Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to L B Brown.
A double-blind crossover study that compared clonidine and a placebo, which were administered to 19 postmenopausal women who were suffering from hot flushes, failed to demonstrate any statistical reduction in the number of hot flushes. Therefore, clonidine is not recommended as a treatment drug for this symptom.
A study of the psychological correlates of weight control, sex, and actual and desired weight was performed. A regression analysis of the attitudes of 240 Australian high school students showed that the girls' responses reflected a significantly different concern with how they look, dieting and appearance from the boys. The implications of these findings for identifying those at risk to weight-related illnesses, including anorexia nervosa, are explored.
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A multifaceted group-based approach to the treatment of bulimia is described, that focuses on recovering a sense of control by examining how control is relinquished, and can be regained by developing adaptive attitudes and behaviour about food and eating, the body, and interpersonal relationships. Results from an end of programme assessment and then at six month, 12 month and 18 month follow-ups indicate that a successful reduction in bingeing and vomiting and a variety of other changes was achieved and maintained by 36 of the 40 participants.
A study is reported that compared the responses of anorexic patients with those of two groups of non-patient adolescent girls formed by taking the most frequent and the least frequent weighers from a large sample of senior schoolgirls. Each subject completed a questionnaire which related to family conflict, self-esteem, self-presentation, behavioural control, and the criticism of eating. A MANOVA was performed, using scores for each variable and pairwise comparisons of the groups. Since the overall test was significant for comparisons between the patients and both of the non-patient groups, follow-up tests were carried out. These showed that the patients differed from the non-patients on a 'global' measure that involved all of the variables except family conflict. Self-esteem was the only single variable which produced significant differences between any of the groups, and distinguished the patients from the least frequently weighing group of non-patients.
The literature on bulimia, which has regarded it as a psychiatric entity or as a form of disordered eating, suggests that this behaviour is now widespread among the obese, among those with anorexia nervosa and those of normal weight. While physiological, psychological and sociocultural explanations and forms of treatment have been proposed, a holistic perspective on the context in which it occurs can distinguish bulimia nervosa and bulimarexia from 'simple' bulimia.
Frog liver adenylate cyclase was characterized with respect to divalent cation interaction and hormonally stimulated activities. The enzyme catalyzed the synthesis of cyclic [32P]3',5'-AMP from alpha-32P-labeled ATP. The activity of the enzyme was linear with time and protein concentration. The Km for ATP was 0.5 mM, in the presence or absence of stimulators. The temperature optimum was 25 degrees. GTP (10(-4) M) increased the stimulation of adenylate cyclase by epinephrine. Similar activities were obtained using 5 mM Mg2+ or Mn2+. At higher concentrations, both ions inhibited epinephrine-stimulated, but not basal or fluoride-stimulated activities. Approximately equivalent hormonal stimulation was obtained with maximal stimulating concentrations of epinephrine, isoproterenol, glucagon, and prostaglandin E1. Norepinephrine was less stimulatory. Only catecholamine-stimulated activities were inhibited by propranolol (10(-5) M). The data suggest that catecholamines stimulate frog liver adenylate cyclase through interactions with beta adrenergic receptors. The adenylate cyclase in frog liver differs from its mammalian counterpart in its response to temperature and maximally stimulatory concentrations of hormones.
Attitudes towards 'sickness', 'arguments', 'tension', 'social isolation', 'thinness', 'growing up' and 'grown up' were investigated in 20 young female anorexia nervosa patients and their mothers, and in 32 volunteer non-patient schoolgirls and their mothers. A computer-generated semantic differential questionnaire was completed by each daughter and her mother, first for herself and then as she thought the other person would have answered it. The majority of significant differences occurred between the anorexic daughters and their mothers as a group, and the non-patient daughters and mothers as a group. The anorexia nervosa group rated 'sickness', 'arguments' and 'tension' more favourably than did the non-patients, while the patients rated 'thinness' and 'social isolation' less favourably than did the non-patient group. Neither group of mothers and daughters consistently misjudged each other.
An analysis of vasomotor, psychological, and physical symptoms of 136 women who were receiving piperazine oestrone sulphate (Ogen) and conjugated equine oestrogens (Premarin) after menopause has shown differences in responses which can be explained only if it is accepted that the two oestrogenic compounds have differing effects on various parts of the body. Premarin (0.625 mg) was found to be more potent at inducing withdrawal bleeding than Ogen (1.25 mg), whereas Ogen was more effective than Premarin in alleviating hot flushes and some psychological symptoms. A hypothesis involving metabolism of oestrone to the catecholamine, 2-hydroxyoestrone, is postulated, which explains why these differences occur. It is further suggested that better selection of oestrogens to suit particular postmenopausal symptoms should be encouraged when prescribing oestrogen for women after menopause.
