Showing papers on "Poison control published in 1979"

The file drawer problem and tolerance for null results

Abstract: For any given research area, one cannot tell how many studies have been conducted but never reported. The extreme view of the "file drawer problem" is that journals are filled with the 5% of the studies that show Type I errors, while the file drawers are filled with the 95% of the studies that show nonsignificant results. Quantitative procedures for computing the tolerance for filed and future null results are reported and illustrated, and the implications are discussed. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Social networks, host resistance, and mortality: a nine-year follow-up study of Alameda County residents

Abstract: The relationship between social and community ties and mortality was assessed using the 1965 Human Population Laboratory survey of a random sample of 6928 adults in Alameda County, California and a subsequent nine-year mortality follow-up. The findings show that people who lacked social and community ties were more likely to die in the follow-up period than those with more extensive contacts. The age-adjusted relative risks for those most isolated when compared to those with the most social contacts were 2.3 for men and 2.8 for women. The association between social ties and mortality was found to be independent of self-reported physical health status at the time of the 1965 survey, year of death, socioeconomic status, and health practices such as smoking, alcoholic beverage consumption, obesity, physical activity, and utilization of preventive health services as well as a cumulative index of health practices.

Assessment of suicidal intention: The Scale for Suicide Ideation.

Abstract: This article describes the rationale, development, and validation of the Scale for Suicide Ideation (SSI), a 19-item clinical research instrument designed to quantify and assess suicidal intention. The scale was found to have high internal consistency and moderately high correlations with clinical ratings of suicidal risk and self-administered measures of self-harm. Furthermore, it was sensitive to changes in levels of depression and hopelessness over time. Its construct validity was supported by two studies by different investigators testing the relationship between hopelessness, depression, and suicidal ideation and by a study demonstrating a significant relationship between high level of suicidal ideation and "dichotomous" attitudes about life and related concepts on a semantic differential test. Factor analysis yielded three meaningful factors: active suicidal desire, specific plans for suicide, and passive suicidal desire.

Bulimia nervosa: an ominous variant of anorexia nervosa.

Abstract: Thirty patients were selected for a prospective study according to two criteria: (i) an irresistible urge to overeat (bulimia nervosa), followed by self-induced vomiting or purging; (ii) a morbid fear of becoming fat. The majority of the patients had a previous history of true or cryptic anorexia nervosa. Self-induced vomiting and purging are secondary devices used by the patients to counteract the effects of overeating and prevent a gain in weight. These devices are dangerous for they are habit-forming and lead to potassium loss and other physical complications. In common with true anorexia nervosa, the patients were determined to keep their weight below a self-imposed threshold. Its level was set below the patient‘s healthy weight, defined as the weight reached before the onset of the eating disorder. In contrast with true anorexia nervosa, the patients tended to be heavier, more active sexually, and more likely to menstruate regularly and remain fertile. Depressive symptoms were often severe and distressing and led to a high risk of suicide.A theoretical model is described to emphasize the interdependence of the various symptoms and the role of self-perpetuating mechanisms in the maintenance of the disorder. The main aims of treatment are (i) to interrupt the vicious circle of overeating and self-induced vomiting (or purging), (ii) to persuade the patients to accept a higher weight. Prognosis appears less favourable than in uncomplicated anorexia nervosa.

Social learning and deviant behavior: a specific test of a general theory.

Abstract: In the last decade we have seen a dramatic shift away from sociological explanations of deviant behavior toward developing theoretical perspectives on societal reactions to and definitions of deviance and crime. Labeling and conflict formulations have become major foci of sociological theorizing as well as the sounding boards for most of the controversy and discourse in the field of deviance. This shift in focus was deemed necessary to redress the previous imbalance of attention to the deviant behavior itself (Akers, 1968), and it clearly has had that effect. Unfortunately, it also has led to the neglect of theoretical developments in the etiology of deviant behavior. Neither labeling nor conflict perspectives has offered a general explanation of deviant behavior, although some conflict theorists have offered preliminary but incomplete efforts in that direction (Taylor, et al., 1973; Spitzer, 1975). There have been other efforts directed toward explaining deviant behavior, but these have been fairly narrow in scope; they have usually been limited either to a specific type of deviant behavior or to a restricted range of substantive variables. For example, a good deal of attention has been paid to the modern resurrection of deterrence theory (Gibbs, 1975; 1977; Waldo and Chiricos, 1972, Tittle, 1975; Silberman, 1976; Erickson et al., 1977; Meier and Johnson, 1977; Geerken and Gove, 1977). The scope of deterrence theory has been changed little, however, since its statement by the classical criminologists two centuries ago and is limited to the actual or perceived certainty, severity, and celerity of formally administered legal sanctions for violations of the criminal law. Another example is Travis Hirschi’ s (1969) control (social bonding) theory which is a more general explanation of deviance than deterrence theory, but which is, in turn, primarily restricted to informal social control which comes from individuals being bonded to groups and institutions.

