07 December, 2008

Listen to the lecture: Sleeping matters - snoring

Lecture given to the Glasgow Southern Medical Society by Mr Brian Bingham on Thursday 13th November 2008 as part of an evening symposium on sleep disorders. Related lectures include sleep breathing disorders and insomnia.

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Listen to the lecture: Sleeping matters - insomnia

Lecture given to the Glasgow Southern Medical Society by Prof Colin Espie on Thursday 13th November 2008 as part of an evening symposium on sleep disorders. Related lectures include sleep breathing disorders and snoring.

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Listen to the lecture: Sleeping matters - sleep breathing disorders

Lecture given to the Glasgow Southern Medical Society by Dr Steve Banham on Thursday 13th November 2008 as part of an evening symposium on sleep disorders. Dr Banham is introduced by the President of the Society Dr Douglas McLellan. Related lectures include insomnia and snoring.

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30 November, 2008

Minute of the Symposium

SYMPOSIUM

13TH NOVEMBER 2008

SLEEP MATTERS

Dr Douglas McLellan, President, welcomed members of the Society, guests and our guest speakers. Dr Steve Banham, based at Gartnavel General Hospital runs the Assisted Ventilation Service for the West of Scotland and is Respiratory Specialty Adviser to Greater Glasgow Health Board. Professor Colin Espie established the Glasgow Sleep Research Centre based at the Southern General Hospital. Mr Brian Bingham is an ENT Surgeon with a long interest in, and experience of, management of snoring.


Sleep Breathing Disorders and Treatments That Can Transform Lives – Dr Banham

Dr Banham briefly reviewed the physiology of breathing at night – reduced ventilation during non-REM sleep and basic patterns of change in ventilation and arterial gases seen in obstructive sleep apnoea and in hypoventilation. Obstructive sleep apnoea is common affecting perhaps 4% of men and 2% of women. The clinical problem it presents is of daytime sleepiness rather than the actual nocturnal events. There is also an association with hypertension and cardiovascular disease. The Epworth sleepiness scale is a useful screening tool. Diagnosis is by overnight sleep study with limited home studies being generally adequate – full polysomnography unnecessary. Management with CPAP overnight ventilation is very effective and successfully tolerated in upwards of 70% of appropriate patients.

He went on to describe the principles of bi-level non-invasive assisted ventilation. Unlike CPAP which overcomes upper airway obstruction, bi-level ventilation increases breath by breath ventilation and hence improves gas exchange in a situation of failing respiration. He explained the use of this support in mechanical Chest Bellows disease, neuromuscular diseases, and some patients with chronic respiratory failure. This treatment has given some patients with chest wall deformity a normal life expectancy and has increased survival in Duchenne muscular dystrophy by around 10 years. Appreciation of the effectiveness of treatment has led to elective monitoring of patients at risk of drifting into respiratory failure.

These forms of overnight ventilatory support can genuinely transform the lives of both patients and families.


Practical Interventions for Insomnia in Primary Care – Professor Espie

Insomnia is common though precisely how common depends on definition. Simple primary insomnia is defined as poor sleep with daytime distress lasting for over a month. If it lasts for six months with the patient increasingly focused on the problem, it is described as psychophysiological insomnia. Around 10% of adults probably have insomnia severe enough to result in daytime consequences. The frequency and importance of insomnia is mirrored in various surveys. Sleep problems closely followed by the commonly associated fatigue are the commonest form of psychological morbidity in general surveys. There is an association between insomnia and depression with the former seeming to pre-date and perhaps predispose to the latter. This observation includes children. Insomnia and fatigue are similarly very common problems following treatment for cancer.

Management options include sleeping tablets and sleep hygiene advice but both approaches are of limited value. Cognitive behavioural therapy techniques have increasingly been developed to manage insomnia and are now of proven success. They underlie the approach of Professor Espie's work at the Sleep Centre. His research activities have now developed to having nurses from General Practice and Cancer Support working as CBT therapists giving a programme for insomnia of five, hour-long, sessions. These programmes improve sleep pattern and symptoms of fatigue, anxiety and depression. At their core is a change in the attitude of the patient to sleep and sleep problems. There may be future drug developments in insomnia management – Circadin which is fairly new can alter the timing of sleep cycles. However he felt that CBT is proven and should be promoted. The problem is how to achieve this with no Health Service funding currently available. His hope is that opportunities for training in this approach might increasingly be taken up.


