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At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1984

The maximum exercise stress test: is it a behavior-modification tool?

The controlled study presented demonstrates the results obtained when using the maximum exercise stress test (MEST) as a behavior-modification tool for coronary artery disease risk factors. Changes in attitudes, behaviors, and objective measurements of health were assessed in a low-risk population. Only exercise level was significantly altered (P less than .03). Changes in the other measured parameters were insignificant. The MEST test is also expensive, and no benefit has been demonstrated in terms of its ability to decrease the morbidity and mortality seen in coronary artery disease.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Behavioral effects of the novel cannabinoid full agonist AM 411.

AM 411 ((-)-1-adamantyl-Delta8-tetrahydrocannabinol) is a novel full agonist at cannabinoid CB1 receptors. The present studies were conducted to provide behavioral characterization of this compound in rats. It was hypothesized that AM 411 should produce behavioral effects similar to known cannabinoid agonists, and that these effects should be inhibited by co-treatment with a CB1 antagonist. In Experiments 1 and 2, AM 411 dose-dependently produced behaviors consistent with CB1 agonism, including analgesia, hypothermia, catalepsy and reductions in locomotion, which were blocked by a CB1-selective antagonist. In Experiment 3, AM 411 produced a dose-dependent suppression of lever-pressing on a fixed-ratio 5 (FR5) schedule, a task known to be sensitive to administration of CB1 agonists. Detailed analysis of the temporal patterns of operant responding showed that AM 411 altered the distribution of interresponse times. Experiment 4 showed that AM 411 decreased relative interior activity in the open field, which is suggestive of an anxiogenic effect. It is concluded that AM 411 produces CB1 agonist-like behavior with potency between that of WIN 55,212-2 and AM 356. AM 411 could be a useful tool for understanding the behavioral and neural effects of CB1 receptor stimulation.

Adamantane↗
PubMed1985

AF64A produces long-term cognitive impairments following infusion into the lateral cerebral ventricles or the dorsal hippocampus: involvement of hippocampal cholinergic processes in learning and memory.

In summary, the data presented here suggest that depleting ACh in the HPC has long term consequences on cognitive behavior. It is suggested that HPC cholinergic processes are an important neurobiological substrate of cognitive behavior. Finally, AF64A seems a useful tool for elucidating the cholinergic mechanisms underlying the modulation of behavior.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

[Scales and questionnaires for the evaluation of behavior disorders in children].

The need for quantitative clinical evaluation tools for use in child psychiatry is obvious. Behavior rating scales are useful for comparing clinical and laboratory data, monitoring the effects of treatments, and enhancing communication between clinicians and investigators. The methodological principles used to construct and validate such tools are described. This approach is of benefit in most psychiatric disorders of children and adolescents. The questionnaires and scales most widely used throughout the world and available in French are reviewed. The advantages and drawbacks of evaluation scales in everyday practice and in research are discussed, with the BSE-A scale (Behavior Summarized Evaluation of Austism) as an example.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1996

Interviewing pharmacists for positions in patient-focused health care organizations.

Providing pharmaceutical care requires pharmacists to have the personal attributes necessary to function as part of a health care team. Assessing candidates' personal or behavioral values during the employment interview can be a valuable tool to determine future performance. The use of a structured interviewing format designed to identify predetermined key behavioral indicators as an assessment tool is described. Through detailed probing, candidates' previous actions in specific situations are used as predictors of future performance by the interviewing organization. Use of the interviewing tool described improves the likelihood of selecting candidates with behavioral values deemed important to the organization.

Clinical Competence↗
PubMed2006

The decoding of electrosensory systems.

Progress in the study of electrosensory systems has been facilitated by the systematic use of behavior as a tool to probe the nervous system. Indeed, a specific behavior that is found in a subset of weakly electric fishes, the jamming avoidance response, was used to identify and characterize an entire suite of brain circuits, from sensory receptors to motor units, that are involved in control of this behavior. Recent progress has focused on a re-analysis of this circuit in relation to newly described electrosensory behaviors, including prey capture, social signaling and the tracking of electrosensory objects. This re-analysis has led to a re-evaluation of the broader functional relevance of specific neural solutions to computational problems that are related to the control of the jamming avoidance response. Some of the recent insights that have emerged from this work include descriptions of mechanisms underlying dynamic receptive field properties, descriptions of the neural activity related to simultaneously occurring sensory stimuli, and a greater understanding of the role of short-term synaptic plasticity in temporal processing.

