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Biomedical subjects

M L Andrews

Publications and source records attributed to M L Andrews.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1983

Spastic dysphonia: a perceptual test of recurrent laryngeal nerve section.

An objective test of the efficacy of recurrent nerve section in the treatment of spastic dysphonia was conducted with partially trained observers in a blind rating task. It was found that, although immediate effects of the surgery as measured by a general communication effectiveness instrument could not be established, long-term (1-yr post-surgery) effects did emerge and at a high level of confidence. The results corroborate subjective judgments of the effectiveness of the Dedo procedure.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Control of erythrocyte shape by calmodulin.

Erythrocytes are deformable cells whose shapes can be altered by treatments with a variety of drugs. The forms the erythrocyte may assume vary continuously from the spiny "echinocytes" or crenated cells at one extreme to highly folded and dented "cupped" cells at the other extreme. Examination of 39 compounds for cup-forming activity revealed a remarkable correlation between their ability to form cupped cells and their inhibitory activity against the calcium regulatory protein, calmodulin. Calmodulin is known to interact with several erythrocyte proteins including spectrin, spectrin kinase, and the Ca++ ATPase calcium pump of the membrane. These proteins regulate the form of the cytoskeleton as well as intracellular calcium and ATP levels. It is proposed that calmodulin is required to maintain normal erythrocyte morphology and that in the presence of calmodulin inhibitors, the cell assumes a cupped shape.

Anesthetics, Local↗
PubMed1977

The assessment of pitch discrimination ability in young children.

This study tested the hypothesis that some tasks used in assessing pitch discrimination ability may instead by assessing children's ability to deal with relational language. Five tasks were given to 36 normal children who were equally divided into three age groups, six to six and one-half years, seven to seven and one-half years, and eight to eight and one-half years of age. Task 1 involved a training procedure to assess the children's ability to hear the differences in the pitch of two tones, which were an octave apart. A simple motor response was required. Task 2 assessed the children's ability to label these tones as high or low. Task 3 assessed their ability to compare two tones and label the second as higher or lower than the first. Task 4 examined their ability to label as high or low the position of a man on a ladder. Task 5 examined their ability to compare the positions of two men on two ladders and say whether the second man was higher or lower than the first. Results indicated that children who make pitch discriminations as demonstrated by nearly perfect scores on Task 1 often fail to demonstrate those discriminations on tasks requiring relational language. A comparison of Tasks 2 and 3 to Tasks 4 and 5 suggests that children in the age range studied are less proficient in applying high-low and higher-lower to pitch than to spatial relations.

Child↗
PubMed1976

Perceptions of auditory components of stuttered speech.

Two student groups, one of speech pathology majors and one a class of mixed background fulfilling a humanities requirement, listened to the same set of sentences spoken first in nonstuttered and then in stuttered form. Subjects rated each replication along a set of 114 semantic differential-type adjectives but on 10-point unipolar scales. These scales had previously been factor analyzed and represented 31 positive and 29 negative perceptual factors. The results indicate that all college students react favorably to stuttered speech. However, six factor differences significant at the 0.05 level or above emerged between the two groups when evaluating the stuttered version. These results suggest that pathology students do not perceive stuttered speech as do nonpathology students; they are more favorably disposed on every dimemsion.

Auditory Perception↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Establishing a smoking cessation support service.

Smoking cessation clinics are developing across the UK, prompted by a new drive to establish an evidence-based service for smokers who want to quit. Described here is the launch of a smoking cessation service for cardiac rehabilitation patients in an Oxfordshire hospital. The development of a smoking support group and the role of the nurse practitioner as facilitator are also described.

Health Promotion↗