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Biomedical subjects

R Jeffery

Publications and source records attributed to R Jeffery.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

Cataract extraction: patient characteristics and preferences.

This paper reports the results of a comparative study of inpatient and day case patients undergoing a cataract extraction with intraocular lens implant. An assessment was made of their home circumstances, and included questions about their health and hobbies before and after surgery. The results show that patients were generally optimistic about their capabilities after the operation, and that most were pleased to have been randomly allocated to their particular group. There were no statistically significant differences between day cases and inpatients, suggesting a possibility of choice for patients within available resources.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

The role of private body consciousness and anxiety in the report of somatic symptoms during magnetic resonance imaging.

The present study examined an information processing model of symptom reporting (Ahles, Cassens, & Stallings, Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry 18, 215-222, 1987) in a medical sample during an anxiety-arousing diagnostic medical evaluation. The predisposition to attend to physical sensations (private body consciousness), state anxiety, and symptom reporting were assessed in 47 patients undergoing a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedure. The results of this study provide further support for the information processing model; the interaction between private body consciousness and state anxiety significantly predicted symptom reporting during the MRI. The pattern of results points to attention to physical sensations and anxiety as important mediators of symptom reporting.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase. Characterization of a reactive lysine residue in the Pichia jadinii enzyme reveals a limited structural variation in a functionally significant segment.

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase from the yeast Pichia jadinii has a reactive lysine residue in a segment of amino acid sequence Ile-Asp-His-Tyr-Leu-Gly-Lys*-Glu-Met-Val-Lys. This structure differs from that of other characterized glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenases, but outside yeasts the segment is invariant in known mammalian, insect and bacterial forms. Thus, limited structural variation is now defined within yeasts for a part of the protein otherwise strictly conserved, and for which stringent structural requirements probably relate to enzymic mechanisms.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1989

The effect of chemonucleolysis on serum keratan sulfate levels in humans.

Sensitive measurements of serum keratan sulfate (KS), a glycosaminoglycan found in large quantities in the proteoglycans of human cartilage, can be obtained using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent-inhibition assay. Patients who are undergoing chemonucleolysis (CN) provide a clinical opportunity to monitor the large-scale proteolytic degradation of cartilage. By measuring serum KS levels both pre- and post-CN, we have demonstrated that serum KS levels rise predictably after CN, in a manner that reflects major catabolic events of cartilage.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Pharmaceuticals and health policy: an Indian example.

The production and consumption of allopathic medicines in less developed countries has far-reaching effects. In particular, the legitimization of allopathic medicine endows professional groups and sectors of industry with a special status, supports some patterns of healthcare, and neglects others. Research in India demonstrates that people equate "more drugs' with "a better situation' and this is seen as the most "appropriate' solution to India's pharmaceuticals problems. The belief is expressed in matters such as Government policy on the pharmaceutical industry and the development of health services. However, these dominant assumptions, and the equation of drug prescription with medical practice, have a negative effect on health.

Community Health Services↗
PubMed1986

New patterns in health sector aid to India.

Criticisms of health aid have largely been derived from African and Latin American experiences. It is suggested that such analyses, while valuable, cannot be applied wholesale to India without detailed examination of the patterns of health sector aid which have actually characterized the period since 1947. This article brings together material on the scale and form that this assistance has taken, and demonstrates that its focus has been preventive in emphasis and oriented towards the primary care sector. In some periods it has contributed a substantial share of total public sector expenditures, and in some spheres, it has played a major role, particularly the control of communicable diseases. However, the impact of less substantial sums going to prestige medical colleges or to population control programs should not be ignored; and several of the aid categories have been of dubious origin (PL-480 counterpart funds and U.S. food surpluses as the prime examples). However, the "new" health aid programs do not deserve the ready dismissal they have received in some quarters.

Communicable Disease Control↗
PubMed1984

Female infanticide and amniocentesis.