Afferent Pathways↗
PubMed1999

Comparing food intake using the Dietary Risk Assessment with multiple 24-hour dietary recalls and the 7-Day Dietary Recall.

The Dietary Risk Assessment (DRA) is a brief dietary assessment tool used to identify dietary behaviors associated with cardiovascular disease. Intended for use by physicians and other nondietitians, the DRA identifies healthful and problematic dietary behaviors and alerts the physician to patients who require further nutrition counseling. To determine the relative validity of this tool, we compared it to the 7-Day Dietary Recall (an instrument developed to assess intake of dietary fat) and to the average of 7 telephone-administered 24-hour dietary recalls. Forty-two free-living subjects were recruited into the study. The 7-Day Dietary Recall and DRA were administered to each subject twice, at the beginning and the end of the study period, and the 24-hour recalls were conducted during the intervening time period. Correlation coefficients were computed to compare the food scores derived from the 3 assessment methods. Correlations between the DRA and 7-Day Dietary Recall data were moderate (r = .47, on average, for postmeasures); correlations between the DRA and 24-hour recalls were lower. The ability of the DRA to assess dietary fat consumption and ease of administration make it a clinically useful screening instrument for the physician when counseling patients about dietary fat reduction.

Cardiovascular Diseases↗
PubMed2003

Site stripping based on likelihood ratio reduction is a useful tool to evaluate the impact of non-clock-like behavior on viral phylogenetic reconstructions.

The site stripping for clock detection procedure was implemented in the recently developed maximum likelihood framework for estimating evolutionary rates and divergence times in measurably evolving populations. The method was used to investigate the effect of rate variability on estimating divergence times in non-clock-like trees for human immunodeficiency viruses and hepatitis C viruses. We validate our approach by comparing dated coalescent nodes in molecular phylogenies with known dates of transmission. Our method was able to rapidly recover clock-like behavior and to indicate the presence and direction of a bias when estimates of divergence times using the unstripped data were flawed.

Algorithms↗
PubMed1997

Intravenous methohexital for brief sedation of pediatric oncology outpatients: physiologic and behavioral responses.

OBJECTIVE: In this successor to a preliminary retrospective study, we sought to confirm the apparent safety and efficacy of intravenous methohexital (MHX) for brief, unconscious sedation of pediatric hematology/oncology outpatients undergoing painful, invasive procedures. METHODS: This prospective study was conducted in a children's hospital-based hematology/oncology clinic. Following published monitoring guidelines for deep pediatric sedation, MHX (1.0 mg/kg) was administered immediately before each procedure, 1% xylocaine was given locally, and additional MHX was titrated to maintain minimal response to pain during the procedure. For each patient, the procedural and physiologic response data reported below were recorded from the onset of sedation through recovery. Behavioral distress responses were measured using a standardized pediatric observational tool (Procedure Behavioral Checklist). RESULTS: Two hundred and thirty-three procedures were carried out in 76 patients ranging .1 to 19.6 years of age. The mean cumulative MHX dose/procedure was 4.6 +/- 2.9 mg/kg. The mean lengths of time from initiation of sedation until completion of the invasive procedure, attainment of patient arousability, discontinuation of monitoring, and attainment of patient alertness were 8 +/- 5, 19 +/- 8, 19 +/- 9, and 22 +/- 9 minutes, respectively. Relative to presedation values, mean arterial pressure (MAP), heart rate, and respiratory rate showed maximum mean percent changes of -16.6, +17.8, and +13.4, respectively (all clinically insignificant). Complications among procedures were transient and included hiccoughs and myoclonus (each 10%); oropharyngeal secretions (6%); and pain at the injection site, emergence phenomena, and mild stridor (each </=3%). Of two procedures (.9%) affected by transient upper airway obstruction associated with emesis or secretions, only one briefly needed mask ventilation. No procedures required intubation or early termination. In 49 additional procedures assessed for patient distress, observed pain responses were absent to mild in 45 (92%) and moderate in 4. CONCLUSION: MHX appropriately administered provides sedation which is effective, safe, well tolerated, and of short duration, making MHX attractive for use in pediatric oncology outpatients and other populations with similar sedation needs.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

[Oral and written affective expression in children of low socioeconomic status].

