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Biomedical subjects

C Richardson

Publications and source records attributed to C Richardson.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1999

The Conners-28 teacher questionnaire in clinical and nonclinical samples of Greek children 6-12 years old.

It is accepted practice in child psychiatry to use more than one source of information in assessing behavioural problems in children and adolescents. Employing standardized tools for these assessments allows cross-cultural comparisons and better interchange of the findings. Achenbach's Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Teacher's Report Form (TRF) are two widely accepted instruments that were standardized in Greece within the framework of the European Network for the Study of Hyperkinetic Disorder. We studied the Conners-28 teacher questionnaire in a Greek community sample of primary schoolchildren aged 6-12 years. The factor structure showed to be similar to that originally reported from the USA. Discrimination between the referred and nonreferred sample was high, especially for the Inattentive-passive scale. Conners-28 scores were highly correlated with the TRF (scored by the same informant), much less so with the CBCL (scored by a different informant). Our study demonstrates the usefulness and applicability of the Conners-28 item questionnaire.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Achenbach's Child Behavior Checklist and Teachers' Report Form in a normative sample of Greek children 6-12 years old.

Achenbach's Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and Teachers' Report Form (TRF) were administered to 6-12 year old school children comprising a large random community sample (n = 1200) drawn from the whole of Greece. These are the first data on the TRF in Greece and the first nation-wide data on the CBCL. Appropriate cutoff points for the behavioral problems and competence scales of both questionnaires were obtained for boys and girls. These were considerably higher than USA cutoffs for the CBCL but not for the TRF. Analysis of scores in relation to degree of urbanization showed that it was not necessary to define different cutoffs in different strata. Parents' and teachers' ratings of the same child were most highly correlated for Externalizing and Aggressive behavior for boys and for Attention problems for both sexes.

Child↗
PubMed1999

The novel hemagglutinin-esterase genes of human torovirus and Breda virus.

Human torovirus (HTV) and Breda virus (BRV), members of the genus torovirus in the family Coronaviridae, are established infectious agents of humans and cattle, respectively. The hemagglutinin-esterase (HE) gene of Breda virus serotype 2 (BRV-2) has been identified and the nucleotide sequence for BRV serotype 1 (BRV-1) genome which contains the open reading frames for the viral structural proteins has been reported revealing the presence of a 1. 25 kb gene whose nucleotide sequence is identical to that of the BRV-2 HE gene. In this study, we amplified the 1.2kb HE gene from the HTV genome using long RT-PCR and sequenced the amplicon directly. At the nucleotide level, the HTV HE gene manifests 85% sequence identity to the HE genes of BRV-1 and BRV-2 and 89% identity with the X pseudogene sequence of BEV. The 1.25 kb amplicons which contained the HE genes of BRV-1 and HTV were cloned and expressed in a baculovirus system and the proteins purified by sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Hyperimmune sera prepared in guinea pigs against these proteins were reactive with both bovine torovirus (BTV) and human torovirus (HTV) antigens. By immunoblot, they reacted specifically with a 65 kDa protein corresponding in size to the torovirus HE protein. Furthermore, the hyperimmune sera but not the preimmune sera reacted with a series of BTV-positive and HTV-positive fecal specimens by immunoblot and dot blot analysis. By immunoelectron microscopy (IEM) torovirus particles from BTV-positive specimens from calves with diarrhea and HTV-positive specimens from patients were aggregated by the hyperimmune sera. Human convalescent sera and gnotobiotic calf post-infection sera reacted by immunoblot with the expressed 65 kDa protein. The expressed HE protein of HTV has important diagnostic potential.

Acetylesterase↗
PubMed1999

Effects of cognitive treatment in psychiatric rehabilitation.

Ninety subjects with severe and disabling psychiatric conditions, predominantly schizophrenia, participated in a controlled-outcome trial of the cognitive component of Integrated Psychological Therapy (IPT), a group-therapy modality intended to reestablish basic neurocognitive functions. The cognitive therapy was delivered to subjects in the experimental condition during intensive 6-month treatment periods. Control subjects received supportive group therapy. Before, during, and after the intensive treatment period, all subjects received an enriched regimen of comprehensive psychiatric rehabilitation, including social and living skills training, optimal pharmacotherapy, occupational therapy, and milieu-based behavioral treatment. IPT subjects showed incrementally greater gains compared with controls on the primary outcome measure, the Assessment of Interpersonal Problem-Solving Skills, suggesting that procedures that target cognitive impairments of schizophrenia spectrum disorders can enhance patients' response to standard psychiatric rehabilitation, at least in the short term, in the domain of social competence. There was equivocal evidence for greater improvement in the experimental condition on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale disorganization factor and strong evidence for greater improvement on a laboratory measure of attentional processing. There was significant improvement in both conditions on measures of attention, memory, and executive functioning, providing support for the hypothesis that therapeutic procedures that target impaired cognition enhance response to conventional psychiatric rehabilitation modalities over a 6-month timeframe.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Double-strand break repair by interchromosomal recombination: suppression of chromosomal translocations.

