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Biomedical subjects

K English

Publications and source records attributed to K English.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

The impact of polygraphy on admissions of victims and offenses in adult sexual offenders.

Sexual offenders are extremely reluctant to disclose their offending histories for a variety of psychosocial and legal reasons. The polygraph has shown promise as a intervention for eliciting admissions of past sexual offending behaviors. For 60 adult male sexual offender (35 inmates and 25 parolees), the number of victims and offenses were recorded from the Presentence Investigative Report, Sexual History Disclosure form, and 2 consecutive polygraph examination reports. Dramatic increases in the number of admitted victims and offenses were found for inmates, but not for parolees, across each source. However, there was a substantial decline in the number of victim and offense admissions by the second polygraph examination for both groups, even though 80% of the examination results reveled deception about sexual offending behaviors. Standardized use of sanctions and privileges for deceptive and nondeceptive polygraph results, respectively, are proposed as a way of eliciting full disclosure of offending histories for these offenders.

Adult↗

Acquiring counseling skills in mid-career: outcomes of a distance education course for practicing audiologists.

Although considered an essential component of audiology service delivery, counseling skills often are not adequately addressed in graduate training programs. One of the many goals of the audiology doctorate is to address this deficit by providing formal course work in counseling for both traditional graduate students and practitioners. This study describes the outcomes of a counseling class taught via distance education to mid-career audiologists, who initially were found to provide informational or technical responses to affective patient comments (a so-called "communication mismatch"). In spite of inherent limitations in electronic instruction, students demonstrated learning outcomes comparable to those obtained from conventional classroom instruction, including an improvement in their ability to respond to the affective nature of patient comments.

Audiology↗

Counseling in audiology, or learning to listen: pre- and post-measures from an audiology counseling course.

Because of a "technology explosion," audiologists have more options than ever in providing for their patients' hearing needs. However, relatively few individuals with hearing loss seek out amplification, and those who do frequently report dissatisfaction with the quality of their interactions with audiologists. Most audiologists did not have coursework in counseling in their graduate programs, which may account for patient complaints. As part of a course development evaluation of an audiology counseling course, a preliminary study was conducted to examine two student learning objectives: to learn how to differentiate between content messages and affective messages and to learn how to respond to each type of message appropriately. Pre- and postcourse data collected from two cohorts of audiology graduate students indicated that (a) before taking the course, students were likely to provide informational responses to personal adjustment comments (a type of "communication mismatch"), and (b) at the end of the class, they were much more likely to match or mirror affective statements with affective responses.

Adult↗

Interaction among preschoolers with and without disabilities: effects of across-the-day peer intervention.

We examined the effects of a peer-mediated intervention package that taught typically developing children to be more aware of communicative attempts to classmates with disabilities, to use a small set of facilitative strategies ("Stay, play, talk"), and to distribute strategy use across the school day. A multiple baseline design across subjects was instituted with two cohorts of preschool children. Following baseline observations, a total of 8 target children with moderate development disabilities were eventually paired with trained peers who received "buddy training." One trained peer were taught facilitative strategies and encouraged to use them during classroom activities, consistent improvements in social interaction on the part of the trained peers and target children were demonstrated. Similar or more frequent interactions were demonstrated when trained peers were reassigned to different target children during generalization probes. In addition, treatment effects were revealed when comparing sequential analyses applied to the specific communicative behaviors across experimental conditions, in changes in target children's sociometric ratings, and in social validity judgments of videotapes from before and after treatment. This peer intervention approach has promise for improving the communicative interaction and social integration of children with disabilities attending inclusive preschools.

Child↗

Ethnic differences in psychological functioning among black and Latino sexually abused girls.

Psychological assessments were conducted for Black and Latino sexually abused girls aged 8 to 13 years. Latino girls received significantly higher scores for depression than the Black girls. These differences in depression appeared to be related to ethnic differences in the circumstances of the abuse. Latino girls were abused at a younger age; more likely to be abused by a relative; and more likely to have had a sibling abused. Latinos were also more likely to report high levels of family conflict and somewhat lower levels of maternal support. Ethnicity was also found to be related to psychological functioning independently of the impact of other factors such as the circumstances of the abuse. Cultural and social factors that may influence psychological functioning subsequent to sexual abuse among Black and Latino girls are identified and discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Adjusting the cost-quality equation: utilizing work sampling and time study data to redesign clinical practice.

Quality patient care through effective resource utilization is a health care imperative. While developing a patient classification system based on work sampling and time study data, quality and cost issues were analyzed. The purpose of this study was to compare cost and quality outcomes from practice redesign that resulted from work sampling and time study data. Practice redesign included standards of care documentation, research-based procedures, system reorganization, and role clarification. Results included increased nurse satisfaction, decreased time and money for indirect care, and positive patient outcomes. Work sampling and time study data provide opportunities to impact clinical practice, resulting in improved outcomes for patients and staff.