An attempt was made to identify the repertoires of coping behaviors that may mediate between life events and depressive disorders. Six structural dimensions emerged in a non-clinical group: recklessness, socialization, distraction, problem solving, self-consolation, and passivity. Several age, sex, and social class effects on derived scale scores that assessed behavioral change and the perceived effectiveness of behavioral change were also shown in that nonclinical group. Subsequently, a controlled study revealed behavioral decrement in the reports of nonpsychotic depressives. Further analyses suggested that the decrements could best be explained as a consequence of state levels of depression rather than as indicating ongoing vulnerability characteristics. Such findings have important therapeutic implications for behavioral and cognitive behavioral treatments of depressive disorders.
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The rates of registration of cases of in-situ and invasive cancer of the cervix in Alberta have fallen for women aged 35 and over since the introduction of screening in the early 1960s, as predicted by theory and described in Finland. However, for women aged 15 to 34 years of age the predicted pattern was followed only initially: the registration rate for in-situ and probably also invasive cancer increased after 1973. This could be due to an actual increase in the incidence of in-situ cancer of the cervix among younger women, as might be expected from the epidemiologic aspects of the disease, but it might also be due to increased recruitment of younger women to the screening program.
The perception of real-life aggressive episodes was studied, in order to (a) represent the cognitive dimensions used by judges to differentiate between such episodes, (b) to evaluate the perceived differences between different categories of episodes, and (c) to assess the effects of the judges' age, sex and attitudes on their cognitive representation of aggressive episodes. Judgements of 22 aggressive episodes selected from a free-response pilot study were analysed by Carroll & Chang's (1970) INDSCAL procedure, and differences between categories of episodes and groups of judges were evaluated by multiple discriminant analyses. Results indicated that (a) four cognitive dimensions, probability of occurrence, justifiability, emotional provocation, and control, defined the psychological map for aggressive episodes; (b) domestic against public, drunken and non-drunken, criminal against non-criminal episodes were significantly differentiated in this perceptual space; (c) the judges' age, sex and Machiavellism scores were related to their perception of such episodes. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of implicit perceptions of aggression and crime in the criminal justice system. Specifically, it is suggested that similar techniques could be used to (a) gauge popular perceptions of crime as an input to the legislative process, and (b) for the study of perceptions of aggressive episodes by such crucial groups in the criminal justice system as policemen, judges, jury members, victims and offenders.
Social and political procedures, which have an important role in Chinese psychiatry are examined with reference to observations made during visits to hospitals in Shanghai and Tianjin, the available Western literature, and to two recent Chinese documents.
Piaget's original work on egocentricity in language and thought and in the perception of space is reviewed, and various criticisms of his findings are summarized. It is argued that in these "experiments" children are often presented with unnatural problems, in situations of which they have had no prior experience. When deprived of customary cues they give poorly considered responses which are assessed as "egocentric." In everyday social interaction even very young children can give "decentered" responses, so the solution to Pigget's problem of egocentricity might be found in social awareness as much as in cognitive abilities and the processing of information.
A series of 100 interviews with women attending ante-natal clinics at two Sydney public hospitals assessed their contraceptive knowledge, attitudes, and practice and locus of personal control (whether they believed they controlled their own lives). Multiple regression analyses showed that locus of control was significantly related to their attitudes to contraception, but not to their contraceptive knowledge or practice. The implications of that finding for family planning programmes and sex education are discussed.
A study that would appear to overcome two weaknesses in previous investigations of what have been termed 'antidepressive behaviours' is reported, from patients routinely attending two general practices. Questionnaires were designed to measure such behaviours and their reported effectiveness in response to potential precipitants of depression. While the subjects revealed no sex differences on a trait depression measure, in previous recourse to professional help for depression, or in their appraisal of two given situations, a number of sex differences in their reported antidepressive responses were found. Females scored as less reckless, and they scored higher on help-seeking and self-consolation dimensions ; they were also less likely to regard reckless behaviours as being effective. Higher social class was associated with higher scores on the self-consolation behavioural dimension and in higher scores on socializing. Younger subjects scored higher on socializing and found reckless behaviours more effective than did the older subjects.
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