Biomedical subjects

G A Fernandez

Publications and source records attributed to G A Fernandez.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1991

Differential prediction of young adult arrests for property and personal crimes: findings of a cohort follow-up study of violent boys from North Carolina's Willie M Program.

Which characteristics of violent youth predict adult arrest for property crimes (e.g. burglary), and for personal crimes (e.g. assault)? We addressed this question by focusing on a group of particularly violent and assaultive boys. Separate logistic regression analyses were conducted to predict property and personal crime arrests as a function of adolescent psychiatric diagnosis, behavior problem history, race and IQ. Property crime arrest was predicted by an adolescent history of property offenses, conduct disorder diagnosis, and race (more arrests among non-whites than whites). Personal crime arrest was predicted by adolescent history of property offenses and adolescent history of substance abuse.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1990

Arrests among emotionally disturbed violent and assaultive individuals following minimal versus lengthy intervention through North Carolina's Willie M Program.

Time to first arrest after termination of Willie M Program services was compared in 2 groups of former clients. All Ss had met program criteria and "aged out" after their 18th birthday, but the two groups differed in duration and extent of intervention received: (a) A short-certification group (n = 21), because they turned 18 near the 1981 program start date, had received Willie M services for a mean of only 26 days (all cases less than 3 months); (b) a long-certification group (n = 147) averaged 896 days in the program (all cases greater than 1 year). The groups did not differ significantly in gender or race; geographic region; IQ; diagnosis according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd ed. (DSM-III, American Psychiatric Association, 1980); or age at earliest antisocial acts. A survival analysis compared the short and long groups on proportion avoiding arrest as a function of time since aging out. The long group showed slightly better arrest survival, but survival curves for the 2 groups did not differ reliably. Thus the program was not found to significantly reduce the risk of young adult arrests.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1990

Impact of involuntary outpatient commitment on the revolving-door syndrome in North Carolina.

Involuntary outpatient commitment has been used as a means of treating so-called revolving-door patients in the community and allowing them to experience the positive aspects of social and community life that stability can bring. To study the impact of North Carolina's revised outpatient commitment law on institutionalization rates, the authors measured state hospital admissions and days of hospitalization within a three-year period for all patients committed to outpatient treatment during that period. Statistically significant decreases occurred in both measures; the biggest percent reduction occurred in admission rates.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1988

Thyroid function in hemidecorticate rats.

1. Thyroid function was evaluated in hemidecorticate (HD) and control (C) rats by determining serum T3 and T4 levels and the development of incisors and mandibles and through analysis of various histological features of the thyroid such as follicle size, colloid droplet content and [3H]-glycine uptake by follicular cells. 2. HD animals presented normal levels of circulating T3 but significantly lower T4 levels. 3. There was slight atrophy of the gland in HD animals and fewer colloid droplets were present in the cytoplasm of the follicular cells in this group, indicating a reduction in the breakdown of thyroglobulin. [3H]-glycine uptake by HD indicated that the rate of thyroglobulin biosynthesis was not altered in the experimental animals. 4. The growth of mandibles (weight) and incisors (weight and length) was reduced in HD compared to the control animals. 5. These results suggest that hemidecortication causes mild hypothyroidism (trophoprivic type) probably by affecting hypothalamic function.

Animals↗