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Biomedical subjects

S Fisher

Publications and source records attributed to S Fisher.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

The effect of specimen processing on radiolabeled monoclonal antibody biodistribution.

Monoclonal antibodies are assuming increasing importance in experimental and clinical medicine. Generally, tissue biodistribution studies in animals precede human studies. To investigate a concern of ours that varying methods of sample handling in these studies could result in apparent alterations in tissue-binding levels, we compared two methods of tissue processing after the administration of labeled antibodies: one including only blotting away of blood, the other involving several washing steps. The unwashed, blotted specimens were found to have significantly more radioactivity per gram of tissue than the washed, ranging from 22% more in the spleen to 52% more in the lungs and left ventricle. Since in vivo imaging is dependent on the total mount of radioactivity in an organ, we believe the most meaningful determination of tissue radioactivity should be based on unwashed samples. Awareness of this problem is suggested to allow meaningful extrapolations from measured tissue localization data to imaging and therapy.

Animals↗
PubMed1984

Public knowledge and attitudes about diazepam.

A total of 147 outpatients waiting for a prescription to be filled at a hospital pharmacy were tested on their knowledge about diazepam (Valium). Subjects scored highest on questions about the effects of a small overdose, the drug's interaction with alcohol and hypnotics, and the relative contraindications of pregnancy and breast-feeding. Subjects were least knowledgeable about the drug's generic name, side effects, and interaction with minor stimulants (coffee, tea, cola, and cigarettes). Subjects who had previously used diazepam (N = 97) knew significantly more than subjects who had never taken it, but subjects waiting for a diazepam prescription to be filled (N = 40) were not more knowledgeable than subjects having another type of prescription filled. In contrast to recent findings that increasing patients' drug knowledge via "Patient Package Inserts" (PPIs) may also create an overcautious attitude toward the drug, the present study finds that diazepam knowledge gained experimentally is accompanied by an attitude shift away from such overcautiousness.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Body perception and somatic discomfort in relation to right- versus left-handedness.

Multiple studies analyzed differences in body perception and body complaints between right- and left-handed subjects. Both male and female samples were included. The findings indicated that the left-handed exceeded the right-handed in feelings of body security and degree of body boundary differentiation. In addition, handedness was shown to be linked with different modes of distributing attention to the major sectors of one's body. An adequate explanation of the link between handedness and body perception is not at present available.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

The perception of control in loud noise.

Perception of control is known to affect performance under stress. Two experiments are reported the object of which was to find out how loud noise during a contingency assessment task influences perceived control. Subjects were required to choose one of two responses, note one of two results, and then provide an overall percentage estimation of the degree of contingency present after 40 trials. Subjects made these judgments for one of three levels of objective contingency (25%, 50%, 75%), either in quiet (55 dBA) or in loud noise (95 dBA) conditions. The first experiment involved a series of randomly chosen, preprogrammed outcomes for noncontingent trials. An unexpected effect of noise was that subjects improved their successes in predicting events, and could only have done so by finding sequential structure in the preprogrammed alternations. They also overestimated control relative to contingency data actually received, at the 25% objective contingency level, but the result could have been dependent on different base levels of data actually received. A second experiment, with a random generation of outcomes for noncontingent trials, resulted in no differences in success levels, but confirmed that noise is associated with the overestimation of contingency at the 25% objective contingency level and demonstrated the same effect for the 50% level. The results are discussed in the context of the 'illusion of control'.

Association↗
PubMed1984

Doctor-patient communication: a social and micro-political performance.

In the United States the medical relationship is asymmetrical. Doctors not only control medical knowledge, they also have an institutionally based authority which allows them to act as gatekeepers, providing options to some while denying them to others. This study, conducted in a model family practice clinic of a teaching hospital, examines how decisions to do, or not to do, Pap smears are negotiated as residents and a potentially high-risk group of patients communicate. Decision-making occurs in layered phases--opening, medical history, physical examination, and closing. Each phase expresses the doctor's control and the patient's trust. Doctors initiate phases, develop topics and make key choices. They decide when patients undress--a choice which shapes the later Pap smear decision. Decisions to undress patients and to perform Pap smears or decisions not to undress patients and not to perform Pap smears produce no conflict. When there is a conflict, avoidance strategies--bowing to higher-level specialists, selling and unselling, and letting silence speak--are used negotiating devices. The doctor's choice and the patient's agreement produce a specific and a more general outcome--managing the presenting complaint and providing medically adequate health care, respectively. Although interactionally accomplished, these outcomes are institutionally constrained, and, thus are both a social and a micro-political performance.

Female↗
PubMed1984

Menstrual discomfort, psychological defenses, and feminine identification.

Theorists have suggested that menstrual complaints occur more frequently in women who have a weaker sense of feminine identification. To test this hypothesis 50 women were administered the Body Symptom Questionnaire and the Defense Mechanisms Inventory (DMI). The DMI scales have been linked to differences in sexual identification. Results affirmed a relationship between personality dynamics and the degree of menstrual discomfort experienced by women relative to their other body problems. As predicted, the higher the percentage of menstrual symptoms, the more likely it was that a woman made use of "masculine mode" externalizing defenses and the less apt she was to use "feminine mode" non-externalizing defenses. A composite index of the tendency to externalize hostility when faced with conflict was highly correlated with the percentage of menstrual complaints. The defense pattern findings suggest that a woman who has a strong acceptance of herself as a female will experience fewer of her somatic symptoms as menstrual.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Variant of pseudo-Meig's syndrome.

