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Biomedical subjects

O H Rundell

Publications and source records attributed to O H Rundell.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

Genetic markers in familial narcolepsy.

We studied three patients in a single family (father and two sons), all with long histories of overwhelming daytime sleepiness, hypnagogic hallucinations and sleep paralysis. Two of the three had a clear history of cataplexy. Multiple sleep latency tests revealed extremely short sleep onset latencies and at least two sleep onset rapid eye movement periods in each patient. Histocompatibility studies were remarkable for negative HLA-DR2 antigens in all three.

Adolescent

Persistent hypoxemia and excessive daytime sleepiness in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Fourteen patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and chronic hypoxemia were studied to evaluate the relationship between hypoxemia and objective and subjective daytime sleepiness. Patients were selected with a waking PaO2 of less than 70 mm Hg and less than 50 percent predicted FEV1. Clinically, none of these patients had complaints of significant daytime sleepiness. Each patient underwent standard all-night polysomnographic evaluation followed by a multiple sleep latency test (MSLT). There was no significant correlation between the mean sleep onset latency for the MSLT and the waking PaO2, PCO2, FEV1, or spontaneous desaturations during sleep. Patients with COPD exhibited a mean MSLT that was within normal limits, despite a short total sleep time and numerous arousals from sleep. We conclude that there appears to be no relationship between chronic daytime hypoxemia and subjective reports and objective measures of daytime sleepiness.

Aged

Polysomnography methods and interpretations.

As the field of sleep disorders medicine continues to mature, appropriate diagnostic techniques are becoming properly defined and standardized. This article focuses principally upon diagnostic testing for sleep apnea, although other sleep disorders are discussed briefly. When interpreting a polysomnogram, one must consider a number of complex variables. A critical discussion of the methods for adequately measuring these variables is provided together with guidelines for appropriate interpretation.

Circadian Rhythm

Dose effects of methaqualone on stimulus encoding in a memory scanning task.

Three task variables, stimulus quality, memory set size and response type, were used in a Sternberg binary classification task to define stimulus encoding, short-term memory scanning, and response selection stages within a serial stage reaction process. Mean reaction times, and the slopes and intercepts of the function relating reaction time to memory set size, were used to test the hypothesis that performance deficits seen at two doses of methaqualone (2.9 mg/kg and 5.9 mg/kg), in the range formerly in common clinical use, were specific to the stimulus encoding stage of the reaction process. Mean reaction times were increased significantly by the methaqualone at both doses, but the effects of the two doses did not differ from one another. The intercept of reaction time as a function of set size showed significant main effects of methaqualone, stimulus quality, and response type, and a significant hyper-additive interaction of methaqualone with stimulus quality. At 2.9 mg/kg, the intercept was increased by methaqualone but only with degraded stimuli. At 5.9 mg/kg, the intercept was increased by methaqualone for both high and low quality stimuli. These results suggested a dose-dependent selective effect of methaqualone on the stimulus encoding stage of the reaction process.

Adult

Drinking behavior, remission, and relapse: the Rand Report revisited.

Utilizing the Armor, Polich, and Stambul 1976 criteria, the clinical course of patients from 26 treatment programs was studied, with relapse analyses differing from the data reported by Armor et al. The overall rate of remission at 6 mo follow-up was considerably lower (54%) in this study. The data suggest that those alcoholics who chose to reduce their drinking, as an option, experienced a substantial risk of relapse.

Alcohol Drinking

Benefit--cost methodology in the evaluation of therapeutic services for alcoholism.

Benefit--cost analysis as a form of "social profitability analysis" can be a powerful tool in the overall evaluation of alcoholism treatment efforts. Alcoholism treatment potentially leads to a multiplicity of benefits in addition to sobriety. Benefit--cost analysis provides a methodology for converting many of these diverse benefits into a common metric (dollars), thereby allowing the comparison of aggregate benefits and treatment costs. The analysis thus leads to the expression of treatment outcome in terms of the return on investment. A benefit--cost analysis conducted on 3034 clients from the Oklahoma data base indicated a return to society of $1.98 for every $1 invested in alcoholism treatment. Such data may represent a critical portion of the information required for responsible resource allocation decisions.

Alcoholism

Treatment outcome for alcoholics as a function of therapeutic effort.

The association between therapeutic effort measured in terms of reimbursements for services and several treatment outcome variables was examined. A sample of clients regarded as definitely alcoholic was grouped into five categories according to the amount of money reimbursed for treatment in a fee-for-service arrangement. A systematic positive relationship was found between the amount of treatment measured in dollars and therapeutic outcome measured by remission rate and income. The data suggest that there may be an optimal cutoff for resource investment, above which no further treatment gains are achieved. Such information can provide a basis for program management decisions and suggests important implications for assumptions regarding alcoholism.

Adult

Secobarbital and information processing.

The Sternberg fixed-set memory-search paradigm was used to assess the relative vulnerability of hypothetical stages of information processing to an oral dose of secobarbital (2.9 mg/kg). D-amphetamine (15 mg, oral dose) was intended to serve as an active placebo. However, since the amphetamine produced a slight, non-significant reduction in choice reaction time (RT), the principal analysis of secobarbital effects was conducted between drug and baseline conditions. Secobarbital showed choice RT by 60 msec. and did not increase errors significantly. The results, as interpreted within Sternberg's model, suggest that input processes, e.g., stimulus preprocessing-encoding, are particularly sensitive to the effects of the barbiturate. There was no evidence of a drug effect on cognitive processes associated with serial comparison, binary decision, or translation-response organization (response selection). In contrast, earlier studies have indicated that another CNS depressant, alcohol, interferes with both speed and accuracy of output processes, viz, the response selection stage.

Adult