A History of Surgery and Other Techniques to Resolve Snoring – Mr Bingham

Mr Bingham reviewed the animal kingdom, variations in nasal anatomy and Bernoulli principal in discussing the question of why we snore – the latter explains the flutter mechanism which creates noise from the floppy soft palate. Nasal obstruction, whether anatomical or temporary, increases snoring by change in airflow. Alcohol and sedatives do so by reducing muscle tone and hence increasing narrowing. Is it possible that exercise could reduce snoring by improving tone in neck muscles rather than simply by weight loss?

The other side of the problem is the snoree – why does this noise disturb us when the hearing mechanism is capable of shutting off background noise such as traffic. Perhaps it is the irregularity of the noise. His approach to snoring management started with simple measures such as nasal treatment, exercise and diet. Some of his patients benefited substantially from a simple CPAP type positive pressure mask. Dental splints – mandibular advancement devices – probably only help one third of those who try them. Surgery to the soft palate in appropriate patients is successful at the expense of two weeks of pain. It is important to exclude sleep apnoea first.

The evening was closed by Dr McKean offering a vote of thanks to all three speakers and the President presenting them with the Society's engraved glasses.

D. Macintyre

Minute of the Presidential Address

PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

16TH OCTOBER 2008


Dr Douglas McLellan was introduced by last year's President Dr Watson. His address on 'Pathological Pursuits' was subtitled 'The Psychopathology of Collectomania'.

Dr McLellan did not intend describing his own collecting interests or specifically looking at particular collecting habits – books, stamps, coins, etc. He wanted to look at the characteristics which defined or were common to the habit of collecting. He provided a definition – a pursuit followed actively, selectively and passionately involving the removal from normal use into the collection of a set of non-identical objects or experiences. At times the behaviour might be seen as addictive or even manic – hence terms such as bibliomania. Often the process of acquisition was more attractive than ownership itself with collectors using any variety of excuse to pursue an object. The rarity of the object might well increase the challenge of the pursuit. Inevitably the collection or its acquisition can become a controlling factor in the collector's life.

Dr McLellan identified various characteristics driving the collecting impulse by illustration from various historical figures. Alexander the Great collected historical artefacts, apparently through longing or nostalgia for a bygone era. In Sigmund Freud's case the loss of his father seemed to trigger his drive to acquisition of around 3000 objects from antiquity. These crowded his desk and as may often be the case perhaps said a fair amount about the collector. Sir Thomas Phillips, described as a vellomaniac Victorian, was initially driven by a desire to rescue manuscripts which might otherwise have been destroyed but ended up living in what others described as uninhabitable squalor with every room in his mansion house crowded with papers of all sorts.

Perhaps in general collecting tends to be a male trait with women investing more in relationships. However the foremost collector of modern art was Peggy Guggenheim. Again loss may have been a factor – the death of her father in the Titanic. She appeared to collect not only art but men – famous for her sequence of affairs. One possible analysis is that collecting takes over when the individual cannot find what he or she is looking for – and transfers attention to something else.

Perhaps the most striking of the list was Cardinal Mazarin at the Court of Louis XIV. It was said that his collecting formed an attempt to improve his rather cold and calculating external character. He amassed a huge collection of art and books including 660 paintings. The most morbid example was the 15th Century Cardinal Albrecht von Hohenzollern, a collector of religious relics and indulgences. The former amounted to over 20,000 with 42 intact bodies among them – an observation of some passing interest given Dr McLellan’s profession. 'Indulgences' from the church authorities gave the prospect of remission from purgatory and the cardinal amassed 39 million years' worth. He funded his collecting by selling indulgences – one of the abuses of church authority which led to Martin Luther's revolt.

Dr McLellan had given us an interesting insight into patterns and examples of collecting without hinting at, or explaining, his own habits. It was left to Mr George Gray, his neighbour, in proposing a vote of thanks to comment that Mrs McLellan was probably grateful that her husband did not follow some of the excesses he had described.

