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Biomedical subjects

M Guest

Publications and source records attributed to M Guest.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

Is there a risk to safety when working in the New South Wales underground coal-mining industry while having binaural noise-induced hearing loss?

BACKGROUND: Underground coal-mine workers suffer noise-induced hearing loss and continue working in the industry while having varying degrees of deafness. Few studies have researched the risk to safety arising from the loss of hearing. AIMS: This study is designed to investigate the possible association between hearing loss and accidents in the New South Wales underground coal-mining industry. METHODS: A study was conducted, gathering data over a 10-year period from 1994 to 2003, which identified 97 cases that have had accidents and 983 controls that have had no accidents. Hearing loss levels were noted and compared in the cases and controls. Multiple logistic regression was used to determine whether the variables were significant risk factors in the occurrence of accidents. RESULTS: Hearing loss levels in the total cohort varied from 0 to 54%. The proportion of cases with hearing loss appeared to be significantly higher in the young age group of <29 years than in the controls, but was not significantly different in the older age groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study indicates that workers who have lost up to 54% binaural high tone hearing and are older than 29 years do not appear to have an increased risk to safety when compared with workers who do not have hearing loss. However, workers in the young age group of <29 years who have high tone hearing loss may be at an increased risk of accident.

Accidents, Occupational↗

Evaluating and improving health-related quality of life in patients with varicose veins.

PURPOSE: We set out to assess the new Aberdeen Varicose Veins Questionnaire (Aberdeen Questionnaire) for the properties necessary for a valid measure of health outcome, to determine quality of life of patients with varicose veins, and to determine the effect of surgery on quality of life. METHODS: A prospective consecutive cohort of 137 patients undergoing varicose vein surgery completed the self-administered SF-36 and Aberdeen Questionnaire and 25 questions relating to the symptoms and concerns of patients with varicose veins. Follow-up was done by repeated questionnaires 6 weeks after surgery. The Aberdeen Questionnaire was assessed for reliability, validity, responsiveness, and practicality. Quality of life of patients with varicose veins was compared with an age- and sex-matched sample of the general population. RESULTS: Reliability estimates for the 8 scales short-form health survey (SF-36) and the Aberdeen Questionnaire were all above 0.7 (Cronbach's alpha). The Aberdeen Questionnaire had a highly significant correlation (r = 0. 74, P <.0001) with the patients' symptoms and concerns questionnaire, which is evidence of its validity. Patients with varicose veins score lower than United Kingdom norms (P <.001) in the physical domains of the SF-36, indicating worse health. After surgery, the SF-36 scores improved in all 8 domains of health, reaching significance in "Mental Health" (P <.05) and approaching significance in "General Health" (P =.066). The Health Transition Item of the SF-36 and the Aberdeen Questionnaire both showed a highly significant improvement in health (P <.001). CONCLUSION: The Aberdeen Questionnaire is a valid measure of quality of life for patients with varicose veins. Persons with varicose veins have a reduced quality of life compared with the general population, and this discrepancy is significantly improved at 6 weeks by operating on them.

Adult↗

Venous ulcer healing by four-layer compression bandaging is not influenced by the pattern of venous incompetence.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have related deep venous incompetence to reduced venous ulcer healing rates. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between the pattern of venous incompetence and ulcer healing. METHODS: A total of 198 legs with venous ulceration were investigated with colour venous duplex imaging to determine the presence and site of venous incompetence. All were treated initially with the four-layer bandage technique. RESULTS: At 6 months, 74 per cent of the venous ulcers had healed using the four-layer bandage technique. There was no significant correlation between the pattern of incompetence and the healing rate of the ulcer. Previous deep vein thrombosis (DVT), increased size of the ulcer and previous episodes of ulceration were associated with a poor healing rate. CONCLUSION: The four-layer bandage technique achieved an ulcer healing rate of 74 per cent after 6 months, irrespective of the pattern of venous incompetence. Patients with a large ulcer, previous DVT or previous episodes of ulceration had delayed healing, supporting the previous literature.

Adult↗

Mixed leg ulcers.

