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Biomedical subjects

R M Atkinson

Publications and source records attributed to R M Atkinson.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

The VA psychiatry service as a setting for residency education.

The authors report data from a survey of chairmen of academic departments of psychiatry and chiefs of Veterans Administration (VA) psychiatry services concerning administrative relationships between academic psychiatry departments and VA psychiatry services and the education of psychiatry residents in VA settings. The extent and quality of relationships, the interdependence of academic departments and VA psychiatry services, factors important for good VA training, and advantages and disadvantages of using the VA for residency education are documented. The authors present their conclusions and recommendations for improving the quality of relationships between academic departments and VA psychiatry services and for strengthening psychiatric education in the VA setting.

Academic Medical Centers↗

Personality, prior drug use, and introspective experience during nitrous oxide intoxication.

This report compares data on some personality characteristics and prior drug experiences of 60 volunteer young men with their subjective psychological responses while inhaling 40% nitrous oxide-oxygen mixtures for 20 min in a naturalistic laboratory setting. A rather specific trait-openness to "internal," reverie-type experiences-was very significantly related to a wide variety of drug responses, while several more general traits-including introversion and neuroticism-and openness to nonreverie mental experiences were unrelated to drug response. Prior illicit drug use was related only to mood on nitrous oxide, and not to other effects. Implications of the findings in the field of drug abuse are discussed.

Adult↗

Assessment of Viet Nam veterans for posttraumatic stress disorder in Veterans Administration disability claims.

Since the Veterans Administration (VA) authorized compensation and other benefits for posttraumatic stress disorder, delayed type, in October 1980, the agency has received an increasingly large number of claims--mainly from Viet Nam veterans--for this disorder. An unprecedented challenge of the adequacy of psychiatric disability evaluation in the VA has thus been created. The authors describe efforts in one large program to meet this challenge and review 12 problems in the diagnostic process. Cooperation of all parties in claims transactions, thorough claimant assessment, reliance on DSM-III criteria and methods and consultation with examiners are essential principles for this work.

Adult↗

Alcohol and drug abuse in old age: a clinical perspective.

The literature on elderly alcohol and drug use and abuse is reviewed. Factors in old age which influence usage patterns, risks, clinical presentations, diagnosis and treatment are emphasized. Several themes for clinical research are defined. While substance abuse is less prevalent in the elderly than in younger cohorts, it is common enough to constitute a significant public health problem, may increase in the future, is often overlooked by clinicians, and may be successfully managed if treatment is tailored to the special requirements of this age group.

Aged↗

Effect of timing of cefuroxime dosage on its protection of rats against gentamicin nephrotoxicity.

The neophrotoxic effect on rats of once daily treatment with 40 or 45 mg gentamicin/kg/day for ten days was substantially reduced by administration of 4 g cefuroxime/kg/day, either at the same time or eight hours later. This dosage of cefuroxime was protective when given for only two consecutive days starting on the first to third days of gentamicin treatment, but enhanced gentamicin nephrotoxocity when started on the sixth or subsequent days.

Animals↗

Toxicological studies on cefuroxime sodium.

The intravenous LD50 of cefuroxime sodium for mice was 10.4 g/kg. The maximum dosage administered in other acute toxicity tests was well tolerated by mice (10 g/kg, subcutaneous), by rats (4 g/kg, intravenous, 5 g/kg, subcutaneous) and by cats, dogs and monkeys (2 g/kg, intramuscularly). Cefuroxime sodium was administered subcutaneously (s.c.) or intramuscularly (i.m.) for 3 months to rats (100, 300 or 900 mg/kg/day) followed by a recovery period, and also for 6 months to rats and dogs (50, 150 or 450 mg/kg/day) and for 1 month to monkeys (150 or 450 mg/kg/day). In all these tests there were no serious toxic effects. Minor haematological changes were attributable in part if not entirely to haemorrhage and tissue reaction at the site of injection of large doses. In rats large doses caused some increase in urine volume and electrolyte excretion, and slightly aggravated an age related nephropathy. Administration to rats intravenously (i.v.) for1 month of up to 400 mg/kg/day had no toxic effects. In reproduction studies on mice and rabbits there were no adverse effects on fertility, organogenesis or the rearing of young.

Animals↗

Current and emerging models of residential psychiatric treatment, with special reference to the California situation.

The author reviews the steps that have led to the progressive deemphasis of psychiatric hospitalization in California and surveys the empirical basis for rejecting the usefulness of hospitalization. He discusses the four alternative residential models that have emerged in California as substitutes for state mental hospitals--general hospital psychiatric units, board and care homes, private psychiatric facilities available through vendor contracts, and convalescent hospitals. The author also touches briefly upon some important problems, including the possible fate of public general hospital psychiatric units, community mental health services, and the commitment law in California.

California↗