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Biomedical subjects

V Hall

Publications and source records attributed to V Hall.

48 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

A comparison of two doses of tamoxifen (Nolvadex) in postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer: 10 mg bd versus 20 mg bd.

In a comparative double-blind trial involving 263 postmenopausal women with advanced breast cancer treated with tamoxifen, the mean objective tumour response rate and duration was 32% and 15 months respectively. No significant difference was found in clinical response and adverse effects between those randomised to 10 mg and those to 20 mg twice daily. Although the mean serum concentration of tamoxifen in the 20 mg bd group was significantly higher no correlation between serum level and clinical benefit was demonstrated.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

The community mental health nurse: a new professional role.

This review of recent literature explores the similarities and differences between the work of community psychiatric nurses and their mental handicap counterparts. The comparisons which have been made between these groups of nurses are related to the authors' own research studies. These included an observational study of one community mental handicap nursing team and a national survey of all such teams in England and Wales. The importance of trad union membership, the place of the Community Psychiatric Nursing Association and the implications of joint training courses are discussed. The emergence of a new professional role, that of the "community mental health nurse" is discussed and the implications which this might have for the future organization of community psychiatric nursing services is outlined.

Certification↗
PubMed1979

The effect of an exercise program on change in curve in adolescents with minimal idiopathic scoliosis. A preliminary study.

Forty-two adolescents with minimal idiopathic scoliosis, who had been on an exercise program for 9 to 15 months, were evaluated to determine the influence of exercise on change in their curvatures. A difference of 4 degrees or greater between initial and final curve measurements was considered to be a change. Five percent of the curves increased, 74% remained the same, and 21% decreased. Change in curvature for these patients was also compared with that of a matched retrospective group of adolescents with scoliosis who had not had the exercise program. No significant difference in change in curve between the two groups was found. For patients who had been on the exercise program, there was no significant relationship between change in curve and extent of physical activity or between change in curve and exercise recall, correct performance, or frequency. Limitations in the study design and possible explanations for the results are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Occurrence of Burkholderia cepacia in the hospital environment.

AIM: To determine the prevalence of Burkholderia cepacia from the environment in a regional adult cystic fibrosis (CF) care centre. METHODS: Two hundred and eighty-five environmental samples were taken from inpatient and outpatient environments within the CF centre. Following a non-selective enrichment step, broths were plated onto a selective medium and B. cepacia isolates were confirmed by phenotypic tests and also genotypically by species specific 16S rRNA PCR. RESULTS: B. cepacia was not detected from commonly shared items of equipment, staff hands, staff uniforms or toilets. In addition, the organism was not detected in toilet bowls, even in the B. cepacia unit. With regard to positive environments for B. cepacia, 4/10 (40%) of the outside surfaces and inner rims of patients' plastic disposable sputum collection containers and 4/17 (23.5%) of air from patients' rooms, following physiotherapy, were positive. CONCLUSIONS: All positive samples originated in the B. cepacia segregation area of the inpatient wards and B. cepacia was not detected in the non-cepacia area of the CF centre. Consequently, these two positive sites should therefore be treated as high risk, where organisms may be potentially transmitted from environment to patient. As there is now evidence to suggest differences in the virulence and hence clinical outcome of certain of the genomovars of this organism, this study may be important in highlighting the areas that patients who are B. cepacia positive should avoid, to minimise the risk of transmission and acquisition of this organism within the CF cepacia population. These results indicate that effective infection control procedures are required in patients' rooms following physiotherapy, for prevention of B. cepacia transmission and to avoid the transmission of different genomovar types within CF patients, who are already colonised with this pathogen.

Air Microbiology↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Chromosome 5 allele loss in human colorectal carcinomas.

That the sporadic and inherited forms of a particular cancer could both result from mutations in the same gene was first proposed by Knudson. He further proposed that these mutations act recessively at the cellular level, and that both copies of the gene must be lost for the cancer to develop. In sporadic cases both events occur somatically whereas in dominant familial cases susceptibility is inherited through a germline mutation and the cancer develops after a somatic change in the homologous allele. This model has since been substantiated in the case of retinoblastoma, Wilms tumour, acoustic neuroma and several other tumours, in which loss of heterozygosity was shown in tumour material compared to normal tissue from the same patient. The dominantly inherited disorder, familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP, also called familial polyposis coli), which gives rise to multiple adenomatous polyps in the colon that have a relatively high probability of progressing to a malignant adenocarcinoma, provides a basis for studying recessive genes in the far more common colorectal carcinomas using this approach. Following a clue as to the location of the FAP gene given by a case report of an individual with an interstitial deletion of chromosome 5q, who had FAP and multiple developmental abnormalities, we have examined sporadic colorectal adenocarcinomas for loss of alleles on chromosome 5. Using a highly polymorphic 'minisatellite' probe which maps to chromosome 5q we have shown that at least 20% of this highly heterogeneous set of tumours lose one of the alleles present in matched normal tissue. This parallels the assignment of the FAP gene to chromosome 5 (see accompanying paper) and suggests that becoming recessive for this gene may be a critical step in the progression of a relatively high proportion of colorectal cancers.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Orogastric tube insertion length in very low birth weight infants.

We determined the minimal insertion lengths for appropriate placement of orogastric tubes in very low birth weight infants (< 1500 gm). Feeding tubes marked in centimeter increments were placed orogastrically by using standard neonatal intensive care unit protocol. When radiographs were taken, the centimeter marking at the lip was recorded, and an investigator blinded to the recorded measurement scored the orogastric tube position on radiograph as high (too short), low (too far), or adequate. Data were collected until measurements were available for at least five separate infants for each 250 gm interval of birth weight < 1500 gm. A total of 188 radiographs in 31 consecutive, appropriately grown, very low birth weight infants were reviewed. Seventeen (9%) could not be interpreted because of radiographic technique or because the tip of the orogastric tube was not visible. Of the 171 radiographs suitable for review, the orogastric tube position was low in 8 (5%), high in 57 (33%), and in adequate position in 106 (62%). When data were stratified according to weight groups, minimum insertion lengths were identified, and provided clear and statistically significant separation for orogastric tubes positioned adequately versus those positioned high. The number of orogastric tubes positioned low was too small to provide meaningful information. This information was then used prospectively to assist in orogastric tube(s) position, with a subsequent increase in the percentage of orogastric tubes positioned adequately to 86%. This study confirms that there are minimum orogastric tube insertion lengths required for adequate intragastric positioning. Paying attention to this information can decrease the number of orogastric tubes that are positioned in the esophagus.

Body Weight↗