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Biomedical subjects

M Zuckerman

Publications and source records attributed to M Zuckerman.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

Consequences of self-handicapping: effects on coping, academic performance, and adjustment.

Self-handicappers erect impediments to performance to protect their self-esteem. The impediments may interfere with the ability to do well and, as such, may result in poor adjustment. Using a longitudinal design, the present studies examined prospective effects of self-handicapping on coping, academic performance, and several adjustment-related variables (e.g., self-esteem). It was found that, compared to low self-handicappers, high self-handicappers reported higher usage of coping strategies implying withdrawal and negative focus. High self-handicappers performed less well academically, an effect that was mediated in part by poor study habits. Finally, high self-handicapping resulted in poorer adjustment over time, and poorer adjustment resulted in higher self-handicapping over time. These relations are consistent with the idea of a vicious cycle in which self-handicapping and poor adjustment reinforce one another.

Achievement↗
PubMed1998

The toxicology of African herbal remedies.

Toxicity related to traditional medicines is becoming more widely recognized as these remedies become popular in developed countries. Accidental herbal toxicity occurs not only as a result of a lack of pharmaceutic quality control in harvesting and preparation but also because herbal remedies are believed to be harmless. Although there is a huge amount of data available documenting the pharmacologically active ingredients of many plants, it is seldom helpful to the toxicologist in an acute situation. Current analytic methods such as high-performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography--mass spectrometry, and immunoassays can provide identification of the toxin in those few cases in which the history or symptoms give a clear lead, but broad screening methods remain to be developed. In most cases of plant poisoning, treatment continues to be only of symptoms, with few specific antidotes available. It is important that toxicologists in the West be alert to the possibility of encountering poisoning in patients due to traditional African remedies.

Africa↗
PubMed1998

Affect traits in differential diagnosis of anxiety, depressive, and schizophrenic disorders using the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List-Revised.

A study of 185 psychiatric patients with anxiety, mood, and schizophrenic disorders and 185 matched nonpatient controls investigated the effectiveness of the affect trait scales of the revised Multiple Affect Adjective Check List (MAACL-R) in differentiating the three disorders. Univariate and multivariate analyses supported the usefulness of the affect in global and specific diagnostic classifications. The strongest discriminant function described a general dysphoria dimension (Depression plus Anxiety minus Positive Affect) which differentiated the anxiety and mood disorder groups from schizophrenic patients and nonpatient controls. A second discriminant function best differentiated the anxiety from mood disorder groups and was defined by relatively higher anxiety and normal sensation seeking scores among anxiety disorders and relatively higher depression and lower sensation seeking among mood disorders. Schizophrenic disorders could not be reliably distinguished from the other groups by negative affect scales, although they scored lower on positive affect than normals. It was concluded that the MAACL-R was valid in making both global and specific diagnostic classifications.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Risk of inappropriate exclusion of organ donors by introduction of hepatitis B core antibody testing.

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B virus infection originating from hepatitis B surface antigen-negative, hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc)-positive organ donors has been documented, and anti-HBc-positive donors have been excluded as liver donors. We assessed the prevalence of anti-HBc in UK organ donors and followed up recipients of organs from anti-HBc-positive donors for serological evidence of posttransplantation hepatitis B virus infection. METHODS: Serum samples from 400 hepatitis B surface antigen-negative organ donors were tested for anti-HBc. RESULTS: Only five (1.25%) of 20 sera in which anti-HBc was initially detected were confirmed as anti-HBc positive on further testing. Posttransplantation serum samples from four recipients of confirmed anti-HBc-positive organs showed no evidence of de novo hepatitis B infection. CONCLUSIONS: The poor specificity of some anti-HBc immunoassays was confirmed and suggests that donor exclusion on the basis of a single anti-HBc-positive result may result in the inappropriate loss of organs.

False Positive Reactions↗
PubMed1997

Increased fetal nuchal translucency thickness at 10-14 weeks: is screening for maternal-fetal infection necessary?

