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Biomedical subjects

M Donald

Publications and source records attributed to M Donald.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Emotional health of Indonesian adoptees living in Australian families.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the prevalence of emotional and behavioural problems in adolescent adoptees from Indonesia living in South Australian families with that of adolescents living in the community and those referred to mental health clinics in South Australia. METHOD: Thirty-four Indonesian adoptees completed the Youth Self-Report and their adoptive mothers completed the Child Behaviour Checklist. The results on these instruments were compared with the scores of a community sample and a mental health clinic population. RESULTS: There was a striking similarity between scores on the Youth Self-Report and the Child Behaviour Checklist instruments for the adoption and community groups. Both these groups had significantly fewer problems than adolescents referred to mental health clinics. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that the outcome in terms of emotional and behavioural health for intercountry adoptions between Indonesia and Australia is favourable.

Acculturation↗
PubMed1995

The neurobiology of human consciousness: an evolutionary approach.

Human brains are basically primate in design, but in addition have representational mechanisms that give human consciousness a special character. The evolution in hominids of new kinds of representational skill--both nonverbal and verbal--produced our capacity for skilled rehearsal and explicit memory retrieval, and allowed the invention of conventional, or public representations, including languages and external symbols. The latter have created demands at the cultural level that greatly influence the deployment of cerebral resources. The spiralling interaction of brain and culture in evolution has resulted in a unique quasi-modular architecture at the highest levels of human cerebral integration.

Animals↗
PubMed1995

Survival of fecal microorganisms in marine and freshwater sediments.

The survival of culturable fecal coliforms, fecal streptococci, and Clostridium perfringens spores in freshwater and marine sediments from sites near sewage outfalls was studied. In laboratory studies, the inhibition of protozoan predators with cycloheximide allowed the fecal coliforms to grow in the sediment whereas the presence of predators resulted in a net die-off. C. perfringens spores did not appear either to be affected by predators or to die off throughout the duration of the experiments (28 days). Studies using in situ membrane diffusion chambers showed that, with the exception of C. perfringens, die-off of the test organisms to 10% of their initial numbers occurred in both marine and freshwater sediments within 85 days. The usual exponential decay model could not be applied to the sediment survival data, with the exception of the data for fecal streptococci. It was concluded that application of the usual decay model to the fecal coliform data was confounded by the complex relationship between growth and predation. The survival of seeded Escherichia coli in marine sediment was studied by using an enumeration method which detected viable but nonculturable bacteria. Throughout the duration of the experiment (68 days), the same proportion of E. coli organisms remained culturable, suggesting that sediment provides a favorable, nonstarvation environment for the bacteria.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Determinants of condom use by Australian secondary school students.

PURPOSE: To identify factors that are associated with condom use to aid in the understanding of how to change the behavior of those young people who have sex without using condoms. METHODS: The article reports data from 932 sexually active grade 10-12 students from a sample of 72 public secondary schools in seven Australian states and territories. The data were collected using a cross-sectional, self-report questionnaire. RESULTS: Boys were more likely than girls to report that a condom was used the last time they had sex. For boys and girls, communication with a partner about avoiding infection with HIV/STDs, the belief that more peers use condoms, and a higher perceived risk of becoming infected with HIV/STDs were associated with using a condom, as was lower knowledge of STDs. The use of oral contraception and the unavailability of condoms were reported by the students as prominent reasons for non-use of condoms. Number of sexual partners in the past year and type of relationship with partner on the most recent occasion were not associated with condom use. CONCLUSIONS: Adolescents are more concerned with unwanted pregnancy than with disease prevention. School students more at risk are not more likely to take the necessary precautions to protect themselves from HIV/STDs.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Religiosity, sexual intercourse and condom use among university students.

There is strong evidence that religiosity among adolescents is associated with delayed onset of sexual activity. However, research on relationships between religiosity and contraceptive practices is limited and inconsistent. This paper provides data from a survey of 374 students aged between 16 and 21 at two Brisbane universities (72.4 per cent response rate). Those who perceived religion to be important in their lives were less likely to have had intercourse. Among the sexually active sample, religious youth did not differ from their peers in recent condom use, the age at which they first used condoms or the rate of partner change. Contrary to several recent assertions in review articles, this and other empirical studies do not show that religious youth are less likely than nonreligious youth to take precautions during sex.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Young women and alcohol: psychosocial factors associated with their own drinking, their fathers' drinking, and both.

