PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

L Bank

Publications and source records attributed to L Bank.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Functional bowel disorders. A multicenter comparison of health status and development of illness severity index.

In a multicenter study of patients with painful functional bowel disorders (FBD), we compared the demographic, health status, and diagnostic features of patients with FBD and developed a functional bowel disorder severity index (FBDSI) for research and clinical care. Two hundred seventy patients with FBD in the United States, England, and Canada were surveyed on symptoms and health status, and their physicians made a diagnosis and rated illness severity as mild, moderate, or severe. Comparisons of 22 demographic and clinical variables were made by study site in addition to physicians' severity ratings. To develop the FBDSI, multiple regression analysis used the demographic and clinical variables to predict the physician's rating of severity. We found that most health status measures of patients with FBD across study sites are comparable and the derived and validated FBDSI scoring system uses three easy to obtain variables: FBDSI = [current pain by visual analog scale (0-100)] + [diagnosis of chronic functional abdominal pain (0 if absent and 106 if present)] + [number of physicians visits over previous six months x 11]. The FBDSI can be used to select patients for research protocols and/or follow their clinical outcome or response to treatments over time.

Abdominal Pain↗
PubMed1993

Some problems and solutions in the study of change: significant patterns in client resistance.

Latent growth curve methodology was applied to the study of patterns of change in client resistance during parent training therapy. The clinical sample consisted of 68 mothers of children, 52 boys and 16 girls, ages 5 through 12 years, with confirmed conduct problems. Simple linear and linear spline growth models were fit to the three repeated observational measures of maternal resistance during therapy and found inadequate. Instead, a quadratic growth model was used. Pretherapy maternal characteristics of inept discipline and antisocial behavior predicted chronically high levels of resistance. Maternal depressed mood predicted less negative quadratic curvature. No significant predictors of overall change in resistance were detected. Lack of negative curvature of the resistance growth curves predicted child court offenses during a 2-year posttermination follow-up. Results are discussed with reference to the struggle-and-working-through hypothesis of client resistance.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Parent and teacher ratings in the assessment and prediction of antisocial and delinquent behaviors.

Subjects consisted of a sample of two cohorts of approximately 100 boys each whose behaviors were rated by their parents and teachers. Criterion variables included antisocial behavior, based on parent, child, teacher, and interviewer reports, and delinquency, based on parent and child reports in addition to cumulative arrest data taken from juvenile court records. The data suggest that mothers are focused on the daily, irritating behaviors of their sons. Teachers, on the other hand, appear to focus on a relatively small number of items (e.g., child physically attacks others, associates with deviant peers), and thereby provide ratings that are better predictors of delinquency and arrest. When the mothers' ratings were constrained to include only items that were salient for teachers, their predictive validity coefficients approached the magnitude of the teacher coefficients.

Child↗
PubMed1991

A comparative evaluation of parent-training interventions for families of chronic delinquents.

Fifty-five families of chronically offending delinquents were randomly assigned to parent-training treatment or to service traditionally provided by the juvenile court and community. The families in the parent-training group received an average of 44.8 hours of professional contact (23.3 hours of which were phone contacts), and each control group family received treatment estimated at more than 50 hours on the average. Comparisons of police contact data at baseline and subsequent years for the two groups showed that subjects in both groups demonstrated reduced rates of offending during the followup years. The finding most relevant was significant treatment-by-time effect for offense rates, with most of this effect accounted for by a greater reduction in serious crimes for the experimental group during the treatment year, and a similar reduction of the community control group occurring in the first of three followup years. These early decrements in offense rates persisted during followup for both groups. Throughout the study, boys in the experimental group spent significantly less time in institutional settings than did boys in the control group. Parent training had a significant impact, but the reduction in offending was produced at very high emotional cost to staff. Although it is clear that this population requires substantial treatment resources, this study underscores the need for more work on prevention.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

The spectrum and natural history of common bile duct stenosis in chronic alcohol-induced pancreatitis.

Sixty patients with chronic alcohol-induced pancreatitis with endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography evidence of common bile duct stenosis were studied to determine the clinical spectrum and natural history of this complication, as well as the indications for biliary bypass. In 17% of patients, common bile duct stenosis (CBDS) was an incidental finding at ERCP, while in the remaining cases pain and jaundice were the predominant symptoms in 35% and 48%, respectively. Biliary drainage was performed in 38% of patients for persistent or recurrent jaundice, cholangitis, and while undergoing pancreatic duct or cyst drainage procedures for pain. The benign nature of CBDS in chronic alcohol-induced pancreatitis (CAIP) in patients without persistent jaundice is emphasized. In particular, no histologically proved cases of secondary biliary cirrhosis were noted. The majority of patients with CBDS due to CAIP may be safely managed without biliary bypass but require close follow-up.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Comparison of pirenzepine with cimetidine in duodenal ulcer disease. A short-term and maintenance study.

