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At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources

Behavioral control of medicine compliance.

This study examined the effectiveness of several behavioral techniques on compliance of college students taking vitamin C on q.i.d. regimen. Compliance was assessed by a new technique using a variation of the urine tracer procedure designed specifically for this study. Subjects were provided vitamin C tablets, with three tablets per week containing phenazopyridine, a drug that produces a bright red-orange urine discoloration. Subjects were requested to indicate when urine discolorations occurred, and compliance was assessed by comparing the time of their report to the time predicted on the basis of the scheduled sequence of vitamin C and phenazopyridine tablets. Baseline compliance was assessed for 72 subjects over a three-week period, with the 40 most noncompliant subjects randomly assigned to four groups for Treatment I. The groups were: self-monitoring, taste, taste and self-monitoring, and a no-treatment control group. The self-monitoring procedure involved recording the time medicine was taken; the taste procedure involved providing the subjects with flavored tablets to increase the saliency of tablet taking; and the self-monitoring and taste procedure involved providing subjects with flavored tablets and asking them to record the flavor of each tablet they ingested. At the end of six weeks, half the subjects in each of these groups participated in response-cost procedures while the remaining subjects continued with their previous procedures. Response-cost procedures were implemented by returning a portion of the subjects' deposit only if a preset compliance criterion was met. Treatment II procedures were implemented for an additional three weeks. Results indicated the self-monitoring and taste plus self-monitoring procedures were superior during Treatment I. The implementation of response cost during Treatment II was associated with a marked improvement in compliance, independent of the history of noncompliance. The effects of the taste plus self-monitoring procedure were maintained during Treatment II and results obtained by this procedure were not significantly different from effects of response cost.

Ascorbic Acid↗

Septo-hypothalamic organization of a stereotyped behavior controlled by vasopressin in golden hamsters.

In golden hamsters, microinjections of arginine vasopressin (AVP) within the anterior hypothalamus (AH) and lateral septum (LS) elicit the display of a stereotyped behavior: flank marking. As these areas are reciprocally connected, we tested whether AVP-sensitive sites constitute an organized network. Flank marking was recorded in animals with ibotenic acid lesions within the AH or LS after AVP injections within the LS or AH. While AVP injections in the AH and LS induced high flank-marking scores, certain lesions blocked the behavior. Lesions of the LS failed to affect flank marking induced by injections within the AH. In contrast, unilateral AH lesions blocked flank marking induced either by LS injections or AH injections in the contralateral side. These results suggest that the bilateral integrity of the AH is critical for the activation of flank-marking behavior by AVP. Together, these data suggest that the AH is an important relay of the neural network controlling flank-marking behavior.

Animals↗

Tendency toward controlling behavior in adult children of problem drinkers: an experimental study.

Several clinicians have remarked on an obsessive need to control among adult children of alcoholics. In an experimental test of this hypothesis 30 adult children of problem drinkers and 31 control subjects performed a computer-simulated coin-tossing task. On half of the trials the outcome of the coin toss was open to control; the outcome was random on the remainder of the trials. The children of problem drinkers and the control group did not differ in their success on the task, but in comparison to control subjects the children of problem drinkers tended to perceive a greater difference between controllable and random trials in the coin-tossing task's openness to control. Of the two groups, the control subjects proved to be more realistic in their assessment of the control they had exercised during the task. These findings are discussed in terms of the theme of control in the lives of the adult children of alcoholics.

Adult↗

Use of a fixed consecutive number schedule of reinforcement to investigate the effects of pimozide on behavior controlled by internal and external stimuli.

The effects of the neuroleptic pimozide, a specific dopamine receptor blocker, on behavior maintained under different degrees of stimulus control was examined by using a fixed consecutive number (FCN) schedule of reinforcement with pigeons. This schedule requires that at least eight consecutive responses be made on one key (work key) before a response on a second key (reinforcement key) will be reinforced. For half the birds no change in external stimuli accompanied the eight response (FCN-8) while for the other half the color of the work key changed from white to red after the eight peck (FCN-SD). Both schedules resulted in equal rates of baseline responding. Four doses of pimozide (vehicle, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5 mg/kg) were administered in a Latin Square sequence after baseline responding was stable. Similar pimozide-induced decreases in responding were observed in both conditions. However, pimozide selectively altered response patterns under the FCN-8 condition. The failure of the FCN-SD procedure to display a similar effect demonstrated that the use of salient exteroceptive stimuli can modulate behavioral deficits induced by pimozide. This conclusion has important implications for theories hypothesizing that dopamine subserves reward processes.

Animals↗

Response to novelty, social and self-control behaviors, in rats exposed to neonatal anoxia: modulatory effects of an enriched environment.

