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Biomedical subjects

A Zeichner

Publications and source records attributed to A Zeichner.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Effects of hostility on alcohol stress-response-dampening.

The purpose of this study was to compare the stress-response-dampening (SRD) effect of alcohol in hostile and nonhostile men based on a combined score of four subscales of the Cook-Medley Hostility Scale. Subjects were 72 male social drinkers. Subjects' cardiac interbeat-interval, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure reactivity to a situational stressor were measured following the consumption of either alcohol, no alcohol, or an active placebo beverage. Results demonstrated that hostile men evinced lower heart rate and systolic blood pressure (SBP) reactivity to the stressor when given alcohol, compared with intoxicated nonhostile subjects, and lower reactivity relative to all other groups, with the exception of SBP in the nonhostile controls. These results allow for speculation that hostile men may be more likely than controls to experience possible SRD effects of alcohol and thus, perhaps, be predisposed to increased alcohol consumption when under stress.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Alcohol-related aggression in males and females: effects of blood alcohol concentration, subjective intoxication, personality, and provocation.

This study tested the combined predictive ability of blood alcohol concentration (BAC), subjective intoxication, and aggressive personality traits on physical aggression in males and females in High- and Low-provocation conditions. Sixty intoxicated White social drinkers (30 males and 30 females) competed against a fictitious opponent on a modified version of the Taylor aggression paradigm in which subjects both received and delivered electric shocks to their opponents in provoking and nonprovoking conditions. Provocation conditions (High and Low) were defined by the intensity of the shocks the subjects received. Aggression was operationalized as the intensity of the shocks selected by the subjects. Results indicated that, for males in the High-provocation condition, aggressive personality traits, subjective intoxication, and BAC were effective predictors of physical aggression. However, in the Low-provocation condition, only aggressive personality traits and BAC predicted aggression. None of the variables were effective predictors of aggression for intoxicated females.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

An investigation of gender differences in alcohol-related aggression.

OBJECTIVE: The majority of the research on alcohol-related aggression has been conducted on men. This bias has persisted despite mounting evidence indicating gender differences in aggression. As such, the purpose of this study was to investigate gender differences in alcohol-related aggression. METHOD: Subjects were 64 men and 64 women who competed against either male or female fictitious opponents on a modified version of the Taylor aggression paradigm in which electric shocks were received from and administered to a fictitious opponent during a competitive task. Aggression was operationalized as the intensity and duration of the shocks selected by the subjects. Subjects were assigned to either an alcohol, a placebo or a sober group. RESULTS: Alcohol increased both shock intensity and duration in men; however, it only increased shock duration in women. Men behaved more aggressively toward men, whereas women displayed equal levels of aggression toward both genders. Alcohol expectancies did not appear to have an effect on aggressive behavior for either gender. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this investigation indicate that alcohol differentially affects aggressive responding in men and women. It is suggested that men are likely to express alcohol-related aggression in direct (shock intensity) and indirect (shock duration) forms, whereas women are most likely to use indirect forms (shock duration).

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Neuropsychological performance on tests of frontal-lobe functioning and aggressive behavior in men.

The authors tested the relationship between frontal-lobe functioning and physical aggression in young men in a laboratory setting. Seventy-two men completed two putative neuropsychological measures of frontal-lobe functioning--the Self-Ordered Pointing (SOP) Task and the Conditional Association Task (CAT)--and an abbreviated version of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Revised. Aggression was measured with a modified version of the Taylor reaction-time aggression paradigm, whereby electric shocks are received from and administered to a fictitious "opponent" during a competitive task within high- and low-provocation conditions. High and low provocation levels were defined by the intensity of shocks the subjects received. Results demonstrated that aggression was significantly related to performance on the CAT but not the SOP. The findings are discussed with regard to the hypothesized link between frontal-lobe functioning and aggressive behavior.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Alcohol and aggression: effects of personal threat on human aggression and affective arousal.

