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K Sellers

Publications and source records attributed to K Sellers.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Readiness to change drinking among heavy-drinking college students.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine motivation to reduce alcohol consumption among heavy-drinking college students. Specific goals were to test the factor structure of the Stages of Change Readiness and Treatment Eagerness Scale (SOCRATES); present normative SOCRATES data for collegiate heavy drinkers; present a heuristic, using SOCRATES scales to determine stage of readiness to change heavy-drinking; and compare students at different stages of change on demographic and drinking variables. METHOD: Participants were 278 (187 female) undergraduates who reported at least one episode of heavy drinking within the past 3 months. Students completed the SOCRATES and other questionnaires that assessed current and past drinking and demographics. RESULTS: Confirmatory factor analysis provided modest support for the SOCRATES factor structure. Students were classified according to the transtheoretical model of change (67% Precontemplation, 20% Contemplation and 13% Action). Contemplators drank more often, consumed more alcohol, reported more heavy drinking episodes and experienced more alcohol consequences than the other groups. CONCLUSIONS: Two thirds of the heavy-drinking college students did not recognize a need to reduce their alcohol consumption, despite evidence of tolerance and negative drinking consequences.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Prolactin modulates the gonadotropin response to the negative feedback effect of testosterone in immature male rats.

The effects of hyperprolactinemia (hyperPRL) and hypoprolactinemia (hypoPRL) on pituitary gonadotropin secretion and the feedback sensitivity to testosterone (T) were evaluated in immature male rats. At 34 days of age, rats were divided into three groups: group 1, controls, injected with oil; group 2, treated with bromocriptine mesylate (CB-154; 250 micrograms in oil/rat X day); and group 3, subjected to the transplantation of one pituitary from an adult female rat under the kidney capsule and treated with oil. The treatments were continued for 14 days. On day 8, each of these groups were further divided into three subgroups: intact, castrated, and castrated plus T treated. T treatment consisted of injection of T propionate (TP; 50 micrograms in oil/rat) on alternate days starting immediately after castration. Blood samples were obtained by cardiac puncture throughout the study. Plasma PRL levels were significantly reduced by CB-154 treatment and significantly increased by the pituitary graft (P less than 0.001). In intact immature male rats, hyper- or hypoPRL did not affect plasma LH levels, whereas hyperPRL reduced (P less than 0.01) plasma FSH concentrations. The postcastration increase in circulating LH levels was significantly increased (P less than 0.001) in rats treated with CB-154 24 h after castration. Moreover, the suppressive effects of TP on plasma LH and FSH levels were significantly (P less than 0.05) attenuated in hypoPRL rats. In pituitary-grafted rats, effects of castration and TP replacement on plasma LH levels did not differ from those in control rats. These results demonstrate that subnormal levels of PRL reduce the sensitivity of the hypothalamic-pituitary system to feedback inhibition by T. In contrast to previous findings in the adult rats, acute hyperPRL in immature male rats did not affect the negative feedback action of T on gonadotropin secretion.

Animals↗