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Biomedical subjects

R G Knight

Publications and source records attributed to R G Knight.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

A self-report articular index: relationship to variations in mood and disease activity measures.

Self-report can provide an inexpensive method for monitoring disease activity or treatment response in RA, but may be affected by confounding variables such as the patient's mood. The relationship of a self-report articular index (AI) to other relevant parameters was assessed from data gathered at approximately monthly intervals from 16 women with RA. Statistical analysis showed that the AI covaried most strongly with other measures of disease activity and functional disability, while mood variables and ESR covaried separately. These results indicated that responses on the self-report AI paralleled disease activity, and were not merely an artifact of variations in the patient's mood.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

The role of alcohol-related expectancies in the prediction of drinking behaviour in a simulated social interaction.

This study investigated the relationship between socially-relevant alcohol-related beliefs and drinking behaviour in a laboratory-based study. Ninety male subjects were told they would be videotaped while completing the Simulated Social Interaction Test; they were then assigned to one of three conditions. In the first, alcohol consumption prior to the interaction was optional, in the second, a standard dose was administered, and in the third, no alcohol was offered. The outcome measures included drinking behaviour and rated level of social skill. In the optional condition, beliefs that alcohol would reduce anxiety in social situations and enhance social competence predicted amount consumed. The decision to continue drinking after the compulsory dose was predicted by anxiety level. In the no alcohol condition, rated social skill was negatively correlated with the beliefs that alcohol reduces tension and reduces fear of negative evaluation. Results are discussed with reference to social learning approaches to understanding drinking behaviour.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

First impressions count: a controlled investigation of social skill following closed head injury.

This study examined social skills in 14 closed head injured (CHI) patients who were assessed at four months post-injury and compared with 19 orthopaedic control (OC) patients. Social skills deficits were found to be more common in the CHI patients, of whom over half were classified as socially unskilled. CHI patients displayed poorer social skills in the earlier (but not later) part of an extended social interaction, indicating that they make a poor first impression. It is suggested that poor initial impression formation skills may be one reason why CHI patients fail to establish and maintain friendships. Implications of these findings for patient management are discussed. Close others of CHI patients reported higher levels of mood disturbance. Higher levels of close other hostility were associated with social skills deficits in CHI patients.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Coping strategies and affect in rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis. Relationship to pain and disability.

Affective state and utilization of coping strategies are factors that may be related to pain and disability in chronic disease, but may also be interrelated. The relationship of coping strategies and affect to both concurrent and 18-month follow-up pain and disability was studied in 60 women with rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis of < 8 years' duration. The type of coping strategy used was not associated with concurrent mood level. After accounting for physical variables, mood and strategy use were significantly, and largely independently, related to concurrent pain and disability measures. Future disability was not predicted by either mood or coping strategy use. These results show that mood and use of coping strategies are significantly related to concurrent function but, perhaps due to the variable nature of the disease process, are not predictive of future function. The clinical implications of this study are that interventions to promote better adjustment for people with rheumatoid or psoriatic arthritis should target both mood and coping strategies, as both may contribute independently to adjustment.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1991

Behavioral assessment of social competence following severe head injury.

Eighteen community-dwelling adults who had suffered a very severe closed-head injury more than 18 months previously and required long-term rehabilitative support were compared with a closely matched control group on a number of behavioral measures of skill during social interaction. Results showed that during social interactions the head-injured patients exhibited impaired communication skills. They appeared disinterested, and their speech was characterized as lacking in fluency and clarity due to their difficulty in finding appropriate words, use of inappropriate expressions and inability to express ideas clearly. Attempts to find a relationship between the patients' cognitive deficits and their impaired communication skills were unsuccessful. It is suggested that the often reported poor social adjustment of some head-injured patients is in part related to their inappropriate behavior during social interactions. This is particularly manifest in their poor language skills and speech delivery style.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Vancomycin susceptibility and identification of motile enterococci.

