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PubMed1998

Adopting adoption.

The common occurrence of adoption among birds and mammals presents evolutionary biologists with an explanatory challenge. The benefits to adoptees are self-evident, but the benefits to the adopter(s), the origin of the set of behaviours that constitute 'adoptive' behaviour, and the conditions for its spread in populations are not always clear. Explanations in terms of direct and indirect benefits to adopters and adoptees, and in terms of conflict between them have been suggested to account for the current functions and the evolutionary origin of 'adoptive' behaviour. In this paper we emphasize one aspect of the parenting behaviour associated with adoption that has been neglected: we suggest that adoption in birds and mammals is a route for the transfer of learnt information through social learning of patterns of behaviour, including styles of parenting. By using simple models we show that learning parenting from non-parents may provide additional opportunities for the spread of the 'adoptive' behaviour itself, even when it has no selective advantage. We also offer an additional explanation for the adaptive significance of adoption for both adopters and adoptees. Our 'match-making' hypothesis suggests that in some cases, by adopting foreign young, parents provide their genetic young with future ecologically compatible, but genetically unrelated, mates. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1994

On-line search strategies of third year medical students: perception vs fact.

The curriculum at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine has evolved with a high priority on problem-based and life-long learning. As the information pool enlarges, a greater emphasis must be placed on the ability of physicians to access the biomedical literature following residency training. To foster information retrieval skills, our medical school has included on the ability of physicians to access the biomedical literature following residency training. To foster information retrieval skills, our medical school has included on-line searching instruction since 1987. On-line classes are taught by experienced medical librarians during the second month of the first year curriculum. After receiving training, students are assigned a code via Grateful Med software. The purpose of the study was to measure the long-term effectiveness of this training approach and to determine the students' ability to formulate a search strategy and run a search to answer clinical questions at the third year level. During the 1990-1991 school year, all third year students were asked to use Grateful Med to answer two questions related to surgical patient care and to complete a questionnaire showing how they use Grateful Med and how they view their training. The students' searches were compared to "gold standard" searches run by an experienced medical librarian. Nineteen percent of all searches resulted in zero retrieval, and the remainder missed 74-100% of the gold standard available citations. Additional instruction shortly after on-line training could identify problem areas (poor search behavior) and information retrieval skills should be integrated and encouraged in all levels of the curriculum.

Evaluation Studies as Topic↗

PubMed1989

The physiology of attention: participation of cat striate cortex in behavioral choice.

In the awake, behaving cat, we have compared response of striate cortex neurons to informative and to noninformative stimuli. A cat pressed a pedal in response to a flashed pattern repeated every 10 s, receiving a reward if the press was within a 0.5-1.5-s post-stimulus window. There were three trial types: 50% of the trials had only the initial informative flash, 25% had an additional physically identical, but unrewarded, flash 500 ms after the first, and 25% had an unrewarded flash 3-5 s after the informative flash. Cats learned to respond only to the rewarded flashes. Neurons were divided into two categories: 27 neurons defined as "primary" showed an early burst of firing 30-70 ms after stimulus onset, and 17 did not. The distinction was arbitrary, since all cells were exposed to the same stimulus. For stimuli preceding a pedal press, stimulus-synchronized histograms of primary neurons had a smaller early burst and more firing before and after it. Response-synchronized histograms showed an abrupt decrease in firing shortly before the pedal press. The effects were stronger for primary cells in the stimulus-synchronized data and stronger for non-primary cells in the response-synchronized data.

Animals↗

PubMed1986

Associative recognition and storage in a model network of physiological neurons.

