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Biomedical subjects

R Short

Publications and source records attributed to R Short.

63 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
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Lancet with less pain.

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Blood Specimen Collection↗
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Predictors of burden and infectious illness in schizophrenia caregivers.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to test predictive models of schizophrenia caregiver burden and infectious illness episodes for caregivers who had regular contact with their mentally ill family members. METHODS: A nurse interviewer, blind to the patient's symptoms, caregiver burden, and psychosocial status, administered the Health Review to 70 caregivers. A second family interviewer, blind to caregiver health status and patient symptoms, assessed caregiver resources (eg, active coping and social support), vulnerabilities (eg, anger expression and passive coping) and burden. Concurrently, independent patient raters, blind to caregiver health and psychosocial status, assessed caregiver stressors. The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale and the Modified Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms were used to assess the severity of positive (eg, hallucinations and delusions) and negative (eg, anhedonia and asociality) symptoms, respectively. RESULTS: Predictive models, including measures of stressors, resources, and vulnerability factors for caregiver burden and for presence of infectious illness, were each highly significant, accounting for 40% and 29% of the variance, respectively. However, the specific measures that predicted burden and infectious illness differed. Greater burden was predicted by more severe patient negative symptoms (stressor), greater anger control and blame self-coping (vulnerability), and decreased tangible social support (resource). Presence of infectious illness episodes was predicted by more severe patient positive symptoms (stressor) and less satisfaction with social support while controlling for the frequency of reporting on the Health Review. When scores from the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (stressors) were categorized into quartiles, it was found that the frequency of infectious illness in the highest quartile was four times that in the lowest quartile. Other results indicated that even though burden was not associated with infectious illness, it was associated with "continuing health problems," perceived stress, and depression. CONCLUSIONS: These data indicate that although schizophrenia caregiver burden and infectious illness are predicted by measures of patient stressors, vulnerabilities, and resources, the specific measures predicting these outcomes differ. The results also call attention to the powerful influence of patient symptoms as a predictor of burden and the presence of infectious illness among caregivers.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
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Circadian rhythm changes following maternal separation.

The monkey mother-infant separation paradigm is one of the best available animal models of grief and loss related depression. Because of the evidence implicating a relationship between disturbances in circadian rhythms and affective behavioral disorders, we studied circadian rhythms of temperature and heart rate in 10 group living infant pigtailed (M. nemestrina) monkeys during the affective behavioral reaction which accompanied 10 days separation from the mother. Best fit (least-squares method) cosine curves were computed for a total of 176 24-h periods for heart rate (HR) and 139 24-h periods for body temperature (BT), providing estimates of the fitted cosine level (approximating the mean value of the data), amplitude (half the value from the peak to the trough as the fitted cosine), and acrophase (time of fitted cosine peak). Significant decreases in cosine level, and delay in acrophase of 1-1.5 h, were found for both body temperature and heart rate during separation. Following reunion with the mother the acrophase occurred progressively later on subsequent days, suggesting possible free running rhythms. These data, in addition to reinforcing the relationship between circadian rhythm regulation and affective behavior, demonstrate that circadian phase shifts can be precipitated by disruption of an attachment bond without changing other circadian synchronizers, and support the view that disturbances in the regulation of circadian systems are one component of the reaction to loss or separation.

Animals↗
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Rural versus urban home health: does locale influence OASIS outcomes?

As home health administrators select performance evaluation systems to meet the benchmark requirements of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), a frequently asked question is: Does rural versus urban locale influence patient outcomes? To answer the question, patient outcome data were collected from rural and urban home health agencies. Data analysis showed better outcomes for rural than for urban patients. Locale predicted less than 1% percent of the variance in each of the five outcomes studied. Factors that could account for rural-urban outcome differences were suggested.

Aged↗