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Biomedical subjects

J Weinman

Publications and source records attributed to J Weinman.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Measuring coping in breast cancer.

The emotional distress associated with breast cancer varies between individual women. These variations may be accounted for by differences in cognitive and behavioural coping responses to diagnosis. This study has attempted to develop a reliable, situation-specific approach to the measurement of coping responses in women with breast cancer. It has adapted a general coping questionnaire and modified an interview-based schedule for coping with cancer. The strengths and weaknesses of the interview and self-report methods of assessment are highlighted. Consistent results from these complementary approaches have been obtained. Both indicate the extensive use of cognitive avoidance and positive reappraisal. It has been shown that the majority of patients use a wide repertoire of coping responses which challenges the notion of mutually exclusive coping styles. These measures may be employed to examine the relationship between women's thoughts and behaviours in response to the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer and subsequent psychological outcome.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1991

Developmental regulation of calmodulin gene expression in rat brain and skeletal muscle.

Three different calmodulin genes that encode the identical protein have been identified in the rat (Nojima, 1989); however, calmodulin gene expression at the various stages of tissue differentiation and maturation has not been previously determined. We have quantitated the content of mRNAs encoding calmodulin in the developing brain and skeletal muscle using RNA blot analysis with three specific cDNA probes. Our results show that five species of calmodulin mRNAs: 4.0 and 1.7 kb for CaM I, 1.4 kb for CaM II, and 2.3 and 0.8 kb for CaM III are detectable at all ages in the brain as well as in skeletal muscle but exhibit a tissue-specific developmental pattern of expression. The comparison of the temporal pattern of calmodulin gene expression with both mitotic activity, as demonstrated by cyclin A mRNA levels, and differentiation and maturation of specific brain or muscle regions is consistent with calmodulin involvement in development.

Animals↗
PubMed1990

Training trainers: a new approach for community medicine.

During 1985, two separate one-day seminars for trainees and trainers in South East Thames Regional Health Authority highlighted the need for a 'training the trainers' course to be run for trainers throughout the Region. This was held during 1987 and this paper gives a descriptive account of the course, highlights the lessons learnt, and summarises the evaluation obtained from participants. Thirteen trainers started the course, one changed jobs and left the Region, leaving twelve completing the course. Spread over nine months, the course included an initial weekend but was mainly run on a day release basis. The facilitators for the course, a psychologist and sociologist, had teaching experience in running similar courses for GP trainers. The course emphasised an adult learning model in which the trainer enabled the trainee to identify and meet their learning needs through appropriate support and facilitation. Although the career change from clinical work to public health medicine is likely to be more traumatic than other transitions within clinical medicine, the approach is applicable on a much wider basis.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Genetic analysis and cellular localization of the Rhizobium host specificity-determining NodE protein.

The nucleotide sequence of the nodE gene of Rhizobium trifolii strain ANU843 was determined. Like the nodE gene of R. leguminosarum strain 248 it encodes a protein with a predicted mol. wt of 42.0 kd. The predicted NodE proteins of R.trifolii and R.leguminosarum have a homology of 78%. Using antibodies raised against the NodE protein of R.trifolii it was shown that the NodE products of R.leguminosarum and R.trifolii are localized in the cytoplasmic membrane. Furthermore, these NodE proteins are predicted to contain at least two non-polar transbilayer alpha-helices. The nodE genes of R.trifolii and R.leguminosarum were separated from the nodF genes that precede them in the respective nodFE operons. Using the resulting clones, in which NodE was produced under control of the flavonoid-inducible nodABCIJ promoter of R.leguminosarum, it was shown that the NodE product is the main factor that distinguishes the host range of nodulation of R.trifolii and R.leguminosarum. Hybrid nodE genes, which consist of a 5' part of the R.leguminosarum nodE gene and a 3' part of the R.trifolii gene, were constructed. From the properties of these hybrid genes it was concluded that a central region of 185 amino acids at the most, containing only 44 non-identical amino acids, determines the difference in the host-specific characteristics of the two NodE proteins.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1989

Selective processing of threat cues in anxiety states: a replication.

A replication of Mathews and MacLeod's (Behav. Res. Ther. 23, 563-569, 1985) study, using a modified Stroop task, confirmed that threat words selectively interfere with the colour-naming performance of generally anxious patients, compared with normal controls. Clearer evidence was obtained of a highly specific interference effect of threat words that were congruent with the predominant worries reported by anxious patients. However, there was no evidence of a subsequent recognition memory bias for the threat words in anxious Ss. These results are discussed in relation to findings from other recent experiments investigating attentional and memory biases for threat-related information in anxiety states, and their implications for cognitive theories of anxiety are considered.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

A survey of preclinical psychology teaching in United kingdom medical schools.

This paper is based on a relatively brief postal survey of teaching in United Kingdom medical schools. Data were collected from 29 of the 30 medical schools about the provisions for their preclinical psychology teaching and examination as well as some indicators of the reactions of students and other staff. The results show that some progress has been made in the teaching of psychology to medical students but there is considerable variation across schools. The rated level of interest and attendance by students appears to be good and the rated attitudes of other staff were mixed. However, many of the respondents reported that their teaching hours were not adequate and that they wanted to achieve other changes in their type and content of teaching.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1989

Schizophrenic inability to judge facial emotion: a controlled study.

