Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

P Richards

Publications and source records attributed to P Richards.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

Toe graphaesthesia as a discriminator of brain impairment: the outstanding feet for neuropsychology.

Because of the vulnerability of the medial surfaces of the cerebral hemispheres to the consequences of shear forces, we hypothesized that quantitative sensori-motor deficits for the feet would be strong indicators of general brain dysfunction. On the basis of the Halstead-Reitan Impairment Index, 28 adults who had received closed head injuries were assigned to perfectly normal, normal, or (mildly to severely) impaired groups. Foot tap and finger tap as well as agnosia and graphaesthesia for the fingers and toes were measured. Deficits in toe graphaesthesia were the most powerful group discriminator. Potential usefulness of haptic/motor, finger/toe comparisons for recording the progress of degenerative diseases, such as AIDS, is also suggested.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Tobacyk's sex differences in the experiences of ego-alien intrusions.

Tobacyk's Revised Paranormal Belief Scale and an inventory that infers temporal lobe signs were administered to 44 men and 54 women who were enrolled in first-year university courses. Women believed more in psi phenomena, witchcraft, and spiritualism than did men, who believed more in extraterrestrial life forms. Although complex partial epileptic-like signs were moderately (0.40) correlated with total beliefs for both sexes, these signs were dominated by experiences of ego-alien intrusions for women only. The results support the concept of greater interhemispheric coherence in women compared to men and emphasize the importance of limbic processes in the formation and maintenance of religious and paranormal beliefs.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Effects of discrimination by sex and race on the early careers of British medical graduates during 1981-7.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the possible effects of discrimination by sex and race on the career patterns of doctors up to six years after qualifying. DESIGN: Postal questionnaire follow up survey. PARTICIPANTS: 1572 Doctors who graduated from five British medical schools in 1981, 1983, and 1985, including 587 women and 131 doctors from ethnic minorities. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Reported success rates of applications for training posts. RESULTS: Comparison of the career patterns of women and men yielded no evidence of discrimination against women in competition for posts. In contrast, there were striking differences in career patterns between graduates of native European origin and those of ethnic minority origin. Graduates from ethnic minorities reported lower success rates and more difficulty in obtaining house officer posts, registrar posts, and places in vocational training schemes in general practice. Most of this discrimination seemed to occur at the stage of shortlisting for interview. Graduates from ethnic minorities were more likely than graduates of native European origin to have experienced spells of unemployment while seeking work. They were also more likely to have changed their original choice of career because of difficulty in obtaining suitable training posts or unfavourable career prospects. CONCLUSIONS: Discrimination against ethnic minorities occurs in the competition for training posts among graduates from British medical schools. There was no evidence of discrimination against women graduates. Shortlisting procedures based on objective scoring systems may help to ensure equality of opportunity in future.

Career Mobility↗
PubMed1989

Prospective study of the disadvantage of people from ethnic minority groups applying to medical schools in the United Kingdom.

To assess whether the ethnic origin of applicants affects their likelihood of being accepted into medical school in the United Kingdom the outcome for the 2399 applicants who applied to read medicine at university in 1986 and included St Mary's Hospital Medical School as one of their five choices was studied prospectively. Altogether 2040 of the 2399 applicants were British (United Kingdom) nationals, constituting 24.7% (n = 8249) of all home applicants for medicine in 1986, and 1971 of them with postal addresses in the United Kingdom were sent questionnaires asking about their ethnic origin, whether English was their first language, and about their attitudes to ethnic monitoring. A total of 1817 (92.2%) applicants returned the questionnaire, 401 (22.6%) saying that they were from an ethnic minority group and 393 (21.6%) having non-European surnames. Multiple logistic regression identified 11 significant predictors of successful application, of which grades at O and A level, application after A levels, and date of application were the most important. After taking these four variables into account the predicted acceptance rates for home students on the basis of their application forms alone were 47.8% for white applicants and 35.6% for applicants from ethnic minority groups compared with actual acceptance rates of 49.6% and 27.3%, respectively. The difference in success of white and non-white applicants could partly but not entirely be explained by differences in the characteristics considered to be important in a professional context by selectors during shortlisting of candidates: academic ability, interests, and contribution to the community. No differences in the success rate of applicants from ethnic minority groups to individual medical schools could be identified. More research is needed to discover how perceptions of professional suitability are assessed from application forms and interviews.