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Angiography↗

Differential effects of fosinopril and enalapril in patients with mild to moderate chronic heart failure. Fosinopril in Heart Failure Study Investigators.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the efficacy and safety of fosinopril in the treatment of chronic heart failure (CHF), patients with mild to moderate CHF and left ventricular ejection fractions <40% were randomly assigned in a double-blind manner to receive fosinopril 5 to 20 mg every day (n = 122) or enalapril 5 to 20 mg every day (n = 132) for 1 year. RESULTS: The event-free survival time was longer (1.6 vs 1.0 months, P= .032) and the total rate of hospitalizations plus deaths was smaller with fosinopril than with enalapril (19.7% vs 25.0%, P= .028). There was consistently better symptom improvement with fosinopril (P< .05). The incidence of orthostatic hypotension was lower in the fosinopril group (1.6% vs 7.6%, P< .05). CONCLUSIONS: Fosinopril 5 to 20 mg every day was more effective in improving symptoms and delaying events related to worsening of CHF and produced less orthostatic hypotension than enalapril 5 to 20 mg every day.

Adult↗

[Study of the efficacy and safety of fosinopril in general practice in 19,435 hypertensive patients (FLIGHT Study)].

The efficacy and good safety of fosinopril, an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor recently made available to the medical profession in France, has been demonstrated by several controlled studies versus placebo and reference antihypertensives. A phase IV multicentre clinical trial was conducted among general practitioners in order to assess, on a larger scale and under conditions of daily practice, the results obtained in terms of blood pressure control and quality of life as well as the clinical and laboratory safety of the drug. This analysis was based on 19,435 hypertensive patients, 989 of whom were over the age of 75 years, followed for 12 weeks after introduction of fosinopril either as monotherapy or in combination with the antihypertensive treatment(s) already prescribed. Under these conditions, after 12 weeks of treatment, blood pressure was controlled in 79.8% of patients, with improvement of all items of the quality of life scale. The very low incidence of clinical and laboratory adverse events, even among the oldest patients, confirms the safety of use of fosinopril, predictive of good long-term compliance with treatment.

Adult↗

Landmark enhancement and strategic processing: an evaluation of strategies for spatial navigation training.

Viewing a filmed route offers an alternative to more expensive and rigid methods of learning navigation skills. One advantage of film is the ability to enhance important landmarks or focus on particularly relevant information. The current research used a videotape of a spatial route to assess the usefulness of participants' interaction with landmarks and enhancement of landmarks for training spatial navigation. 48 participants were exposed to one of four videotaped route conditions: Landmark-enhanced, Question-based Interaction, Landmark-enhanced Plus Question-based Interaction, or Control (Nonenhanced without Question-based Interaction). Following the spatial navigation training with videotape, participants were asked to traverse the route in the actual building. Analyses of variance indicated that the Question-based Interaction group made significantly fewer wrong turns during traversal of the route than did the Control group. Also, enhancement of the landmarks did not significantly reduce wrong turns; in fact, it may have hindered the benefit of question-based interaction in reducing wrong turns.

Adolescent↗

[The efficacy of naftidrofuryl on unexpected autonomic symptoms following carpal tunnel surgery].

Symptoms of sympathetic lability occur 30 days after carpal tunnel surgery in about 2.6% cases. A double-blind placebo controlled clinical trial of naftidrofuryl was conducted in 195 patients. It demonstrated that these symptoms occur during the two-week-period after surgery, and that some patients are particularly exposed to an unexpected course (i.e. women and more than 50 years) during the third and fourth weeks after surgery. In this study, patients treated with naftidrofuryl showed a reduction of some symptoms of sympathetic lability, and stabilisation of the unfavourable course observed in patients with placebo; this preventive efficacy of naftidrofuryl could be due to its 5-HT2 receptor blocking action, which is responsible for vasoconstriction and platelet and erythrocytes aggregation. Naftidrofuryl though improves arteriolar haemodynamics, limiting the development of pain and oedema.

Age Factors↗

[Evaluation of amlodipine in stable effort angina in office cardiologic practice].

