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Biomedical subjects

R B Williams

Publications and source records attributed to R B Williams.

At least 199 records · Page 11Linked to original sources
PubMed1980

Effects of exercise on the Type A (coronary prone) behavior pattern.

This study presents the initial findings of an attempt to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) in a group of health, middle-aged adults by participation in a ten-week, supervised exercise program. Forty-six subjects were classified as Type A or Type B based on their scores on the Jenkins Activity Survey (JAS). Measures of physiologic (blood pressure, serum lipids, body weight, plasminogen activator release, and treadmill performance) and psychologic (scores on the JAS) variables were obtained before and after the exercise program. Subjects were able to successfully reduce the physiologic cardiovascular risk factors. Moreover, Type A subjects lowered their scores on the JAS Type A scale after training, while the scores of the Type B subjected remained unchanged. It is concluded that a supervised program of regular exercise can successfully modify the physiological and psychological variables associated with increased risk for CHD in a nonclinical sample of healthy adults.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Type A behavior, hostility, and coronary atherosclerosis.

Type A behavior pattern was assessed using the structured interview and hostility level was assessed using a subscale of the Minnesota Multiphase Personality Inventory in 424 patients who underwent diagnostic coronary arteriography for suspected coronary heart disease. In contrast to non-Type A patients, a significantly greater proportion of Type A patients had at least one artery with a clinically significant occlusion of 75% or greater. In addition, only 48% of those patients with very low scores (less than or equal to 10) on the Hostility scale exhibited a significant occlusion; in contrast, patients in all groups scoring higher than 10 on the Hostility scale showed a 70% rate of significant disease. The essential difference between low and high scorers on the Hostility scale appears to consist of an unwillingness on the part of the low scorers to endorse items reflective of the attitude that others are bad, selfish, and exploitive. Multivariate analysis showed that both Type A behavior pattern and Hostility score are independently related to presence of atherosclerosis. In this analysis, however, Hostility score emerged as more related to presence of atherosclerosis than Type A behavior pattern. These findings confirm previous observations of increased coronary atherosclerosis among Type A patients. They suggest further that an attitudinal set reflective of hostility toward people in general is over and above that accounted for by Type A behavior pattern. These findings also suggest that interventions to reduce the contribution of behavioral patterns to coronary disease risk might profitably focus especially closely on reduction of anger and hostility.

Coronary Disease↗
PubMed1980

Consumer focus of a university drug and poison information center.

The consumer-oriented aspect of a university drug and poison information center is described. The University of Cincinnati Medical Center began its 24-hour consumer drug information telephone service in 1972. It is staffed by seven full-time employees, and pharmacists and pharmacy residents of nearby hospitals handle evening and weekend calls. All participating personnel are trained in structured programs. The $78,000 annual budget for the consumer drug information service is funded exclusively from external sources such as mental health agencies, foundations, and donations. Of 40,719 calls handled by the center in 1979, 83% were from the public. The total annual call volume has increased by 250% since 1972. In telephone follow-up of consumer calls, 73% of persons claimed they followed verbatim the advice given. Of calls during 1972, 1974, 1977, and 1979, 32.2% concerned drug abuse; 28.6%, identification of ingredients; and 10.9%, efficacy. Data from a three-month study in 1979 showed that the goal perceived by the information provider was to satisfy the curiosity of the caller 63.6% of the time (35.6% of the time immediate action was indicated). The authors believe that the center promotes appropriate use of physicians and pharmacists as sources of information for consumers.

Academic Medical Centers↗
PubMed1979

Is there a doctor in the house?

When it is realized that American universities award nearly 50,000 different kinds of doctorates annually, it is little wonder that some should ask, "What is a real doctor?" This paper explores briefly the view which holds that the term "doctor" should be reserved for those whose long years of intensive study and practice in the field of medicine entitles them to this special designation. Attention is also given to the opposing view which argues that the phenomenon of doctoring, in the broad and generic sense, properly encompasses, not alone the field of medicine, but a number of disciplines that seek "to restore to good condition."

Physicians↗
PubMed1978

Location of CNS neurons mediating the blood pressure fall after shock-induced fighting in the rat.

