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Showing papers by "University of Aberdeen published in 1994"



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This review summarizes data on exports of carbon from a large number of temperate and boreal catchments in North America, Europe and New Zealand, finding a lack of information on the flux of particulate organic carbon and dissolved CO2 is highlighted.

624 citations


ReportDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a commonsense and empirically supported approach to explaining metropolitan real house price changes is proposed, for the theory to describe an equilibrium price level to which the market is constantly adjusting.
Abstract: A commonsense and empirically supported approach to explaining metropolitan real house price changes is for the theory to describe an equilibrium price level to which the market is constantly adjusting. The determinants of real house price appreciation, then, can be divided into two groups, one that explains changes in the equilibrium price and the other that accounts for the adjustment dynamics or changing deviations from the equilibrium price. The former group includes the growth in real income and real construction costs and changes in the real after-tax interest rate. The latter group consists of lagged real appreciation and the difference between the actual and equilibrium real house price levels. Either group of variables can explain a little over two-fifths of the variation in real house price movements in 30 cities over the 1977-92 period; together, they explain three-fifths.

576 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Rat liver microsomal AROD results show that ratios between different alkoxyresorufin O-dealkylation (AROD) activities can be more useful than absolute values of single activities for identifying P450 forms.

551 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Univariate partial least squares (PLS) as mentioned in this paper is a method of modeling relationships between a Y variable and other explanatory variables, and it can be used with any number of explanatory variables.
Abstract: Univariate partial least squares (PLS) is a method of modeling relationships between a Y variable and other explanatory variables. It may be used with any number of explanatory variables, even far more than the number of observations. A simple interpretation is given that shows the method to be a straightforward and reasonable way of forming prediction equations. Its relationship to multivariate PLS, in which there are two or more Y variables, is examined, and an example is given in which it is compared by simulation with other methods of forming prediction equations. With univariate PLS, linear combinations of the explanatory variables are formed sequentially and related to Y by ordinary least squares regression. It is shown that these linear combinations, here called components, may be viewed as weighted averages of predictors, where each predictor holds the residual information in an explanatory variable that is not contained in earlier components, and the quantity to be predicted is the vecto...

533 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is concluded that it is possible to construct a questionnaire that quantifies the effect of a medical condition on patients' quality of life in a way that has meaning and relevance in the context of their daily lives.
Abstract: Quality of life has been defined as "the extent to which our hopes and ambitions are matched by experience." To improve a patient's quality of life through medical care would be to "narrow the gap between a patient's hopes and expectations and what actually happens." Using the above definition as a conceptual basis, we produced a self-administered, Patient-Generated Index (PGI) of quality of life. The PGI was completed by 359 patients presenting with low back pain. The validity of the measure was assessed by correlating patients' PGI scores with a well-validated health profile, the Short-Form 36-item Health Survey (SF-36), and with their scores on a clinical back pain questionnaire. Stepwise multiple regression was then used to model the relationship between the PGI score and the SF-36. Patients' PGI scores showed a high correlation with SF-36 scales measuring pain, social functioning, and role limitations attributable to physical problems, and with the clinical questionnaire. Together with whether a person was retired or not, these health variables were able to explain 25% of the variance in PGI scores. Patient generated index scores were significantly lower in patients referred to hospital compared with those managed solely in general practice and tended to reflect the general practitioner's assessment of symptom severity. We conclude that it is possible to construct a questionnaire that quantifies the effect of a medical condition on patients' quality of life in a way that has meaning and relevance in the context of their daily lives. The PGI has considerable potential for routine use in a wide range of clinical conditions for which the measurement of outcome has hitherto proved very difficult.

