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PubMed1995

Attitude to treatment and direction of interest of forensic mental health nurses: a comparison with nurses working in other specialties.

The attitudes of nurses working within forensic psychiatry are often perceived as being custodially oriented. Working on this commonly held assumption the authors hypothesized that nurses working within a physically controlled environment such as a Regional Secure Unit would hold more conservative/biological attitudes toward treatment, and would be more 'object'-oriented (as opposed to 'psychologically' oriented) than those working in less physically controlled clinical areas. [For the purpose of this paper the term 'Regional Secure Unit' is used to describe the medium secure facilities that were included in this study, although one of the units did not serve a wholly regional function.] This paper outlines a study that attempted to examine this hypothesis. A total of 84 nurses from three clinical specialties (Regional Secure Units, Acute Admission Wards and Drug Dependence Units) completed the Attitude to Treatment Questionnaire (ATQ) and the Direction of Interest Questionnaire (DIQ) (Caine et al. 1981). Each nurse also completed a demographic information questionnaire, supplying details of age, professional experience and educational attainment. The results indicate no significant differences on measures used between specialty groups. Significant positive correlations were found between age and conservatism on the ATQ, and between ATQ conservatism and DIQ object centredness. Implications of these results are discussed and suggestions for future research are made.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1988

Social issues in medicine: a follow-up comparison of senior-year medical students' attitudes with contemporaries in non-medical faculties.

A comparison of first-year medical students' attitudes to social issues in medicine with attitudes of non-medical first-year students in 1983 found that the medical group was less conservative towards general social issues but more conservative in relation to those areas which closely affect the doctor's role, particularly the place of allied health professions and government intervention in health care. This paper reports a follow-up study of the same groups of students when they had reached senior years in their respective courses. While medical student conservatism on general social issues continues to be no greater than other student groups there is a marked increase in conservatism of attitudes towards government involvement in health care and regulation of costs. Attitudes to allied health professions and preventive care remain unchanged but senior medical students are significantly less likely to recognize social factors as determinants of illness than they were when they commenced the study of medicine. Specific curricular attention to social and behavioural medicine does not appear to counteract the predominantly biomedical perspective students experience in teaching hospitals, the major venue for their clinical education.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1983

Secondary structure prediction of seed storage proteins.

The comparison of partial primary structure of seed storage proteins leads to show homologies inside of each considered family (Legume seed legumins and cereal prolamins). Predicted secondary structures deduced from the presently known sequences also exhibit considerable homologies, which implies a severe conservatism of these proteins. Short repetitive segments of sequence of 5-20 residues are frequently occurring and give rise to the prediction either of beta-structure (or alpha-helix) bonded by beta-turns or of successive beta-turns. The latter conformation, which would be able to form a helicoidal arrangement, could contribute to a maximal packing of the protein molecules inside of the subcellular organelles (protein bodies) within which they are confined. As the only known function of seed storage proteins is to provide amino acids to the embryo, it is suggested that their ability to occupy a minimal volume is actually a reasonable explanation of their extreme conservatism in the course of evolution.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1998

Topographic position of forelimb motoneuron pools is conserved in vertebrate evolution.

The neuromotor conservatism hypothesis predicts that neuromotor patterns in homologous tetrapod muscles are conserved evolutionarily despite the musculoskeletal modifications of vertebrate limbs. A complete description of the anatomical organization of the neurons innervating homologous limb muscles is a prerequisite to any test of the neuromotor conservatism hypothesis. This study uses the retrograde neuronal tracer WGA-HRP to selectively label the motor neuron pools of seven homologous forelimb muscles in mice (Mus musculus) and iguanas (Iguana iguana): Mm. pectoralis, spinodeltoideus, biceps brachii, lateral and long heads of triceps brachii, and the supraspinatus and infraspinatus (in mice) or their reptilian homolog, the supracoracoideus (in iguanas). In vertebrates, motoneurons are arranged in longitudinal columns of cells in the ventral horn of the spinal cord. Mouse motor pools average 1,952 microns in length, except the pectoralis pool which averaged 2,949 microns in length. Iguana pools average 3,196 microns in length. The number of neurons per pool ranged from 70-199 in mice and from 58-114 neurons in iguanas. In both iguanas and mice the motor pools for the spinodeltoids, biceps, and the supracoracoideus (or its mammalian homologs) lie anterior to the pectoralis and triceps motor pools. In the transverse plane, the pectoralis pool lies medial to those of the triceps. The pools of the biceps and spinodeltoids are located dorsal and lateral to those of the pectoralis and supracoracoideus (or its homologs in mammals). The resulting motor pool maps support the hypothesis that the anatomical organization of motoneurons in ancestral reptiles has been retained in these two tetrapod descendents.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Are neuromotor systems conserved in evolution?