Theorists have attempted to account for the relationship between alcohol intoxication and a wide range of aggressive behaviors by ascribing alcohol-related aggression to the disinhibiting effects of alcohol and to its disruptive effects on cognitive processes. Allocation of attention and situational threat have been thought to mediate alcohol-related aggression. In the present study, 72 male social drinkers received either alcohol, a placebo, or a nonalcoholic beverage and were exposed to either threatening or nonthreatening personal information. Measuring levels and duration of aggressive responses on a Taylor-Buss aggression machine, intoxicated subjects were found to be generally more aggressive under threatening than under nonthreatening information conditions. Intoxicated subjects also reported relatively large increases in anger, depression, and tension following the aggression task, which appeared to be affected by the type of information received. These findings concur with and refine previous models suggesting that alcohol focuses the drinker's attention to salient cues in threatening circumstances, thus increasing the likelihood of aggressive behavior.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Attention allocation: effects of alcohol and information salience on attentional processes in male social drinkers.

The purpose of this study was to examine the interactive effects of alcohol and salience of social cues (personality traits) on allocation of attention in the intoxicated male social drinker. It was expected that inebriated subjects would preferentially attend to high threat relative to low threat information contingent on the information's personal relevance. Seventy-six participants received either alcohol or a placebo, or were in a control condition, and were given the opportunity to attend to personally salient or nonsalient positive, negative, and neutral information. Intoxicated participants viewed negative traits longer than did nonintoxicated subjects and attended to these traits longer in the salient than in the nonsalient condition. Findings are compared to the attention allocation model, and their implications for alcohol-mediated cognitive processes are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Gunshot residue particles formed by using ammunitions that have mercury fulminate based primers.

Ammunition having mercury fulminate-based primers are commonly manufactured by Eastern Bloc countries and used extensively in the Middle East. Gunshot residue (GSR) particles formed by firing these types of ammunition were examined. It was observed that much lower percentage of mercury-containing GSR particles were found in samples taken from a shooter as compared to the percentage of such particles in samples from cartridge cases. This fact must therefore be taken into account when interpreting case results. A plausible explanation for the results described is proposed.

Cyanates↗
PubMed1990

Predictability of repeated challenge: effects on cardiovascular activity in the type A (coronary prone) behavior pattern.

Fifty-two healthy young adults classified either as Type A (coronary prone) or Type B were randomly assigned to a vigilance task during which observing responses produced targets according to either a predictable (i.e., fixed-interval 90-sec) or a nonpredictable (i.e., random-interval 90-sec) reinforcement schedule. During the task, blood volume pulse, interbeat interval, masseter (EMG) activity, and blood pressure were monitored. Transient peripheral vasomotor constriction and heart rate increases were initiated within an 8- to 12-sec period following target detection with the predictable schedule, with subjects evincing greater responsivity than their nonpredictable schedule counterparts. Type A subjects assigned to the random-schedule evinced significantly shorter heart rate and blood volume pulse response durations than did Type B subjects. Longer postevent EMG elevations were evidenced by subjects assigned to the predictable schedule. No significant blood pressure differences were found among the groups. The impact of challenge-contingent behavior on cardiovascular responsivity and the relevance of attentional processes to this relationship and to cardiovascular risk are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Preparation for cesarean delivery: a multicomponent analysis of treatment outcome.

We evaluated the effects of sensory information about cesarean delivery on prenatal maternal anxiety and on recovery subsequent to delivery by cesarean section. The 42 participants were recruited from a population of obstetric patients. Patients were assigned to either treatment or control groups and identified as sensitizers or repressors. Treatment groups viewed a slide/tape program presenting procedures involved in cesarean delivery. Control groups viewed a program presenting neutral information. Prepared patients classified as sensitizers showed less physiologic arousal during surgery and enhanced postsurgical recovery. Physiologic and self-report measures of anxiety indicated that the intervention itself was not a stressful event. The relations among arousal, subjective anxiety, coping styles, and treatment outcome are discussed and recommendations are made for further investigation.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1989

Neuropeptide and cardiovascular responses to intravenous catheterization in normotensive and hypertensive blacks and whites.

Research suggests that heightened cardiovascular and neuroendocrine (typically catecholamine) responses to stressors may lead to the development of hypertension and that there may be race differences in patterns of reactivity that are potentially pathogenic. Certain neuropeptides exert profound effects on blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR), yet no published studies have examined relationships between these peptides, hypertensive status, race, and reactivity. Seventeen Black and 20 White normotensive and borderline-hypertensive male 19- to 50-year-olds underwent intravenous catheterization while cardiovascular and neuropeptide responses to the stress of being catheterized were examined. Results indicate that, in response to the stressor, Black hypertensives, showed significantly lower endorphin levels compared to Black normotensives, and White hypertensives showed significantly higher levels of beta-endorphin compared to White normotensives. Groups were not significantly different in endorphin levels at recovery. Black hypertensives also showed significantly higher stressor-induced HR and systolic and diastolic BP compared to White hypertensives and normotensives. Lower levels of beta-endorphin and lower urine sodium excretion were associated with higher BP and HR.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Concurrent incidence of depression and physical symptoms among hostile young women.

