Biomedical subjects
F H Norris
Publications and source records attributed to F H Norris.
Social support and victims of crime: matching event, support, and outcome.
Investigated the buffering properties of six types of social support (three perceived, three received) with regard to four psychological consequences (depression, anxiety, fear of crime, hostility) of criminal victimization (violent crime, property crime). These relationships were examined using longitudinal data collected from a sample composed of representative subsamples of victims and nonvictims. Effects of the perceived support measures (perceived appraisal support, perceived tangible support, self-esteem) were more pervasive than those of the received support measures (received informational support, received tangible support, received emotional support). Perceived support consistently exhibited buffering effects, protecting both violent and property crime victims against various symptoms they would have otherwise experienced. The stress-buffering capabilities of received support were limited to informational and tangible help protecting victims of violence from experiencing excessive fear. These findings are discussed in the context of recent theoretical developments concerning the stress-support matching hypothesis.
A longitudinal study of the effects of various crime prevention strategies on criminal victimization, fear of crime, and psychological distress.
Examined the effects of precautionary behavior on subsequent criminal victimization, fear of crime, and psychological distress. A sample of 538 adults was interviewed three times at 6-month intervals. Four different aspects of precaution were assessed: vigilance (alertness), locks (access control), neighbors (informal cooperation), and professionals (formal programs). In logistic regressions that controlled for 14 risk factors, precaution had no preventive effects on the occurrence of subsequent crimes. LISREL models revealed that use of neighbors was the only precaution not to increase fear of crime, although both locks and neighbors showed a capacity to buffer the effects of fear on generalized distress. It was concluded that the most promising strategy was protective neighboring. Altogether, however, the promotion of citizen-initiated prevention appears highly inadequate as a policy response to problems of crime and fear.
Crime, social status, and alienation.
Explored the ecological consequences of crime and violence. Selected to reflect alienation between individuals and their settings, the criterion measures were fear of crime, avoidance behavior, anomia, and external locus of control. Exposure to crime was assessed at both individual and community levels. Using data from a large statewide sample of adult Kentuckians, hierarchical regression analyses were performed in which the criterion variables were regressed on measures of social status (e.g., education, sex), crime, and interactions between the two. The pattern of results highlighted the pervasive consequences of experiencing personal violence; effects of property crime and community-level exposure were more limited in scope. Social status also exerted strong effects on the criterion measures and modified many of the observed effects of crime. Implications of the study for interventions are discussed.
Epidemiology of trauma: frequency and impact of different potentially traumatic events on different demographic groups.
The frequency and impact of 10 potentially traumatic events were examined in a sample of 1,000 adults. Drawn from four southeastern cities, the sample was half Black, half White, half male, half female, and evenly divided among younger, middle-aged, and older adults. Over their lifetimes, 69% of the sample experienced at least one of the events, as did 21% in the past year alone. The 10 events varied in importance, with tragic death occurring most often, sexual assault yielding the highest rate of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and motor vehicle crash presenting the most adverse combination of frequency and impact. Numerous differences were observed in the epidemiology of these events across demographic groups. Lifetime exposure was higher among Whites and men than among Blacks and women; past-year exposure was highest among younger adults. When impact was analyzed as a continuous variable (perceived stress), Black men appeared to be most vulnerable to the effects of events, but young people showed the highest rates of PTSD.
Functional versus structural social support, desirable events, and positive affect in older adults.
The independent contributions of structural social support versus functional support to positive affect in older adults were compared in this prospective design. Four social support models were translated from the stress-symptoms literature into promotional models for positive mental health and for relationships to desirable challenge events. A total of 1,031 older adults were interviewed 5 times at 6-month intervals, and events were measured across the middle 18-month period. The 2 support variables made quite different contributions. Functional support was directly related to positive affect 2 years later, independent of events; structural support had more transitory direct effects. Structural support, but not functional support, was related to the subsequent occurrence of challenge events and in turn was strengthened by challenge events, suggesting a dynamic interplay between the social network and desirable events.
Conservation of the sequence of the Alzheimer's disease amyloid peptide in dog, polar bear and five other mammals by cross-species polymerase chain reaction analysis.
