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Biomedical subjects

A Dill

Publications and source records attributed to A Dill.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

A consecutive series of adults with brain injury treated with a washing and dressing retraining program.

OBJECTIVES: Single-case reports indicate that behavioral methods can assist persons with brain injury to redevelop self-care skills. However, the proportion of patients who could benefit from these interventions is unknown. The present study used a specific retraining protocol to treat all patients admitted to a single facility over a 3-year period who were unable to wash and dress independently. METHOD: Four patients out of 48 met the study criteria and were treated with the washing and dressing protocol. Three had traumatic brain injury, and one had brain injury after cerebral bleed. The training program involved behavioral observation, task analysis, consistent practice, and cue fading. The Adaptive Behavior Scale was used to measure behavior change. RESULTS: Three subjects achieved rapid independence in washing and dressing (20 days, 37 days, and 11 days of treatment), and one did not show significant clinical improvement. CONCLUSION: All patients admitted to the facility during a 3-year period who required washing and dressing retraining were treated with the same protocol. The consecutive series design prevented researchers from selecting patients who they believed were good treatment candidates; therefore, the findings support the general applicability of the training program.

Activities of Daily Living

Cloning of a novel nucleolar guanosine 5'-triphosphate binding protein autoantigen from a breast tumor.

A cDNA clone encoding an immunoreactive autoantigen (Ngp-1) was isolated by screening lambda gt11 human ductal breast tumor expression libraries with autologous patient serum. The complete 2.3-kb nucleotide sequence of the cDNA was found to contain an open reading frame that could encode a protein of 731 amino acids. The predicted amino acid sequence contains a high concentration of charged amino acids in the carboxy terminal quarter of the molecule, three guanosine 5'-triphosphate (GTP)-binding protein motifs, and a consensus nuclear localization signal. The arrangement and spacing of the GTP-binding protein motifs indicate that Ngp-1 belongs to a newly described subfamily of GTPases. Except for the consensus motifs, neither nucleotide sequence, nor the predicted amino acid sequence of the Ngp-1 cDNA showed the slightest homology to any vertebrate gene product sequence listed in the databases. Northern blot analysis showed the 2.3-kb transcript to be ubiquitously expressed at relatively low levels in all human tissues tested, with the highest level of expression in the testes. Immunohistochemical analysis of tissue sections with affinity-purified antiserum raised against a recombinant Ngp-1 protein revealed that the antigen was exclusively localized to the nucleolus and nucleolar organizer regions in all cell types analyzed.

Amino Acid Sequence

Institutional environments and organizational responses to AIDS.

Drawing from theory on institutionalized organizational environments, this paper analyzes the actions of community-based service programs providing care for people with AIDS. The focus is on the interorganizational relations developed by the lead agencies in demonstration projects attempting to coordinate services in three communities. The paper identifies differential styles of organizational response to developmental and operational issues. These differences are related to the conceptual distinction between organizational responses to technical environments and those to normative, or "institutional," environmental features. Various factors are identified that appear to promote a higher degree of institutionalization in interorganizational relations. Coordination as a reform strategy is seen to have become, in itself, an institutionalized myth to which organizations must subscribe in order to gain legitimacy.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Defining needs, defining systems: a critical analysis.

This article examines the model of need assessment commonly used in social service programs for older adults. Whereas this model defines need as an individual attribute, remediable through programmatic intervention, an alternative formulation suggests that organizational imperatives shape the definition of client need while obscuring their own role in the production of this information. A case study and historical analysis assess the roots of this process and its consequences for clients, staff, and aging programs.

Aged

A comparison of hospital and community case management programs for persons with AIDS.

To determine whether locus of AIDS case management affects the content of this service, a survey of case managers in 42 major American cities was conducted. One hundred seventy-one case managers working in both public hospitals and community-based organizations (CBOs) responded. Hospital case managers were substantially more likely to report clinical training than CBO case managers. Hospital case managers' case loads were more likely to include drug users and patients with more urgent needs such as housing and drug abuse treatment. While CBO case managers were more likely to work to develop services in the community, hospital case managers reported working more closely with medical staff and discharge planning committees. CBO case managers reported greater difficulty obtaining a number of key services for their clients including home health care, housekeeping, and entitlements; hospital case managers reported greater difficulty obtaining emotional support volunteers. These results indicate that locus of case management strongly affects the structure and content of this service. The importance of these findings for future program planning is discussed.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome