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Biomedical subjects

B Hart

Publications and source records attributed to B Hart.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Geophysical variables and behavior: LXXX. Periodicities and energetic characteristics of a strobe-light luminosity during a geomagnetic storm.

A videotape of a "strobe-light" luminosity that occurred in northern Ontario for several minutes during the evening of 6 October, 1994, at the time of a geomagnetic storm, was analyzed frame by frame. Brightness of the flashes decreased over the time of the observation. The interflicker intervals displayed phase-shifted periodicities that would be compatible with a rotating electromagnetic dipole and with the observations of the witnesses. The time of the occurrence and the dynamics of the luminosity were consistent with the predictions of the tectonic strain hypothesis.

Electromagnetic Fields

Peer consultation: a look at process.

After attending graduate nursing school, and being exposed to the concepts of peer supervision and consultation, six women formed a peer consultation group. A peer consultation group, simply stated, is a professional support group. In this article, evolution of the group process is described from personal experience and personal perspectives. The aim is to inspire other CNSs and nursing personnel involved in advanced practice to consider involvement in such a group to enhance their own professional growth and well-being. Although the format, group size, individual composition, and beneficial aspects of the group have varied throughout the 5-year tenure, group members unanimously agree that such a forum has been invaluable for their professional growth and development.

Consultants

Linking hospital and community.

A thorough crisis evaluation requires understanding of the client's premorbid personality, support systems, previous episodes of decompensation, past treatments, and the interaction of a precipitant with a particular personality structure. The key to a successful treatment model is the proper treatment of the client in his or her community. Thus, the development of adequate linkages within the system to support this effort becomes imperative. By utilizing problem-solving approaches and anticipatory planning, the Psychiatric Emergency Service is instrumental in achieving maximum positive outcomes through contact with the patient and multiple systems.

Adult

Prediction of school outcomes based on early language production and socioeconomic factors.

Early differences in family SES, child language production, and IQ were related to outcomes in early elementary school in the present prospective, 10-year longitudinal study. In a prior study of family interactional variables associated with language learning, major differences in parenting (i.e., time, attention, and talking) were found to be associated with differences in child productive vocabulary between 7 to 36 months of age, and child IQ, favoring higher-SES parents. Lower-SES children were exposed less often than higher-SES children to diverse vocabulary through their parents' attention and talking, and they were prohibited from talking more often. In the current study, 32 children involved in the earlier study were repeatedly assessed between 5 to 10 years of age, while in kindergarten through third grade. Results indicated that SES-related differences in child language prior to school were predictive of subsequent verbal ability, receptive and spoken language, and academic achievement assessed on standardized tests in kindergarten through grade 3. However, none of the predictor variables were related to direct measures of elementary schooling. When combined with a composite SES indicator, early child language production significantly increased the variance accounted for in the prediction of elementary language and academic competencies in each subsequent year in elementary school. Implications are discussed in terms of the stability of performance on language and academic performance measures of children who entered school with different early language learning experiences, and the need to consider early home- and school-based intervention designed to prevent or ameliorate these trends.

Child

Out of the laboratory and into the community. 26 years of applied behavior analysis at the Juniper Gardens Children's Project.

Application of Skinner's principles to socially significant human behavior had been well articulated by 1968 (Baer, Wolf, & Risley, 1968). Applications of these principles by Baer, Wolf, Risley, Hall, Hart, Christophersen, and their colleagues were in evidence as early as 1964 in the homes, schools, and clinics of inner-city Kansas City, Kansas, at the Juniper Gardens Housing Project. The work continues relatively uninterrupted, having contributed extensively to the literature of applied behavior analysis and the lives of community residents. This article describes the project and illustrates how applied behavioral research was initiated and extended, how the work addressed general concerns in psychology, and how it continues to address contemporary concerns within the community.

Behavior Therapy

Psychodynamic aspects of delayed abortion decisions.

