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Biomedical subjects

R Friedman

Publications and source records attributed to R Friedman.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Lesion localization in apractic agraphia.

Apractic agraphia is an impairment in writing in which the actual orthographic production of letters and words is abnormal despite normal sensorimotor function, visual feedback, and word and letter knowledge. We report one case and review the limited clinicoanatomical literature. Analysis of available cases supports the hypothesis that apractic agraphia is one of several related clinical disorders that are due to the loss of spatially and kinesthetically modulated movements. It is produced by lesions in the superior parietal lobule, usually in the hemisphere dominant for language.

Aged

The patterning of psychological attributes and distress by "job strain" and social support in a sample of working men.

As a test of the "job strain" (job demands-control) model, 297 healthy men aged 30-60 were recruited at eight New York City worksites. The association among job demands and control, social support, and psychological outcomes was tested using both ANCOVA and moderated multiple regression, controlling for demographic variables. The job strain model was supported by various psychological outcome measures, with workers in "active" jobs reporting the highest level of Type A behavior, job involvement, and positive attributional style, workers in "low-strain" jobs reporting the lowest job dissatisfaction and trait anxiety, workers in "passive" jobs reporting the most external locus of control and trait anxiety, and workers in "high-strain" jobs reporting the highest job dissatisfaction. Low social support was associated with greater symptomatology, and a significant three-way interaction (demands x control x support) for job dissatisfaction was observed. While selection of subjects into jobs may partially explain these findings, the results support the hypothesis that working conditions influence psychological attributes and distress.

Adaptation, Psychological

A psychometric analysis of the Mental Adjustment to Cancer scale.

This paper describes a psychometric replication study of a British coping scale, the Mental Adjustment to Cancer scale, on 239 USA cancer patients. The internal consistency and construct validity were similar to the original validation study. However, the factor structure was different. Cultural differences between the British and USA patient populations are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological

Prevalence of raised sodium-lithium countertransport activity in type 1 diabetic patients.

The prevalence of raised Na+/Li+ countertransport (CT) activity (greater than 0.41 mmol/liter RBC/hr) was assessed in 185 consecutive insulin-dependent diabetic patients attending an outpatient diabetic clinic. Normoalbuminuria was defined as an overnight albumin excretion rate (AER) of less than 20 micrograms/min (N = 121), microalbuminuria as AER between 20 and 150 micrograms/min (N = 35) and macroalbuminuria as AER greater than or equal to 150 micrograms/min (N = 29). The prevalence of elevated Na+/Li+CT (greater than 0.41 mmol/liter RBC/hr) was 21.5, 42.8 and 51.7% (P = 0.0005), in patients with normo-, micro- and macroalbuminuria, respectively. In the whole group, Na+/Li+CT was significantly related to mean blood pressure (MBP; rs = 0.37, P less than 0.001) and AER (rs = 0.38, P less than 0.001). In a multiple regression analysis the significant correlates of AER, as a continuous variable, or of proteinuria (micro + macroalbuminuria), as a categorical variable, were Na+/Li+CT, MBP, duration of diabetes and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1). The frequency of normoalbuminuric patients with high Na+/Li+CT activity fell with duration of diabetes. The risk of proteinuria was significantly greater in patients with raised Na+/Li+CT compared to those with Na+/Li+CT within the normal range (odds ratio 3.8, 95% CI, 1.9 and 7.8). A relative excess of patients with proteinuria (micro + macroalbuminuria) was found in the group with elevated Na+/Li+CT and HbA1 above the median value (8.05%) of the whole population (chi 2 = 9.7, P less than 0.002).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent

Anger expression, hostility, anxiety, and patterns of cardiac reactivity to stress.

The majority of studies investigating the relationships between psychological characteristics and cardiovascular reactivity to stress use a research strategy in which discrete traits are evaluated in isolation. The present study examined the effects of additive and/or interactive relationships among traits on cardiac reactivity to a mental arithmetic task. In addition, impedance cardiographic techniques were employed to examine potential relationships between such psychological traits and a specific measure--pre-ejection period (PEP)--of sympathic influence on the heart. Forty-nine undergraduate men performed a mental arithmetic task while continuous measures of PEP and interbeat interval (IBI) were collected. The subjects then completed questionnaires measuring anger expression, hostility, and trait anxiety. Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) showed a significant main effect for anger-out on PEP change from baseline, but not for IBI. Results also showed that anger-in interacted with anger-out and hostility to affect both PEP and IBI changes significantly. Other results indicated that subjects in the high anger-in/low anger-out and high anger-in/low hostility groups did not show significant PEP change, although they nevertheless showed significant IBI change. These results highlight the importance of the consideration of interactions among traits in predicting cardiac reactivity and of the importance of measuring specific indexes of sympathetic arousal.

