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Biomedical subjects

S B Greene

Publications and source records attributed to S B Greene.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

Pronoun resolution and discourse models.

Psychological investigations of pronoun resolution have implicitly assumed that the processes involved automatically provide a unique referent for every pronoun. We challenge this assumption and propose a new framework for studying pronoun resolution. Drawing on advances in discourse representation and global memory modeling, this framework suggests that automatic processes may not always identify a unique referent for a pronoun. In 9 experiments, we demonstrate that, unlike noun anaphors, pronouns sometimes do not produce relative facilitation of their referents in comparison with nonreferents. We argue that research on pronoun resolution must consider the discourse contexts in which pronouns are likely to occur.

Attention

Effects of unilateral hypothalamic manipulations on the sexual behaviors of rats.

Four experiments that assessed the contributions of each side of the hypothalamus to the control of sexual behavior found the following. (a) Exposing the left, but not the right, ventromedial nucleus to estrogen neonatally defeminized sexual behavior in female rats. This asymmetry did not reverse as sexual differentiation progressed. (b) Unilateral cuts lateral to the medial preoptic area disrupted mounting in females that had mounted regularly before surgery, when given testosterone. The deficits were greater when the cuts were on the left side, but a third of the females with unilateral cuts showed severe deficits regardless of the side. (c) Comparable cuts did not impair masculine sexual behavior in gonadally intact males. In fact, left-side cuts seemed to accelerate copulation in males. (d) Unilateral lesions of the ventromedial nucleus disrupted lordosis in female rats in an essentially all-or-none fashion. This effect did not vary with side.

Animals

Multiple explanations for multiply quantified sentences: are multiple models necessary?

Johnson-Laird, Byrne, and Tabossi (1989) presented a theory of deductive reasoning for inference problems using multiply quantified premises (e.g., "All of the squares are connected to some of the circles"). Their theory classifies such problems into those that require subjects to construct only 1 mental model and those that require multiple models. They presented data that corroborate the theory. This article shows that Johnson-Laird et al.'s major results can be explained without invoking mental models or, in fact, deductive reasoning at all. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that, contrary to the assumption of these authors, reversing the order of the quantifiers in a multiply quantified sentence may produce a sentence that is both more difficult to comprehend and more ambiguous. Finally, some implications for theories of how people understand multiply quantified sentences are noted.

Attention

Racial differences in medical care expenditures.

Out of pocket medical expenditures made by families for physician services, dental visits, medications, hospitalizations and insurance premiums are examined in a southern rural community using household survey interview data. White families paid an average out of pocket amount for total medical services of $709 as compared with $383 for black families over a 12-month period, 1974-75. Correlates of expenditure differences between blacks and whites are explored with respect to family characteristics (race, education of household head, family income, family size and family composition), illness levels (number of family members with perceived fair or poor health status and number of family members reporting chronic conditions), and use of services (number of doctor visits and type of usual source of care). We find that whites consistently report greater expenditures than blacks, regardless of the variables controlled for. We consider that expenditure differences are in part due to a mix of three factors: variations in the cost of doctor visits to whites and blacks; a lower level of use of services by blacks; and the differential availability and use of third party payors.

Black or African American

Utilization of services for preventable disease: a case study of dental care in a southern rural area of the United States.

The use made of dental services, both preventive and symptomatic, was explored in a small rural southern community in North Carolina as part of a case study illustrative of southern rural patterns of utilization of elective health services. The target population of 1689 persons in 545 households was interviewed in a household survey and in each of four follow-up panel visits over a period of one year--1974--75. Though overall utilization of dental services was low and preventive dental services even lower in both blacks and whites, blacks were at a considerable disadvantage. Unlike whites, increasing education did not increase use of services in blacks; also, unlike whites, black mothers' preventive behaviour was not associated with increased dental preventive behaviour in their children. In addition to barriers to care suffered by the poor, blacks in the south still have additional barriers to overcome: Established patterns of practice are slow to change even when legal and financial barriers are lowered.

Adolescent

Distribution of illnesses and its implications in a rural community.

This study is a continuation of a series of reports on the utilization of health care services in a southern rural community. In this investigation the distribution of the utilization of medical care services is assessed with respect to reported illnesses and related disabilities. It is found that whites report significantly more illnesses, disabilities and physicians visits than blacks. Furthermore, even when controlling for disability and illness, whites use more physician services than blacks. The differential in utilization may be due to varying interpretations of the survey questions possibly reflecting different cultures and lifestyles and/or dissimilar expectations of the health care system in blacks having experienced greater barriers to access in the past.

Adolescent

Demand for medical care in a rural setting: racial comparisons.

Household data from a southern rural community are used to examine racial differences in the utilization of medical care services, and both monetary and nonmonetary determinants of demand are considered. Regression analysis results indicate that office waiting time (for black households) and travel time to the provider (for both black and white households) have a greater impact on demand than price. Racial differences exist in the effects of health insurance coverage and household income on household medical visit expenditures, and both need and household size are found to be consequential determinants of demand.

Black or African American

Hospitalizations in a southern rural community: an application of the 'ecology model'.

The purpose of this study is to re-examine the concepts of health services utilization presented by White and his colleagues in 'The Ecology of Medical Care'. We re-test their model in a rural population in the southern United States using longitudinal instead of cross-sectional data and find that the general principles of the 'Ecology' model do, indeed, apply to rural populations like Rougemont/Bahama. Use of this model has implications for modifying and improving the organization of the health care delivery system and for a fundamental change of emphasis in medical education.

Adolescent

Pro Bono Publico--a century later.

From the introduction of Pro Bono Publico smoking tobacco in Durham, NC a century ago, the production of tobacco products has become a vital part of the state's economy. How this may relate to the smoking behavior, and consequently to the health of its residents is assessed from smoking patterns of adult residents of a rural area of Durham County. Male smoking rates are considerably higher than U.S. estimates whereas female rates are lower. The national trend of increasing incidence of lung cancer can be expected to continue in North Carolina and may be even greater due to the high rate of smoking.

Adolescent

Access to health care in a southern rural community.

This case study of utilization of health care services in a rural southern community is the first of a series of reports dealing with access to care in this community. The most striking findings were the low utilization of physician and dental services compared with national standards (particularly by the black population) and the infrequent use of private physicians by blacks. Possible explanations for these findings are the short time interval since integration of services after Medicare and Medicaid legislation, the short supply of primary care physicians, especially black, in this community, and the reluctance of white physicians to accept Medicaid patients. We postulate that while employment and social mobility have improved greatly for blacks, established methods of medical and dental practice have changed slowly.

Adolescent