Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

S Carey

Publications and source records attributed to S Carey.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1999

Infants' ability to use object kind information for object individuation.

The present studies investigate infants reliance on object kind information in solving the problem of object individuation. Two experiments explored whether adults, 10- and 12-month-old infants could use their knowledge of ducks and cars to individuate an ambiguous array consisting of a toy duck perched on a toy car into two objects. A third experiment investigated whether 10-month-old infants could use their knowledge of cups and shoes to individuate an array consisting of a cup perched on a shoe into two objects. Ten-month-old infants failed to use object kind information alone to resolve the ambiguity with both pairs of objects. In contrast, infants this age succeeded in using spatiotemporal information to segment the array into two objects, i.e. they succeeded if shown that the duck moved independently relative to the car, or the cup relative to the shoe. Twelve-month-old infants, as well as adults, succeeded at object individuation on the basis of object kind information alone. These findings shed light on the developmental course of object individuation and provide converging evidence for the Object-first Hypothesis [Xu, F., Carey, S., 1996; Xu, F., 1997b]. Early on, infants may represent only one concept that provides criteria for individuation, namely physical object; kind concepts such as duck, car, cup, and shoe may be acquired later in the first year of life.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Physical functioning: definitions, measurement, and expectations.

The nephrology community has begun to recognize the importance of physical functioning in the overall treatment of their patients. Physical functioning is highly associated with such outcomes as hospitalization, nursing home admission, falling, level of dependency, and death in older individuals. Because there are many terms used to refer to physical functioning, this report classifies physical functioning into basic actions and complex activities; activities considered essential for maintaining independence, and those considered discretionary that are not required for independent living, but may have an impact on quality of life. We also present a model of the determinants of physical functioning, which goes beyond the presence or absence of disease and considers physical, sensory, environmental, and behavioral factors. Measurement of physical functioning can be complicated and ranges from self-report questionnaires to performance measures of specific tasks to vigorous laboratory measures. There are limitations to each of the measurement methods; however, some level of assessment provides information about the patient that is not otherwise available. Valid and reliable tests of physical performance are available that are easily administered and provide valuable information about the patient. Just as the patient's nutrition, medications, and adequacy of dialysis are monitored, baseline and subsequent physical functioning assessments allow us to monitor the patient's clinical course as it relates to their physical ability. Such measurement also allows for the identification of patients with lower functioning who would benefit from physical therapy or other exercise intervention.

Exercise↗
PubMed1999

Staff responsibility to exercise.

Recent attention has been focused on the importance of exercise for improving the physical functioning of renal patients. The involvement of the dialysis staff in encouragement and implementation of programs is critical to the success of patient efforts in improving physical functioning. Staff responsibility initially consists of various developmental steps that are focused on gaining staff support and developing a plan that matches the needs and the resources available to the unit. Each staff member plays a critical role in the development, implementation, and evaluation of the exercise program. A concerted effort from all staff to incorporate exercise as a routine part of the patient care will enhance the potential of success and patient participation.

Exercise Therapy↗
PubMed1998

Knowledge enrichment and conceptual change in folkbiology: evidence from Williams syndrome.

Ten participants with Williams syndrome (WS) (average verbal mental age of 11;5) were compared to two groups of normally developing children (average mental ages 10;11 and 6;7 years) with respect to intuitive biological knowledge about people, animals, and plants. Participants in the older control group were individually matched to the participants with WS on verbal mental age. The probes for biological understanding were drawn from the existing literature on the development of folkbiology and were divided into two batteries based on the hypothesized distinction of (1) general knowledge consistent with the conceptual repertoire of normally developing preschool children (the T1/T2-Neutral Animal Knowledge battery) and (2) folkbiological concepts normally acquired between ages 6 and 12 which require conceptual change for their construction (life, death, people-as-one-animal-among-many, species kind as determined by origin of the animal; the T2-Dependent battery). The two task batteries were equated for task demands, differing only in the content of the concepts probed. It was hypothesized that if this distinction is a false one, and the construction of folkbiology is accomplished entirely by enrichment of the preschooler's knowledge, there should never be a population with differential performance on these two batteries. People with WS were nonetheless found to be differentially impaired on the T2-Dependent battery. They performed at the level of the older control group on the T1/T2-Neutral battery, but at the level of the 6-year-olds on the T2-Dependent battery. These data support the distinction between two types of conceptual knowledge acquisition: acquisition of new knowledge formulated over an existing conceptual base (enrichment), on the one hand, and knowledge acquisition that results in genuine conceptual change, on the other. The implication of these results for a precise characterization of how concepts of people with "cocktail party syndrome" may be "superficial" is also discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Prospective, multicenter study of laparoscopic ventral hernioplasty. Preliminary results.

