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Biomedical subjects

E Kabela

Publications and source records attributed to E Kabela.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

Prospective matching of alcoholic clients to cognitive-behavioral or interactional group therapy.

OBJECTIVE: In earlier work, client sociopathy and global psychopathology were effective variables for treatment matching: clients low on both sociopathy and severity of psychopathology were likely to benefit from interactional group therapy, whereas those scoring high on either of these dimensions benefited more from a coping skills intervention. The present study assessed whether outcomes improve further when clients are assigned to group treatments prospectively based on a matching strategy derived from the previous findings. METHOD: All participants (N = 250, 66% men) met criteria for alcohol dependence or abuse. About half were prospectively assigned to either cognitive-behavioral (CB) coping skills training or interactional therapy, those with higher levels of psychiatric severity or sociopathy were given CB and those who were low on both dimensions were given interactional therapy. The other half were randomly assigned to those treatments, replicating the procedure of the earlier study. Outcome data were collected at the conclusion of treatment and at 3-month intervals for 1 year following. RESULTS: Prospective matching of clients to treatment did not produce superior drinking outcomes compared to random treatment assignment. Randomly assigned clients were more likely to be abstinent at the end of treatment, but this effect disappeared at later follow-ups. Prospectively matched clients had fewer negative consequences of drinking than did those assigned randomly (unmatched). Neither sociopathy nor psychiatric severity was particularly effective for matching. CONCLUSIONS: The matching effects from our previous study were not replicated. Nevertheless, prospective matching did reduce the negative consequences of drinking, consistent with our previous results.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Issues in the development of subject recruitment strategies and eligibility criteria in multisite trials of matching.

Decision-making in selecting and recruiting subjects for treatment matching research is a complex process involving conceptual, methodological and practical considerations. In selecting clients, concerns arise about whether the criteria will produce a subject population that is (1) relevant to the dimensions associated with the treatment matching, (2) representative of persons typically seen in alcohol treatment settings and, for practical purposes, (3) able or willing to comply with the requirements of the study protocol. Also, in order to fulfill sampling requirements, it may be necessary to employ a variety of creative outreach methods. However, these recruitment mechanisms can pose additional logistical and methodological problems for the research. This article focuses on various issues arising in the selection and recruitment of subjects in matching research. Project MATCH serves to highlight issues related to client eligibility and recruitment and to discuss effective strategies for resolving these matters.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Self-regulatory treatment of headache in the elderly.

We examined the utility of various combinations of relaxation, cognitive coping, and feedback in an uncontrolled series of 16 older headache patients (aged 60 to 77) diagnosed as having tension, mixed, or migraine headache. At 1-month follow-up, statistically and clinically significant reductions were observed in both overall headache activity and medication intake; 10 patients (63%) were more than 50% improved in both headache reduction and medication reduction. Female headache suffers were more improved than males. These results are inconsistent with our past findings with geriatric headache sufferers but consistent with other, more recent favorable findings. The efficacy of nondrug treatment for geriatric headache clearly warrants further attention.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1988

Behavioral and biochemical effects of gradual reductions in cigarette yields in pregnant and nonpregnant smokers.

Smoking-related risks have been well-documented for both the smoker and the pregnant smoker's unborn child, but the risks associated with low tar/nicotine cigarette smoking are still controversial. The present study examined some of the behavioral and biochemical effects of gradual reductions in tar and nicotine yields in six pregnant and six nonpregnant smokers. Over four sessions spanning a 6-week period, smokers switched to cigarette brands progressively lower in tar and nicotine. Examination of the topographical variables assessed both during (cigarette frequency, puff frequency, and cigarette duration) and between sessions (daily cigarette rate and nicotine intake) revealed significant decreases in both pregnant and nonpregnant smokers' cigarette duration and nicotine intake. Also observed were significantly lower and less variable carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) levels among the pregnant smokers when they smoked the lowest tar and nicotine brands. However, even the pregnant smokers' lower mean COHb levels did not drop below the 3% minimal cardiovascular risk level. The pregnant smokers also tended to have lower and less variable salivary thiocyanate (SCN) levels, but these differences were nonsignificant. The results were discussed in terms of implications for controlled smoking treatment programs for pregnant smokers.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Ouabain uptake by endocytosis in isolated guinea pig atria.

Mammalian cells specifically internalize some molecular species through receptor-mediated endocytosis (RME). We have used four different experimental protocols to investigate whether ouabain enters cardiac cells of guinea pig atrium through this pathway. First, by electron microscope morphometry we found that ouabain increased endocytic vesicles in atrial cells. Second, by scintillation counting we found that [3H]ouabain uptake by the tissue is decreased by three treatments that decrease RME, i.e., NH4Cl, trifluoperazine, and 16 mM [K+]0. Third, by radioautography at the electron microscope level, we checked that in preceding experiments [3H]ouabain was washed out of plasma membrane after 60-min rinse and interiorized into the cardiac cells. Fourth, isometric tension recordings showed that the positive inotropic effect of ouabain was diminished in the presence of inhibitors, whereas that of a hydrophobic analogue, ouabagenin, was not affected. These results suggest that ouabain enters cardiac cells through RME and also that an intracellular site may, at least in part, be responsible for its inotropic effect.

Ammonium Chloride↗
PubMed1986

The effects of milrinone (Win 47203) on the coronary blood flow and oxygen consumption of the dog heart-lung preparation.