Communication↗

A prospective evaluation of radiologic criteria for head injury patients in a community emergency department.

Several management strategies for radiographic evaluation of head-injury patients have been developed, most are based on retrospective analysis. The study attempted to prospectively evaluate the previously published Masters' criteria defining low-, medium-, and high-yield patients. A community hospital emergency department with a low prevalence of serious head injury was studied, and 1,000 consecutive patients 2 years of age presenting with historical or physical evidence of blunt head trauma were asked to participate; 967 consented. The patients were categorized by staff emergency physicians as low-, moderate-, and high-yield for intracranial injury on the basis of their initial history and physical examination. These categories guided imaging decisions in accordance with the guidelines of Masters. The patients were evaluated 6 weeks later by multiple questionnaire and/or telephone calls to determine whether or not undiagnosed head injuries had been missed. The 967 patients initially evaluated were classified according to their risk of intracranial injury as follows: 886 at low risk, 78 at moderate risk and 3 at high risk. Complete follow-up data were available for 895 of these patients (93%). Of the 895, 71 patients (7.9%) did report receiving follow-up medical care for their head injury; none had evidence of missed intracranial injury requiring intervention. Therefore, it can be inferred with a 95% confidence interval that 0.4% or less of patients who were diagnosed as not having intracranial injuries requiring intervention may actually have such injuries. The application of Masters' management strategy in low-risk populations permits clinicians to safely reduce the number of radiographs ordered for patients with head injury.

Brain Injuries↗

Gunshot wounds in children under 10 years of age. A new epidemic.

Before 1980 we had not treated any children with gunshot wounds who were younger than 10 years of age, but the number has increased dramatically each year since then. Thirty-four children younger than 10 years of age were treated for gunshot wounds from 1980 to 1987. Sociologic and epidemiologic data were assessed by a child-abuse team and police. Other studies have concluded that gunshot wounds in young children were usually caused by unintentional injury, child abuse, or neglect. From our present study we add a further, and very disturbing, category, that of attempted or intentional pediatric homicide. The children in this category were shot in retaliation for gang activities of their older siblings. This study demonstrates that the majority of our patients' childhood gunshot wounds were related to gang violence and retaliation, the availability of handguns in the home, and child neglect. The prevalence of childhood gunshot wounds in the inner city is increasing dramatically.

California↗

Stimulation of prostaglandin E2 synthesis in chondrocytes by a factor derived from activated macrophages.

The serum-free spent medium of lipopolysaccharide-activated rabbit peritoneal macrophages contains a proteinaceous factor that stimulates the synthesis of PGE2 in rabbit articular chondrocytes. Synthesis of this factor by macrophages is inhibited by cycloheximide. Stimulation of PGE2 in chondrocytes is detected after a four-hour exposure to the macrophage factor and is completely abolished by the addition of either cycloheximide or indomethacin to the chondrocyte cultures. The macrophage derived factor has an apparent molecular weight of 30,000, is heat stable and not inactivated upon reductive alkylation or on treatment with phenylglyoxal. Activity is partially destroyed upon treatment with acid (pH 2.0) and upon trypsin treatment.

Animals↗

Phosphatidic acid-mediated regulation of neutrophil plasma membrane CD45-phosphotyrosine phosphatase.

CD45-phosphotyrosine phosphatase (PTPase) constitutes the major portion of thr PTPase activity within plasma membranes of neutrophilic leukocytes, where it regulates signals leading to functional activation. We have previously demonstrated that the catalytic component of neutrophil plasma membrane CD45-PTPASE is regulated by a cytosolic inactivator which itself is attenuated upon cellular stimulation, allowing enzyme translocated from granule stores to express full activity. The present study investigated mechanisms of cytosolic inactivator attenuation. Preincubation of plasma membranes of stimulated neutrophils with cytosol from resting cells resulted in a rapid loss of membrane-associated PTPase activity. Phosphatidic acid had no direct effect on plasma membrane PTPase activity but blunted in a dose dependent manner the effects of the PTPase inactivator. Inactivator attenuation was not observed with equivalent concentrations of either diacylglycerol or lysophosphatidic acid. Optimal attenuation of inactivator activity was obtained with long chain, soluble ligands, such as dicapryl phosphatidic acid. Inhibitors of neutrophil plasma membrane ecto-phosphatidic acid phosphohydrolase did not block inactivator attenuation, suggesting that phosphatidic acid and not one of its metabolites was the entity responsible. In conclusion, neutrophil plasma membrane PTPase is dynamically regulated by a cytosolic inactivator, the inhibition of which may potentiate the effects of PTPase translocated during cellular stimulation. Phosphatidic acid generated as a consequence of cellular stimulation may mediate this inhibition and thereby regulate the effects of tyrosine kinases activated during the initial phases of cell stimulation.

Cell Membrane↗