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Biomedical subjects

P Cushman

Publications and source records attributed to P Cushman.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Limits on spin-independent interactions of weakly interacting massive particles with nucleons from the two-tower run of the cryogenic dark matter search.

We report new results from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS II) at the Soudan Underground Laboratory. Two towers, each consisting of six detectors, were operated for 74.5 live days, giving spectrum-weighted exposures of 34 (12) kg d for the Ge (Si) targets after cuts, averaged over recoil energies 10-100 keV for a weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) mass of 60 GeV/c2. A blind analysis was conducted, incorporating improved techniques for rejecting surface events. No WIMP signal exceeding expected backgrounds was observed. When combined with our previous results from Soudan, the 90% C.L. upper limit on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section is 1.6 x 10(-43) cm2 from Ge and 3 x 10(-42) cm2 from Si, for a WIMP mass of 60 GeV/c2. The combined limit from Ge (Si) is a factor of 2.5 (10) lower than our previous results and constrains predictions of supersymmetric models.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

First results from the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search in the Soudan Underground Laboratory.

We report the first results from a search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) in the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search experiment at the Soudan Underground Laboratory. Four Ge and two Si detectors were operated for 52.6 live days, providing 19.4 kg d of Ge net exposure after cuts for recoil energies between 10 and 100 keV. A blind analysis was performed using only calibration data to define the energy threshold and selection criteria for nuclear-recoil candidates. Using the standard dark-matter halo and nuclear-physics WIMP model, these data set the world's lowest exclusion limits on the coherent WIMP-nucleon scalar cross section for all WIMP masses above 15 GeV/c2, ruling out a significant range of neutralino supersymmetric models. The minimum of this limit curve at the 90% C.L. is 4 x 10(-43) cm2 at a WIMP mass of 60 GeV/c2.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

Measurement of the negative muon anomalous magnetic moment to 0.7 ppm.

The anomalous magnetic moment of the negative muon has been measured to a precision of 0.7 ppm (ppm) at the Brookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchrotron. This result is based on data collected in 2001, and is over an order of magnitude more precise than the previous measurement for the negative muon. The result a(mu(-))=11 659 214(8)(3) x 10(-10) (0.7 ppm), where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic, is consistent with previous measurements of the anomaly for the positive and the negative muon. The average of the measurements of the muon anomaly is a(mu)(exp)=11 659 208(6) x 10(-10) (0.5 ppm).

Journal Article↗
PubMed2002

Measurement of the positive muon anomalous magnetic moment to 0.7 ppm.

A higher precision measurement of the anomalous g value, a(mu)=(g-2)/2, for the positive muon has been made at the Brookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchrotron, based on data collected in the year 2000. The result a(mu(+))=11 659 204(7)(5)x10(-10) (0.7 ppm) is in good agreement with previous measurements and has an error about one-half that of the combined previous data. The present world average experimental value is a(mu)(expt)=11 659 203(8)x10(-10) (0.7 ppm).

Journal Article↗
PubMed2001

Precise measurement of the positive muon anomalous magnetic moment.

A precise measurement of the anomalous g value, a(mu) = (g-2)/2, for the positive muon has been made at the Brookhaven Alternating Gradient Synchrotron. The result a(mu+) = 11 659 202(14) (6) x 10(-10) (1.3 ppm) is in good agreement with previous measurements and has an error one third that of the combined previous data. The current theoretical value from the standard model is a(mu)(SM) = 11 659 159.6(6.7) x 10(-10) (0.57 ppm) and a(mu)(exp) - a(mu)(SM) = 43(16) x 10(-10) in which a(mu)(exp) is the world average experimental value.

Journal Article↗
PubMed2000

Will managed care change our way of being?

The authors studied psychotherapeutic practices commonly used in managed care settings and the theories and rhetorical strategies that justify them to speculate about if or how they are beginning to influence societywide understandings about the proper way of being human at the turn of the millennium. The practices--and effects--of managed care regulations on the self are interpreted by studying how the patient, the therapist, and the therapeutic relationship come to light in managed care settings. These categories are then used to speculate about the configuration of the newly emerging, 21st-century self. By extending hermeneutic concerns about instrumentalism and technicism, the authors suggest a new way of thinking about psychotherapy modeled less on positivist science and more on moral discourse. Finally, given this more hermeneutic understanding of psychotherapy, the authors speculate about alternative conceptions and arrangements of care.

Evidence-Based Medicine↗
PubMed1991

Ideology obscured. Political uses of the self in Daniel Stern's infant.

Daniel Stern's (1985) respected theory of infant development is critiqued from a social-constructionist perspective in order to demonstrate how decontextualized psychology theories inadvertantly perpetuate the political status quo. Self-invariants in the core-self phase are discussed as reflections of the current configuration of self rather than a discovery of universal elements of human development. The parental attunement response is reinterpreted as a way by which Western interiority and subjectivity are socially constructed. Language as the fundamental cause of alienation and dividedness is disputed. In Stern's theory, universal qualities of the self and the processes of language acquisition are responsible for several psychological ills characteristic of the 20th century. By exonerating political structures as causal factors, decontextualized theories legitimize, justify, and perpetuate current arrangements of power and privilege.

Cultural Characteristics↗
PubMed1990

Why the self is empty. Toward a historically situated psychology.

