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Biomedical subjects

N B Anderson

Publications and source records attributed to N B Anderson.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Making the case for psychophysiology during the era of molecular biology.

The Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) at the National Institutes of Health opened in 1995 to facilitate the advancement of research on social and behavioral influences on health. The establishment of the OBSSR coincided with the ascendancy of molecular biology, with its emphasis on more reductionistic influences on health. This greater emphasis on genetic aspects of health has the potential to produce a widening chasm between biomedical research and social, behavioral, and psychological research. We discuss the chasm between sociobehavioral and biomedical research during what might be considered the era of molecular biology and propose the concept of levels of analysis as a unifying framework for research in the health sciences, using research on hypertension in African Americans as a representative example. We also argue for the primacy of psychophysiological research in bridging the chasm and furthering a multilevel perspective and summarize some of the activities of the OBSSR that are relevant to this perspective.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Levels of analysis in health science. A framework for integrating sociobehavioral and biomedical research.

One of the principal goals of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research at the National Institutes of Health is to facilitate interdisciplinary research between social, behavioral, and biomedical scientists. The purpose of this paper is to provide a framework for such interdisciplinary health research. The essence of this framework is the concept of levels of analysis in the health sciences. These levels include the social/environment, behavioral/psychological, organ systems, cellular, and molecular. The interdependence of these five levels of analysis suggests that advances in the health sciences may be accelerated by a more integrated, multilevel approach to research. The principles of integrated, multilevel research are outlined, and examples of research that support this approach are presented. Finally, some of the activities of the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research that will further interdisciplinary research across levels of analysis are summarized.

Humans↗
PubMed1998

Frontal lobe volume in patients with Huntington's disease.

Neuropathologic and neuroimaging studies have suggested that frontal lobes are affected in Huntington's disease (HD), and that atrophy in this region may be associated with some of the cognitive impairment and clinical decline observed in patients with HD. We measured gray and white matter volumes within the frontal lobes on MRI for 20 patients with HD (10 mildly affected and 10 moderately affected) and 20 age- and sex-matched control subjects. We also correlated frontal lobe measurements with measures of symptom severity and cognitive function. Patients who were mildly affected had frontal lobe volumes (both gray and white matter) essentially identical to those of control subjects, despite clearly abnormal basal ganglia. Patients who were moderately affected demonstrated significant reductions in total frontal lobe volume (17%) and frontal white matter volume (28%). Frontal lobe white matter volume reductions, but not total frontal lobe volume reductions, were disproportionately greater than overall brain volume reductions (17%). Frontal lobe volume correlated with symptom severity and general cognitive function, but these correlations did not remain significant after taking into account total brain volume. We conclude that cognitive impairment and symptom severity are associated with frontal lobe atrophy, but this association is not specific to the frontal lobes. Frontal lobe atrophy (like total brain atrophy) occurs in later stages of increasing HD symptom severity and this atrophy primarily involves white matter.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Right hemisphere speech perception revealed by amobarbital injection and electrical interference.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the right hemispheric speech perception capabilities of an adult right-handed patient with seizures. METHODS: Consecutive, unilateral, intracarotid sodium amobarbital injections and left hemispheric electrical interference mapping were used to determine lateralization and localization of speech perception, measured as syllable discrimination. RESULTS: Syllable discrimination remained intact after left and right intracarotid sodium amobarbital injections. Language otherwise strongly lateralized to the left hemisphere. Despite evidence of bilateral speech perception capabilities, electrical interference testing in the left posterior temporal lobe impaired syllable discrimination. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest a functionally symmetric, parallel system in the adult brain with preferential use of left hemispheric pathways for speech perception.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Integrating behavioral and social sciences research at the National Institutes of Health, U.S.A.

Readers of Social Science & Medicine may find it interesting to know that in 1993 the United States Congress established the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the belief that scientific research on behavioral and social factors in order to facilitate a growth in this important area of research. As is discussed in this paper, the philosophy of the OBSSR is that, although discoveries in the behavioral and social sciences are as critical for health as those from the biomedical sciences, knowledge from both areas must ultimately be integrated. Such integration will accelerate our understanding and treatment of physical and mental illnesses in both the developed and the developing world. This paper briefly presents the scientific evidence supporting this philosophy, outlines the mandated responsibilities of the OBSSR, and discusses some of its current and planned activities.

Behavioral Sciences↗
PubMed1996

Social support and hostility interact to influence clinic, work, and home blood pressure in black and white men and women.

