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Biomedical subjects

D R Murphy

Publications and source records attributed to D R Murphy.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Listening to discourse in distracting settings: the effects of aging.

Younger and older adults listened to discourse in quiet and in conversational noise, before answering questions concerning the material. Some questions required listeners to recall specific details; others were of a more integrative nature. When the listening situation was adjusted for individual differences in hearing, younger and older adults were equally adept at remembering the gist of the passages in both quiet and in two levels of noise. The two age groups also did not differ with respect to memory for specific details when listening in quiet or in a moderate level of noise, even when required to perform a concurrent task. Only at the loudest noise level did younger adults tend to recall more detail than older adults. However, when no adjustments were made to compensate for the poorer hearing of older adults (all participants tested under identical listening conditions), older adults could not recall as much detail as younger adults, either in quiet or in noise. The results indicate that the speech-comprehension difficulties of older adults primarily reflect declines in hearing rather than in cognitive ability.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Inhibition and aging: similarities between younger and older adults as revealed by the processing of unattended auditory information.

The ability to selectively attend to an auditory stimulus appears to decline with age and may result from losses in the ability to inhibit the processing of irrelevant stimuli (i.e., the inhibitory deficit hypothesis; L. Hasher & R. T. Zacks, 1988). It is also possible that declines in the ability to selectively attend are a result of age-related hearing losses. Three experiments examined whether older and younger adults differed in their ability to inhibit the processing of distracting stimuli when the listening situation was adjusted to correct for individual differences in hearing. In all 3 experiments, younger and older adults were equally affected by irrelevant stimuli, unattended stimuli, or both. The implications for auditory attention research and for possible differences between auditory and visual processing are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Effects of temephos (Abate 4E) on fiddler crabs (Uca pugnax and Uca minax) on a Delaware salt marsh.

The nontarget effects of temephos (as Abate 4E, 44.6% active ingredient) on fiddler crabs were examined on the salt marsh at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, near Dover, DE. Six 170 x 170-m plots were established; 3 were sprayed on 4 occasions at a rate of 1.5 fl oz/acre (0.054 kg active ingredient/ha) and 3 were controls. On each plot, marsh fiddler crab (Uca pugnax) populations were monitored by repeatedly counting the number of burrow holes in 2 counting areas marked out along tidal guts. One half of each counting area was covered with bird netting to evaluate sublethal toxic effects, which, if present, could result in increased susceptibility to bird predation. A statistically significant linear association was established between the number of holes and the number of crabs. No significant differences were found in the numbers of holes (or crabs) in the sprayed vs. control plots and in the covered vs. uncovered sections. However, survival of juvenile crabs in in situ bioassays was significantly reduced (16% lower) by the spraying. Median acetylcholinesterase activity in claw muscle of red-jointed fiddler crabs (Uca minax) collected 2 days after an operational spray with Abate 4E was significantly reduced (28% lower) compared to unsprayed crabs. In view of the toxicity to juvenile crabs and the cholinesterase inhibition, we recommend continued monitoring and research for nontarget impacts of Abate 4E on fiddler crabs to establish whether the reported level of cholinesterase inhibition results in acute or chronic toxicity.

Acetylcholinesterase↗
PubMed1994

Diagnosis and manipulative treatment in diabetic polyneuropathy and its relation to intertarsal joint dysfunction.

OBJECTIVE: To present the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of diabetic polyneuropathy and report a case in which a patient with this disorder was successfully managed utilizing chiropractic procedures. CLINICAL FEATURES: An 80-year-old man with a history of diabetes mellitus complained of low back pain along with burning pains in the lower extremities and poor balance. Disturbance of vibration, joint position, coarse and fine touch and pinprick sensation was found along with extensive trophic changes, mild motor weakness and absent Achilles reflexes. Joint dysfunction was detected in the mortise and intertarsal joints and myofascial trigger points were found in the quadratus plantae muscles. INTERVENTION AND OUTCOME: The patient was treated with manipulation to the intertarsal and mortise joints and myofascial therapy to the quadratus plantae muscles 18 times over 4 months. This treatment brought about dramatic improvement in both symptoms and clinical signs of nerve function. CONCLUSIONS: It is possible that joint and/or myofascial dysfunction may play a role in the susceptibility to diabetic polyneuropathy and that treatment of these dysfunctional conditions may bring about improvement in the neuropathy. Possible mechanisms by which this may occur include impaired afferent stimulation from the intertarsal joint receptors due to loss of joint play and disturbance of axoplasmic flow along the nerves affected by the neuropathy. Reporting similar cases as well as conducting clinical trials with large populations may shed light on whether there is a relationship between diabetic polyneuropathy and joint and myofascial dysfunction of the feet.