Psychosocial factors associated with young women's own alcohol consumption, and that of their fathers, were assessed in a sample of 231 females (mean age: 18.0 years) from the Hunter Region, NSW, Australia. Consistent with prior research, we found some evidence of poorer adjustment in girls who drank heavily and among daughters of high drinkers. In addition, we found that the "psychosocial profiles" associated with girls' and fathers' drinking were quite different, which argues against a simple additive model which might predict poorer adjustment in high drinking daughters of high drinking men. One interesting finding was that discordance between girls' and fathers' drinking patterns was independently related to some psychosocial problems.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1992

Self-administered patient questionnaire for assessing knowledge about joint arthroplasty prior to surgery.

This article assesses the discriminant validity of a questionnaire designed to test patients' knowledge about total joint arthroplasty prior to preoperative educational intervention. The method employed was to compare responses on the test by surgeons, health care workers, and patients and to evaluate whether the test could discriminate among groups. A total of 148 patients, 59 health care workers and 28 orthopedic surgeons completed the questionnaire. The results show that patients are knowledgeable about the benefits of surgery, but are in need of information about surgical risks and complications. The test was able to discriminate between surgeons and the other two groups, but there were few differences between health care workers and patients. Item analysis also demonstrates that the test is reliable. Although the test exhibits acceptable psychometric properties, a major problem in using this test in evaluating educational interventions is the relatively high average score and the potential ceiling effect that prevents measurement of further gains in knowledge. More work is needed on expanding the test to include more items where knowledge of total joint arthroplasty is limited.

Discriminant Analysis↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Comparison of enzyme immunoassay and mouse bioassay for determining paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins in shellfish.

Sixty shellfish samples (mussel [Mytilus edulis], queen scallops [Chlamys opercularis] and king scallops [Pecten maximus]), collected during routine surveillance for paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) toxins conducted by the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Scottish Office Agriculture, Environmental Fisheries Department, were analysed for contamination with PSP toxins by mouse bioassay (MBA), and by a competitive direct enzyme immunoassay (Ridascreen Saxitoxin ELISA). Using the MBA as the reference method (detection limit: 350 micrograms kg-1), no false negative results out of a total of 45 MBA-positive samples and one false positive result out of a total of 15 MBA-negative samples were obtained by ELISA. The correlation coefficient for MBA-positive samples (n = 45) was 0.78. At the regulatory level for PSP toxins (800 micrograms kg-1), 39 of the samples were correctly determined by ELISA to be above or below this level, toxicity was overestimated in two samples, and underestimated in four samples.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Age-related increase in sexual behaviours and decrease in regular condom use among adolescents in Australia.

The prevalence of sexual behaviours was estimated from a survey of 3854 Australian secondary school students. Self-reported prevalence of intercourse increased from 9.9% (age 13 years or less) to 23.9% (age 15) and 51.2% at age 17 and over. Among 932 sexually experienced youth in the final 3 years of secondary school, 26% of males and 18% of females reported having 3 or more partners in the previous year; 89.4% had used a condom at least once, with males (71.8%) reporting more last occasion condom use than females (53.4%). 'Last occasion' and 'usual', but not lifetime, condom use was significantly lower among older respondents. Although nearly 90% of females in each of 3 age groups reported lifetime condom use, just 27.6% of female students aged 17 or more reported that condoms were always used during intercourse. The decline with age, noted in research with adults and older adolescents, may begin in the middle teens.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Computer assisted instruction for preoperative and postoperative patient education in joint replacement surgery.

This article describes a comprehensive system for preoperative and postoperative patient education. The system offers a cost-effective method of instruction which encourages patient interaction and practice with decision making. The system was designed for patients undergoing total joint replacement surgery and includes two preoperative lessons, and a third lesson presented postoperatively at the bedside. The computer lessons were developed using data collected by a patient assessment instrument, and collaboratively with input from a nurse clinical specialist, orthopedic surgeon, physical therapist, and computer programmer. In this project, several advantages for using computer assisted instruction for preoperative and postoperative patient education were identified.

Computer-Assisted Instruction↗