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Biomedical subjects

S Carey

Publications and source records attributed to S Carey.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

The role of object recognition in young infants' object segregation.

Needham's (2001, this issue) new results confirm that young infants draw on experientially derived representations in resolving individuation ambiguities due to shared boundaries between adjacent objects. They extend previous findings in a surprising way: The memory representations that infants draw upon have bound together information about shape, color, and pattern. Our commentary on these important results draws a distinction between two senses of "recognition" and asks in which sense object recognition contributes to object individuation in these experiments.

Child Development↗
PubMed2001

Developmental changes within the core of artifact concepts.

Three experiments addressed the relative importance of original function and current function in artifact categorization. Subjects were asked to judge whether an artifact that was made for one purpose (e.g. making tea) and was currently being used for another purpose (e.g. watering flowers) was a teapot or a watering can. Experiment 1 replicated the finding by Hall (1995) (unpublished manuscript) that adults rely on the original function of an artifact over a current function in their kind judgments. Experiments 2 and 3 revealed that whereas the kind judgments of 6-year-olds, like those of adults, patterned with the original function, those of 4-year-olds did not. Four-year-olds were influenced by the order in which the functions were mentioned in the story. Further, in their justifications 6-year-olds and adults referred to the origin of the objects, whereas 4-year-olds virtually never did. We conclude that 6-year-olds have begun to organize their understanding of artifacts around the notion of original function, and that 4-year-olds have not. The data are discussed as they bear on children's understanding of the design stance (Dennett, D. C. (1987).

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Validation of questionnaires to estimate physical activity and functioning in end-stage renal disease.

BACKGROUND: Patients on dialysis are less physically active than sedentary persons with normal kidney function. To assess the consequences of inactivity and the results of efforts to increase activity in the end-stage renal disease (ESRD) population, valid instruments to measure physical activity and physical functioning in this group are needed. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional study to establish the validity in ESRD of several questionnaires designed to measure physical activity or physical functioning in the general population. Questionnaires studied included the Stanford 7-day Physical Activity Recall questionnaire (PAR), the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE), the Human Activity Profile (HAP), and the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36-item questionnaire (SF-36). Physical activity was measured using three-dimensional activity monitors (accelerometers) over a seven-day period (the "gold standard"). Patients also underwent physical performance tests, including measurement of gait speed, stair climbing time, and chair rising time. Study questionnaires were administered, and questionnaire results were compared with each other and with activity monitor and physical performance test results. RESULTS: Thirty-nine maintenance hemodialysis patients participated in the study. Dialysis patients scored worse than previously published healthy norms on all tests. All questionnaires correlated with seven-day accelerometry and with at least one measure of physical performance. The HAP correlated best with accelerometry (r = 0.78, P < 0.0001). Seventy-five percent of the variability in physical activity measured by accelerometry could be explained by a model that combined information from the HAP and the PASE. The HAP and the physical functioning scale of the SF-36 were about equally well correlated with physical performance measures. CONCLUSIONS: These questionnaires are valid in patients on hemodialysis and should be used to study the physical activity and rehabilitation efforts in this population further.

Cross-Sectional Studies↗
PubMed2000

Spontaneous number representation in semi-free-ranging rhesus monkeys.

Previous research has shown that animals possess considerable numerical abilities. However, this work was based on experiments involving extensive training, a small number of captive subjects and relatively artificial testing procedures. We present the results of experiments on over 200 semi-free-ranging rhesus monkeys using a task which involves no training and mimics a natural foraging problem. The subjects observed two experimenters place pieces of apple, one at a time, into each of two opaque containers. The experimenters then walked away so that the subjects could approach. The monkeys chose the container with the greater number of apple slices when the comparisons were one versus two, two versus three, three versus four and three versus five slices. They failed at four versus five, four versus six, four versus eight and three versus eight slices. Controls established that it was the representation of number which underlay their successful choices rather than the amount of time spent placing apple pieces into the box or the volume of apple placed in the box. The failures at values greater than three slices stand in striking contrast to other animal studies where training was involved and in which far superior numerical abilities were demonstrated. The range of success achieved by rhesus monkeys in this spontaneous-number task matches the range achieved by human infants and corresponds to the range encoded in the syntax of natural languages.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Large-Scale Structure of the Carina Nebula.

