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Biomedical subjects

A Johnstone

Publications and source records attributed to A Johnstone.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

The evaluation of a model speech training program for deaf children.

Systematic speech training procedures were employed with a group of 20 hearing-impaired children ranging in age from 7 to 10 years. Using a primarily auditory-oral approach, the speech training program employed a hierarchical sequence in order to teach the suprasegmental patterns of English to the children. The children's performance on the speech training hierarchy was monitored on a daily basis using a checklist system. Based on their rate of progress in the development of speech skills, the children were divided into three groups post hoc: rapid, slow but steady, inordinately slow. Although the system worked well, on the average, approximately one-third of the children encountered serious difficulites at one or more levels of the hierarchy. Examination of the children's background information and audiological data revealed that those children who encountered difficulty had an extremely limited amount of residual hearing and/or problems other than a hearing handicap.

Child

Dominant lethal assays in male mice: evaluation of experimental design, statistical methods and the sensitivity of Charles River (CD1) mice.

Male CD1 mice were dosed by intraperitoneal injection of 20, 40 or 80 mg of methyl methanesulphonate (MMS) per kg body weight or with the solvent, water. After dosing, each male was caged with (a) 2 or (b) 3 females per week for 8 consecutive weeks and 13 days after mating the females were killed and examined for evidence of dominant lethal mutations. Results were analysed to determine (1) the sensitivity of CD1 mice to the mutagenic effect of MMS. (2) the influence of the number of females mated with each male. (3) the adequacy of the experimental design and (4) the adequacy of the statistical methods. A dose-related increase in early foetal deaths was induced in females mated to male mice in the first week after dosing with 20, 40 and 80 mg/kg MMS. A reduction in foetal implants was demonstrated in females in the 40 and 80 mg/kg MMS groups but not after dosing males with 20 mg/kg. Thus dominant lethal mutations were induced in male CD1 mice dosed IP with 20, 40 and 80 mg/kg giving a degree of sensitivity which compares favourably with that obtained with other strains of mice in other laboratories. For a given number of male mice, the greater precision obtained with 3 rather than 2 females arose directly from the numbers used. For a given number of female mice, the allocation of 2 per male (rather than 3 per male) is a more efficient design in that 50% more treated animals are available for estimation of the relevant error. Also more information would be available as a result of the probable increase in pregnancy rate. The experiment did not suggest the need for any modification in the statistical approach.

Animals

Psychiatric screening in general practice. A controlled trial.

This study reports the efficacy of the General Health Questionnaire (G.H.Q.) in the secondary prevention of minor psychiatric illness in a primary-care setting. 1093 consecutive attenders at a general practitioner's surgery were screened for minor psychiatric disorder using the G.H.Q. 32% were found to have a conspicuous psychiatric disorder and a further 11% had a hidden psychiatric disorder. The group with hidden disorders were randomly assigned to a treated index group and an untreated control group. The effects of case detection and treatment were beneficial and immediate, with the duration of episode of the disorder being much shorter for patients whose disorder was recognised by the general practitioner. For patients with more severe disorders there are significant differences still demonstrable between the groups one year later; but patients with mild disorders do equally well, some recovering spontaneously but others becoming manifest to the general practitioner over the next year and so receiving treatment. The "detected" group of patients increased their consultations for emotional complaints over the next year, but their total consultation-rate was not increased.

Clinical Trials as Topic