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PubMed2004

[Influence of selected family environment factors on the child's speech development].

All environment strata, natural, cultural and social environment affect the individual in typical way and create his specific reactions as well as mental experiences. A speech, as one of elements enabling adaptation to life in community is formed individually with particular children. The basis of such process is always the possibility of the intercourse with speech. The aim of undertaken subject was the analysis of influence of selected family environment factors on the child's speech development. The study was conducted with children of six and seven year old, where speech should be mastered with fixed pronunciation and proper speech technique. The following research problems have been assumed: 1) how does the speech competences' development with children of six and seven proceed, 2) in which level do the following factors of family environment (parents' age, parents' education, family's financial conditions) influence the child's speech development, 3) does the family's structure influence the proper child's speech development. The following research methods were applied: observation, interview and questionnaire. Applied research tools may be described as follows: inquiry sheet of questionnaire, child's speech card, pictorial test, test chi2. The presented work is a trial of analysis how the selected family environment factors influence the child's speech development.

Child↗

PubMed2006

Exploring physician and staff perceptions of the learning environment in ambulatory residency clinics.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Investigations of teaching quality in ambulatory clinics have generally focused on faculty and medical student perspectives. We investigated the association of learning and organizational environment variables with faculty, resident, and nursing staff perceptions of quality of teaching and with a measure of resident learning in ambulatory residency clinics. METHODS: Annually over 5 years (1998-2002), we distributed learning and organizational environment surveys to faculty, residents, and staff in three ambulatory clinics of the Wayne State University Department of Family Medicine. We assessed internal reliability of the surveys' 11 scales and then compared responses of employee groups across sites. We then conducted a multiple regression analysis to determine the association of learning and organizational environment variables with faculty, resident, and staff perceptions of quality of teaching. We also compared the mean change in residents' In-training Examination (ITE) scores at our clinic teaching sites over the years of the study. RESULTS: Nine of 11 survey scales demonstrated acceptable internal reliability. Staff views were significantly lower than residents' views on all scales and were significantly lower than faculty's on all but one scale. Opinions about availability of learning opportunities for residents explained the most variance (35.2%) in the overall assessment of teaching quality. The addition of job satisfaction brought the explained variance up to 46.4%. The mean change in ITE scores was higher for residents at the site with higher learning and organizational environment assessment scores but not significantly so. CONCLUSIONS: Nine learning and organizational environment scales were found internally reliable and useful to measure faculty, resident, and staff perspectives on ambulatory teaching sites. Two areas of focus for improvement were found. First, learning opportunities should be structured so that residents are oriented to the ambulatory clinic, have their knowledge assessed regularly, are helped to meet individual goals, are given appropriate levels of responsibility, and see an adequate number, mix, and continuity of patients. Second, prioritizing efforts to improve job satisfaction for all employees is important because of the association between job satisfaction and employee perceptions of quality of teaching. We recommend that research into the educational climate in ambulatory clinics include perspectives of the full range of clinic personnel who can contribute to resident learning.

Ambulatory Care Facilities↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Perceived nursing work environment of acute care pediatric nurses.

Nurse job satisfaction is a complex phenomenon and includes elements of the work environment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate nurses' perception of their real (current) and ideal (preferred) work environment in a pediatric tertiary care setting. Using a descriptive survey design, a convenience sample of staff nurses from three inpatient units was surveyed using the Work Environment Scale (WES) by Moos (1994). The WES consists of 10 subscales characterizing three dimensions: Relationship, Personal Growth, and System Maintenance and Change. Overall, nurses affirmed a highly positive and supportive work environment on their units. Non-significant findings between the real and ideal scores for the Involvement and Managerial Control subscales suggest that staff are concerned about and committed to their work, and satisfied with their managers' use of rules and procedures. Statistically significant differences between selected real and ideal subscale scores will help target intervention strategies to enhance the nursing work environment.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

The characterization of the exposure to immune mediated apoptosis and the regulation of immune cytotoxic activity in the environment of a neoplasm and in decidua.

