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Biomedical subjects

S L Foster

Publications and source records attributed to S L Foster.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Posterior cingulate metabolic changes occur in Parkinson's disease patients without dementia.

The basis for cognitive deficits in Parkinson's disease (PD) is unknown. Hippocampal atrophy has been shown in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and PD. N-Acetyl aspartate (NAA)/creatine (Cr) ratio in the posterior cingulate gyrus (PCG) is decreased in AD, but unknown in PD. Volumetric magnetic resonance (MR) imaging (at 1.5 T) determined corrected HC volume and MR spectroscopy (MRS) PCG metabolites in 12 non-demented mild to moderately affected PD patients (six male, six female) and ten controls (five male, five female). Age (PD=60.6 years, control=62.2; P=0.62), education (PD=14.1 years, controls=13.8; P=0.89) and global cognition (Mini-Mental State Exam score: PD=28.7, controls=29.6; P=0.14) did not differ. Only recall (CVLT-II, P=0.046) and NAA/Cr (PD=1.53, controls=1.78; P=0.03) were decreased in PD. Memory correlated with NAA/Cr (r=0.65, P=0.02) in PD. In conclusion, cingulate metabolic changes occur in PD.

Aged↗
PubMed2001

Exporting analogue behavioral observation from research to clinical practice: useful or cost-defective?

The special section on analogue behavioral observation (ABO) provided an in-depth review of various ABO assessment procedures. Despite their availability, however, these procedures are rarely used in clinical practice. This may result in part from the traditions on which most ABO assessments are based, from distinctions between clinical and research assessment environments, and from the need for more information about the cost-effectiveness of ABO strategies for meeting specific needs of clinicians in applied settings. Suggestions for bridging the research-clinical gap involve investigating more thoroughly when ABO does and does not provide useful information for various purposes in applied settings and increasing accessibility and cost-effectiveness of ABO procedures for practitioners.

Behavior↗
PubMed2001

Elevated iron status increases bacterial invasion and survival and alters cytokine/chemokine mRNA expression in Caco-2 human intestinal cells.

Iron status affects both microbial growth and immune function. Mammalian iron homeostasis is maintained primarily by regulating the absorption of the micronutrient in the proximal small intestine. The iron concentration of the enterocyte can fluctuate widely in response to both dietary and whole body iron status, as well as in response to infections. The possibility that an enterocyte with an elevated iron concentration is more susceptible to invasion by enteric pathogens is not known. Therefore, we examined the impact of enterocyte iron status on the invasion and survival of an enteric pathogen, as well as on the levels of several cytokine and chemokine mRNAs by the host cell. The enterocyte-like Caco-2 human intestinal cell line and Salmonella enteritidis served as the models to examine the effect of iron on the host-parasite interaction. Iron status of Caco-2 cells was altered by incubation in serum-free medium supplemented with varying levels of iron. Elevated iron status of Caco-2 cells increased the efficiency of the invasion and the number of bacteria surviving in the intracellular environment. Caco-2 cells constitutively expressed transforming growth factor-beta1, interleukin-8, monocyte chemotactic protein-1, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-1beta, and infection with S. enteritidis increased the relative quantities of all cytokine/chemokine mRNAs except interleukin-1beta. Elevated iron status of Caco-2 cells decreased the levels of cytokine/chemokine mRNAs by 25-45% in uninfected cells. In contrast, bacterial infection was associated with a 21-95% increase in cytokine/chemokine mRNAs levels in Caco-2 cells with higher iron concentration compared with infected cells with lower iron concentration. These data support the hypothesis that elevated enterocyte iron status increases susceptibility to infection and exacerbates the mucosal inflammatory response initiated by microbial invasion by increasing cytokine/chemokine expression.

Analysis of Variance↗
PubMed2000

Adolescent and family predictors of physical aggression, communication, and satisfaction in young adult couples: a prospective analysis.