Stability of aggressive reaction patterns in males: a review.

Abstract: Considered in the review are 16 studies on the stability of aggressive behavior and reaction patterns. There is great variation among the studies in sample composition, in definition of variables, in method of data collection, and in the ages and intervals studied. Generally, the size of a (disattenuated) stability coefficient tends to decrease linearly as the interval between the two times of measurement (T2— 7\) increases. Furthermore, the degree of stability can be broadly described as a positive linear function of the interval covered and the subject's age at the time of first measurement, expressed in the age ratio T-^/T^,. The degree of stability that exists in the area of aggression was found to be quite substantial; it was, in fact, not much lower than the stability typically found in the domain of intelligence testing. Marked individual differences in habitual aggression level manifest themselves early in life, certainly by the age of 3. It was generally concluded that (a) the degree of longitudinal consistency in aggressive behavior patterns is much greater than has been maintained by proponents of a behavioral specificity position, and (b) important determinants of the observed longitudinal consistency are to be found in relatively stable, individual-differentiating reaction tendencies or motive systems (personality variables) within individuals.

Aggression in humans correlates with cerebrospinal fluid amine metabolites

Abstract: Cerebrospinal fluid of the major central metabolites of serotonin (5HT), norepinephrine (NE), and dopamine (DA)--5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid (5HIAA), 3-methoxy-4-hydroxy=phenylglycol (MHPG), and homovanillic acid (HVA), respectively--were studied in a group of 26 age-similar military men with no history of major psychiatric illness, but with various personality disorders and difficulties adjusting to military life. Independently scored history of aggressive behavior showed a significant negative correlation with 5HIAA (r = -0.78) and a significant positive correlation with MHPG (r = 0.64).

Characterological Versus Behavioral Self-Blame: Inquiries Into Depression and Rape

Abstract: Two types of self-blame--behavioral and characterological--are distinguished. Behavioral self-blame is control related, involves attributions to a modifiable source (one's behavior), and is associated with a belief in the future avoidability of a negative outcome. Characterological self-blame is esteem related, involves attributions to a relatively nonmodifiable source (one's character), and is associated with a belief in personal deservingness for past negative outcomes. Two studies are reported that bear on this self-blame distinction. In the first study, it was found that depressed female college students engaged in more characterologial self-blame than nondepressed female college students, whereas behavioral self-blame did not differ between the two groups; the depressed population was also characterized by greater attributions to chance and decreased beliefs in personal control. Characterological self-blame is proposed as a possible solution to the "paradox in depression." In a second study, rape crisis centers were surveyed. Behavioral self-blame, and not characterological self-blame, emerged as the most common response of rape victims to their victimization, suggesting the victim's desire to maintain a belief in control, particularly the belief in the future avoidability of rape. Implications of this self-blame distinction and potential directions for future research are discussed.

Short and long sleep and sleeping pills. Is increased mortality associated

Abstract: • Prospective epidemiologic data of the American Cancer Society disclosed that reported usual sleep durations among groups who complained of insomnia and sleeping pill use "often" overlapped with those of groups who had no complaints. Reports of insomnia were not consistently associated with increased mortality when several factors were controlled; however, men who reported usually sleeping less than four hours were 2.80 times as likely to have died within six years as men who reported 7.0 to 7.9 hours of sleep. The ratio for women was 1.4.8. Men and women who reported sleeping ten hours or more had about 1.8 times the mortality of those who reported 7.0 to 7.9 hours of sleep. Those who reported using sleeping pills "often" had 1.5 times the mortality of those who "never" used sleeping pills. These results do not prove that mortality could be reduced by altering sleep durations or by reducing hypnotic prescribing. Rather, studies are needed to determine the causes of these mortality risk factors.

