Showing papers by "University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus published in 1997"
TL;DR: Logistic regressions indicated that daily cigarette smoking, weekly alcohol consumption, and any illicit substance use in the past year were each independently associated with an elevated likelihood of diagnosis with SUD and other psychiatric disorders.
Abstract: The relationships between specific quantities and frequencies of alcohol, cigarette, and illicit substance use and substance use (SUD) and other psychiatric disorders were investigated among 1,285 randomly selected children and adolescents, aged 9 to 18, and their parents, from the Methods for the Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders (MECA) Study. Logistic regressions indicated that daily cigarette smoking, weekly alcohol consumption, and any illicit substance use in the past year were each independently associated with an elevated likelihood of diagnosis with SUD and other psychiatric disorders (anxiety, mood, or disruptive behavior disorders), controlling for sociodemographic characteristics (age, gender, ethnicity, family income). The associations between the use of specific substances and specific psychiatric disorders varied as a function of gender.
304 citations
TL;DR: Qualitative data from two studies in Puerto Rico and New England are used to show how cultural values, standards and beliefs in different health care contexts affect (1) health care professionals' responses to patients' problems, (2) the relationships between providers and patients, and (3) the patients' response to chronic pain and illness.
145 citations
TL;DR: A common denominator to the reproductive strategies of both female and male rhesus macaques is that feeding patterns affect body condition which influences reproductive output and regulates relative reproductive success.
Abstract: Reproductive strategies incorporate a multitude of mechanisms that have evolved to promote the reproductive success of individuals. Evolutionary perspectives tend to emphasize the advantages of male-male competition and female choice as mediators of differential reproduction. Male rhesus macaques have not been observed to fight for access to sexually receptive females, although they suffer more wounds during the mating season. An increased likelihood of attacks appears to coincide with male troop entry. Males who spend more time in consort and mate with more females tend to sire more offspring. Genetic analysis of paternity has pinpointed age and endurance rivalry, rather than agonistic competition, as key variables associated with variation in progeny production. Female rhesus macaques often copulate with multiple males during their ovulatory period, and tend to conceive on the first cycle of the mating season. Female reproductive success is more likely to be a function of offspring survivorship than the identity of particular male partners. The role of female choice as a direct mediator of male reproductive success is unresolved, but female mate selection seems to indirectly affect male reproductive success because female preference for mating with novel males seems to foster male dispersal. Evaluating whether mating preferences for particular male phenotypes affectsfemale reproductive success is a task for the future. A common denominator to the reproductive strategies of both female and male rhesus macaques is that feeding patterns affect body condition which influences reproductive output and regulates relative reproductive success.
116 citations
TL;DR: Young children (2-4 years) were detected to have significantly greater exposure to ETS than older children (5-11 years) and in the younger group the effect seemed to be from the mother's smoking much more than the father's, with other persons contributing negligible amounts.
31 citations
TL;DR: This regeneration system therefore provides a tractable model for the establishment of synaptic specificity in a simple neuronal circuit and is concluded that in most cases, specific synapses are reestablished and appropriate escape behavior is restored.
Abstract: Neural regeneration in the escape circuit of the first-instar cockroach is described using behavioral analysis, electrophysiology, intracellular staining, and electron microscopy. Each of the two filiform hairs on each of the animal's cerci is innervated by a single sensory neuron, which specifically synapses with a set of giant interneurons (GIs) in the terminal ganglion. These trigger a directed escape run. Severing the sensory axons causes them to degenerate and perturbs escape behavior, which is restored to near normal after 4-6 days. Within this time, afferents regenerate and reestablish arborizations in the terminal ganglion. In most cases, regenerating afferents enter the cercal glomerulus and re-form most of the specific monosynaptic connections they acquired during embryogenesis, although their morphology deviates markedly from normal; these animals reestablish near normal escape behavior. In a few cases, regenerating afferents remain within the cercus or bypass the cercal glomerulus, and thereby fail to re-form synapses with GIs; these animals continue to exhibit perturbed escape behavior. We conclude that in most cases, specific synapses are reestablished and appropriate escape behavior is restored. This regeneration system therefore provides a tractable model for the establishment of synaptic specificity in a simple neuronal circuit.
27 citations
TL;DR: Comparison of two populations of rhesus macaques indicated that demographic, social, ecological, and morphological factors interact to regulate variation in reproductive success among male nonhuman primates.
Abstract: The fundamental framework for uncovering factors affecting the evolution of social behavior rests upon analyses of variation in reproductive success. In species where females mate with multiple males, paternity is invisible in the absence of genetic data. We determined paternity in two populations of rhesus macaques, Macaca mulatta, using both single locus and multilocus techniques. One troop, Group R, is one of four troops living on a 15 ha island (Cayo Santiago) off the coast of Puerto Rico, while the other troop, Group M, was translocated from Cayo Santiago to the Sabana Seca Field Station (Puerto Rico) in 1984. About a dozen human-derived short tandem repeat (STR) markers have been found to be polymorphic in the study of populations and provide the initial paternity determination. Final evaluation of paternity is then confirmed by multilocus DNA fingerprinting using synthetic oligonucleotide probes. Body condition, age, and dominance rank have an impact on male progeny production, while canine size does not. We suggest that nonagonistic competition in the form of sperm competition and endurance rivalry will modulate male reproductive success. A large body size among males provides them with an advantage in both sperm competition and endurance rivalry. Comparison of the two populations indicated that demographic, social, ecological, and morphological factors interact to regulate variation in reproductive success among male nonhuman primates.