Multiple regression analysis of a wide range of variables for a sample of 58 women obtaining elective abortion identified psychodynamic factors as the only statistically significant explanations for seeking abortion at later gestational ages. Delay among these women was associated with greater disturbance in the basic sense of self as noted in indications of gender/sexual conflict on their drawings of a human figure, and lower achievement orientation ('striving') as expressed by lower levels of striving attributed to parents or other primary (early) caretakers. These findings are discussed as an active taking charge of an unintended pregnancy for women who present early for abortion; for those who delay, attempts to affirm a deficient feminine identification and/or reunite psychologically with the early caretaker are discussed as underlying dynamics.

Abortion Applicants

1H and 2H NMR studies of water in work-free wheat flour doughs.

Proton and deuterium NMR relaxation methods were used to characterize water compartmentalization and hydration in work-free wheat flour doughs. Transverse (spin-spin) relaxation measurements define three motionally unique water compartments in the work-free dough preparations. The apparent occupancy fraction and relative mobility of each water domain are found to be functions of moisture content, temperature, and flour type. Additionally, the number of relaxation-resolved water compartments and their characteristic relaxation rate constants are found to depend critically on both moisture content and the interpulse-delay employed for the multi-pulse relaxation experiments. Under controlled experimental conditions, dynamics between the three water compartments can be observed to be consistent with the onset of flour hydration. The most notable observation during the initial period of hydration is a loss of "free" or "loosely bound" water to environments characterized by less mobility. Freezing studies show that hard wheat doughs have slightly less amorphous, non-freezable water than do soft wheat flour doughs prepared under similar conditions.

Chemical Phenomena

Autoimmunity in non-human primates: the role of major histocompatibility complex and T cells, and implications for therapy.

Two autoimmune disease models were studied in rhesus monkeys: type II collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) and experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE). Unrelated outbred animals were used in these studies. In both models disease resistant and susceptible individuals could be identified. Susceptibility correlated with in vitro cellular responsiveness to antigen in the CIA model. In both models resistant as well as susceptible individuals developed a humoral response to the inducing antigen. However, there is an indication that IgM antibodies play a crucial role in the induction of CIA. No clear association between major histocompatibility complex (MHC) type and disease incidence was found although a higher frequency of a certain DR type was observed in EAE susceptible monkeys. It is likely that both the antigen binding capacity of the MHC class II molecules and the T-cell repertoire play an important role in determining whether disease will develop or not.

Animals

Blue toe syndrome.

Taking a precise history from a patient who presents with a "bruised" toe in the absence of trauma requires sharp assessment skills and an investigative nature. Looking beyond the obvious in an otherwise healthy appearing individual calls for knowledge of many different disease processes including blue toe syndrome. Rapid identification, proper diagnosis, and correct medical and nursing management are essential for a positive outcome.

Embolism

Impact of exercise training on plasma adrenocorticotropin response to a well-learned vigilance task.

Plasma adrenocorticotropin hormone (ACTH), cortisol, heart rate, self-reported state anxiety and total reaction time responses in physically active (n = 8) and sedentary (n = 11) middle-aged men were compared during performance of a well-learned, psychologically challenging task. The groups were similar in age (active: 39.9 +/- 8.4 yr vs. sedentary: 44.4 +/- 7.2 yr) and trait anxiety (29.4 +/- 5.2 vs. 34.5 +/- 12.6), but they had different maximal oxygen consumption relative to lean body weight (68.6 +/- 7.1 vs. 44.7 +/- 4.6 ml.kg(-1).min(-1)). During performance of the psychological protocol, the total group had significant increases in heart rate and state anxiety, whereas both ACTH and cortisol remained near baseline levels. ACTH and cortisol were not different between the groups. The sedentary group exercise trained for 4 mo, which resulted in an 18% improvement in maximal aerobic capacity (vO2 max). Exercise intervention did not significantly alter the neuroendocrine response compared to pre-training values or compared to a corresponding control group. These findings suggest that enhanced cardiovascular fitness resulting from exercise training does not affect anterior pituitary-adrenocortical activity during performance of a practiced vigilance task.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone

Obstructive jaundice from open vessel clip.

