Publications by authors named "Alistair M Chesser"
Purpose: Cardiac bioenergetics are known to be abnormal in experimental uremia as exemplified by a reduced phosphocreatine (PCr)/adenosine triphosphate (ATP) ratio. However, the progression of these bioenergetic changes during the development of uremia still requires further study and was therefore investigated at baseline, 4 weeks and 8 weeks after partial nephrectomy (PNx).
Methods: A two-stage PNx uremia model in male Wistar rats was used to explore in vivo cardiac and skeletal muscles' bioenergetic changes over time.
Background: Despite a recent increased awareness of the need for quality End of Life (EOL) care for patients with advanced kidney disease, there is no established method for measuring or auditing outcomes relating to EOL care in this population.
Methods: We designed a one-page proforma, which was used to collect data on various aspects of EOL care relating to all deaths of patients on dialysis and patients dying on specialist renal wards, over a predefined 8-week period in 10 hospitals in London and South-East England.
Results: One hundred and thirty-eight deaths were recorded over the 8-week study period.
Background: No method of standard setting for objective structured clinical examinations (OSCEs) is perfect. Using scores aggregated across stations risks allowing students who are incompetent in some core skills to pass an examination, which may not be acceptable for high stakes assessments.
Aim: To assess the feasibility of using a factor analysis of station scores in a high stakes OSCE to derive measures of underlying competencies.
Background: Structural remodeling of the resistance vasculature is present in many forms of human and experimental hypertension. In particular, an increase in the ratio of wall thickness to lumen diameter develops, and might in itself maintain hypertension by increasing vascular resistance. Because uremia is associated with raised peripheral resistance, hypertension, and histologic changes suggestive of vascular remodeling, we sought to formally examine the structural and mechanical (elastic) properties of isolated pressurized resistance arteries in uremic hypertension.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The constriction of resistance arteries in response to an increase in transmural pressure, the myogenic response, is thought to be an important determinant of peripheral vascular resistance and therefore of arterial blood pressure. Since raised peripheral resistance is known to occur in uremic hypertension, abnormal myogenic constriction might be responsible. We sought to assess the myogenic response of resistance arteries from the subtotal nephrectomy rat model of uremic hypertension.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The cysteine proteases calpain and caspase-3 are known mediators of cell death. The aim of this study was to assess their contribution to the tissue damage found in experimental uremia.
Methods: Calpain and caspase-3 activities were measured in the hearts of rats that were sham-operated (control), sham-operated and spontaneously hypertensive (SHR), and those rendered uremic by 5/6 nephrectomy (uremic).
Background: The assertion that creatine kinase MB (CK-MB) and the developmental isoforms of cardiac troponin T (cTnT) are expressed by skeletal muscle in some clinical settings is an extrapolation from nonuremic rodent studies. We studied the content of CK-MB and cTnT in skeletal muscle of the renal-insufficient rat.
Methods: Skeletal muscles (gastrocnemius) were collected from both five-sixths nephrectomized rats (n = 11) and sham-operated controls (n = 11).