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Biomedical subjects

M Decker

Publications and source records attributed to M Decker.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1987

Acute respiratory disease associated with influenza epidemics in Houston, 1981-1983.

Virological surveillance at "sentinel" clinics in Houston has demonstrated that the annual peak in the number of visits for acute respiratory disease (ARD) always coincides with the peak of influenza virus activity. A survey of visits to a health maintenance organization between 1981 and 1983 allowed us to calculate the age-specific rates of visits for ARD during two moderately severe influenza epidemics (1981-1982 and 1982-1983). During the most intense period of influenza virus activity the rate of visits for ARD was about 12 per 100 persons; the risk of developing ARD was greatest for preschool children (1981-1982, 27 per 100; 1982-1983, 29 per 100) and averaged about 10 per 100 for persons greater than 10 years of age. The risk of hospitalization with ARD was about 10 per 10,000 persons for residents of Harris County (Texas) during the same epidemics and was greatest for persons greater than 65 years of age.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Survey of underlying conditions of persons hospitalized with acute respiratory disease during influenza epidemics in Houston, 1978-1981.

The peak occurrence of hospitalizations of persons with acute respiratory disease (ARD), usually pneumonia, has coincided with the peak of influenza virus activity each year. The purpose of this study was to examine the diagnoses other than ARD on the discharge record of patients hospitalized with ARD. We were particularly interested in determining the frequency of high-risk conditions for which influenza vaccine is currently recommended. The risk for ARD hospitalization was 19.7 per ten thousand for persons with high-risk conditions and only 9.3 for persons without. Chronic pulmonary disorders were the most common underlying conditions identified, and persons with pulmonary conditions had the greatest risk for ARD hospitalization. The highest rate occurred among persons older than 65 yr of age with pulmonary conditions (87.5 per ten thousand), and the rate was 27.5 for persons 45 to 64 yr of age. Cardiac conditions were the second most frequent group of underlying disorders of patients hospitalized with ARD. Only for persons younger than 20 yr of age was the risk of ARD hospitalization greater for persons with cardiac conditions than for those with pulmonary conditions (22.9 and 14.9 per ten thousand, respectively). Death, however, was more frequent among persons with underlying heart disease. Intensified effort is needed to fully implement recommendations for prophylaxis of influenza in order to reduce these risks.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1985

Acute respiratory disease hospitalizations as a measure of impact of epidemic influenza.

Current measures of the health impact of epidemic influenza focus on analyses of death certificate data which may underestimate the true health effect. Previous investigations of influenza-related morbidity either have lacked virologic confirmation of influenza virus activity in the community or were not population-based. Community virologic surveillance in Houston, Texas has demonstrated that influenza viruses have produced epidemics each year since 1974. This study examined the relationship of hospitalizations with acute respiratory disease to the occurrence of influenza epidemics. Discharge records of 13,297 acute respiratory disease hospitalizations that occurred between July 1978 and June 1981 were obtained from 11 hospitals with 48.4% of hospital beds available in Harris County (metropolitan Houston). The correlation of adult acute respiratory disease hospitalizations with established indices of community acute respiratory disease morbidity was strong (r = 0.74) and indicated that the peak of adult acute respiratory disease hospitalizations followed the peak of influenza virus isolations by one week. Only 23.2% of persons hospitalized were 65 years of age or older, compared to 60-70% of persons who die during influenza epidemics. Although the highest rates of acute respiratory disease hospitalizations occurred among infants and persons aged 65 years or older, the rates for adults 45-64 years and preschool children aged 1-4 years were greater than 1 per 1,000 persons. Surveillance of acute respiratory disease hospitalizations can improve the measurement of serious morbidity associated with epidemic influenza, and can better define the characteristics of persons at risk for development of illness requiring hospitalization.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Oxygen tension under a contact lens.

Corneal thickness changes were measured on human subjects who wore gel lenses that varied in center thickness. Using these measurements and the results of an earlier study in which changes in corneal thickness were monitored on human corneas exposed to oxygen tensions below that in air, we showed that the oxygen tension under most contact lenses varies from 0 to 25 mm Hg which produces a corresponding oxygen flux into the cornea of 0 to 6 microliter cm2 hr. A critical oxygen tension and flux under the lens was found to be 10 mm Hg and 2 microliter cm2 hr, respectively, below which corneal swelling occurs. To maintain these critical levels of tension and flux, the minimum oxygen transmissibility of a stationary lens on the cornea was determined to be 5 X 10(-9) and 15 X 10(-9) (cm X ml O2)/(sec X ml X mm Hg) for the open and closed eye conditions, respectively.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Determination of newborn special care bed requirements by application of queuing theory to 1975-1976 morbidity experience.

The movement of newborn infants from the delivery room of a level III perinatal center to nursing units that provided different levels of care was prospectively documented for 1975 and 1976. These data were employed in a computer modeling experiment based on sequential queuing theory to determine the relationships between numbers of available intermediate and maximum care nursery beds, the probability that a given newborn arrival could not be accommodated, and the occupancy rates for each level of care. The nursery bed requirements for the level III center were used to estimate the number of special care beds needed by the regional Health Service Area.

Bed Occupancy↗
PubMed1978

Oxygen flux into the human cornea when covered by a soft contact lens.

Corneal thickness was measured in human subjects who wore gel lenses that varied only in center thickness. The amount of corneal swelling that developed was a function of center lens thickness. Based on these data and the results of a previous study, the minimum oxygen tension under the lens necessary to maintain normal corneal hydration was determined to be 10 mm Hg. The critical oxygen flux into the cornea at this oxygen tension is 2 microliter/cm2 x hr. Gel-lens center thickness and oxygen permeability can be altered to increase the oxygen tension at the tear/lens interface and resultant oxygen flux into the cornea by increasing the oxygen transmissibility of the lens.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Characterization and partial purification of an inducible protein related to hexose proton cotransport of Chlorella vulgaris.

1. Cells of Chlorella vulgaris induced for hexose transport contain a membrane-bound protein component that is missing in non-induced cells. This was shown by double labelling experiments with [14C]phenylalanine and [3H]phenylalanine applying the method of Kolber and Stein [Nature (Lond) 209 (1966) 691]. The specific protein is completely absent from soluble fractions. 2. An enrichment of the double-labelled peak was observed in membrane fractions enriched in plasmalemma. The best purification was obtained when cell walls were purified; the residual membranes attached to the walls contained the transport protein with a 12-times-higher specific activity than the crude extract. 3. The transport protein had the characteristics of an intrinsic membrane protein. Its molecular weight was found to be 30 000 on sodium dodecylsulphate gels. The protein did not show sugar binding activity, however. 4. Induced cells lose their state of induction with a half life of about 4 h; 7 h after induction the double-labelled transport protein is no longer detectable.

Biological Transport, Active↗