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S Stitt

Publications and source records attributed to S Stitt.

8 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Attenuation of c-Fos expression in the rat lumbosacral spinal cord by morphine or tramadol following noxious colorectal distention.

We have previously reported that repetitive, noxious colorectal distention (CRD) induces c-Fos in the lumbosacral spinal cord. This study examined the effects of the analgesics morphine and tramadol on c-Fos expression resulting from noxious CRD in the rat. Pre-treatment (30 min or 1 min, i.v.) with morphine (1.25 mg/kg-5.0 mg/kg) or tramadol (1 mg/kg-20 mg/kg) dose-dependently attenuated c-Fos expression to CRD in all areas of the L6-S1 spinal gray matter. The highest dose of morphine was equipotent to the highest dose of tramadol. Repetitive dosing (1/4 of the greatest dose every 30 min) was as effective as a single bolus dose for both drugs. The visceromotor response to CRD was dose-dependently attenuated by tramadol and was reversed by naloxone. However, the dose of tramadol that eliminated the visceromotor response (7% of control) reduced the c-Fos expression to 47% of control. These results demonstrate that these two analgesics attenuate immediate-early gene expression and the visceromotor response to a noxious visceral stimulus and suggest that complete attenuation of c-Fos expression is not necessary for these compounds to produce analgesia to a noxious visceral stimulus.

Analgesics, Opioid↗
PubMed1995

Old, poor & malnourished.

OBJECTIVE: To monitor the effects of low, fixed incomes on the dietaries and nutritional well-being of elderly people. METHODS: A questionnaire gathered data from a 'high income' sample (HIS) and a 'low income' sample (LIS) on income, eating and shopping patterns and nutritional awareness. A dietary diary provided the data required for a nutritional analysis of the foodstuffs consumed by the sample and inadequacies were identified by comparing nutrient intake to the Dept. of Health's (1991) Dietary Recommended Values (DRVs). RESULTS: The dietaries of the low income sample showed substantial shortfalls from those officially recommended and these are presented as the result, primarily, of income poverty and not the consequence of ignorance or mental decline. The older poor know what healthy eating entails; in most cases, they simply cannot afford and indeed, the dietaries are often inferior to the 'general poor', because of the idiosyncracies of their nutritional requirements. CONCLUSIONS: The inability of the older poor to purchase a healthy dietary cannot be solved merely by health education or budgeting skills. Primarily, they need more money.

Aged↗
PubMed1995

Taking the cooking out of food: nutrition & the national curriculum.

This is a discussion paper which generates some important research questions for educationalists. The teaching of food skills are at danger of being lost from the school cirriculum by changes imposed by the National Curriculum. This sinister (i.e., unexplained/undefined) development generates potential problems for the teaching of cookery and for the food and eating traditions of British society. The central concern for nutrition educationalists is that cooking is becoming more and more de-domesticated and consequently will become more systemised, more mass produced; in which case, young people need not be educated in basic cooking skills.

Cooking↗
PubMed1994

Food poverty: Rowntree revisited.

A pilot exercise preceding a major study of the effects of poverty on adequacy of diet is reported on. The inability of many low income households to afford a healthy diet is serious in nature and widespread in extent.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Homeless & hungry: the evidence from Liverpool.

Much research has established the link between low incomes and poor nutritional standards. A research team from the Centre for Consumer Education & Research at Liverpool John Moores' University recently found that 30% of all families with children in Britain today are spending less on food than what is required to achieve a dietary which adheres, at minimum cost, to the Department of Health's Dietary Recommended Values (DRVs). But very little, if any, research has investigated the nutritional implications of a particularly extreme form of material deprivation--homelessness. This pilot study therefore sets out to study the dietaries of a number of homeless families in Liverpool--homeless as defined by living in Bed & Breakfast accommodation. Not only do such families have to contend with dependency upon welfare benefits when purchasing their foodstuffs; they also have to labour under inadequate cooking facilities. The study has involved these families keeping a dietary diary of all food and drink consumed. This information has then been analysed for its nutrient composition, using the Microdiet computer programme at Liverpool JMU. The results will show that, in every single case, the dietaries of these homeless families fall substantially short of the government's own nutritional guidelines and are, without doubt, unhealthy in the extreme. This paper is thus an examination of the nature and extent of the problem, using the science of nutrition and dietetics: not a policy prescription (although this is obvious) not a policy analysis. A study of the dietary implications of homelessness for 100 individuals (the largest ever undertaken) on Merseyside will be undertaken between September 1993 and June 1994.

Adolescent↗