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Biomedical subjects

M Grant

Publications and source records attributed to M Grant.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

AIDS-related beliefs and behaviours of Australian university students.

Parallel questionnaires that enquired into the beliefs and behaviours which related to the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) were administered by postal survey during August and September 1987 to two separate samples of students. Each sample comprised 300 students who were selected at random, were aged up to 30 years, and at the time were enrolled at The University of Sydney; the response rate was 70%. Results showed a high level of "correctness" of belief about AIDS and safer sexual practices. More than half the population had experienced sexual intercourse during 1987, 25% of whom had experienced sexual intercourse on a casual basis. A marked discrepancy was found between the knowledge of and the performance of safer sexual behaviours, as measured by two sets of key questions, which covered condom use in casual vaginal encounters and enquiry into a casual partner's history with regard to sexual experience, abuse of intravenous drugs and history of blood transfusions. A log-linear regression analysis showed no correlation between scores on the two sets of key questions on knowledge of safer sexual practices and the demographic variables of age, sex, sexual experience or religious commitment. It is suggested that an educational campaign that is directed at the problem of behavioural change will fail to be productive if it is focused narrowly on the knowledge of safer sexual techniques; in addition, it should take into account other attitudinal components, such as the perception of social pressures from peer-groups. Within this particular student population, the most-effective immediate stratagem may be to restructure the perceived personal and peer-group risks.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1989

Evaluation of a short-stay program for patients undergoing mastectomy.

Two hundred twenty-eight patients were included in a retrospective study to evaluate the morbidity and feasibility of early discharge after mastectomy. Group I (early discharge, n = 75) patients were given pre- and postoperative instruction related to wound and drain care. Group II (concurrent control, n = 44) was given similar postoperative instruction, but received no preoperative teaching. Group III (historical controls, n = 109) underwent surgery during a period of more liberal hospitalization and discharge policies. The groups were similar in age, cultural background, operations performed, and pathologic diagnosis. Length of stay for groups I, II, and III was 5.5 +/- 0.4, 3.5 +/- 0.2, and 8.6 +/- 0.3 days, respectively. Groups I and II had a significantly shorter stay than group III. There was no difference among the groups for the presence of wound erythema, rate of primary healing, seroma formation, or wound infection. The practice of same-day admission and early discharge to limit length of stay for patients undergoing mastectomy is safe and effective.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1989

Effects of route of administration of ethanol on high-speed reaction time in young and old rats.

The blood ethanol concentrations (BECs) and reactive capacity of young (8 months) and old (24 months) male Fischer 344 rats were compared at 5, 10, 20, 45, 65, and 90 min following the administration of ethanol (EtOH). The time-dependent effects of intragastric intubation (IG; 3 g/kg) and intraperitoneal injection (IP; 1.5 g/kg) of EtOH (20% w/v) were determined. Subsequent to IG delivery, BECs rose most rapidly within the first 20 min, but did not reach peak levels until 90 min for both young (240 mg/dl) and old rats (250 mg/dl). Following IP injections, BECs escalated within 5 min to 250 mg/dl in the young, to 175 mg/dl in the old, and declined gradually to a stabilized value of 150 mg/dl (young) and 130 mg/dl (old). The old rats never achieved the high BECs seen in the young. Reactive capacity, a measure of auditory/visual reaction time, was inversely related to BECs. As BECs (IP) declined, performance improved at a similar rate in both age groups, although the old rats' performance was more impaired than that of the young. However, BEC per se was not an adequate predictor of reactive capacity. When EtOH was delivered by IG so that BECs remained high for long periods of time, reactive capacity was far less impaired compared with IP delivery in which comparable BECs were present for only a few minutes. The possibility was noted that behavioral tolerance may have developed during the 90-min post-EtOH period, and that the IP delivery method may disrupt behavior in ways independent of brain ethanol levels.

Aging↗
PubMed1989

Patterned (single) alternation in infant rats after combined or separate lesions of hippocampus and amygdala.