BACKGROUND: A standard technique for laparoscopic ventral hernioplasty (peritoneal onlay using an expanded polytetrafluoroethylene [ePTFE] patch for hernias >/=4 cm2) is being used in a prospective, multicenter, long-term study. METHODS: Demographic, operative, and postoperative data were collected and analyzed. Follow-up clinical evaluations were conducted 7-10 days, 4 weeks, 6 months, 1 year, and then annually after surgery in all patients. RESULTS: In the first 2 years of the study, 144 patients were enrolled; nine were lost to follow-up. The mean operating time was 120 min. The mean follow-up was 222 days (range 5-731). Postoperative complications were five infections, three cases of prolonged ileus, one bowel obstruction, 23 seromas (15 resolved without intervention), and six hernia recurrences. Hospital discharge occurred a mean of 2.3 days after surgery and return to normal activity a mean of 15 days postoperatively. CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic prosthetic ventral hernioplasty avoids the large wound required in open repairs, with attendant complications and recurrences, and appears safe, especially if an ePTFE mesh is used. Compared with conventional open ventral hernioplasty, the laparoscopic technique may also allow shorter hospitalization and a quicker return to normal activities after surgery.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Coding spatial variations in faces and simple shapes: a test of two models.

Faces all have the same basic elements in the same overall arrangement, and must be discriminated using variations in this shared configuration. An efficient way to represent these variations would be to code how each configuration differs from an average face (norm-based coding model). Alternatively, configurations could be represented simply by coding their absolute values in some coordinate system (absolute coding model). The two models differ in the variables they predict will influence an image's recognizability. Absolute coding predicts that recognizability will depend on an image's distinctiveness and degree of distortion from its veridical target. Norm-based coding predicts that recognizability will also depend on the way the image differs from a norm or average face, namely its distance from the norm and/or its degree of displacement from the norm-deviation vector for the target. We determined the effects of these four critical variables on recognition of undistorted (veridical) images, caricatures, anticaricatures and 'lateral' distortions of famous faces (Experiment 1), newly learned faces (Experiment 2), and simple shapes that also share a configuration (Experiment 2). The results favored absolute coding of both faces and shapes, and indicate that caricatures derive their power from their distinctiveness.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Nithsdale schizophrenia surveys. 17. Fifteen year review.

BACKGROUND: In recent years there has been a shift to 'community care' and the introduction of several 'atypical' antipsychotic drugs. We report the impact of these changes. METHOD: In Nithsdale, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, the population of patients with schizophrenia was identified in 1996. This census replicated a study carried out in 1981. The population with schizophrenia were compared on clinical and social variables. The whereabouts in 1996 of the 1981 population was determined. RESULTS: In comparison with the 1981 population, more patients in 1996 had positive, negative and non-schizophrenic symptoms. More showed tardive dyskinesia. Social adjustment had not changed. They had spent less time in hospital; fewer (13%) were living with their parents; and fewer (8%) were employed. By 1996, 35% of the 1981 cohort had died (standardised mortality rate male-154; female-162). CONCLUSIONS: The mental health of a community of people with schizophrenia living in a rural area in 1996 was poorer than in 1981.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

NIGHTINGALE MM system--the work in progress.