Thirty-seven clinical isolates of Enterococcus gallinarum and Enterococcus casseliflavus and three type or reference strains of the species were studied with respect to vancomycin susceptibility and key identification characteristics. With the exception of one clinical isolate of E. casseliflavus (MIC, 4 micrograms/ml), MICs of vancomycin were 8 to 32 micrograms/ml. The type strain of E. gallinarum, NCDO 2313, and five of the clinical isolates had similar penicillin-binding protein profiles and shared 90 to 100% DNA homology. Two isolates, identified as E. gallinarum by conventional tests, were shown to be non-pigment-producing E. casseliflavus on the basis of penicillin-binding protein profile and DNA homology. The type and reference strains of E. casseliflavus, ATCC 25788 and ATCC 25789, were nonmotile in our experiments. However, both shared 65 to 100% DNA homology with each other and with five clinical isolates of E. casseliflavus. These data suggest that the MICs of vancomycin observed for strains of E. gallinarum and E. casseliflavus are higher than those usually associated with other enterococci and may be a common property of these species. Additionally, pigment production and motility may occasionally be misleading criteria for definitive identification of these organisms.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed1991

Long-term cognitive deficits in patients after surgery on aneurysms of the anterior communicating artery.

The long term recovery of a series of 27 patients who had undergone rupture and repair of an aneurysm of the anterior communicating artery was assessed using a number of neuropsychological measures. Testing took place 12 to 84 months post surgery. On the basis of the results from tests of intellect, memory, and conceptual learning, three subgroups of patients were identified: those with persuasive cognitive defects, those with evidence of residual frontal lobe damage and those who showed no evidence of dysfunction. The occurrence of cerebral vasospasm was the most consistent predictor of long term cognitive deficit.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Direct and indirect memory performance in patients with senile dementia.

The performance of patients with a presumptive clinical diagnosis of Senile Dementia of the Alzheimer's Type was compared to that of a group of normal elderly on several memory and neuropsychological tasks. The patients were impaired on tasks of free and cued recall, but exhibited normal performance on a word-completion procedure similar to that used by Graf et al. (1984). Reasons for the discrepancy between these findings and those from related research which reports impairment of word completion in patients with Alzheimer's Disease are discussed. Of particular interest is the role the orientating task plays in word-completion performance.

Aged↗
PubMed1990

The tension reduction hypothesis revisited: an alcohol expectancy perspective.

The tension reduction hypothesis has been historically and cross-culturally a predominant explanation of alcohol's effects. However, its validation has been inconsistent. One speculative reason for this inconsistency is a failure to control for preheld alcohol expectancies. Past research may have confounded results due to studying populations mixed regarding their expectations of alcohol's tension reducing effects. Only two studies could be found which have comprehensively attempted to control for tension reduction expectancies, both supporting a modified tension reduction hypothesis which does not offer tension reduction as the only explanation of drinking behaviour. The interaction of pharmacology, expectancy, gender role and situation suggest that tension reduction is of major importance in understanding the drinking of many, but not all, individuals. This is consistent with recent 'metatheories' of alcohol use which emphasize the complexity and multiplicity of alcohol's effects. Future theoretical and clinical implications of the revised tension reduction hypothesis and expectancies are briefly discussed.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed1990

A self-report articular index measure of arthritic activity: investigations of reliability, validity and sensitivity.

A self-report measure of rheumatoid arthritic activity developed from the articular index described by Thompson, Silman, Kirwan, and Currey (1987), was tested for reliability, validity, and sensitivity to therapeutic change. Concurrent validity was demonstrated by a significant correlation, (ICC = 0.83) between the self-report measure and a standard Thompson index completed by a rheumatologist. Test-retest reliability was demonstrated by significant correlations (ICC = 0.88, ICC = 0.77) between repeated administrations of the self-report form in 2 independent samples. The self-report measure demonstrated sensitivity to therapeutic change when completed by patients both before and after intraarticular corticosteroid injection. The rheumatologist's index correlated significantly with C-reactive protein but the self-report form did not.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Social interaction and speed of information processing following very severe head-injury.

