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Biomedical subjects

R J Kirkby

Publications and source records attributed to R J Kirkby.

34 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1978

Exploratory behavior in rats following bilateral lesions of the anterodorsal caudate nuclei.

9 rats received bilateral lesions to the anterodorsal caudate nuclei and 9 rats underwent sham operation procedures. After recovery the subjects were observed in an apparatus allowing access to familiar or novel stimuli. The caudotomized rats spent a significantly greater proportion of time exploring the novel stimuli. The results were not consistent with the suggestions that following damage to the caudate nucleus animals were unresponsive to novelty, however, they did support earlier findings implicating the caudate nucleus in learning and memory processes.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Smoking in nurses.

An anonymous questionnaire requesting information on smoking habits was administered to 220 randomly chosen trainee and registered nurses (159 females and 61 males). There was no significant difference between the proportion of male nurses (55-7%) and the proportion of males (45-0%) in the Australian sample who smoked. However, the 52-2% of female nurses smoking was significantly greater than the 29-0% reported for the Australian female population. There was some indication that the increased smoking in female nurses reflected a response to stress. Further analysis showed that nursing personnel were giving up smoking at the same rate as the general Australian sample.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1975

Dominance behavior in the rat following lesions of the caudate nuclei.

Rats with bilateral lesions of the anterior caudate nucleus or the dorsolateral frontal cortex were tested against sham-operated rats in a straight-alley dominance situation. In 91% of encounters the caudate lesion rats forced the sham-operated animals to retreat. The frontal lesion rats won only 56% of their encounters, a proportion no different to that expected by chance. The performance of the caudate-damaged rats could not be explained satisfactorily in terms of increased motivation, changes in activity, motor impairments, or perseverative tendencies. It seemed more likely that the apparent increase in dominance was associated with changes in the level of aggression.

Animals↗