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Biomedical subjects

C R Harris

Publications and source records attributed to C R Harris.

71 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Does a reduced sensitivity to bitter taste increase the risk of becoming nicotine addicted?

Cigarette smoking appears to be on the increase in adolescents. The initiation of regular smoking nearly always begins before adulthood. It is therefore crucial to find ways of identifying those children most vulnerable to nicotine addiction and prioritizing them for preventive measures. We hypothesized that individuals who, in a simple taste test, perceive phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) as bitter may find the taste of cigarettes aversively bitter and could therefore have a reduced vulnerability to nicotine addiction compared to nontasters, who would be the group at greater risk of addiction. We studied 242 Plains American Indians, 136 women and 106 men aged 18-59 years, and found that (allowing for gender differences and the possible direct effects of smoking on taste) the proportion of PTC nontasters to tasters in smokers, even light smokers, was significantly greater than in both nonsmokers and social smokers (chi2= 15.875, 4 df; P=.003), suggesting that nontasters, who are not aversive to the bitter taste of cigarettes, may be more at risk for heavy smoking and therefore more vulnerable to nicotine addiction.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Partner communication about hysterectomy.

Communication between marital partners about a woman's hysterectomy may be difficult and serve as a source of marital conflict. This study was conducted to determine marital partners' usual communication behaviors as well as what they communicated about hysterectomy with each other. Twenty-two educated Caucasian couples participated in the study. Individual, semistructured interviews were conducted with the women in the hospital following their hysterectomies and with their partners at a later time. Couples also completed the Primary Communication Inventory. Results showed that the couples had generally good usual communication. Couples reported that they communicated "everything" about the hysterectomy, but evidence (i.e., further questioning) showed that they communicated little. The authors discuss possible explanations for this apparent contradiction between perceived and actual communication behaviors.

Adult↗