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Biomedical subjects

R Lynn

Publications and source records attributed to R Lynn.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

The British Paediatric Surveillance Unit: activities and developments in 1990 and 1991.

The British Paediatric Surveillance Unit is a joint undertaking of the British Paediatric Association, the PHLS Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre and the Department of Epidemiology at the Institute of Child Health, London. It provides an active case reporting system which aims to facilitate the surveillance of rare childhood infections and other conditions. Cards with a menu of up to twelve reportable disorders are sent monthly to more than 1100 paediatricians throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. The average response rate is 90%. Reported cases are followed up according to study protocols. Since its inception in 1986, the Unit has facilitated the study of a wide range of disorders, including HIV infection and AIDS, Reye's syndrome, Kawasaki disease, congenital rubella, neonatal herpes, congenital toxoplasmosis and acute rheumatic fever, and the number of new applications for surveys has increased in 1992-3. Several European paediatric organisations have expressed interest in setting up similar schemes in their own countries.

Adolescent

Reaction times and intelligence in Korean children.

Nine-year-old Korean children (N = 299) were tested for reaction time (RT) and intelligence measured by Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices. Reaction times were broken into decision times and movement times and into three degrees of complexity. The results showed low but generally statistically significant correlations between decision times and intelligence. Generally, no significant differences existed between movement times and intelligence. Boys showed significantly faster movement times than girls did.

Child

The general intelligence and spatial abilities of gifted young Belgian chess players.

Thirty-three tournament-level young Belgian chess players aged 8 to 13 were tested with the French WISC (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children). The mean full scale IQ = 121, verbal IQ = 109 and performance IQ = 129. The results suggest that a high level of general intelligence and of spatial ability are necessary to achieve a high standard of play in chess. The high spatial ability of these young chess players suggested by the high performance IQs may go some way towards explaining why males tend to be more numerous than females among high-standard chess players.

Adolescent

Reaction times and intelligence: a comparison of Japanese and British children.

Japanese and British 9-year-old children were compared on the standard progressive matrices and twelve reaction time parameters providing measures of simple and complex decision times, movement times and variabilities. The mean of the Japanese children on the progressive matrices exceeded that of the British children by 0.65 SD units and on the decision times component of reaction times by 0.50 SD units, suggesting that the high Japanese mean on psychometric intelligence is largely explicable in terms of the more efficient processing of information at the neurological level. Japanese children also showed faster movement times but, contrary to expectation, had greater variabilities than British children.

Child

Branched-chain amino acid in chronic renal failure patients: respiratory and sleep effects.

Sleep disorders, including a high incidence of sleep apnea, have been recognized as a significant problem in chronic renal failure (CRF) patients. In a preliminary study, we examined CRF patients on maintenance hemodialysis for three nights; one control night, and thereafter randomized to infusion of saline (placebo) for one night and 4% branch-chain amino acid (BCAA) solution for one night. Polysomnographic and respiratory data [respiratory rate, oxygen saturation and end-tidal CO2 (ETCO2)] was recorded continuously throughout the nights and data from each hour compared with baseline (awake) values. The patients studied were characterized by reduced sleep quality and decreased amount of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep. The BCAA infusion was associated with a return of REM sleep to normal and a significant decrease in ETCO2 during both REM and non-REM sleep (P less than 0.05). Our findings demonstrate respiratory stimulation during sleep with infusion of BCAA; this stimulatory effect on respiration (in contrast to many respiratory stimulants) is associated with an increased amount of REM sleep.

Adult

Attitudes related to work of adolescents in the United Kingdom and Japan.

This study was designed to provide data for notions that differences in achievement motivation in different nations may contribute to differences in national rates of economic growth. The nations investigated were the United Kingdom and Japan as representatives of low and high rates of economic growth in the decades after the end of World War II. Data were collected from college students for motivations and attitudes related to work. British students had higher achievement motivation, while Japanese students had higher competitiveness motivation and strong money beliefs. Differences in career preference between the nations were also presented. The relationship between motivations and attitudes to work with career preference were examined for each nation.

Achievement

A computer system for clinical microbiology.

The Department of Clinical Microbiology at St Thomas' Hospital has been producing bacteriological reports on a computer for more than three years and is now producing some 2300 reports per week. The system is operated entirely by laboratory staff without special training, and involves the use of optical mark reader (OMR) forms as worksheets, automatic validation and release of most reports, the use of local terminals, and scrutiny of reports by pathologists using a visual display unit. The OMR worksheet records not only the final result but also most of the tests and observations made on the samples; it is the only working document used by technicians. One specialist clinic submits its laboratory requests on an OMR form, which is subsequently used to record the results. The reports are printed and also filed in the computer to produce analyses for hospital, laboratory, and clinical management.

Computers

Fluctuations in national levels of neuroticism and extraversion, 1935-1970.

National levels of neuroticism and extraversion in 18 advanced Western nations are measured at intervals from 1935 to 1970. It is shown that levels of neuroticism rose significantly in the nations that suffered military defeat and occupation in the Second World War and then declined during the 1950s to prewar levels. National levels of extraversion have been generally rising over this period.

Australia

Combined aortoiliac and femoropopliteal occlusive disease.

In a series of 140 patients operated upon for aortoiliac occlusive disease over 11 1/2 years, 81 had concomitant occlusion of the superficial femoral artery. These 81 patients with combined segment disease were studied with particular emphasis on the relief of presenting symptoms by an aortic bypass procedure alone. Fifty-three patients underwent only aortic bypass and could be fully evaluated postoperatively. Ninety-six per cent presenting with rest pain or ischemic changes obtained complete relief of these sympotms. All 53 patients presented with claudication, and 88.7 per cent either had complete relief or improved to the point that no further theapy was needed. The results of this study confirm the efficacy of restoration of proximal flow to the profunda femoris arteries as the primary therapeutic goal in patients with combined segment disease.

Aortic Diseases