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Biomedical subjects

P Kerr

Publications and source records attributed to P Kerr.

45 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

The prognostic significance of intraventricular haemorrhage.

It is a generally held view that intraventricular haemorrhage carries a poor prognosis in cases of intracranial haemorrhage. We tested this view by retrospective analysis of the records of 258 patients who had intracranial blood on CT scans seen over a seven-year period. The mortality and morbidity for intraventricular and non-intraventricular haemorrhage were compared for the three major causes of intracranial bleeding, viz. aneurysm, trauma, and spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage. No significant difference was found between the two groups for each aetiological category. It was concluded that the CT scan finding of intraventricular blood has no prognostic significance.

Brain Injuries↗
PubMed1977

The mode of binding of potential transition-state analogs to acetylcholinesterase.

Phenylacetone, 4-phenyl-2-butanone, and 4-oxopentyltrimethylammonium chloride were tested as potential transition state analogs for eel acetylcholinesterase (acetylcholine hydrolase, EC 3.1.1.7). Phenylacetone is a competitive inhibitor of the enzyme but not a transition state analog, since its binding constant is similar to that for the substrate phenyl acetate. 4-Phenyl-2-butanone binds 6-18 times more tightly than the inhibitors 4-phenyl-2-butanol and N-benzylacetamide and the substrate benzyl acetate and also blocks inactivation of the enzyme with methanesulfonyl fluoride. However, its binding is independent of pH in the range 5-7.5, whereas both V and V/Km for benzyl acetate hydrolysis decrease with decreasing pH in this range. These data indicate a specific but weak interaction between the ketone carbonyl and the enzyme, but probably do not justify considering this compound a transition state analog. 4-oxopentyltrimethylammonium iodide has previously been shown to bind about 125 times more strongly than the substrate acetylcholamine. It also binds about 375 times more strongly than the alcohol 4-hydroxypentyltrimethylammonium iodide. Furthermore, the ketone protects the enzyme from inactivation by methansulfony fluoride, while the corresponding quaternary ammonium alcohol accelerates this inactivation reaction. This additional information confirms that the ketone is a transition state analog.

Acetone↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Comparing two nursing outcomes reporting initiatives.

Nursing has increasingly found itself in the position of having to show that it makes a positive and important impact on health care. Two initiatives have surfaced that have potential for indicating the contribution of nursing to health care. One of these is the American Nurses Association's Report Card for Acute Care. The other is the Nursing Intervention Project's information system model. In this article, these initiatives are analyzed in terms of their content and potential for providing a framework for the assessment and evaluation of the quality of nursing care services. Recommendations for policy changes are made for the collection of data to ensure that standards of excellence are met during this most challenging era of accountability.

Acute Disease↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Auditory disablements: an update.

In 1999, the World Health Organization issued a document (Beta-2 ICIDH-2) that outlines proposed revisions to the original International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities, and Handicaps. The document, issued for trial purposes, is significant in that it redefines the theoretical context in which audiological research into hearing disability has operated since 1980 and will develop in the future. The purpose of this article is threefold. First, it provides an introductory descriptive overview of the primary disablement dimensions outlined in the Beta-2 version of the ICIDH-2 framework. Second, in discussing the implications of the revised framework for audiology, the article highlights particular classification issues that require clarification if the framework is to be applied effectively in audiological research and practice. Third, the article evaluates the revised framework in the context of recent conceptual developments in audiological research and raises a number of issues for further discussion and investigation. The article concludes that the Beta-2 ICIDH-2 represents a significant advance on the original ICIDH classification framework on three counts. First, much of the rationale underpinning the revised framework, particularly its redefinition of the primary disablement dimensions, is consistent with recent conceptual developments in audiological research into hearing disablements. Second, the framework offers specific pointers for the development of current audiological research and practice. One potential line of enquiry focuses attention on specific ICIDH-2 dimensions that are currently under-represented in audiological literature, namely, the participation and contextual factors dimensions. Another potential line of enquiry focuses attention on issues pertaining to the measurement of function, specifically the inclusion of "positive" outcome indicators in assessment. Finally, the publication of the revised ICIDH-2 framework offers a standard frame of reference from which to conduct larger debates in the audiological literature about the nature and purpose of audiological rehabilitation and the influence of the ecological perspective on the rehabilitative process.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Determination and classification of the problems experienced by hearing-impaired elderly people.

The aim of this study was to determine whether participation restrictions and contextual factors could be elicited in an elderly hearing-impaired population using an open-ended questionnaire. The study also tested the value of the World Health Organization's ICF in the classification of the problems experienced by the elderly hearing-impaired. To this end, we administered the 'Life Effects Questionnaire', in which the subjects were asked to list the effects of their hearing loss on their lives. With this approach, significantly more participation restrictions, environmental factors and personal factors were elicited than with a traditional approach. ICF proved useful in classifying these, but the Activity and Participation Scales had a major weakness in terms of non-communication-related hearing problems. Furthermore, a high proportion of the responses came into the personal factors, for which a formal classification does not exist within ICF. This highlights a significant need in that classification.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Practising with pride but not without prejudice.

This paper looks at the potentially oppressive consequences of demands that insist that health workers change their attitudes and values. It points out that nurses who accuse their peers of being homophobes or bigots are guilty of the same behaviour they condemn in others. It is argued that education can alter professionals' values where demands fail.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