This study tested a model wherein the family conflict, depression, and antisocial behavior of 254 adolescents (mean age = 17 years; 63% female) are prospectively related to functioning within a marital (51%) or dating relationship in young adulthood (mean age = 23 years). Family aversive communication in adolescence and adolescent antisocial behavior predicted couple physical aggression. Family aversive communication predicted dyadic satisfaction and aversive couple communication for married women and dating men. Among those with partners who reported little antisocial behavior, adolescent antisocial behavior inversely predicted couple satisfaction and facilitative behavior. Partner antisocial behavior did not mediate the relation between adolescent characteristics and couple functioning. Findings emphasize the importance of the early family environment and psychopathology of the adolescent in the development of adaptive couple relationships.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Assessing social validity in clinical treatment research: issues and procedures.

Social validity is a term coined by behavior analysts to refer to the social importance and acceptability of treatment goals, procedures, and outcomes. This article discusses dimensions of social validity, methods used to evaluate various aspects of social validity, and the applicability of these concepts and methods in clinical treatment research.

Clinical Trials as Topic↗
PubMed1999

MR imaging of dysplasia epiphysealis hemimelica: bony and soft-tissue abnormalities.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to describe the bony and, to our knowledge, previously unreported associated soft-tissue abnormalities seen on MR imaging of dysplasia epiphysealis hemimelica. CONCLUSION: MR imaging accurately depicted bony and cartilagenous structural abnormalities in multiple planes and revealed previously undescribed secondary changes in menisci, tendons, ligaments, and muscle. MR imaging is of value in the assessment of patients with this disorder.

Bone Diseases, Developmental↗
PubMed1998

Patient consultation in a managed care setting: guiding pharmacy into the future.

Managed care organizations are excellent environments for pharmaceutical care programs to demonstrate their impact on patient care outcomes and to decrease costs. Patient consultation is the cornerstone in implementing pharmaceutical care because it increases patient contact with the pharmacists while improving patient compliance with drug therapy (adherence). Implementation of a patient consultation program that verifies patients' understanding of their disease and therapy gives the pharmacist information necessary to monitor drug therapy. Use of strategic planning to overcome barriers, followed by the development of local standards of practice, will refocus the practice philosophy to one of improving patient outcomes. Pharmacy managers must demonstrate and document the value that patient consultation brings to the patient and the healthcare system. Then, they must integrate their counseling effort with other health education efforts of the managed care system. Pharmacists will gain the support of other disciplines by reinforcing their efforts. Together they can work to decrease the problems that are inherent with drug therapy. These goals can be accomplished with minimal expense and have the potential to produce significant savings in healthcare costs.

Cost Control↗
PubMed1993

Impact of social problem-solving training on aggressive boys: skill acquisition, behavior change, and generalization.

This study examined the impact of social problem-solving training on the behavior of five aggressive boys. Acquisition of problem-solving skills and changes in classroom behavior were evaluated using multiple-baseline designs within and across subjects. A generalization-programming procedure to promote the use of problem-solving skills in the natural environment was introduced across children in multiple-baseline fashion. Direct observation and behavior ratings were used to evaluate the treatment. Results indicated that each subject acquired the problem-solving skills at levels comparable to well-adjusted peers. Only one child showed behavioral improvement coincident with problem-solving skill acquisition. Three others showed moderate behavior change after the generalization-programming procedure was introduced. Only one child's gains on teacher ratings were maintained at the 6-month followup. The results suggest that cognitive-behavioral treatment of childrens' aggressive behavior may produce changes of limited magnitude and durability.

Aggression↗
PubMed1993

Assessing violent offending in serious juvenile offenders.

The convergent validity of the two most frequently used methods for assessing violent offending in juveniles (i.e., self-reports and arrests) was evaluated. Participants were 87 serious juvenile offenders and their maternal figures, primarily from disadvantaged families. Validation measures tapped established behavioral, family, and peer correlates of delinquency. Results failed to support the ability of either arrests for violent crimes or self-reported violent offenses to index violent criminal behavior accurately. Several methodological features of the study support our hypothesis that the findings were not spurious. Procedural and conceptual implications of the findings are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

Assessing acceptance and social skills with peers in childhood. Current issues.

