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Biomedical subjects

W Stanton

Publications and source records attributed to W Stanton.

16 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Lumbo-pelvic joint protection against antigravity forces: motor control and segmental stiffness assessed with magnetic resonance imaging.

The antigravity muscles of the lumbo-pelvic region, especially transversus abdominis (TrA), are important for the protection and support of the weightbearing joints. Measures of TrA function (the response to the postural cue of drawing in the abdominal wall) have been developed and quantified using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Cross-sections through the trunk allowed muscle contraction as well as the large fascial attachments of the TrA to be visualized. The cross sectional area (CSA) of the deep musculo-fascial system was measured at rest and in the contracted state, using static images as well as a cine sequence. In this developmental study, MRI measures were undertaken on a small sample of low back pain (LBP) and non LBP subjects. Results demonstrated that, in non LBP subjects, the draw in action produced a symmetrical deep musculo-fascial "corset" which encircles the abdomen. This study demonstrated a difference in this "corset" measure between subjects with and without LBP. These measures may also prove useful to quantify the effect of unloading in bedrest and microgravity exposure.

Abdominal Muscles↗
PubMed1998

Is mental health in childhood a major predictor of smoking in adolescence?

AIMS: To test an extended version of Pomerleau's (1997) hypothesis that children with mental health problems are at higher risk of smoking in preadolescence and adolescence. DESIGN: Information concerning mental health from 5 to 13 years, smoking at ages 11 and 15, and family disadvantage at age 7 was available for 773 children enrolled in a longitudinal study of children and adolescents. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were enrolled into the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, which is a longitudinal investigation of the health, development and behaviour of a large group of New Zealand children born between 1 April 1972 and 31 March 1973. MEASUREMENTS: Assessment of mental health problems in childhood was based upon parent and teacher reports of behavioural and emotional problems. In pre-adolescence, mental health was assessed by self, parent and teacher report. Smoking was assessed by self-report. FINDINGS: None of the potential risk factors of gender, childhood disadvantage or childhood mental health problems predicted onset of smoking in pre-adolescence. Daily smoking at age 15 was best predicted by smoking in preadolescence, being female and experiencing childhood disadvantage. Pre-adolescent mental health was only weakly predictive of later smoking and this association appeared to be confounded with background disadvantage. CONCLUSIONS: We found little support for the extension of Pomerleau's (1997) hypothesis to childhood mental health. Our findings also run counter to recent suggestions for targeting smoking prevention at groups of children with mental health disorders.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

The (in)stability of adolescent fears.

This study examined change in different types of fear in a longitudinal study of a birth cohort from age 13-15 yr. When viewed cross-sectionally there were few differences in the frequency and content of fears reported at these ages with the exception of an increase in social fears at age 15. When viewed longitudinally, however, few adolescents who reported fears at age 13 continued to report fears 2 yr later. Implications for developmental theories of fear and phobia are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Smoking among New Zealand adolescents 1960-93.

AIM: To examine the prevalence of smoking among New Zealand youth from the 1960's to the 1990's to determine whether smoking among the young is increasing or decreasing. METHOD: Major surveys of smoking among adolescents were reviewed and analysed to identify trends in smoking over time. Using data from the Dunedin and Christchurch longitudinal studies of child development, it was also possible to examine recent cohort changes in uptake of smoking. RESULTS: Evidence suggests that by the 1990's about one in every five 15 year-olds had smoked in the last month, while about one in every ten smoked daily. This represents a significant decline from very high levels of smoking in the 1970's, and appears to have occurred among boys and girls, European and Maori, although perhaps less so among adolescent girls. CONCLUSION: Despite some community perceptions to the contrary, there have been significant declines in smoking among adolescents over the last three decades. Overall, the data present a somewhat encouraging view of smoking among New Zealand youth. However, further inroads into smoking in this age group may well depend upon greater restrictions of access to cigarettes and overcoming barriers to the implementation of school based educational programmes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Feasibility of school-based smoking cessation programs.

This study obtained input from Australian student smokers approximately 15 years old, which may be useful in designing school-based smoking cessation programs. The sample was analyzed by previous quitting experience and intentions to quit. The order of preference for assistance options and incentives for quitting was similar across all groups; however, those who previously attempted to quit (previous quitters) and those who intended to quit (intenders) in the future were significantly more likely than non-quitters and non-intenders to find assistance options for quitting acceptable. The potential for saving money emerged as an important variable in convincing all groups of smokers not to smoke, and using personal willpower and cutting down slowly were identified as important in actual attempts to quit. The need for programs to be free and for friends to be supportive also was evident across all groups.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

A longitudinal study of birth order, help seeking and psychopathology.

Recent studies have suggested an association between birth order and psychopathology. However, the association remains unclear due to a lack of consideration of the confounding effects of family size. At age seven years the family size and birth order of children from a large cohort of New Zealand children were examined in relation to parental help seeking for behavioural and emotional problems, and the development of DSM-III (American Psychiatric Association, 1980) disorder in pre-adolescence and adolescence. Neither the child's gender, birth order nor family size were associated with parental help seeking or the prevalence of DSM-III disorder in pre-adolescence at age 11. In adolescence at age 15, however, significantly more girls, first-borns and children from small families had DSM-III disorder, but the interactions between these factors were not significant. In particular, these associations were found with internalizing disorders. The appropriateness of further studies of birth order in relation to psychopathology is discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

The importance of conduct problems and depressive symptoms in predicting adolescent substance use.