Acquiring the immune-mediated apoptosis and the ability to regulate the cytotoxic immune response are the main phenomena playing fundamental roles in such situations as neoplasm survival and creation of immune tolerance during pregnancy. The aim of this study was to investigate these phenomena through the evaluation of metallothionein and RCAS1 proteins in neoplasm and its healthy environment (clear surgical margin), physiological conditions in placenta and its environment (decidua) and the comparison to non-neoplasmatic lesions originating from the environment (nasal polyps, endometriosis). We have shown that the growth of RCAS1 expression was simultaneous to the infiltration of activated immunological cells of tumor environment as well as decidua. The activity of immunological cells was in our study selectively suppressed. Metallothionein expression growth was also observed in healthy tumors stroma and in decidua probably in response to the growing cytotoxic activity and tumor spread. Alterations in RCAS1 and Metallothionein expression seem to be associated with local immune dysfunction in nasal polyps and endometriosis. In conclusion, the ability to compensate the growing cytotoxic immune response is physiologically observed in decidua, the lost of this ability in tumor environment might participate in the development of tumor spread.

Antigens, Neoplasm↗

PubMed1990

Electron microscopic study of the parathyroid gland of the calcium-treated hamster subjected to hypergravity environment.

The ultrastructure of the parathyroid glands of calcium-treated golden hamsters subjected to 5 gravity environment was studied. In the calcium-treated animals exposed to hypergravity environment, the Golgi complexes and cisternae of the granular endoplasmic reticulum were significantly decreased compared with those of the animals exposed to hypergravity environment only and appeared to increase compared with those of the calcium-treated animals, but were almost similar to those of the control animals. In addition, many chief cells contained some prosecretory granules in the Golgi areas, some secretory granules situated close to the plasma membrane and many lysosomes. The morphology of the parathyroid glands in the calcium-treated animals exposed to hypergravity environment resembled that of the control animals. These results suggest that the parathyroid glands suppressed by treatment of calcium and stimulated in response to hypergravity environment may indicate the secretory activity of the parathyroid glands of the control animals.

Animals↗

PubMed1987

Some effects of the force environment on the heart, lungs and circulation.

The data obtained in a series of human and animal experiments carried out during the last 45 years in centrifuges, specially instrumented dive bombers, and during changes in body position are the major bases for this paper. The integrated and highly effective cardiovascular reflexes which allow awake, upright humans to regain and/or maintain vision and consciousness during sustained inertial force environments several times greater than at the surface of planet Earth are particularly impressive. Multiplication of vertical gradients in interserosal pericardial, pleural, abdominal and cerebrospinal fluid pressures and/or forces in proportion, and in the resultant vectorial direction of the force environment play a critical role in this capability both in aerospace flight and everyday life on planet Earth. The differences between the near zero specific gravity of intra-alveolar gas and the (about) 1.05 value for the encompassing blood and tissue, render lung function highly susceptible to the weight determinant force environment. Creation of a womb-like environment by liquid whole-body immersion plus assisted breathing of a respirable liquid, both with specific gravities closely similar to bodily tissues, is a seemingly impractical but technologically and biologically documented expedient for allowing air breathers to endure very high sustained force and pressure environments.

Aerospace Medicine↗

PubMed1986

The ionization behavior of bile acids in different aqueous environments.

The ionization behavior of cholic acid, deoxycholic acid, and chenodeoxycholic acid in a variety of physiologically important molecular environments was studied using 13C NMR spectroscopy. The apparent pKa of the carboxyl group was determined from titration curves obtained from the dependence of the carboxyl carbon chemical shift on pH. Using 90% 13C isotopic substitution of the carboxyl carbon, a complete titration curve was obtained for cholate at a concentration below its critical micelle concentration and solubility limit in water. Incorporation of 12 mole % bile acid into mixed micelles with its taurine conjugate prevented precipitation of the unconjugated bile acid, and titration curves for cholic, deoxycholic, and chenodeoxycholic acids in the mixed micelles were obtained. The apparent pKa was also determined for 13C-enriched bile acids complexed with bovine serum albumin and in egg phosphatidylcholine vesicles. For monomers, micelles, and BSA complexes of all three bile acids and for deoxycholic and chenodeoxycholic acid in vesicles, one magnetic environment was observed. In contrast, two environments, both titratable, were detected for cholic acid in phosphatidylcholine vesicles. The apparent pKa's of the bile acids in the different environments ranged from 4.2 to 7.3. At pH 7.4, as monomers or bound to albumin, the bile acids were fully ionized, but when associated with phosphatidylcholine vesicles they were only partially ionized. In addition, aspects of the molecular motion and relative hydrophobicity of the bile acid carboxyl group in the environments studied were discerned from chemical shift, line-width, and lineshape data.