Observations obtained with the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) satellite reveal for the first time the complex mid-infrared morphology of the entire Carina Nebula (NGC 3372). On the largest size scale of approximately 100 pc, the thermal infrared emission from the giant H ii region delineates one coherent structure: a (somewhat distorted) bipolar nebula with the major axis perpendicular to the Galactic plane. The Carina Nebula is usually described as an evolved H ii region that is no longer actively forming stars, clearing away the last vestiges of its natal molecular cloud. However, the MSX observations presented here reveal numerous embedded infrared sources that are good candidates for sites of current star formation. Several compact infrared sources are located at the heads of dust pillars or in dark globules behind ionization fronts. Because their morphology suggests a strong interaction with the peculiar collection of massive stars in the nebula, we speculate that these new infrared sources may be sites of triggered star formation in NGC 3372.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2000

Virologic and serologic surveillance for human, swine and avian influenza virus infections among pigs in the north-central United States.

Influenza virus infection in pigs is both an animal health problem and a public health concern. As such, surveillance and characterization of influenza viruses in swine is important to the veterinary community and should be a part of human pandemic preparedness planning. Studies in 1976/1977 and 1988/1989 demonstrated that pigs in the U.S. were commonly infected with classical swine H1N1 viruses, whereas human H3 and avian influenza virus infections were very rare. In contrast, human H3 and avian H1 viruses have been isolated frequently from pigs in Europe and Asia over the last two decades. From September 1997 through August 1998, we isolated 26 influenza viruses from pigs in the north central United States at the point of slaughter. All 26 isolates were H1N1 viruses, and phylogenetic analyses of the hemagglutinin and nucleoprotein genes from 11 representative viruses demonstrated that these were classical swine H1 viruses. However, monoclonal antibody analyses revealed antigenic heterogeneity among the HA proteins of the 26 viruses. Serologically, 27.7% of 2,375 pigs tested had hemagglutination-inhibiting antibodies against classical swine H1 influenza virus. Of particular significance, however, the rates of seropositivity to avian H1 (7.6%) and human H3 (8.0%) viruses were substantially higher than in previous studies.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2000

Computer-aided learning for the education of patients and family practice professionals in the personal care of diabetes.

Diabetes Mellitus is approaching pandemic proportions across the globe. It is a disproportionately expensive condition, accounting for 5-9% of annual NHS expenditure. Family practices often play a huge role in the care of diabetic patients. Many GPs elect to play a larger role in diabetes care, but the increasing burden on the multidisciplinary secondary care team means that some of the burden has to fall to family practitioners. In order to provide a high standard of care, the practitioner requires access to continuing education regarding diabetes care. The value of patient education is undisputed. In light of this situation a computer-aided learning (CAL) system is being developed for the education of both patients and practitioners concerning diabetes and its care. The proposed system takes a two pronged approach, being aimed at both patient and practitioner. This interactive system employs multimedia technology to teach practical skills and promote and consolidate theoretical understanding. It is hoped this system will improve patient self-care, and in the long-term reduce the incidence of diabetic complications and their associated costs.

Computer Graphics↗
PubMed2000

Physical functioning and health-related quality-of-life changes with exercise training in hemodialysis patients.

The Renal Exercise Demonstration Project was designed to test the effects of two different approaches to exercise programming on the levels of physical activity, physical functioning, and self-reported health status in hemodialysis patients. Two hundred eighty-six patients were recruited for participation. Intervention patients were given individually prescribed exercise for 8 weeks of independent home exercise, followed by 8 weeks of incenter cycling during dialysis. Physical performance testing was performed at baseline and after each intervention using gait speed, sit-to-stand test, and 6-minute walk. The Medical Outcomes Study Short Form 36-item (SF-36) questionnaire was used to assess self-reported health status. The intervention group showed increased participation in physical activity. There were significant differences between the intervention and nonintervention groups in change over time in normal and fast gait speed, sit-to-stand test scores, and the physical scales on the SF-36, including the physical component scale. The intervention group improved in these test results, whereas the nonintervention group either did not change or declined over the duration of the study. It is clear that improvements in physical functioning result from exercise counseling and encouragement in hemodialysis patients. Because self-reported physical functioning is highly predictive of outcomes in hemodialysis patients, more attention to patients' levels of physical activity is warranted.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed2000

Physical activity levels in patients on hemodialysis and healthy sedentary controls.

