PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

S Hakim

Publications and source records attributed to S Hakim.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

A critical review of macro models for road accidents.

This paper presents a critical review of state-of-the-art macro models for road accidents. Such a review is meant to identify and establish the significance of policy and socioeconomic variables affecting the level of road accidents. The aim is to identify those variables associated with effective policies and interventions to enable decision makers to improve the level of road safety. The variables that appear to affect the number of fatalities or injuries are: vehicle miles travelled (VMT), vehicle population, income (in its various forms), percentage of young drivers, intervention policies such as speed limits, periodic vehicle inspection, and minimum alcohol-drinking age. Viewed critically, the state-of-the-art models being used to explain and predict road accidents are still deficient. One possible approach to correcting this deficiency draws from consumer utility theory, using analytical models built on a newly constructed theoretical framework. Success in estimating such models may improve predictions of road accidents, thus demonstrating the comparative cost effectiveness of alternative intervention policies.

Accident Prevention

Verapamil as a hypotensive agent under general anaesthesia.

Thirty-six adult female patients undergoing abdominal hysterectomy under general anaesthesia were evaluated for the haemodynamic effects of IV verapamil in bolus dose of either 50 micrograms/kg (group A), 60 micrograms/kg (group B) or 75 micrograms/kg (group C). The result showed a dose dependent fall in the mean arterial pressure and increase in the P-R interval. The fall in heart rate was marginally more in group A and B as compared to group C.

Adult

Impaired neutrophil function in patients with AIDS or AIDS-related complex: a comprehensive evaluation.

We measured the neutrophil function of 6 patients with AIDS and Kaposi's sarcoma (KS); 22 patients with AIDS-related complex (ARC); and 28 healthy, heterosexual controls. Neutrophils from patients with ARC showed significantly less chemotaxis (P less than or equal to .025) than did those from patients with AIDS and KS or from controls. Serum from patients with AIDS and KS or with ARC significantly (P less than or equal to .05) inhibited chemotaxis of neutrophils from controls; heat treatment of the serum abolished this inhibitory effect. Bacterial killing by neutrophils from patients with AIDS and KS or with ARC was also significantly (P less than or equal to .05) less than for neutrophils from controls, as was neutrophil phagocytosis binding of Candida albicans (P less than or equal to .05). Expression of OKM1 antigen was increased in the patients studied. Enzyme degranulation, adherence, and aggregation were also examined. The defects found in neutrophil function are selective and may be important in the increased susceptibility of patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection to bacterial and fungal infections.

AIDS-Related Complex

The physics of the cranial cavity, hydrocephalus and normal pressure hydrocephalus: mechanical interpretation and mathematical model.

It is intended for this research, to provide some basis for the understanding of the rational mechanics of the cranial content. There are many interesting and controversial facts derived from the experimental and clinical-pathological observations of hydrocephalus and increased intracranial pressure. For instance, in some patients a moderate increase of intracranial pressure is accompanied by hydrocephalus and mental changes, while in others, with high intracranial pressure, the ventricles and mental functions remain unaltered. What then is the parameter that changes the size of the ventricles and impairs brain function? It is shown how the transmission of intraventricular pressure throughout the brain parenchyma creates a stress distribution that varies in magnitude; how during the production, maintenance, and reversal of hydrocephalus, and normal pressure hydrocephalus the stress is distributed throughout the brain; and how in the presence of a sudden increase of intracranial pressure nature has arranged additional mechanisms for protecting the brain. It is important to recognize that some aspects of intracranial physiopathology can be explained through classical concepts of physics, prior to attempting to interpret such processes solely in terms of biological or auto-regulatory phenomena.

Adult

Experience with a shunt system using the third ventricle. Technical note.

The authors present a technique involving placement of a catheter in the third ventricle in shunt systems for hydrocephalus, in order to avoid obstruction of the proximal catheter by particles of chorioid plexus. They emphasize the simplicity of the technique, lack of morbidity, and the good results they have obtained in 30 cases with a follow-up from six to 40 months.

Cerebrospinal Fluid Shunts

Treatment of tumors of the third ventricle: a new and simple technique.

A new surgical technique is described for the treatment of benign cystic tumors of the third ventricle. It basically consist of: 1) introduction of a catheter to the third ventricle, therefore to the cyst; 2) suction of all the material of the cyst; 3) connection of the catheter to a ventriculoatrial shunt. A report of five patients with a possible colloid cyst in the third ventricle treated with this technique and the satisfactory results obtained in all the cases, with lack of morbidity and mortality, is presented. A comparison between the traditional surgical procedure and ours, as far as the technique itself and the results are concerned, is made. The simplicity of the technique is emphasized and it is proposed as another solution for the treatment of cystic tumors of the third ventricle.

Brain Diseases