To directly determine whether recombinational repair of double-strand breaks (DSBs) can occur between heterologous chromosomes and lead to chromosomal rearrangements in mammalian cells, we employed an ES cell system to analyze recombination between repeats on heterologous chromosomes. We found that recombination is induced at least 1000-fold following the introduction of a DSB in one repeat. Most (98%) recombinants repaired the DSB by gene conversion in which a small amount of sequence information was transferred from the unbroken chromosome onto the broken chromosome. The remaining recombinants transferred a larger amount of information, but still no chromosomal aberrations were apparent. Thus, mammalian cells are capable of searching genome-wide for sequences that are suitable for DSB repair. The lack of crossover events that would have led to translocations supports a model in which recombination is coupled to replication.

Alleles↗
PubMed1998

Perceptions of senior nursing staff about current action, barriers and solutions to working on active and passive smoking in the Liverpool Health Sector.

Nurses, particularly those working in antenatal, maternity and paediatrics, can greatly assist their patients to reduce the harms associated with tobacco use. Senior nursing staff from the Division of Women's and Child's Health, and Primary Health in the Liverpool Health Service were surveyed to identify action currently taken with patients, on active and passive smoking. The survey showed that there was an emphasis on assessment and education. Barriers that hindered staff action included the lack of resources, particularly for people of non-English speaking background (NESB), and training. This research also suggests the need for policy development as a way to achieve consistency and maintenance of action.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Gene conversion tracts from double-strand break repair in mammalian cells.

Mammalian cells are able to repair chromosomal double-strand breaks (DSBs) both by homologous recombination and by mechanisms that require little or no homology. Although spontaneous homologous recombination is rare, DSBs will stimulate recombination by 2 to 3 orders of magnitude when homology is provided either from exogenous DNA in gene-targeting experiments or from a repeated chromosomal sequence. Using a gene-targeting assay in mouse embryonic stem cells, we now investigate the effect of heterology on recombinational repair of DSBs. Cells were cotransfected with an endonuclease expression plasmid to induce chromosomal DSBs and with substrates containing up to 1.2% heterology from which to repair the DSBs. We find that heterology decreases the efficiency of recombinational repair, with 1.2% sequence divergence resulting in an approximately sixfold reduction in recombination. Gene conversion tract lengths were examined in 80 recombinants. Relatively short gene conversion tracts were observed, with 80% of the recombinants having tracts of 58 bp or less. These results suggest that chromosome ends in mammalian cells are generally protected from extensive degradation prior to recombination. Gene conversion tracts that were long (up to 511 bp) were continuous, i.e., they contained an uninterrupted incorporation of the silent mutations. This continuity suggests that these long tracts arose from extensive degradation of the ends or from formation of heteroduplex DNA which is corrected with a strong bias in the direction of the unbroken strand.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Olanzapine compared with chlorpromazine in treatment-resistant schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of olanzapine with that of chlorpromazine plus benztropine in patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia. METHOD: One hundred three previously treatment-resistant patients with schizophrenia diagnosed according to the DSM-III-R criteria were given a prospective 6-week trial of 10-40 mg/day of haloperidol. Eighty-four of them failed to respond to that trial and agreed to be randomly assigned to an 8-week fixed-dose trial of either 25 mg/day of olanzapine alone or 1200 mg/day of chlorpromazine plus 4 mg/day of benztropine mesylate. RESULTS: Fifty-nine (70%) of the 84 subjects completed the trial. The primary outcome measures were Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale total score and positive symptom score, Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms global score, and Clinical Global Impression score. An analysis of variance for the subjects who completed the study showed no difference in efficacy between the two drugs. Seven percent of the olanzapine-treated patients responded according to a priori criteria; no chlorpromazine-treated patients responded. The olanzapine-treated patients had fewer motor and cardiovascular side effects than the chlorpromazine-treated patients. Extrapyramidal symptoms and akathisia were similar in the two groups, although no antiparkinsonian drugs were used in the olanzapine group. CONCLUSIONS: Olanzapine and chlorpromazine showed similar efficacy, and the total amount of improvement with either drug was modest. Olanzapine-treated patients had fewer side effects than chlorpromazine-treated patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Neuromuscular responses to disturbance of balance in children with prenatal exposure to alcohol.