We consider a neural network model in which the single neurons are chosen to closely resemble known physiological properties. The neurons are assumed to be linked by synapses which change their strength according to Hebbian rules on a short time scale (100 ms). The dynamics of the network--the time evolution of the cell potentials and the synapses--is investigated by computer simulation. As in more abstract network models (Cooper 1973; Hopfield 1982; Kohonen 1984) it is found that the local dynamics of the cell potentials and the synaptic strengths result in global cooperative properties of the network and enable the network to process an incoming flux of information and to learn and store patterns associatively. A trained net can associate missing details of a pattern, can correct wrong details and can suppress noise in a pattern. The network can further abstract the prototype from a series of patterns with variations. A suitable coupling constant connecting the dynamics of the cell potentials with the synaptic strengths is derived by a mean field approximation. This coupling constant controls the neural sensitivity and thereby avoids both extremes of the network state, the state of permanent inactivity and the state of epileptic hyperactivity.

Animals↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The uncertainty of certainty in clinical ethics.

Physicians accept fallibility in technical matters as a condition of medical practice. When it comes to moral considerations, physicians are often loathe to act without a good deal more certitude and seem less willing to accept error. This article argues that ethics is intrinsic to medical decision making, that error is the inevitable risk of any action and that inaction (clearly action by default) carries even greater risk of error. Whether in the moral or the technical sphere, error must be accepted by physicians as part of the learning process which informs and enriches future decisions. Moral virtue, it is concluded, resides more in the making of a decision and in the agony of making it than it does in the potentially fallible decision itself.

Decision Making↗

PubMed2005

The role of long-term and short-term familiarity in visual and haptic face recognition.

Recent studies have suggested that the familiarity of a face leads to more robust recognition, at least within the visual domain. The aim of our study was to investigate whether face familiarity resulted in a representation of faces that was easily shared across the sensory modalities. In Experiment 1, we tested whether haptic recognition of a highly familiar face (one's own face) was as efficient as visual recognition. Our observers were unable to recognise their own face models from tactile memory alone but were able to recognise their faces visually. However, haptic recognition improved when participants were primed by their own live face. In Experiment 2, we found that short-term familiarisation with a set of previously unfamiliar face stimuli improved crossmodal recognition relative to the recognition of unfamiliar faces. Our findings suggest that familiarisation provides a strong representation of faces but that the nature of the information encoded during learning is critical for efficient crossmodal recognition.

Adult↗

PubMed1997

RESEARCH: Theory in Practice: Applying Participatory Democracy Theory to Public Land Planning

/ Application of participatory democracy theory to public participation in public land planning, while widely advocated, has not been closely examined. A case study is used here to explicate the application of participatory democracy concepts to public participation in public land planning and decision making. In this case, a Bureau of Land Management resource area manager decided to make a significant shift from the traditional public involvement process to a more participatory method-coordinated resource management (CRM). This case was assessed using document analysis, direct observation of CRM meetings, questionnaires, and interviews of key participants. These sources were used to examine the CRM case using participatory democracy concepts of efficacy, access and representation, continuous participation throughout planning, information exchange and learning, and decision-making authority. The case study suggests that social deliberation in itself does not ensure successful collaboration and that establishing rules of operation and decision making within the group is critical. Furthermore, conflicts between the concept of shared decision-making authority and the public land management agencies' accountability to Congress, the President, and the courts need further consideration.KEY WORDS: Case study; Coordinated resource management; Public participation; Administrative discretion; Representation; Consensus; Collaboration

Journal Article↗

PubMed1999

Outcomes research in surgery.

The phrase "outcomes studies" is usually used to describe those studies where outcome is assessed in large cohorts of patients, often using data from administrative databases. They are used to determine the role and impact of variations in the structure and process of health care delivery play in routine practice. Optimally, outcome should be assessed in terms of measures that are important to patients (e.g., quality of life). More often, clinically relevant outcome measures are lacking, and outcome is measured in terms of mortality, morbidity, and length of hospital stay. Although the outcomes movement continues to expand and much valuable information can be learned from this type of study, there are limitations. These studies are essentially observational and most often are performed using databases set up for other purposes. Thus data may be incomplete and incorrect. Moreover, they cannot assess the impact of patient preferences on outcome. The term outcomes studies has also been applied to small area variation and volume outcome studies.

Humans↗

PubMed1998

[Interdisciplinary group therapy for fibromyalgia].

