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Biomedical subjects

F H Norris

Publications and source records attributed to F H Norris.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis: remission after treatment with intraventricular interferon.

Three children with stage II-III subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) were treated with intraventricular human leukocyte interferon for 6 months. All three improved to varying degrees and for different lengths of time. Clinical remissions were associated with decreased titers of antibody to measles virus in CSF and with reduced rates of intrathecal IgG synthesis. There were no serious complications or side effects. Intraventricular interferon deserves further study as a potential therapeutic agent in SSPE.

Child↗
PubMed1985

Motor neurone disease: towards better care.

Even in the most severe forms of motor neurone disease--progressive bulbar palsy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis--the symptoms and disabilities from progressive paralysis may be relieved in many patients by various symptomatic treatments. Quality of life may be improved even in the terminal stage, when narcotic administration should be considered. The physician's proper role is to offer and carefully supervise these treatments, not withhold them. Home care is recommended even for the most severely paralysed, though hospice care may be a good alternative. The underlying principle--to alleviate symptoms--applies to the management of all progressive incurable diseases.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis↗
PubMed1985

Characteristics of older nonrespondents over five waves of a panel study.

This study examines attrition from a large probability sample of older adults over five waves of data collection, each 6 months apart. Respondents to all five waves and groups differing in the wave or reason they dropped out were compared on initial psychological, health, social, demographic and life event measures. For men, in general, the better their initial conditions, the greater the number of interviews. For women, however, differences among groups participating for different lengths of time were nonlinear. For both men and women, these differences were accounted for by changing sources (types) of attrition across waves, plus strong differences among attrition types. In general, respondents to all five waves initially had better conditions than persons who died, became ill, or were not found at a later wave, but had equal or worse conditions than persons who lost interest in the study.

Aged↗
PubMed1984

Passive transfer experiments in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

To test the hypothesis that a serum factor might play a role in the pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, whole plasma obtained by plasmapheresis from patients with the disease was injected daily intraperitoneally into mice for periods of up to three months. Similar experiments were carried out with an isolated immunoglobulin fraction. Control experiments were carried out simultaneously. The animals were tested electrophysiologically, and histologic examinations of the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves were performed. No ill effects were noted in the animals, and no neurophysiologic or microscopic abnormalities were detected.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Quantitative axon terminal and end-plate morphology in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

An axon-end-plate double stain yielded more synaptic detail than the older methylene blue stain of the muscle biopsy specimen. Application of the double stain to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis confirmed earlier and well-known findings of denervation, abnormal end-plates, and axonal sprouting. Little new data emerged, however, and the sprouting index seemed to mislead. As in several previous investigations, muscle from normal human subjects showed evidence for at least past if not current denervation, substantiating the need for continued rigorous controls in such studies.

Aged↗
PubMed1984

Lipofuscin in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Lipofuscin has been reported to accumulate in abnormal amounts in motor neurons of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Microdensitometry was used to quantitate such lipid masses in spinal motor neurons in normal subjects compared with spinal motor neurons in ALS cases. No overall difference in lipofuscin level was found between the normal and the ALS material. Some neurons of intermediate size did show increased amounts of lipofuscin, which is attributed to shrinkage during degeneration by larger cells having proportionately more lipofuscin originally.

Aged↗
PubMed1984

Resources, life events, and changes in positive affect and depression in older adults.

Hypotheses from a prospective conceptual framework were tested on a sample of 1,166 adults, age 55 and older, who were interviewed three times at 6-month intervals. Older adults with stronger resources had significantly more positive psychological states initially than those with weaker resources, and this advantage was maintained regardless of the levels of life events. There were significant main effects for desirable events and for undesirable events. Those with higher desirable events showed less decline in positive affect. Contrary to the "booster" hypothesis, there was no significant interaction between resources and desirable events. There was a significant interaction between resources and undesirable events on depression but detailed analyses showed that increases in depression over time were limited to the combined condition of weak resources and high levels of undesirable events. Weak resource persons with low or moderate undesirable events, in fact, showed modest improvements in depression.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1983

Quality of life as the criterion for need assessment and community psychology.

A "QOL-Contribution" model for resource allocation decisions is proposed that integrates concepts and values from community psychology, need assessment, and quality of life (QOL) studies. QOL is taken as the criterion for establishing the goodness-of-fit between a population and its environment. It is assumed that the characteristics of a given human group interact with the resources and the stressors of its environment, with its level of QOL as the result. The utility and the implications of the model for resource decisions are demonstrated with data from a statewide need assessment. In this application, different life domains, and different program targets within life domains, are prioritized according to their relative contributions to QOL. The findings for mental health and employment illustrate the specificity of the model's application. The model is then restated as the general task, and a unifying theme, for community psychology.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Resources, life events, and changes in psychological states: a prospective framework.

A framework is presented that examines resources, environmental changes, and time in relation to one another and to changes in psychological affect. Resources in the aggregate are assumed to have both main effects and interactive effects on changes in psychological states. With undesirable life events, the resource interaction is assumed to be a buffer function, with resources making their strongest contribution at moderate levels of undesirable events. With desirable events, the resource interaction is assumed to be a multiplicative booster function, the effect of resources increasing as the level of desirable events increases. Cumulative undesirable demand is a variable with broader context than life events and is assumed to directly increase negative changes in psychological states. Time is considered a passive moderator, reducing the impact of either desirable or undesirable changes on psychological states. Alternative paths leading to positive change, status quo, and negative change in psychological states are then described, including the "false hope" hypothesis, and relations among variables are specified.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1982

Events in the evolution of pre-proinsulin.

An extensive computer-assisted analysis of known pre-proinsulin coding sequences has shown correlations that can be interpreted as evidence for an intron-mediated juxtaposition of exons in the evolution of these genes. The evidence includes the discovery that the regions of the pre-proinsulin genes that code for the signal peptide consist of nearly tandem repeating units of nine base pairs. This pattern reappears in the C region of the genes after a large intron that occurs in three of the four genes analyzed. A model is proposed in which primordial insulin was coded for by two separate minigenes arising from a gene duplication, each with identical or nearly identical signal peptide coding regions. The minigenes fused into one transcriptional unit mediated by the large intron, and the signal peptide coding region of one of the putative minigenes evolved into the latter portion of the C peptide coding region.

Animals↗