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Biomedical subjects

J Dickinson

Publications and source records attributed to J Dickinson.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

Delay in consulting a medical practitioner about rectal bleeding.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The aims were to estimate the incidence of rectal bleeding in the community, and to determine the proportion of individuals who delay or fail to seek medical advice after a first episode of rectal bleeding. DESIGN: The data were collected as part of a large scale general population survey of the health practices and attitudes of individuals in a randomly selected sample of 2121 households. SETTING: The survey was conducted in the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie areas of New South Wales, Australia, during 1987-88. PARTICIPANTS: Information about rectal bleeding was collected from 1213 individuals aged 40 years and over. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Of the 1213 people aged 40 years and over, 239 (20%) reported noticing rectal bleeding at some time in their life. However, since an estimated 4.5% had noticed rectal bleeding for the first time in the past year the true lifetime incidence of rectal bleeding is likely to be much higher. Of the 77 individuals who had noticed a first occurrence of rectal bleeding more than three months but less than five years prior to the interview, 23 (30%) had either not sought medical advice or had only done so after a period of delay. The most commonly reported reason for delay or failure to consult was thinking that the bleeding was not serious and would clear up by itself. CONCLUSIONS: The data suggest that prompt investigation of rectal bleeding is not occurring in a relatively large proportion of cases. However, in the absence of firm evidence that early detection improves prognosis, and considering the costs of screening, it would be premature to initiate programmes which encourage people to seek care promptly for this symptom.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Rural doctors.

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Australia↗
PubMed1992

Trainee research projects.

In this series, items contributed by others with research interests are welcome. This month I summarise a report presented to the 1991 RACGP convention in Hobart by Dr Roger Strasser, Senior Lecturer in Community Medicine at Monash University.

Education, Medical, Graduate↗
PubMed1991

Values and judgements of wage differentials.

This study examined the relationship between value priorities as assessed by the Rokeach Value Survey (RVS) and judgements of wage differentials. Students completed the RVS and judged the fairness of the wages for a number of jobs. Judgements of fairness were related to differences in value priorities but the justifications provided did not relate to these value priorities or draw on similar systems. The results are discussed in relation to the question of whether or not values are systematically organized, core cognitive constructs.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

My Gulf War.

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Humans↗
PubMed1990

Manual asymmetries in the reproduction of a 3-dimensional spatial location.

Two experiments examined differences in the reproduction of preselected arm positioning movements. In Experiment 1, subjects defined a position in right space with a right index finger, or a position in left space with the left index finger, and then attempted to reproduce the position with either the left or the right hand. Subjects were more accurate when vision was available and when the reproduction hand was the same as the criterion hand. Availability of vision reduced the same hand advantage. There were no accuracy differences between the left and right hands. Experiment 2 was designed to determine whether the left-left and right-right criterion and reproduction advantages evident in the no vision condition of the first experiment were accounted for by the two movements being made by the same hand or by being performed in the same space. The results demonstrated that accuracy depended primarily on whether movements were made with the same hand. No right/left hand advantage was observed. The absence of a right hand advantage in either experiment may be due to the spatial complexity of the task examined or to the relative absence of any temporal constraints.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Bluetongue epidemiology in the Caribbean region: serological and entomological findings from a pilot sentinel system in Trinidad and Tobago.

When monitored by the agar gel immunodiffusion test for antibody to bluetongue viruses, a sentinel flock of twenty-five lambs remained seropositive through the year, whereas in a sentinel herd of twenty calves only two individuals seroconverted and these became negative again within 2 months. A light trap operated with the calf herd yielded high numbers of Culicoides insignis Lutz (over 18,000 per trap night) along with C. filariferus Hoffman, C. pusillus Lutz, C. leopoldi Ortiz, C. foxi Ortiz, C. limai Barretto, C. diabolicus Hoffman and C. guyanensis Floch and Abonnenc. Culicoides were trapped at the sheep station which had housed the lambs 3 years following the sentinel study. No virus was isolated from pools of C. insignis, C. filariferus and C. pusillus. Six other species were collected in insufficient numbers to warrant attempted virus isolations.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Adaptation level as an explanation of the peak shift in generalization with movement stimuli.

Two experiments examine the value of adaptation level theory as an explanation of the peak shift phenomenon in stimulus generalization using linear arm movements. The first experiment manipulates the differences in adaptation levels during training by varying the frequency of experience of the training stimulus. Significant shifts in the peaks of generalization gradients were subsequently identified. The peak shifts were in the direction predicted by adaptation level theory. The second experiment manipulates testing adaptation levels by biasing the generalization test movements. Three groups of subjects performed differentially weighted test sequences in which the relative number of short, medium, or long movements was manipulated. Significant peak shifts of generalization gradients were observed in the direction predicted by adaptation level theory.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1984

Incidental psychomotor learning: the effects of number of movements, practice, and rehearsal.

Three experiments were conducted to investigate the effects of the number of movements, practice, and rehearsal on incidental and intentional psychomotor learning. incidental learners received no formal instructions to learn the central task to which they were exposed in a choice reaction-time task. The movements to the targets in this task comprised a movement sequence. Intentional learners also performed the choice reaction-time task but were additionally instructed to remember the order of the movements. Intentional learning was superior to incidental learning, unless rehearsal was disrupted; all three independent variables demonstrated similar functional effects under both learning conditions. It was concluded that incidental and intentional learning are not distinct types of learning; and that "intent to learn" per se is a significant factor in psychomotor learning only when it elicits beneficial cognitive processes such as rehearsal.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1984

The pulmonary arteries of the yak.

A quantitative histological study was carried out on the pulmonary arteries of a female yak (Bos grunniens), a member of the genus Bos which comprises the various types of cattle. A characteristic feature of cattle is a muscular pulmonary vasculature which responds sensitively to alveolar hypoxia by constriction. The yak studied had thin-walled pulmonary arteries and showed no evidence of right ventricular hypertrophy. It is suggested that this may be a feature of adaptation (as contrasted to acclimatisation) to a life in the hypobaric hypoxia of high altitude.

Adaptation, Physiological↗
PubMed1984

An investigation into the response of subjects to a plaque control programme as influenced by friends and relatives.

The aim of the present study was to assess the response of patients to a course of instruction in plaque control as influenced by friends and relatives. The subjects in the study were 41 patients who had been referred to a dental hospital for treatment. There was a major reduction in plaque and gingivitis levels in the subjects at both the 10th and 14th weeks of the study. There was a greater proportional reduction in gingivitis levels in those subjects who had a higher number of reported discussions with their friends. The effect of discussions with members of the family was less clear. Lower values for gingivitis levels at 10 weeks were associated with a higher number of discussions with parents. However the levels of gingivitis tended to be adversely affected by discussions between the subjects and their spouses. The importance of recognising the influence of family and friendship networks needs to be understood when preventive programmes are designed, especially where high levels of self-care are sought as outcomes. Further work is in progress on a group of office workers being treated in a dental practice environment. This will allow the type of advice being obtained from the various contacts to be investigated in more detail.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Natural Nashers: a programme of dental health education for adolescents in schools.

This research set out to recognize and overcome the difficulties and doubts in designing, testing and disseminating a dental health education programme for adolescents, as part of their school curriculum. After extensive pilot work, large-scale field trials were mounted of Natural Nashers for 13-14-year-old pupils in school. These trials ran among 6700 pupils in 45 largely urban, mixed sex, state comprehensive schools in England and Scotland. A quasi-experimental control group design was used and evaluation was carried out at the levels of process (teachers' questionnaires, pupils worksheets, field-workers' reports) and outcome (pupils' pre- and post-questionnaires, worksheets, plaque and gingival scores), among a random subsample (n = 1900) divided between study (n = 1300) and control (n = 600). Eighty-three teachers completed a questionnaire and 330 field workers' reports were analysed. Two hundred and fifty pupils were further examined after a minimum of 6 months. Significant improvements in plaque and gingival scores, knowledge and attitudes compared to control pupils were noted. Gains in the areas of knowledge and attitudes were the largest of any recorded in similar trials in Europe. Process data showed that in the experimental schools, improved oral hygiene was correlated with teachers who were enthusiastic and used a cooperative style. Results from the teachers' questionnaire showed that the programme was very well received and educationally suitable.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Properties of locomotor generators in man.

There is little behavioural information on either the functional capacities or the limitations of the coupling system between the locomotor generators of limbs. In this experiment, 10 subjects produced maximal stepping frequencies under eight randomly-assigned conditions consisting of all combinations of standing and sitting, one leg and two legs, and auditorily-cued or self-paced. There was a significant difference in the mean maximum frequency while sitting and standing with higher frequencies found under the seated condition. There were no significant differences between the one-leg and two-legs condition and no significant difference was found between cued- and self-paced stepping. In three subjects who underwent ten training sessions, under all conditions, no significant learning effect was found. Both swing and stance phases showed a decrease with increasing frequency during cued stepping. These results are discussed in terms of the functional properties of locomotor generators in man.

Adult↗