Biomedical subjects

R L Murray

Publications and source records attributed to R L Murray.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1999

A descriptive study of insight into illness reported by persons with schizophrenia.

1. Four levels of insight, ranging from lack of insight to complete insight, emerged from the interview data and field notes. Insight has many dimensions although it has previously been assessed as a unidimensional indicator of illness. 2. Persons with schizophrenia differ in insight or ability to recognize that they have an illness and the ramifications of the illness. Successful participation in rehabilitation requires some degree of insight into the illness. 3. Consistent family support, medications, and cognitive efforts by the person contributed to the developing of insight by the persons interviewed. Nevertheless, these conditions were not always sufficient for developing insight.

Adult↗

PubMed1998

Conceptualization and measurement of insight.

Insight is a complex phenomenon which has been conceptualized variously as a symptom of schizophrenia and as awareness of illness, making comparisons of studies measuring insight difficult. Furthermore, attempts to establish a correlation between insight and successful treatment outcomes are fraught with methodological problems. Specifically, categorical judgments fail to capture important information about the quality of insight; inappropriate inferential statistics have been used; and validity of instruments to measure insight has not been established. In future research, the concept of insight needs to be clarified. Nonparametric statistical analysis should be considered for small, nonnormally distributed samples. Qualitative exploratory research is needed.

Awareness↗

PubMed1995

Evaluation of a transitional residential programme for homeless chronically mentally ill people.

This paper reports a successful transitional programme in the USA. The research programme evaluation covered 5.5 years and 228 severely and persistently mentally ill homeless clients who lived in a transitional residential centre. Forty-eight per cent of the residents achieved the Programme's goals of obtaining and maintaining permanent housing and a disability pension or a job. Achievement of client goals was positively related to length of stay of 3 months or more, to five or more previous psychiatric hospitalizations, and to participation in two or more ongoing activities whilst in the programme. Psychiatric diagnosis was not directly related to goal attainment in this programme.

Adult↗

PubMed1987

Phosphate-binding properties and electrolyte content of aluminum hydroxide antacids.

The phosphate-binding capacities of 19 liquid and solid aluminum hydroxide gel antacids were determined in vitro under varying pH conditions. The resulting data provide a basis explaining the phosphate-binding characteristics observed when patients are treated with long-term aluminum hydroxide therapy. No antacid, liquid or solid, showed significant binding at pH 1.0. Maximum phosphate binding (expressed as phosphorus; P) was observed at pH 2.0 and 3.0 for most antacids and decreased markedly at alkaline pH. The liquid antacids showed a significantly greater phosphate-binding capacity than did tablets or capsules (p less than 0.01). At pH 2.0, the liquid antacids bound a mean of 22.3 mg P/5 ml. At pH 8.0 binding was reduced to a mean of 7.3 mg P/5 ml. Significant interbrand differences were observed. At pH 2.0, the solid antacids bound a mean of 15.3 mg P/tablet or capsule. At pH 8.0, binding was reduced to a mean of 5.8 mg P/tablet or capsule. Interbrand differences, while substantial, were less than those observed among the liquid antacids. Variations in sodium and potassium content were clinically insignificant for most of the antacids in this study, while the differences in phosphate-binding properties were sufficient to warrant attention in the patient with renal failure.

Aluminum Hydroxide↗

PubMed1975

The occurrence of actinlike filaments in association with migrating pigment granules in frog retinal pigment epithelium.

In the retina of the frog and certain other animals, melanin pigment granules move in response to light so as to shield photoreceptor outer segments. The granules are contained within the cells of the pigment epithelium (PE) which lie as a continuous sheet between the neural retina and the choroid. Moderate illumination of the eye causes the melanin granules to move from a region within a PE cell body into numerous fingerlike extensions of the cell which interdigitate with the receptor outer segments. This migration takes many minutes and is reversed when the light falling on the eye increases in intensity. Several reviews are concerned with the early descriptions of this phenomenon (6,30) and with more recent experiments (1,5,19). The mechanism of the pigment granule motion is undetermined although there are studies concerning PE ultrastructure (8, 23, 31), scanning electron microscopy of the fingerlike extensions of the PE cells (27), the role of the PE in photoreceptor phagocytosis (32), the nature of the pigment granules (19), and the action spectrum of the light which induces the migration (16). This study reports the presence of a system of microfilaments associated with the pigment granules in the fingerlike extensions processes of the PE cells. We demonstrate by heavy meromyosin (HMM) labeling that the filaments are actinlike in character and suggest that these filaments could be responsible for the migration of the melanin pigment granules.

Actins↗

PubMed1975