Fibromyalgia is present in 2% of the general population and leads to impairment by chronic pain and fatigue. It does not improve without therapy directed at the symptoms of fibromyalgia. We describe our interdisciplinary group treatment for patients with fibromyalgia. They received a physical examination, ergometry and psychometric tests both at admission and before discharge, and they were questioned to the degree and localization of their pain, to fatigue, sleeping disorders and functional symptoms. Therapy included information about fibromyalgia, learning of coping strategies, relaxation and endurance training. Our results show that our interdisciplinary group treatment is effective for fibromyalgia and improves anxiety, depression and well being after a period of 5 weeks of in-patient rehabilitation.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed1987

Behavioral measures of multiple personality: the case of Margaret.

This report concerns the systematic study of a 28-year-old subject diagnosed as multiple personality. The purpose of this study was to examine similarities and differences in three of her distinct personalities, utilizing behavioral measures. Three tasks were presented to the personalities: a memory task; a perceptual-motor task; and an attention task utilizing event-related potentials. The memory task and perceptual-motor task indicated that the three personalities shared information and that learning extended from one personality to the next. The attention task indicated that the three personalities were differentially processing the stimuli that were presented to them, as measured by the ERPs. The results are discussed in the context of the individual case and of the phenomena of multiple personality.

Adult↗

PubMed1982

Software system for real-time discrimination of multi-unit nerve impulses.

We have developed a computer program to separate a unit of interest from multi-units of nerve impulses on an on-line, real-time operation basis. This method is divided into two phases: (1) the learning phase; (2) the hunting phase. In the learning phase, the user specifies spike patterns of a random unit from among varied spike trains displayed on CRT. The template for the unit is also constructed. In the hunting phase, the detection of spikes is carried out followed by almost simultaneous template-matching. As soon as a spike is established to be identical with the learned pattern, time information is delivered to the main memory of the computer.

Animals↗

PubMed1996

Avoidance and classical conditioning of leg flexion in dogs.

This study of leg flexion conditioning in dogs, which were trained under both avoidance and classical contingencies consecutively, confirmed and extended the results from the Wahlsten and Cole study (In Classical Conditioning II: Current Research and Theory, Appleton Century-Crofts, New York, 1972). Briefly, dogs were trained to asymptotic behavioral levels under either avoidance or classical contingencies with a CS-US interval of either three (3) or five (5) seconds where the unconditioned stimulus (US) was shock to the foreleg and the conditioned stimulus (CS) was 1000 Hz tone. The dogs were then switched to the other contingency (without any modification in the stimulus situation other than the shock contingency) and trained to asymptotic behavioral levels. The CS remained on for the entire CS-US period and terminated with the end of the scheduled interval. Under the classical contingency, the US occurred as scheduled on every trial regardless of the dog's behavior. Under the avoidance contingency, the US was prevented from occurring if the subject responded with a criterion leg lift during the CS-US interval. The only feedback to the dog of a successful performance was the leg lift itself. The results indicated that there were two different conditioned responses produced, one just after CS onset under the avoidance contingency, and one just before US onset under the classical contingency for both CS-US intervals. The findings were interpreted as supporting a single-factor informational view of learning and a neural model was presented.

Animals↗

PubMed1994

Prenatal alcohol and offspring development: the first fourteen years.

This report summarizes findings from a prospective longitudinal study of the effects of prenatal alcohol exposure on a birth cohort of 500 offspring selected from 1,529 consecutive pregnant women in prenatal care by mid-pregnancy at two representative community hospitals. Effects of prenatal alcohol observable on size measures at birth were insignificant after 8 months. Morphometric analysis of facial features identified effects only at the very highest alcohol exposure levels. By contrast, dose-dependent effects on neurobehavioral function from birth to 14 years have been established using partial least squares (PLS) methods jointly analysing multiple measures of both alcohol dose and outcome. Particularly salient effects included problems with attention, speed of information processing, and learning problems, especially arithmetic.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Synaptic transmission and modulation in the olfactory bulb.