Perinatal asphyxia is a concern for public health and may promote subtle and long-lasting neuropsychiatric disorders. In the present study, newborn Wistar rat pups underwent a repeated 20-min exposure to a 100% N2 atmosphere (or air) on postnatal days (pnd) 1, 3, 5, and 7. Half of the animals were housed during adolescence (pnd 21-35) in an enriched environment. The consequences on behavior were assessed throughout adolescence to adulthood. When scored for social performance, adolescent rats exposed to neonatal asphyxia exhibited exaggerated levels of anogenital sniffing behavior, which was normalized by enriched living. In air-exposed controls, enriched living increased the expression of affiliative and novelty-seeking behaviors, as compared to standard housing. However, this enrichment-induced behavioral plasticity was not found in rats neonatally exposed to asphyxia. At adulthood, levels of impulsivity and 5-HT2A receptors in the striatum were markedly increased in neonatal-asphyxia rats kept in standard-housing conditions. Interestingly, impulsivity and receptor density were normalized by enriched rearing during adolescence. These findings indicate profound long-lasting behavioral alterations as a consequence of repeated neonatal asphyxia in rats. Beneficial effects of stimulation by an enriched environment during the still-plastic window of adolescence are suggested in these animals.

Animals↗

Controlling behavioral techniques in an early intervention program.

Traditionally human service programs have lacked guidelines to safeguard the misapplication of aversive behavioral interventions. The Regional Intervention Program, a parent-implemented early intervention service, developed and instituted guidelines to control the potential abuse of behavioral techniques in the program. The guidelines delineate the behavioral interventions the program endorses and the program's position with regard to severe treatment interventions. The policy consists of interventions that can be used on a daily basis, the interventions that are not permitted under any circumstances, the interventions that require permission of the professional staff, and the interventions that may be tried only when specific conditions have been met. These guidelines provide standards and protection for the program's administration and the clients served and could be used as a guide for community mental health center consultants as well as with community mental health programs for the severely or moderately disturbed child.

Behavior Therapy↗

Marital interaction of agoraphobic women: a controlled, behavioral observation study.

Married couples with a female agoraphobic spouse (n = 22) were compared with demographically similar community control couples (n = 21) on self-report and observational measures of marital interaction. Consistent with hypotheses, husbands of agoraphobic women were more critical of their wives than were control husbands, and clinical couples were less likely to engage in positive problem solution than control couples. Contrary to hypothesis, clinical husbands were not less supportive than control husbands. Where general measures of marital distress were concerned, clinical couples, relative to control couples, evinced more distress by self-report, by their higher rate of negative nonverbal behavior, and by their longer sequences of negative exchanges.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Weight concerns and weight control behaviors of adolescents and their mothers.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the association between weight concerns and weight control practices of adolescents and their mothers. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: Cross-sectional study of 5331 adolescent girls and 3881 adolescent boys (age range, 11.8-18.4 years) in an ongoing cohort study and their mothers. Participants were included in the analysis if both the adolescent and his or her mother returned a questionnaire mailed in 1999 and provided information on weight, height, and weight concerns. RESULTS: More adolescent girls (33.0%) than boys (8.1%) thought frequently about wanting to be thinner. Compared with adolescent girls who accurately perceived that their thinness was not important to their mother, girls who misperceived (odds ratio [OR] = 1.9; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.3-2.8) or accurately perceived (OR = 2.85; 95% CI, 1.0-8.4) that it was important to their mother that they be thin were significantly more likely to think frequently about wanting to be thinner. Among the adolescent boys, only those who accurately perceived that it was important to their mother that they not be fat were more likely than their peers to think frequently about wanting to be thinner (OR = 3.8; 95% CI, 2.3-6.2). Adolescents who accurately perceived that it was important to their mother to be thin or not fat were significantly more likely to be frequent dieters than their peers who accurately perceived that their weight was not important to their mother. CONCLUSION: Among adolescents, an accurate perception that weight status is important to their mother is associated with thinking frequently about wanting to be thinner and about frequent dieting.

Adolescent↗

Effects of repeated administration of soman on schedule-controlled behavior and brain in the rat.

The effects of repeated SC administration of soman on schedule-controlled performance and brain pathology were studied in the rat. Soman suppressed response rates in both components of a multiple fixed interval 50-sec fixed-ratio 25 (mult. FI 50-sec FR 25) schedule of reinforcement, although all animals revealed marked tolerance to repeated drug administration. Response rates generally recovered to baseline levels within 1-3 sessions. Three of the six animals studied, however, demonstrated marked deterioration of steady state schedule performance, particularly during the FI 50-sec component of the multiple schedule. Compared to untreated controls, all soman-treated animals exhibited pathological changes in brain. The most salient finding was glial cell proliferation in layer 4 and deep parts of layer 3 of the cerebral cortex. Glial cell proliferation was most marked in animals that exhibited deterioration of steady state schedule performance.

Animals↗