A multimedia computer based system for the self-learning of Nursing Informatics has been designed as a part of NIGHTINGALE project. A video thread has been designed as a central structure and "a real life anchor" for the abstract concepts related to the Electronic Patient Record. The hypermedia structure of the application has been maintained through the mapping of illustrated IT entries to specific points in the video sequences.

Computer-Assisted Instruction↗
PubMed1996

Infants' metaphysics: the case of numerical identity.

Adults conceptualize the world in terms of enduring physical objects. Sortal concepts provide conditions of individuation (establishing the boundaries of objects) and numerical identity (establishing whether an object is the same one as one encountered at some other time). In the adult conceptual system, there are two roughly hierarchical levels of object sortals. Most general is the sortal bounded physical object itself, for which spatiotemporal properties provide the criteria for individuation and identity. More specific sortals, such as dog or car, rely on additional types of properties to provide criteria for individuation and identity. We conjecture that young infants might represent only the general sortal, object, and construct more specific sortals later (the Object-first Hypothesis). This is closely related to Bower's (1974) conjecture that infants use spatiotemporal information to trace identity before they use property information. Five studies using the visual habituation paradigm were conducted to address the Object-first Hypothesis. In these studies, 10-month-old infants were able to use spatiotemporal information but failed to use property/kind information to set up representations of numerically distinct individuals, thus providing empirical evidence for the Object-first Hypothesis. Finally, infants succeed at object individuation in terms of more specific sortals by 12 months. The relation between success at our task and early noun comprehension is discussed.

Concept Formation↗
PubMed1996

Prothrombin-related antigens in human aortic intima.

Most plasma proteins are present in both normal and atherosclerotic intima, and their concentrations in intimal interstitial fluid are directly related to plasma concentration and molecular size. All intimal samples also contain soluble fibrin-fibrinogen-related antigens, consisting of variable mixtures of fibrinogen and fibrinogen and fibrin degradation products; the extracted washed tissue contains insoluble fibrin. It appears that the fibrinogen is subjected both to degradation and to conversion to fibrin, which in turn undergoes lysis. Biochemically, insoluble "fibrin" can be detected by incubating the washed tissue with plasmin, and assaying the fibrin degradation products that are released; they are released from all samples, including small amounts from normal intima. The fibrin could arise by incorporation of a mural fibrin clot and/or clotting of the fibrinogen within the intima, which contains a "cocktail" of clotting-related factors including prothrombin/thrombin-related antigens, antithrombin III (AT III), and other protease inhibitors: in recent experiments stripped intima was immediately treated with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, minced, extracted with Tris-buffered saline, and the extracts analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and immunoblotting with antisera to prothrombin and AT III. Surprisingly, all blots treated with antiprothrombin antisera showed large bands migrating with free thrombin (36 to 37 kDa) and prothrombin (74 kDa) and four intermediate bands. In addition, in all 10 samples examined a band of high molecular mass (170 kDa) but variable intensity was present. This 170-kDa band comigrated with the major band reacting with anti-serum to AT III. The theoretical 1:1 thrombin:AT III complex (98 kDa) was not detected. Thus active thrombin appears to be present in intima, and this may be a highly atherogenic factor, both causing fibrin deposition and acting as a potent mitogen for arterial smooth muscle cells.

Antigens↗
PubMed1996

T cell responses to the paramyxovirus simian virus 5: studies in multiple sclerosis and normal populations.

A recent study suggested that a significant portion of the oligoclonal IgG found in multiple sclerosis (MS) cerebrospinal fluid may be removed by absorption with simian virus 5 (SV5). We have now evaluated the proliferative responses to SV5 generated by peripheral blood mononuclear cells from normal adult subjects and from patients with MS. Positive responses were detected in 16 of 16 subjects in each group. The magnitude of the response was not significantly different in the two groups. There was no correlation between the level of response and the presence or absence of HLA-DR2. No cross-reactivity with SV5 was demonstrated by panels of human T cell clones directed against myelin basic protein or measles virus. More than 60% of normal individuals between 10 and 16 years of age also generated positive T cell proliferative responses to SV5, while fewer than 25% of subjects below the age of 6 generated positive responses. Intermediate percentages of positive responders were detected in subjects 6-9 years of age. We conclude that the adult human population has been widely exposed to this organism and that initial exposure generally occurs in the early to middle school-age years.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Like father, like son: young children's understanding of how and why offspring resemble their parents.

