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Biomedical subjects

J W Jacobson

Publications and source records attributed to J W Jacobson.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Review of Psychology on a Disk from CMS academic software: interactive activities for psychology.

Psychology on a Disk contains a variety of simulations that show a strong potential to motivate and educate introductory psychology students with a wide range of ability and initial interest. The exercises appear to be well within the grasp of first-year students and provide suitable starting points for discussion of terms, definitions, and areas of research activity. The quality of the simulations is high and provides some indication that there are additional areas of undergraduate psychology, for example, courses in abnormal, clinical, and developmental topics, in which specialized simulations might also constitute an important adjunct to classroom and laboratory activities. The 10 simulations span much of the content of introductory courses, although they are most pertinent to syllabi that emphasize learning principles and social psychology as important foundations. As an instructional device, the simulations also will serve to introduce some students to use of computers as a source of information and feedback with potential benefits in other and later academic endeavors in which time-savings will be important. Promotional materials describe POAD as easy to add (to existing texts), easy to use, easy to grade, easy to afford, and easy to order (through your college bookstore): truth in advertising.

Computer Simulation↗
PubMed1992

Compliance and quality in residential life. Limitations of regulations as a means of social reform in developmental services.

It has become obvious that community care systems for people with developmental disabilities are not fully realizing some of the stated goals toward which they are directed, despite great process. The foundations and processes by which state agencies regulate and whether the regulatory process can be directed to issues affecting the quality of life of people receiving developmental services were explored. Limitations and side effects of regulations were discussed with respect to the unpredictability of long-term effects, problems in measuring compliance, economic rather than social focus, the changing state of knowledge, and special considerations associated with the field of developmental services.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1991

Comparison of alcohol dehydrogenase expression in Drosophila melanogaster and D. simulans.

Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) gene expression was analyzed in Drosophila melanogaster and its sibling species D. simulans. The levels of ADH activity, ADH-cross-reacting material (CRM), and ADH-mRNA were analyzed for several strains of each species, which derive from diverse geographic locations around the world. There is considerable quantitative variation in ADH activity, CRM level, and RNA level among strains within species at all developmental stages. However, the only consistent differences between the two species are in pupal RNA level and in late-adult activity and CRM level. Late-adult melanogaster flies that are homozygous for the Slow allozyme have approximately twice the level of ADH activity and CRM as do simulans flies. The regression of activity on CRM over strains is highly significant and essentially the same for each species, which means that most, if not all, of the activity difference between the species is due to a difference in concentration of the ADH protein. In contrast, there is no significant regression of CRM level on mRNA level in adults of either species; nor is there a significant difference in RNA level between species. Therefore, the difference in ADH protein concentration is not due to RNA template availability. Thus, the interspecific difference in ADH level in adults must be due either to a difference in the rate of translation of the two RNAs or to a difference in protein stability.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗
PubMed1990

Differences in adaptive functioning among people with autism or mental retardation.

This report describes differences in motoric and instrumental activity of daily living skills (MADLs and IADLs) between 1,442 people with autism and 24,048 people with mental retardation, using data from an adaptive behavior measure. Comparisons were made using groups defined by age (5-12, 13-21, and 21-35 years) and intellectual level. Diagnoses of record were confirmed through group analyses of rates of problem behaviors consistent with autism and comparison to an independent data base. Findings suggest that at ages 5-12 the skills of children with autism are more developed than those of children with mental retardation matched by age and intellectual level. However, in the older groups these differences diminish, and with increasing age (21-35 years) more developed instrumental skills are observed for people with mental retardation.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1990

Mariner, Mos and associated aberrant traits in Drosophila mauritiana.

A suite of aberrant genetic traits, including increased mutation rate, sex-limited mutation and distorted transmission ratios, was produced among progeny of genetic crosses between two strains of Drosophila mauritiana when a paternally contributed Mos excision factor is placed into a non-Mos genetic background. In the reciprocal cross, involving maternally contributed Mos and Mos associated cytoplasm, the same genetic abnormalities are not observed. Differential effects on mariner excision in germ-line versus somatic tissue are apparent. Because Mos is known to influence the mobility of the mariner transposable element, these traits may be associated with mariner excision and/or transposition.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Genetic basis of the difference in alcohol dehydrogenase expression between Drosophila melanogaster and Drosophila simulans.

Drosophila melanogaster and its sibling species, Drosophila simulans, differ in expression of the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). Adult melanogaster flies that are homozygous for the Slow allozyme have approximately twice the level of ADH activity and crossreacting material as simulans adults. There is no corresponding difference in ADH mRNA, however, so this difference in ADH protein level is evidently due to a difference in the rate of translation of the two RNAs and/or to a difference in protein stability. Here we report an interspecific gene-transfer experiment, using P-element transformation, to determine whether this expression difference is due to genetic background differences between the species (trans-acting modifiers) or to cis-acting factors within the Adh gene. When the Adh genes from D. melanogaster and D. simulans are put into the same genetic background, there is no detectable difference in their level of expression. The level is relatively high in the melanogaster background and relatively low in the simulans background. Therefore, the interspecific difference in Adh expression is due entirely to trans-acting modifiers, in spite of the many sequence differences between the Adh genes of the two species, which include two amino acid substitutions.

Alcohol Dehydrogenase↗
PubMed1990

Do some mental disorders occur less frequently among persons with mental retardation?

Distributions of psychiatric classifications among 42,479 persons with mental retardation were reviewed to determine whether relative rates of disorders for persons with both mental retardation and a mental disorder resembled those identified in other studies. Analyses conducted separately for children, adults, by sex, and by intellectual level indicated that rates of reported schizophrenic and psychotic disorders were generally higher than expected relative to rates of personality disorders, affective disorders, anxiety and phobic disorders, and behavior disorders. Factors that may have affected relative rates of identification were noted, and the need to develop more adequate assessment methodologies and conduct valid studies of population samples was underscored.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Regulations: can they control staff compliance in human services systems?