Bile Acids and Salts↗

PubMed1984

Comparative effects of germfree and ambient environments on the development of cystic kidney disease in CFWwd mice.

A spontaneously occurring murine renal cystic disease that resembles human adult-onset polycystic renal disease is described. The disease that develops in CFWwd mice is characterized by multiple bilateral cysts in the kidneys in all affected animals and hepatic cysts in approximately 20% of these animals with disease. Occasional thoracic aortic aneurysms were also observed in animals with cystic disease. The prevalence of the disease appears to be determined by the degree of exposure to the ambient environment. A germfree colony of CFWwd mice only rarely displayed the disease, whereas virtually 100% of animals housed for their entire life in the ambient environment died with the disease. Germfree mice removed from the axenic environment and placed in the ambient environment developed the disease, but at a lower prevalence than those animals born and reared in the ambient environment. Disease prevalence in animals reared in environmentally protected caging was between that in germfree and conventional animals. Genetic studies of AKR mice indicated that the disease is inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion but with reduced penetrance.

Animals↗

PubMed1980

Responses of physically active and acclimatized men and women to exercise in a desert environment.

In most studies of physiological responses of men and women to exercise in the heat, the subjects are unacclimatized and the females are unaccustomed to strenuous physical activity. In this investigation, 5 men and 6 women known to be physically active in an outdoor hot-dry environment were studied in a temperate environment (Tdb=23C, WBGT=18C) and in an outdoor desert environment (Tdb=39C, WBGT=29C) during rest and exercise at 50% Vo2max. No differences between the groups occurred in Vo2, HR or Tre in either environment. Of greatest interest was that no differences occurred in evaporative weight losses, sweating rates, or % body weight losses in the heat. It was concluded that (1) women accustomed to exercise in a desert climate are able to substantially increase their sudorific response, and (2) that acclimatized male and female subjects of similar aerobic capacity have comparable responses to rest and exercise in a desert environment.

Acclimatization↗

PubMed1994

Health care delivery in the high-stress environment of chemical and biological warfare.

Understanding health care delivery in high-stress environments, such as the chemical and biological warfare (CBW) environment, is important to developing better procedures for providing health care to individuals and groups exposed to this and other traumas and disasters. Little is known about the behavioral and psychological responses affecting health and performance in the CBW environment. In this paper, we report preliminary observations of the behavioral and psychological responses of a health care delivery exercise occurring over 1 week in a simulated CBW environment. Results suggest that responses to the CBW environment will include: claustrophobia, difficulties with masks, overheating, feelings of having failed, increased risk associated with dedication to the group, dehydration secondary to alcohol use, failure to recognize danger, and anxiety.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Home environment and childhood asthma.

The prevalence of childhood asthma has increased dramatically in the past 20 years. The reasons for the increase are unclear but many authors suggest that changes in the home environment favourable to proliferation of the house dust mite are to blame. Our study aimed to compare home environment of children with asthma and controls. A questionnaire on home environment was administered to the parents of 134 children with asthma and 118 controls. Detailed studies of home temperature, humidity and dust mite allergen (DERp1) levels were performed in 20 homes (10 from each group). The questionnaire response rate was 86%. There were no significant differences between asthma and control homes with respect to social class, type of housing, smoking habits, pets, insulation, home heating, bedding, carpeting and domestic cleaning habits. A first degree family history of atopy was obtained in 42% of asthmatic families and in 16% of controls. Temperature, humidity and dust mite allergen levels were similar in both groups. The majority gave readings exceeding recommended norms. Values for DERp1 were above thresholds by a factor of 5 in 48%. Home environment does not significantly differ in children with or without asthma. The home environment is now generally mite friendly, and large segments of the childhood population are now exposed to high levels of DERp1. This may account for the increasing prevalence as more and more children with an atopic background develop overt symptoms in response to high levels of allergen load.

Animals↗

PubMed1994

Childhood abuse, family environment, and outcome in bulimia nervosa.

BACKGROUND: About one third of patients with bulimia nervosa continue to do poorly despite intensive treatment. In an effort to identify historical factors that might differentiate patients who are persistently bulimic from patients who have fully recovered, we examined the relationship between long-term outcome and three factors: childhood trauma, family environment, and parental psychopathology. METHOD: Fifty-two women previously hospitalized for bulimia nervosa were interviewed 2 to 9 years later. In addition to structured diagnostic interviews, measures included the Family Environment Scale, the Family History interview, and a semistructured interview of childhood abuse. Outcome comparisons were made between the fully recovered and the women who still met DSM-III-R criteria for bulimia nervosa. RESULTS: Reports of childhood physical abuse and of a family environment characterized by low cohesion and high control were significantly associated with poor outcome. Characteristics of the family environment seemed to have greater influence on outcome than physical abuse alone. Sexual abuse in general was not associated with outcome. Outcome was not associated with comorbidity of Axis I or Axis II disorders or parental psychopathology. CONCLUSION: Aspects of the family environment of childhood may contribute to the course of bulimia nervosa. Definitive conclusions require a prospective study.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1997

Disposition of amphiphilic helices in heteropolar environments.

It is known that alpha helices in globular proteins usually consist of two types of residues, hydrophobic and hydrophilic, with the number of each type being roughly equal. Except for many transmembrane helices, alpha-helices are generally amphiphilic to some degree. This is not entirely surprising because alpha-helices typically reside in heteropolar environments that arise from the polar aqueous solution that surrounds a protein and the apolar "hydrophobic core" located at its center. The packing of alpha-helices in such heteropolar environments is driven by the minimization of free energy brought about by placing hydrophobic sidechains into apolar environments and hydrophilic sidechains into polar environments. The interface between the two environments can be characterized by an interfacial plane, called the demarcation plane, that optimally separates the two classes of residues. The inclination angle omega between the axis of the helix and the demarcation plane provides a measure of the degree of amphiphilicity of an alpha-helix. For highly amphiphilic helices, omega approximately 0. The inclination angle provides a new measure of amphiphilicity that complements the hydrophobic moments of Eisenberg et al. Based on the simple physical model described above, an algorithm is developed for predicting the helix inclination angle. The calculated results show that the inclination angle for most alpha-helices extracted from globular proteins is less than 25 degrees in magnitude. This suggests that helices found in globular proteins tend to be reasonably amphiphilic with half their face dominated by hydrophobic residues and the other half by hydrophilic residues. A new two-dimensional representation that characterizes the disposition of hydrophobic and hydrophilic residues in alpha-helices, called a "wenxiang diagram," is presented. The wenxiang diagram can also be used as an important element to represent a protein molecule.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2006

Perceptions of social capital and the built environment and mental health.

There has been much speculation about a possible association between the social and built environment and health, but the empirical evidence is still elusive. The social and built environments are best seen as contextual concepts but they are usually estimated as an aggregation of individual compositional measures, such as perceptions on trust or the desirability to live in an area. If these aggregated compositional measures were valid measures, one would expect that they would evince correlations at higher levels of data collection (e.g., neighbourhood). The aims of this paper are: (1) to investigate the factor structure of a self-administered questionnaire measuring individual perceptions of trust, social participation, social cohesion, social control, and the built environment; (2) to investigate variation in these factors at higher than the individual level (households and postcodes) in order to assess if these constructs reflect some contextual effect; and (3) to study the association between mental health, as measured by the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12), and these derived factors. A cross-sectional household survey was undertaken during May-August 2001 in a district of South Wales with a population of 140,000. We found that factor analysis grouped our questions in factors similar to the theoretical ones we had previously envisaged. We also found that approximately one-third of the variance for neighbourhood quality and 10% for social control was explained at postcode (neighbourhood) level after adjusting for individual variables, thus suggesting that some of our compositional measures capture contextual characteristics of the built and social environment. After adjusting for individual variables, trust and social cohesion, two key social capital components were the only factors to show statistically significant associations with GHQ-12 scores. However, these factors also showed little variation at postcode levels, suggesting a stronger individual determination. We conclude that our results provide some evidence in support of an association between mental health (GHQ-12 scores) and perceptions of social capital, but less support for the contextual nature of social capital.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

The impact of daycare environments on children's mood and behavior.