Eighteen adults who had suffered a very severe closed head-injury more than 18 months previously and required long-term rehabilitative support were compared with a closely matched control group. Unlike previous studies, which have reported negative personality change involving an increase in aversive behaviour, our behavioural observation data suggest that a global reduction in behavioural productivity, or negative symptomatology, characterizes social interaction by this group. This resulted in their being judged less socially skilled, less likeable and less interesting, and thus less reinforcing to interact with. Speed of information processing was specifically impaired for the closed head-injury group, although this did not correlate with global behavioural ratings of social interaction behaviour. It is suggested that low behavioural productivity may be associated with family burden, and that the low quantity of social interaction experienced by severely head-injured adults may reflect the unreinforcing nature of their interactions.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Some normative, reliability, and factor analytic data for the revised UCLA Loneliness Scale.

Normative statistics are provided for the UCLA Loneliness Scale based on the results of a sample of 978 adult subjects collected during a general population health survey. Factor analysis of the data revealed that the scale had a two factor structure; positively worded items loaded on one factor and negatively worded items on the other. Results from the factor analysis were used to construct two equivalent 10-item short forms of the scale. Previous findings that the scale is highly reliable were confirmed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Inpatient Memory Impairment Scale: a cross-validation and extension study.

The psychometric properties of the Inpatient Memory Impairment Scale (IMIS), a 10-item behavioural rating scale for assessing hospitalized amnesiacs, were investigated using matched groups of 18 amnesiacs, 20 chronic alcoholics, and 20 psychiatric patients. The scale was found to have a high degree of internal consistency and interrater reliability when two raters are used and to correlate significantly with a range of memory tasks. The IMIS was found to discriminate amnesiacs from chronic alcoholics and amnesiacs from psychiatric patients, which extends the findings of previous studies that used this scale. It is concluded that the IMIS has encouraging psychometric properties that have been replicated in this study and that the development of ecologically valid behavioral measures of cognitive deficit represents a promising direction for future research.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

The Spielberger Anger Expression Scale: some psychometric data.

Some general population norms for the Spielberger, Johnson et al. (1984) Anger Expression Scale (AX) are reported for a sample of over 1000 adults tested in a general health survey of a New Zealand community. Factor analysis confirmed the independence of the Anger/In and Anger/Out subscales, and the measure was found to have satisfactory levels of reliability.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Memory training and behavioral rehabilitation of a severely head-injured adult.

Neuropsychologic and behavioral assessment data are presented for a severely head-injured adult who participated in both a memory training and a behavioral skills training program. The memory training was ineffective and did not appear to contribute to the successful community placement of this head-injured adult. Behavioral skills training produced improvements in adaptive functioning as assessed by the Adaptive Behavior Scale (ABS); and it is argued that psychosocial and not cognitive factors may be crucial to the rehabilitation of head-injured adults. The development and evaluation of behavioral assessment and retraining methods is suggested as a promising direction for future research with head-injured adults.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1987

The relationship between expectations of pregnancy and birth, and transient depression in the immediate post-partum period.

Ninety-eight primiparous women recruited from antenatal classes evaluated their expectations and experiences of pregnancy and delivery before and after birth. On each day they were in hospital post-partum, the women were also asked to rate their level of depression. No correlation was found between anticipated and actual experience of birth. However, women who rated the birth experience as being unpleasant, also reported retrospectively that they were not expecting this to occur. The most consistent predictors of depression in the days immediately after birth were trait anxiety and fear of birth, assessed during pregnancy. Expectation of birth, birth experience, and whether birth was as expected, did not predict post-partum blues. The implications of these results for procedures for preparing women for childbirth are discussed.

Adult↗