A variant of pseudo-Meig's syndrome is reported in an 8-year-old female patient. The unusual presentation of this new variant (persistent bronchorrhea and absence of hydrothorax) is emphasized. Meig's and pseudo-Meig's syndromes are discussed with emphasis on the new variant of pseudo-Meig's syndrome. Attention is directed at the pathophysiologic mechanism and the early surgical intervention to avoid further complications.

Bronchial Diseases↗
PubMed1983

The FDA report on intraocular lenses.

Clinical studies of intraocular lenses (IOLs) as investigational devices have been regulated in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since February 9, 1978. As of August 1982, data have been collected on more than one million IOLs implanted. During the last 12 months of the study, 409,000 IOLs were implanted. Visual acuity of 20/40 or better at one year after surgery was present in 85% of over 45,000 cases reviewed. Increasing patient age, surgical problems, postoperative complications, and adverse reactions were factors that reduced the visual acuity. The current trend in the USA is for implantation of the posterior chamber and anterior chamber IOLs.

Aged↗
PubMed1983

Anterior cruciate ligament insufficiency syndrome.

Corrective surgery for anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) lesions was performed in 64 patients. Approximately two-thirds of the patients who presented with anteromedial instability were approached through the medial aspect of the knee. In all cases the instability was improved but not entirely eliminated. This was not in itself a disabling problem, as 44% of these patients had good subjective results. However, pivot-shift tests at follow-up examination clearly indicated the presence of anterolateral instability in most, if not all, of these patients. This did not necessarily preclude a self-evaluation of "good"; conversely, a self-evaluation of "fair" (33% of patients) was always related to a positive pivot-shift phenomenon. The authors' current surgical policy is, therefore, to regard the two types of instability as related aspects of a single ACL insufficiency syndrome, and to correct both the anterolateral instability (by the MacIntosh procedure) and the anteromedial instability (by suturing the posterior medial capsule to the semimembranosus tendon together with pes transfer). Poor subjective results (22% of patients) were always associated with the patellofemoral pain syndrome, which could be traced to rotational instability leading to patellar malalignment.

Athletic Injuries↗
PubMed1982

Public judgments of information in a diazepam patient package insert.

As part of a larger study of the effects of giving patients written take-home information with prescription medications, a "patient package insert" (PPI) for diazepam was prepared based on content determined by "experts." This report compares the experts' judgments of what information should be included with judgments obtained from the public. Information judged to be most important for inclusion in a PPI was identified by having subjects sort cards containing facts about diazepam. Subjects who had previously used diazepam were no different in their judgments than inexperienced subjects. In general, there was a high degree of concordance between public and expert judgments and also a remarkably strong consensus across very different demographic samples. In those few instances of disagreement, the public attached even greater importance to warnings and "bad news" about diazepam than to information providing reassurances, benign general education, and "good news." To what extent patients would effectively use this information--whether conveyed by PPIs or alternative educational routes--must await empirical evaluation.

Adult↗
PubMed1982

Simulated public speaking as a model of clinical anxiety.

Normal male volunteers took single acute doses of either diazepam or placebo under double-blind conditions in three simulated public speaking experiments. Measures of palmar sweating and subjective anxiety showed that anticipation of speaking in public increased anxiety relative to baseline and prestress conditions, and performance of public speaking further increased anxiety. A dose-related anxiolytic effect of diazepam on subjective anxiety supported the model's clinical relevance. Moreover, the intensity of the subject's public speaking phobia predicted both degree of prestress anxiety relief from 10 mg diazepam and overall anxiety level, regardless of medication, throughout the experimental session. A measure of traditionalism predicted placebo and 5 mg diazepam response during prestress: As in previous clinical trials, high traditionalism scorers reported more relief from placebo, whereas low scorers showed more relief from diazepam.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Experimental studies on the passage of specific IgG to the lumen of the rabbit epididymis.

The extent to which specific IgG can reach the lumen of the rabbit cauda epididymidis was investigated by comparison of the concentration in serum and fluid of the cauda epididymidis of a specific IgG raised against dinitrophenylated bovine gamma globulin (DNP--BGG). This specific IgG reached the epididymal lumen although in much lower concentration than the levels in serum. The IgG was measured by a specific sensitive radioimmunoassay and in 13 normal males there was a mean molar ratio of 4.0 x 10(-3) (range: 2.5--11.0 x 10(-3)) between the epididymal lumen and blood: the mean ratio between cerebrospinal fluid and blood was 1.7 x 10(-3) (4 males). Calculations, based on the absolute concentration of anti-DNP IgG in epididymal fluid in relation to total number of spermatozoa and estimated fluid volume in the cauda epididymidis, indicated approximately 40 000 molecules anti-DNP-BGG IgG per spermatozoon. This ratio was not affected 6 days after castration or 3--4 months after vasectomy, but it was about 10 times higher than that of the controls in the cryptic epididymis subjected for 6 days to body temperature.

Animals↗