This study examined the influence of different environmental features at nine daycare centers on 74 children's (42 boys and 32 girls) emotions in relation to their individual traits. The environments were predominantly assessed by semantic scales, and the children's emotions using a structured observational technique. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that the activation level as well as the control of the behavior were related to the individual traits of the children, whereas the directedness and the hedonic tone of the behavior were related to the environment and the situation (meal or free play). Of special interest is the result that extrovert children displayed higher levels of control than the more introvert children. The most important quality of the physical daycare environment was unity, whereas intensity and familiarity were to most salient qualities of the social environment.

Affect↗

PubMed1997

Improving delivery of a health-promoting-environments program: experiences from Queensland Health.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the key components of a statewide multisite health-promoting-environments program. Contemporary health-promotion programs in settings such as schools, workplaces and hospitals use organisational development theory to address the health issues of the setting, including the physical environment, the organisational environment, and the specific health needs of the employees and consumers of the service. Program principles include management of each project by the participant organisation or site (for example, a school or workplace), using resources available within the organisation and the local community, voluntary participation, social justice and participant-based priority setting, and evaluation and monitoring. Adoption of these principles implies a shift in the role of the health worker from implementer to facilitator. Based on the experience of Queensland Health, it is proposed that the essential building blocks of the health-promoting-environments program are an intersectoral policy base, a model for action, training and resources, local facilitators, support from local organisations, a supportive network of sites, marketing of the program, and a state-based evaluation and monitoring system. The program in Queensland was able to develop a significant number of these components over the 1990-1996 period. In regard to evaluation, process measures can be built around the program components; however, further research is required for development of impact indicators and benchmarks on quality.

Community Health Services↗

PubMed1985

IQ, scholastic performance and behaviour of sibs raised in contrasting environments.

Medium- and long-term effects of types of placement of the offspring of lower class families have been studied. The progeny of 28 mothers was reconstituted. The subjects were divided into three groups: 35 children abandoned and adopted early in privileged environments (A), 46 'biological mother-reared' children remaining in their disadvantaged social environments (B) and 21 children raised in institutions or foster homes (C). Analyses focused on IQ, scholastic performance and behaviour. Results show that the social environment has important effects: the differences between the three groups are very significant. For A and B groups tested in the schools, comparisons were made with the classmates. For the C group the effects of long-term emotional deprivation are superimposed on the effects of the social environment.

Achievement↗

PubMed1977

Nose, throat, and fecal flora of beagle dogs housed in "locked" or "open" environments.

The microbial flora of the nose, throat, and feces of male beagle dogs housed in a "locked environment" (i.e. confined to germfree-style isolators and supplied with sterile food, air, and water) or an open environment were assessed between 26 and 30 months into the study. Forty-five genera and 170 different species or types of microorganisms were cultured from the nose, throat, and feces of the beagles. Clostridia, eubacteria, corynebacteria, bacteroides, lactobacilli, and anaerobic, gram-positive cocci accounted for most of the microbial diversity in the flora. Some of the facultative anaerobes, especially streptococci and lactobacilli (in feces), occurred in numbers that were comparable to the most numerous anaerobic species. Confinement to the locked environment resulted in an increased diversity of microorganisms in the flora, but the total microbial counts did not increase to any great extent. Even with the increased diversity of bacteria in the flora of confined dogs, some bacteria seemed to favor certain areas of the gastrointestinal tract over others. The increased diversity of bacteria observed in these confined dogs may pose some infectious disease problems for other mammals (including humans) that may be confined to a locked, ultra-clean environment for a prolonged period of time.

Aerobiosis↗