The current study assessed the relative importance of conduct problems and depressive symptoms, measured at two ages (11 and 15), for predicting substance use at age 15 in an unselected birth cohort of New Zealand adolescents. Among males, when the relative predictive utility of both conduct problems and depressive symptoms was assessed, only pre-adolescent depressive symptoms were found to predict multiple drug use 4 years later. No predictive relation was found between early symptomatology and later substance use among females. The strongest association between predictors and substance use emerged between age 15 multiple drug use and concurrent conduct problems for both males and females. Finally, both conduct problems and depressive symptoms at age 15 were also found to be associated with concurrent "self-medication" among females.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Big cities, small towns and adolescent mental health in New Zealand.

We examined the relationship between measures of mental health and residential locations with differing population densities in a large sample of New Zealand adolescents. There were no significant differences across residential locations in the prevalence of DSM-III disorders, poor social competence and level of help-seeking behaviours. However, adolescents from larger population centres reported more life event stresses. Those adolescents who experienced more frequent changes of residence were at risk for mental health problems.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

A 6 year follow-up of childhood enuresis: prevalence in adolescence and consequences for mental health.

Recent studies have shown an association between enuresis and behavioural or emotional problems. The direction or causality of the association and its duration, however, remain unclear. This study followed a large group of children from ages 11 to 15 years and reported the prevalence of enuresis to age 13 years. The enuretic status of the sample at age 11 years was established relative to the history of enuresis at age 9 years. At age 11 years a significant association was found between enuresis and measures of psychopathology. This association was particularly evident for those children with secondary enuresis, and those who had a history of enuresis but had ceased to wet the bed. Current primary enuresis was not significantly associated with disorder. Similar associations were found between enuresis at age 11 and later disorder at age 13. At age 15 years no significant associations between enuresis and disorder were found. These findings have implications for parents of children with enuresis and for clinicians dealing with the disorder.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Parent reports of disability among 13-year olds with DSM-III disorders.

This study examined "physical" and "psychological" dimensions of disability associated with different DSM-III disorders in a large sample of 13-year old adolescents. The measure of disability was based upon the World Health Organization (1980) classification. We found that adolescents with multiple DSM-III disorders and those with attention deficit and anxiety disorders showed the highest levels of parent perceived disablement; depression and conduct disorder showed the least. In addition, adolescents with any kind of DSM-III disorder showed a rate of parent-reported hospitalization twice that of the remainder of the sample. They also had poorer perceived health, as suggested by lower parent and self health ratings than those without disorder.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1990

Parental help-seeking for behavioural and emotional problems in childhood and adolescence.

Previous publications from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Research Unit have reported the prevalence of DSM-III disorders through its longitudinal examination of a New Zealand birth cohort. The present study describes the help-seeking practices of each sample member's parents for their child's behavioural or emotional problems exhibited in childhood (ages 5-11) or adolescence (ages 12-15). Increased help-seeking for boys was evident in childhood. However, this sex difference was not present at adolescence. There was a decline in the frequency with which medically oriented agencies were contacted between childhood and adolescence, and teachers were found to be the most frequently used source of assistance in adolescence. Although there was a strong association between help-seeking and mental health disorder, approximately half of those with disorder had parents who had not sought help for their child's problems. In addition, family characteristics of low SES, low family social support and poorer maternal mental health predicted help-seeking. The results are discussed in terms of service provision for these age groups, within the present restructuring of the public health system in New Zealand.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Phase I-II study of 120-hour infused 5-FU and split-course radiation therapy in localized non-small cell lung cancer.

Thirty patients with locally advanced nonresectable non-small cell bronchogenic carcinoma were studied for tolerance and response to 120-hour continuously infused 5-FU (IFU) combined with chest x-ray therapy. The IFU was escalated in patient groups from 20 to 35 mg/kg/24 hours. Radiation was also escalated in patient subsets from 200 to 400 rads/fraction using a split-course technique to a total dose of 5000 rads. Tolerance was exceeded by IFU doses of 35 mg/kg/day. The complete response rate was ten of 28 patients (36%); a complete response was associated with a significantly prolonged survival. Radiosensitization of lung cancer by IFU appears clinically feasible in man.

Aged↗
PubMed1982

Non-cross-resistant chemotherapy and consolidation radiotherapy for small cell carcinoma of the lung.

Fifty-six patients with small cell carcinoma of the lung were treated with a two-cyclic induction course of hexamethylmelamine, vincristine, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide. Patients with limited disease (LD) who responded and patients with extensive disease (ED) who had a complete response received prophylactic whole-brain radiotherapy, as well as radiotherapy to thoracic and abdominal sites of disease. Concurrently with radiotherapy, consolidation chemotherapy was given with doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, and etoposide. The complete response rate was 35% for ED patients and 68% for LD patients. The median survival time for complete responders was 54 weeks for ED patients and 65 weeks for LD patients. The toxicity of the program was moderate, and the effectiveness was comparable to that of other reported combined-modality treatment programs.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Syndrome of an acquired inhibitor of factor VIII responsive to cyclophosphamide and prednisone.

Six patients with an acquired inhibitor of factor VIII had the following clinical characteristics: older age group; absence of definable, underlying disease; a low titer of the factor VIII inhibitor; notable residual plasma factor VIII activity despite the inhibitor; serious bleeding not controlled by infusion of factor VIII; and disappearance of the inhibitor after treatment with cyclophosphamide and prednisone. These findings delineate a syndrome characteristic of a subset of patients with an acquired factor VIII inhibitor. It is important to emphasize that such patients may bleed uncontrollably despite the misleading presence of residual plasma factor VIII activity in vitro, and that the inhibitor disappears after immunosuppressive therapy. Thus, we believe that patients with this syndrome should be treated with cyclophosphamide and prednisone as soon as the inhibitor is identified.

Adult↗