Contemporary regulatory practices, in isolation, appear to potentially support mediocrity in program practices unless complemented by management practices that promote more exemplary personnel performance. Restatement of regulatory and supervisory practice from the standpoint of stimulus control procedures was offered as a vantage with utility for the improvement of administrative and supervisory practice. Generalization strategies were presented to promote effective compliance practices. The need for studies of the impact of regulatory changes upon personnel and the people they serve was stressed.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed1989

Psychological services for persons with mental retardation and psychiatric impairments.

Key informant characterizations of services provided by psychologists to persons with mental retardation and psychiatric impairments were described. Responses indicate that informants relied most heavily upon clinical history, observation and behavior checklists, and clinical signs in rendering diagnostic judgments. Therapeutic efforts were directed to a diversity of aspects of interpersonal and social adjustment, with benefit considered to be greater for persons with mild or moderate mental retardation.

Humans↗
PubMed1988

Single-chain antigen-binding proteins.

Single-chain antigen-binding proteins are novel recombinant polypeptides, composed of an antibody variable light-chain amino acid sequence (VL) tethered to a variable heavy-chain sequence (VH) by a designed peptide that links the carboxyl terminus of the VL sequence to the amino terminus of the VH sequence. These proteins have the same specificities and affinities for their antigens as the monoclonal antibodies whose VL and VH sequences were used to construct the recombinant genes that were expressed in Escherichia coli. Three of these proteins, one derived from the sequence for a monoclonal antibody to growth hormone and two derived from the sequences of two different monoclonal antibodies to fluorescein, were designed, constructed, synthesized, purified, and assayed. These proteins are expected to have significant advantages over monoclonal antibodies in a number of applications.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1988

Problem behavior and psychiatric impairment within a developmentally disabled population. III: Psychotropic medication.

This report is the third in a series on problem behavior and psychiatric impairment in a population of 35,000 individuals receiving developmental disabilities services. Young and middle-aged adults were found to receive psychotropic medication at higher rates than children, adolescents, or elderly persons. Psychotropic receipt rates were found to increase with increasing severity of mental retardation, but most evidently with increasing restrictiveness of residential setting, increasing rated severity of problem behaviors, and presence of a psychiatric impairment. Rates of medication receipt also varied as a function of psychiatric diagnostic category. Discussion remarks emphasize the need to include information relative to clinical and social aspects of program settings and the roles and decision-making performance of physicians and psychologists in research on settings serving persons with developmental disabilities.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Heritable somatic excision of a Drosophila transposon.

A mutation in the white gene of Drosophila mauritiana that results from insertion of the transposable element mariner is genetically unstable in both germ cells and somatic cells. Somatic instability is indicated by the occurrence of animals having mosaic eyes with patches of pigmented cells on a peach-colored background. Normally uncommon, the frequency of mosaicism is so greatly enhanced in a particular mutant strain that virtually every animal in the strain is an eye-color mosaic. The molecular basis of the mosaicism is the excision of the mariner element from its location in the DNA of the white gene in somatic cells. The phenomenon results from a single dominant genetic factor located in chromosome 3. Genetic control over the excision of transposable elements may play a role in determining the persistence of transposable elements in the genome.

Alleles↗
PubMed1986

Molecular structure of a somatically unstable transposable element in Drosophila.

A transposable element has been isolated from an unstable white mutation in Drosophila mauritiana, a sibling species of Drosophila melanogaster. The unstable white-peach (wpch) allele exhibits a spectrum of germ-line and somatic mutability more similar to insertion mutations in maize and in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans than has been reported for insertion mutations in Drosophila. The inserted element mariner is 1286 nucleotides long and has terminal inverted repeats. The element contains a single open reading frame encoding 346 amino acids. A duplication of 2 base pairs of white sequence is present at the insertion site. Mariner is present in approximately 20 copies in the D. mauritiana genome, is present from 0 to 7 copies in other members of the sibling species group, and is apparently absent from the genome of D. melanogaster.

Alleles↗
PubMed1986

Generational trends in sensory, physical, and behavioral abilities among older mentally retarded persons.

An extensive client registry data base was used to examine whether there were identifiable patterns in prevalence of chronic disease conditions, in decline of sensory capacities, and in decline of behavioral abilities among 10,532 elderly mentally retarded persons born between 1890 and 1939. Data indicated identifiable patterns in the prevalence of chronic disease conditions (cardiovascular, digestive, musculoskeletal, and respiratory systems) and the decline of behavioral and physical abilities and sensory capacities with increasing age. Functional skill losses were most prominent in mobility and fundamental activities of daily-living skill areas. Some behavioral losses were noted to occur earlier than would be expected in the general population; however, as with nonretarded persons, decline was highly variable and linked to the aging process experienced by each older retarded person. Implications of the findings were discussed.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1985

Coupled instability of two X-linked genes in Drosophila mauritiana: germinal and somatic mutability.

A highly unstable allele has been isolated at the white locus of Drosophila mauritiana, a sibling species of D. melanogaster. This allele, white-peach (wpch), mutates spontaneously in males and females to give both wild-type and bleached-white derivatives. The mutation frequency is about 10(-3) mutations/generation. There is no evidence for clustering among mutant progeny, and phenotypically wpch flies with mosaic patches of wild-type tissue in the eyes are frequently recovered. Another X-linked locus, plum, is destabilized when wpch is on the same X chromosome.

Alleles↗