Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M Prowse.
An increase in the number of complications following male circumcisions performed by non-professionals led to the establishment of a special clinic for religious circumcisions. The clinic is jointly funded by health organisations, the local authority and the Muslim community. Parents pay 45 pounds for the service, which is acceptable to the local Muslim community.
Recovery room nursing is more accurately described by the term "post-anaesthesia nursing." Issue of patient safety, standards of care and staff training in the recovery room have been highlighted by the Association of Anaesthetists in two reports. Current training and education provision for post-anaesthesia nurses is provided by combined operating department nursing and anaesthetic nursing curricula (ENBI182:83). There are few courses designed for nurses who specialize in the care of the post-anaesthesia patient.
Reflex sympathetic dystrophy was the presenting feature in an otherwise occult case of non-metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the lung which improved on surgical removal of the primary tumour. Reflex sympathetic dystrophy, therefore, should be considered an occasional manifestation of a paraneoplastic syndrome warranting a thorough search for underlying malignancy.
We report a case of oncogenic hypophosphatemic osteomalacia, a rare form of osteomalacia, secondary to a diffuse giant cell tumour of tendon sheath. Possible pathogenic factors are discussed in the light of previously described clinical and experimental observations.
The pharmacokinetics of isoxicam, a new non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, were studied in 20 osteoarthritis patients with varying degrees of renal insufficiency. A wide variation in pharmacokinetic parameters was seen between individuals but there was no suggestion that renal function influenced pharmacokinetics. Steady state plasma isoxicam concentrations varied from 20 micrograms/ml to 130 micrograms/ml, while the plasma half-life varied from 23 hours to 58 hours. Despite a reduction in urinary prostaglandin E2 excretion, isoxicam administration did not alter renal function over a 4-week period.
A content analysis of 141 articles on breast feeding by discipline revealed differences in the factors considered necessary for breast feeding success and in the criteria used to determine success. Whereas medical articles focused on maternal factors prenatally and infant health post-natally, or the length of time breast feeding was maintained, lay articles focused on the relationship of the mother with her infant (the nursing couple) and the mother's ability to manage breast feeding within the family context. The implications of this discrepancy for nursing practice and research are discussed.
Current advice to breastfeeding mothers is that breasts must be emptied regularly and frequently to help maintain lactation. A method of maintaining lactation, minimal breastfeeding, in which mothers nurse once or twice a day without expressing the breast between breastfeedings was investigated. A convenience sample of 30 mothers using minimal breastfeeding was interviewed monthly until weaning. These mothers used minimal breastfeeding as a method of slow weaning, a way to combine breastfeeding and work, and a means of comfort-nursing older infants. In all cases, weaning occurred because the mother or the infant chose to wean, not because of insufficient milk. The authors conclude that for working mothers who cannot express between feeds, breastfeeding can still be maintained, and that minimal breastfeeding is an important alternative to weaning.