Analyses of questionnaire responses from 166 young women on the Cook-Medley Hostility scale of the MMPI, Beck Depression Inventory, and Wahler Physical Symptoms Inventory indicated significant differences between hostile and nonhostile women on depression scores, ranging from mild mood disturbance to borderline clinical depression. Hostile women also endorsed more items which indicated pervasive somatic complaints such as nausea, fatigue, respiratory, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular distress. These results are discussed in the context of negative emotion and degenerative disease.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Appearance changes associated with participation in a behavioral weight control program.

Relationships among objectively-measured weight changes, perceived changes in weight, and perceived changes in attractiveness of participants in a behavioral weight control program were examined. Participants in the program were weighed and photographed before and after treatment and at a six-month follow-up session. These photographs were then rated on the dimensions of perceived weight and perceived attractiveness by the same participants, who were kept blind to the times at which the photographs were taken. Correlational analyses indicated that there was little correspondence between objectively-measured weight change and perceived weight changes or between objectively-measured weight change and perceived change in attractiveness. Perceptions of weight change and perceptions of attractiveness change were, however, strongly related.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Human schedule-induced cardiovascular response.

Sixty-six students were randomly assigned to a vigilance task during which observing responses produced targets according to either a fixed-interval or random-interval 90-sec schedule. During the task, interbeat interval, masseter (EMG) activity, blood pressure and digital blood volume pulse were monitored. Vasoconstriction was initiated within a 4 to 6-sec period following target detection for the majority of subjects assigned to each schedule. Vasomotor tone returned to prechange levels approximately 16 sec after target detection. Transient heart rate increases also occurred during the post-event period, but were more prevalent with subjects in the fixed than in the random-interval group. Post-event masseter activity was exhibited infrequently and only by subjects assigned to the fixed-interval group. The involvement of cardiovascular responsiveness with human schedule-induced behavior and the implications of this involvement for arousal theories of schedule-induced behavior are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Assessment of smoking urge and its concomitants under an environmental smoking cue manipulation.

The construct validity of smoking urge was examined through investigation of the effects of an environmental smoking cue manipulation on subjective smoking urge ratings and on the physiological, behavioral and cognitive responses hypothesized to relate to smoking urges. Forty-eight moderate cigarette smokers served as participants. All participants underwent an exposure to smoking cues condition and a nonexposure condition. Order of conditions was counterbalanced across participants. Results indicated that measures of physiological response, cognitions, and behavior vary with urge to smoke. Higher physiological indices and closer association between specific cognitive measures and smoking urges occurred under the cue exposure manipulation. Results were interpreted as preliminary data supporting the construct validity of smoking urge.

Blood Pressure↗
PubMed1985

Effects of a short-term exercise program on caloric consumption.

The present study investigated the effects of a short-term exercise program on caloric intake. Thirty-three women were randomly assigned to either a high-intensity exercise group (80% maximum heart rate), low-intensity exercise group (55% maximum heart rate), or waiting list control group. Exercisers were required to ride ergometer bicycles three times per week for 7 weeks, expending 200 kilocalories of energy per exercise session. All participants recorded food intake during specified weeks before, during, and following the exercise program. Results showed no significant caloric intake differences among the three groups, but a trend toward reduction in food intake with increased exercise intensity was found. Interestingly, comparisons between caloric intake on exercise and nonexercise days revealed that both exercise groups consumed significantly less on exercise days. Additionally, the control group evidenced a larger caloric intake level than did the two exercise groups on exercise days. These results suggest that exercisers do not compensate for energy expenditure by increasing caloric intake and that choosing between low- and high-intensity exercise does not differentially alter caloric intake. Nevertheless, maximization of negative energy balance or weight loss may be best achieved by exercise programs of high frequency and intensity.

Adipose Tissue↗