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Biomedical subjects

R Pearl

Publications and source records attributed to R Pearl.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1995

Brief report: four years after a preterm birth: children's development and their mothers' beliefs and expectations.

Examined the development of preterm-born 4 1/2-year-olds who lived in environments free from socioeconomic disadvantages often associated with deleterious outcomes. Beliefs and expectations of their mothers were also assessed. Thirty-two preterm and 41 comparison children and their mothers participated. Results indicated that although the preterm children were performing at or above age norms on most measures, they scored lower than comparison children in receptive vocabulary, syntactic complexity, articulation, and visual-motor skill. In addition, preterm and comparison group mothers differed in some beliefs and expectations. Results suggest that a preterm birth remains a factor in development during the preschool period, even in a social environment most likely to provide compensatory mechanisms for preterm birth.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1992

Efficacy of immobilization following aspiration of carpal and digital ganglions.

In a prospective study 69 carpal and digital ganglions were aspirated, multiply punctured, and digitally ruptured. Fifty percent of the wrists and digits were immobilized for 3 weeks and 50% were mobilized early. Follow-up was 1 year. Immobilization in our study did not significantly improve the results of treatment. During the course of the study, 51% of all ganglions did not recur. The outcome was successful in 52% of the wrists and digits that were immobilized and in 50% of those that were not. Forty-six percent of the dorsal carpal ganglions did not recur. Treatment was successful in 48% of dorsal carpal ganglions in which the wrists were immobilized and in 45% of those that were not. Similar percentages were found for palmar and digital ganglions. From our results, we conclude that immobilization does not significantly improve the successful treatment of ganglions over perforation and aspiration alone.

California↗
PubMed1992

Students' expectations about peer pressure to engage in misconduct.

Previous research suggests that students with learning disabilities may differ from other students in their expectations of how peers are likely to propose engaging in misconduct. This study followed up on these findings using a methodology that did not require the participants to produce their responses verbally. Participants were 74 students with learning disabilities (53 male, 21 female) and 85 students without disabilities (40 male, 45 female) from high schools in three types of communities (urban, primarily black; urban, primarily Hispanic; suburban, primarily white). The students were presented with a series of pairs of statements that might be made by a teenager trying to entice a peer into misconduct and were asked to indicate which statement in each pair was the more persuasive. The results partially replicated the earlier research. The methodological and social implications of these results are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

The management of vascular injuries associated with total hip arthroplasty.

Approximately 100,000 total hip reconstructions are done annually in the United States. The nature of the surgical technique in a field close to the iliac and femoral vessels makes the occurrence of vascular injury an occasional but serious complications. We have reviewed retrospectively our experience of five cases of vascular injuries with total hip replacement and an additional 63 cases in the literature to identify those patients at risk and to define the management of these injuries. For the entire group of 68 patients, most injuries were sustained on the left side (66%), and 39% were seen in revisions. Complications were related to cement incorporation of the iliac vessels (44%), aggressive medial retraction (17%), excessive traction on atherosclerotic vessels (10%), and improper technique in preparation of the acetabulum. The most commonly injured vessels were the external iliac artery (36), common femoral artery (17), and external iliac vein (6). Twenty-seven of these injuries required emergent surgery, most for hemorrhage (66%). Injuries consisted of thromboembolic complications leading to distal ischemia (46%), vessel lacerations (26%), pseudoaneurysms (25%), and arteriovenous fistulas (3%). Vascular repair was individualized and included suture repair, thrombectomy and patch angioplasty, embolectomy, and arterial and venous bypass procedures. There was an overall 7% mortality and a 15% incidence of limb loss. Risk factors include (1) revision procedures, (2) left-sided procedures, and (3) intrapelvic migration of the acetabular component of the hip prosthesis. Elective vascular workup and preliminary retroperitoneal exposure of the iliac vessels at time of hip arthroplasty is recommended for patients at risk.

Aged↗
PubMed1985

Cognitive-behavioral interventions for increasing motivation.

Interventions aimed at improving students' achievement behavior by promoting adaptive attributions for success and failure are described. Issues concerning identification of appropriate recipients of these interventions, content and method of training, and evaluation of treatment effectiveness are discussed.

Achievement↗
PubMed1984

Conversational interactions between mothers and learning-disabled or nondisabled children during a problem-solving task.