BACKGROUND: Patients on dialysis have reduced exercise tolerance compared with age-matched sedentary controls. The reasons for this debility have not been fully elucidated, but physical inactivity could be a contributing factor. The purpose of the current study was to determine whether patients on hemodialysis are less active than healthy sedentary controls and to explore clinical correlates of physical activity level in a group of hemodialysis patients. METHODS: Thirty-four hemodialysis patients and 80 healthy sedentary individuals participated in the study. Physical activity was measured for seven days with a three-dimensional accelerometer and with an activity questionnaire. RESULTS: Vector magnitude values from the accelerometer for the dialysis and control subjects were 104,718 +/- 9631 and 161,255 +/- 6792 arbitrary units per day, respectively (P < 0.0001, mean +/- SEM). The estimated energy expenditure values derived from the questionnaire were 33.6 +/- 0.5 kcal/kg/day and 36.2 +/- 0.5 kcal/kg/day (P = 0.002). The difference between patients on dialysis and controls increased with advancing age. Among the dialysis subjects, some measures of nutritional status correlated with physical activity level, including serum albumin concentration (r = 0.58, P = 0.003), serum creatinine concentration (r = 0.37, P = 0. 03), and phase angle derived from bioelectrical impedance analysis (r = 0.40, P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Patients on hemodialysis are less active than healthy sedentary controls, and this difference is more pronounced among older individuals. There is an association between the level of physical activity and nutritional status among patients on dialysis. These findings are of great concern, given the trend toward increasing age in incident dialysis patients and the well-known association between inactivity and increased mortality in the general population.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Low-functioning hemodialysis patients improve with exercise training.

The Renal Exercise Demonstration Project provided two different approaches to exercise programming to a group of hemodialysis patients. Physical functioning and self-reported health-related quality of life were measured at baseline, after 2 months of independent exercise, and again after 2 months of in-center cycling. This study compares the responses to intervention of patients who initially scored low (<34) on the Physical Component Scale (PCS) on the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 36 questionnaire to those who initially scored higher (>34) on the same scale. The high-PCS group scored higher on all physical function tests (normal gait speed, fast gait speed, and sit-to-stand test) at each testing time than the low-PCS group. The high-PCS group improved only on the sit-to-stand test, whereas the low-PCS group improved in all three physical function tests. There were significant differences between the groups in change over time in all the physical scales and the PCS over time, with the low-PCS group showing improvements in response to the intervention and the high-PCS group showing no change over time. No differences in change over time were noted between the groups on the mental scales in either group. We conclude that low-functioning hemodialysis patients can benefit from exercise counseling in both objective measures of physical functioning and self-reported physical functioning. The impact of such interventions seems to be more profound in the lowest functioning patients.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed1999

Infants' ability to use object kind information for object individuation.

The present studies investigate infants reliance on object kind information in solving the problem of object individuation. Two experiments explored whether adults, 10- and 12-month-old infants could use their knowledge of ducks and cars to individuate an ambiguous array consisting of a toy duck perched on a toy car into two objects. A third experiment investigated whether 10-month-old infants could use their knowledge of cups and shoes to individuate an array consisting of a cup perched on a shoe into two objects. Ten-month-old infants failed to use object kind information alone to resolve the ambiguity with both pairs of objects. In contrast, infants this age succeeded in using spatiotemporal information to segment the array into two objects, i.e. they succeeded if shown that the duck moved independently relative to the car, or the cup relative to the shoe. Twelve-month-old infants, as well as adults, succeeded at object individuation on the basis of object kind information alone. These findings shed light on the developmental course of object individuation and provide converging evidence for the Object-first Hypothesis [Xu, F., Carey, S., 1996; Xu, F., 1997b]. Early on, infants may represent only one concept that provides criteria for individuation, namely physical object; kind concepts such as duck, car, cup, and shoe may be acquired later in the first year of life.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Physical functioning: definitions, measurement, and expectations.

The nephrology community has begun to recognize the importance of physical functioning in the overall treatment of their patients. Physical functioning is highly associated with such outcomes as hospitalization, nursing home admission, falling, level of dependency, and death in older individuals. Because there are many terms used to refer to physical functioning, this report classifies physical functioning into basic actions and complex activities; activities considered essential for maintaining independence, and those considered discretionary that are not required for independent living, but may have an impact on quality of life. We also present a model of the determinants of physical functioning, which goes beyond the presence or absence of disease and considers physical, sensory, environmental, and behavioral factors. Measurement of physical functioning can be complicated and ranges from self-report questionnaires to performance measures of specific tasks to vigorous laboratory measures. There are limitations to each of the measurement methods; however, some level of assessment provides information about the patient that is not otherwise available. Valid and reliable tests of physical performance are available that are easily administered and provide valuable information about the patient. Just as the patient's nutrition, medications, and adequacy of dialysis are monitored, baseline and subsequent physical functioning assessments allow us to monitor the patient's clinical course as it relates to their physical ability. Such measurement also allows for the identification of patients with lower functioning who would benefit from physical therapy or other exercise intervention.