23 citations
TL;DR: Data suggest that women underutilize mental health services and overutilize physical health services to deal with their emotional problems, which may explain the low utilization of mental health Services in Puerto Rico.
Abstract: This paper examines the help-seeking process of mental health services in women with high depressive symptoms. The data are based on an island wide probabilistic sample (n = 1,062) of 18- to 64-year-old women living in low socioeconomic areas in Puerto Rico. Symptoms of depression were measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Results show that one out of three women living in poor residential areas report high depressive symptoms. Of these women with high depressive symptoms, only 12% seek help from a mental health specialist and 14.5% from a general health care provider to deal with their emotional problems. Some factors related to the use of mental health services are: presence of an occupational disability, head of household status, having private insurance, and having a regular source of care. These data suggest that women underutilize mental health services and overutilize physical health services to deal with their emotional problems. The lack of recognit...
22 citations
TL;DR: A single hair cell may have two distinct signalling modes, one dominated by IA at more hyperpolarized membrane potentials and the other by IKCa at depolarized values where ICa is beginning to grow, increasing both amplitude and activation rate of IK Ca.
12 citations
01 Jan 1997
TL;DR: Screening of the dichloromethane partition of the ethanol extract of over 100 Puerto Rican plants has been achieved resulting in 29 extracts active in the brine shrimp lethality assay (LC 50 < 1000 µg/ml), subjected to biotesting in two cytotoxicity tests: against HeLa and CHO cells.
Abstract: Screening of the dichloromethane partition of the ethanol extract of over 100 Puerto Rican plants has been achieved resulting in 29 extracts active in the brine shrimp lethality assay (LC 50 < 1000 µg/ml). These were subjected to further biotesting in two cytotoxicity tests: against HeLa and CHO cells. The plants active in both cytotoxicity assays were: Annona glabra L., Simarouba tulae Urban, Tithonia diversifolia (Hemsl.) A. Gray, Dendropanax arboreus (L.) Decne. & Planch., Piper jacquemontianum Kunth, Annona montana Mafad, and Polygala hecatantha Urban. The plants selectively active in the HeLa assay were Cassine xylocarpa Vent. and Capparis flexuosa (L.) L.; in the CHO assay, Amyris elemifera L.
12 citations
TL;DR: The ouabain-sensitive, K-stimulated p-nitrophenyl phosphatase (K-pNPPase) activity was assayed in tentacles of the sea anemone Stichodactyla helianthus to investigate the possibility that the seaAnemone Na,K-ATPase activity is an associated activity of an H-K- ATPase.
Abstract: The ouabain-sensitive, K-stimulated p -nitrophenyl phosphatase (K- p NPPase) activity, an associated activity of the Na,K-ATPase, was assayed in tentacles of the sea anemone Stichodactyla helianthus to investigate the possibility that the sea anemone Na,K-ATPase activity is an associated activity of an H,K-ATPase. Activity was maximal at pH 6.5–7.0, decreasing only slightly in acidic medium but falling abruptly in alkaline medium to 60% of maximum at pH 7.4. The pH of maximum activity was not remarkably altered in high ionic strength medium (560 mM choline chloride), but ouabain-sensitive K- p NPPase activity of both rat and sea anemone was strongly inhibited. Inhibitors of the gastric H,K-ATPase, 100 μ M omeprazole and 10 μ M SCH 28080, did not inhibit the ouabain-sensitive K- p NPPase activity. Activity of the sea anemone enzyme was inhibited by 10 μ M ammonium vanadate, an inhibitor of P-type ATPases, and not by 2.5 mM sodium azide, an inhibitor of both F-type and V-type ATPases. Because the sea anemone K- p NPPase activity was previously found to be more sensitive to ouabain than the Na,K-ATPase activity, K + -ouabain antagonism was investigated and found to be relatively muted, whereas K + -Na + competition was stronger than in the rat kidney.
9 citations
TL;DR: The possible functional role of R199 in tertiary structure, as well as in the binding of PRPP, is interpreted in the context of the reported three dimensional structure for the human HPRT.
TL;DR: The Multimedia Guide to the Non-Human Primates as mentioned in this paper is the first attempt at a computer-based multimedia reference for the natural history of primates, which consists of a CD-ROM and a paperback book.
Abstract: The Multimedia Guide to the Non-Human Primates is the first attempt at a computer-based multimedia reference for the natural history of primates. As such, it is a welcome addition to the primatological literature. The guide consists of a CD-ROM and a paperback book. Both the CD and the book contain sections devoted to individual species. In the CD, they can be accessed by searching by species, by clicking on items in a taxonomically ordered list, or by scrolling through a list of species within five broad geographic areas. For each species, the guide provides several pictures, as well as short text windows on taxonomy, morphology, the fossil record, life history, communication, social structure, habitat, diet, and conservation. For many species, the guide also provides a short movie with sound. The synopsis on the back cover claims that the guide can be used as a primary instruction tool or as a reference for instructors or students and researchers. Unfortunately, it does not measure up to any of these tasks. Devoid of any synthesis or overview, using The Multimedia Guide as a textbook would be akin to basing a mammology course on Walker's Mammals of the World. A featherweight in comparison to print-bound references such as Walker's Mammals of the World (Nowak, 1991) and the Herskovitz volume (1977), it is also obviously not a research tool. More importantly, The Multimedia Guide fails as a research reference for the same reasons that it is not a satisfactory teaching tool. While attractive enough visually, the user interface of the CD-ROM is irritatingly nonfunctional. The program is confined in size to a certain number of pixels (640 x 480 or VGA). At the higher resolutions that most people use these days, the program occupies only a small portion of the screen. To compound this problem, the pictures occupy a small portion of the normal view program