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Biomedical subjects

C A Sandman

Publications and source records attributed to C A Sandman.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1980

An analog of MSH/ACTH 4-9 enhances interpersonal and environmental awareness in mentally retarded adults.

In a double blind procedure, four doses (0, 5, 10 and 20 mg) of an orally active analog of ACTH/MSH 4-9 was administered to mentally retarded adults. Changes in behavior and in productivity were evaluated as subjects performed their job in a sheltered workshop. During the first week productivity suffered while behavior related to communication and sociability increased in clients receiving the peptide analog. During the second week, clients given the peptide were more productive and attentive to environmental events while differences in sociability stabilized. Five and 10 mg enhanced productivity of tasks requiring precision and concentration where 20 mg depressed performance of all tasks. Regression equations indicated that different doses of the peptide generated unique relationships between behavior and productivity with self-stimulation characterizing the clients given the peptide. The use of the peptide analog of ACTH/MSH as a potential treatment with the mentally retarded is encouraged by these findings.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
PubMed1979

Learned control of coronary blood flow.

Mongrel dogs with chronically implanted electromagnetic flow probes on the left coronary artery were curarized and trained to decrease coronary blood flow in order to avoid and escape from stress. Each of four animals learned to consistently decrease coronary flow with increasing independence from changes in other cardiovascular dynamics. One animal achieved dramatic decreases suggestive of profound coronary vasoconstriction. The results may have important implications for the understanding of ischemic heart disease.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Influences of an analog of the neuropeptide ACTH 4--9 on mentally retarded adults.

In a double-blind procedure, 24 mentally retarded adults received 0 mg, 5mg, or 20 mg of an analog of the neuropeptide ACTH 4--9. Following treatment with peptide, the subjects were given the Trails B Test (from the Halstead-Reitan Neuropsychological Battery), the Peabody Picture Vocabulary test, the Benton Visual Retention Test, a concept-formation task, and a standard orienting sequence. The results of the behavioral tests suggested that attentional processes were enhanced in subjects treated with the peptide. The present study, in conjunction with another investigation using the neuropeptide ACTH/MSH 4--10 (Sandman, George, Walker, Nolan & Kastin, 1976), indicates that attentional deficits in mentally retarded adults, traditionally assumed to be irreversible, may be influenced by treatment with fragments of the neuropeptides ACTH and MSH.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
PubMed1979

Human visual evoked responses are related to heart rate.

The purpose of the present experiment was to determine the relation between changes in heart rate and averaged evoked potentials. Sixteen male subjects with variable heart rates received 50 flashes of light during fast heart beats, 50 during slow heart beats, and 50 during midrange heart rate level. Evoked responses were recorded from the scalp overlying the right and left occipital lobes. Heart rate, respiration, eye movements, and cephalic blood flow were also recorded. The results indicated that spontaneous changes in heart rate are related to changes in visual evoked responses and that this relation differs for the two cerebral hemispheres. Furthermore, cephalic pulse amplitude was largest following slow heart beats and smallest following fast heart beats, which suggests that changes in heart rate are related to changes in cerebrovascular as well as electrocortical activity. The results are discussed in terms of formulations derived from behavioral studies regarding the relation between cardiovascular activity and attentional processes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Discriminative control of the vaginal vasomotor response.

With use of a discriminative control procedure and operant techniques, women significantly increased their vaginal pulse amplitude (produced vaginal vasodilation) but did not significantly decrease vaginal pulse amplitude (produce vaginal vasoconstriction). Acquisition of vaginal pulse amplitude control was rapid with no significant improvement over trials or the 5 experimental days. Specificity of vaginal pulse amplitude control occurred in relation to the other vasomotor responses, including vaginal blood volume and digital pulse amplitude. Vagnial pulse amplitude changes were not related to somatic-muscular, respiratory, or heart-rate changes. Women who used oral contraceptives were better able to control vaginal pulse amplitude than women who used other forms of birth control. Although the sexual behavior of these two groups and did not differ, women in the latter group tended to be more clitorally oriented.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Physiological differentiation of sensory and cognitive tasks as a function of warning, processing demands, and reported unpleasantness.

Low and highly stressful sensory tasks (viewing slides of autopsy) were employed to assess the effects of stressful stimuli that required a minimal amount of cognitive elaboration. Cognitive (arithmetic, anagram, and digit-string memorization) tasks each at two levels of difficulty were matched for reported unpleasantness with autopsy slides to provide stimuli in which stress reactions were constant but cognitive processing requirements varied. Heart rate, skin potential level, and skin potential responses were monitored. Thirty-two subjects received two presentations of each type of task, one each of which was preceded by a warning signal. The results indicated that heart rate accelerated during cognitive tasks and decelerated during slide presentations of autopsy; the warning signal accentuated the heart-rate pattern associated with the task. Analyses of individual tasks revealed that heart rate was greater during the performance of difficult (more cognitively demanding) than easy cognitive tasks but that heart rate was not affected by the reported unpleasantness of the autopsy slides. Skin potential responses were more evident during the presentation of stressful (unpleasant) stimuli for both cognitive and sensory tasks; skin potential level, however, differentiated neither the tasks nor the stressfulness of stimuli within the tasks. These results are interpreted as being consistent with Lacey's hypothesis concerning cognitive elaboration, cardiac activity, and response patterning.

Affect↗
PubMed1978

Voluntary control of electrogastric activity.

The tonic component of the electrogastrogram (EGG) has been shown to differentiate duodenal ulcer patients from healthy individuals (15). It has therefore been of considerable interest to investigate the possibility that individuals can learn to modify electrogastric activity. Using a discriminative conditioning paradigm with analogue feedback (Experiment I), subjects were generally unsuccessful at controlling tonic EGG activity. However, when the conditioning paradigm was altered (Experiment II) it was clear that subjects were able to modify specific electrogastric changes. In addition to EGG, heart rate, respiration, abdominal muscle activity, and digital blood flow were measured in order to assess the physiological concomitants of learned control of gastrointestinal activity. Subjects who evidenced discriminative control also showed the least amount of abdominal muscle activity and reported being the most relaxed. The results of these studies suggest that exploration of the physiological processes underlying the electrical activity of the gastrointestinal system and the ability of individuals to modify this activity may lead to significant clinical and theoretical advances.

Abdominal Muscles↗