kindred contribute to a disease prevalence of nearly 1:15 000 in the Utah/southern Idaho region. We have demonstrated that affected members carry a disease-associated 20 kb deletion allele at the FSHD1A locus. This allele is the same size in multiple, distantly-related branches of the kindred, confirming the meiotic stability of the FSHD1A deletion. This large, genetically homogeneous population of patients represents a unique resource with which to study current questions about FSHD, including the possibilities of anticipation and parental transmission effects.

Chromosomes, Human, Pair 4↗
PubMed1994

Components of job satisfaction in psychiatric social workers.

A survey of 188 psychiatric social workers indicated an overall positive level of job satisfaction. Overall job satisfaction was found to be primarily determined by position satisfaction. The major correlate of position satisfaction was the professional respect received from other disciplines and not the specific tasks performed. These findings were interpreted as reflecting the obfuscating effect of hospital team interactions on job satisfaction. In these settings, the social workers were often so dependent on the quality of these team interactions to derive the variety, autonomy, and value in their work that it was difficult for them to keep subjectively clear the actual level of satisfaction with the work itself. Social work supervisors need to focus on developing a stronger sense of practice excellence and forging a subjective separation between task-derived achievement and interpersonal enjoyment. Results also showed the importance of educational and professional development opportunities in maintaining overall job satisfaction.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Perioperative nursing care of the patient experiencing laser surgery.

Perioperative nursing care for patients undergoing laser procedures must reflect the six-step nursing process of assessment, diagnosis, outcome identification, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Recommended practices, guidelines, and institutional policies and procedures offer additional guidance for an optimal level of practice by nurses involved with patients having laser procedures.

Humans↗
PubMed1988

Progressive changes in LH and FSH and LH: FSH ratio in women throughout reproductive life.

Gonadotropin secretion during the post-menopausal period is considerably higher than during the reproductive years. In this study, we present evidence that changes in the hypothalamic-pituitary-ovarian unit occur over a period of years before the onset of menstrual irregularity which heralds the menopause. FSH and LH were measured in blood samples taken on 6 days during the mid-follicular phase from 127 regularly cycling women aged between 23 and 49 yr. The women aged 23-30 yr were taken as the control group and the remainder were grouped in 2-yr age bands. A significant increase in FSH underwent a further increase in the oldest group (48-49 yr) in whom LH also became significantly elevated. The difference in the timing of the change in FSH and LH concentrations was related not only to chronological age but also to the number of years before the menopause. The increase in FSH occurred 5-6 yr pre-menopause, that in LH not until 3-4 yr before the cessation of menstruation. It is concluded that an early sign of the aging of the reproductive mechanism can be detected in women who are having normal ovulatory cycles. The regulation of FSH and LH secretion appears to be sufficiently independent to permit the observed differences in the age of onset of these premenopausal increases.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

The effect of age on the cyclical patterns of plasma LH, FSH, oestradiol and progesterone in women with regular menstrual cycles.

Luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), oestradiol and progesterone concentrations in plasma were obtained daily throughout the menstrual cycles of 94 regularly cycling women, aged between 24 and 50 years. Although mean LH concentrations changed little with advancing age, mean FSH concentrations were significantly (P less than 0.001) elevated from the age of 39 years. FSH concentrations in the oldest women studied (48-50 years) were approximately 3-fold greater than in the younger controls (women aged 23-35 years). LH concentrations rose slightly (P less than 0.05) during the last 5 years only. The increase in FSH concentration was not, however, uniform across the cycle, but was confined predominantly to the mid-follicular and post-ovulatory phases (i.e. those times in the normal menstrual cycle when circulating inhibin concentrations appear to be minimal). Despite the clear increases in FSH concentration, there was little alteration in the mean steroid profiles which remained within the normal fertile range throughout the last decade of reproductive life. The only exception to this was a small, transient, but significant (P less than 0.05) decrease in preovulatory oestradiol concentration between the ages of 36 and 38 years, which was followed by a transient increase (P less than 0.01) in oestradiol concentration between 39 and 44 years. However, no corresponding significant changes in mean progesterone concentrations were observed.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Normal variation in the length of the follicular phase of the menstrual cycle: effect of chronological age.

Normal probability plots were used to analyse the distribution of follicular phase length in a population of 293 apparently ovulatory menstrual cycles from women aged between 18 and 39 years. The length of the follicular phase was defined as the interval (in days) from the onset of menstruation up to, but not including, the day of the LH peak. Follicular phase length appeared to be log-normally distributed and graphical inspection of the probability plot suggested that the geometric mean (and 95% confidence limits) of follicular phase length in this study group was 12.9 (10.3 to 16.3) days. There was a significant decrease (P less than 0.001) in follicular phase length with chronological age, from 14.2 days in women aged 18-24 years to 10.4 days in women aged 40-44 years.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Normal variation in the length of the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle: identification of the short luteal phase.

Normal probability plots were used to assess the homogeneity of a population of 327 luteal phases from apparently ovulatory menstrual cycles. The length of the luteal phase was defined as the interval (in days) following but not including, the luteinizing hormone peak, up to and including the day before onset of menstruation. A small sub-set of the population consisted of cycles with abnormally short luteal phases but the majority of the data followed a normal frequency distribution which gave a mean (+/- SD) for normal luteal phase length of 14.13 (+/- 1.41) days. It was estimated that all cycles with a luteal phase less than or equal to 9 days were abnormal, and that 74%, 22% and 2% respectively of cycles with luteal phases of 10, 11 and 12 days were also abnormal. The total incidence of short luteal phases defined as above was 5.2%.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Plasma equilin concentrations in an oophorectomized woman following ingestion of conjugated equine oestrogens (Premarin).

The plasma equilin concentration was 25.2 nmol/l (6.7 ng/ml) 4 h after an oral dose of Premarin (1.25 mg), and a maximum concentration of 20.5 nmol/l (5.5 ng/ml) was recorded 3 h after a smaller dose (0.625 mg) was given. 24 h later, the plasma equilin was still considerable, being 6.1 nmol/l (1.6 ng/ml) and 3.7 nmol/l (1.2 ng/ml) for the larger and smaller dosages respectively. The findings for equilin are considerably higher than physiological oestrogen concentrations and in addition show that daily therapy with Premarin could lead to cumulation of the steroid.

17-Ketosteroids↗
PubMed1978

Oestradiol secretion in men and pre-menopausal women.

Blood samples were obtained from a group of regularly-cycling normal women (n = 13) and a group of normal men (n = 5) at 15 min intervals for periods ranging from 9-14 h whilst the subjects remained resting quietly in bed. The concentration of plasma oestradiol was measured in a radioimmunoassay which had been carefully optimised and the mean concentration and coefficient of variation calculated for each subject. Plasma oestradiol concentrations were found to fluctuate rapidly in all subjects. The largest sample-to-sample variation was found in regularly cycling women near mid-cycle, and the least variation occurred in the male subjects. The coefficients of variation were approximately twice the intra-assay variation confirming that the observed pulsatile patterns of secretion were not due to technical errors. An analysis of variance performed on the mean hourly concentrations from each subject showed a significant variation (P less than 0.001) between sampling periods with peaks occurring during the first hour of sampling (08.00-09.00 hours). This result is suggestive of the presence of a circadian rhythm although it is not conslusive.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Minimizing the impact of a hospital strike.

The 1991 nursing strike in Manitoba lasted 31 days and affected 87 facilities. In professionally based health care facilities, such work stoppages can cause lasting conflicts. Simply returning to business as usual is not realistic. St. Boniface General Hospital was the first affected facility in the province to formulate a formal strike recovery process.

Disaster Planning↗