Obstructive jaundice occurred 3 years after cholecystectomy in a 49-year-old man. At surgery a large stone was discovered in the common bile duct. Pathologic examination showed that the stone had formed around an open vessel clip. Migration of an open vessel clip to the biliary system with subsequent stone formation has not been reported previously.

Cholestasis

Dimensions of personality organization as predictors of teenage pregnancy risk.

Personality development as measured by Loevinger's Washington University Sentence Completion Test, The Friedman Developmental Level Scoring System for the Rorschach, The Urist Mutuality of Autonomy Scale, The Thematic Apperception Test, and indexes from a structured interview were able to discriminate between teenagers at high- and low-risk for pregnancy. In addition, these measures correlated significantly with each other and enabled a description and comparison of the personality characteristics of adolescents who are at risk for pregnancy and those who are not.

Adolescent

Modern lateral external beam (lens sparing) radiotherapy for retinoblastoma.

A standard 6 MV linear accelerator X-ray beam has been adapted to produce a non-divergent and almost penumbra-free beam edge by a beam splitting and extended collimation system. Using a contact lens to provide the reference point on the front surface of the eye and an attached rod-and-scale measuring system that is linked to the sharp beam edge system, it has proved possible to place this field border with an exactitude of within 0.5 mm at a required distance behind the front surface of the eye. This system has been developed for the treatment of small retinoblastomas not amenable to focal treatment methods; the technique may have other applications. Data in this manuscript corroborate an earlier Dutch publication and extend the observations on the physics beam profile obtainable, the immobilization of the patient, the anaesthetic procedure, the contact lens system and the dose prescription. Both scanning densitometry and TLC measurements in an anthropomorphic head shell (with extractable eye) confirm the extreme precision and sharp beam profile obtainable by this technique.

Eye Neoplasms

Lives of women who became autonomous.

We examine the lives and growth processes of women who have achieved considerable development of personality. Subjects of study are seven women in a longitudinal sample who, at ages 42-45, are classified by the Loevinger Sentence Completion Test at the highest ego-levels. As a way of describing their lives, all seven are analyzed in terms of Levinson's model of male development, one case is presented in terms of Gilligan's model of female development, another in terms of Loevinger's general model, and linkages among theories are observed. Characteristics of Loevinger's autonomous stage are illustrated and the extent to which they are gender-related is discussed. Findings show that women with very different personalities, problems, and ways of life can attain a high level of ego-development; that their lives tend not to have been orthodox or easy; and that theories of adult development are useful but uneven in application.

Adaptation, Psychological

Prognostic significance of N1 disease in carcinoma of the lung.

From 1973 to 1981, 75 patients with T1 N1 M0 and T2 N1 M0 disease had a complete, potentially curative resection with mediastinal lymph node dissection. Thirty-eight had adenocarcinomas, 36 epidermoid cancer and one large cell carcinoma. Surgical treatment consisted of lobectomy in 54, sleeve lobectomy in three, and pneumonectomy in 18. Two patients died postoperatively. Of 17 patients with T1 N1 disease, 14 had no further treatment and three received postoperative radiation and/or chemotherapy; the 5 year cumulative survival rate of these patients was 56%. There were 58 patients with T2 N1 disease. Forty-five had no further treatment and 13 received postoperative radiation and/or chemotherapy; the 5 year cumulative survival rate of these patients was 48%. The overall incidence of local and regional recurrence was low, and the brain was the most frequent site of recurrence. Factors influencing recurrence were histology and proximity of the tumor to hilum. The specific nodes involved, the number of nodes affected, and the extent of involvement within the nodes had no observed effect on survival. There was no observed improvement in survival with the use of adjuvants. However, survival was significantly poorer in patients with visceral pleural involvement.

Adenocarcinoma