4 studies investigated the broad claim that preschoolers understand biological inheritance. In Study 1, 4-7-year-old children were told a story in which a boy was born to one man and adopted by another. The biological father was described as having one set of features (e.g., green eyes) and the adoptive father as having another (e.g., brown eyes). Subjects were asked which man the boy would resemble when he grew up. Preschoolers showed little understanding that selective chains of processes mediate resemblance to parents. It was not until age 7 that children substantially associated the boy with his biological father on physical features and his adoptive father on beliefs. That is, it was not until age 7 that children demonstrated that they understood birth as part of a process selectively mediating the acquisition of physical traits and learning or nurturance as mediating the acquisition of beliefs. In Study 2, subjects were asked whether, as a boy grew up, various of his features could change. Children generally shared our adult intuitions, indicating that their failure in Study 1 was not due to their having a different sense of what features can change. Studies 3 and 4 replicated Study 1, with stories involving mothers instead of fathers and with lessened task demands. Taken together, the results of the 4 studies refute the claim that preschoolers understand biological inheritance. The findings are discussed in terms of whether children understand biology as an autonomous cognitive domain.

Adoption↗
PubMed1996

Unusual accelerated progression of saccular aneurysms in an ectatic right coronary artery.

Localized aneurysmal dilation or ectasia of coronary arteries is a relatively uncommon angiographic finding, of which the pathophysiological mechanism remains speculative. The majority of patients diagnosed with this clinical entity usually present with angina pectoris. Furthermore, it is rare to find isolated ectasia or aneurysm dilation of the coronary arteries in patients with no prior history of coronary artery disease. The natural course is usually slowly progressive. This case demonstrates an unusual accelerated dilation of coronary saccular aneurysms, within a year of diagnosis, in a patient who presented with new onset congestive heart failure. Although the diagnosis was made with coronary angiography, both magnetic resonance imaging and transesophageal echocardiography were of critical diagnostic value to identify the size and extension of the aneurysms as well as the presence of intraluminal thrombi.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

Becoming a face expert.

Young children do not form representations of newly encountered faces as efficiently as do adults. A first step in explaining this difference, like any age-related change, is locating its source. A major source of the improvement is acquisition of knowledge of faces per se, as opposed to age-related changes in general pattern encoding or memorial skills. Two consequences of expertise at individualizing members of classes that share a basic configuration are known: a large inversion effect and a caricature advantage. It is possible that both of these effects reflect increased reliance, with expertise, on configuration distinguishing features. Several phenomena that indicate that inversion interferes with the encoding of configural aspects of faces are reviewed. Finally, developmental data are presented that confirm the suspicion that there are at least two distinct sources of the vulnerability of face encoding to inversion, perhaps reflecting two distinct senses of 'configural encoding' of faces, only one of which is implicated in adult expertise at face encoding.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Ontological categories guide young children's inductions of word meaning: object terms and substance terms.

Three experiments assessed the possibility, suggested by Quine (1960, 1969) among others, that the ontology underlying natural language is induced in the course of language learning, rather than constraining learning from the beginning. Specifically, we assessed whether the ontological distinction between objects and non-solid substances conditions projection of word meanings prior to the child's mastery of count/mass syntax. Experiments 1 and 2 contrasted unfamiliar objects with unfamiliar substances in a word-learning task. Two-year-old subjects' projection of the novel word to new objects respected the shape and number of the original referent. In contrast, their projection of new words for non-solid substances ignored shape and number. There were no effects of the child's knowledge of count/mass syntax, nor of the syntactic context in which the new word was presented. Experiment 3 revealed that children's natural biases in the absence of naming do not lead to the same pattern of results. We argue that these data militate against Quine's conjecture.

Child, Preschool↗