Sixty-seven patients with endoscopically proven duodenal ulceration were entered into a double-blind study and randomized to treatment with pirenzepine (PZ) (Gastrozepin; Boehringer Ingelheim) 50 mg twice daily or cimetidine (CM) (Tagamet; Smith Kline & French Laboratories) 400 mg twice daily, given 30 minutes before breakfast and supper. Patients underwent endoscopic examination before entry, at 4 weeks, and at 8 weeks if unhealed at 4 weeks. Once healing was achieved, 43 patients were entered into a single-blind maintenance study with either PZ 50 mg at night or CM 400 mg at night according to their original randomization. CM had a slight, but not significant, advantage over PZ after 4 weeks, but the 8-week data showed identical healing rates. The relapse rate appeared to be higher in the PZ-treated group, but this difference was also not significant. It is suggested that the evening dose of PZ be amended to 50 or perhaps 100 mg before bed in the short-term treatment of duodenal ulcer, and that a dose of 100 mg at night be considered for maintenance therapy in certain high-risk populations.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Peptic ulcer. A follow-up study.

One hundred and ten patients who had been entered into an ulcer healing study 2 to 4 years previously were recalled during an 8-week period for clinical assessment and endoscopy. Fifty-five gastric ulcer patients were followed-up after an average period of 21.2 months. Nine of these had undergone gastric surgery; of the remaining 46 patients, recurrent ulceration was found in 16 (35%). Fifty-five patients with duodenal ulcer disease were also followed-up after an average of 35.6 months. Five of these patients had undergone surgery and of the remaining 50, 25 (50%) had a recurrent duodenal ulcer. About one-third of both gastric and duodenal ulcer recurrences were asymptomatic. Smoking had no effect on recurrence rates.

Duodenal Ulcer↗
PubMed1984

Effect of mepyramine on the untoward side-effects of impromidine.

The value of impromidine, a potent histamine H2-receptor agonist, as an effective acid-secretory stimulant is limited by its tendency to cause cardiovascular side-effects. The possibility that the latter may be mediated not only by H2-receptors in the heart and peripheral blood vessels but also by overflow stimulation of H1-receptors was investigated in a double-blind study using impromidine with or without the H1-antagonist, mepyramine maleate. There was no significant difference between the two groups, suggesting that the side-effects are mediated by H2-receptors in the cardiovascular system alone.

Aminopyridines↗
PubMed1982

Subacute cor pulmonale in hypersensitivity pneumonitis. A case report.

A 37-year-old non-smoking woman exposed to avian antigens developed progressive respiratory symptoms over several months, culminating in cor pulmonale. Transient nodular shadowing was noted on the chest radiograph, and pulmonary function tests showed a predominantly obstructive pattern. Elimination of antigenic exposure and treatment with diuretics and subsequently corticosteroids resulted in marked but incomplete improvement.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Depression, physical health and somatic complaints in the elderly: a study of the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale.

The relationships between depression, measured by the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS), somatic symptoms based on self-reports, and health based on medical evaluations, were investigated in 60 depressed older persons (median age 64.5 years) in relatively good physical health. No relationship was found between health ratings and depression scores, but a significant association emerged between a Somatic Symptom subscale, specifically the single item of fatiguability, physicians' ratings of health, and depression scores. Results of factor analyses of the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale were similar to those reported in previous studies and indicated a factor structure apparently based on the positioning of the positively and negatively worded items. It is suggested, therefore, that further investigations be carried out to evaluate the possible response bias on this scale.

Aged↗
PubMed1979

Health in old age: how do physicians' ratings and self-ratings compare?

The present study was designed to provide information on the relationship between self-reports of health and physicians' ratings in an aged sample, and to determine how both of these measures of health relate to longevity. Subjects were 69 survivors (median age = 84.25 years) of a sample of aged twins who had been followed longitudinally since 1947 to 1949. Self-reports of health were found to be significantly correlated with ratings assigned by a physician on the basis of medical records. Both types of measures were predictive of differences in survival time among the younger subjects in the sample, but neither was significantly related to longevity for older subjects. The results suggest that self-reports could provide a valid, cost-effective means of health assessment in studies in which other forms of health information are lacking.

Aged↗
PubMed1978

Gerovital-H3: a clinical trial as an antidepressant.

Twenty-five volunteers, all in their fifth decade or beyond, all with mild to moderate, nonpsychotic depression of at least several months' duration participated in a double-blind study of Gerovital vs placebo. There was no significant difference between the Gerovital and placebo groups; both groups showed significant improvement on self-rating as well as observer rating scales.

Aged↗