Hypotheses that neuromotor systems are conserved during evolution are examined. Focus is on the fundamental assumption underlying such hypotheses, that neuromotor patterns are homologous. The criteria for testing hypotheses of homology are briefly reviewed and applied to several cases in which neuromotor conservatism has been proposed. It is concluded that few studies of neuromotor conservatism are complete enough to convincingly corroborate a hypothesis of homology. Particular problems include an absence of specific definitions of the parameters designating the conserved neuromotor pattern and the lack of sufficiently broad and detailed phylogenetic tests. The hypothesis that terrestrially feeding vertebrates exhibit a conservative feeding program, which has acted as a constraint in evolution, receives particular attention and it is concluded that existing data do not support this hypothesis.

Animals↗
PubMed2005

What's in a grade? Academic success and political orientation.

Expanding the literature on person-environment fit, the authors argue that political orientation is an important factor in shaping academic success in college. Based on social dominance theory, it was expected that academic disciplines that are more likely to provide students with future access to social and economic power tend to favor individuals who hold attitudes that strengthen the existing societal order. In a longitudinal sample of undergraduate students at a major American university (n=3,890), the authors demonstrated that student grades in these disciplines, but not in other disciplines, are positively related to a precollege measure of conservatism. This association between conservatism is consistent over time and subgroups, thus implicating higher education in the reproduction of social hierarchy. The discussion examines the causal processes underlying the relationship between political orientation and academic success in college.

Achievement↗
PubMed2004

Predicting binding sites of hydrolase-inhibitor complexes by combining several methods.

BACKGROUND: Protein-protein interactions play a critical role in protein function. Completion of many genomes is being followed rapidly by major efforts to identify interacting protein pairs experimentally in order to decipher the networks of interacting, coordinated-in-action proteins. Identification of protein-protein interaction sites and detection of specific amino acids that contribute to the specificity and the strength of protein interactions is an important problem with broad applications ranging from rational drug design to the analysis of metabolic and signal transduction networks. RESULTS: In order to increase the power of predictive methods for protein-protein interaction sites, we have developed a consensus methodology for combining four different methods. These approaches include: data mining using Support Vector Machines, threading through protein structures, prediction of conserved residues on the protein surface by analysis of phylogenetic trees, and the Conservatism of Conservatism method of Mirny and Shakhnovich. Results obtained on a dataset of hydrolase-inhibitor complexes demonstrate that the combination of all four methods yield improved predictions over the individual methods. CONCLUSIONS: We developed a consensus method for predicting protein-protein interface residues by combining sequence and structure-based methods. The success of our consensus approach suggests that similar methodologies can be developed to improve prediction accuracies for other bioinformatic problems.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1997

Mechanisms, proof, and unmet needs: the perspective of a cancer activist.

Cancer activists who participate with cancer researchers in shaping public health policy provide a different perspective on the question of breast cancer etiology. We place a higher priority on reducing women's exposure to suspected breast carcinogens than in debating the specific biochemical mechanisms by which these agents may operate. As the fruits of AIDS activism and antismoking campaigns illustrate, answers to mechanistic questions have not been and should not be the driving force behind public health policy. As such, cancer activists embrace a form of conservatism that advocates prudence in the face of exposure to estrogenic and other endocrine-disrupting chemicals. This perspective stands in contrast to scientific conservatism, which directs its caution toward the issue of proof. Unmet needs for cancer activists refer not so much to data gaps as to the failure to eliminate ongoing cancer hazards. For this author and activist, unmet needs include ending women's continued exposure to such common estrogenic compounds as detergents, triazine herbicides, plastics, and polychlorinated biphenyls.

Breast Neoplasms↗
PubMed1990

Racism, sexism, and erotophobia: attitudes of heterosexuals toward homosexuals.

This investigation examines the differential power of explanation of a sexual conservatism theory of homophobia against a more general theory of intergroup prejudice. Forty-eight female and 31 male undergraduate introductory psychology students from a large Eastern university completed a survey assessing contemporary attitudes toward women, Blacks, and homosexuals, as well as their affective orientation towards sex. The results indicate that sexual conservatism, as measured by an affective dimension of erotophilia-erotophobia, and social prejudice, as measured by racist and sexist beliefs, are independent and equal predictors of antihomosexual sentiment. It is suggested that distinct etiological differences may exist in the development of the homophobic personality. Findings are discussed within the context of Herek's (1984) functional approach to understanding attitudes toward lesbians and gay men.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Genetic determinants and personality correlates of sociopolitical attitudes in a Polish sample.