Exercise↗
PubMed1999

Staff responsibility to exercise.

Recent attention has been focused on the importance of exercise for improving the physical functioning of renal patients. The involvement of the dialysis staff in encouragement and implementation of programs is critical to the success of patient efforts in improving physical functioning. Staff responsibility initially consists of various developmental steps that are focused on gaining staff support and developing a plan that matches the needs and the resources available to the unit. Each staff member plays a critical role in the development, implementation, and evaluation of the exercise program. A concerted effort from all staff to incorporate exercise as a routine part of the patient care will enhance the potential of success and patient participation.

Exercise Therapy↗
PubMed1998

Knowledge enrichment and conceptual change in folkbiology: evidence from Williams syndrome.

Ten participants with Williams syndrome (WS) (average verbal mental age of 11;5) were compared to two groups of normally developing children (average mental ages 10;11 and 6;7 years) with respect to intuitive biological knowledge about people, animals, and plants. Participants in the older control group were individually matched to the participants with WS on verbal mental age. The probes for biological understanding were drawn from the existing literature on the development of folkbiology and were divided into two batteries based on the hypothesized distinction of (1) general knowledge consistent with the conceptual repertoire of normally developing preschool children (the T1/T2-Neutral Animal Knowledge battery) and (2) folkbiological concepts normally acquired between ages 6 and 12 which require conceptual change for their construction (life, death, people-as-one-animal-among-many, species kind as determined by origin of the animal; the T2-Dependent battery). The two task batteries were equated for task demands, differing only in the content of the concepts probed. It was hypothesized that if this distinction is a false one, and the construction of folkbiology is accomplished entirely by enrichment of the preschooler's knowledge, there should never be a population with differential performance on these two batteries. People with WS were nonetheless found to be differentially impaired on the T2-Dependent battery. They performed at the level of the older control group on the T1/T2-Neutral battery, but at the level of the 6-year-olds on the T2-Dependent battery. These data support the distinction between two types of conceptual knowledge acquisition: acquisition of new knowledge formulated over an existing conceptual base (enrichment), on the one hand, and knowledge acquisition that results in genuine conceptual change, on the other. The implication of these results for a precise characterization of how concepts of people with "cocktail party syndrome" may be "superficial" is also discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Prospective, multicenter study of laparoscopic ventral hernioplasty. Preliminary results.

BACKGROUND: A standard technique for laparoscopic ventral hernioplasty (peritoneal onlay using an expanded polytetrafluoroethylene [ePTFE] patch for hernias >/=4 cm2) is being used in a prospective, multicenter, long-term study. METHODS: Demographic, operative, and postoperative data were collected and analyzed. Follow-up clinical evaluations were conducted 7-10 days, 4 weeks, 6 months, 1 year, and then annually after surgery in all patients. RESULTS: In the first 2 years of the study, 144 patients were enrolled; nine were lost to follow-up. The mean operating time was 120 min. The mean follow-up was 222 days (range 5-731). Postoperative complications were five infections, three cases of prolonged ileus, one bowel obstruction, 23 seromas (15 resolved without intervention), and six hernia recurrences. Hospital discharge occurred a mean of 2.3 days after surgery and return to normal activity a mean of 15 days postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic prosthetic ventral hernioplasty avoids the large wound required in open repairs, with attendant complications and recurrences, and appears safe, especially if an ePTFE mesh is used. Compared with conventional open ventral hernioplasty, the laparoscopic technique may also allow shorter hospitalization and a quicker return to normal activities after surgery.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Coding spatial variations in faces and simple shapes: a test of two models.

Faces all have the same basic elements in the same overall arrangement, and must be discriminated using variations in this shared configuration. An efficient way to represent these variations would be to code how each configuration differs from an average face (norm-based coding model). Alternatively, configurations could be represented simply by coding their absolute values in some coordinate system (absolute coding model). The two models differ in the variables they predict will influence an image's recognizability. Absolute coding predicts that recognizability will depend on an image's distinctiveness and degree of distortion from its veridical target. Norm-based coding predicts that recognizability will also depend on the way the image differs from a norm or average face, namely its distance from the norm and/or its degree of displacement from the norm-deviation vector for the target. We determined the effects of these four critical variables on recognition of undistorted (veridical) images, caricatures, anticaricatures and 'lateral' distortions of famous faces (Experiment 1), newly learned faces (Experiment 2), and simple shapes that also share a configuration (Experiment 2). The results favored absolute coding of both faces and shapes, and indicate that caricatures derive their power from their distinctiveness.

Adult↗