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Biomedical subjects

J W Shaffer

Publications and source records attributed to J W Shaffer.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1982

Cancer in families of former medical students followed to midlife: prevalence in relatives of subjects with and without major cancer.

In an ongoing longitudinal study of former medical students, now physicians in midlife, the prevalence of cancer among relatives of 46 probands affected by cancer has been compared with that of two control groups of cancer-free probands. Overall, the prevalence of cancer among relatives of the three groups of probands was similar. However, male probands with cancer appeared to have a greater prevalence of cancer among their relatives than did male cancer-free probands, while the corresponding comparisons for the smaller groups of female probands showed the opposite tendency. Among the relatives of cancer probands of either sex, there was evidence of familial clustering of cancer. Where two relatives in a proband's family had the same type of cancer, the two relatives were usually on the same side (paternal or maternal) of the family. Ages at onset of cancer and types of cancer in relatives of the cancer and cancer-free probands did not reveal any significant differences.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

Neoplasm and traumatic events in childhood.

Previous research has suggested that certain objectively defined traumatic events occurring in childhood and/or adolescence may be linked to the appearance of neoplasm later in life. The present report examines four such events-parental death, parental divorce, sibling death, and having been the youngest child for less than two years-for their frequency of occurrence within four groups of physician subjects classified according to current health status as follows: major cancer, skin cancer, benign tumor, and healthy controls. All data had been collected while the subjects were in medical school within the context of a long-term, prospectively oriented study. Major cancer subjects were also compared with their cancer-free siblings with respect to length of time spent as youngest child. Although there was a slight tendency for the trend of the findings to be in accord with the hypotheses tested, no statistically significant differences among groups could be demonstrated.

Attitude to Death↗
PubMed1981

Orthogonal dimensions of individual and group forms of the Rorschach.

Most dimensional analyses of traditional Rorschach scoring categories have either failed to control for differences in total R or have done so by introducing a nonstandard mode of administration. Consequently, the results of such studies may be either distorted or of questionable relevance to more typical situations. The present analyses, which compared both group and individual forms of the Rorschach administered to large samples (over 500 each) of male medical students, controlled for differences in total R by using residualized scores from which the linear effects of R had been partialled. The factor-analytic results are expressed in terms of seven easily interpretable factors (including total R), five of which are similar across forms, and simple formulas for deriving norm-referenced factor scores from the data of individual test administrations are provided.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1980

Diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia: prognostic implications and diagnostic overlap.

The files of 120 hospitalized patients who had participated in drug studies between 1964 and 1966 were examined without knowledge of the patient's subsequent history. These patients, who had originally been diagnosed by DSM-II criteria, were retrospectively diagnosed by New York Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC), the New Haven Schizophrenia Index (NHSI), the St. Louis criteria, Bland and Orn's modification of the St. Louis critera, Schneider's first rank symptoms (FRS) criteria, and the 12-point "Flexible" system developed by the Washington field center of the International Pilot Study of Schizophrenia. By RDC criteria, 12 patients were diagnosed as major depressive disorders and the remaining 108 patients were diagnosed either schizophrenias, schizoaffective disorders, or unspecified functional psychoses. Of these 108, 97 were also diagnosed schizophrenic or schizoaffective by at least three other sets of critera. Ten-year followups were obtained on 82 (68%) of the 120 patients. Outcome was not significantly predicted by either presence or number of FRS, by an NHSI diagnosis of schizophrenia, or by a diagnosis of schizophrenia using the 12-point Flexible system with a 5-point cutoff. However, a significant relationship was found with the St. Louis criteria and the Bland-Orn score obtained from these criteria. An even higher correlation was found between followup and the Stephens-Astrup scale and the Strauss-Carpenter prognostic scale. RDC and DSM-II diagnoses were also significantly correlated with followup but to a lesser degree.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

On the analysis of repeated measures over time in medical, pharmacological, and behavioral research.

Studies comparing different treatments over time using repeated measures on a wide variety of outcome variables are very common in the research literature. Unfortunately, they are rarely analyzed appropriately, at least from the standpoint of controlling the type 2 error rate (false rejection of the null hypothesis). As a consequence, many of the positive findings reported in such studies may be incapable of replication. The present article reviews the logical and statistical problems involved, emphasizes the importance of controlling the experimentwise error rate regardless of the research design employed, and presents an integrated, multivariate strategy for dealing with the several issues raised. Resolution of these issues is essential if the "fictional" content of research journals is to be kept within reasonable bounds.

Behavioral Sciences↗
PubMed1979

Family attitudes reported in youth as potential predictors of cancer.

In long-term prospective study of a cohort of former medical students, men who later developed cancer reported different family attitudes in youth from those of their healthy classmates. The items checked on a Family Attitude Questionnaire by the future cancer group indicated a lack of closeness to parents compared with the items checked by the healthy group. Family attitudes of the future mental illness/suicide group resembled those of the cancer group, while those of the essential hypertension and coronary heart disease groups were like those of the healthy group. These prospective findings appear to fit with those of retrospective studies concerning early family relationships in cancer patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Biorhythms and highway crashes. Are they related?