Descriptive data on affective expression of 58 children (33 girls and 25 boys) of low socioeconomic status (Graffar index), with ages between 8 and 12 are presented. Intelligence was assessed by means of Raven Progressive Matrixes Test, all subjects exhibiting mean level. Evaluated were the six forms of anxiety and the four hostility forms defined by the Gottschalk method of verbal content analysis. Hope scores, positive and negative, were also obtained from the same verbal samples. The oral sample consisted in speech produced spontaneously during 5 minutes, in response to a standard instruction, and the written sample consisted in brief stories produced under standardized conditions during 15 minutes. The most frequently expressed form of anxiety was separation anxiety, while the most frequently expressed form of hostility was directed outwards covert hostility. "Positive" hope was expressed more frequently than "negative" hope. Data are discussed in terms of their contribution to the establishment of population norms in Spanish-speaking populations for the psychological constructs explored. It is concluded that the method of content analysis of verbal behavior may represent a useful tool for the study of child psychology in different contexts.

Anxiety↗
PubMed2005

After the innovation: outcomes from the Texas behavioral data project.

The Texas Department of Health and University of Texas Southwestern staff, using formative assessment data, developed a set of innovative methods and tools to increase the use of behavioral and epidemiologic data in decision-making about HIV prevention interventions by HIV prevention community planning groups (CPGs) and HIV prevention providers. Semistructured interviews, mail surveys, meeting observations, and content analysis of funding proposals were used to measure the results of the multifaceted intervention. Compared to baseline measures, CPG members reported that data played a more central and desired role in their decision-making. HIV prevention providers exposed to the project's materials were more likely to choose evidence-based interventions to conduct. The tools and structural intervention methods of this project were diffused and had an impact on the use of behavioral data by community planning groups and HIV prevention providers. The structural interventions were not sufficient without the additional effect of the trained peers acting as advocates and intervention innovators.

Community Health Planning↗
PubMed2004

The effect of environmental manipulation on behavior, salivary cortisol, and growth of piglets weaned at 14 days of age.

Environmental enrichment can be a useful tool to reduce belly nosing behaviors in early weaned piglets. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of environmental enrichment on behavior, salivary cortisol, and productivity of piglets weaned at 14 days of age. The study assigned 112 piglets (line Camborough 22 of PIC) into 2 treatments, control and enriched, and observed them for 192 hr in 3 periods: 14 to 28 days of age (Phase 1), 28 to 42 days of age (Phase 2), and 42 to 54 days of age (Phase 3). The study obtained saliva samples in each phase from 56 piglets selected randomly from each group for cortisol determination. Comparisons between both treatments and phases included the following: proportion of time belly nosing, latency of approaching a person, average levels of salivary cortisol, and daily weight gain. Belly nosing was higher and latency of approaching a person lower in the control group than in the enriched one (p < .05 and p < .01). Belly nosing was lower in Phase 3 (p < .05); latency of approaching a person was higher in Phase 1 with respect to Phase 2, and this was higher with respect to Phase 3 (p < .01). There were no differences in salivary cortisol levels between treatments or phases. Weight gain was higher in the enriched group (p < .001). Environmental enrichment in piglets weaned at 14 days of age resulted in a reduced proportion of time nosing, reduced latency of response to humans, and better growth than piglets in barren environments.

Animal Husbandry↗
PubMed1987

The radial arm maze as a tool in behavioral pharmacology.

This paper will review briefly the use of the radial arm maze as a tool to examine the neural systems that are involved in memory, and the influence of pharmacological compounds on memory. Of particular interest is the question of task validity, which is assessed by reference to four different criteria: operational, psychological, ethological, and neural (see also Walsh, this issue; [45, 53, 70, 75]). Each of these types of validity is reviewed below.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

The use of genetic "knockout" mice in behavioral endocrinology research.

The production of mice with specific deletion of targeted genes (knockouts) has provided a useful tool in understanding the mechanisms underlying behavior. There are many opportunities with this new tool for behavioral neuroendocrinology, specifically, and behavioral biology, generally. Although this genetic technique offers new opportunities to study the mechanisms of behavior, as with all behavioral techniques there are some potential limitations. For example, the products of many genes are essential to normal function, and inactivating the gene may prove lethal or induce gross morphological or physiological abnormalities that can complicate interpretation of discrete behavioral effects. Unexpected compensatory or redundancy mechanisms might be activated when a gene is missing and cloud interpretation of the normal contribution of the gene to behavior. Behavioral tests study the effects of the missing gene (and gene product), not the effects of the gene directly. This conceptual shortcoming can be overcome in the same way that it is overcome in other types of ablation studies, by collecting converging evidence using a variety of pharmacological, lesion, and genetic manipulations. Finally, because mammalian genome mapping is currently focused on mice (Mus musculus), standardized behavioral testing of mice should be adopted. Against those disadvantages are several important advantages to using knockout mice in behavioral research: (1) disabling a gene is often a very precise and "clean" ablation, (2) the effects of the gene product can be abolished without the side-effects of drugs, and (3) genetic manipulations may be the only way to determine the precise role of many endogenous factors on behavior. The use of new inducible knockouts, in which the timing and placement of the targeted gene disruption can be controlled, will be an extremely important tool in behavioral endocrinology research.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Identification of attentional and hyperactivity problems in primary care: a report from pediatric research in office settings and the ambulatory sentinel practice network.

