Biomedical subjects

Anthony Lambert

Publications and source records attributed to Anthony Lambert.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Antenatal exposure to betamethasone: psychological functioning and health related quality of life 31 years after inclusion in randomised controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES: To determine if antenatal exposure to betamethasone for the prevention of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome alters psychological functioning and health related quality of life in adulthood. DESIGN: Follow-up of the first and largest double blind, placebo controlled, randomised trial of a single course of antenatal betamethasone for the prevention of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome. SETTING: Tertiary obstetric hospital in Auckland, New Zealand. PARTICIPANTS: 192 adult offspring, mean age 31 years, of mothers who took part in a randomised controlled trial of antenatal betamethasone for the prevention of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (87 exposed to betamethasone and 105 exposed to placebo). INTERVENTIONS: Mothers received two doses of betamethasone or placebo 24 hours apart. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Cognitive functioning assessed with Wechsler abbreviated scale of intelligence; working memory and attention assessed with Benton visual retention test, paced auditory serial addition test, and Brown attention deficit disorder scale; psychiatric morbidity assessed with Beck depression inventory II, state-trait anxiety inventory, and schizotypy traits questionnaire; handedness assessed with Edinburgh handedness inventory; health related quality of life assessed with short form 36 health survey. RESULTS: No differences were found between groups exposed to betamethasone and placebo in cognitive functioning, working memory and attention, psychiatric morbidity, handedness, or health related quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: Prenatal exposure to a single course of betamethasone does not alter cognitive functioning, working memory and attention, psychiatric morbidity, handedness, or health related quality of life in adulthood. Obstetricians should continue to use a single course of antenatal betamethasone for the prevention of neonatal respiratory distress syndrome.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Surgical gloves. How do you change yours?

Surgical gloves are frequently changed intraoperatively, and different techniques exist. We surveyed surgeons and scrub staff in our hospital and prospectively compared contamination between two glove changing techniques. We questioned 25 surgeons and 25 scrub staff regarding their intra-operative glove changing technique. Twenty scrub staff performed a standard 'surgical scrub', following which aliquots of fluorescent powder were applied symmetrically to each forearm prior to donning gown and gloves. Subjects were randomised to group 1-open technique (OT) followed by closed technique (CT), or group 2-CT followed by OT. Following unassisted glove change, glove and hand contamination was assessed.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗

PubMed2003

The influence of a salience distinction between bilateral cues on the latency of target-detection saccades.

The spatial cueing paradigm, with saccades to targets as the method of response, was used to investigate the influence of two simultaneously presented cues on the orienting of visual attention. Participants were presented with bilateral cues, one of which was perceptually salient (high luminance) relative to the other. They participated in one of three conditions: in the 'bright side likely' condition targets usually (p =.8) appeared near the more salient cue; in the 'dim side likely' condition targets usually (p =.8) appeared near the less salient cue; and in the 'neutral' condition the arrangement of the cues was uninformative with respect to target location. Brief SOAs (0, 50, 100 and 150 ms) were employed. Rapid reflexive orienting to the more salient stimulus was observed in the neutral condition: saccadic latencies were faster when the target appeared near the bright cue, and this was found even across the two shortest SOAs. However, this reflexive orienting was suppressed in both the bright side likely and dim side likely conditions: the advantage observed at the bright cue's location across the two shortest SOAs in the neutral condition was significantly attenuated in the two contingent conditions. Results point to rapid expectancy-based interference in the reflexive process of attention capture.

Attention↗

PubMed2003

Do isoluminant color changes capture attention?

Four experiments are reported in which the effects of peripheral cues on visual orienting were investigated. In the luminance condition, the cues consisted of a peripheral change in stimulus luminance. In the isoluminance condition, the cues consisted of an isoluminant color change, using the transient tritanopic technique. In Experiments 1 and 2, it was found that peripheral luminance cues captured attention, whereas peripheral isoluminance cues did not. In Experiments 3 and 4, the participants detected a peripheral target that was also isoluminant with the background. Under these conditions, it was found that both luminance and isoluminance cues captured attention. The results are discussed in terms of the roles of the dorsal and ventral streams in visual orienting, and it is concluded that our findings provide partial support for the contingent involuntary orienting hypothesis of C. Folk and colleagues.

Attention↗