The effects of hostility and social support on clinic, work, and home systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressures were evaluated in 129 healthy adults. High hostility was related to higher SBP and DBP in Whites; low hostility was related to higher SBP and DBP in Blacks. These relationships were significant for men at home and at work and for women at screening. The relationship between low hostility and higher BP in Blacks was largely due to Black men who reported low hostility plus high anger-in (suggesting suppressed hostility). In contrast, high hostile Black men with high tangible support tended to exhibit lower BP than all other Black men. In White women, high belonging support was related to lower BP, independent of hostility, and low tangible support plus high hostility was related to higher clinic BP. In high hostile subjects, regardless of ethnicity or gender, high appraisal support was related to lower overall BP. These data suggest that the adverse BP effects of hostility and the beneficial effects of social support interact in a complex manner, reflecting contextual, ethnic, and gender specificities.

Adult↗
PubMed1996

Association of hypertension with beta2- and alpha2c10-adrenergic receptor genotype.

The adrenergic receptors have been implicated in the pathogenesis of essential hypertension. We hypothesized that hypertension is associated with variants at the beta2-adrenergic receptor locus and at one of the alpha2-adrenergic receptor loci. In unrelated individuals, we measured untreated blood pressure and characterized each subject as hypertensive or normotensive. We then used genomic DNA to identify beta2- and alpha2c10-adrenergic receptor restriction fragment length polymorphisms. In 175 subjects (49 percent with hypertension, 55 percent black), both hypertension and race were associated with genotype at the beta2 locus (chi2 for hypertension = 11, P = .004, chi2 for race = 8.8, P = .012). The association with hypertension persisted in each race group separately (blacks only: chi2 = 9.6, P = .008; whites only; chi2 = 14.2, P = .001). This association persisted in a logistic model that controlled for race (P = .01). Genotype was also significantly associated with baseline systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial blood pressures (P = .05, .01, and .02, respectively). These data suggest that the beta2-adrenergic receptor gene is a candidate gene for hypertension in blacks and whites. We also genotyped subjects at the alpha2-adrenergic receptor coded on chromosome 10. There was no association between hypertension and genotype at the alpah2c10 locus in the total group or in blacks, but there was significant association in whites (chi2 = 6.7, P = .03). These data suggest that the beta2- and alph2c10-adrenergic receptor genes may contribute, in a race-specific manner, to the inheritance of essential hypertension. Linkage studies in related individuals are needed to confirm these findings.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Macrosocial and environmental influences on minority health.

Ethnic minority populations show patterns of health, health care use, and mortality that differ from the overall U.S. population. Each of the broad groups of minorities (Asian Hispanic, Native, and African Americans) has a unique background of sociocultural factors that influence these patterns. Thus, the larger social environment for ethnic populations, including political, environmental, historical, and economic factors, is a major variable in possible health outcomes. The individual portions in this panel report of the conference seek to identify such factors for each ethnic group and to suggest those macrosocial influences that are most important for observed health effects.

Black or African American↗
PubMed1995

Job status and high-effort coping influence work blood pressure in women and blacks.

Work-related stress has been associated with an increased risk of hypertension and more severe cardiovascular problems in white men but has been less studied in women and black men. To determine whether the trait of high-effort coping (John Henryism) was related to higher blood pressure during work and laboratory challenges, we studied a biracial sample of 72 men and 71 women working full time outside the home who underwent ambulatory blood pressure monitoring for one 8-hour workday. This was followed by laboratory monitoring of blood pressure during resting baseline and five brief stressors. Women who were high-effort copers and had high status jobs had higher diastolic pressures at work and in the lab than other women; their pressure levels did not differ from those of men, but other women had lower pressures than men. In blacks, the same combination of high-effort coping plus high job status was similarly associated with high work and laboratory diastolic pressure, as well as higher work systolic pressure. The trait of high-effort coping was observed in the large majority (71%) of the women and blacks who had achieved high status jobs but was seen in a minority (36%) of white men with high status jobs and was unrelated to increased blood pressure in the latter group.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1993

Reactivity research on sociodemographic groups: its value to psychophysiology and health psychology.

