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Biomedical subjects

J Inglis

Publications and source records attributed to J Inglis.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Reversible hippocampal inactivation partially dissociates how and where to search in the water maze.

To assess the interaction between spatial and procedural memory systems, the authors developed a learning protocol in the water maze using a rising "Atlantis" platform that requires rats to learn to swim to a specific location and, once there, to learn a "dwelling" response to raise the platform. In this protocol, the effects of temporal inactivation of the dorsal hippocampus with the AMPA/kainate receptor antagonist LY326325 on different memory phases were investigated. Hippocampal inactivation impaired acquisition of the searching task, mainly because of disruption of procedural learning. Inactivation also impeded consolidation and retrieval of spatial information, while leaving expression of dwelling responses intact. These findings challenge the idea of a sharp demarcation between spatial and procedural learning with respect to hippocampal involvement.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Young people, alcohol, and designer drinks: quantitative and qualitative study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the appeal of "designer drinks" to young people. DESIGN: Qualitative and quantitative research comprising group discussions and questionnaire led interviews with young people accompanied by a self completion questionnaire. SETTINGS: Argyll and Clyde Health Board area, west Scotland. SUBJECTS: Eight groups aged 12-17 years; 824 aged 12-17 recruited by multistage cluster probability sample from the community health index. RESULTS: Young people were familiar with designer drinks, especially MD 20/20 and leading brands of strong white cider. Attitudes towards these drinks varied quite distinctly with age, clearly reflecting their attitudes towards and motivations for drinking in general. The brand imagery of designer drinks-in contrast with that of more mainstream drinks-matched many 14 and 15 year olds' perceptions and expectations of drinking. Popularity of designer drinks peaked between the ages of 13 and 16 while more conventional drinks showed a consistent increase in popularity with age. Consumption of designer drinks tended to be in less controlled circumstances and was associated with heavier alcohol intake and greater drunkenness. CONCLUSIONS: Designer drinks are a cause for concern. They appeal to young people, often more so than conventional drinks, and are particularly attractive to 14-16 year olds. Consumption of designer drinks is also associated with drinking in less controlled environments, heavier drinking, and greater drunkenness. There is a need for policy debate to assess the desirability of these drinks and the extent to which further controls on their marketing are required.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

Electromyographic recordings of paraspinal muscles: variations related to subcutaneous tissue thickness.

The aim of this study was to assess the effect on EMG amplitude measures of variations in the thickness of underlying tissue between surface electrodes and the active muscle. 20 normal subjects with different amounts of subcutaneous tissue performed comparable constant force contractions for a 45-second period, during which paraspinal EMG recordings were taken. Three measures of subcutaneous tissue thickness were obtained from each subject: Body Mass Index, total body fat as calculated by Durnin's formula, and skinfold thickness at the recording sites. The results show that (i) the greater the thickness of subcutaneous tissue between the surface recording site and the contracting muscles, the lower the recorded electromyographic activity, and that (ii) up to 81.2% of the variance in the EMG measures can be explained by variation in the amount of subcutaneous tissue. These findings support the view that the absolute level of surface-recorded EMG cannot simply be taken at face value. The amplitude of the signal will be affected by, for example, the amount of body fat.

Adipose Tissue↗
PubMed1993

Therapeutic advantage of bifrontal electrode placement in ECT.

Fifty-nine patients suffering from a major depressive episode, for whom electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was clinically indicated, were randomly assigned to one of three electrode placement groups for treatment with brief pulse, threshold-level ECT: bitemporal (BT), right unilateral (RU) or bifrontal (BF). Comparison of these groups in terms of number of treatments, duration of treatment, or incidence of treatment failure, showed that the bilateral placements were superior to the unilateral; comparison of Hamilton, Montgomery-Asberg, and visual analogue scale scores showed that the bifrontal placement was superior to both bitemporal and unilateral treatment. Bitemporal treatment showed therapeutic results intermediate between BF and RU. Because BF ECT causes fewer cognitive side effects than either RU or BT, and is independently more effective, it should be considered as the first choice of electrode position in ECT.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Power spectrum analyses of electromyographic activity. Discriminators in the differential assessment of patients with chronic low-back pain.

Some parameters of the electromyographic power spectrum of the paraspinal muscles were recorded and analyzed with regard to their ability to discriminate between normal controls and patients with back pain classified as "avoiders" or "confronters" by their responses to the Pain Behavior Checklist. In terms of the activity of the multifidus muscle, the avoider group displayed spectral changes towards lower frequencies, reduced variability in the density spectrum, and higher values of estimated initial frequencies. Measures of the activity of the iliocostalis lumborum did not contribute in any significant way to these group differences. Based on these findings, and on the available literature concerning the histology and physiology of paraspinal muscles, it is proposed that the observed characteristics of the avoider group may be due to a reduced ratio of slow twitch to fast twitch muscle fibers in the multifidus.

Back Pain↗
PubMed1990

Electrode placement in ECT: cognitive effects.

Forty patients suffering from a major depressive disorder, for whom electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) was clinically indicated, were assigned to one of three electrode placement groups: bitemporal (BT), right unilateral (RU) or bifrontal (BF). Comparisons of these groups in terms of cognitive status showed that the BF placement, which avoided both temporal regions, spared both verbal and nonverbal functions. These differential effects, which were independent of the degree of clinical depression, were not, however, evident three months after the last ECT.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

The polymerase chain reaction in the diagnosis of vertically transmitted HIV infection.