509 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Feb 1994-Thorax
TL;DR: Air pollution both outdoors and indoors as a potential cause of increased asthma prevalence has lessened substantially since the smogs of the 1950s with reduced burning of coal in cities, and there has been a well documented fall in levels of smoke and sulphur dioxide.
Abstract: Serial prevalence studies have shown that childhood asthma is becoming more common. In the UK two recent studies have found that the overall prevalence of episodic wheeze and of diagnosed asthma has doubled over the last two decades.'2 In these studies the prevalence of hay fever was also shown to have increased by a factor of three to four, while that of eczema had doubled. In children in New Zealand and Australia asthma prevalence has also doubled over the same period.34 The situation in adults is less clear, and data for the UK are not available, but most evidence from other countries suggests that a similar increase is occurring. Thus, although Yunginger et al; found no evidence of an increase in the incidence of asthma in the adult population of Rochester, Minnesota during the years 196483, analysis of data from conscripts to the Finnish and Swedish defence forces reveals a sixfold increase in asthma prevalence at call-up examinations between 1966 and 1989 in Finland,6 and a 47% increase between 1971 and 1981 in Sweden.7 In Busselton, Australia8 the prevalence of diagnosed asthma in adults aged 18-55 increased from 9% to 16 3% between 1981 and 1990, and in Manitoba, Canada, physician diagnosed asthma was found to be increasing in all age groups between 1980 and 1990.9 As well as changes over time, increases in the prevalence of asthma have also followed \"westernisation\" of a society'0 and migration from subsistence societies to economically developed countries.\" 12 It is generally agreed that the observed increase in the prevalence of asthma is not simply a consequence of improved diagnosis'3'4 or of diagnostic transfer.'5 A change in genetic susceptibility of the population to the development of asthma is unlikely in the time period over which the observed increase has occurred. A more probable explanation is that the increase is due to the effects of life in the industrialised world resulting in an increase in exposure to exogenous factors which may induce asthma, a reduction in host resistance, or a combination of both mechanisms. Among exogenous factors which have been implicated in the increase in asthma are outdoor pollutants, indoor pollutants, cigarette smoke, and allergen exposure. Factors altering host resistance have received less attention. It has been suggested recently that a similar increase in the prevalence of hay fever coincided with the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries,16 and it is not surprising that the attention of researchers should have focused on air pollution both outdoors and indoors as a potential cause of increased asthma prevalence. With regard to outdoor pollutants, there is no doubt that many of these including sulphur dioxide, ozone, sulphuric acid and oxides of nitrogen can induce bronchoconstriction in susceptible individuals in the laboratory setting.'7 There is epidemiological evidence from the USA'8 and from the UK'9 that increases in ambient photochemical oxidants may be associated with respiratory symptoms and increased bronchodilator use in asthmatic subjects. However, air pollution in general in the UK has lessened substantially since the smogs of the 1950s with reduced burning of coal in cities, and there has been a well documented fall in levels of smoke and sulphur dioxide. Ozone is primarily a rural pollutant and the limited evidence available suggests that urban levels have not altered since the early 1970s.20 There is some evidence of a rise in background levels of oxides of nitrogen in rural situations since the 1970s, but peak urban levels in cities do not appear to have risen.202' While these data over an adequate time and range of sites are sparse, there is no evidence of the significant rises in any pollutants that would have been necessary were they to have been responsible for the increase in asthma and hay fever. In support of this conclusion, no association between exposure to particulates, nitrogen dioxide, or sulphur dioxide and prevalence of asthma was found in the American six cities study,2223 nor in a more recent study24 which compared schoolchildren in the heavily polluted city of Leipzig and the cleaner city of Munich; there was significantly more hay fever and rhinitis in Munich children, while the prevalence of asthma and airway hyperreactivity did not differ significantly between the two populations. The major component of indoor air pollution is cigarette smoke and there is abundant evidence that exposure to the constituents of cigarette smoke in utero and in childhood can increase the risk of developing allergy and respiratory symptoms.25-30 Again, however, it is difficult to attribute the considerable increase in asthma to changes in parental smoking. In the UK there has been a decline in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine A Seaton

