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Biomedical subjects

H Als

Publications and source records attributed to H Als.

33 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1980

The behavior of jaundiced infants undergoing phototherapy.

Ten full-term jaundiced infants were examined with the Brazelton Scale before, during and following phototherapy. They were compared with 10 non-jaundiced control infants examined at the same post-partum ages. All infants were appropriate for gestational age and free of perinatal complications other than hyperbilirubinemia. Differences on the orienting items of the Brazelton examinations (primarily visual orienting) were found prior to the onset of phototherapy or separation, and persisted for the length of the study. The greatest over-all differences were noted during phototherapy and separation from the mother, at which times the treatment group had lower scores on four of the six orienting items. They also had lower scores on muscle tonus, pull-to-sit and cuddliness while undergoing phototherapy, and poorer scores on orienting items, self-quieting and tremulousness were also evident three days following treatment. It is suggested that the differences found in mother-infant interaction following separation for the management of minor medical problems may be related to changes in infant behaviour which are already evident prior to separation. In the cases of jaundiced infants requiring phototherapy, these changes appear to be related primarily to hyperbilirubinemia. The possibility of these effects being prolonged or confounded by phototherapy or separation cannot be discounted.

Bilirubin↗
PubMed1978

II. Assessing an assessment: conceptual considerations, methodological issues, and a perspective on the future of the Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale.

The Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale is a behavior analysis instrument which provides the researcher with a systematic way of eliciting and documenting a series of complex behavioral parameters reflecting the healthy term newborn's current repertoire of organization and functioning. This assessment focuses on the newborn's adaptation as a social interactive organism embedded in a feedback system with an adult caregiver. It brings out those processes which the individual newborn uses to deal with his animate and inanimate environment and yields a series of defined and scaled behavioral descriptors which permit quantification of aspects of behavioral parameters reflecting such subsystems of functioning as physiological organization, motoric organization, state organization, and interactive organization. As such, it provides a window on the complexity of current organization of the human newborn. It does not provide a ready-made method of synthesizing the information gained about the individual newborn. It becomes the researcher's task to develop a synthesis method appropriate to the question under investigation.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1976

The behavior of the full-term but underweight newborn infant.

Ten underweight full-term newborns were compared with 10 full-weight newborns on the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment Scale. The Brazelton examination differentiated the two groups clearly on the reflexes of walking, crawling and passive movements of arms and legs, and on rooting and sucking. More importantly, it differentiated the two groups on behaviors which are important for the caretaker of the baby: these are attractiveness, need for stimulation, interactive processes and motor processes. The 10 underweight infants were followed up at a later date during the first year. They showed temperamental organizational difficulties and some indication of psychosomatic reaction to stress. It is possible that the underweight newborn's fragile organization elicits anxiety in the caretaker which makes interaction difficult.

Child Behavior↗
PubMed1976

Regional obstetric anesthesia and newborn behavior: effect over the first ten days of life.

This study examined the effects of carefully controlled amounts of analgesic premedications and anesthetics administered to mothers during delivery on the behavior of the newborn over the first ten days of life. The subjects were selected to minimize the synergistic effects of medication and other stress factors, such as abnormalities of pregnancy, labor, or delivery. The effects of these drugs on the behavior of these infants was small. The data provide a picture of the behavioral recovery of a group of minimally stressed newborns.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Early mother-infant reciprocity.

By three weeks of age, the human neonate demonstrates behaviours which are quite different with an object and with a human interactant. He also demonstrates an expectancy for interaction with his caregiver which has clearly defined limits, as demonstrated behaviourally. In microanalysis of videotape, we saw regularly a set of interactive behaviours which were demonstrable in optimal face-to-face interaction between infants and their mothers. All parts of the infant's body move in smooth circular patterns as he attends to her. His face-to-face attention to her is rhythmic with approach-withdrawal cycling of extremities. The attention phase and build-up to her cues are followed by turning away and a recovery phase in a rhythm of attention-non-attention which seems to define a cyclical homeostatic curve of attention, averaging several cycles per minute. When she violates his expectancy for rhythmic interaction by presenting a still, unresponsive face to him, he becomes visibly concerned, his movements become jerky, he averts his face, then attempts to draw her into interaction. When repeated attempts fail, he finally withdraws into an attitude of helplessness, face averted, body curled up and motionless. If she returns to her usual interactive responses, he comes alive after an initial puzzled period, and returns to his rhythmic cyclical behaviour which has previously characterized their ongoing face-to-face interaction. This attentional cycling may be diagnostic of optimal mother-infant interactions and seems not to be present in more disturbed interactions.

Attention↗