This article reviews current strategies for assessing social skills with peers in childhood, highlighting contemporary unresolved issues in identifying children who need intervention, selecting target behaviors, and assessing treatment outcome. Sociometric measures of peer acceptance are also considered. Although many current measures of social skills have adequate evidence of reliability and convergent validity, assessment could benefit from (a) increased documentation that the content of measures assesses important skills in relating to peers, (b) improved methods for assessing social behavior in specific interpersonal situations, and (c) more empirical evidence that indirect assessment methods (self-report, peer assessment, and teacher report) and analogue observations reflect in vivo behavior.

Behavior Therapy↗
PubMed1992

The effects of a positive behavioral context on the social impact of aggressive behavior.

The hypothesis is experimentally examined that a positive behavioral repertoire can ameliorate the negative social impact of aggressive behavior. Sixty-six fourth- through sixth-grade girls viewed and rated a series of videotaped interactions between two female confederates. The proportion of positive to aggressive behavior viewed by each subject was manipulated across six experimental conditions by varying the number of positive behaviors exhibited by one of the confederates (target) while the number of aggressive behaviors displayed by her remained constant (i.e., 0%, 20%, 43%, 60%, 80%, and 100% positive). Each subject provided sociometric ratings of the target and selected trait descriptors that best described her from a checklist. The results indicated that positive behavior exhibited in high rates (80% or more, compared to aggressive behavior) offset the negative effects of aggression on both sociometric ratings and positive and negative descriptors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Differences in children's peer sociometric and attribution ratings due to context and type of aggressive behavior.

Sociometric and attribution (internality and responsibility) ratings of boys performing different kinds of aggression (hostile and instrumental hitting and pushing) and of neutral behavior occurring in two contexts (provoked and unprovoked) were investigated in an analogue fashion. Thirty fifth- and sixth-grade boys viewed and rated 12 brief videotaped scenes of two unfamiliar male peers interacting, presented in one of six random orders. Provoked aggression resulted in less dislike, less worthiness of punishment, and greater attribution to external causes than unprovoked aggression. Instrumental and hostile aggression produced lower liking ratings and were viewed as more deserving of punishment than neutral behavior but did not differ from each other. Results support distinctions between provoked and unprovoked aggression but not between hostile and instrumental aggression, at least in terms of their functional impact on peer judgements.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Analysis of combined rheumatoid factor determinations by the rheumatoid arthritis latex and sheep cell agglutination tests and the American Rheumatism Association criteria for rheumatoid arthritis.

The clinical records of randomly selected patients receiving both the sheep cell agglutination test (SCAT) and the latex agglutination test (RA latex) for rheumatoid factor (RF) were analyzed for the presence of American Rheumatism Association (ARA) criteria for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). When both tests were positive there was a 3-fold increase compared to only one test positive in the relative risk that a patient met ARA criteria for RA, and there was a 2-fold increase in the probability that a patient with 2 positive tests had classical RA compared to only a positive RA latex. The occurrence of RF reactive with both human and rabbit IgG identifies a population of patients likely to have more ARA criteria for RA and classical disease.

Agglutination Tests↗
PubMed1986

Suppression of a pokeweed mitogen-stimulated plaque-forming cell response by a human B lymphocyte-derived aggregated IgG-stimulated suppressor factor: suppressive B cell factor (SBF).