Adolescent

Hereditary nonspherocytic hemolytic anemia due to pyruvate kinase deficiency: a prevalence study in Quebec (Canada).

Fifty-eight cases of hereditary nonspherocytic hemolytic anemia due to pyruvate kinase deficiency were collected from both laboratories that have performed the assay since 1972 and from attending physicians in the province of Quebec. Using the postal addresses of the probands, a prevalence map was constructed according to the administrative regions of the province of Quebec. The prevalence was found to be higher in eastern Quebec (1/81,838) than in western Quebec (1/139,086). Fifty probands were of French Canadian origin whereas the remaining 6 were recent immigrants.

Anemia, Hemolytic, Congenital Nonspherocytic

Effect of age and sex on glomerular filtration rate measured by 51Cr-EDTA.

1. The effect of age and sex on glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was measured by the 51Cr-EDTA radioisotopic method in 76 normal individuals (43 women and 33 men). 2. Age has a significant effect on GFR. Subjects aged 41 to 60 years have GFR values [104.5 +/- 16.5 ml min-1 (1.73 m2)-1, N = 43] lower than younger individuals aged 20 to 40 years [116.6 +/- 11.2 ml min-1 (1.73 m2)-1, N = 33]. GFR decreases after 40 years of age by approximately 6.0 ml min-1 (1.73 m2)-1 per decade. 3. GFR values in women [105.9 +/- 16.0 ml min-1 (1.73 m2)-1, N = 43] were lower when compared to men [114.8 +/- 14.3 ml min-1 (1.73 m2)-1, N = 33]. 4. We conclude that the effect of sex and age must be taken into account when establishing reference values for GFR.

Adult

The prevalence and predictability of depression in infertile women.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the prevalence, severity, and predictability of depression in infertile women compared with a control sample of healthy women. DESIGN: Subjects were assessed while waiting to see their physician: infertility patients before a visit with an infertility specialist and control subjects before seeing either a gynecologist or internist for a routine gynecological examination. Subjects completed a demographic form and two depression scales. SETTING: A group infertility practice affiliated with an academic medical center, a hospital-based gynecology practice, and a health maintenance organization internal medicine clinic. PARTICIPANTS: 338 infertile women and 39 healthy women. INTERVENTIONS: None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The Beck Depression Inventory and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. RESULTS: The infertile women had significantly higher depression scores and twice the prevalence of depression than the controls; women with a 2- to 3-year history of infertility had significantly higher depression scores compared with women with infertility durations of < 1 year or > 6 years; women with an identified causative factor for their infertility had significantly higher depression scores than women with unexplained or undiagnosed infertility. CONCLUSIONS: Depressive symptoms are common in infertile women. Psychological interventions aimed at reducing depressive symptoms need to be implemented, especially for women with a definitive diagnosis and for those with durations of 2 to 3 years of infertility.

Depression

Meningococcal sepsis with endophthalmitis.

Endophthalmitis is a rare complication of meningococcemia. A child had endophthalmitis as the initially occurring complaint. Although both eyes appeared inflamed, the pupil in the right eye was fixed and dilated, the fundus could not be seen, and a hypopyon was seen in the right anterior chamber. There was gradual improvement when the child received antibiotic therapy. Since the introduction of antimicrobial drugs, endophthalmitis has rarely been observed as a complication of meningococcal disease. However, this report is evidence that meningococcemia may occur with unusual sites of local infection.

Child, Preschool

Differential development of salt-induced and renal hypertension in Dahl hypertension-sensitive rats after neonatal sympathectomy.

Rats with a genetic susceptibility to salt hypertension were given repeated neonatal injections of guanethidine. Vascular reactivity and tissue catecholamine concentrations indicated that a peripheral sympathectomy had been produced. Chemically sympathectomized rats had lower blood pressure than controls while fed a diet containing 0.4% NaCl. Furthermore, the dramatic rise in blood pressure exhibited by control rats fed a diet containing 8.0% NaCl was completely absent in sympathectomized rats similarly fed. The absence of salt-induced hypertension was observed regardless of whether the animals were anesthetized with ether or pentobarbital or had the blood pressures determined in an unanesthetized state. Finally, two-kidney Goldblatt hypertension did develop in sympathectomized rats, but to a level below intact rats similarly treated.

Angiotensin II