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Biomedical subjects

W Gardner

Publications and source records attributed to W Gardner.

12 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Report of twelve years experience in open study of Skinner herpes simplex vaccine towards prevention of herpes genitalis.

Three hundred and forty-seven subjects at risk for herpes genitalis were vaccinated with Skinner vaccine, NFUAc.HSV1.(S-MRC5), and were followed for an average duration of 2 years representing a total consortship of 664.4 years. Based on survey information obtained during this consortship, there were estimated to be 3076 recurrences which summated to 3.5 years total duration of disease and comprised at least 6794 lesions; there were an estimated 51997 episodes of intercourse including at least 241 episodes of unprotected intercourse in the presence of herpetic lesions. The rate of contraction of herpes genitalis was 6 of 54 consorts (11.1%) who received one vaccination and 7 of 293 (2.4%) who received two, three of four vaccinations. There was no evidence of physical or psychological side effects from vaccination.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Discrete-time event history analysis using segmented hazards.

Event history analysis is a means of explaining variation in the timing of events in individual life histories. This article describes methods for overcoming two difficult problems likely to be encountered in applications of event history analysis to studies of aging and human development. First, in many studies the ages of occurrence of critical life events are recorded in discrete units such as years, but the probability distributions of life events are usually specified in continuous-time form. We show how to estimate models for discrete-time data based on an underlying continuous-time specification. Second, the standard distributions for life events often fail to capture the complex age-dependence seen in actual data. We show how to construct a model using segmented hazards, that is, a composite of different functions for different segments of time. To illustrate these points, we study the age of first intercourse of 11,883 subjects from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Evaluation of a fiber optic glove for semi-automated goniometric measurements.

Normal subjects were used to evaluate a fiber optic instrumented glove for semi-automated goniometric measurement. The glove electronically records and transmits hand and finger position to a host computer by measuring the amount of joint flexion. The glove was put through a series of range-of-motion (ROM) tests with five subjects. Metacarpal (MP) and proximal interphalangeal (PIP) joint angles of the five digits were compared during repetitive standardized motions to evaluate the glove's repeatability. The results showed an overall error of 5.6 degrees, as compared to an error of between 5 and 8 degrees with manual measurement. Additional tests were done to determine factors such as fit, grip force, and wrist motion that may contribute to the overall error. The glove should have applicability to some aspects of hand evaluation as a semi-automated goniometric measurement device.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

The incidence of bacteremia associated with emergent intubation: relevance to prophylaxis against bacterial endocarditis.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To examine the incidence of bacteremia associated with emergent nasotracheal intubation. STUDY DESIGN: Non-randomized, controlled cohort trial during 30 minutes post-intubation with limited in-hospital follow-up. SETTING: Emergency care unit and inpatient setting of a tertiary care facility. PATIENTS: Emergency care unit patients with acute respiratory distress necessitating non-elective emergency airway placement. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We studied 84 blood cultures obtained from 21 patients intubated emergently. Fourteen patients were intubated by the nasotracheal (NT) route and seven patients were intubated orotracheally (OT) for comparison. Pre-intubation and post-intubation blood cultures were obtained at two to five, 10 to 15 and 30 minutes after intubation. Patients were excluded if they had strong clinical evidence of pre-existing bacterial infection, had received antibiotics within 48 hours of presentation or were less than 16 years of age. Of the patients that were NT intubated, 29% (4/14) of patients became bacteremic after intubation. All had negative pre-intubation cultures. Organisms isolated were nasopharyngeal florae and included: Streptococcus viridans, Veillonellae sp., aerobic diphtheroids, and other mouth florae. Of the seven patients with OT intubation, six were culture negative. One was excluded because of positive preintubation cultures secondary to urosepsis. No patients in our study developed complications that could be directly attributed to these organisms or to intubation alone. CONCLUSIONS: The risk of bacteremia associated with emergency nasotracheal intubation is substantial and is accompanied by organisms that may produce serious morbidity in the patient with valvular heart disease or compromised immunity. Our findings suggest that, whenever possible, the nasotracheal route should be avoided for emergency intubation in patients with valvular heart disease and if used, prophylactic antibiotics should be strongly considered.

Aged↗
PubMed1989

Asserting scientific authority. Cognitive development and adolescent legal rights.

The APA uses amicus briefs to communicate scientific knowledge to the legal system. There can be tension, however, between promoting the social good through law and the disinterested reporting of scientific data. This article examines this conflict by discussing two APA amicus briefs filed in the United States Supreme Court in cases involving adolescents' abortion rights. The Court has restricted adolescents' rights to make important life decisions in part because adolescents have been presumed to lack competence and maturity. The briefs argued that developmental theory and data confirm that adolescents and adults have equivalent decision-making capacities. The scientific arguments in the briefs, however, do not justify this assertion. Analysis of the briefs illuminates some dimensions describing the role of a scientific statement in a legal brief. These dimensions identify ways to limit scientific claims about the evidence at hand to avoid overstatement. The primary danger of overstatement is that it undermines psychology's claim to expert authority in assisting in the formation of law and the shaping of social institutions.

Abortion, Induced↗
PubMed1989

Analysis of behavioral durations in observational studies of social interaction.

Many social science disciplines investigate dyadic or triadic social interaction by recording the interactive behaviors as qualitative codes. This article introduces a method for analyzing and interpreting variation in the durations of coded behaviors obtained during such interactions. Using survival analysis and event history analysis as its basis, this article discusses the use of regression techniques that enable the researcher to assess how the distributions of behavioral durations depend on covariate observations. An analysis of conflicts between mothers and children illustrates the discussion, using the proportional hazards model. Behavioral and attitudinal differences among the mother-son dyad predicted variation in the durations of mothers' negative statements to their sons.

Child↗
PubMed1988

Severe optic neuritis in infectious mononucleosis.

Because the presentation and clinical features of infectious mononucleosis can be misleading in the elderly, a significant number of infections may go unrecognized. We report an unusual case of infectious mononucleosis in a 61-year-old man in whom marked visual impairment was the presenting complaint and severe optic neuritis was the only prominent finding. Confirmation of the diagnosis was made by serologic testing for Epstein-Barr virus antibody. Recovery of visual function was near complete, but optic atrophy persisted. We reviewed the English literature and collected seven cases of well-documented optic neuritis associated with infectious mononucleosis. A clinical profile of parainfectious optic neuritis is discussed along with the likely pathogenesis for this complication.

Humans↗
PubMed1987

Heterotransplantation of human prostatic tissue.

Pieces of human prostatic tissue (approximately 1 mm3) were encapsulated in XM-50 Amicon hollow fibers and either implanted into the testis of an adult male rat or placed in culture. The protein synthetic capacity of such tissue pieces removed 1-42 days later was monitored by TCA precipitation, SDS-PAGE, and autoradiography. The results showed that tissue pieces retained their functional protein synthetic elements after this procedure. A newly developed solid-phase enzyme immunoassay for human prostatic antigen (PA), described in this report, was used to monitor PA levels in the serum of the recipient host or culture media. In some instances PA was detected 1-2 weeks postimplantation, a result that implies maintenance of functional secretory elements in vivo. Finally, morphology of tissue pieces 1-2 weeks postimplantation sometimes showed the presence of ductal epithelia and stromal elements in distribution patterns typical of those seen in fresh biopsy samples. We conclude that the function and structure of prostatic tissue implanted intrastesticularly compares favorably with that maintained in conventional explant culture. As such, the hollow fiber method offers promise for a new way of monitoring hormonal and/or chemotherapy testing of human prostatic tissue.

Animals↗