This article presents a contextualized treatment of the current configuration of self, some of the pathologies that plague it, and the technologies that attempt to heal it. Of particular interest is the historical shift from the Victorian, sexually restricted self to the post-World War II empty self. The empty self is soothed and made cohesive by becoming "filled up" with food, consumer products, and celebrities. Its historical antecedents, economic constituents, and political consequences are the focus of this article. The two professions most responsible for healing the empty self, advertising and psychotherapy, find themselves in a bind: They must treat a psychological symptom without being able to address its historical causes. Both circumvent the bind by employing the life-style solution, a strategy that attempts to heal by covertly filling the empty self with the accoutrements, values, and mannerisms of idealized figures. This strategy solves an old problem but creates new ones, including an opportunity for abuse by exploitive therapists, cult leaders, and politicians. Psychology's role in constructing the empty self, and thus reproducing the current hierarchy of power and privilege, is examined.

Ego↗
PubMed1989

Alcohol withdrawal syndrome: clinical and hormonal responses to alpha 2-adrenergic agonist treatment.

Lofexidine (L) was compared to placebo (P) in a random double blind placebo controlled study of 23 healthy alcoholics in withdrawal. In serial alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS) scales, P greater than L for first 18 hr. The major changes in AWS were in blood pressure and pulse, while restlessness or diaphoresis did not show faster normalization with L vs. P. Other ratings of withdrawal intensities and craving by patients were similar in both P and L. There were no differences in the rate of patient completion, or appearance of hallucinations by group. Plasma catecholamines were in the high ranges, similar in both groups at 0 and 3 hr, but after 5 hr P greater than L for norepinephrine (but not epinephrine or dopamine). The data suggest L has pharmacological effects on some objective, catecholamine related, components of alcohol withdrawal, with little effect on others. L type treatment of alcoholics in withdrawal is promising, modestly effective and warrants further study.

Adrenergic alpha-Agonists↗
PubMed1989

Prospective study of HIV infection among parenteral drug abusers.

Male heterosexual i.v. drug abusers in methadone maintenance treatment were surveyed for HIV disease and followed prospectively in Richmond, Virginia. Five of 50 (10%) had both positive ELISA and Western Blot antibodies initially, although none had other clinical manifestations. Forty-two (84%) were restudied 1 year later. None had developed clinical manifestations of HIV disease, or seroconverted from negative to positive. Thirty-nine Control i.v. drug abusers seeking methadone or inpatient detoxification showed a similar low seropositivity rate (3%), indicating that Richmond had low endemicity for HIV during the year. An unexpected finding in the followup of the 5 with initial seropositivity was that only 1 retained both ELISA and Western Blot positivity. The difference in serological reaction was unexplained.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Alcohol withdrawal: a review of clinical management.

The authors review recent developments in the management of alcohol withdrawal, including its clinical components, available treatment strategies, and some recent neurochemical and endocrine research in the area.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗
PubMed1987

Delirium tremens. Update on an old disorder.

A retrospective study of patients who probably had delirium tremens during hospitalization for alcohol dependency is reported. Predictors of delirium tremens were daily heavy alcohol use, a past history of delirium tremens, and a past history of alcohol withdrawal seizures. Management included general measures and specific therapy for complications. Mortality was only 4.9%, which reflects the improved management techniques now available. The use of multiple interventions proved most effective.

Adrenergic beta-Antagonists↗
PubMed1987

Alcohol and opioids: possible interactions of clinical importance.

The multiple areas of possible opioid-ethanol interaction are reviewed. Both ethanol and the major opioids are metabolized in part by the hepatic MEOS system. Both will augment MEOS activity governing their own rates of disposal. However produced, faster drug disposal rates of ethanol and the opioids may account for some clinical findings. Yet, when both drugs are used together, slower disposal rates and possibly higher toxicities may arise. Ethanol may modify some opiate receptors, and possibly change the brain tissue endogenous opiate peptide levels in some loci. It also may modify the effects of opioids in the animal. The functional and clinical significance of these observations remain unclear. Opioids may affect the drinking behavior of animals under some circumstances. Antagonists may affect the depth of alcohol intoxication, although the evidence is not conclusive. Usually significant differences from controls were small or lacking in human studies. Mixed opioid and alcohol abusers did poorly in standard alcohol abstinence treatment, compared to matched alcoholics without opiate abuse histories. Opiate addicts in general and on methadone maintenance treatment appear to have unusually high rates of recognized alcoholism. Methadone treatment per se was not documented to produce increasing rates of alcohol consumption or to cause large numbers of alcohol related problems in prospective studies. The relationship between alcohol and opioid abuse appears to be complex and multifactorial.

Alcoholism↗
PubMed1987

Opiate addiction and plasma beta-endorphin-like immunoreactivity: methadone maintained, recently detoxified and early naltrexone treated ex-addicts.

Plasma beta-endorphin-like radioimmunoreactivity (BEND) was measured in opiate addicts and controls with an antisera which cross reacted with lipotropin but not with other endogenous opiate peptides. 43 stable male methadone maintained patients had mean BEND of 18 +/- 11 pg/ml. No relationship was found between BEND, and time of day, dose or time since last methadone. Controls had 22 +/- 8pg/ml. 9 hospitalized freshly detoxified male opiate addicts, 7-23 days after last opioid, had BEND of 32 +/- 11 pg/ml. These same took 7 days of 50 mg oral naltrexone (NTX) daily, and repeat BEND was 41 +/- 13 pg/ml, rising in all instances compared to baseline. Ex-addicts after detoxification had high BEND which rose further during a short course of NTX. Methadone maintained patients had normal BEND. These data are consistent with previous animal and human reports of high plasma BEND level with NTX or detoxification.

Adult↗