The ability of schizophrenics to judge facial emotion was examined using a new test derived to remedy methodological inadequacies in previous studies. The derivation procedure of the test is described. Five groups of 20 subjects each took part: acute schizophrenics, chronic schizophrenics, schizophrenics in remission, in-patients with depressive illness and normal subjects. They were asked to make a dichotomous emotion judgement ('happy' or 'sad') about a set of photographed faces: and then to make a dichotomous non-emotion judgement ('old' or 'young') on a set of photographs chosen from the same original pool to form a task of equal difficulty and discriminating ability. It was predicted, from previous studies, that acute schizophrenics would be specifically impaired on judging emotional expression in faces. Instead, they were found to be impaired on both an emotion and a non-emotion task on photographs of faces when these tasks were matched for difficulty and discriminating ability. They were significantly worse than remitted schizophrenics and normal subjects for both tasks, and for emotion, significantly worse then depressed subjects as well. The findings are considered in the light of current theories of visual processing in schizophrenia and of the neuropsychology of face processing.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Regulation by thyroid hormones of terminal differentiation in the skeletal dorsal muscle. I. Neonate mouse.

Changes both in the ATPase myofibrillar profile and in the electrophoretic pattern of myosin isoforms were examined in the mouse dorsal skeletal muscle (longissimus) during postnatal development. In the newborn, only type II C and a few type I fibers were present; differentiation into type II A and II B fibers took place during the 3 weeks following birth. During the same period, a transition from three neonatal isomyosins to four adult isoforms was observed. The two phenomena were related to a marked increase in the serum thyroid hormones levels. Hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism experiments were performed. Hypothyroidism produced by propylthiouracil treatment of pregnant females and thiourea injections of the litters was shown to induce a complete inhibition of postnatal muscular differentiation. Hyperthyroidism produced by triiodothyronine treatment of the neonate mice significantly accelerated the myosin transition and the switch in the myofibrillar pattern. Our results suggest a primordial role for thyroid hormones in directly regulating the appearance of myosin and fiber adult types and in modulating directly or indirectly the disappearance of the neonatal types.

Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
PubMed1979

Oculographic automatic perimetry in glaucoma visual field screening: a clinical study--preliminary results in glaucoma patients.

An automatic method for visual field screening using oculographic potentials have been evaluated on 12 eyes of 65 glaucoma patients. The oculographic perimeter records, plotting the central 22 degrees of the visual field, have been compared with Armaly's manual selective perimetry performed by the Goldman Perimeter. In spite of different testing standards of both methods, equivalent pathological field defects were demonstrated in 72% of the eyes following the first examination. Successive plottings with the automatic method improved the results considerably. The method has proved to be a reliable objective automatic test. Further development is suggested through which the procedure might be useful for glaucoma screening in the future.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Automatic testing of the visual field using electro-oculographic potentials.

The central visual field is tested using static perimetry on a tangent screen located 1 m from the patient. During the test electro-oculographic (EOG) potentials, associated with eye movements, are recorded. For this purpose two pairs of electrodes are placed in such a way that one pair records the vertical and the other the horizontal component of the EOG potential. The EOG signals that are produced when the tested eye moves toward the light target on the screen are digitized and fed into a computer programmed to relate each pair of signals to the specific lamp on the tangent screen. The results of the test appear on a computer-printed chart that shows the distribution of the lamps on the testing board together with the information whether the lamp was seen by the subject. This method of visual field testing is both objective and automatic.

Automation↗
PubMed1977

High fidelity ECG in the diagnosis of occult coronary artery disease: a study of patients with normal conventional ECG.

High fidelity (HF) electrocardiography (ECGY) was performed on four groups of patients with a normal resting electrocardiogram (ECG). Two groups (A and B) consisted of normal subjects over or under the age of 40, while the other two groups of patients (C and D) underwent coronary arteriography because of chest pain. HR ECG components within the initial portion of the QRS complex were significantly more common among patients with advanced coronary disease. The difference between the normal groups and the group with documented coronary artery disease (CAD) became more significant when the number of leads showing the HF ECG components was counted. Precordial leads were more sensitive in predicting the presence or absence of CAD than limb leads. HF ECG components in the terminal portion of the QRS complex did not differentiate between normals and patients with coronary artery disease, unless the number of leads showing these HF ECG components was considered. It seems that abnormal HF ECG components can point to minor areas of fibrosis caused by coronary artery disease even if the resting conventional ECG is normal.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

The pre-clinical curriculum: an information processing problem.

In this study revision procedures for examinations were investigated by questionnaire in a group of students undertaking a new pre-clinical course. The results revealed that students' own notes were by far the most preferred source of revision material and that lectures were the main source of these notes. Evidence of the actual revision strategies used together with their time scheduling was also obtained. Since lectures were shown to be the most significant form of input for later revision, a further study investigated the amount written and recalled from a single lecture, immediately afterwards and following a 5 month gap. The amount recalled was surprisingly high on both occasions but was not related to the amount of notes taken in the lecture. No significant sex differences in recall were observed but there was evidence that female students took significantly more notes. A much greater variation in the amount recalled was also observed over the longer time period.

Curriculum↗
PubMed1975

Cognitive deficits associated with chronic hepatic encephalopathy and their response to levodopa.

A battery of computer-based psychological tests given to seven patients with chronic hepatic encephalopathy showed them to be intellectually impaired, particularly on speed-based measures, as compared with general hospital patients and with patients with cirrhosis but without clinical or electroencephalographic evidence of encephalopathy. Two of the seven patients in the latter group also showed evidence of cognitive impairment on some tests. The effects of levodopa were also evaluated by sequential assessment with these tests. Although there was some improvement in speed of performance on certain tasks and a suggestion of deterioration on other measures, there was little overall change. It is concluded that levodopa has an 'arousing' or antidepressant action and that its effect on intellectual functions is secondary to this alerting effect and is consequently dependent on the emotional and attentional status of the patient.

Adult↗