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PubMed1999

The relationship between aggression in children and locus of control beliefs.

Gender differences are evident in the etiology and maintenance of aggressive behavior (which is on the increase for both male and female youths), but the explanatory models that have been proposed, including social learning theory and information processing models, are more appropriate for boys than for girls. In an attempt to elucidate processes underlying aggression, particularly for girls, the authors explored locus of control as a cognitive variable possibly related to aggressive behavior. The relationships between teacher-reported aggression and 3 types of locus of control (internal, powerful other, and unknown) for success and failure experiences were investigated. For girls, aggressive behavior was positively related to internal and unknown locus of control. In contrast, boys' aggressive behavior was unrelated to internal locus of control beliefs and negatively related to external locus of control beliefs. Possible explanatory mechanisms for the relationship between locus of control beliefs and aggression are discussed. The present study contributes to the understanding of aggression in girls and points to different processes underlying girls' and boys' aggression.

Aggression↗
PubMed1983

The effects of orienting tasks on adult age differences in recall and recognition.

This research examined the type of recognition errors made following orienting task instructions in order to investigate possible age differences in the depth of processing of information to be learned. Eighteen young, 18 middle-aged, and 18 elderly adults viewed 48 words, each of which was accompanied by learning instructions or a phonological or semantic orienting task. Subjects were then presented previously-seen items paired with a synonym, rhyme, or unrelated word. Analyses revealed no age differences in the number or pattern of recognition errors. Middle-aged and elderly adults recalled fewer items than young adults and their recall scores were less affected by orienting task instructions. Results are discussed in the context of possible age differences in the depth and elaboration of processing during study.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Stroke knowledge and barriers to stroke prevention among African Americans: implications for health communication.

Stroke is a major cause of death and disability, especially among African Americans. Yet research on stroke knowledge and barriers to stroke prevention among African Americans is limited. This study used a 50-item questionnaire to conduct structured telephone interviews with 379 African American adults, 50 years or older. The questionnaire included questions on stroke knowledge, stroke risk behaviors, and barriers to stroke prevention. A stroke knowledge score was computed by assigning points for correct responses on knowledge items. The average stroke knowledge score of participants was 10.9, out of a maximum possible score of 27. Stroke knowledge was significantly related to the presence of hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and family history of stroke. College education was significantly associated with older respondents' stroke knowledge. Younger college-educated respondents had more knowledge about the risky behaviors that lead to stroke than those with less education. Respondents preferred hospitals to churches or senior centers for receiving stroke information and for learning about stroke from their physicians. Stress and poor financial status were most frequently reported as barriers to stroke prevention. These findings have implications for developing more effective strategies for educating African Americans about stroke prevention.

Black or African American↗
PubMed2003

Prevention of eating disorders and obesity via the internet.

Internet technology has been expanding rapidly and has had a dramatic impact on how people communicate, learn and share information. This article presents applications of internet technology to the psychological domain, particularly in the prevention and treatment of eating disorders and obesity. Information regarding advantages and disadvantages of computerized interventions are discussed and several examples of randomized controlled trials with this technology are presented. The studies presented are not meant to be comprehensive of psychological interventions in general, but are examples of computerized applications from the eating disorder and obesity literatures. Ethical considerations and areas for future direction are also discussed.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2001

Hypothyroidism and cognition: preliminary evidence for a specific defect in memory.

The effect(s) of hypothyroidism on adult brain cognitive function are poorly understood. We performed a series of neuropsychological tests in 13 thyroid cancer patients while they continued to take their usual dose of levothyroxine (LT4) and again after discontinuing thyroid hormone. Three euthyroid subjects were also tested twice to assess the effect of repeated testing on performance. The tests assessed memory, mood, and attentional resources and controlled for the practice effects of repeated testing. The mean thyrotropin (TSH) on LT4 was 0.56 +/- 0.76 mU/L and while hypothyroid was 69 +/- 33 mU/L. While hypothyroid, the mean Beck depression score was significantly higher (15.31 +/- 9.41 hypothyroid vs. 7.31 +/- 4.82 on LT4) and the subjects rated themselves worse relative to functional memory, concentration, thinking, alertness, and motivation. Hypothyroidism was associated with a decrease in retrieval from memory (p = 0.0034), and this effect could not be attributed to depression or to practice effects. Thyroid state did not affect immediate recall, verbal learning, inhibitory efficiency, information processing speed, or attention switching. Athyrosis is associated with a decrement in delayed recall of verbal information but not in other objective measures of cognition, suggesting that the memory decrement of hypothyroidism is not caused by a generalized reduction in attentional resources.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Contextual guidance of attention: human intracranial event-related potential evidence for feedback modulation in anatomically early temporally late stages of visual processing.