467 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The data support the view that the subvocal rehearsal component of working memory provides a means of maintaining accuracy in mental arithmetic, and this matches a similar conclusion derived from previous work on counting.
Abstract: Mental calculation is an important everyday skill involving access to well-learned procedures, problem solving, and working memory. Although there is an active literature on acquiring concepts and procedures for mental arithmetic, relatively little is known about the role of working memory in this task. This paper reports two experiments in which dual-task methodology is used to study the role of components of working memory in mental addition. In Experiment 1, mental addition of auditorily presented two-digit numbers was significantly disrupted by concurrent random letter generation and, to a lesser extent, by concurrent articulatory suppression, but was unimpaired by concurrent hand movement or by presentation of irrelevant pictures. Although the number of errors increased with two of the dual tasks, the incorrect responses tended to be quite close to the correct answer. In Experiment 2, the numbers for addition were presented visually. Here again, random generation produced the largest disruption of mental arithmetic performance, while a smaller amount of disruption was observed for articulatory suppression, hand movement, and unattended auditorily presented two-digit numbers. The overall levels of performance were better and the absolute size of the disruptive effects shown with visual presentation was very small compared with those found for auditory presentation. This pattern of results is consistent with a role for a central executive component of working memory in performing the calculations required for mental addition and in producing approximately correct answers. Visuospatial resources in working memory may also be involved in approximations. The data support the view that the subvocal rehearsal component of working memory provides a means of maintaining accuracy in mental arithmetic, and this matches a similar conclusion derived from previous work on counting. The general implications for the role of working memory in arithmetic problem solving will be discussed.

462 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The in vitro expression of seven known members of the SAP gene family in a range of strains and serotypes is studied by Northern analysis to suggest that the various members of this family may have distinct roles in the colonization and invasion of the host.
Abstract: The opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida albicans produces secretory aspartyl proteinases, which are believed to be virulence factors in infection. We have studied the in vitro expression of seven known members of the SAP gene family in a range of strains and serotypes by Northern analysis. SAP1 and SAP3 were regulated during phenotypic switching between the white and opaque forms of the organism. The SAP2 mRNA, which was the dominant transcript in the yeast form, was found to be autoinduced by peptide products of Sap2 activity and to be repressed by amino acids. The expression of the closely related SAP4-SAP6 genes was observed only at neutral pH during serum-induced yeast to hyphal transition. No SAP7 mRNA was detected under any of the conditions or in any of the strains tested. Our data suggest that the various members of the SAP gene family may have distinct roles in the colonization and invasion of the host.

398 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a theory to predict changes in axial leakage flux resulting from stator winding interturn shorts and an algorithm to locate the position of the faulted coil was developed.
Abstract: One major cause of motor failures is breakdown of the turn insulation leading to puncture of the groundwall. Early detection of interturn shorts during motor operation would eliminate consequential damage to adjacent coils and the stator core reducing repair costs and motor outage time. In addition to the benefits gained from early detection of turn insulation breakdown, significant advantages would accrue by locating the faulted coil within the stator winding. Fault location would not only increase the speed of the repair, but would also permit more optimal scheduling of the repair outage. This work was successful in practically implementing a theory to predict changes in the axial leakage flux resulting from stator winding interturn shorts and in developing an algorithm to locate the position of the faulted coil. An experimental setup consisting of a 200 hp motor loaded by a generator was used to validate this theory. Suitable transducers were developed and installed on this motor. Measurement using this experimental configuration clearly validated the theoretical model. On the basis of this experimental work an instrument to continuously monitor for shorted turns is under development. >

395 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Compared to minilaparotomy cholecystectomy, laparoscopic choleCystectomy results in shorter hospital stay, less postoperative dysfunction, and quicker return to normal activities, but is more costly.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is concluded that guidelines improve clinical practice and achieve health gains when introduced in the context of rigorous evaluations.
Abstract: "Clinical guidelines are proliferating on both sides of the Atlantic.” Nevertheless there is considerable uncertainty whether this will improve clinical practice. We therefore systematically reviewed published evaluations of clinical guidelines. We identified 59 rigorous evaluations covering a wide range of clinical activities all but four of which detected statistically significant improvements in the process of medical care and all but two of the 11 that also measured the outcome of care reported statistically significant improvements in outcome. We concluded that guidelines improve clinical practice and achieve health gains when introduced in the context of rigorous evaluations. (excerpt)