The presence of HIV-1 DNA sequences in DNA from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was investigated in a two-stage polymerase chain reaction ('double' PCR) using four sets of nested primers. The PBMCs tested were obtained from 46 children born to HIV-seropositive mothers, seven 'control' children born to HIV-seronegative mothers and seropositive fathers, and 45 healthy adult blood donors who were HIV seronegative. Nine of the children had symptomatic HIV infection and other laboratory features characteristic of HIV infection: all nine were PCR-positive with each set of primers in each of their 22 blood samples tested. The remaining 44 children had no clinical or laboratory evidence of HIV infection, and each of their 50 samples was PCR-negative with each set of primers, as were all blood donor samples. PCR-positive samples were tested in more detail using two of the sets of primers, which spanned hypervariable regions in the env gene. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of DNA amplified from these regions yielded patterns of amplified DNA length variation which were characteristic for each child, and which changed little with time (in serial samples obtained over periods of 3-7 months). This excluded contamination as a cause of PCR positivity. This is the first report of the use of a double PCR for the diagnosis of HIV infection. The results demonstrate the specificity of this PCR method in diagnosis, with failure to reveal in this cohort any cases of vertically transmitted HIV-1 infection in addition to those already confirmed by conventional laboratory techniques.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1990

The restoration of control in facial muscles affected by Bell's palsy.

Electromyographic biofeedback and behavioral control techniques were used to treat two patients who suffered from Bell's palsy. Both patients (one case with a long history of Bell's Palsy which included extensive surgery to her face, the other of more recent onset) appeared to have benefited from these procedures and also perceived themselves as having done so. It is recommended that the noninvasive techniques outlined should be tried at an early stage in this condition in order to: (1) prevent the acquisition of inappropriate behavior; (2) accelerate progress toward normal facial functioning; and (3) reduce the need for any surgical intervention.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Learning disability in adults: a comparison of two indices of differential cognitive impairment derived from the Wechsler scales.

Two indices descriptive of patterns of differential cognitive impairment have been derived from principal component analyses of the normative data of the Wechsler scales for adults (WAIS-R) and children (WISC-R), respectively. The former index is sensitive to the test-specific cognitive effects of unilateral cerebral damage in adults. The latter accurately describes the pattern of subtest scores produced by learning-disabled children. The present study reviews the available WAIS and WAIS-R data from adults with learning disability in order to determine which of these two indices more precisely delineates their pattern of test performance; the index derived from the children's test appears to be the one best able to do so.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Differential treatment responses on somatic pain indicators after EMG biofeedback training in back pain patients.

Treatment responses to relaxation-oriented EMG biofeedback (EMGBF) in patients categorized in terms of the Back Pain Classification Scale (BPCS) were examined. It was demonstrated that the previously observed effectiveness of EMGBF training became even more pronounced when the patients were divided into "organic" and "functional" subtypes according to the BPCS. The "organic" group showed the greatest degree of improvement. The mechanism of treatment effectiveness is discussed with reference to physiological changes, i.e., restoration of appropriate back muscle strength and back muscle functioning.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Factorial verbal and performance IQs derived from the WISC-R: their psychometric properties.

A method is discussed for securing Factorial Verbal and Factorial Performance IQs from the WISC-R by means of an orthogonal rotation of the axes that describe the plane of the first two principal components derived from an analysis of the intercorrelations of the WISC-R subtests. The reliability and validity of these IQs also are described. Sex differences in normal children are found, as well as differences between normal and learning-disabled children.

Child↗
PubMed1987

Research note: a learning disability index (LDI) derived from the WISC-R: age differences in referred children.

A learning disability index (LDI) based on a principal components analysis of the WISC-R normative data has been developed to depict verbal or nonverbal deficits on that test. This index was calculated for the individual test performance of a total of 1371 children referred to a school-board psychology service because of educational difficulties. These children, categorised by sex and age, returned mean scores on this index that were reliably different from the scores of the normative population only after the age of 8 years in the case of the boys, and 7 years in the girls. This cross-sectional age effect was confirmed by longitudinal data obtained from the test-retest scores of a subset of these children.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Sexual dysfunction in stroke patients.

The impact of cerebrovascular accident (CVA) on sexual behavior in stroke patients was studied in 113 patients (78 men, 35 women). Seventy-five patients were interviewed with their spouses present. The mean age of the men and women patients was 68.6 years and 68.0 years respectively. Significant decline in libido after stroke was reported by both men and women. The men had a significant decrease in ability to achieve erection and to ejaculate in the period after stroke. Similarly, significant problems were reported by the women regarding normal vaginal lubrication and orgasm after CVA. Sixty-six men (84%) and 21 women (60%) enjoyed their sex lives before their stroke as compared to only 23 men (30%) and 11 women (31%) after stroke. Seventy-four men (95%) and 27 women (76%) were satisfied with sexual activity before their stroke as compared to only 20 men (26%) and 13 women (37%) after stroke. Women patients with right-sided lesions had lesser decline in sexual function than women with left-sided lesions or men with either right or left hemispheric lesions. The most common factor identified as causing decline in sexual activity was the fear that having sex might adversely affect blood pressure and cause another stroke. The sexual problems of these patients are of sufficient magnitude and frequency to warrant further investigation of the physiologic effects of sexual activity on blood pressure and cardiac function after stroke.

Adult↗