This study focused on mother-child interactions during a problem-solving task to determine whether (a) mothers of learning-disabled children engage in conversational buffering to facilitate their child's participation in the task, and (b) whether learning-disabled children differ from nondisabled children in their use of language with their mothers. The results of this study provide some evidence that mothers of both learning-disabled and nondisabled children engage in conversational buffering, although there were few differences between the mothers of the learning-disabled and nondisabled children. Differences between learning-disabled and nondisabled children showed that the learning-disabled were more likely to agree with and less likely to disagree with their mothers than were the nondisabled children. These findings provide some evidence of maternal conversational buffering and suggest that learning-disabled children's previously reported unassertive conversational style in peer interactions extends to talk with their mothers.

Child↗
PubMed1984

Amino acid clearance and prognosis in surgical patients with cirrhosis.

To measure the effects of cirrhosis on amino acid (AA) flux and to assess the value of the central plasma clearance rate of amino acids (CPCR-AA) as a hepatocyte function test, 35 patients with cirrhosis were studied before and after operation. Fourteen of these patients died after the operation. CPCR-AA measures the number of milliliters of plasma cleared of AA per minute by the liver and other visceral tissues. It is the ratio of AA entry rate into plasma (from peripheral tissues plus infusion) to the arterial AA plasma concentration. Preoperative CPCR-AA measurements in 21 fasted patients with cirrhosis who were not infected revealed a pattern of AA plasma concentration and exchange similar to that previously observed in patients with sepsis with normal liver function. Whereas the concentration of AA in both groups was slightly lower than normal, the CPCR-AA of each was more than four times that of normal postabsorptive people (p less than 0.01). However, preoperative values of CPCR-AA in patients with cirrhosis who survived was 220 +/- 26 ml/M2/min while that in those who died was 97 +/- 16 ml/M2/min (p less than 0.001). Postoperative measurements remained relatively unchanged: survivors 212 +/- 24 ml/M2/min and those who died 89 ml/M2/min (p less than 0.0005). Measurements in vitro of the hepatic protein synthetic rate in liver biopsy specimens taken at operation correlated well with CPCR-AA values obtained immediately before operation in 10 patients (r = 0.73; p less than 0.01). Thus in patients with cirrhosis visceral amino acid uptake and hepatic protein synthesis are maximally stimulated. Nevertheless, if the preoperative CPCR-AA does not approach the value of 284 +/- 76 ml/M2/min previously observed in patients with sepsis who recover, the patient with cirrhosis is prone postoperatively to die of overwhelming infection and multisystem failure.

Amino Acids↗
PubMed1982

Learning disabled children's syntactic proficiency on a communicative task.

Previous studies have generally examined learning disabled children's syntactic ability either on structured tasks or by analyzing oral language samples collected under conditions not typical of natural communicative settings. Thus, these studies are of limited value in exploring the impact of learning disabled children's deficits in linguistic structure on their use of language in social contexts. The purpose of this study was to investigate learning disabled children's syntactic proficiency during a task requiring them to convey information to a listener. Subjects were selected on the bases of teacher ratings, reading achievement scores, and Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test IQ scores within the normal range; those children identified as learning disabled received low ratings and demonstrated underachievement (below 40th percentile for their grade) in reading. Oral language samples were collected by having learning disabled and normally achieving children in grades two, four, six, and eight participate in a referential communication task in which they described abstract shapes to an experimenter. The length and syntactic complexity of the children's descriptions were assessed. Learning disabled children in all grades were found to produce shorter mean t-units and shorter mean main clauses than nondisabled children even on this relatively simple communicative task. Although learning disabled children's linguistic problems have previously been characterized as subtle, these findings suggest that their productive language deficits may be significant enough to interfere with even the informal and elliptical conversations characteristic of communication among peers and family members.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

The classification of acute leukaemia in childhood.

In 1976 a French, American and British (FAB) cooperative group proposed a morphological classification of acute leukaemia which they hoped would prove more reproducible than previous classification. We present our preliminary experience with this classification, based on a 2-year study of 39 patients. Cytochemical and cell surface marker characteristics of the leukaemic cells were also studied. We found this classification to be satisfactory but some problems were noted in regard to its reproducibility, especially in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL). Cell surface markers were absent in the majority of cases of ALL ("null cell" type), while the remainder had T-cell characteristics. No B-cell types were seen. Cytochemical staining patterns clearly distinguished ALL from acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and also helped to categorize AML into its subtypes. The implications of our finding are discussed.

Acute Disease↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Conformity to peer pressure by students with learning disabilities: a replication.

This study assessed the reported responses of junior high school students with learning disabilities and normally achieving classmates to peer pressure to conform in prosocial and antisocial activities. The results replicate those of an earlier study in finding that students with learning disabilities indicated more willingness than their classmates to conform to peer pressure to engage in antisocial actions.

Achievement↗