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors examines the place of groups in the consultative process in British policymaking, and identifies the important divide between the relatively few groups with privileged status and the greater number of groups who find themselves consigned to less influential positions.
Abstract: This paper examines the place of groups in the consultative process in British policymaking. It stresses the importance of consultation even under the Thatcher government and distinguishes between consultation, bargaining and negotiation. The paper identifies the important divide between the relatively few groups with privileged status and the greater number of groups who find themselves consigned to less influential positions. The discussion revisits the insider/outsider typology often used to differentiate interest group strategies and status in policy development. It suggests that the insider group term is associated with a particular style of policy making, and offers amendments to the existing use of the terms to avoid the difficulties which occur from the conflation of group strategy and group status.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A causal analysis of secondary variables showed that the formation of FB memories was primarily associated with the level of importance attached to the event and level of affective response to the news.
Abstract: A large group of subjects took part in a multinational test-retest study to investigate the formation of flashbulb (FB) memories for learning the news of the resignation of the British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher. Over 86% of the U.K. subjects were found to have FB memories nearly 1 year after the resignation; their memory reports were characterized by spontaneous, accurate, and full recall of event details, including minutiae. In contrast, less than 29% of the non-U.K. subjects had FB memories 1 year later; memory reports in this group were characterized by forgetting, reconstructive errors, and confabulatory responses. A causal analysis of secondary variables showed that the formation of FB memories was primarily associated with the level of importance attached to the event and level of affective response to the news. These findings lend some support to the study by R. Brown and Kulik (1977), who suggest that FB memories may constitute a class of autobiographical memories distinguished by some form of preferential encoding.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The secreted aspartic proteinases of Candida sp.
Abstract: Summary The secreted aspartic proteinases (SAP) of Candida sp. are presumed to be potential virulence factors. In the opportunistic pathogen Candida albicans the proteinase genes identified to date, SAP1, SAP2, SAP3 and SAP4, constitute a multigene family. Before addressing the possible role of each proteinase in virulence, we sought to isolate all the members of this multigene family by screening a genomic library with a SAP1 probe for additional C. albicans SAP genes using low-stringency hybridization conditions. Three putative new members, SAP5, SAP6 and SAP7 were isolated and sequenced. The N-terminal segments of the deduced amino acid sequences of SAP5 and SAP6 contained secretion signal sequences similar to those of other Candida SAPs. Upon comparison and alignment with the other reported SAP amino acid sequences, SAP7 is not only the most divergent protein but also exhibits a much longer putative pro-sequence with a single Lys-Lys putative processing site. Using SAP1 to SAP7 as probes, the overall number of SAP genes in C. albicans was tentatively estimated by low-stringency hybridization to EcoRI-digested genomic DNA. While each isolated SAP gene could be assigned to distinct EcoRI bands, the existence of two additional genes not isolated after screening of the C. albicans gene library was inferred. Furthermore, evidence was obtained for the existence of SAP muttigene families in other Candida species such as C. tropicalis, C. parapsilosis and C. guiller-mondii.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a model for ion transport in glass which involves the creation of fluctuating pathways within a dynamically determined structure was developed. But this model is not suitable for the analysis of glass electrolytes, and it is suggested that this model could form the basis for a comprehensive theory of vitreous electrolytes.
Abstract: A model is developed for ion transport in glass which involves the creation of fluctuating pathways within a dynamically determined structure. Key features include a site memory effect which introduces vacancies appropriate to each kind of mobile ion, and a mismatch energy which emerges whenever an ion attempts to enter a different kind of site. The exploration of this model by numerical methods leads (i) to a power law relationship between ionic conductivity and cation content (now confirmed in the literature) and (ii) to the elucidation of many facets of the mixed alkali effect. It is suggested that this ‘dynamic structure’ model could form the basis for a comprehensive theory of vitreous electrolytes.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The concept of fabric shape provides a powerful means of visualizing and analyzing data on sedimentary fabric as discussed by the authors, and the shape of a fabric is defined in terms of the ratios between eigenvalues S1 S2, and S3, derived using the orientation tensor method.
Abstract: The concept of fabric shape provides a powerful means of visualizing and analyzing data on sedimentary fabric. The shape of a fabric is defined in terms of the ratios between eigenvalues S1 S2, and S3, derived using the orientation tensor method. A continuum of all possible orthorhombic fabric shapes can be clearly represented on equilateral ternary diagrams originally developed for the presentation of particle-shape data. Two indices are of particular value in scaling these diagrams: fabric isotropy (I = S3/S1)and fabric elongation (E = 1-(S2/S1)). Together, these indices uniquely define the shape of any orthorhombic fabric, and provide a rational and quantitative basis for reconstructing depositional and de ormational processes. Equilateral ternary diagrams provide a more versatile and powerful basis for analyzing fabric data than other eigenvalue diagrams now in use. Use of the diagrams in reconstructing processes of sediment transport and deposition is illustrated using fabric data from subglacial tills and a variety of slope deposits.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The evening emergence time among echolocating bats appears to be a function of dietary specializations and foraging strategy, and is probably also affected by the ability to avoid predation.
Abstract: We hypothesized that interspecific differences in evening emergence time among echolocating bats are subject to natural selection through effects of variation in food availability and predation risk, both of which are related to flight technique and foraging strategy. We predicted that bats that feed on small aerial insects emerge relatively early to get access to the peak in flight activity of small dipterans at dusk. By emerging well before dark, however, they expose themselves to increased risks of predation and/or harassment from raptorial or insectivorous birds which may still be active. Bats that can feed independently of the dusk peak of dipterans, i.e. those that are adapted to feed on moths, on flightless or diurnal prey or on plants, would be expected to emerge later, thus minimizing the predation risk. We tested these predictions by analysis of two data bases: one including European bats only and another including a worldwide sample. The predictions were largely supported. The evening emergence time appears to be a function of dietary specializations and foraging strategy, and is probably also affected by the ability to avoid predation.


