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Biomedical subjects

L Gilmore

Publications and source records attributed to L Gilmore.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

A comparative study of mastery motivation in young children with Down's syndrome: similar outcomes, different processes?

BACKGROUND: Findings from previous research into motivation in young children with Down's syndrome (DS) have been mixed. Some studies have suggested that development is merely delayed, while others have proposed that there are inherent differences or deficits. Using the mastery motivation paradigm, studies of young children have often found that those with DS are just as persistent and goal-directed as typically developing children of the same mental age (MA). However, research involving children with DS with MAs above 2 years is very limited. The major aim of the present study was to extend previous research by focusing on children with MAs between 24 and 36 months. A secondary aim was to investigate issues which would advance conceptual knowledge about the construct of mastery motivation. METHOD: The participants were 25 children with DS and 43 typically developing children, matched for MA (24-36 months). The main measures of mastery motivation were persistence with structured mastery tasks (i.e. puzzles and shape-sorters) and maternal reports. RESULTS: With the challenging tasks, children with DS were just as persistent as the typically developing children. Correlations of persistence measures in the group with DS suggested that persistence for these children represented a more generalized approach rather than a task-specific response. Maternal ratings of persistence were lower in the group with DS. CONCLUSIONS: The main conclusion was that children with DS in the MA range of 24-36 months do not differ in their persistence with challenging tasks when compared with typically developing children of the same MA. The implication is that motivational development is delayed for children with DS, rather than deficient. However, there were some indications of possible differences in the processes underlying mastery behaviour in the two groups. The study addresses a number of conceptual and methodological issues associated with mastery motivation research, and stresses the important contribution that future longitudinal studies could make.

Child↗

Deletion of 8p: a report of a child with normal intelligence.

The case is presented of a female infant with a distal deletion of 8p (8p23.1-->pter) whose development was monitored over a 5-year period from 12 months of age. Although previous literature has suggested that 8p deletion is associated with mild to moderate intellectual disability, the child reported here has normal intelligence. Despite initial delays in gross motor and language skills, cognitive development (assessed with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development) and intellectual ability (measured on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale) were within average range. It is argued that the small number of previous case reports may have created a misleading impression of intellectual development in individuals with distal deletions of 8p.

Child↗

Controlled evaluation of thermal biofeedback in treatment of elevated blood pressure in unmedicated mild hypertension.

In the first of two studies, 42 unmedicated mild hypertensives completed either 16 sessions of thermal biofeedback (TBF) training for hand (7 sessions) and foot (9 sessions) warming or 8 weeks of monitoring BPs at home. There was a trend (p < .10) for more of those treated (57.1%) to have DBPs lower than 90 mm Hg than for those only monitoring BPs at home (33%). Analyses of clinic BP values from random zero sphygmomanometer measurements, from 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring, and from home BP measurements made by the patient showed no advantage for treatment versus BP monitoring. Sixteen of the 21 patients in BP monitoring were later treated. Analyses of treatment effects across all treated subjects by gender revealed a significant (p = .02) decrease in DBP for treated female subjects (n = 13) but not for males (n = 24). In the second study the 22 initial treatment successes, that is, those whose DBP was below 90 mm Hg at posttreatment (59.4% of those who completed treatment), were randomized to an intensive follow-up (monthly visits for 6 months, then visits every two months) emphasizing regular home practice with an electronic TBF device or regular follow-up (visits every 3 months). Twelve of the 22 were still normotensive at 12 months. There were no differences at any point during the follow-up between the two conditions in success rate or BPs despite a numerical advantage in reported frequency of home practice by those in the intensive follow-up condition.

Adult↗

The quest for the Holy Grail of systems.

Software agents like Edify can be used to retrieve (and store) information from most online systems, without having to access each system's database. These techniques allow information integration (display) into Windows applications or in new reference and information retrieval applications or Web pages. These techniques can be used to bridge the gap until the Holy Grail of systems is built (and works).

Delivery of Health Care, Integrated↗

Thermal biofeedback as an effective substitute for sympatholytic medication in moderate hypertension: a failure to replicate.