The mechanisms whereby formed immune complexes (IC) or immunoglobulin aggregates can suppress further antibody production were explored by culturing normal human peripheral blood mononuclear leukocytes (PBL) with heat-aggregated IgG (HAIgG) and collecting the culture supernatants at 24 hr. These supernatants were found to suppress a pokeweed mitogen (PWM)-induced rheumatoid factor plaque-forming cell (RF-PFC) response in normal individuals. PWM-induced anti-trinitrophenylated sheep red blood cell (TNP-SRBC) PFC were also inhibited by suppressor supernatants from HAIgG-stimulated PBL, suggesting that the polyclonal PFC response was inhibited by a suppressor factor. The suppressor factor inhibited PWM stimulated RF-PFC throughout the culture period, but suppression was maximal at the peak of the RF-PFC response. Suppressor factor was only effective at the initiation of cultures, suggesting that it inhibited early events in the PWM-stimulated RF-PFC response. Molecular weight determination of the suppressor factor by differential membrane fractionation suggested a m.w. range of 30,000 to 50,000, and chromatography on Sephadex G-100 showed a peak activity at an approximate m.w. of 32,000. Studies suggested the factor was not an interferon. Depletion of T lymphocytes by E rosetting and macrophages/monocytes by G-10 adherence did not affect the generation of suppressor factor. Depletion of T lymphocytes (OKT4, OKT8) and NK cells (Leu-11b) by antibody-dependent, complement-mediated cytotoxicity also did not affect the generation of suppressor factor. Depletion of B lymphocytes with OKB7 resulted in the generation of significantly less suppressor factor. Suppression produced by unstimulated purified B lymphocytes was approximately one-half that seen when B lymphocytes were stimulated with HAIgG. Differential membrane fractionation studies suggested that only HAIgG-stimulated B cell cultures contained peak activity in the 30,000 to 50,000 m.w. fraction. Supernatants from unstimulated purified T cells also generated suppression, which was approximately one-half of that seen with HAIgG-stimulated B cells, but no increase in suppressor activity was seen in T cell cultures after incubation with HAIgG. These studies demonstrate that HAIgG is capable of stimulating B lymphocytes to produce a lymphokine, suppressive B cell factor (SBF), which is capable of suppressing a polyclonal PFC response. SBF may be important in feedback control of human immunoglobulin production.

Antibody Formation↗
PubMed1986

Decreased suppressive B cell factor (SBF) in rheumatoid arthritis: evidence for a defect in B cell autoregulation.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a disorder characterized by defective immunoregulation. Hypergammaglobulinemia, circulating immune complexes (IC), and autoantibodies such as rheumatoid factor (RF) are common serum abnormalities. To assess IC-mediated feedback suppression in RA, we evaluated the ability of a suppressive B cell factor (SBF) generated by culturing heat-aggregated IgG (HAIgG) with peripheral blood mononuclear leukocytes (PBL) from patients with RA and normal controls to suppress the pokeweed mitogen (PWM)-induced RF plaque-forming cell (PFC) response of normal PBL. RA patients generated less SBF than age-matched controls. Background suppression (supernatants obtained from PBL cultured without HAIgG) was similar in the RA patients and age-matched controls. To determine the effects of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug (NSAID) therapy on suppression, RA patients and age-matched controls were studied before and after NSAID therapy. NSAID therapy significantly reduced background suppression in RA patients who were not on immunosuppressive drugs and in age-matched controls, but there was no effect on SBF in RA patients or controls. There was a small increase in background suppression when NSAID were administered to RA patients on immunosuppressives, suggesting an ameliorative effect of NSAID in this group of patients, which tended to increase their level of suppression when compared with RA patients only on NSAID. Spontaneous RF-PFC were measured in normal controls and RA patients and were compared with suppressor activity. There were increased numbers of spontaneous RF-PFC in RA patients. Total suppressor activity was greatest in young adult controls, who also had the least RF-PFC. The percentage of suppression correlated inversely with the number of RF-PFC in patients and controls. Additionally, disease activity in RA as measured by total joint count and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was shown to correlate inversely with total suppressor activity. We conclude that the PBL from patients with RA produce decreased SBF after HAIgG stimulation and that loss of suppression is also associated with aging. This study suggests a defect in IC-stimulated B cell suppressor activity in RA leading to decreased ability to suppress antibody and further IC formation. The combination of increased RF-PFC and decreased SBF suggests that there is defective B cell autoregulation in RA, which may be involved in the pathogenesis and chronicity of this disease.

Anti-Inflammatory Agents↗