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Biomedical subjects

S Burns

Publications and source records attributed to S Burns.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Herpes simplex virus, Candida albicans and mouth ulcers in neutropenic patients with non-haematological malignancy.

Mouth ulcers are a frequent cause of morbidity in patients rendered neutropenic as a result of chemotherapy. We report here a series of 28 such patients from whom swabs were taken for viral isolation and mycological culture. In 13 patients, herpes simplex virus (type I) was isolated and in 17 patients Candida albicans was cultured. Both organisms were isolated in 9 patients. Our results suggest that both a viral and fungal element may be important in the aetiology of oral ulceration and that antiviral and antifungal agents may each have a role in the prophylaxis and treatment of such patients.

Agranulocytosis↗
PubMed1989

Bacterial carriage by artificial versus natural nails.

Although health care workers are following fashion trends when they wear artificial nails, the implications of these nails for infection control is unknown. Cultures were obtained before and after handwashing from the fingertips of 56 nurses with artificial nails and 56 nurses with natural nails. After handwashing there were higher numbers of colony-forming units of gram-negative rods cultured from the fingertips of nurses with artificial nails than from nurses with natural nails. There were no significant differences in carriage of gram-positive cocci or normal flora. Because of the number of nosocomial infections caused by gram-negative rods, health care workers who wear artificial nails should consider the potential risk of increased carriage of gram-negative rods.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

The routine profiling of forensic heroin samples.

A method for the routine profiling of illicit heroin samples received in casework has been developed which depends on simple and straightforward sample pretreatment, followed by gas chromatography on a capillary column using flame-ionization detection. The factors affecting the choice of each aspect of the procedure are discussed, as are the statistical data for sampling and the chromatography. Components of illicit heroin derived from opium and other adulterants have been identified. The significance of data from samples examined in 1986 is discussed.

Chromatography, Gas↗
PubMed1988

The spinal accessory nerve plexus, the trapezius muscle, and shoulder stabilization after radical neck cancer surgery.

A clinical and anatomic study of the spinal accessory, the eleventh cranial nerve, and trapezius muscle function of patients who had radical neck cancer surgery was conducted. This study was done not only to document the indispensibility of the trapezius muscle to shoulder-girdle stability, but also to clarify the role of the eleventh cranial nerve in the variable motor and sensory changes occurring after the loss of this muscle. Seventeen male patients, 49-69 years of age, (average of 60 years of age) undergoing a total of 23 radical neck dissections were examined for upper extremity function, particularly in regard to the trapezius muscle, and for subjective signs of pain. The eleventh nerve, usually regarded as the sole motor innervation to the trapezius, was cut in 17 instances because of tumor involvement. Dissection of four fresh and 30 preserved adult cadavers helped to reconcile the motor and sensory differences in patients who had undergone loss of the eleventh nerve. The dissections and clinical observations corroborate that the trapezius is a key part of a "muscle continuum" that stabilizes the shoulder. Variations in origins and insertions of the trapezius may influence its function in different individuals. As regards the spinal accessory nerve, it is concluded that varying motor and sensory connections form a plexus with the eleventh nerve, accounting, in part, for the variations in motor innervation and function of the trapezius, as well as for a variable spectrum of sensory changes when the eleventh nerve is cut. For this reason, it is suggested that the term "spinal accessory nerve plexus" be used to refer to the eleventh nerve when it is considered in the context of radical neck cancer surgery.

Accessory Nerve↗
PubMed1987

Human immunodeficiency virus and drug misuse: the Edinburgh experience.

During 1985 many drug abusers who lived in Edinburgh were found to be infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). As a result an alternative counselling and screening clinic for testing for antibodies to HIV was established for use by drug abusers. Four hundred and forty one patients were counselled in the first year, and over 60% were either drug abusers or their sexual contacts. One hundred and fourteen (26%) patients were positive for HIV antibody, and 100 (88%) of these were current or former drug abusers. The HIV seropositivity rate in drug abusers was 52% but was only 7% in their sexual contacts. Services were provided for these people as well as counselling before and after the test. The cost of this counselling service for the first year was 27,000 pounds or 61.22 pounds per patient. The unexpected mobility of 23% of the Edinburgh drug abusers, particularly to other areas of Britain, suggests that similar services need to be set up elsewhere.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1985

Thermal mapping of the airways in humans.

To characterize the intrathoracic thermal events that occur during breathing in humans, we developed a flexible probe (OD 1.4 mm) containing multiple thermistors evenly spaced over 30.2 cm, that could be inserted into the tracheobronchial tree with a fiberoptic bronchoscope. With this device we simultaneously recorded the airstream temperature at six points from the trachea to beyond the subsegmental bronchi in six normal subjects while they breathed ambient and frigid air at multiple levels of ventilation (VE). During quiet breathing of room air the average temperature ranged from 32.0 +/- 0.05 degrees C in the upper trachea to 35.5 +/- 0.3 degrees C in the subsegmental bronchi. As ventilation was increased, the temperature along the airways progressively decreased, and at a VE of 100+ 1/min the temperature at the above two sites fell to 29.2 +/- 0.5 and 33.9 +/- 0.8 degrees C, respectively. Interval points were intermediate between these extremes. With cold air, the changes were considerably more profound. During quiet breathing, local temperatures approximated those recorded in the maximum VE room-air trial, and at maximum VE, the temperatures in the proximal and distal airways were 20.5 +/- 0.6 and 31.6 +/- 1.2 degrees C, respectively. During expiration, the temperature along the airways progressively decreased as the air flowed from the periphery of the lung to the mouth: the more the cooling during inspiration, the lower the temperature during expiration. These data demonstrate that in the course of conditioning inspired air the intrathoracic and intrapulmonic airways undergo profound thermal changes that extend well into the periphery of the lung.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Pregnancy in carriers of high-affinity hemoglobins.