Recent work in molecular biology and synaptic physiology has significantly increased our understanding of inhibitory and excitatory mechanisms in the olfactory bulb. Multiple subtypes of amino acid receptors with different functional and neuromodulatory properties are likely to play key roles in processing odor information transduced and relayed to the olfactory bulb by the olfactory sensory neurons, and in modulating that information during olfactory learning.

Animals↗

PubMed1994

Computational methods for wide-field reconstruction of transoesophageal echocardiographic images.

Transoesophageal echocardiography imaging is limited by the proximity of the transducer to many cardiovascular structures. The location of the transducer causes these structures to appear near the apex of the backscatter image, and since the angle of the scan cannot exceed 90 degrees, much of the image information appears in a constricted area. We describe a computer-based, wide-field reconstruction technique which pieces together the picture fields from adjacent sector scans to form composite images. This description includes information regarding lessons learned, as well as technical details of the algorithms, in sufficient depth to permit reproduction of the system by interested parties. Significant aspects of wide-field image reconstruction, including computational complexity, image-pair alignment processes, requirements of alignment resolution, and image acquisition techniques, are addressed in depth. We believe that wide-field presentation of echocardiographic backscatter data enhances the utility of the transoesophageal approach, particularly when dealing with posteriorly located cardiovascular lesions.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Cognitive impairments in the locked-in syndrome: a case report.

No neuropsychologic studies have been reported that assess cognitive functioning in survivors of locked-in syndrome (LIS) due to purely pontine lesions and then document the process of recovery by serial testing over a lengthy period. A previously well man in his early thirties was admitted to the hospital with progressive stroke symptoms and signs. Investigations showed occlusion of the basilar artery and acute infarction of the pons, including basis and tegmentum. Despite thrombolysis, he had persisting clinical features of the LIS. He had minimal change during the first month but then slowly improved. Recovery continued gradually, and he was discharged home 7 months after stroke; at this time he was ambulating with a cane, was mildly dysarthric, was able to swallow foods of modified consistency, and was independent in all self-care activities. Neuropsychologic testing, done 6 months after stroke, showed noteable cognitive impairments. These included mild difficulties with attention and concentration, significant reduction in speed of processing, moderate impairment of perceptual organization skills, mild inefficiencies in new learning of verbal information, and a moderate reduction in executive skills. Pathologic laughing and crying were also noted. There was progressive improvement in most areas of physical and cognitive functioning until at least 2 years after stroke. Neuropsychologic testing in this patient suggests that the LIS may be associated with impairments of higher-level cognitive functioning.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Natural history of hepatitis C.

Fifteen years after the discovery of the hepatitis C virus, a substantial amount of information has been learned about the natural history of infection. Testing for viral nucleic acid made it possible to accurately diagnose chronic infection and provided a more precise estimate of the overall frequency of viral persistence. Although cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma can arise in persons with chronic hepatitis C, these outcomes do not always occur. The cirrhosis risk is greater in those who are infected at older ages, those who drink >50 g of alcohol each day, and persons coinfected with HIV. However, much of the person-to-person variability in progression of chronic hepatitis C remains unexplained. The ability to detect persons at highest risk of progression remains incomplete and represents an important future challenge in the understanding of the natural history of hepatitis C.

Disease Progression↗

PubMed2005

The role of the human amygdala in the production of conditioned fear responses.

The amygdala plays a central role in the acquisition and expression of fear memories. Laboratory animal studies indicate that the amygdala both receives sensory information and produces learned behavioral and autonomic fear responses. However, prior functional imaging research in humans has largely focused on amygdala activity elicited by fearful stimuli, giving less attention to this region's role in the production of fear responses. In contrast, the present study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the amygdala's influence on the generation of conditional fear responses. Significant increases in amygdala activity were observed during the production of conditioned (learning-related), but not orienting, nonspecific, and unconditioned (nonlearning-related) skin conductance responses. Further, greater amygdala activity was demonstrated during conditioned response production than during conditioned stimulus presentation. These results suggest the amygdala not only responds to fearful stimuli, but also generates learning-related changes in human autonomic fear expression.

Acoustic Stimulation↗