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Biomedical subjects

Z Camacho

Publications and source records attributed to Z Camacho.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

Uncertainties and ambiguities: measuring how medical students cope.

To develop psychometric measures specific to the ambiguities encountered in medicine and determine their value in predicting medical students' attitudes towards patients and their choice of residency, we administered to senior and first-year medical students a 25-item Likert-type questionnaire to assess their intolerance of ambiguity (ITA). Factor analysis yielded two dimensions that were converted to scales: 'Aversion to uncertainties in clinical medicine' (ITA1) and 'Preference for highly structured training environs' (ITA2). First-year students scored higher on ITA1 and lower on ITA2 than seniors. An excessive reliance on high-technology medicine, a negative orientation toward psychological problems, and Machiavellianism predicted ITA1. ITA1 was the best predictor of senior medical students' negative attributional style toward hypochondriac, geriatric and chronic pain patients. The following rank order of seniors' career choice was predicted by ITA1 scores: internal medicine, psychiatry and family medicine (lowest); radiology, surgery and anaesthesiology (highest). And by ITA2 scores: surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, and surgical subspecialties (lowest); radiology, psychiatry and anaesthesiology (highest). We concluded that personality traits and role characteristics which predict 'Aversion to uncertainties in clinical medicine' are maladaptive to managing many primary care patients, and this mismatch is reflected in seniors' residency choice.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1993

Machiavellianism in medical students.

To be more responsive to the nation's health needs, medical educators should identify those personal qualities associated with effective primary medical care. For this research Machiavellianism was chosen as a tracer character trait opposed to the characteristics embodied in an ideal family physician. A survey was conducted of 167 freshmen from one medical school and 823 seniors from four medical schools, with Machiavellianism scores used to predict their professional role characteristics, attributional style toward patients, and choice of a career specialty. Results showed that 15% of all students scored positively on the Machiavellianism scale. Mean Machiavellianism scores for seniors did not differ from those for freshmen. Men had higher Machiavellianism scores than women. Those students with high Machiavellianism scores relied excessively on high-tech medicine and were externally controlled, intolerant of ambiguity, and authoritarian. Seniors' high Machiavellianism scores predicted a negative attributional style toward geriatric and hypochondriac patients, thereby validating the use of Machiavellianism to measure medical students' indifference to patients and their problems.

Career Choice↗
PubMed1990

Ontogenetic changes in the venom of the snake Lachesis muta stenophrys (bushmaster) from Costa Rica.

A comparative study was performed on some enzymatic and toxic activities of venoms collected from newborn, one-year old, two-years old and adult (more than five-years old) specimens of Lachesis muta stenophrys. There was an increase in lethal, hemorrhagic, edema-forming, myotoxic, proteolytic and phospholipase A2 activities of venoms as snakes aged. The venom of newborn specimens was almost devoid of toxicity. On the other hand, venom from newborn specimens showed the highest coagulant effect of human plasma. Electrophoretic and immunochemical results demonstrated conspicuous differences between venoms of different ages. Observations on the feeding behavior indicated that specimens of L. muta of different ages displayed a similar pattern, characterized by rapid strike and bite, holding the prey until they stopped their movements and swallowing them afterwards. It is concluded that venom of newborn L. muta has very low toxic and proteolytic activities and that it undergoes conspicuous changes during the first year of life.

Aging↗
PubMed1989

Myonecrosis induced in mice by a basic myotoxin isolated from the venom of the snake Bothrops nummifer (jumping viper) from Costa Rica.

The mode of action of a basic myotoxin isolated from Bothrops nummifer venom was studied. This myotoxin is a basic polypeptide of 13,000 mol.wt, with a high content of lysine and aspartate, as well as of hydrophobic amino acids. It lacked phospholipase A2 activity when tested on several substrates at different pH values. Upon i.m. injection into mice, the toxin induced early morphological alterations typified by 'delta lesions' in the periphery of muscle fibers, an indication that the plasma membrane was the first cellular structure to be affected. Afterwards, necrotic cells had a clumped appearance, which then changed to a more hyaline histological pattern. Removal of necrotic material by phagocytes was followed by skeletal muscle regeneration, with the presence of myoblasts, myotubes and fully regenerated myofibers. The toxin induced a rapid and drastic drop in muscle creatine and creatine kinase contents of injected muscle, as well as an increase in serum levels of the enzymes lactic dehydrogenase and creatine kinase. Moreover, total muscle calcium increased significantly after toxin administration. Myotoxin induced a dose-dependent release of peroxidase entrapped in liposomes made from muscle phospholipids. The lack of phospholipase A2 activity in this toxin, together with the observation that it behaved as an amphiphilic protein in charge-shift electrophoresis, suggests that it might penetrate and disorganize muscle plasma membrane by means of a hydrophobic interaction.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

An analysis of the magnitude of clinical-reasoning deficiencies in one class.

Clinical-reasoning ability is indispensable to a good doctor, but students are generally expected to "pick it up" in the course of their clinical clerkships. Concern by the University of Washington School of Medicine that some students did not master the concepts of clinical reasoning led to the formation of an ad hoc committee whose retrospective study on the class of 1981 is reported here by the authors. Nineteen students (11 percent of the graduating class) who were repeatedly noted by faculty members to have problems with clinical reasoning throughout their clinical clerkships were identified as a result of this study.

Achievement↗
PubMed1975

Purification of a carboxypeptidase B-like enzyme from the starfish Dermasterias imbricata.

A carboxypeptidase B-like enzyme which catalyses the hydrolysis of synthetic esters of lysine and arginine has been isolated from the starfish Dermasterias imbricata. This carboxypeptidase B-like enzyme has a molecular weight of approximately 34 000 and shares this and other properties with bovine pancreatic carboxypeptidase B. The existence of zymogen for this activity in the pyloric caeca of the starfish is demonstrated. This zymogen has a molecular weight near 40 000 and appears to be analogous to other monomeric procarboxypeptidases B. The zymogen possesses an intrinsic low-level activity toward synthetic substrates of carboxypeptidase B and is activated by trypsin.

Animals↗