Aged↗
PubMed1993

Chiropractic adjustment to the cervical spine and the Arnold-Chiari malformation.

OBJECTIVE: To present two cases in which patients with Type I Arnold-Chiari malformation (ACM) were treated with adjustments to the cervical spine for conditions unrelated to the anomaly. CLINICAL FEATURES: The ACM is an anomaly of central nervous system development in which structures from the posterior fossa descend below the level of the foramen magnum. INTERVENTION AND OUTCOME: The patients reported were adjusted multiple times to the cervical spine. No ill effects or complications were noted related to the ACM. CONCLUSIONS: Asymptomatic Type I ACM is not necessarily a contraindication to skilled adjustments to the cervical spine.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Dissociations between procedural and episodic memory: effects of time and aging.

The issue of multiple memory systems is explored. Young and older adults (mean ages = 20 and 71, respectively) named pictures and were tested immediately, 1, 7, or 21 days later. Episodic memory (recognition) for pictures was significantly lower in older relative to young adults and declined systematically across all retention intervals in both age groups. In contrast, procedural memory (repetition priming in picture naming) revealed no reliable age differences. In both age groups, priming declined within the first 24 hr, but unlike recognition, there was no further decrement from 1 to 21 days. There were also within-subject dissociations: The magnitude of priming was equivalent for remembered and forgotten items, and the relation between recognition and priming across intervals was nonmonotic, revealing a reversed association. The findings were interpreted within a multiple-memory-systems framework.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

The mortality of congenital diaphragmatic hernia. Is total pulmonary mass inadequate, no matter what?

Much progress has been made over the past 20 years in neonatal surgery, but the mortality rate in cases of congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) for babies presenting in the early hours of life has remained high. We have reviewed our experience with special reference to 40 autopsied patients. Hypoplastic lungs were seen in all patients. When the ratio of observed combined lung weight to the expected combined lung weight is calculated, the result is 0.33 +/- 0.17 when the expected lung weights are calculated from the babies' birth weight; and 0.36 +/- 0.17 when the expected lung weights are calculated from the gestational age. In all patients with high ratios, extensive pneumonia was confirmed. Those patients with pneumonia were eliminated from the calculations. We cannot state unequivocably that hypoplasia of both lungs is the cause of death in all patients with CDH. We can affirm that, in our experience, hypoplasia is present and is probably a major factor in the high mortality rate.

Hernia, Diaphragmatic↗
PubMed1982

Augmented home nursing as an alternative to hospital care for chronic elderly invalids.

A scheme of augmented home care for disabled elderly invalids is compared with long-stay hospital care. Initial results suggest that selected patients may be suitable for home care if they can be left unsupervised at night or if a relative is available to provide supervision. The cost of such care is in most cases cheaper than keeping the patient in hospital, and schemes such as this might reduce the need for additional long-stay geriatric beds to meet the necessary demands of our growing elderly population.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Chiropractic rehabilitation of the cervical spine.

BACKGROUND: Rehabilitation has been a part of chiropractic almost since the beginning of the profession. Yet today, relatively few chiropractors provide rehabilitation in any systematic way in their practices. The modern era of health care calls for all spine specialists to emphasize exercise in their management strategies, and the chiropractic profession has the opportunity to establish itself as a leader in the area of rehabilitation in patients with spine-related disorders. OBJECTIVE: To present the principles and techniques of cervical rehabilitation as it is used by the author and explain the rationale for these procedures based on current knowledge of the neurophysiology of the cervical spine. CONCLUSION: Rehabilitation of the cervical spine can be performed by virtually any chiropractor because effective rehabilitative methods can be applied with minimal space and equipment. The methods presented here are designed to assess several essential functions of the cervical spine and apply procedures that are designed to maximize these functions while monitoring the clinical response to the management strategy. Future research in this area should provide more information about cervical function and assist in the development of improved management of patients with cervical spine syndromes.

Cervical Vertebrae↗