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Biomedical subjects

H Nichol

Publications and source records attributed to H Nichol.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

The visualization of apoferritin in the secretory pathway of vertebrate liver cells.

Electron microscopy has shown that normal mouse liver cells contain abundant cytosolic and lysosomal holoferritin but none in cisternae of the rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER). This does not mean that ferritin is absent from the secretory pathway, since the low contrast of apoferritin and ferritin containing little iron makes it difficult to resolve using standard transmission electron microscopy. We hypothesized that treatment of permeabilized cells and cell fractions with iron should make apoferritin visible by converting it to holoferritin. The iron treatment caused particles resembling the cores of holoferritin to appear in RER and in RER microsomes from mouse liver. We conclude that ferritin occurs in the endoplasmic reticulum and could be secreted, allowing the liver to be a source of serum ferritin.

Animals

Impaired interns and residents.

In 1981 a study was undertaken to determine intern and resident psychological well-being and identify those house staff who were psychologically impaired. Fourteen percent of house staff were found to be impaired. Single females and house staff who were chronically fatigued or socially isolated were at highest risk for impairment. Impairment arose out of the interaction between sleep and social deprivation and individual vulnerability. Minor tranquilizers, but not alcohol, were used as a coping response to impairment.

British Columbia

Diagnostic criteria in functional dysphonia.

One thousand consecutive patients seen in a multidisciplinary voice clinic are reviewed. The incidence and relative severity of diagnostic features in each of five assessment areas are calculated and compared. The five areas include: 1. history, 2. laryngoscopic examination, 3. perceptual-acoustic assessment, 4. voice related musculoskeletal, and 5. psychological evaluations. Feature prevalence is presented for patients we have classified as having muscular tension dysphonia, which can be primary, or associated with vocal nodules, chronic laryngitis, or polypoidal degeneration; or as having a psychogenic "functional" dysphonia. Following review of the data, we present a suggested list of diagnostic criteria that should be present before using a specific diagnostic label. These criteria have been further broken down into those that will be present to make a diagnosis, and those that may be present.

Adult

Incidence of psychiatric treatment of adolescents.

The characteristics of adolescents aged 15-19 years who received psychiatric treatment for the first time in British Columbia in 1966 are considered. Females predominated substantially over males, as did those living in urban areas over those in rural ones. Somatic, psychological, behavioural and suicidal presenting problems were commoner in females, with delinquent and academic ones being more frequent in males. Depression, psychoneurosis and personality disorders were commoner in females. Medication was used in conjunction with psychotherapy more frequently in females. Long-term psychotherapy (more than 16 visits to a psychiatric facility) was employed in only 3% of females and 2% of males. Psychiatrists provided the greatest amount of care given. The hypothesis that females from rural areas living in the city constitute a vulnerable group of individuals more likely than their adolescent peers to seek psychiatric care requires evaluation in a further study.

Adolescent

A developmental hierarchy of dyadic relationships.

With the work of Mahler, Bowlby and others it has been increasingly recognized in recent years that there is a sequential progression in the nature of the first dyadic relationship which forms the basis for the type and quality of subsequent interpersonal transactions. Four levels of development of dyadic relationship may be recognized. To begin with the infant is in a state of not recognizing the existence of the other individual - the autistic phase. At the toddler stage there is awareness of a separateness of physical attributes between the child and the significant other, but the persistence of the symbiotic belief that there is substantial co-extension of mental processes between the two. With further separation and individuation in the pre-school and early school-aged child, a period of magical thinking prevails for varying durations in the child, in which there is an attempt made to retain an omnipotent control of the thinking of the significant other by the mechanism of projection of thought. In the mid-elementary school-aged child the decentering process emphasized by Piaget, together with the emerging capacity for making allowance for the context within which events occur, leads to the dyadic relationship being seen by the child as being mediated through the transactions of two autonomous mental apparatuses. Dependent upon the quality of the first dyadic relationships, the nature of the communication which occurs in them, of traumatic psychological events and of the integrity of the integrated forces of personality formation, residues of earlier modes of perceiving the dyadic relationship may be encountered. Examples of these in adolescent and adult patients are given. The recognition of the possibility of shifts in the perception of the levels of the dyadic relationship is of importance in the conduct of individual pschotherapy, as the therapist can then deal more realistically with such topics as the establishment of goals, the management of the modes and quality of communication, as well as of transference and counter-transference relationships. This is particularly true of the treatment of patients with poorly integrated personalities. The fluctuations referred to are seen most dramatically with some schizophrenic patients.

Adult