Alcohol-exposed children display delayed motor development and impaired fine- and gross-motor skills, including deficits in the maintenance of balance. In a recent study, we assessed the contribution of visual, somatosensory, and vestibular information to the ability to maintain balance. Our findings suggested that alcohol-exposed children were overly reliant on somatosensory information and were unable to compensate by using the visual and/or vestibular systems. To understand the nature of these observed balance deficits, corrective postural reactions were examined by exposing standing subjects to rapid toe-up movements of the support surface. Subjects for this study were alcohol-exposed (ALC) and normal control (NC) children matched for age and sex. Postural reactions were quantified by measuring electromyographic activity of the triceps surae and anterior tibialis muscles. Analyses revealed no differences between the ALC and NC groups on short- and medium-latency electromyographic responses, which are thought to be involuntary mono- and polysynaptic spinal reflexes, respectively. However, when compared with the NC group, the ALC group displayed increased long-latency responses, which are thought to involve a transcortical pathway. Although we are not able to rule out the possibility of additional peripheral (e.g., vestibular) disturbance as a contributing factor to postural instability, our findings suggest that the balance deficits seen in alcohol-exposed children are, at least in part, central in nature.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Reliability of drug dependents' self-reports.

Among 936 demands for treatment by drug users in Greece in 7 months in 1994, 78 subjects making at least two demands were identified by code numbers. The median time between demands was 50 days (range 2-219). The data obtained by interview at the first two demands were compared to estimate the reliability of the interview schedule of the First Treatment Demand protocol of the Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe. Subjects were 84.6% male, with a median age of 27 years (range 14-43) and median duration of use 11 years (range 2-27). The primary substance of use was mainly heroin (88.5%). The percentage of agreement between interviews was highest for lifetime history of injecting (100%), urban residence (98.7%) and mode of use of heroin (94.3%). Percentages of agreement were close to 90% for most other items of socio-demographic data and drug use history, whether or not the correct response to the item could logically change between interviews. It is concluded that reliability of the data is around 90% and short-term behaviour in this population is rather stable. Only employment status (52.9% agreement) and secondary substance of abuse (25.5%) appeared to be exceptions. It is noteworthy that HIV and hepatitis serostatuses were reported less reliably than most other items.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Postural stability of diabetic patients with and without cutaneous sensory deficit in the foot.

Postural stability was measured in 50 patients classified into two diabetic groups: insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM: n = 27), and diabetic patients with bilateral cutaneous sensory deficit in the foot (CD: n = 23). All patients were matched to 50 non-diabetic controls on age, weight and gender variables. The integrity of cutaneous sensory information at the foot was assessed using a monofilament test. Static and dynamic balance was evaluated using an objective balance test involving computer-controlled dual force platforms enclosed by a visual surround. The apparatus provided six test conditions designed to systematically manipulate or eliminate visual, vestibular or somatosensory information. Scores for the six tests, and a derived composite balance score together with movement strategy scores were used for data analysis. For all six tests and composite score CD patients revealed significant postural instability compared to controls. Additionally, the CD group recorded reduced strategy scores indicating an atypical shift from ankle to hip strategy movement as postural control was stressed. IDDM patient test scores were not significantly different from control data on any pairwise comparison. Results indicated significant balance loss associated with CD putting the individual at increased risk for falling and compromising foot mechanics.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

Limited joint mobility of the ankle in diabetic patients with cutaneous sensory deficit.

Limited joint mobility (LJM) of the ankle joint was measured in 48 diabetic patients classified into three groups: Insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM = 15), non-insulin diabetes mellitus (NIDDM = 12) and patients with cutaneous sensory deficit in the foot (CD = 21). Specifically, plantar flexion, dorsiflexion and total range of motion was measured on both feet using goniometric techniques during active and passive movement conditions. No significant bilateral differences were established, therefore values for the right foot were used for statistical analyses. Diabetic patients were matched to 48 non-diabetic controls for age, weight and gender factors. A Semmes-Weinstein monofilament test was used on both feet to assess the integrity of cutaneous sensitivity in all patient and control subjects. Cutaneous sensory deficit patients (CD) had monofilament values greater than two standard deviations below control group mean values. There were no significant differences between the monofilament test values for the IDDM and NIDDM patients and control group data. LJM results indicated both plantar flexion and range of motion in CD patients under active and passive movement conditions were significantly reduced compared to control group data. No differences were observed for any pairwise comparisons between the IDDM and NIDDM groups compared to controls. The data is discussed in terms of the interaction between LJM in the foot and type of diabetic classification.

Ankle Joint↗
PubMed1997

A group programme for postnatally distressed women and their partners.

A group programme for postnatally distressed women and their partners is described. The programme consists of eight sessions, including one session for the couple. The concerns of the women centre around their anxieties and feelings towards their partners, their own mothers and their infants. Psychotherapeutic and cognitive-behavioural strategies are employed to assist them in dealing with these concerns. The concerns of the men centre around their attempts to provide emotional and practical support to their partner. Invariably such support results in an increase in tension between the partners, and the programme helps the men to understand why this happens. Formal measures show a decrease in maternal distress over time and an increase in their level of self-esteem. About half of the men show elevated levels of distress.

Adaptation, Psychological↗