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Biomedical subjects

J F Golding

Publications and source records attributed to J F Golding.

32 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Phasic skin conductance activity and motion sickness.

Sweating is commonly associated with motion sickness. Previous studies have attempted to relate sweating or the associated electrodermal activity to the degree of motion sickness symptoms. This study was aimed at improving methodology by study of 1) recording site--palmar finger versus forehead; and 2) signal analysis--tonic skin conductance level (SCL) versus phasic skin conductance responses (SCRs). Eleven subjects were exposed to a cross-coupled motion challenge, produced by repeated head movements (16 per minute) during rotation around the Earth vertical axis in which rotational velocity was incremented on a staircase profile from 3 degrees to 99 degrees.s-1 to an end point of moderate nausea. Six subjects underwent additional control conditions of rotation only and head movements only. A group of 12 subjects underwent sessions of vertical and horizontal sinusoidal linear motion through the head z-axis at 0.3 Hz, 1.8 ms-2 rms. Sweating responses were recorded in a further three subjects by mass spectrometry for water vapor from the skin using a dry N2 gas flow method. Phasic skin conductance activity at the forehead site provided the best correlate of motion sickness onset and recovery. Other combinations of signal analysis or recording site were less useful.

Adult↗

Scopolamine blood levels following buccal versus ingested tablets.

Speed of absorption and elimination of an antimotion sickness drug sets limits on the protection afforded. The aim of this experiment was to determine whether a well proven antimotion sickness drug--scopolamine (hyoscine)--could be absorbed more rapidly from buccal tablets than from the standard issue ingested tablets. Plasma scopolamine levels were measured using a radioreceptor assay of repeated blood samples from 10 volunteers, each of whom took buccal and standard ingested tablets (both 0.6 mg scopolamine hydrobromide) on two different occasions, and from a further 8 volunteers following ingestion of a pharmacy-prepared scopolamine capsule (0.6 mg scopolamine hydrobromide). There was no statistically significant speed advantage for the buccal tablet (mean time to peak levels approx 50 min). Individual variation in the speed of scopolamine absorption and rate of elimination (mean half-life approx 170 min) was great. This may account for failure of motion sickness protection in some individuals.

Administration, Buccal↗

Psychometric evaluation of divers performing a series of heliox non-saturation dives.

Psychometric performance of 12 divers was evaluated throughout a series of 60-72-m in-water heliox non-saturation ('bounce') dives using a repeated-measures, within-subject design. Assessments were made onboard a dive tender, using a portable computerized battery within 30 min of the diver leaving the water, 2 h later, and on rest days. No significant decrement in performance was demonstrated either post-dive or throughout the series. Ten controls showed no alteration in performance due to environmental factors such as ship motion. The consistency of the results confirmed the suitability of this system for monitoring cognitive function during a series of potentially hazardous dives.

Adult↗

Acupressure and motion sickness.

The effectiveness of the "Sea Band" acupressure band compared with placebo and hyoscine (0.6 mg), also known as scopolamine, to increase tolerance to a laboratory nauseogenic cross-coupled motion challenge was assessed using 18 subjects. The results showed that the subjects had a significant increase in tolerance with hyoscine but had no increase in tolerance with the "Sea Band" or placebo. Possible reasons for the failure to show any significant protection from the use of these acupressure bands are insufficient movement of the wrist to provide continuous stimulation, and/or the likelihood that only a minority of the population would show non-negligible benefit as experience with medical acupressure would suggest. The application of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation may be worthy of study.

Acupuncture Therapy↗

Tranquillisers: prevalence, predictors and possible consequences. Data from a large United Kingdom survey.

Data related to tranquilliser/hypnotic use is presented from a large (n = 9,003) random representative United Kingdom sample of adults (18+ years). On the day of interview 4.2% of females and 2.1% of males reported current use of tranquillisers. Increased probability of current use was significantly related to female sex, older age, increased symptoms of psychological malaise and physical ill-health, elevated neuroticism scores on the Eysenck Personality Inventory, lower socioeconomic status, unemployment, current smoking in some groups, and less participation in active leisure pursuits. There was no convincing trend with standard geographical region.

Adult↗

Effects of cigarette smoking on resting EEG, visual evoked potentials and photic driving.

The effects of smoking a cigarette (1.3 mg nicotine delivery) versus sham smoking were studied using EEG, visual evoked potentials (VEP), photic driving (PD) and heart rate (HR) in thirty young healthy male and female habitual cigarette smokers. Heart rate (HR) and exhaled carbon monoxide (CO) level were significantly increased by real as opposed to sham smoking. Real versus sham smoking significantly increased relative power in the beta bands, reduced alpha and theta activity to a small but significant extent, but had no effect on delta activity. Dominant EEG alpha frequency was significantly increased by real as opposed to sham smoking. Smoking produced no significant mean change in PD or VEP. However, correlational analysis indicated that variables such as basal CO level, residual butt filter nicotine, basal electrocortical response level and personality, predicted to varying degrees the magnitude and direction of the effect of smoking on VEP, PD and EEG.