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relation between increased fetal nuchal translucency thickness at 10-14 weeks of gestation and maternal-fetal infection. DESIGN: Prospective study. SETTING: Harris Birthright Research Centre for Fetal Medicine. POPULATION: Four hundred and twenty-six chromosomally normal pregnancies with increased fetal nuchal translucency thickness at 10-14 weeks of gestation and 63 with 'unexplained' second or third trimester fetal nuchal oedema or hydrops. METHODS: Maternal serum infection screening and investigations for fetal infection in those with evidence of recent maternal infection. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Maternal and fetal infection. RESULTS: Evidence of recent maternal infection was present in six of the 426 pregnancies (1.4%) with increased fetal nuchal translucency thickness at 10-14 weeks, but in all cases a healthy infant was born with no evidence of infection. In contrast, 'unexplained' second or third-trimester fetal hydrops was associated with maternal infection in six of the pregnancies (9.5%) and in all cases there was evidence of fetal infection. CONCLUSIONS: Maternal-fetal infection is one of the causes of second or third trimester nuchal oedema or fetal hydrops. In contrast, the presence of increased nuchal translucency in the first trimester is not a marker of either maternal or fetal infection.

Cytomegalovirus Infections↗
PubMed1996

The relation between overly positive self-evaluation and adjustment: a comment on Colvin, Block, and Funder (1995)

C.R. Colvin, J. Block, and D.C. Funder (1995) calculated a self-enhancement index-the discrepancy between favorability of participants' self-ratings and favorability of others' ratings of the participants. They found that the index was negatively correlated with psychological adjustment. However, the discrepancy between self- and other-ratings cannot add to the variance accounted for once self-ratings and other-ratings are controlled for. Consequently, the index cannot properly be used to examine how self-enhancement influences adjustment. An appropriate test for the self-enhancement effect is the interaction between favorability of self- and other-ratings.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1996

Beliefs in realistic and unrealistic control: assessment and implications.

Scales were constructed to measure perceived control over controllable events (realistic control) and perceived control over uncontrollable events (unrealistic control). Internal reliability, test-retest reliability, and discriminant validity of both scales were adequate. Study 1 measured perceived personal control over hassles that judges rated on general controllability. For hassles very high in controllability, perceived personal control was related to belief in realistic control but not to belief in unrealistic control; for hassles very low in controllability, perceived personal control was related to belief in unrealistic control but not to belief in realistic control. Study 2 showed that participants high in unrealistic control belief (but not those high in realistic control belief) persevered more on a task that was in part uncontrollable. Study 3 showed that the combination of low realistic control belief and high unrealistic control belief predicted poorer future health, particularly for participants who have reported the experience of many negative events and/or hassles. The conditions under which unrealistic control results in maladaptive outcomes are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1996

Hepatobiliary kinetics of technetium-99m-IDA analogs: quantification by linear systems theory.

UNLABELLED: A compartmental model describing the extraction and disposition of 99mTc-acetanilidoiminodiacetic acid (IDA) compounds by the liver has been applied to 5 adult patients admitted for cholecystitis investigations and 29 jaundiced infants the majority of whom were clinically differentiable into neonatal hepatitic and biliary atretic groups. METHODS: In each case kinetic rate constants were calculated to describe hepatocyte extraction of 99mTc-IDA structural analogs from blood pool (k21) and subsequent elimination (k3) of this compound into biliary tract. Also modeled was the reverse-binding constant (k12) describing the return of such radiotracer to the systemic circulation and the blood fraction (f) which accounted for the composite vasculature forming a matrix in the liver. RESULTS: It was shown that these indices could be used to determine accurate compartmental mean residence times (MRT(c)s) for each patient by correlation with values obtained by deconvolutional analysis and independent measurement of leading edge parenchymal transit times. For the adult patients the following indices, typical of good hepatocyte function, were derived: k21 = 0.933 +/- 0.488 min-1, k12 = 0.0277 +/- 0.0340 min-1, k3 = 0.1610 +/- 0.0531 min-1, f = 0.3519 +/- 0.3048 and MRTc = 11.19 +/- 3.13 min. Analysis of the pediatric group revealed no significant differences in their respective MRT(c)s. However, significant differences in the extraction (p < 0.01) and excretion (p < 0.001) coefficients were prominent. CONCLUSION: This method can be applied to provide accurate and meaningful intercompartmental rate parameters and MRT(c)s for adults, nonobstructed and obstructed infants.