On the coordination of two-handed movements.

Abstract: In a set of three experiments, we show that after an auditory "go" signal, subjects simultaneously initiate and terminate two-handed movements to targets of widely disparate difficulty. This is the case when the movements required are (a) lateral and away from the midline of the body (Experiment 1), (b) toward the midline of the body (Experiment 2), and (c) in the forward direction away from the body midline (Experiment 3). Kinematic data obtained from high-speed cinematography (200 frames/sec) point to a tight coordinative coupling between the two hands. Although the hands move at entirely different speeds to different points in space, times to peak velocity and acceleration are almost perfectly synchronous. We believe that the brain produces simultaneity of action as the optimal solution for the two-handed task by organizing functional groupings of muscles (coordinative structures) that are constrained to act as a single unit.

Correlates of Delinquency: The Illusion of Discrepancy between Self-Report and Official Measures.

Abstract: This paper reviews the research literature concerning the extent to which studies of delinquency that use official records produce results compatible with studies of delinquency that use self-reports of adolescents. Particular attention is given to sex, race, and social class as correlates of delinquency. The notion that official and self-report methods produce discrepant results with respect to sex, race, and class is largely illusory. In reaching conclusions of discrepancy several techniques have been used in the literature; the most general is the assumption that self-reports and official data tap the same domain of behavior. When the domain limitations of self-reports are recognized (and other illusory techniques are abandoned), the conclusion of general consistency between self-reports and official correlates for sex, race, and class emerges. This consistency and other evidence from victimization surveys, studies of the reliability and validity of self-reports, and studies of biases in criminal justice processing, suggest that both official data and self-reports provide valid indicators of the demographic characteristics of offenders, within the domain of behavior effectively tapped by each method. (abstract Adapted from Source: American Sociological Review, 1979. Copyright © 1979 by the American Sociological Association) Literature Review Racial Factors Racial Differences Sociocultural Factors Socioeconomic Factors Self Report Studies Juvenile Delinquency Delinquency Rates Juvenile Offender Arrest Rates Self Report Statistics vs. Arrest Statistics Social Class Class Factors Juvenile Male Juvenile Female Female Delinquency Female Offender Gender Differences Male Offender Male Delinquency 07-02

Optimal response of eye and hand motor systems in pointing at a visual target

Abstract: In a task requiring an optimal hand pointing (with regards to both time and accuracy) at a peripheral target, there is first a saccade of the eye within 250 ms, followed 100 ms later by the hand movement. However the latency of the hand movement is poorly correlated with that of the eye movement. When the peripheral target is cut off at the onset of the saccade, there is no correlation between the error of the gaze position and the error of the hand pointing. This suggests an early parallel processing of the two motor outputs. The duration of hand movement does not change significantly when subjects either see or not see their hand (closed or open loop). In the open loop situation, the undershoot of the hand pointing increases with target eccentricity, whatever the subjects are allowed or not to do a saccade toward the target. It suggests that the encoding of eye position by itself is a poor index for an accurately guided movement of the hand.

The outcome with aggressive treatment in severe head injuries. Part I: the significance of intracranial pressure monitoring.

Abstract: ✓ The authors have analyzed the hospital course and outcome in 100 consecutive patients with severe head injuries who either on admission or within 24 to 48 hours of their hospitalization were not verbally responsive, and not able to follow commands. All were treated in a uniform manner. Operative intervention was performed immediately in patients with significant extracerebral hematomas or large superficial intracerebral hematomas. Intracranial pressure (ICP) was monitored in all, and in 55 patients treatment with a combination of dexamethasone, hyperventilation (PaCO2 of 25 to 28 mm Hg), mannitol, normothermia, and controlled systemic arterial pressure was required for intracranial hypertension (ICP > 15 mm Hg). In 25 patients whose ICP remained significantly elevated (ICP > 40 mm Hg for 15 minutes or more), high-dose pentobarbital therapy was used to lower the ICP. Forty-five patients recovered with no or minimal neurological deficit, and returned to their pre-injury occupation (good recovery). Fifteen...