The aim of the study was to assess the heritability as well as the personality correlates of sociopolitical attitudes in a Polish sample. Attitudes were examined on two separate dimensions: (1) moral conservatism and liberalism; and (2) free market economy and state interventionism. The studied sample comprised three groups of participants: (1) 242 twin pairs aged 18 to 25 years (119 monozygotic [MZ] and 123 dizygotic [DZ] same-sex twins reared together); (2) 358 females and males ('nontwins') of various professions aged 35 to 64 years; and (3) 197 male and female technical university students aged 19 to 25 years ('nontwins'). We detected substantial genetic factor input exclusively in the variability of results on the conservatism-liberalism scale (.28). Results on both scales were explained to a large extent by the impact of shared environment, and to a lesser extent by the nonshared environment. Only in the student group was a significant negative correlation found between attitudes toward economy and neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness. Openness to experience correlated negatively with attitudes towards issues of morality in the adult female and male group (the remaining correlations were statistically insignificant).

Adolescent↗
PubMed2006

Phylogenetic analysis of the evolution of the niche in lizards of the Anolis sagrei group.

Recent advances in ecological niche modeling (ENM) algorithms, in conjunction with increasing availability of geographic information system (GIS) data, allow species' niches to be predicted over broad geographic areas using environmental characteristics associated with point localities for a given species. Consequently, the examination of how niches evolve is now possible using a regionally inclusive multivariate approach to characterize the environmental requirements of a species. Initial work that uses this approach has suggested that niche evolution is characterized by conservatism: the more closely related species are, the more similar are their niches. We applied a phylogenetic approach to examine niche evolution during the radiation of Cuban trunk-ground anoles (Anolis sagrei group), which has produced 15 species in Cuba. We modeled the niche of 11 species within this group using the WhyWhere ENM algorithm and examined the evolution of the niche using a phylogeny based on approximately 1500 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA. No general relationship exists between phylogenetic similarity and niche similarity. Examination of species pairs indicates some examples in which closely related species display niche conservatism and some in which they exhibit highly divergent niches. In addition, some distantly related species exhibit significant niche similarity. Comparisons also revealed a specialist-generalist sister species pair in which the niche of one species is nested within, and much narrower than, the niche of another closely related species.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1995

Authoritarianism and projection.

To extend the 1995 work of McCollaum and Lester, 378 undergraduate students were administered the conservatism scale of the Wilson-Patterson Attitude Inventory and the projection scale of the Defense Style Questionnaire-40. No significant association was found between scores on conservatism and projection.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Believers and disbelievers in evolution.

BACKGROUND: Citizens of the United States are less likely than are citizens of Europe and several non-European nations to believe that humans evolved from an earlier species. Several theories have been proposed to explain Americans' disbelief in human evolution, but empirical investigation has been sparse. METHODS: Data on belief in evolution, on scientific knowledge unrelated to evolution, on socioeconomic status, on Christian religiosity, and on political polarity were identified in the General Social Surveys (GSSs) for 1993, 1994, and 2000. These data were then analyzed in bivariate and multivariate tests of theories about evolutionary and anti-evolutionary views. FINDINGS: Christian religiosity was the strongest correlate of disbelief in evolution. Low educational attainment was another positive, but weaker, correlate, though disbelief in evolution was not related to general measures of scientific knowledge. Political liberalism and political conservatism predicted evolutionary belief even after controlling for religiosity, education, and other potential confounders. Subcultural differences in belief -- those between blacks and whites, rural dwellers and urban dwellers, Southerners and non-Southerners, dogmatists and non-dogmatists -- became insignificant under appropriate controls. CONCLUSION: Christian religiosity, especially in a fundamentalist variety, was the primary correlate of disbelief in evolution. Lack of education was an important but lesser factor. Independent of religiosity and education, political conservatism predicted disbelief.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1985

Trends in drug orientations and behavior: changes in a rural community, 1975-1982.