We investigated attentional guidance in early visual areas in the brain by recording event-related potentials directly from the surface of visual cortex. Patients performed a contextual cueing task in which attentive search to targets was guided by implicitly learned spatial context information. The earliest activity in striate cortex (area V1) was not modulated by contextual cueing, whereas later activity beginning at approximately 200 ms was enhanced by contextual cueing in V1, V2 and other portions of extrastriate cortex. These results suggest that context can enhance visual processing by temporally late top-down modulation of activity in anatomically early areas of visual cortex. Together with anatomical and neurophysiological studies in animals, these results suggest an excitatory feedback mechanism acting on apical dendrites of pyramidal cells in V1 and other areas of visual cortex.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Adult age differences in memory elaboration.

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that elderly adults conduct less elaboration of information to be learned than young adults. In Experiment 1, young and elderly adults were tested for free and context-cued recall of target words embedded in sentences ending in relevant (precise) or irrelevant (imprecise) elaborations. In Experiment 2, young and elderly adults were tested for recall of words in sentences for which relevant or irrelevant elaborations were provided or sentences for which relevant or irrelevant elaborations were generated by the participants. They were also tested for memory of the elaborations themselves. Elderly adults showed as much benefit from the provision of relevant elaborations as young adults but were less likely to generate relevant elaborations. The results reflect age-related differences in elaborating stimulus words in terms of previous knowledge and in encoding specific attributes of sentence contexts.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Developing problem-solving skills in the classroom.

The purposes of this article are 1) to describe a series of classroom activities emphasizing problem-solving skills that was designed for physical therapy students in their first year of professional course work and 2) to examine the students' initial attitudes toward the learning experiences. Simulated patient information was presented in writing, on videotape, or by role-playing. Students defined the case problem, developed and ranked clinical problems, set goals, and considered treatment possibilities. Completion of a problem-oriented "subjective, objective, assessment, plan" patient-status note, based on the information derived from the problem-solving activities, was part of the learning experience. Changes in course design that were made during a three-year period are identified. A discussion of the difficulties related to student acceptance of and interest in problem-solving activities is included.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

On the cost of educating a medical student.

The cost of educating a medical student has been an issue of intermittent public concern for most of the twentieth century, beginning in 1910 with the Flexner Report. The issue is now reemerging as a topic of high public and political interest, for several reasons, including concern about medical schools and their financing. Estimates of medical student education costs appear to vary widely; but such variations derive from the different ways the question has been framed. Costs can be categorized as instructional costs and total educational resource costs. Instructional costs, which can be distinguished further as marginal costs or proportionate-share costs, are those costs that can be related directly to the teaching program and its support. Total educational resource costs are those costs supporting all faculty deemed necessary to conduct undergraduate medical education in all their activities of teaching, research, scholarship, and patient care. The authors review studies spanning a period of more than 20 years and find that instructional cost estimates of medical student education, when adjusted to a standard base year (1996 dollars), fall within a fairly narrow range: most are between $40,000 and $50,000 per student per year. Estimates of total educational resource costs show greater variation, but four of six estimates fall between approximately $72,000 and $93,000 per student per year. The authors note that present directions of curricular innovation-small-group learning, investment in information technology, and clinical education in ambulatory sites-offer little solace to those concerned with mitigating the costs of medical student education. Several proposals have been advanced to restructure medical student education in the name of efficiency and cost-effectiveness, but many are simply maneuvers to transfer responsibility for costs to other entities. Only by a net reduction of the medical school curriculum might costs truly be reduced. Yet the medical knowledge base continues to increase, as does the range of information and skills required of medical students. Unless society is prepared to change dramatically its concept of the well-educated physician, opportunities for significant reductions in the costs of medical student education are difficult to visualize.

Cost Control↗
PubMed2000

Confidentiality in home and hospice nursing. Protecting vulnerable populations.

Nurses are taught early in their educational experience the importance of keeping confidential information they have learned about the people for whom they provide care. This article describes a scenario where confidentiality is breached and how the intended "good works" actually resulted in unintended harm.

Confidentiality↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Do children retain what they are taught?