Neuritic plaque and cerebrovascular amyloid deposits have been detected in the aged monkey, dog, and polar bear and have rarely been found in aged rodents (Biochem. Biophy. Res. Commun., 12 (1984) 885-890; Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 82 (1985) 4245-4249). To determine if the primary structure of the 42-43 residue amyloid peptide is conserved in species that accumulate plaques, the region of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) cDNA that encodes the peptide region was amplified by the polymerase chain reaction and sequenced. The deduced amino acid sequence was compared to those species where amyloid accumulation has not been detected. The DNA sequences of dog, polar bear, rabbit, cow, sheep, pig and guinea pig were compared and a phylogenetic tree was generated. We conclude that the amino acid sequence of dog and polar bear and other mammals which may form amyloid plaques is conserved and the species where amyloid has not been detected (mouse, rat) may be evolutionarily a distinct group. In addition, the predicted secondary structure of mouse and rat amyloid that differs from that of amyloid bearing species is its lack of propensity to form a beta sheeted structure. Thus, a cross-species examination of the amyloid peptide may suggest what is essential for amyloid deposition.
Spirometry in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Clinical evaluation and pulmonary function tests were performed in 218 patients with motor neuron disease, mainly amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Serial studies were obtained in 103 patients, in 31 until death from ALS. Most patients, regardless of the pattern of motor neuron involvement, had characteristic abnormalities in pulmonary function, including reduced forced vital capacity (FVC) and maximum voluntary ventilation (MVV). Reductions in the FVC and MVV to as low as 50% were commonly missed by clinical evaluators. Spirometry is therefore of value in detecting early involvement of respiratory neurons. Progressively greater reductions in the FVC and MVV in all the fatal cases indicate that serial spirometry has prognostic value in ALS.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Impairment of neuromuscular transmission.
Neuromuscular transmission was studied in the ulnar-hypothenar group in 55 patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. A decremental response was found in 67.0%. The decrement was larger and present more often in muscles showing atrophy. In addition, muscles with frequent fasciculations showed a larger decrement than the ones with rare fasciculation. A temperature effect similar to that in myasthenia gravis was observed, with a reduction of the decrement following local cooling of the muscles. Administration of edrophonium chloride improved the synaptic defect. Posttetanic exhaustion was observed as well. It is thought that the defect of neuromuscular transmission is due to a decreased trophic function of the neuron followed by morphological changes at the endplate.
Neuropathy associated with disulfiram administration.
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Trial of baclofen in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
A trial of the antispastic drug baclofen was made in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Some patients noted reduction of tonus and spasticity; but others had no benefit, nor was the course of the disease altered by long-term administration of baclofen. No major side effects occurred.
Respiratory insufficiency, muscle paralysis, and motor neuron disease.
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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and low urinary selenium levels.
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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
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Terminology for Down syndrome.
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Current status of the search for virus in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Clinicians have noted resemblance between ALS with predominantly lower motor involvement and a chronic type of poliomyelitis. Occasional cases of ALS show lymphocytic infiltrations in the neuropathology. Cytoplasmic inclusion bodies as well as possible transmission of ALS to the monkey, were noted by Soviet investigators. Major questions about the latter remain, but inclusion bodies have been seen in cases outside the USSR, and search for a virus has been pursued. So far, efforts at culture, including the technique of co-cultivation, have not been successful in 3 different laboratories using material from ALS autopsied within 2 hours of death. Nor has such material and specimens from other cases produced transmissible disease in animals of laboratories where kuru, Jakob's disease and SSPE have been transmitted. Study of serum antibodies has also been negative. These negative culture, transmission and antibody studies do not exclude a viral etiology: in kuru, for example, many years passed before transmission was demonstrated, which remains the only evidence of kuru's infectivity. Evidence of an immunologic disorder in ALS has been obtained from kidney biopsies, the lack of any clinical benefit from immunosuppression may indicate that the kidney finding reveals a response to infection, though whether viral or even relevant is unknown. Two recent ALS cases will be illustrated in which virus-like particles were demonstrated post mortem by electronmicroscopy. In one, myxovirus-like tubules were seen mainly in motor neurons; in the other, picorna-virus-like crystals were found in skeletal muscles. Different viruses can cause identical disease, but 2 different viruses in different sites in ALS also suggest that at least one type of particle is an adventitious finding of no general significance. An additional impetus to continue the search is the slowly progressive type C-virus myelitis in wild mice. This disease has many dissimilarities to ALS, including different morphology of the virus, but may provide a model for slow-virus amyotrophy.
Enkephalin-induced depression of single neurons in brain areas with opiate receptors--antagonism by naloxone.
Enkephalin, applied microiontophoretically, depressed spontaneous and glutamate-induced firing of single neurons in frontal cortex, caudate nucleus, and periaqueductal gray matter, where enkephalin and high concentrations of opiate receptors are found. Many of the depressions were blocked by the specific narcotic antagonist naloxone. The data are compatible with a neurotransmitter or neuromodulator role for this new brain pentapeptide.