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Biomedical subjects

N Ratcliffe

Publications and source records attributed to N Ratcliffe.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Shorter turn-around-time and improved patient care in peripheral blood progenitor cell collection procedures.

The collection of peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPC) requires the combined efforts of the Transfusion Medicine/Hemapheresis and Hematology/Oncology services and HLA/Progenitor Cell and Immunology laboratories. Coordination and communication among these different services and laboratories are key to attaining an optimal collection in a timely manner for the patient undergoing PBPC collection. In an effort to improve patient care by same-day decision to cease or continue collections avoiding unnecessary collections, needless patient trips to the hospital and ultimately increasing patient satisfaction, a flow chart was used to capture the sequence of events. The flow chart served as a powerful tracking tool that defined system process and steps to attain enumeration of CD34+ cells the same day of collection. It provided documentation of work flow from each of the independent operations involved in progenitor cell collection and enumeration turn-around-time including attending and staff time involvement. By using the flow chart, potential and actual problem areas were demonstrated and this allowed for creative thinking and problem solving by individual sections rather than recriminations. Finally, it focused all the staff involved in the common goal of a shorter turn-around-time for CD34+ cell enumeration the same day of collection. This allowed a prompt decision for subsequent leukapheresis as improved service to oncology patients and their physicians.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Partnerships and mechanisms of divorce in the great skua.

There are two main theories attempting to explain divorce in birds as an adaptive decision for at least one of the members of the pair. The 'incompatibility hypothesis' states that birds separate because they are unsuccessful breeders as a pair, although their individual characteristics are not negative per se. Divorce comes about as an initiative of both individuals to search for a more compatible mate. The 'better option hypothesis' suggests that divorce is usually initiated by one of the birds in search of a 'higher quality' partner (or territory). The ages of partners of great skuas, Catharacta skuabreeding on Foula (Shetland) were poorly correlated (r48=0.28), 22% of the partners differing in age by 10 years or more. Mate fidelity in this population was high, with an annual divorce rate of only 6.4% (N=20/311). Death was responsible for three times more interruptions of partnerships than divorces. Three types of divorce were detected. (1) In six cases, females deserted their partners, leaving them temporarily unpaired. (2) One female was recorded being forced to desert her partner by a usurper. (3) One female deserted her partner after they lost their breeding territory to another pair. Mate changes had a direct cost, because new pairs (of experienced birds) laid later in the season and reared fewer chicks. After mate loss, 26% (N=61) of the individuals did not breed, while faithful pairs always laid eggs (N=222). Males, but not females, had a higher probability of remaining unpaired after being divorced than after becoming widowers. There was no difference between the sexes in the probability of re-pairing after a mate died. The results suggest that divorces that are initiated by birds within the pair are better explained by the 'better option hypothesis' than the 'incompatibility hypothesis'.Copyright 1997 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour

Journal Article↗
PubMed1997

The combination of in situ hybridization and immunohistochemical analysis: an evaluation of Her2/neu expression in paraffin-embedded breast carcinomas and adjacent normal-appearing breast epithelium.

The combination of in situ hybridization and immunohistochemical techniques can successfully identify viral DNA/RNA in specific subsets of cellular populations. We recently modified this method to evaluate amplification of the oncogene Her2/neu and overexpression of its protein c-erbB-2 in a series of 15 breast carcinomas. This combination allows the simultaneous evaluation of the oncogene and its corresponding protein expression in single cells and specific cellular populations in histologic tissue sections. Double staining demonstrated heterogeneity within breast carcinomas. In addition, both nuclear and cytoplasmic signals were often detected in morphologically normal-appearing adjacent breast epithelium. The ability to view both the oncogene and its corresponding protein in single cells offers a unique look at the biology of c-erbB-2.

Breast↗
PubMed1997

Syringe drivers.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Community Health Nursing↗
PubMed1993

Ipsilateral cortical projections to areas 3a, 3b, and 4 in the macaque monkey.

In the macaque monkey area 3a of the cerebral cortex separates area 4, a primary motor cortical field, from somatosensory area 3b, which has a subcortical input mainly from cutaneous mechanoreceptive neurons. That each of these cortical areas has a unique thalamic input was illustrated in the preceding paper. In the present experiments the cortical afferent projections to these 3 areas of the sensorimotor cortex monkey were visualized and compared, using 4 differentiable fluorescent dyes as axonal retrogradely transported labels. The cortical projection patterns to areas 3a, 3b, and 4 were similar in that they each consisted of (a) a "halo" of input from the immediately surrounding cortex, and (b) discrete projections from one or more remote cortical areas. However, the pattern of remote inputs from precentral, mesial, and posterior parietal cortex was different for each of the 3 cortical target areas. The cortical input configuration was least complex for area 3b, its remote input projecting mainly from insular cortex. The pattern of discrete cortical inputs to the motor area 4, however, was more complex, with projections from the cingulate motor area (24c/d), the supplementary motor area, postarcuate cortex, insular cortex, and postcentral areas 2/5. Area 3a, in addition to the proximal projections from the immediately surrounding cortex, also received input from the supplementary motor area, cingulate motor cortex, insular cortex, and areas 2/5. Thus, this pattern of cortical input to area 3a resembled more closely that of the adjacent motor rather than that of the somatosensory area 3b. Contrasting with this, however, the thalamic input to area 3a was largely from somatosensory VPLc (abbreviations from Olszewski [1952] The Thalamus of the Macaca mulatta. Basel: Karger) and not from VPLo (with input from cerebellum, and projecting to precentral motor areas).

Aging↗