Journal Article
TL;DR: The data from US slaves and cases of hormonal replacement show that, if the circumstances of children in the Third World change, almost complete reversal of stunting is possible and total reversal to affluent societal norms would probably require cross-generational catch-up.
Abstract: Although malnourished children are stunted, their bone maturity is usually retarded to a comparable degree. This is seen in impoverished societies as well as in diseases such as coeliac disease, inflammatory bowel disease and hormonal deficiency. When these children are followed to adulthood they normally have some degree of spontaneous catch-up. With a change in environment, through adoption, emigration or with treatment of the disease there is usually definite catch-up growth, although it is often not to the NCHS standards. If puberty is delayed and/or growth continues into the early or mid twenties, then an acceptable final adult height is achieved. However, there may be a limitation imposed on an individual's maximum height by genetic imprinting in very early development. This may be the case where full catch-up appears to have taken place but is followed by an advanced puberty and early cessation of growth (Proos, Hofvander & Tuvemo, 1991a). The data from US slaves and cases of hormonal replacement, where treatment was initiated after age 18, each show that, if the circumstances of children in the Third World change, almost complete reversal of stunting is possible. The children can reach their own height potentials. Total reversal to affluent societal norms would probably require cross-generational catch-up. The most obvious reason why catch-up is not seen regularly is that an appropriate diet is not available over a sufficient period of time. We do not know the optimum ingredients for such a diet. Sulphur has been neglected as an essential nutrient; its economy should be examined in relation to skeletal growth in stunted populations.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The data suggest that vascular-mediated nerve dysfunction in diabetes depends on oxidative stress, and that similar effects in non-diabetic rats may be produced by pro-oxidant treatment, and provides evidence for the potentially important role of oxygen free radical activity in diabetic neuropathy.
Abstract: Increased oxygen free radical activity, coupled with reduced protection against oxidative stress, could play a role in the aetiology of neurovascu-lar abnormalities in experimental diabetes mellitus. To test this hypothesis, non-diabetic and streptozotocin-diabetic rats were treated with the anti-oxidant probu-col or the pro-oxidant primaquine. One-month diabetes caused 21.4% and 13.6% reduction in sciatic motor and saphenous sensory conduction velocity (p >0.001). These deficits were prevented by probucol treatment (p>0.001). After 1-month untreated diabetes, conduction velocity deficits were reversed by a further month of probucol treatment (p >0.001). For non-diabetic rats, primaquine treatment caused a 12.9% reduction in motor conduction velocity (p >0.001), which was prevented by probucol treatment (p >0.001). Primaquine treatment did not affect diabetic rats. Sciatic nerve nutritive endoneurial blood flow, measured using microelectrode polarography and hydrogen clearance, was 48.0% reduced by 2-month diabetes (p > 0.001). This was completely prevented by probucol treatment (p > 0.001). Primaquine treatment did not affect blood flow in diabetic rats. However, in non-diabetic rats it caused a 30.0 % reduction (p > 0.01) which was prevented by probucol treatment (p > 0.05). Sciatic endoneurial oxygen tensions were also measured by microelectrode polarography. Mean tension was 38.8 % reduced by diabetes (p > 0.001). This was prevented by probucol treatment. Non-diabetic rats given primaquine treatment showed a 21.7% reduction in endoneurial oxygen tension (p > 0.01). The data suggest that vascular-mediated nerve dysfunction in diabetes depends on oxidative stress, and that similar effects in non-diabetic rats may be produced by pro-oxidant treatment. This provides evidence for the potentially important role of oxygen free radical activity in diabetic neuropathy.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the C40 index and the RA index were used to describe the aggregate shape and roundness characteristics of glacially transported clasts in glacigenic deposits, and the results showed that these aggregate clast form gradients reflect changes in the relative proportions of actively and passively transported debris on the moraines rather than progressive modification of actively-transported clasts.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is indicated that proinflammatory cytokines induce NO production in osteoblast-like cells and that this mediator plays a role in regulating cell growth, which may have important implications for the pathogenesis and management of bone loss in diseases associated with cytokine activation, such as rheumatoid arthritis.