A multicentre trial was undertaken in order to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy and ease of use of amlopidine in 1890 patients with stable effort angina. Involving prescribing conditions close to those of everyday practice, it revealed an improvement in angina symptomatology with one daily dose of amlopidine. After one month's treatment, 49.8% of patients were able to reduce or stop their use of fast-acting nitrites. After three months' treatment with amlopidine, 51% of patients had become asymptomatic. This study also revealed a decrease in the duration and severity of angina attacks. Safety/acceptability of amlopidine, assessed by clinical and laboratory parameters, was good, adverse events (22.7%), most often benign, improving or disappearing in more than half of all cases.

Adult↗

Localization of two genes for Usher syndrome type I to chromosome 11.

The Usher syndromes (USH) are autosomal recessive diseases characterized by congenital sensorineural hearing loss and progressive pigmentary retinopathy. While relatively rare in the general population, collectively they account for approximately 6% of the congenitally deaf population. Usher syndrome type II (USH2) has been mapped to chromosome 1q (W. J. Kimberling, M. D. Weston, C. Möller, et al., 1990, Genomics 7: 245-249; R. A. Lewis, B. Otterud, D. Stauffer, et al., 1990, Genomics 7: 250-256), and one form of Usher syndrome type I (USH1) has been mapped to chromosome 14q (J. Kaplan, S. Gerber, D. Bonneau, J. Rozet, M. Briord, J. Dufier, A. Munnich, and J. Frezal, 1990. Cytogenet. Cell Genet. 58: 1988). These loci have been excluded as regions of USH genes in our data set, which is composed of 8 French-Acadian USH1 families and 11 British USH1 families. Both of these sets of families show linkage to loci on chromosome 11. Linkage analysis demonstrates locus heterogeneity between these sets of families, with the French-Acadian families showing linkage to D11S419 (Z = 4.20, theta = 0) and the British families showing linkage to D11S527 (Z = 6.03, theta = 0). Genetic heterogeneity of the data set was confirmed using HOMOG and the M test (log likelihood ratio > 10(5)). These results confirm the presence of two distinct USH1 loci on chromosome 11.

Chromosome Mapping↗

[Determination of the prothrombin time and of the activated cephalin time wit semi-automatic Electra 600 apparatus (author's transl)].

This work studies the quality of the response of the Electra 600 for the determination of the prothrombin time (PT) and the activated cephalin time (ACT). The intra-serial precision was good for the PT and the ACT with normal or pathological plasmas (CV 2%). The precision was excellent for the PT (r = 0.98; Electra 600-fibrometer). The correlation coefficient varies between 0.85 and 0.95 for the ACT depending on the nature of the activator chosen. Lactescent plasmas having a protein concentration greater than 85 g/l should be treated manually for measurement of the PT. No interference was noted with other biological substances: eg glucose, bilirubin, hemoglobin. The increasing addition of heparin indicates a correct sensitivity of the response with Electra 600 both for short and long ACT. Autoanalysis renders the determinations of PT and ACT independant of the manipulator, that of the PT being much more rapid than with the manual method

Autoanalysis↗

Isolation of deoxyribonucleic acid and ribosomal ribonucleic acid from bacteria.

1. Nucleic acids were released from Escherichia coli by lysing with tri-iso-propylnaphthalene sulphonate and 4-aminosalicylate and then extracting with a phenol-cresol mixture. 2. Nucleic acids were similarly released from Bacillus subtilis after initial treatment with lysozyme. 3. DNA was sedimented after careful precipitation with m-cresol or 2-butoxyethanol (0.1-0.12vol.) in the presence of 20% sodium benzoate. 4. Contaminating ribosomal RNA was removed by precipitation in the presence of 4m-sodium chloride or by extracting DNA with an acetate-butyrate mixture, in which RNA is insoluble. 5. The DNA from B. subtilis has a transforming ability of 0.3-0.6% for the tryptophan marker. 6. Ribosomal RNA was then precipitated with rapidly labelled RNA by the addition of an equal volume of 2-butoxyethanol. 7. There was good separation of the nucleic acids from protein and polysaccharides.

Bacillus subtilis↗