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Biomedical subjects

R Moffat

Publications and source records attributed to R Moffat.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

Effectiveness of nebulised salbutamol administered in ambulances to patients with severe acute asthma.

BACKGROUND: Nebulised salbutamol can now be administered by ambulance personnel to patients with severe acute asthma en route to hospital. This treatment, however, is not yet available in all ambulances. The safety and effectiveness of allowing ambulance crews to initiate treatment with nebulised salbutamol has been assessed in patients with acute severe asthma. METHODS: After a basic training course in the assessment of asthma and the use of a nebuliser, ambulance crews initiated treatment with nebulised salbutamol in asthmatic patients under the age of 40 years. Airflow obstruction was measured before and after treatment with a peak flow meter. A subjective assessment of any change in the patient's condition was also made. RESULTS: Nebuliser treatment was associated with a significant increase in peak flow in almost 80% of patients who had recordable values before and after treatment. The mean percentage increase in peak flow was 56.5%. Subjective assessments correlated well with peak flow measurements. No unwanted side effects were recorded. CONCLUSIONS: Nebulised salbutamol is an effective and safe treatment for acute asthma when administered by ambulance personnel after a short training course.

Acute Disease

A control model for tibial cortex neovascularization in the bone chamber.

Neovascularization across a gap defect in a rabbit tibial cortex was monitored using the optical bone chamber implant (BCI). Cortical bone growing by apposition as trabeculae was observed weekly as it penetrated a slit into a tissue space in vivo and in situ. Each rabbit was viewed weekly with an intravital microscope from 3 to 8 weeks postimplantation. The constant field of view was the slit-gap tissue space, which was 100 microns thick and 2 mm in diameter. Vessels were imaged with epi-illuminated fluorescence microscopy as they carried FITC-dextran 70 that had been injected into an aural vein. Observations were videotaped and photographed. Videotape frames were analyzed with a digital image processing system to obtain measures of vessel length per unit volume (L/V) of fibroblastic granular tissue and trabeculae, caliber C, and flow velocity u, all as functions of time. Observations supported the conclusions that (1) neovascularization precedes neo-osteogenesis, (2) major vessels tend to align with the tibial axis, (3) bone apposition-generated destruction of fibrous granular tissue vessels stimulates fibrous granular tissue angiogenesis, which keeps its L/V constant, (4) L/V in trabeculae increases with time, and (5) blood supply (Q) and nutrient exchange in healing trabeculae are not positively correlated. Thus, O2 supply to the trabeculum cannot be predicted from Q alone because the nutrient exchange area is not constant. It was noted that an increase in the potential nutrient exchange area occurred in both fibrous granular tissue and osseous vessels and the volume fraction of blood decreased in the fibrous granular tissue and remained constant in the trabeculae.

Animals

Neo-osteogenesis of haversian trabeculae through a bone chamber implanted in a rabbit tibial cortex: a control model.

Neo-osteogenesis of cortical bone trabecular was observed as they regenerated into a bone chamber implant by appositional growth. Measures of change in bone area were obtained from 13 rabbits each week starting the third and ending the eighth week postimplantation. Observations were made using intravital microscopy and were analyzed using digital image processing. Images were computer-captured video frames equivalent to 78 (6 x 13) separate observations. They were measured by tracing the trabecular outlines with a digitizing crosshair each week and comparing changes in area as a percent of the circular field-of-view ("slit-gap") filled. Data supported the hypothesis that trabecular regeneration week 3 to week 8 followed the logistic growth curve regression: A% 100%/1 + 9.47e-0.7747(t-3) where A% is the percent of slit-gap area covered by bone and t is time, at a very high significance level. Nevertheless, a highly significant linear regression fit the data. Statistical analysis showed that the regression line could be fit to bone area measurements from weeks 3 to 8 (W3-W8) postimplantation, giving a constant neo-osteogenesis rate of 7.42 +/- 0.67 X 10(4) microns 2/day and a decreasing linear neo-osteogenesis rate from 73 microns/day at W4 to 21 microns/day at W8; the latter is based on a circle-segment approximation of trabeculum shape. This range approximated a bridge between ranges for cortical gap defect healing and porous ingrowth healing reported by other workers and supported the hypothesis that the BCI control model was a cross between gap healing and porous ingrowth.

Air Pressure

"Doctor knows best".

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Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Latent bovine brucellosis.

Adult cattle in a herd suffering from widespread infection with Brucella abortus biotype 2 were slaughtered during the eradication campaign. A heifer calf fom that herd was moved to a fresh herd which remained apparently free from brucellosis until nine years later when the same animal produced a strongly positive serological reaction and Brucella abortus biotype 2 was isolated from its milk.

Animals

Body composition of synchronized swimmers.

The body composition of 15 synchronized swimmers and 15 non-athletic female controls were compared. Body fat and lean body weight were calculated from body density measurements. Swimmers were ranked according to skill level and ability in an attempt to predict success in synchronized swimming from percent body fat or lean body weight. A student t-test revealed no statistically significant differences between groups for height, weight, percent body fat or lean body weight. Non-significant rank order correlations between ability ranking and percent fat (r = -.31) and lean body weight (r = -.18) point to the inability to predict success in synchronized swimming from these variables. These data were compared with female athletes of other sports.

Adult

Right colon loop: a potential pitfall for total colonoscopy.

A right colon loop can occur during total colonoscopy. A light on the anterior abdominal wall in the right lower quadrant and a fluoroscopic view may imply that the tip of the colonoscope is in the cecum. The right colon loop can be documented by roentgenograms and the injection of a radioopaque solution. An arrest in embryological development with overdistension with air accounts for the right colon loop. An unrecognized right colon loop could account for a failure to see a cecal carcinoma.

Colon

Fowl cholera: immunization of chickens with potassium thiocyanate (KSCN) extract of Pasteurella multocida serotype 3.

Potassium thiocyanate (KSCN) extract of Pasteurella multocida, serotype 3, was found to be immunogenic against a challenge infection of homologous as well as one heterologous strain tested (serotype 1). Ouchterlony's gel-diffusion analysis revealed the presence of two components in the KSCN-extracts of both serotypes 3 and 1, which were antigenically identical.

Animals