The role of the developing hippocampus and the amygdala on patterned (single) alternation (PA) in the infant rat was investigated in 4 experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2, pups were given 2 bilateral electrolytic hippocampal lesions or sham surgeries at 10 or 11 days of age and were trained 6 days later in a straight runway. In Experiment 1, there were 120 trials in 1 day, with an 8-, a 15-, or a 30-s intertrial interval (ITI). PA learning occurred in lesion and sham pups at the 8- and 15-s ITIs, but it was reduced in both groups at the 30-s ITI. In Experiment 2, training was extended to 240 trials over 2 days, with a 30- or 60-s ITI. Sham and lesion pups showed PA at the 30-s ITI, but the emergence of PA was delayed in the lesion pups at the 60-s ITI. In Experiment 3, amygdaloid lesions had no effect on PA learning at the 8-s ITI. However, when pups with hippocampal and amygdaloid lesions were trained at the 8-s ITI, the emergence of PA was delayed, and its size was reduced (Experiment 4). The results of these experiments argue for a role of the hippocampus in PA learning at long ITIs and suggest that, even in 16-day-old pups exposed to an 8-s ITI, the combined hippocampal and amygdaloid lesion produces a deficit greater than either the hippocampal or the amygdaloid lesion. The results are discussed in relation to current theories that distinguish between 2 levels of memory function.

Amygdala↗
PubMed1989

Renal epithelial fluid secretion and cyst growth: the role of cyclic AMP.

Transepithelial fluid secretion has been postulated to account for the accumulation of fluid within hereditary and acquired renal cysts, but no such mechanism has been demonstrated in human kidney epithelium. It is shown here that transepithelial fluid secretion was stimulated by prostaglandin E1 (PGE1), forskolin, 8-Br-cyclic AMP, and 1-methyl-3-isobutylxanthine in polarized monolayers of established renal cell lines (MDCK and rat glomerular epithelial cells) and in monolayer cultures derived from the cyst walls of human autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease and from epithelial cells of normal human renal cortex. Treatment with cyclic AMP agonists caused the same cells, when dispersed within a gel matrix of type I collagen (Vitrogen), to proliferate and form spherical fluid-filled monolayered cysts. Our findings suggest that increased intracellular cyclic AMP levels may have a critical role in the formation and expansion of hereditary and acquired renal cysts.

1-Methyl-3-isobutylxanthine↗
PubMed1989

The possible interaction of Harderian material and saliva for thermoregulation in the Mongolian gerbil, Meriones unguiculatus.

Self-grooming in Meriones unguiculatus is associated with saliva spread and the release and spread of Harderian material from the external nares. Saliva spread results in evaporative cooling and Harderian spread insulates the pelage. Two experiments tested the predictions that (1) saliva production and Harderian material decrease systematically following a self-groom, (2) high ambient temperature (34 degrees C) increases saliva production but decreases Harderian release, and (3) low ambient temperature (7 degrees C) decreases saliva production but increases Harderian release. The predictions were generally confirmed, suggesting that short-term and long-term thermoregulatory reactions are differentially affected by ambient temperatures. Thus, an animal will tend to emphasize saliva production when evaporative cooling is needed and will exaggerate Harderian release when insulation of the pelage is required.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

WHO Collaborative Study on Alcohol Education and Young People: outcomes of a four-country pilot study.

In 1985 the Division of Mental Health, World Health Organization, Geneva, convened a group of investigators from centers in four countries--Australia, Chile, Norway, Swaziland--to participate in a pilot study on the efficacy of school-based alcohol education. The goal of the educational program was to delay onset and minimize involvement of alcohol use among 13- to 14-year-old adolescents. Twenty-five schools in the four countries, representing middle- and lower-class populations, were randomly assigned to peer-led education, teacher-led education, or a control condition. The educational program was derived from social-psychological theory and etiological research on adolescent alcohol use. The program focused on the social and environmental influences to drink alcohol and skills to resist those influences. It consisted of five lessons over 2 months. Baseline and posttest data measured alcohol use knowledge, attitudes, skills, and friends' drinking patterns. Data were collected immediately prior to and 2 months following the educational program. The data converge on the finding that peer-led education appears to be efficacious in reducing alcohol use across a variety of settings and cultures.

Adolescent↗