Biomedical subjects

H Lansdell

Publications and source records attributed to H Lansdell.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1999

Intelligence test scores from infancy to adulthood for a craniopagus twin pair neurosurgically separated at 4 months of age.

Long-term effects in a neurosurgically separated twin pair were illuminated by standard psychological test scores obtained over a period from 2 to 38 years of age. Interdigitation of the gyri of their right frontal lobes had necessitated separation in two stages at 4 months of age. One twin clearly suffered some brain injury and showed some impairment during the testing at 5 years of age. The scores of both twins rose at the adult testing. The brighter twin has an IQ comparable to that of the mother. The unique data set is a kind of model for long-term assessment of early brain surgery, particularly with craniopagus twins.

Adult↗

PubMed1993

The three Rs: a restrictive and refutable rigmarole.

In 1959 Russell and Burch proposed "the three Rs" (reduction, refinement, or replacement) as principles for using fewer animals in research, reducing the pain and discomfort of those that are used, and substituting organic material in place of whole animals. Arguments that scientists should support the principles and arguments that they are restrictive and not fully relevant to the scientific enterprise are considered. The conclusion is that biological scientists should eschew their acceptance.

Animal Experimentation↗

PubMed1990

Factors related to speed of assembling blocks without boundary frames after trials with the frames.

Three frames that enclose equal areas for a rectangle, a Greek cross, and an isosceles triangle were used to study how 122 subjects learned to fill the frames rapidly with five blocks for five trials, and then the effect of requiring the shapes to be assembled for five more trials without the frames. Assembling all three shapes during each trial caused interference. Many instances occurred of a shape taking longer to be assembled on trial 6 than on trial 1. During the last five trials, the appropriate frame was provided whenever 3 minutes elapsed. Subjects with no 3-minute failures had a higher IQ than the others. Men's assembly time correlated with scores on a visual closure test; proficient men benefited in the frameless situation from their closure skill.

Adult↗

PubMed1989

Sex differences in brain and personality correlates of the ability to identify popular word associations.

The ability of men to identify popular word associations had earlier been shown to be affected by left-sided thalamic surgery for movement disorders; now, over a year later, the impairment has been observed with operations on both sides. In addition, upon testing at approximately the same time interval, men who had undergone temporal lobe surgery for epilepsy have also shown the impairment. In contrast, women have improved after the operations. The Word Association Test (WAT) requires a subject to identify popular word associations to 54 words. In a large group of unoperated subjects, the errors on the WAT were greater for men than for women, although the men scored higher on the Wechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Scale (WB). WAT scores were found to correlate with scores on the WB and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, and the WAT scores of the men tended to show a higher correlation with these measures than did those of the women.

Adult↗

PubMed1988

Laboratory animals need only humane treatment: animal "rights" may debase human rights.

Arguments for animal "rights" confuse the issue of what rights are about and, in the context of the care of laboratory animals, are misleading. Only human beings have rights and they should be cherished and extended. Consideration of the welfare of animals is important, but the context is that it is for the benefit of human beings and the animals serving humanity. Scientists need to explain the worth of animal research, particularly in regard to psychological studies. They also need to expose the fallacies in the animal rightists' arguments as one of the means to help diminish the threat to science.

Animal Welfare↗

PubMed1977