Burn prevention lectures instituted in early childhood education is believed to have decreased burn-related injuries in children. Validation of retention of information to verify effectiveness of school lectures is needed. A pretest and posttest were developed to measure the retention of burn prevention methods taught to students. The pretests were administered by the teachers to fourth and fifth graders (n = 500) one day before the prevention lecture. Programs were taught assembly style. The teachers were asked to reissue the posttest within 2 days after the program. The tests were then returned to the community educator. The test included 15 multiple choice questions. Questions addressed escaping a burning building and burn prevention items such as cooking, first aid tips, and other general prevention ideas. Test results showed overall improvement of scores. Additional analysis showed that though test scores improved, there was less improvement in scores of inner-city students. Pretesting and posttesting has provided valuable information regarding student learning. It has also identified target groups and areas where increased efforts of prevention programs must be directed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Eye-head coordination with laterally "modulated" gaze field.

Discrimination of peripheral targets is possible with progressive lenses if visual strategy is changed. However, there is a penalty in response time. This penalty is reduced after adaptation. This adaptation involves making earlier and more rapid head movements on the one hand, and recalibrating the saccadic and vestibulo-ocular systems on the other hand. These changes enable subjects to gaze directly through a zone of the lenses where discrimination is possible. This adaptation also consists of learning to use information from blurred images. In this way visual processing can begin earlier.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed2003

Assessment of cognitive recovery following sports related head trauma in boxers.

OBJECTIVE: To prospectively examine recovery of cognitive function within one month following subconcussive sports related head trauma. DESIGN: A prospective study of New York State licensed professional boxers who underwent testing of cognitive functioning before and after (within days, one week, and one month) a professional bout. SETTING: Male professional athletes recruited from the New York State Athletic Commission and local boxing gyms. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-six licensed professional boxers were enrolled in the protocol. Data is presented on the 18 participants who completed testing on at least three of the four time points. INTERVENTIONS: Serial neuropsychological assessment before and after the athletes engaged in competition. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Neuropsychological measures of cognitive functioning, including new learning and memory, information processing speed, and mental flexibility. RESULTS: A series of repeated measures MANOVAS revealed significant within subject differences across testing on complex information processing and verbal fluency. Post hoc analyses indicated significant differences between time 1 (baseline) and time 4 (one month post), with scores one month following the bout indicating significantly improved performance. Memory scores did not change significantly across testing; however, prior boxing exposure measured by total number of professional bouts was associated with poorer memory performance. CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive testing one month following participation in a professional boxing bout yielded scores suggestive of recovery to a level above the baseline. We conclude that baseline assessment taken during periods of intense training are likely confounded by other pre-bout conditions (i.e., sparring, rapid weight loss, pre-bout anxiety) and do not represent true baseline abilities. Instability of performance associated with mild head injury may complicate the interpretation of post-injury assessments. Practice effects may also confound the interpretation of serial assessments, leading to underestimation of the effects of sports related head trauma. Poorer cognitive performance was evident during the presumed recovery period in boxers with greater exposure to the sport (>12 professional bouts). This finding is consistent with reports of a cumulative effect of repetitive head trauma and the subsequent development of chronic traumatic brain injury. These data have implications for assessing recovery of function following head injury in players of other contact sports as well as determination of return-to-play following an injury.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Evaluation of neuropsychological domain scores and postural stability following cerebral concussion in sports.

CONTEXT: With increasing knowledge and research about concussion, there have been few objective studies that have used neuropsychological domain scores and postural stability to assess concussion. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the recovery curve of athletes who incur sport-related concussion from repeated serial testing of neuropsychological and posturography testing. DESIGN: A prospective epidemiological model was used for the course of the study. SETTING: Division I intercollegiate athletics. PARTICIPANTS: Athletes participating in football, soccer, basketball, softball, and cheerleading. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Neuropsychological scores and posturography measures were obtained preseason and serially at day 1, day 2, day 3, and day 10 postconcussion. Control participants were tested at the same intervals. Neuropsychological scores were converted to standards score and then into domains of attention, learning, speed of information processing, concentration, memory, and verbal fluency. Analysis of covariance with the baseline test as the covariate was used to analyze the data with univariate post hoc tests performed. RESULTS: Significant group differences were found for self reported symptoms (P = 0.001), speed of information processing (P = 0.005), mean stability (P = 0.002), and vestibular function (P = 0.003) between injured and control participants. A group, by day, planned comparison found that speed of information processing and composite balance measures demonstrated significant differences through day 10 postinjury, while symptoms and the vestibular ratio remained significant only through day 3. CONCLUSIONS: The concussion recovery curve demonstrated short-term neuropsychological and posturography deficits following injury. A comprehensive approach to concussion management should be used to assess the injury and make return-to-play decisions.

