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Biomedical subjects

D Olson

Publications and source records attributed to D Olson.

84 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Social skills and the stability of social relationships between individuals with intellectual disabilities and other community members.

Stability of social relationships may be an important indicator of lifestyle quality. Fifteen individuals with intellectual disabilities participated in an analysis of the relationship between their social skills (as measured via the Scales of Independent Behavior and the Assessment of Social Competence) and the stability of the social relationships they experienced with other community members, who were neither paid staff nor family members, across the course of 94 consecutive weeks. A participant's social skills did a moderately good job of predicting the average social stability achieved by all of his or her social network members, but a poorer job of predicting the average social stability achieved by the participant's three most stable social network members. The findings suggest that the stability of a participant's most stable social network members is based not on the participant's social skills, but rather on other factors.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Activation of the fetal hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis with prolonged and graded hypoxemia.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and uteroplacental prostaglandin (PG) response occur before metabolic deterioration with a progressive decrease in fetal oxygenation. METHODS: Twenty-one chronically catheterized fetal sheep were studied between 126 and 135 days' gestation during a 24-hour normoxic control period and subsequently during 4 experimental days of either prolonged and graded hypoxemia, induced by progressively lowering the maternal inspired oxygen concentration (induced hypoxia, n = 12), or continued study on room air (control, n = 6; spontaneous hypoxia, n = 3). Fetal arterial blood was sampled daily for blood gases and pH, immunoreactive ACTH, cortisol, and PGE2. Placental cotyledons were obtained at the end of the experiment for measurement of prostaglandin-H synthase (PGHS) enzymatic activity. RESULTS: For all hypoxia group measurements, progressive reduction in fetal oxygenation resulted in little change in either plasma ACTH or cortisol until arterial O2 saturation was close to 30% with metabolic acidosis onsetting. This was in keeping with activation of the HPA axis at this time, because ACTH and cortisol values showed a strong linear correlation (r = 0.77, P < .01). Fetal plasma PGE2 concentrations and cotyledonary PGHS enzymatic activity, although somewhat higher in the hypoxia group animals, were not changed significantly. CONCLUSION: In response to prolonged and graded hypoxemia in the ovine fetus, activation of the HPA axis occurs only when the degree of hypoxemia is pronounced and close to that associated with metabolic deterioration, which may limit the time for any uteroplacental response and the ability to initiate labor.

Adrenocorticotropic Hormone↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Capitation and control of risk in managed care.

In the environment of capitation for health care, physicians assume risks for the condition of their patients and, in essence, act as a type of insurance company. For example, in patients with diabetes, risks include retinopathy and cataracts, peripheral vascular disease and amputations, cardiovascular disease, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, high-risk pregnancies, and renal failure as well as its long-term consequences. Transplantation and million-dollar births are uncommon but extremely expensive events that may be best managed by a partnering arrangement that distributes the risk (and also shares in the potential profit). Health maintenance organizations manage risks by eliminating high-cost patients, decreasing length of stay, and reducing payments to physicians. In formulation of a proposal to assume care for a specific population, the characteristics of the patients and their history of utilization of health-care services should be well understood. With background information, projection of risks becomes more accurate. For management of a contract under capitation, the ability to track long-term outcomes will help to optimize the health care provided.

Journal Article↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Association between indoor residential contamination with methyl parathion and urinary para-nitrophenol.

Methyl parathion, a pesticide listed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Toxicity Category I (i.e., most toxic), is not licensed for indoor use, and human exposure has resulted in the deaths of infants and children. From January 1991 through November 1994, an unlicensed pesticide applicator sprayed the interior of more than 200 homes in Lorain County, Ohio, with methyl parathion. To measure the environmental contamination this spraying caused, we measured methyl parathion in residential samples (air filtration and surface wipe) collected from a subset of 64 homes. To measure human exposure, we collected urine samples from 142 people living in these homes and measured urinary levels of para-nitrophenol, a methyl parathion metabolite. We then used a generalized estimating equation to evaluate the association between residential contamination and human exposure. The model included the age of the resident, the number of days between pesticide application and sample collection, and air and surface-wipe methyl parathion concentrations. As expected, the air and surface-wipe concentrations each had a significant inverse relationship with the number of days between application and sample collection. The model explained 65.7% of the variation in urinary para-nitrophenol concentrations. The form of this model could be used to estimate urine p-nitrophenol in residents exposed to methyl parathion in situations where urine specimens are not available. We recommend site-specific validation of this model.

Adolescent↗