Abstract: Nitric oxide (NO) is a short-lived free radical that plays an important regulatory role in several biological processes. Cytokines such as interleukin-1, tumor necrosis factor, and interferon-gamma have been shown to stimulate NO production in many cells types. Although these cytokines are known to have potent effects on bone remodeling and osteoblast function, the role of NO as an effector molecule in bone has been little studied. Here we investigate the effects of cytokines and calciotropic hormones on NO production by human osteoblast-like cells (hOB) and the role of NO as a modulator of osteoblast growth. Unstimulated hOB produced little NO, as reflected by measurement of nitrite concentrations in hOB-conditioned medium. NO production was not significantly altered by PTH and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D or human recombinant interleukin-1 beta (10 U/ml), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (25 ng/ml), and interferon-gamma (100 U/ml) individually. Combinations of all three cytokines at these concentrations, however,...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Demersal fishes on the continental rise and slope were sampled by trawl, baited trap and a baited camera, demonstrating that arrival time of the first fish at baits provides an estimate of population density.
Abstract: Demersal fishes on the continental rise and slope were sampled by trawl, baited trap and a baited camera. Seventy-one different species were trawled, but only 18 species approached baits. At rise soundings (4100 m to 2250 m) Coryphaenoides (Nematonurus) armatus was dominant at baits and comprised 41·5% of the trawl catch. On the slope (<2250 m) Synaphobranchus kaupi was dominant at baits and comprised 32·7% of the trawl catch. At 1500–2501 m Antimora rostrata competed at baits and comprised 5–10% of trawl catches. At 1500–1650 m Centroscymnus coelolepis also consumed baits but was not captured by trawl. For C. (N.) armatus abundance was proportional to tarr2 (where tarr= arrival time), demonstrating that arrival time of the first fish at baits provides an estimate of population density. Maximum estimated abundance at 2897 m was 877 km-2, more than five times the abundance on the abyssal plain. Halosauropsis macrochir, Lepidion eques, Coryphaenoides guentheri, Gadiculus argenteus and Coryphaenoides rupestris were important in trawl samples but absent or rare at baits.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The questionnaire showed significant improvements in health status for all four clinical conditions, whether in referred or non-referred patients, and was associated with self reported changes in health as measured by the transition question.
Abstract: OBJECTIVE--To assess the responsiveness of the SF 36 health survey questionnaire to changes in health status over time for four common clinical conditions. DESIGN--Postal questionnaires at baseline and after one year's follow up, with two reminders at two week intervals if necessary. SETTING--Clinics and four training general practices in Grampian region in the north east of Scotland. PATIENTS--More than 1,700 patients aged 16 to 86 years with one of four conditions: low back pain, menorrhagia, suspected peptic ulcer, and varicose veins; and a random sample of 900 members of the local general population for comparison. MAIN MEASURES--A transition question measuring change in health and the eight scales of the SF 36 health survey questionnaire; standardised response means (mean change in score for a scale divided by the standard deviation of the change in scores) used to quantify the instrument's responsiveness to changes in perceived health status, and comparison of patient scores at baseline and follow up with those of the general population. RESULTS--The response rate exceeded 75% in a patient population. Changes across the SF 36 questionnaire were associated with self reported changes in health, as measured by the transition question. The questionnaire showed significant improvements in health status for all four clinical conditions, whether in referred or non-referred patients. For patients with suspected peptic ulcer and varicose veins the SF 36 profiles at one year approximate to the general population. CONCLUSIONS--These results provide the first evidence of the responsiveness of the SF 36 questionnaire to changes in perceived health status in a patient population in the United Kingdom.

