43 resultados para McKendrick


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Certain embodiments include carbonate esters of rapamycin at position 42 that are synthesized by a lipase catalyzed regio-specific process. These compounds or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof are useful in the treatment of organ and tissue transplant rejection, autoimmune disease, proliferative disorder, restenosis, cancer, or microbial infection.

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New ampholyte biomaterial compounds containing ampholyte moieties are synthesized and integrated into polymeric assemblies to provide hydrophilic polymers exhibiting improved biocompatibility, haemocompatibility, hydrophilicity non-thrombogenicity, anti-bacterial ability, and mechanical strength, as well as suitability as a drug delivery platform.

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This thesis clarifies the processing routes through which Affect can influence global subjective well-being, and reveals that the strength of these processing routes is moderated by dispositional factors. This has important implications that furthers understanding in the field of subjective well-being. The portfolio focuses on the client characteristics that are indicated to be influential upon the effectiveness, and thus the suitability of cognitive behavioural therapy. Four case studies are presented which illustrate how the suitability of CBT can be influenced by client factors.

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Background

Psychophysical measurement of the function of individual precortical visual pathways (magnocellular, parvocellular and koniocellular) has enabled the development of sensitive tests for glaucoma and has enhanced understanding of its pathophysiology. Such pathways can be further subdivided into their “On” and “Off” components, which have anatomical and physiological asymmetries. This study investigated whether On and Off subdivisions of the magnocellular (M) pathway are differentially affected by glaucoma.

Methods:
20 participants with glaucoma and 20 controls underwent two psychophysical procedures that have been shown to assess the M pathway (steady pedestal task) and its On and Off subdivisions (pedestal-delta-pedestal task) respectively. Luminance discrimination thresholds were measured foveally, using both increment and decrement stimuli.

Results:
The steady pedestal (undifferentiated M-pathway) task separated the glaucoma and control groups (p = 0.04) with equivalent outcomes for increment and decrement targets. The pedestal-delta-pedestal task (isolated On and Off M-pathway subdivisions) also differentiated between groups (p = 0.025), but the outcome was not dependent on which subdivision was isolated.

Conclusions:
This study found that increment and decrement targets can be used with equal effectiveness for detecting contrast processing deficits in early glaucoma. Outcomes further suggested that glaucoma affects On and Off subdivisions of the M-pathway equivalently.

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Purpose:

Contrast detection is commonly measured clinically; however, discrimination between contrasts is also important for natural vision. Furthermore, optimal performance requires the visual system to adapt to ambient contrast conditions. Recent studies of primate neurophysiology demonstrate significant retinal involvement in contrast adaptation. This study was conducted to investigate whether glaucoma alters contrast adaptation. Both detection and discrimination task performance were examined.

Methods:
Psychophysical contrast detection and discrimination thresholds were measured in central vision, for a vertically oriented D6 centered on 3 cyc/deg. Thresholds were measured with and without adaptation to low (15%)- and high (70%)-contrast, vertically oriented, 3-cyc/deg sinusoidal gratings. Fifteen people with glaucoma, and 15 age-similar control subjects participated. Full-contrast discrimination (dipper) functions were measured for a subset (three patients with glaucoma and three control subjects).

Results:
On average, the glaucoma group showed elevated detection and discrimination thresholds relative to control subjects (detection: t(28) = 2.42; P = 0.02; discrimination: F1,28 = 6.157, P = 0.02). For the subset of additionally tested participants, normalized contrast discrimination functions were similarly shaped for all observers. Glaucoma group thresholds were less influenced by contrast adaptation than were control subjects, for discrimination (F1,28 = 10.89, P < 0.01) but not detection (F1,28 = 2.28; P = 0.11). Differences between groups were greatest for low-contrast stimuli (significant interaction between contrast and group: P < 0.01).

Conclusions:
Glaucoma alters the effect of contrast adaptation on discrimination performance, particularly at low contrast. The study of suprathreshold aspects of vision may reveal new insights into the pathophysiology of glaucoma and possibly relate better to real-world visual performance than detection measures.

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PURPOSE

To introduce techniques for deriving a map that relates visual field locations to optic nerve head (ONH) sectors and to use the techniques to derive a map relating Medmont perimetric data to data from the Heidelberg Retinal Tomograph.