Research on sociodemographic group differences in cardiovascular reactivity has provided support for the potential importance of reactivity as marker-mediator of susceptibility to cardiovascular disease and has facilitated our understanding of the nature of reactivity itself. The article by Treiber et al. in this issue of Health Psychology exemplifies this area of reactivity research. Yet sociodemographic group differences in reactivity and other physiological processes are now in themselves in need of explanation. Thus, the principal scientific challenge facing researchers is the development of testable theoretical models that will facilitate the search for, and ultimate understanding of, the basis for these group differences. This process will not only clarify the determinants of sociodemographic group differences in psychophysiological functioning, but may significantly advance the general understanding of biopsychosocial interactions.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Patterns and stability of cardiovascular responses to variations of the cold pressor test.

Test-retest reliabilities and patterns of heart rate and blood pressure responses were examined using variations in the cold pressor test in 113 normotensive white college men. Comparisons were made of stimulus site (forehead vs. foot) and bodily posture (seated vs. supine) across four separate groups of men. The stability of cardiovascular responses was examined over a 2-week-test-retest interval. Different cardiovascular response patterns emerged as a function of stimulation site and posture. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure increases were accompanied by bradycardia in the forehead cold pressor task but by tachycardia in the foot cold pressor task. Systolic blood pressure increases were larger for foot than for forehead stimulation. Heart rate increases were larger for supine than for seated men. Effects on response were independent of postural differences at baseline, and there were no stimulation site by posture interactions. The cardiovascular responses to stimulation did not attenuate across sessions in any experimental condition but were more reliable for foot than for forehead stimulation and for supine than for seated posture. Short-term stability for changes to the task approached that for baseline and task and was higher than has been reported elsewhere.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Assessment of cardiovascular reactivity: a methodological overview.

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the rationale and methodological procedures for the assessment of cardiovascular reactivity. We hope that this introduction to the field will facilitate studies on cardiovascular reactivity in populations of Africa and encourage American-African collaborative projects.

Africa↗
PubMed1992

Accentuated vagal antagonism of beta-adrenergic effects on ventricular repolarization. Evidence of weaker antagonism in hostile type A men.

BACKGROUND: Prior research has suggested a weaker parasympathetic antagonism of sympathetic effects on the heart in type A (coronary-prone) men. To confirm this phenomenon and extend our understanding of it, we investigated the effects of prior muscarinic blockade on the electrocardiogram T wave and other cardiovascular and neuroendocrine responses to isoproterenol in type A and type B (non-coronary-prone) men. METHODS AND RESULTS: Responses to two 5-minute intravenous isoproterenol infusions (0.01 micrograms/kg/min and 0.02 micrograms/kg/min) were evaluated in six type A and six type B men after pretreatment with either dextrose placebo or atropine (1.2 mg). Atropine significantly potentiated T wave attenuation in the recovery period after isoproterenol infusion (0.30 +/- 0.07 mV) compared with placebo (0.54 +/- 0.09 mV, p less than 0.001). Atropine also potentiated the heart rate increase to isoproterenol (39 +/- 3 beats per minute versus 20 +/- 2 beats per minute after placebo). Atropine enhanced decreases in systolic, diastolic, and mean arterial pressures as well as pulse pressure to isoproterenol. Atropine enhancement of many of these responses was increased among subjects with high scores on various hostility/anger scales. Isoproterenol alone produced greater T wave attenuation in type A than in type B men. However, atropine enhancement of T wave attenuation and blood pressure falls by isoproterenol was present only in type B men. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that there is accentuated parasympathetic antagonism of T wave attenuation and blood pressure responses induced by beta-adrenergic stimulation. Relative weakness of this antagonism of sympathetic effects on the heart in hostile type A individuals may contribute to their higher coronary disease risk.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Hostility patterns and health implications: correlates of Cook-Medley Hostility Scale scores in a national survey.

Correlated Cook-Medley Hostility Scale (Ho) scores with sociodemographic variables in a national survey of 2,536 adults. Multiple regression models revealed that Ho scores were associated with race (p less than .0001), years of education (p less than .001), sex (p less than .001), occupation (p = .0002), and income (p = .0025). Higher scores were found in non-Whites, men, and those of lower socioeconomic status. There was a Race x Income interaction (p less than .005), such that the greatest Ho score differences between the races occurred among those with the lowest incomes. Age was related to Ho scores in a curvilinear fashion: higher scores in the youngest and oldest age groups than in the middle-aged groups (p = .025). Marital status was unrelated to Ho scores. These patterns of hostility are similar to the patterns of health indicators in the population. Because hostility has been found to be associated with adverse health outcomes, hostility may account for some of the demographic variations in health status. However, it is argued that research must first establish the generality of the hostility-health relationship across subgroups of the population.

Adolescent↗