OBJECTIVES: To 1) determine the frequency of identification of attentional and hyperactivity problems (AHPs) by clinicians, and 2) examine whether minority children or children from less well-educated, lower-income, or lower-functioning families would be more likely to be identified as having AHPs. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study of 22 059 consecutive children 4 to 15 years of age being seen for acute, chronic, and health supervision visits. SETTING: Practices of 401 pediatric and family practice clinicians in 44 states, Puerto Rico, and 4 Canadian provinces. METHODS: Parent questionnaires included demographic information and the Pediatric Symptom Checklist. Clinician questionnaires categorized psychosocial problems and addressed how assessment of problems was made. Analyses compared children with newly identified AHPs with those with other newly identified psychosocial problems. RESULTS: Clinicians identified behavior problems in 18.7% of children, with 9.2% of the entire sample identified as having AHPs. Among those with newly assessed AHPs, clinicians identified minority children and those from low-income or poorly functioning families as having AHPs at the same rate as other children. However, even after controlling for symptoms, males were more likely than females (odds ratio, 2.81) to be identified as having AHPs. Older clinicians were significantly more likely to identify children as having AHPs (odds ratio, 2.09). In assessing AHPs, clinicians used standardized tools such as behavioral questionnaires for only 36.9% of children, and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual criteria for 38.3% of children. CONCLUSIONS: AHPs are highly prevalent in primary care practice. Clinicians do not appear predisposed to label children from disadvantaged backgrounds as having AHPs. Primary care assessment of AHPs lacks standardization.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

[Greater survival among patients with immunogenetic markers of rapid progression to AIDS: subsidies for nursing care].

This study sought subsidies for improving nursing care programs for AIDS patients and aimed to verify the influence of changes in sexual behavior, including the adoption of safe sex practices, associated with the survival of AIDS patients with immunogenetic markers of rapid disease progression. 27 AIDS patients were interviewed, with genetic predisposition to rapid progression to AIDS. Genes were typified through the polymerase chain reaction. In spite of the presence of immunogenetic factors, associated with individual predisposition to a rapid evolution of the disease, changes in sexual behavior, including safe sex practices and antiretroviral therapy, may be related to greater survival. This suggests that counseling, detection of risk attitudes and health education, focusing on positive health behavior, are tools nursing must use with HIV-positive patients, with a view to better quality of life and greater survival among these individuals, even among those with genetic predisposition to rapid disease progression.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Immunophenotypic and genotypic characterization of B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients from northern Italy.

BACKGROUND AND METHODS: Immunoglobulin (Ig) gene expression and rearrangements provide information about cell lineage, clonality and differentiation of neoplastic lymphoid cells. We performed flow cytometry and Southern blot analysis in 25 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) from the Po River delta region (Northern Italy), in order to correlate surface immunological phenotype and heavy and light chain gene rearrangements with clinical stages. RESULTS: In these 25 CLL cases, as in the larger group of 165, k-positive (k+) patients were more frequent than lambda-positive (lambda +) ones by a ratio of 59:41, with a predominance of lambda + in stage II (46:54) and of K+ in stage IV (77:23). However, the survival behavior of lambda + and k+ patients was not statistically different. Ig gene rearrangements were found in all patients in accordance with the immunophenotype. When Ig gene analysis was performed on two different occasions in 7 of the 8 who received chemotherapy, there was an increase in the percentage of the germline band. This variation was inversely related to changes in WBC count. In the treated subject who showed a reduction of both WBC count and the germline, there was rapid disease progression and short survival. CONCLUSIONS: Analysis of Ig gene rearrangements in our CLL patients demonstrated: i) the monoclonality of neoplastic cells; ii) no correlation between rearrangements and clinical stages, and iii) that this analysis may be a useful tool in evaluating biological behavior in selected CLL cases showing a discrepancy between hematological data and clinical response to therapy.

Clone Cells↗