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Biomedical subjects

R Lansdown

Publications and source records attributed to R Lansdown.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Childrens' and adults' reactions to photographs taken before and after facial surgery.

This study is one of the very few which examines observers' evaluations of photographs of faces taken before and after relatively minor facial reconstructive surgery. Observers of over thirteen years of age judged the 'after' operation faces to be significantly more attractive, intelligent and happy than the 'before' faces. The judgements of observers aged under twelve years were not affected, thus suggesting that adult negative stereotyping of abnormal faces is due to social-learning. The results of this study lend weight to the argument that those who wish to have their facial abnormalities reduced may be accurately reporting that society is unkind to them. The evidence does not support the view that people wishing to have facial abnormality reduction must, by definition, be neurotic phantasizers.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Automated testing of reaction time and its association with lead in children.

Following Needleman et al.'s (1979) report of a correlation between tooth lead estimates in children and reaction time as measured by Rodnick and Shakow's (1940) delayed reaction time paradigm, a version of the procedure with two delay periods of 3 s and 12 s was developed for automated presentation and scoring on a VIC-20 microcomputer. Data are presented from a study of 300 children aged 6-14 years. Mean reaction time over six trials for each delay period related in a curvilinear fashion with age, but no relationships were found with sex or intelligence. Age-adjusted reaction time related significantly with blood-lead levels, but accounted for only about 1 per cent of the variance. The effect was mainly observed in younger (6-10 years) children in whom higher lead was associated with slower reaction time.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1985

Behavioural methods in the treatment of sleep disorders--a pilot study.

The efficacy of behavioural methods of treatment for severe sleep disorders was examined in a pilot study involving 35 children aged 1-5 years. Improvement occurred in 77%. Methodological issues concerning the selection of children for treatment, selecting adequate controls and outcome measures, and using parents as therapists, are discussed.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed1983

The effects of lead exposure on urban children: the Institute of Child Health/Southampton Study.

A study of the associations between level of tooth lead, behaviour, intelligence and a variety of other psychological skills was carried out in the child population aged six to seven years in three London boroughs. Tooth lead was estimated from the chemical analysis of shed teeth donated by children. 2663 (62.4 per cent) of the eligible children donated teeth. A study of the total population was carried out to see if those who donated teeth were representative of that population. There were small but consistent and statistically significant differences--tooth-givers being of slightly higher intelligence and showing fewer behaviour problems. 403 children, selected on the basis of their tooth-lead levels and social class, were studied more intensively. They were classified into six pre-arranged groups--high, medium and low tooth-lead levels, with each lead group divided into two social groups, manual and non-manual. The parents of these children were intensively interviewed in their homes regarding parental interest and attitudes to education, family characteristics and relationships, the early history of the child and the child's physical environment. The intelligence of the mother was measured. The child was then studied in school using tests of intelligence, educational attainment and other cognitive tasks. Teachers and parents completed standardised behaviour questionnaires. The results showed that intelligence and other psychological measures were strongly related to social factors, especially social grouping. Lead level was linked to a variety of factors in the home, especially the level of cleanliness, and to a lesser extent, maternal smoking. There was no significant link between lead level and behaviour, though when rated by teachers, but not by parents, there were small and reasonably consistent non-significant tendencies for high-lead children to show more difficult behaviour. Before social factors were controlled for, there were significant differences between the lead groups in measures of intelligence and two other psychological tests, the children in the high-lead groups performing worse. Once a number of social factors had been taken into account, the differences between the three lead groups (high, medium and low) became small and statistically nonsignificant, although they remained in the same direction.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Child↗
PubMed1981

The relationship between blood lead concentrations, intelligence and attainment in a school population: a pilot study.

One-hundred-and-sixty-six children whose blood lead levels had previously been determined were assessed on a battery of psychometric tests. Blood lead levels ranged from 7 to 33 micrograms/100 ml, and the group performed within the average range on all tests of attainment and intelligence. There were significant associations between blood lead levels and attainment scores on tests of reading, spelling and intelligence, but not on mathematics. These differences in performances largely remained after social class was partialled out. Partial correlation and multiple regression analyses suggest that while only a small proportion of the variance in intelligence is explained by blood lead levels, this relationship is independent of social class. Caution is necessary in interpreting these findings, in view of the crude measure of social factors available.

Achievement↗
PubMed1979

Moderately raised blood lead levels in children.

There is no doubt that high blood lead levels are associated with mental subnormality and hyperactivity. Several recent studies in Britain and America have investigated the relation between moderate levels, i.e. between 20 and 40 microgram/100 ml and behavioural and cognitive phenomena. Epidemiological studies have generally failed to point to a clearcut relation between such levels and overactivity or decrements in performance on standard intelligence and educational tests. Published studies with the use of chelation techniques have suffered from methodological weaknesses. It is known that socio-economic factors are powerfully related to measured intelligence and behaviour and, on the evidence available, it is to them that attention should primarily be given if preventative measures are being considered. There remains the possibility that more refined test measures would detect impaired functioning in children with moderately raised lead levels, and that there is an interaction effect between lead and host resistance.

Child↗
PubMed1977

Retrospective study of intellectual development in children treated for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Nine younger children (mean age 6-3 years) and 6 older children (mean age 9-0 years), previously treated for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia by cranial irradiation and subsequently by 2 or 3 years of chemotherapy, were assessed in terms of intellectual development in relation to 15 controls, matched individually for age, sex, and social background. All children were functioning within a normal range. The older group of children performed as well as their matched controls in all tasks. However, the younger group tended to perform somewhat below their matched controls, and this applied especially to tasks measuring quantitative, memory, and motor skills, but not to language tasks. It is concluded that there is a continual need to monitor the development of children treated for leukaemia, especially when diagnosed in the 2- to 5- year age range.

Age Factors↗