METHODS
Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated relating each visual field location (Medmont M700) to rim area and volume measures for 10° ONH sectors (HRT III software) for 57 participants: 34 with glaucoma, 18 with suspected glaucoma, and 5 with ocular hypertension. Correlations were constrained to be anatomically plausible with a computational model of the axon growth of retinal ganglion cells (Algorithm GROW). GROW generated a map relating field locations to sectors of the ONH. The sector with the maximum statistically significant (P < 0.05) correlation coefficient within 40° of the angle predicted by GROW for each location was computed. Before correlation, both functional and structural data were normalized by either normative data or the fellow eye in each participant.

RESULTS
The model of axon growth produced a 24-2 map that is qualitatively similar to existing maps derived from empiric data. When GROW was used in conjunction with normative data, 31% of field locations exhibited a statistically significant relationship. This significance increased to 67% (z-test, z = 4.84; P < 0.001) when both field and rim area data were normalized with the fellow eye.

CONCLUSIONS
A computational model of axon growth and normalizing data by the fellow eye can assist in constructing an anatomically plausible map connecting visual field data and sectoral ONH data.

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Some people who experience migraine demonstrate reduced visual contrast sensitivity that is measurable between migraines. Contrast sensitivity loss to low spatial frequency gratings has been previously attributed to possible impairment of magnocellular pathway function. This study measured contrast sensitivity using low spatial frequency targets (0.25–4 c/deg) where the adaptation aspects of the stimuli were designed to preferentially assess either magnocellular or parvocellular pathway function (steady and pulsed pedestal technique). Twelve people with migraine with measured visual field abnormalities and 17 controls participated. Subjects were tested foveally and at 10° eccentricity. Foveally, there was no significant difference in group mean contrast sensitivity. At 10°, the migraine group demonstrated reduced contrast sensitivity for both the stimuli designed to assess magnocellular and parvocellular function (P < 0.05). The functional deficits measured in this study infer that abnormalities of the low spatial frequency sensitive channels of both pathways contribute to contrast sensitivity deficits in people with migraine.

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PURPOSE: This article reports the overall survival, failure-free survival, local failure, and late radiation toxicity of a phase II trial of preoperative radiotherapy with continuous infusion 5-fluorouracil for rectal cancer after a minimum 3.5 years of follow-up. METHODS: Eligible patients were those with newly diagnosed localized adenocarcinoma of the rectum, within 12 cm of the anal verge, staged T3-T4 and deemed suitable for curative resection. Radiotherapy (50.4 Gy in 28 fractions in five weeks and three days) was given with continuous infusion 5-fluorouracil throughout the course of radiotherapy. RESULTS: A total of 82 patients were accrued in 13 months. The median follow-up time was 4.1 (range, 2.3-4.5) years. There were 55 males (67 percent) and the median age was 59 (range, 27-87) years. Patients were staged pretreatment as T3 (89 percent) and resectable T4 (11 percent). Endorectal ultrasound was performed in 70 percent and magnetic resonance imaging in another 5 percent. The four-year overall and failure-free survival rates were 82 percent (95 percent Cl: 72-89) and 69 percent (95 percent Cl: 58-78), respectively. The cumulative incidence of local failure at four years was 3.9 percent (95 percent CI: 1.3-11). Risk of failures, local and distant, has not reached a plateau phase. CONCLUSION: This regimen can be delivered safely and without leading to a significant increase in late toxicity. It provides excellent local control and favorable overall survival. There is a need for longer follow-up than has commonly been used for the proper evaluation of failures after an effective regimen of preoperative chemoradiation.

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During the last 15 years corporate governance has become increasingly prominent in the public sector. The Audit Commission's 1993 report on probity in local government recommended the establishment of audit committees. However, progress on this was slow, as demonstrated by a survey of Scottish local authorities by the authors in 1998. Recent major changes in government in Scotland at both a local and national level have prompted councils to improve the accountability, openness and integrity of their operations. One major aspect of this exercise was the formation of scrutiny committees to provide objective scrutiny of the process and audit committees were the most common vehicle for this. This article explores recent developments in Scottish local government and their impact on audit committees. The article also reports the results of a 2005 survey of Scottish local authorities and compares these with the 1998 survey. This indicates a significant growth in the number of audit committees in Scottish councils and although the level of their perceived effectiveness is patchy, they are a more important feature of local government than they were in 1998.

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Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

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Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.