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Biomedical subjects

M Buxton

Publications and source records attributed to M Buxton.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Sexual activity and condom use in high school students.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the level of sexual experience and condom use among Year 9 high school students. DESIGN: Self-administered questionnaire to all Year 9 students attending a personal development workshop. SETTING: The study was carried out in two regional high schools in New South Wales, one in an urban area and the other in a rural area. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 253 students in Year 9 at the two high schools; only two students declined to participate. RESULTS: Seventy-one students (28.1%) had had intercourse at least once. There was no statistically significant difference between the percentage of male and female students or rural and urban students who had had intercourse. Thirty students (42.3%) always used condoms, 35.2% used them sometimes and the other sexually active students had never used them. The commonest reasons for non-use were unplanned sex, unavailability or no time. CONCLUSIONS: The unpredictability of teenage sexual activity may mean that condoms are not available at the crucial time. Girls appear to have more difficulty in asking for condoms to be used, but the numbers are two small in this survey to draw definite conclusions. If both pregnancy and sexually transmissible diseases are to be prevented among adolescents, sex education must encourage condom use as the first method of contraception for this group and emphasise the need for consistent availability and use.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Will a breast screening programme change the workload and referral practice of general practitioners?

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to consider possible changes in the clinical activities of general practitioners whose patients are registered in a breast cancer screening programme. DESIGN: The study was a survey based on completion of forms recording breast consultations carried out by participating general practitioners during a four week period. SETTING: One of three intervention centres and one of three comparison centres in the national trial of early detection of breast cancer was selected. The intervention centre was in Guildford; the comparison centre in Stoke on Trent. PARTICIPANTS: The participants were general practitioners in the selected centres. In Guildford, 64 of 99 general practitioners approached took part (65%); in Stoke on Trent, 81 of 177 took part (46%). The proportion of male and female participants in the two centres was similar. Doctors in Stoke on Trent were older and worked in smaller practices than in Guildford. RESULTS: A comparison of workloads showed that in the screening centre there was less demand for doctor consultations from those in the screened age group, but those excluded from screening made more use of the general practitioners' services. A difference in referral practice was also apparent, with doctors in the screening centre referring more frequently for specialist advice. CONCLUSIONS: The evidence suggests that no significant change in the overall use of general practice resources can be expected with the introduction of national screening, but there may be greater pressure on assessment services.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Plasma growth hormone: effect of anxiety during flooding in vivo.

The treatment of phobias by rapid in vivo exposure to the feared situation was accompanied by an increase in plasma growth hormone levels on at least one of two occasions in 8 of 11 subjects. The average growth hormone response was greater on the second occasion, even though subjective anxiety was less. Plasma growth hormone was not elevated during the subjects' adaptation to the laboratory. Strong subjective and behavioral anxiety responses failed to elevate plasma growth hormone levels in some subjects. The probability of a growth hormone response was the same whether or not baseline levels were elevated prior to exposure.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Anxiety and plasma cortisol at the crest of the circadian cycle:reappraisal of a classical hypothesis.

Near-maximal anxiety by subjective and behavioral criteria was evoked and terminated in phobic patients by initiation and termination of rapid live confrontation ("flooding in vivo") with the specific stimulus that each avoided, at a time approximating the crest of the circadian cycle of adrenal cortical function. The procedure was associated with moderate, but not marked, elevations of plasma cortisol above control levels in some, but not all, subjects. Differences in anxiety levels as self-rated by the patients did not account for differences in cortisol response. The findings should stimulate further reevaluation of the hypothesis that affective arousal is the key psychological determinant of adrenal cortical function. Dissociation between subjective-behavioral arousal and plasma cortisol during flooding may be a manifestation of what behavior therapists call "desynchrony of fear."

Adult↗
PubMed1978

The prevalence of toxoplasma infection in southern Iran.

To determine the prevalence of infection with Toxoplasma gondii in the Fars Province of Iran, sera from 300 patients hospitalised at the Pahlavi University Medical Centre in Shiraz were tested. There were 157 males and 143 females, with a mean age of 39 years (range 10--80 years). The indirect immunofluorescent antibody technique was used and titres of 1:16 and above were considered positive. Eighty eight patients of whom 50 were male and 38 female (mean age 41 years, range 14--80 years) had positive sera. Of these 88 patients, 35 (40%), 25 (28%), 17 (19%), 5 (6%) and 6 (7%) had antibody titres of 1:16, 1:32, 1:64, 1:128 and 1:256 respectively. One hundred and twenty three of the 212 patients with negative sera (58%) had contact with cats. A similar proportion of patients with positive sera [51 of 88 (58%)] also had contact with cats. It is concluded that a substantial proportion of our patients (29%) show serological evidence of infection with Toxoplasma gondii. A significant correlation between exposure to cats and the consumption of improperly cooked meat on the one hand and seropositivity on the other, could not be demonstrated. There was no significant increase in the incidence of seropositivity with increasing age (P = 0.35).

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Applying the guidelines of Beyond the Best Interests of the Child.

Although the wisdom of the guidelines advocated in Beyond the Best Interests of the Child for making custody and visitation decisions is widely proclaimed, the realities of existing statutes and procedural systems preclude their simple application to present-day custody cases. It is the purpose of this paper to join the efforts of others in attempting to delineate how the theoretical policies and abstract strategies comprising these guidelines can be implemented under the constraints of present realities. This effort takes the form of three disguised cases to which is added the author's commentary on his interventions and recommendations.

Child↗
PubMed1976

"Flooding in vivo" during the circadian phase of minimal cortisol secretion: anxiety and therapeutic success without adrenal cortical activation.

Seven patients with maximally severe phobias for physical objects were treated by "flooding in vivo", i.e. live confrontation with the feared object. Each reported to the laboratory for 3 hr on five separate occasions, all in the early evening during the circadian phase of minimal adrenal cortical activity. At 20-min intervals during each session, blood was taken for cortisol assay, and anxiety was self-rated on a scale of 0 to 100. Treatment was carried out during the 2nd hr of the third and fourth sessions. The remaining time provided control observations. By behavioral and subjective criteria, the treatment hours produced very intense anxiety. However, they failed to evaluate plasma cortisol levels. The remission of the phobias was 100%. Anxiety, even when intense and dramatic, does not necessarily activate the adrenal cortex, and an adrenal "stress" response is not necessary for the therapeutic effect.

Adrenal Cortex↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Monitoring, reentry, and relapse prevention for chemically dependent health care professionals.

Monitoring and reentry programs for chemically dependent health care professionals are increasingly being recognized as important components of recovery efforts targeted at this population. Such monitoring and preventive programs should incorporate certain eligibility requirements, patient-monitoring program contracts, recovery maintenance activities and adjuncts, work-site assessments and reentry recommendations, random body fluid analysis, relapse management, and clear explanations of financial responsibility. Monitoring and reentry programs need to be fully integrated within the spectrum of resources available to health care professionals.

California↗