Adult↗

Cortical evoked potentials and clinical rating scales as measures of depressive illness.

Relationships between clinical ratings and cortical evoked potentials were examined before and during antidepressant drug treatment in 32 patients with major depressive disorder (DSM-III). Clinical rating scales included Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, Beck Depression Inventory, Present State Examination (PSE) and Newcastle Scale. Evoked potentials included contingent negative variation (CNV), post-imperative negative variation (PINV) and auditory evoked potential (AEP) There were close correlations between all rating scales, and factor analysis produced only one component, suggesting that the common variance between them related to severity of depression. CNV magnitude before treatment correlated negatively with severity of depression regardless of diagnostic category. Depressed patients had a prominent PINV which persisted during antidepressant treatment. The amplitude of late components (N1P2) of the AEP was reduced strikingly in patients with a history of suicide attempts.

Adult↗

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation produces variable changes in somatosensory evoked potentials, sensory perception and pain threshold: clinical implications for pain relief.

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation decreased early and late somatosensory evoked potential amplitudes and stimulus intensity ratings, and elevated sensory detection threshold, in normal subjects. Effects on pain threshold depended on pre-treatment threshold. These findings are relevant to treatment of clinical pain by transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation.

Adult↗

Effects of acupuncture and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation on cold-induced pain in normal subjects.

The effects of acupuncture, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) at high (100 Hz) and low (8 Hz) frequency and placebo on pain induced by cold immersion of the hand were studied in 46 young healthy male and female volunteers. Acupuncture produced significant elevations of pain threshold, while 100 Hz TENS or placebo had no effect. Eight Hertz TENS produced elevation of pain threshold with significant variation in response between individuals. There was some evidence that the L scale score of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire predicted analgesic outcome for 8 Hz TENS. No significant relationship was found between baseline pain threshold or tolerance and personality variables.

Acupuncture Therapy↗

Effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and aspirin on late somatosensory evoked potentials in normal subjects.

The effects on late somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) of transcutaneous nerve stimulation (TENS) and aspirin (600 mg), compared with placebo, were studied in 32 young, healthy male and female volunteers. SEPs were produced by electrical stimulation of the median nerve at moderate, non-painful, intensities. There was a reduction in the peak-to-peak amplitude of the late components N1P2 (N1 latency: 100-160 msec; P2 latency: 160-260 msec) of the SEP in all groups over time. TENS but not aspirin produced further significant changes compared with placebo, including a fall in N1P2 amplitude, an increase in N1 latency, and a decrease in the total excursion of the SEP between 25 and 450 msec after stimulus onset.

Adult↗

The effects of smoking on memory consolidation.

The effects of smoking deprivation and of smoking a single .8 mg, 1.3 mg or 2 mg nicotine yield cigarette, immediately post acquisition on a paired-associate learning task, were studied in 54 male smokers and 15 male nonsmokers. Subjects were retested for retention of the memorized material at intervals of one-half hour, one day, one week, and one month. Nonsmokers showed superior recall to all smokers at one-half-hour retest, and to some of the smoking groups on later re-tests. At one-month retest the low- and middle-nicotine cigarette smokers outperformed high-nicotine cigarette smokers. Low/middle-nicotine smokers achieved superior recall to nonsmokers at one-month retest. Results are discussed in terms of smoker versus nonsmoker differences, in terms of the effects of nicotine on memory consolidation, and in terms of the PAL response measure adopted.

Adolescent↗

Objective and subjective time courses of recovery from motion sickness assessed by repeated motion challenges.

The aim of this study was to determine whether the time course of recovery of tolerance, as assessed objectively by rechallenge with motion, paralleled the subjective recovery from motion sickness. Subjects (n = 20) were exposed to 5 pairs of nauseogenic motion challenges in which the time interval between the end of the first and the start of the second of each pair ranged from 15 min to 2 h. The cross-coupled motion challenge had an incrementing profile of rotational velocity from 4 degrees to 92 degrees.s-1 in steps of 4 degrees.s-1 every 30 s, with 8 head movements per 30 s, of approximately 45 degrees, and was continued to the point of moderate nausea. Objective loss of tolerance decreased from 15 min to 60 min after the first challenge, but increased again at 2 h. By contrast, most individuals reported subjective recovery by 15 min to 30 min. It was concluded that there is an underlying effect of motion sickness that sensitizes the response to subsequent motion for a period of at least 2 h. This underlying objective effect can occur in the absence of subjective symptoms, has a slower time course than the subjective recovery from symptoms, and appears to be non-monotonic.

Adult↗