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Biomedical subjects

J Beck

Publications and source records attributed to J Beck.

At least 271 records · Page 15Linked to original sources

Congenital hypothyroidism and IQ increase: a quarter century follow-up.

Ten patients with a history of congenital hypothyroidism were recalled for IQ evaluation 16 to 26 years after an original IQ test at age 5 to 6. From childhood through adulthood, the IQ (Wechsler) increased (mean full scale IQ increase = 21; range = -5 to 43 points). Serial testing in three instances showed the timing of the increase to be sudden and unpredictable. Life achievements, mental health, and sexual adjustment were concordant with the IQ attained. The data suggest that in hypothyroidism intellectual growth may not occur in equal annual increments; with effective hormonal replacement and educational experience it may be subject to spurts of growth, with a resultant improved prognosis.

Child↗

Post-thyroidectomy hypocalcaemia: A feature of the operation or the thyroid disorder?

It has been suggested that post-thyroidectomy hypocalcaemia is related to the presence of a thyrotoxic osteodystrophy for which a high serum concentration of bone alkaline phosphatase is a marker. Changes in serum-calcium (corrected to a standard albumin concentration of 40 g/l), alkaline phosphatase (A.P.), inorganic phosphate, and albumin were studied prospectively in 54 euthyroid patients with drug-treated Graves' disease, and in 17 controls with simple non-toxic goitre, before and serially after partial thyroidectomy. All data were paired and results indicate that the pattern of biochemical change was the same in both types of patient and that the degree of change was not related to the serum-A.P. concentration in the Graves'-disease patients. Of the patients studied within the first 24 h of operation, 5 out of 12 with Graves' disease and raised serum-A.P. (group I), 9 of 20 with Graves' disease and normal serum-A.P. (group II), and 7 of 15 controls (group III) showed a fall in serum-calcium below the lower limit of the reference range. In all three groups there was a highly significant fall in serum-calcium 24 h after operation but there was no significant difference in serum-calcium between the groups either immediately before or 24 h after operation. Serum-calcium returned to pre-surgical concentrations within 7 days of thyroidectomy and serum-A.P. concentrations by 4 to 6 weeks in all groups. There was no evidence that post-thyroidectomy hypocalcaemia is related to thyrotoxic osteodystrophy and the pattern of the biochemical changes was thought to be consistent with release of thyrocalcitonin at operation.

Adult↗

Nephrotic syndrome of childhood and disorder of T cell function.

In thirty-two patients with nephrotic syndrome (NS) phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-induced lymphocyte proliferation was studied at various stages of the disease. We demonstrated that lymphocyte transformation during acute exacerbation is markedly decreased, especially if cells are cultured in patient serum. During treatment with steroids PHA-stimulation improves. During full remission all patients showed their maximal lymphocyte stimulation. On the basis of these results and reports from the literature we postulate that patients with the NS have a T cell clone which inhibits the transformation capacity of the remaining lymphocytes through production of a heat stable serum factor. The same or a second factor produced by these lymphocytes could at the same time exert a toxic effect on the glomerular basement membrane.

Acute Disease↗

Postpsychotic state, convalescent environment, and therapeutic relationship in schizophrenic outcome.

The authors evaluated the following variables in the 2-3-year outcomes of 30 schizophrenic patients: the acute/chronic dichotomy, the presence of a postpsychotic regressive state, the quality of the convalescent environment, and the formation of a therapeutic relationship. They found that the presence of a postpsychotic regressive state was not associated with either good or poor short-term outcome; that the diagnosis of acute schizophrenia was almost invariably followed by good outcome, but a diagnosis of chronic schizophrenia had little predictive value; and that a favorable convalescent environment and the presence of a therapeutic relationship were signigicantly associated with good outcome.

Acute Disease↗

Contact with estrus female as a reward for instrumental response in a growing male rat from the 3rd up to the 14th week of life.

The bar-press response reinforced by the contact with estrus female was investigated in growing male rats. The bar-press latency as well as the subjects' behavior changed distinctly in the course of the study with the increase of experience and maturation of the subjects. Some behavioral items such as, nasogenital contact, climbing on the head, and running around showed gradual increase during succeeding weeks of life, parallelly to the decrease of the sitting under female, and crawling under female. A gradual shortening of the bar-press latencies was observed from the 4th to the 11th week of life succeeded by a prolongation from the 11th to the 14th week. On the basis of the changes in bar-press latencies as well as of the analysis of the subjects' behavior it is suggested that the young male rat between the 4th and 7th week of life comes under an increasing influence of sexual motivation.

Age Factors↗

Some epidemiologic evidence on the etiology of caries.

While laboratory research has identified multiple causal factors in dental caries, few epidemiologic studies have been conducted on large representative populations that have utilized enough variables to test the current models of causation. Data from a large, representative study were available to the authors for secondary analysis. The epidemiology of dental caries as presented in the study indicates that the caries patterns in a free-living population were consistent with an infectious and nutrition model of causality. The genetic explanation, while represented in the data, was not as consistent with the findings as the infectious and nutritional explanations.

DMF Index↗

The relation between similarity grouping and perceptual constancy.

In two experiments on whether similarity grouping is based on the retinal or the perceived slopes of lines, observers judged the grouping of diagonal lines when a display of vertical and diagonal lines was presented upright and when it was slanted 75 deg toward the floor. The floorwise slanting of the display improved gouping, as would be expected if the spontaneous organization of a field into groups in strongly influenced by the projection-level representation of stimuli. It is proposed that similarity grouping occurs at the readout stage of stimulus processing and involves segregating a field into groups on the basis of extrafoveal stimulus differences that are responded to in parallel; or if sequentially, very quickly and independently of focal attention.

Cues↗