Adult↗
PubMed2003

Energy-recovery linac project at Cornell University.

There is considerable interest in using superconducting electron linacs with energy recovery as synchrotron radiation sources. Such energy recovery linacs (ERLs) would open new regimes of X-ray science because they are capable of producing ultra-brilliant X-ray beams [>5 x 10(22) photons s(-1) (0.1% bandwidth)(-1) mm(-2) mrad(-2) at 10 keV], maintaining a very small source size ( approximately 3 micro m r.m.s.) suitable for micro X-ray beams, and making very intense fast ( approximately 100 fs) X-ray pulses. Each of these characteristics would permit the execution of experiments that are not feasible with existing synchrotron sources. Many technical issues must be satisfactorily resolved before the potential of a full-scale ERL can be realised, including the generation of high average current (10 to 100 mA), high-brightness electron beams (0.015 to 0.15 nm rad emittances, respectively); acceleration of these beams to energies of 5-7 GeV without unacceptable emittance degradation; stable and efficient operation of superconducting linear accelerators at very high gradients etc. Cornell University, in collaboration with Jefferson Laboratory, has proposed to resolve these issues by the construction of a 100 MeV, 100 mA prototype ERL. The intention is to then utilize the information that is learned from the prototype to propose the construction of a full-scale ERL light source.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2005

Delivering the English smoking treatment services.

BACKGROUND: This paper describes how smoking treatment services in England were delivered beyond the initial set-up phase and explores key factors affecting their development. Services were expected to treat smokers in line with the evidence-base and were issued with government guidance regarding the type of interventions that should be offered. One factor complicating this was the issue of service funding. Funding was initially issued for a 3-year period and although this was extended on two occasions, these extensions were both announced close to the end of funding periods. OBJECTIVES: To critically assess key elements in the delivery of the English cessation services, including the nature of treatments offered and the impact of short-term funding on staffing. METHODS: A national postal survey of smoking cessation coordinators in April 2002. Semi-structured interviews with 50 smoking cessation staff in two health regions in autumn 2001, followed by further interviews with 28 staff in the same areas in the autumn of 2002. RESULTS: Treatment was delivered in a wide range of venues, ranging from primary care to local authority-owned premises such as town halls and libraries. Most services offered both one-to-one and group support, although interviewees reported an increase in demand for one-to-one support from clients. Pharmacotherapies were used widely; by 2002, 99% of coordinators reported that their advisers recommended nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) to clients, and 95% bupropion. However, prior to April 2001 bupropion was available on prescription, but NRT was not and this variable access to pharmacotherapies posed problems for services. Coordinators reported that the short-term nature of funding made recruiting and retaining staff difficult and interviews revealed that they believed a longer period of protected funding was required for services to demonstrate their effectiveness. CONCLUSIONS: As English smoking treatment services developed, lessons were learned that could inform the development of services in other health systems. First, early guidance from government can encourage services to adhere to evidence-based treatment. Secondly, treatment needs to be accessible to smokers and thus there must be a flexible approach to implementation at local level. Thirdly, the availability of nicotine addiction and behavioural therapies should be coordinated to minimize barriers and maximize uptake. Finally, fixed-term funding can exacerbate staff recruitment and retention difficulties and countries establishing treatment services need to consider carefully the initial funding period that is required for stable services to become established within their health systems.

Costs and Cost Analysis↗
PubMed1982

A computer-based test item-bank for cognitive assessment of medical students during a clinical medicine clerkship.

The development and utilization of multiple-choice test items and the utilization of computer technology have significantly altered evaluation practices in medical schools. This paper describes the development and implementation of a computer-based multiple-choice test item-bank for use in a junior medicine clerkship. The computer program, ITEM-BANK, is an interactive system that stores and edits test items and constructs and prints an original copy of each test. Tests can be produced almost immediately by the clerical staff and the total developmental costs have been minimal. The program has reduced the amount of teaching time required to develop tests, and has enhanced the learning of essential information by medical students and residents. Teaching staff and student response has been enthusiastic and positive. Statistically significant Pearson correlation coefficients have been obtained between student performance on these tests and clinical evaluation and NBME Part II scores. The program has made a valuable contribution to the improvement of evaluation procedures in the Internal Medicine clerkship.

Alabama↗