Previous research has demonstrated a fall in systolic blood pressure in the rat measured 2--5 min following shock-induced fighting. This blood pressure fall appears to depend on intact CNS catecholamine neurons. The locus coeruleus is known to supply noradrenergic neuron terminals to much of the brain. In this study, we attempted to identify the location of the CNS catecholamine neurons mediating the blood pressure response to fighting by studying the blood pressure response to shock-induced fighting in locus coeruleus-lesioned and shamlesioned rats. The locus coeruleus-lesioned animals showed a blood pressure increase after fighting on the average across 2 days of testing, while sham-lesioned animals showed a blood pressure decrease after fighting. The difference between the blood pressure responses of the two groups was highly reliable. Since both histofluorescence and biochemical studies indicated that CNS norepinephrine levels were decreased in lesioned as compared to control animals, the findings are interpreted as showing that noradrenergic neurons originating in the locus coeruleus play an important role in mediating aspects of the relationship between fighting behavior and blood pressure response.

Aggression↗
PubMed1978

Endocardial fibrosis in apparently normal infant hearts.

A classification of the histological appearance of the endocardium in infants, and observers' reproducibility tests have been carried out. In a retrospective survey of 262 overtly normal hearts, what is considered to be abnormal thickening of the endocardium was found in 3.4%, and probably significant thickening in 20%. The changes occurred in unexpected home deaths as well as in hospital deaths and the lesions may be a contributing factor in some cot deaths, but a prospective study is required to confirm this.

Endocardial Fibroelastosis↗
PubMed1978

Type A behavior pattern and coronary atherosclerosis.

Previous research has demonstrated an increased rate of clinical coronary heart disease (CHD) events among people who exhibit a "coronary prone" (Type A) behavior pattern. This study was undertaken to determine whether the association between behavior pattern Type A and CHD might be extended beyond clinical CHD events to include also the coronary atherosclerotic process. In addition to usual clinical evaluation, 156 consecutive patients referred for diagnostic coronary angiography were independently assessed on the basis of a structured interview and assigned a rating of Type A, Type B, or Type X (indeterminate). Traditional physiologic factors--age, sex, cholesterol and cigarette smoking--were found to correlate with atherosclerotic disease. Type A patients were found in increasing proportions among groups of patients with coronary occlusions of moderate to severe degree compared with patients with only mild occlusions. This increasing proportion of Type A patients with increasing disease severity remained significant, even when age, sex, blood pressure, serum cholesterol level and cigarette smoking history were all simultaneously covaried. These findings suggest that, independently of traditional risk factors, behavior pattern Type A may contribute to the risk of clinical CHD events via effects on the atherosclerotic process.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

6-hydroxydopamine destruction of central adrenergic neurones prevents or reverses developing DOCA-salt hypertension in rats.

The role of brain catecholaminergic neurones in the pathogenesis of DOCA-salt hypertension in the rat was investigated by selective depletion of central catecholamines using intraventricular or intracisternal administration of 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA). Only the intraventricular injections prevented the development of hypertension. In addition, intraventricular 6-OHDA reversed the hypertension produced by two weeks but not six weeks of DOCA-salt treatment. The ability of intraventricular injections of 6-OHDA to prevent or reverse DOCA-salt hypertension while intracisternal injections do not, appears to be related to the greater depletion of brain catecholamines produced by the intraventricular injections. Only in the spinal cord and in the locus coeruleus were the norepinephrine contents depleted equally by either injection route. These findings suggest that central catecholaminergic neurones other than those originating in the locus coeruleus or descending in the spinal cord are important in the initiation, but not in the long term maintenance, of DOCA-salt hypertension. The influence of the central catecholamine neurons involved in the development of DOCA-salt hypertension might be mediated neurally via nonadrenergic pathways or hormonally via the brain-pituitary-endocrine system.

Adrenergic Fibers↗
PubMed1977

The enhancement by dietary zinc deficiency of the susceptibility of the rat duodenum to colchicine.

1. The incidence of colchicine-induced lesions in the germinal epithelium oof the rat duodenum was studied in young rats in an early stage of zinc deficiency and in their pair-fed controls. At both dose levels of colchicine used, a marked increase in the amount of cell damage was observed in the duodenum of Zn-deficient rats as compared with the pair-fed, control (Zn-supplemented) rats. 2. No statistical interaction between Zn and colchicine was demonstrable, and no lesions were found in the duodenum of animals that had not been treated with colchicine. 3. The results are discussed in relation to the effects of Zn deficiency in animals and the possible involvement of Zn in the maintenance of the integrity of microtubular structures.

Animals↗