Pregnancy in female carriers of abnormal hemoglobins with great avidity for oxygen provides a unique opportunity to assess the importance of the usual difference in oxygen affinity between fetal and maternal blood. Outcome of pregnancy was recorded for carriers of hemoglobins Bethesda, Osler, and Yakima, whose p50s (9.5, 9.1, and 12 mm Hg at pH 7.4) were far lower than that of a normal fetus (23 mm Hg at pH 7.3). Neither spontaneous abortions nor intrauterine growth retardation could be attributed to the presence of high oxygen affinity in the mothers. In vitro simulations suggested that neither maternal or fetal polycythemia alone was sufficient to adjust for perturbation of the normal situation, and increased uterine and/or fetal blood flow probably provided additional compensation.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Carcinoid tumour secreting dopa.

A middle aged woman referred for an abdominal mass was found to have large amounts of dopa (3-4-dihydroxyphenylalanine) metabolites in her urine. At operation a tumour affecting almost the entire left lobe of the liver was removed. Histologically the tumour was a metastatic carcinoid. After operation the excretion of dopa metabolites fell substantially, confirming that the tumour was the source. Apparently, owing to an enzyme defect the tumour had been unable to decarboxylate dopa. These findings are further evidence of a neural origin for the endocrine system of the gut.

Carcinoid Tumor↗
PubMed1984

Cognitive impairments in Parkinson's disease: distinguishing between effort-demanding and automatic cognitive processes.

The study was designed to define some of the elements of cognitive impairments evident in unmedicated Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Unlike patients with progressive dementias such as Alzheimer's disease, untreated, mildly to moderately affected PD patients are efficient at accessing previously acquired knowledge. They also can learn and remember information that can be processed "automatically," using operations requiring little cognitive capacity. However, PD patients demonstrate relatively specific cognitive impairments for effort-demanding processes. These findings are clinically useful, but also help define the boundaries of psychobiologically distinct cognitive (memory-learning) processes.

Aged↗
PubMed1984

Heart rate and blood pressure response to several methods of strength training.

This study was undertaken to determine heart rate and blood pressure responses to various exercises used during strengthening programs. Heart rate, blood pressure, and pressure-rate product (systolic blood pressure X heart rate) were determined for five subjects performing five different strength-training exercises at 75 and 100 percent of maximum voluntary contraction (MVC). The exercises included isometric and isokinetic exercises and isotonic exercises with free weights. Systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and pressure-rate product increased significantly with all exercises; heart rate increased with most of the exercises. In some, but not all, of the exercise sessions in which two measurements were made at different times, heart rate, blood pressure, and pressure-rate product were higher for the second measurement. Pressure-rate product was significantly higher for the exercises performed at 100 percent of MVC than for those performed at 75 percent of MVC. The isokinetic exercise performed at 100 percent of MVC produced the highest pressure-rate product.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Influence of cromolyn sodium on airway temperature in normal subjects.

It is well established that cromolyn sodium attenuates the bronchoconstriction induced by airway cooling in both normal and asthmatic subjects. To determine whether this protection derives from a modification of the thermal events that transpire during the conditioning of inspired air, we first recorded the effect of cromolyn on the bronchoconstrictor response to hyperventilation with frigid air in 7 normal subjects. On a separate occasion, we imposed the same thermal burden and measured the temperature at multiple sites within the airways before and after pretreatment with cromolyn. The first cold air challenge produced a significant decrease in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) of 5.5 +/- 0.9% (SEM) and these changes were significantly reduced by cromolyn (FEV1 = 2.8 +/- 0.9%; p less than 0.05). In concert with the improvement in mechanics, the temperatures (T) within the trachea (tr) and the anterior segment of the right lower lobe (AS-RLL) were significantly higher after cromolyn (Ttr = 1.3 +/- 0.2 degrees C; p less than 0.01; TAS-RLL = 1.0 +/- 0.4 degrees C; p = 0.05), and there was a direct positive relationship between the mechanical protection offered by the drug and the increase in airway temperature (Spearman's rank correlation coefficient = 0.83; p = 0.05). These data suggest that cromolyn modifies respiratory heat exchange in such a fashion as to limit airway cooling. The mechanism of this action is not presently known but may reflect a direct or indirect influence on the bronchial vasculature.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Serum dopamine beta hydroxylase in children with neuroblastoma.

Serum dopamine-beta-hydroxylase (DBH) activity has been reported to be raised in some patients with neuoblastoma but this has been challenged. We have studied serum DBH levels on 26 children with neuroblastoma and 58 age-matched controls. Only in 2 patients were the levels higher than in the controls, and then only transiently. In both, the rise in DBH levels could be accounted for by the transfusion of adult blood. Serum DBH levels in children with neuroblastoma were unrelated to the response of this neoplasm to treatment or to urinary catecholamine output and thus are unlikely to have any value in diagnosis or as a marker of tumour activity.

Age Factors↗