D. Macintyre

12 October, 2008

Notice of meeting: Presidential Address

Thursday 16th October 2008 at 7.00pm

'A pathological pursuit' - Dr Douglas McLellan

Dr McLellan is a longstanding servant of the Victoria Infirmary pathology department recently translated to the Southern General - and bibliophile. In his address he will use this interest to focus his analytical skills on the psychopathology of collectomania. Whether you are afflicted or not, it promises to be an intriguing evening.

A buffet supper is available for members from 6.15pm. Guests are welcome to our meetings.

06 August, 2008

Council Meeting - 28th August, 7pm

To be held in Conference Room, Floor E, Victoria Infirmary (Top Entrance to Hospital)

Agenda
1. Apologies for absence.
2. Minutes of AGM/Council Meeting from 24th April.
3. Treasurer's Report - held over from AGM.
4. Matters Arising from Treasurer's Report - including review of donations to charities
5. Website and Recording of Meetings - report from Dr Oates
6. Programme for Session 164
7. Detail of Annual Dinner
8. Publicity - new members/circulation of meeting detail
9. Membership of Council
10. Any Other Business

29 July, 2008

Provisional programme for 2008-9

Thursday Aug 28th, 7pm
Council meeting. Conference room, Floor E, Victoria Infirmary

Friday September 12th from 2pm
Golf outing - Cathcart Castle golf course

Thursday October 16th
Presidential address - Dr Douglas McLellan

Thursday October 30th, 7 for 7.30pm
Annual dinner. L'Aragosta restaurant, Pollokshields.

Thursday November 13th
Symposium – 'Sleeping matters' Prof Colin Espie, Dr Steve Banham, Mr Brian Bingham

Friday December 5th
Annual dinner of Royal Medico-Chirurgical Society at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. Invitations will be circulated.

Thursday January 15th
Joint meeting with Medico-Chirurgical society.
'Scottish literature and medicine' Prof Kenneth Calman.

Thursday February 26th
'How far do our genes contribute to behaviour?' Prof Thomas Bourgeron, Institut Pasteur.

Thursday March 26th
Honorary Presidential address - Prof Roddy McSween

Thursday April 23th, 7pm
Annual General Meeting - Conference room, Floor E, Victoria Infirmary



GSMS Office bearers 2008/9
Honorary President - Prof Sir Roderick McSween
President - Dr Douglas McLellan
Past President - Dr Richard Watson
Vice President
Honorary Treasurer - Dr Liam McKean
Secretary - Dr Duncan MacIntyre
Duncan.MacIntyre@ggc.scot.nhs.uk
Dept of Respiratory Medicine, Victoria Infirmary

04 April, 2008

Notice of AGM - Thursday 24th April

15 March, 2008

A non-expert witness - lecture recording

Torture takes many forms. It is estimated that up to one half of all refugees have been tortured. In his Honorary Presidential Address, Dr Phil Cotton explores some of the challenges and stories of caring for torture survivors.

Please note that the subject matter of this talk is emotive and might be deemed unsuitable for younger listeners.

Listen again:
Download mp3 of lecture 24.0Mb

Further reading:

The Medical Foundation

The good listener : Helen Bamber, a life against cruelty


Read this doc on Scribd: Istanbul Protocol

06 March, 2008

Notice of meeting: A non-expert witness - 13th March

15 February, 2008

The Wine Diet - lecture recording

Prof Alan Crozier, Professor of Plant Biochemistry and Human Nutrition, University of Glasgow speaks to the Glasgow Southern Medical Society on the benefits of a diet rich in phytoantioxidants. Slides coming soon.

Listen again:
Download mp3 of lecture 22.0Mb

10 February, 2008

Notice of meeting: The Wine Diet



The Society does not wish to promote bad habits amongst its members but the idea that wine might, in some circumstances, be good for health will not go away!
Professor Crozier has contributed to the literature on this topic and will present the evidence. One of our members, Dr John Larkin, will offer some practical examples with limited wine tasting to accompany a light meal both before and after the talk.

Speaker: Prof Alan Crozier, Professor of Plant Biochemistry and Human Nutrition, University of Glasgow.

Date and time: Thursday, February 14th 2008, with starters at 6.30pm, talk at 7pm and main course thereafter.

Venue: The Ebenezer Duncan Centre, Victoria Infirmary.