Aged↗
PubMed1994

Causality orientations, failure, and achievement.

Two studies examined similarities between Deci and Ryan's (1985) causality orientations theory and Dweck and Leggett's (1988) social-cognitive theory of achievement. Study 1 examined the conceptual similarity between the individual difference measures central to the two theories. It was shown that autonomous college students are likely to adopt learning goals and report high confidence in their academic abilities; controlled students are likely to adopt performance goals and to report high levels of confidence in their ability; and impersonal students are likely to possess the classic helpless pattern of performance goals and low confidence in their academic abilities. Study 2 examined whether causality orientations, like Dweck's measures of goals and confidence, moderate the impact of failure feedback on motivation as measured in persistence and performance. The results suggested that autonomous individuals respond to failure in a mastery-oriented fashion, whereas impersonal individuals respond in a helpless manner. The response of controlled individuals to failure parallels that of people described as ego-involved or reactive.

Achievement↗
PubMed1994

Rickets in very-low-birth-weight infants born at Baragwanath Hospital.

Disturbed mineral and bone metabolism has been reported to occur frequently in very-low-birth-weight infants fed breast-milk during the first 3 months of life. This study was designed to assess the prevalence of disturbed mineral homeostasis in a breast-milk-fed very-low-birth-weight population at Baragwanath Hospital and to determine whether the addition of a preterm infant formula to the feeds would reduce this prevalence and increase the rate of weight gain. Fifty-three neonates weighing less than 1 200 g at birth were monitored for weight gain, growth and biochemical and radiological evidence of metabolic bone disease at 2-weekly intervals during hospitalisation and for 18 weeks after discharge. The infants were randomised at 2 weeks of age to receive either breast-milk only, or a combination of breast-milk and a premature formula containing 550 mg calcium and 300 mg phosphorus. All infants received 800 IU vitamin D daily from day 14. Weight gain and growth were similar in both groups. Calcium and phosphorus intakes were higher in the mixed feeding group, but did not affect serum mineral levels. Radiological rickets was uncommon in both groups although periosteal reactions and osteopenia occurred frequently and with similar prevalences. Vitamin D deficiency was not found to be a problem. In conclusion, overt rickets is not a major problem in very-low-birth-weight infants born at Baragwanath Hospital, although biochemical abnormalities occur frequently.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Anthropometry↗
PubMed1993

Rapid response of AIDS-related bacillary angiomatosis to azithromycin.

A 28-year-old male with AIDS and a CD4 cell count of 100/mm3 presented with fever, hepatosplenomegaly, weight loss, and multiple, polypoid, angiomatous lesions on his face. It was determined by means of biopsy that the lesions were due to bacillary angiomatosis. The patient was treated with oral azithromycin (1 g daily as a single dose). Rapid resolution of the skin lesions was noted. After 1 week of therapy, diminution in the size of the liver and spleen was noted. The only significant side effect noted was diarrhea, which was controlled with symptomatic therapy.

AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections↗
PubMed1993

Beyond personality impressions: effects of physical and vocal attractiveness on false consensus, social comparison, affiliation, and assumed and perceived similarity.

We examined the effects of target persons' physical and vocal attractiveness on judges' responses to five measures: false consensus (the belief that the target shares one's behavior), choice of targets as comparison others, affiliation with targets, assumed similarity (similarity between self-ratings and ratings assigned to targets), and perceived similarity (direct questions about similarity). Higher physical attractiveness and higher vocal attractiveness were both related to higher scores on all variables. The effect of one type of attractiveness was more pronounced for higher levels of the other type of attractiveness. The joint effect of the two types of attractiveness was best described as synergistic, i.e., only targets high on both types of attractiveness elicited higher scores on the dependent variables. The effect of physical attractiveness on most dependent variables was more pronounced for subjects who were themselves physically attractive. The synergistic effect (the advantage of targets high on both types of attractiveness) was more pronounced for judges high in self-monitoring. The contribution of the study to the literature on attractiveness stereotypes is discussed.

Adult↗