Milrinone is a new bipyridine-positive inotropic agent that is closely related to amrinone. In the nonfailing heart, coronary blood flow was increased and coronary bed resistance was decreased by milrinone, most probably by a direct action of milrinone on the coronary vasculature. Oxygen consumption was increased at the lower workloads. In the failing heart milrinone (0.1 to 0.5 mg/L of blood) increased cardiac output and coronary blood flow and reduced coronary vascular resistance. With the 0.1 mg dose oxygen consumption was reduced, especially at the high workloads, and was not significantly changed at the low work levels. With higher doses of milrinone oxygen consumption of the heart was not changed significantly while external work was increased. These data show that milrinone can increase the work of the heart with a decrease or no significant change in oxygen consumption of the isolated failing heart. The use of this drug in heart failure accompanied by restricted blood flow may thus be indicated.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Self-control in adult humans: variation in positive reinforcer amount and delay.

In five experiments, choice responding of female human adults was examined, as a function of variations in reinforcer amount and reinforcer delay. Experiment 1 used a discrete-trials procedure, and Experiments 2, 3, 4, and 5 used a concurrent variable-interval variable-interval schedule. Reinforcer amount and reinforcer delay were varied both separately and together. In contrast to results previously reported with pigeons, the subjects in the present experiments usually chose the larger reinforcers even when those reinforcers were delayed. Together, the results from all the experiments suggest that the subjects followed a maximization strategy in choosing reinforcers. Such behavior makes it easy to observe self-control and difficult to observe impulsiveness in traditional laboratory experiments that use adult human subjects.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

The search for a digitalis substitute II milrinone (Win 47203). Its action on the heart-lung preparation of the dog.

Milrinone (Win 47203) is a dipyridine related to amrinone, which is about 20-50 times as effective as amrinone when assayed on cardiac contractility. In dog heart-lung preparations, milrinone in a concentration of 0.25-0.5 microM produced a near maximal positive inotropic effect on a variety of acute heart failures. This dosage produced a minimal increase in heart rate and reduced the PR interval. Large doses of milrinone did not produce cardiac irregularities and in Nifedipine heart failure with ventricular irregularities, it eliminated these irregularities. Papaverine-induced heart failure was resistant to ouabain, epinephrine and milrinone therapy. In the presence of positive inotropic amounts of papaverine or theophylline, a pentobarbital heart failure was superimposed. This heart failure responded poorly to milrinone, although it responded to both the addition of epinephrine and ouabain. It is thus possible that milrinone, papaverine and theophylline have closely related sites of action.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Electrical responses in cat adrenal cortex: possible relation to aldosterone secretion.

The effects of secretagogues for aldosterone release were studied on the membrane potential of cells in the adrenal cortex of the cat. Adrenal glands were excised, sliced, and continuously superfused. Membrane potentials were recorded from both zona glomerulosa and zona fasciculata-reticularis. Secretagogues, angiotensin II (1 microgram/ml) and 20 mM KCl, were found to depolarize cells rapidly. Ouabain (10(-5) M) also depolarized the membrane potential although the response was sluggish. Samples of the superfusate were collected and analyzed by radioimmunoassay for their aldosterone and cortisol content. Depolarizing concentrations of angiotensin II, KCl, and ouabain seemed to increase aldosterone release. Cortisol output was more variable. Saralasin blocked the effects of angiotensin II on the membrane potential. These experiments suggest that membrane depolarization plays a role in the stimulus-secretion coupling of mineral corticoids.

Adrenal Cortex↗
PubMed1975

The effects of ajmaline in experimental and clinical arrhythmias and their relation to some electrophysiological parameters of the heart.

The antiarrhythmic efficacy of ajmaline has been evaluated in three experimental models of cardiac arrhythmias in the dog. These data have been related to the actions of the compound on several parameters of heart function and compared to results obtained in various clinical arrhythmias. Ajmaline was more effective in arrhythmias of the ectopic focus type than in the circus movement model. These results agreed with the pattern of clinical activity. The compound produced decreases in excitability and conduction and increased the functional refractory period in all heart tissues. These effects were most marked in the atrium. The drug also showed a moderate degree of anticholinergic activity. Both in the dogs and in the clinical cases, the agent showed an important hypotensive effect. In a group of experiments in which transmembrane potentials were recorded, the compound produced in all tissues a decrease in upstroke velocity and amplitude of the action potential; it also increased the duration of the action potential in atrial and ventricular muscle, but it decreased it in Purkinje fibers. The possible mechanism(s) of action of the drug is discussed in terms of the different hypotheses for cardiac arrhythmias.

Action Potentials↗
PubMed1975

Cardiac effects of ethacrynic acid, a Na+, K+-ATPase inhibitor.

To test hypotheses relating positive inotropic effects of cardiac glycosides (CG) to inhibitory effects on Na,K-ATPase, cardiac actions of other inhibitors were examined. Ethacrynic acid was studied using microelectrode recordings of dog Purkinje fibers (DP) and cat papillary muscle (CP), and isometric recordings of CP at Lmax stimulated at 1/sec (36.5 degrees C). Results with all doses (20-200 gamma/ml) were similar, differing only in latency. Actions of ethacrynic acid on electrical activity of DP and CP were, chronologically: increase in duration of the action potential (AP), and decrease in dV/dt, overshoot, and resting potential. In CP an initial increase (2-5 min) in contractility (10-15 percent) was followed by decreased in active tension and dP/dt with parallel increases in resting tension and duration of contraction. ATP levels were unchanged, eliminating the possibility of ethacrynic acid acting as a metabolic poison. Simultaneous recording of contractions and AP in CP showed that the positive inotropic effect was always associated with a lengthening of the AP. In a series of CP, ouabain (2 gamma/ml) always increased contractility when ethacrynic acid had already reduced it by 75 percent. These results suggest that Na,K-ATPase inhibition is not responsible for the inotropic effects of CG.

Action Potentials↗
PubMed1970

Cardiac pharmacology.

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Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