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Biomedical subjects

J Flaherty

Publications and source records attributed to J Flaherty.

30 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Parental communication and psychological distress in children of Holocaust survivors: a comparison between the U.S. and Israel.

To determine how the children of Holocaust survivors in Israel and the U.S. differ on measures of parental communication and psychological distress, we performed a comparative study on 140 subjects in the U.S. and 54 in Israel using a written questionnaire. Respondents in Israel reported more communication by their parents, but also a higher level of demoralization; this may be due to more demoralization among the general population. In both populations, parents' general communication correlated negatively with anxiety, depression and demoralization and positively with guilt. Parents' Holocaust communication resulted in similar findings; however, in Israel only a negative correlation with demoralization reached significance. Parental communication about the Holocaust thus seems to be of less importance in Israel in determining the children's psychological outcome. This may be due to a greater role by Israeli society in forming children's perception of the Holocaust.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Coping and depression. The relative contribution of internal and external resources during a life cycle transition.

This study addresses two questions relevant to psychiatric epidemiological models of the stress-distress relationship: Are personality and social support resources independent phenomena or highly correlated? and What are the relative contributions of these two types of resources in protecting against the development of depressive symptomatology? A cohort of beginning medical students was administered self-report questionnaires measuring social supports, locus of control, interpersonal dependency, and depressive symptomatology. On the basis of correlation and regression analysis, the data show that the personality characteristics more strongly predict depressive symptomatology than do social supports, and that social supports are unrelated to locus of control but directly correlated with interpersonal dependency. The authors discuss these findings in the context of a life cycle transition.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Conceptions and misconceptions of menstruation.

College women were asked a series of open-ended questions about their conceptions of menstruation prior to menarche as part of a retrospective study. Their responses were rated as indicating correct information, misinformation, or lack of information. A conceptual analysis of these descriptive data reveals some of the emotional and cognitive limitations of pre-adolescence that lead ostensibly well-informed girls to harbor misconceptions about menstruation. Based on this conceptual analysis, a revised approach to menstrual education is suggested.

Adult↗

Transmural gradients in myocardial gas tensions in regionally ischemic canine left ventricle.

Previous studies from this laboratory have demonstrated the usefulness of myocardial gas tensions as measured by mass spectrometry for the quantitative assessment of regional myocardial ischemia (Khuri et al., 1975a). Progressive increases in myocardial carbon dioxide tensions were noted when progressive reduction in coronary blood flow was created by means of a variable constrictor. The present study was designed to determine if changes in myocardial oxygen and carbon dioxide tension were greater in deep, compared to more superficial, myocardial layers. In eight anesthetized dogs, progressive reduction in circumflex coronary flow was associated with a progressive reduction in myocardial oxygen tension and a progressive increase in myocardial carbon dioxide tension and intramyocardial ST-segment voltage. Evidence of a transmural gradient in the severity of ischemia was present at all degrees of flow reduction. These results confirm the findings of previous metabolic studies, which demonstrated gradients in lactate and high-energy phosphates. Myocardial carbon dioxide tension, which can be monitored continuously by mass spectrometry, would appear to provide a useful means of quantitatively assessing changes in regional myocardial metabolism.

Animals↗