Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

W R Smith

Publications and source records attributed to W R Smith.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1989

Health perceptions and medical care opinions of inner-city adults with sickle cell disease or asthma compared with those of their siblings.

Inner-city adults (n = 108) with a chronic disease (sickle cell disease or asthma) and their unaffected siblings (n = 50) were interviewed and ratings of health perceptions and opinions about medical care were compared. Persons with a chronic disease reported unfavorable ratings of their health (P less than .001). Their siblings reported moderately favorable health perceptions but much worry and concern about their health. When compared with the asthma subgroup, persons with sickle cell disease reported more adverse ratings of health outlook susceptibility to illness, sickness orientation, humaneness of medical care, and satisfaction with medical care (P less than .05). These observations demonstrate low health perceptions in adults with two chronic medical conditions and more negative perceptions in persons with sickle cell disease. They indicate possible opportunities for improving medical care for patients with these conditions to achieve better perceptions of health, outlook, and medical services.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Captopril-associated acute interstitial nephritis.

A 57-year-old male with mild impairment of renal function secondary to diabetic glomerulosclerosis developed acute renal failure (creatinine 32.4 mg/dl) associated with a generalized desquamative skin rash and peripheral eosinophilia shortly after initiation of antihypertensive therapy with captopril. An acute interstitial nephritis was demonstrated on renal biopsy, and improvement was temporally related to initiation of therapy with prednisone. A review of the literature revealed 5 similar cases in whom acute deterioration of renal function occurred following initiation of captopril and in whom there were features of a hypersensitivity reaction, including skin rash, fever, eosinophilia, azotemia, eosinophiluria, and a Coombs-positive hemolytic anemia. Renal biopsy, where available, revealed an acute interstitial nephritis. Observations from these cases suggest that, of the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, this syndrome appears to be specific for captopril, begins within the 1st month of therapy, is not dose-dependent, and generally resolves on cessation of therapy. Steroids may hasten recovery, but sufficient data are not available to confirm their efficacy.

Acute Kidney Injury↗
PubMed1989

Effects of a smoking ban on a general hospital psychiatric service.

After a private general hospital announced plans to ban smoking inside the hospital, the authors initiated a study on the psychiatric units to identify anticipated and actual patient-related problems associated with the ban and to assess staff and patient attitudes toward the ban. Data were obtained through pre- and post-ban surveys of medical and nursing staff and predischarge interviews with patients. The findings showed that staff anticipated more smoking-related problems than actually occurred and that patients who smoked were able to reduce their tobacco use during their hospital stay. No evidence was found to suggest that hospitalized psychiatric patients are less capable of cutting down on smoking than the general population.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1989

A cadaveric study of the anatomic variations of the recurrent motor branch of the median nerve.

Anatomic dissections were performed in 72 cadaveric upper extremities from 36 cadavers to determine the incidence of anomalous variations in the course of the median nerve and its branches. The classic recurrent motor branch anatomy was demonstrated in 86% of the dissections (62/72). Of the 10 variations noted (14% of all upper extremities), all were transretinacular branches that pierced the transverse carpal ligament 2 to 6 mm proximal to the distal edge. Of the six cadavers with anomalous branching, four (67%) had bilateral anomalies and two (33%) had unilateral branching.

Cadaver↗
PubMed1987

MMPI-based personality types among juvenile sexual offenders.

The MMPIs of 262 adolescent males who committed sexual offenses were categorized by means of cluster analysis into four distinct groups. Each of these groups was found to contain different two-point code types. Referral offense, historical and clinical data were compared for each of the four cluster groups and for each of the two-point code types; the latter provided more reliable discrimination among groups. The four modal personality types suggested by the cluster analysis indicate, contrary to previous research, that juvenile sexual offenders are a heterogeneous group who represent a wide variety of personality traits and levels of adaptation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Adult age differences in the use of story structure in delayed free recall.

Thirty-six young adults (M age = 24.3 years) and 36 old adults (M age = 71.8 years) listened to four double-episode stories having either standard, interleaved, or scrambled structure. Two days later they were asked to recall the stories. Analysis of the mean number of nodes recalled revealed no age differences in the recall of standard and scrambled stories with both groups recalling the standard stories equally well and the scrambled stories equally poorly. However, for interleaved stories, young adults followed their pattern of recall for standard stories while old adults followed their pattern for scrambled stories. Also, the age groups differed in their pattern of additions and distortions, with old adults giving more for standard stories and young adults giving more for scrambled stories. Results appear to support models of age-related differences in memory processes and/or strategies when material must be reorganized or hierarchized. Possible metacognitive differences were also discussed; i.e., old adults may aim to tell the story interestingly, while young adults aim to tell it accurately.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Qualitative mathematical models of endocrine systems.

Some qualitative dynamical models of endocrine systems are considered and analyzed, with the reproductive endocrine system as an example. The models considered are systems of nonlinear ordinary differential equations describing the rates of change of the hormonal concentrations with time. This type of general approach, which requires only the incorporation of the basic qualitative features of the interactions present in the underlying system into the model, is a potentially powerful tool for elucidating possible mechanisms for observed qualitative patterns of hormonal dynamics.

Animals↗
PubMed1983

[The emigration of French Canadians to the United States, 1790-1940: a conceptual framework and some quantitative guesses].

"Using a Faucher-Dales approach to migration phenomena, the authors sketch a plausible scenario of the pattern of migration of French Canadians to the United States [from 1790 to 1940] as regulated by the size of the differential economic rent. Making use of all available data, the authors show that this approach would appear to be vindicated to the extent that the scenario it suggests is compatible with the available estimates of the migration flows." (summary in ENG)

Americas↗
PubMed1982

The diagnostic laboratory tests for histoplasmosis: analysis of experience in a large urban outbreak.

Of 495 patients reported in a large urban histoplasmosis outbreak, we studied 276 whose serologic tests were done in a single laboratory. Serologic test results were positive in 96% of these patients (compared with less than 5% of controls from an endemic area), cultures were positive in 22%, and special stains in 19%. The immunodiffusion test results were negative in 13% of patients who had positive findings by complement fixation, and 1% had positive results only by immunodiffusion. The complement fixation test was almost twice as sensitive as the immunodiffusion test in patients with subclinical infection. The serologic response differed significantly among the clinical syndromes with higher titers in cavitary and lower titers in disseminated disease. Factors associated with titers of 1:64 or greater to both antigens were black race and immunocompetence. High mycelial titers were also associated with more intense exposure, and high yeast titers were associated with age less than 36 years. No prognostic significance could be proved for fourfold titer rises or falls or persistence of precipitins.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Evaluation of medigoxin in outpatients.

We compared our ability to predict the dose of medigoxin and of digoxin required to achieve a fixed serum concentration (the dose requirement) in 33 outpatients. Preliminary work supported the assumptions that the steady state glycoside concentration achieved was proportional to the daily dose given to an individual, and that the bioavailability of the different tablet presentations was similar for either glycoside. We were not able to predict the dose requirement from patient characteristics with any more certainty for medigoxin than for digoxin. Not only the between-patient variability in dose requirement, but also the within-patient variability, was similar for the two glycosides. However the digoxin used had a dissolution rate of over 90% in 1 h. When comparing medigoxin with digoxin of lower, or more variable dissolution rate, medigoxin may be preferable.

Analysis of Variance↗