Clinical services offering amniocentesis to inform women of the sex of their foetuses have appeared in North India in the past 10 years. They fit into cultural patterns in which girls are devalued, and some authors have seen direct links between female infanticide (assumed to have been eradicated by 1900), female neglect leading to higher infant and child mortality rates for girls, and 'female foeticide'. This paper contributes to this debate by presenting some material on the nature of female infanticide, the cultural setting of childbirth and decision-making with respect to fertility and child mortality, largely drawn from a recent research project in Bijnor District, in Uttar Pradesh, North India.

Amniocentesis↗
PubMed1983

Effects on blood lipids and body weight in high risk men of a practical exercise program.

The effects of moderate exercise on serum total cholesterol (TC), high density (HDL-C), low density (LDL-C), and very low density (VLDL-C) lipoprotein cholesterol fractions, triglycerides (TG), body weight (BW) and skinfolds (SF) were studied during a 12-week period among 23 sedentary middle-aged men. The results show that regular exercise in men eating a fat-modified diet alters in a favorable direction body fat, weight and lipoprotein fractions. Weight loss with exercise significantly increased HDL-C (P = 0.01), although this increase in HDL-C occurred after a latency period of at least 6 weeks and an average weight loss of at least 4 lbs. The amount of exercise effective in risk factor reduction is within the capacity of most middle-aged men.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Policies towards indigenous healers in independent India.

Policies towards indigenous healers in independent India show considerable continuities with policies followed in the British period, varying according to the sex of the healer. Traditional birth attendants (dais) have been offered short periods of training by the State since 1902, whereas until recently male healers (vaids and hakims, and later homoeopaths) have been treated with official hostility. Current plans include the training of religious and ritual healers in psychiatric services as well as the employment of indigenous healers in new community health schemes. These changes are assessed in the context of a political economy of health services.

Community Health Workers↗
PubMed1981

Distortion in self-reported height and weight data.

The validity of self-reported height and weight data was examined in a large population of adult men and women. On the average, women reported weights lower than actual, with the amount of discrepancy increasing as weight increased. At low weights, men on the average reported weighing more than their actual weights while at higher weights they reported weighing less. Women tended to report heights which were slightly less than their actual heights, with the discrepancy increasing with increasing height. Men tended to report heights which were more than their actual heights; this tendency decreased with increasing height.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Interstitial microwave-induced hyperthermia and iridium brachytherapy for the treatment of obstructing biliary carcinomas.

In a phase I clinical study, 10 patients with obstructive biliary carcinomas were treated with single-antenna interstitial microwave hyperthermia and iridium-192 brachytherapy. For each patient a standard biliary drainage catheter was implanted percutaneously through the obstructed common bile duct. This catheter accommodated a single microwave antenna which operated at 915 MHz, and one or two fibreoptic thermometry probes for temperature measurement. Under fluoroscopic guidance the microwave antenna and temperature probes were positioned in the CT-determined tumour mass. The 60-min heat treatment achieved a central tumour temperature of 45-55 degrees C while keeping temperatures at the proximal and distal margins at 43 degrees C. Immediately following the hyperthermia treatment the microwave antenna and temperature probes were removed, and a single strand of iridium-192 double-strength seeds was inserted to irradiate the tumour length. A dose of 5500-7900 cGy calculated at 0.5 cm radially from the catheter was administered over 5-7 days. Upon removal of the iridium a second hyperthermia treatment was performed. A total of 18 hyperthermia treatments were administered to the 10 patients. In two cases the second hyperthermia treatment after brachytherapy was not possible due to a kink in the catheter, or bile precipitation in the catheter. All patients tolerated the procedure well, and there were no acute complications. To evaluate the volumetric heating potential of this hyperthermia method, specific absorption rate (SAR) values were measured at 182 planar points in muscle phantom. Insulated and non-insulated antenna performance was tested at 915 MHz in a biliary catheter filled with air, saline, or bile to mimic clinical treatments. The insulated antenna exhibited the best performance. Differences between antenna performance in saline and bile were also noted. In summary, this technique may have potential for tumours which obstruct biliary drainage and are accessible to percutaneous decompression using standard diagnostic radiological procedures.

Biliary Tract Neoplasms↗