Journal ArticleDOI
01 Sep 1994-Spine
TL;DR: A clinically based questionnaire, together with a general measure of health, can provide a valid and reliable package for the routine assessment of perceived health in patients with low back pain.
Abstract: ObjectiveThe author developed and validated a measure of health outcome for patients with low back pain.ResultsA questionnaire was developed incorporating the type of questions asked when taking a clinical history. After testing on a sample of 568 patients, three questions were discarded from the qu

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Findings are consistent with the disease CMTX1 being the result of mutations affecting the gene connexin 32 (Cx32), which encodes a gap junction protein which is expressed in large quantities within the liver and throughout a range of other mammalian tissues.
Abstract: X-linked dominant Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMTX1) is a peripheral neuropathy which maps to Xq13 and is flanked by the loci DXS106 (Xq11.2-q12) and DXS559 (Xq13.1). Contained within this interval of approximately 2-3Mb of DNA is the gene, connexin 32 (locus designation GJ beta 1). This gene encodes a gap junction protein which is expressed in large quantities within the liver and throughout a range of other mammalian tissues. We have sequenced the coding region of exon 2 of this gene from affected individuals in nine families with CMTX 1 and have found mutations which segregate with the disease in eight of these families. The mutations detected include missense point mutations at codons 15, 60, 63, 208, and 215, a nonsense point mutation at codon 220, deletions of one base in codon 72/3 producing a stop codon 12 codons down stream and a three base pair deletion which can be predicted to result in the loss of a single amino acid. These findings are consistent with the disease CMTX1 being the result of mutations affecting the gene connexin 32 (Cx32).

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this trial the time saved by domiciliary thrombolysis by primary care physicians was > 2 h and it is likely that a similar time saving would be achieved if prehospital throm bolysis were to become established practice.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The approach enabled analysis of ammonia oxidiser enrichments at an early stage and without the requirement for isolation of pure cultures, significantly reducing the time required and facilitating quantitative assessment of relatedness of strains.
Abstract: Marine ammonia oxidising bacteria were enriched by incubation of sea water, amended with ammonium sulphate, and subsequent subculture in liquid inorganic medium. PCR primers were designed to be specific for rDNA sequences from ammonia oxidisers belonging to the β -rsub-group of the proteobacteria. These primers were then used to amplify rRNA genes from ammonia oxidiser enrichment cultures containing heterotrophs. PCR products were recovered from all cultures in which complete ammonia oxidation occurred. Subsequent rDNA sequence analysis indicated the presence of three new lineages within the clade defined by sequences of cultured β -sub-group ammonia oxidisers. Two of the new lineages showed moderate similarity to sequences from pure cultures of ammonia oxidisers previously isolated from marine and brackish environments. The third lineage (AEM-3) was deep branching and occupied an intermediate position between clades defined by Nitrosomonas or Nitrosospira , which were isolated from soil or sewage. The phylogenetic analysis suggests that, in enrichment cultures, the primers are specific for members of the target group, the β -proteobacteria ammonia oxidisers. The results also indicate the presence of previously unknown ammonia oxidisers in marine samples. The approach enabled analysis of ammonia oxidiser enrichments at an early stage and without the requirement for isolation of pure cultures, significantly reducing the time required and facilitating quantitative assessment of relatedness of strains.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Age, smoking, age of maternal menopause, parity, social class, meat and alcohol consumption, and maternal menopausal age were all independently associated with an early naturalMenopause.