This paper examines trends in rural American rates of marijuana use and drug-related orientations over an 8-year period. The younger rural youths (13-year-olds) in our three surveys (1975, 1979, and 1982) reported significant declines in rates of use and expressed a general trend toward conservatism. The attitudes and orientations of older youths (16-year-olds) changed also, and in the same directions, but those changes were not statistically significant. Use rates for 16-year-olds, on the other hand, increased, but again the changes were not statistically significant. In at least one cohort we studied, attitudes changed prior to shifts in behavior. We also observed that the predictive ability of the selected attitudes and orientations increased considerably from 1975 to 1982. In the midst of a movement toward conservatism on drug issues, liberalness was even more closely linked to marijuana use than in the previous decade. Lastly, we evaluate the implications of these findings for drug prevention policy and future research.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Public perceptions of the relationship between poverty and health.

The public's view on how poverty and health are related will influence support for different policies and programs. The purpose of this study was to examine public perceptions of the relationship between poverty and health and to identify demographic variables that predict support for the four explanations of the relationship between poverty and health (artifact, drift, behavioural, and structural) first identified in the Black Report in the United Kingdom. A telephone survey of a representative sample of Albertans (N = 1,216) was conducted. The majority of respondents believed that poverty leads to poor health. The explanation that health is influenced by the context in which individuals live (structural) received the most support. Demographic variables (sex, age, education, occupation, income, residence, conservatism) explained less than 10% of the variance for each of the four explanations, with conservatism the most consistent predictor.

Age Factors↗
PubMed2000

Computation of decompression tables using continuous compartment half-lives.

There is no consensus on the number of compartments and the half-lives (T1/2) used in the calculation of inert gas exchange and decompression sickness (DCS) boundary in existing dive tables and decompression computers. We propose the use of a continuous variable for the tissue half-lives, allowing the simulation of an infinite number of compartments and reducing the discrepancy between different algorithms to a single DCS boundary expression. Our computational method is based on the premise that M-values can be expressed in terms of T1/2 and ambient pressure (D). We combined the surfaces defined by M(D,T1/2) and tissue tension H(t,T1/2) to plan decompression. The efficiency and applicability of the method is investigated with four different DCS boundaries. The first two utilize the M-value relations proposed by Bühlmann and Wienke to derive no-D limits for sea level. The third boundary is defined by a surface fitted to the empirical M-values of US Navy, Bühlmann tables, US Air Force, and our altitude diving data. This expression was used to design the decompression procedure for a multilevel dive at 11,429-ft altitude and was used in six man dives in the Kaçkar Mountains, Turkey. Although precordial bubbles were observed in two dives, there were no cases of DCS. The fourth DCS boundary is constructed with the addition of a constraint that forces calculated M-values to stay below the available M-values. This constraint aims the highest degree of "conservatism". As an application of the new boundary, the method is used to derive decompression stop diving schedules for 11,429-ft altitude. The concept of continuous tissue half-lives is applicable to different types of gas exchange and DCS boundary functions or to a combination of different models with a desired level of conservatism. It has proved to be a useful tool in planning decompression for undocumented modes of diving such as decompression stop diving or multilevel diving at altitude. The algorithm can easily be incorporated into dive computers.

Algorithms↗
PubMed2001

Deficits and remedy of the standard random effects methods in meta-analysis.

The random effects model is often used in meta-analyses. A corresponding significance test based on a normal approximation has been established. Its type I error is derived in this article by theoretical considerations and computer simulations. The test can be conservative as well as unacceptably anti-conservative. The anti-conservatism increases with the increasing number of patients and the decreasing number of studies. A modification is proposed, which keeps the nominal level asymptotically as the number of patients approaches infinity. Simulations show that the modified test is often conservative, but its conservatism is small in those situations where the standard test is highly anti-conservative.

Bias↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The management of penetrating neck injuries.

In recent years, there has been a major increase in patients with penetrating injuries to the neck admitted to the Johannesburg Hospital. Pressure on resources led to increasing delays for surgery, and a policy of selective conservatism emerged. In common with other centers, mandatory exploration of all wounds that breach the platysma was found to be no longer necessary as it became clear that many penetrating wounds to the neck were best treated conservatively. A policy of blanket investigation of all nonoperated cases also matured toward selective investigation, directed by careful clinical examination. A retrospective study was made of all patients undergoing exploration for gunshot wounds or stabs to the neck at the Johannesburg Hospital Trauma Unit between 1994 and 1998. An overall mortality rate of 9% was mostly a reflection of severe, associated injuries. The evolution of the nonoperative management of cervical penetrating wounds is a good example of the validity of the concept of "selective conservatism." A distillation of the experience at a busy, urban trauma center is presented, with guidelines to manage these potentially lethal injuries.

Adolescent↗