Educational Measurement↗
PubMed1989

Effect of oral nimodipine on cerebral infarction and outcome after subarachnoid haemorrhage: British aneurysm nimodipine trial.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the efficacy of oral nimodipine in reducing cerebral infarction and poor outcomes (death and severe disability) after subarachnoid haemorrhage. DESIGN: Double blind, placebo controlled, randomised trial with three months of follow up and intention to treat analysis. To have an 80% chance with a significance level of 0.05 of detecting a 50% reduction in an incidence of cerebral infarction of 15% a minimum of 540 patients was required. SETTING: Four regional neurosurgical units in the United Kingdom. PATIENTS: In all 554 patients were recruited between June 1985 and September 1987 out of a population of 1115 patients admitted with subarachnoid haemorrhage proved by the results of lumbar puncture or computed tomography, or both. The main exclusion criterion was admission to the neurosurgical units more than 96 hours after subarachnoid haemorrhage. There were four breaks of code and no exclusions after entry. One patient was withdrawn and in 130 treatment was discontinued early. All patients were followed up for three months and were included in the analysis, except the patient who had been withdrawn. INTERVENTIONS: Placebo or nimodipine 60 mg was given orally every four hours for 21 days to 276 and 278 patients, respectively. Treatment was started within 96 hours after subarachnoid haemorrhage. END POINTS: Incidence of cerebral infarction and ischaemic neurological deficits and outcome three months after entry. MEASUREMENTS: Demographic and clinical data, including age, sex, history of hypertension and subarachnoid haemorrhage, severity of haemorrhage according to an adaptation of the Glasgow coma scale, number and site of aneurysms on angiography, and initial findings on computed tomography were measured at entry. Deterioration, defined as development of a focal sign or fall of more than one point on the Glasgow coma scale for more than six hours, was investigated by using clinical criteria and by computed tomography, by lumbar puncture, or at necropsy when appropriate. All episodes of deterioration and all patients with a three month outcome other than a good recovery were assessed by a review committee. MAIN RESULTS: Demographic and clinical data at entry were similar in the two groups. In patients given nimodipine the incidence of cerebral infarction was 22% (61/278) compared with 33% (92/276) in those given placebo, a significant reduction of 34% (95% confidence interval 13 to 50%). Poor outcomes were also significantly reduced by 40% (95% confidence interval 20 to 55%) with nimodipine (20% (55/278) in patients given nimodipine v 33% (91/278) in those given placebo). CONCLUSIONS: Oral nimodipine 60 mg four hourly is well tolerated and reduces cerebral infarction snd improves outcome after subarachnoid haemorrhage.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1989

Synthesis and biological properties of the lipophilic technetium-99m complex 99mTc(acac)3.

In the development of technetium-99m radiopharmaceuticals for the evaluation of regional cerebral perfusion, one series of complexes that has remained unexplored is the neutral lipophilic tris complexes formed with beta-diketonato ligands. The prototype complex of this series, tris(2,4-pentanedionato) technetium(III), has been prepared via a new synthetic route and chemically characterized using 99Tc and the biodistribution of the no-carrier-added 99mTc complex has been determined. The 99mTc complex was found to be distributed throughout the body with persistent high blood levels indicative of a high degree of protein binding. The primary route of excretion was the hepatobiliary system as indicated by the appearance of 99mTc in the gut and feces at longer sample times post-injection. Although this complex was not retained by the brain, it does provide a starting point from which a more effective agent might be developed.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

Short-listing of applicants from UCCA forms: the structure of pre-selection judgements.

Applicants for admission to St Mary's Hospital Medical School in 1986 were short-listed for interview by one of four assessors, who each made their assessments on a nine-item pro forma. One short-lister had also been studied in detail during 1981. Short-listers used the full range of possible judgements, in approximately the proportions requested. Only minor differences were found between them in the mean and range of their judgements, suggesting that similarity of standards can be maintained while using a number of separate short-listers. A confirmatory factor analysis of individual short-listers' judgements showed that all were extracting three separate factors, named 'Academic ability', 'Interests' and 'Contribution to community', although the less experienced short-listers differentiated these items less well than the more experienced. The short-lister assessed in 1981 and 1986 had retained an almost identical factor structure over the 5-year period.

Educational Measurement↗