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Biomedical subjects

R Sills

Publications and source records attributed to R Sills.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Adolescents' help-seeking behaviour: the difference between self- and other-referral.

This study examines the difference between adolescents' willingness to seek help for themselves and their willingness to refer others for help. Participants were 512 Israeli adolescents (219 males, 293 females) in grade 10. Adolescents' willingness to seek help from five sources was evaluated with respect to themselves and others, for both severe and minor problems. Adolescents were more willing to refer another person than themselves to most of the sources of support. Differences were more pronounced for severe problems and referrals to psychologists, school counsellors and teachers. Girls were more willing than boys to seek help from their parents and friends. Actual help-seeking behaviour was positively related to willingness to seek help from various sources of support. The results are discussed with reference to the threat to self mechanism and other costs.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Management of fatal illness and death in children or their parents.

Assisting families facing a death necessitates constant reevaluation of each family's adaptation to the illness. Protracted terminal illness is particularly difficult because the prolonged stress, suffering, and pain may be much more difficult to cope with than the death itself. Successful management requires acknowledging the families' emotions, assuring them that their responses are normal, and providing them a balanced perspective through supportive, honest, and open communication. In so doing, the pediatrician can help families predict reactions, manage problems, and avoid long-term psychological consequences.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

Cerebrospinal nematodiasis in a goat herd.

During the fall of 1985, 4 Angora goats, from a herd of 40, were examined on a farm in central Michigan. Affected goats were alert but had neurologic deficits consistent with upper and lower moto neuron involvement. Eosinophilic pleocytosis in a cerebrospinal fluid sample from one goat was consistent with cerebrospinal nematodiasis. Parelaphostrongylosis was confirmed in 3 goats by identification of Parelaphostrongylosis tenuis larvae in spinal cord sections. Ivermectin may have influenced the herd's susceptibility to new parasitic infections. Control of parelaphostrongylosis probably is best achieved by removal of susceptible animals from treed swamps coinhabited by white-tailed deer from late summer until after the first killing frost.

Animals↗

Toxicology and carcinogenesis studies of ozone and ozone 4-(N-nitrosomethylamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone in Fischer-344/N rats.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the toxicity and potential carcinogenicity or cocarcinogenicity of ozone exposure in rats. Fischer-344/N (F-344/N) rats were exposed 6 hr/day, 5 days/wk, to 0, 0.12, 0.5, or 1.0 ppm ozone by inhalation for 2-yr and lifetime exposures. The cocarcinogenicity study included subcutaneous administration of 0, 0.1, or 1.0 mg/kg body weight of 4-(N-nitrosomethylamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) and inhalation of 0 or 0.5 ppm ozone to male rats. NNK was administered by subcutaneous injections 3 times per week for the first 20 wk with ozone inhalation exposure. The ozone inhalation exposure was for 2 yr (104 wk), including the first 20 wk of NNK treatment and continuing for 84 wk after the last NNK injection. Ozone exposure caused a concentration-related increase in inflammation of the centriacinar region of the lung. There was also increased fibrosis and an extension of the bronchiolar epithelium in these centriacinar regions to involve the proximal alveoli. There was no increased incidence of neoplasms at any site, including the lung, that was associated with ozone exposure. Rats administered 1.0 mg/kg body weight NNK alone had an increased incidence of bronchiolar/alveolar neoplasms, but this effect was not enhanced by ozone exposure. Ozone exposure for 2 yr and lifetime was associated with site-specific toxic alterations in the nasal passage and lung similar to those previously described for short-term exposures. While there was significant attenuation of the pulmonary lesions as compared to short-term exposures, lesions persisted in the lifetime study and there was evidence of a mild progressive fibrosis. We conclude that under the conditions of these studies: (a) ozone exposure is not carcinogenic to either male or female F-344/N rats, (b) ozone does not enhance the incidence of pulmonary neoplasms in F-344/N rats exposed to a known pulmonary carcinogen (NNK), and (c) mild site-specific toxic lesions characteristic of ozone exposure persist in the nasal passage and lung throughout the lifetime of the rat with continued ozone exposure.

Administration, Inhalation↗