Biorhythm, a theory that purports to identify periods of increased individual susceptibility to accident or misfortune on the basis of recurring biological cycles, is currently enjoying world-wide popularity. In view of the implications of such a theory for both public health and safety, the present study was undertaken as an empirical test of its validity. Using data from 205 carefully investigated highway crashes (135 fatal; 70 nonfatal) in which the drivers were clearly at fault, the authors computed specific points in drivers' biorhythm cycles at which the accidents occurred. The observed frequencies of accidents occurring during so-called critical and minus periods were then compared with the frequencies to be expected on a chance basis alone. The results provided no evidence for a relationship between purported biorhythm cycles and accident likelihood.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1977

Suicide by vehicular crash.

The authors evaluated data on 182 fatally injured and 96 nonfatally injured drivers involved in vehicular crashes over a 6-year period. Only 1.7% of the total fatal crashes were considered to have been suicides, and 1% of the nonfatal crashes were deemed suicide attempts. Neither group of drivers had unusually high incidences of previous suicidal ideation or behavior, but both groups tended to be socially deviant, with above average levels of psychopathology and social aggressiveness. Crash victims in both groups also had poor driving records and high rates of alcohol abuse, findings that have important implications for accident prevention.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1977

Social adjustment profiles of female drivers involved in fatal and nonfatal accidents.

Previous research by the authors has shown that male drivers involved in fatal and nonfatal accidents can be differentiated from the general population on the basis of background, behavior, and social adjustment. The results of the present study suggest that female drivers involved in serious crashes do not differ from the overall female driving population.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1976

The veridicality of addicts' self-reports in social research.

This report examines the accuracy or veridicality of information obtained through interviews with drug addicts. Comparisons were made between the self-reports on six items of the interview and official records of the Baltimore City Police Department, the Baltimore City Juvenile Court, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The findings provide no evidence of systematic distortion intended to "cover-up" the criminal side of addict life. While errors of recall probably do affect self-reports, the incomplete status of official records frequently used to validate self-reports should be of equal concern.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1975

An optimum A-B scale of psychotherapist effectiveness.

On the basis of the original Whitehorn-Betz data collected over a 16-year period, it is shown that all previously derived A-B scales of psychotherapist effectiveness using Strong Vocational Interest Blank (SVIB) items are deficient in terms of correlation with the original criterion and, frequently, in terms of reliability as well. The reasons for these deficiencies are discussed, and a new experimental A-B scale is formulated and tested for adequacy. This scale is shown to possess substantial internal consistency reliability and to have a high degree of correlation with the criterion even after the removal of possible contaminating factors such as use ofancillary teatments, differences in patient prognosis, and changing practices and interest over time. It is further shown that none of the A-B scales has any validity with respect to female therapists in the original data pool. Exploration of the factor-analytic structure of this new scale and two other widely used A-B measures in terms of the occupationa scales of the SVIB reveals differential loadings on four dimensions labeled verbal/comceptual vs. manual/practical, scientific vs. sales, social concern, and artistic vs. business-oriented. It is concluded that although male therapists' scores on the best of the A-B scales may , under certain circumstances,be related to short term judged improvement in patients treated, there is little evidence that high scoring therapists are more likey than low scoring ones to have a favorable, long range impact on diagnosed schizophrenics.

Efficiency↗
PubMed1975

The heritability of blood pressure: an investigation of 200 pairs of twins using the cold pressor test.

Blood pressures in 200 pairs of twins having a mean age of 14.0 (S.D. equals 6.5) years were measured at basal levels and in response to the cold pressor test. Intraclass correlations were consistently larger (and intrapair variances consistently smaller) in monozygotic as compared to dizygotic pairs, substantially more so in females than in males. Sex differences in heritability were somewhate greater for systolic than for diastolic blood pressure. Indices of heritability (H) at basal levels were, in descending order: 0.78 (female systolic), 0.61 (female diastolic), 0.56 (male diastolic), and 0.41 (male systolic). The same descending order for H was found for blood pressure responses to the cold pressor test. It is concluded that in the population studied, genetic factors play an important role in the control of blood pressure over the normal range of vascular reactivity. In females, such factors may be the major determinant of the variability observed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Effects and distribution of acute fat embolism in spontaneously breathing dogs using radioactive carbon triolein.

The acute effects of a triolein infusion in dogs were secondary to the mechanical effects of this neutral fat which was distributed in the pulmonary and systemic vascular tree of all organs without inflammatory change. Hypoxia developed immediately and became progressively worse as the infusion was continued. Pulmonary hypertension developed during the fat infusion without pneumonia, congestive heart failure or pulmonary edema. There was a slow leak of 14C triolein into the systemic circulation rather than a rapid shower, and this radioactive fat was recirculated between the pulmonary and systemic vasculature. Seventy-six per cent of the 14C triolein was retained in the lungs. Terminally, the dogs had a respiratory arrest without cardiac decompensation, cardiac arrest or pulmonary edema; cerebral fat embolism in addition to severe hypoxia appears to be the cause.

Acute Disease↗