Thirty-three moderate hypertensives were converted to a 2-drug regimen of metoprolol and diuretic and BPs stabilized at a well-controlled level. They then completed one of three conditions over an 8-week interval: (I) 16 sessions of TBF (hand and foot warming); (II) 16 sessions of frontal EMG-BF; (III) regular home monitoring of BP. Attempts were then made to withdraw the patients from the sympatholytic medication. Those successfully withdrawn were followed up for one year. There were no significant advantages for TBF over the other two conditions in the short term or with long-term follow-up. Only 27% of treated patients (including Condition III failures who were remedicated and treated with TBF) were successfully off of the sympatholytic at a one-year follow-up. The generally poor results on clinical outcome were confirmed by clinic BPs, home BPs by patients, and 24-hour ambulatory BPs.

Biofeedback, Psychology↗

Changes in public support for alcohol policies following a community-based campaign.

An evaluated community action project carried out in New Zealand provincial cities used a quasi-experimental design which compared cities exposed to a mass media campaign, with and without community development, against reference cities. A major focus of the project was on alcohol policies, particularly alcohol advertising and availability. This emphasis is in keeping with an increased recognition that the appropriate role of alcohol education is to create a climate in which policies likely to shape appropriate drinking behaviours are accepted by the community. A range of complementary quantitative and qualitative evaluation techniques documented the community programme and indicated success in influencing the attitudes of the population.

Alcoholism↗

Alcohol taxes: do the poor pay more than the rich?

Concern has often been expressed that alcohol taxes bear more heavily on the poor than on the rich, especially if these taxes are based on quantity rather than price. However, surprisingly little is known about how the tax burden is distributed across different income groups. Utilizing survey data from 3010 respondents in New Zealand, this study calculates exactly how much alcohol tax was paid by respondents in different income groups and in different types of households. These results were applied to household expenditure survey data to estimate the incidence of alcohol taxes across different households. The results suggest that, although in dollar terms the wealthiest households paid about four times as much alcohol tax as the poorest households, when expressed as a percentage of income, alcohol taxes are distributed proportionally across the lower income brackets but decline towards the upper end of the income scale. These taxes accounted for less than 1% of household income for all income groups. Households with children generally paid less alcohol tax than households without children. It is concluded that alcohol taxes in New Zealand do not seriously conflict with the broader equity objectives of government policy.

Alcoholic Beverages↗

An evaluated community action project on alcohol.

This article reports outcomes of an evaluated community action program directed toward alcohol problem prevention. In a quasi-experimental design, change was monitored in six cities--two cities with an alcohol-focused community organizer and media campaign, two cities with the media campaign only and two reference cities. The community organizers worked with a local alcohol coordinating committee and other local organizations. They focused on alcohol availability (including the promotion of nonalcoholic beverages), advertising and, to a lesser extent, pricing policies. The media campaign focused on reducing the large-quantity drinking of young men, and generated considerable controversy. Before and after surveys of the general population were carried out to evaluate the outcome of the project. Support for control policies on advertising, availability and price held steady in the treatment communities but dropped in the reference communities. The perception of alcohol being essential to entertaining and as being relatively innocuous decreased significantly in the community-action cities. The project thus appears to have met its objectives in these areas, although primarily by stemming the national trend toward greater support for liberalization.

Alcoholism↗

Early experiences with alcohol: a survey of an eight and nine year old sample.

An interview study of 743 eight and nine year old children, and their mothers, investigated the children's experiences with alcohol. There was a high level of personal experience with alcohol: over 90% of the children have had a least a sip of alcohol and a quarter of the children have a sip in a typical month. This reflects the use of alcohol in a family setting by the parents of the sample, and when asked for their source of information about alcohol the majority of children said it came from first hand experience or conversation within the family. However, one-third of the children mentioned television as their source. The effects of alcohol were perceived by the majority of the children primarily as short-term effects indicating drunkenness and a third of the children had been aware of alcohol-related problems within their own environment.

Alcohol Drinking↗

Parasitic disease control in a residential facility for the mentally retarded: failure of selected isolation procedures.

Asymptomatic infection with either Entamoeba histolytica or Giardia lamblia was found in 60 per cent of the residents in an institution for the mentally retarded one year after eradication of these parasites. The residents were then segregated into infected and noninfected groups and drug therapy was again successfully undertaken. The two groups remained separated except during periods of play. A one-year follow-up showed that both study and control groups were equally infected. The failure of segregation was confounded by patient age and infection with nonpathogenic parasites.

Adolescent↗

RMP report.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Alabama↗