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Biomedical subjects

P Preston

Publications and source records attributed to P Preston.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Chameleon voices: interpreting for deaf parents.

As interpreters for their deaf parents, hearing children are a cultural link between two often separate worlds: the Deaf and the Hearing. Data from a 4 year study of adult hearing children throughout the United States indicate significant differences between hearing daughters and hearing sons. Not only were daughters more likely than sons (regardless of birth order or age differences) to interpret for their parents, but daughters were also far more likely to be bilingual: fluent in both spoken English and American Sign Language. A similar gender bias has been observed among the general hearing public: women are far more likely to attend sign language classes and to work as interpreters for the deaf. This paper explores the social mechanisms and cultural values which determine the gender of the way we communicate with one another. Informants' narratives suggest that sign language and the practice of interpreting often touched upon a larger pattern of socialization and status differences between women and men. The discussion then turns to consider how these differences affect the cultural identity of hearing sons versus hearing daughters.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Stress management.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1995

Prudent expert systems with credentials: managing the expertise of decision support systems.

'Black box' expert systems (ES) are mistrusted by clinicians. Errors generated by medical ES are also a significant cause for concern. We report new ES properties--prudence and credentials--that improve error management and underpin a new approach for improving the credibility of ES for clinical users. Prudent ES modify their output according to past experience. For a knowledge base built from 1610 cases, feature exception prudence (FEP) detected all interpretation errors (100% sensitivity for error detection). Although the false positive rate for FEP was high (47%), the 100% sensitivity meant that the 53% of cases that did not produce flags could be exempted from human validation. As more cases are processed, fewer cases should need human validation. Feature recognition prudence (FRP), a property of ripple down rules (RDR), proposed the correct alternative conclusion in 14% of incorrectly interpreted cases. Human expert validation of the flagged cases enabled context-sensitive credentials (accuracy, incidence and specificity of a given conclusion) to accumulate. Credentials should enable the user to judge the credibility of the ES output. An error management strategy based on credentialed, prudent ES should reduce the impact of error in the clinical environment. The empowerment of clinicians to critically evaluate ES credibility may facilitate greater confidence in, and acceptance of, ES by clinicians.

Artificial Intelligence↗
PubMed1995

Mother father deaf: the heritage of difference.

Almost 90% of the children born to life-long profoundly deaf parents are hearing. Within this extraordinary family setting, hearing children of deaf parents are exposed to and interact with two differing cultural, social and linguistic systems: that of their deaf parents and the Deaf community, and that of hearing peers and adults. The present paper focuses on cultural identity and affiliation of hearing children of deaf parents--a population whose lives incorporate the paradox of being culturally 'Deaf' and yet functionally hearing. Data reported here are primarily based on interviews and life histories with 150 adult hearing children of deaf parents throughout the United States. The informants in this study provide an opportunity to explore the parameters and norms of Deaf culture as it contrasts and conflicts with those of Hearing culture.

Acculturation↗
PubMed1993

Iron status in women aerobic dance instructors.

This investigation evaluated the iron and nutritional status of 12 highly trained aerobic dance instructors who did not take iron supplements (ANS) and 8 who did (AS). A control group (C) consisted of 10 age matched controls. The aerobic instructors had exercised for approximately 3.8 days/wk, 56 min/session for the past 7 yrs. There were no significant differences among groups for energy intake, carbohydrate, protein, fat, nonheme iron, heme iron, or total iron intake (excluding supplemental iron). But both exercise groups had lower ferritin values than the control group. There was also a significant difference in mean cell volume (MCV), with both exercise groups having greater values than the control group. There were no differences among groups for serum iron, total iron binding capacity, transferrin saturation, hematocrit, or hemoglobin. One in three aerobic dance instructors had serum ferritin values below 12 micrograms.L-1. Results indicate that women exercise leaders have iron profiles that are similar to other groups of female athletes. The increased MCV values suggest runners' macrocytosis or an exercise induced macrocytosis.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Downsizing: the aftermath.

Downsizing is perhaps the synonym for management in the 1990's. Many managers believe it is a sure means of lowering overhead, reducing bureaucracy and improving organizational decision making. Downsizing is the systematic reduction in numbers of managers and employees working for an organization. It is designed to make the organization more cost efficient and/or competitive. It is more than simply a matter of cutting some number of employees from an organization's payroll. It involves the rearrangement and reassignment of virtually all employees in an organization.

Employment↗
PubMed1991

Drug abuse screening of childbearing-age women in Alabama public health clinics.

During August 1989, the urine of 5010 women of childbearing-age in Alabama was screened for marijuana, cocaine, opiates, amphetamines, and barbiturates. The data base consisted of 2970 pregnant women, 374 of whom were at high risk, and 2019 nonpregnant women. Our findings included the following information: (1) The statewide prevalence of positive screens for any drugs tested was 12.9% for all women (11.0% for those who were pregnant and 15.6% for those who were not pregnant). (2) There was no difference between urban and rural groups for any drugs tested. (3) Positive marijuana screens were increased among white and nonpregnant women (p less than 0.01). (4) Positive cocaine screens were increased among black and single women (p less than 0.01). (5) More screens were positive in women older than age 20 (p less than 0.01). (6) There was no difference between pregnant and nonpregnant women for positive cocaine screens. (7) No difference existed among the trimesters of pregnancy for positive cocaine screens. (8) Positive screens for marijuana were more frequent in the first trimester of pregnancy than in the second trimester (p = 0.02) or the third trimester (p = 0.001). (9) There was no difference between high-risk and low-risk maternity patients for any drugs tested.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Gut hormone responses after reconstructive surgery for ulcerative colitis.

After colectomy, continent ileal reservoirs are an accepted alternative to conventional ileostomy for patients with ulcerative colitis. To assess the effect of these reservoirs on digestive function, circulating and morphologic gut endocrine responses were measured in patients with a continent ileostomy or with a pelvic pouch and compared to patients with conventional ileostomy, with active ulcerative colitis and healthy controls. Eight subjects were studied in each group. Basal and postprandial plasma gastrin, enteroglucagon, neurotensin, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide, insulin, pancreatic glucagon, and pancreatic polypeptide in both groups with ileal reservoirs were equivalent to controls. Basal plasma motilin and postprandial plasma gastric inhibitory polypeptide were raised in ileal reservoir patients, but similar changes also occurred in ulcerative colitis patients and those with conventional ileostomy. In one half of patients, cell populations of enteroglucagon, peptide YY, and neurotensin were decreased in pouch mucosa that corresponded with the presence of mucosal inflammation. On the other hand, with pouch inflammation vasoactive intestinal polypeptide immunoreactive nerves were increased and a proportion of the fibres were moderately coarsened. Mucosal concentrations of vasoactive intestinal polypeptide did not, however, exceed that of controls. After an ileal reservoir sufficient reserve remains for gut hormone release into the circulation, suggesting compensation for the presence of a reservoir and the absence of a colon; circulating hormone changes do occur but are consequent upon previous ulcerative colitis. Reservoirs may show neuromorphologic alterations that appear to be related to mucosal inflammation.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Gastric and periurethral metastases from seminoma testis.

A case of seminoma testis with metastases to periurethral tissue and gastric submucosa is described. Response to treatment with irradiation and chemotherapy was good. Regression of the unusually sited tumour masses is demonstrated by barium meal and computed tomography. A brief review of gastric metastases is presented.

Adult↗