Systems of Trauma Care: A Study of Two Counties

Abstract: Cases of motor vehicle trauma victims who died after arrival at a hospital were evaluated in both Orange County (90 cases) and in San Francisco County (92 cases), Calif. All victims in San Francisco County were brought to a single trauma center, while in Orange County they were transported to the closest receiving hospital. Approximately two thirds of the non-CNS-related deaths and one third of the CNS-related deaths in Orange County were judged by the authors as potentially preventable; only one death in San Francisco County was so judged. Trauma victims in Orange County were younger on the average, and the magnitude of their injuries was less than for victims in the San Francisco County. We suggest that survival rates for major trauma can be improved by an organized system of trauma care that includes the resources of a trauma center.

Social interactions of young abused children: approach, avoidance, and aggression.

Abstract: 10 abused toddlers (ages 1-3 years) and 10 matched controls from families experiencing stress were observed during social interactions with caregivers and with peers in their daycare settings. The abused infants more frequently physically assaulted their peers. They "harassed" their caregivers verbally and nonverbally, and they were the only infants who assaulted or threatened to assault them. The abused infants were much less likely than the controls to approach their caregivers in response to friendly overtures; when they did so they were more likely to approach to the side, to the rear, or by turning about and backstepping. In response to friendly overtures the abused infants more frequently avoided peers and caregivers or combined movements of approach with movements of avoidance. A similar behavior pattern has been identified by Main in maternally rejected infants in normal samples. Language: en

Relation between cognitive and motor-oriented systems of visual position perception.

Abstract: Although subjects failed to detect a target displacement if it occurred near the time of a saccadic eye movement (a cognitive visual task), they were still able to point to the center of the target with an unseen pointer (a motor visual task). Pointing performance was not affected by detecting or failing to detect a stimulus displacement. The experiments demonstrate that some information that is available to a motor-oriented visual system is unavailable to the cognitive visual system, under conditions simulating normal perception. Language: en

Maternal deprivation, 1972-1978: new findings, new concepts, new approaches.

Abstract: Research since 1972 in the field of "maternal deprivation" is critically reviewed. The results are used to reassess briefly the formulations proposed in 1972 and to discuss more fully the meaning and practical implications of fresh findings on new or recently revived topics. These include the development of social relationships and the process of bonding, critical periods of development, the links between childhood experiences and parenting behavior, influences on parenting, and the possible reasons why so many children do not succumb to deprivation or disadvantage.

Some child-rearing antecedents of criminal behavior in adult men.

Abstract: Records collected during childhood and coded prior to knowledge of adult behavior provided information about the childhood homes of 201 men. Thirty years later, information about criminal behavior was collected from court records. Multiple regression and discriminant function analyses indicate that six variables describing family atmosphere during childhood--mother's selfconfidence, father's deviance, parental aggressiveness, maternal affection, parental conflict, and supervision--have an important impact on subsequent behavior.

Moving attention through visual space.

Abstract: Several experiments have shown that attention as measured by simple reaction time to luminance increments can be shifted in the visual field while the eyes are kept in a fixed position. The shift of attention appears to take place within 50 msec following a cue indicating the most likely position of the target. The present study reports that these shifts of attention can be time locked to a central cue. Moreover, they show that a probe event located between the cue and the target receives maximal facilitation from attention at a time prior to maximal facilitation at the target. These results provide support for an analogue movement of attention across the visual field that does not involve the suppression found during saccades.

Victimization and the Fear of Crime

Abstract: The determinants of the fear of crime are examined with special attention to how the risk and experience of criminal victimization affect that fear. Us ing data from victimization and attitude surveys in eight American cities, a model of the determinants of the fear of crime is developed and evaluated in a preliminary fashion. The major conclusion is that the fear of crime is not simply a function of the risk of and actual experiences with victimization.

Medicine and patriarchal violence: the social construction of a "private" event

Abstract: Our objectives are to describe the pattern of abuse associated with battering and to evaluate the contribution of the medical system and of broader social forces to its emergence. A pilot study of ...

Women who kill their children

Abstract: During a 6 year period (1970-75) 89 women charged with the killing or attempted murder of their children were examined in a female remand prison. Six types of maternal filicide were distinguished: battering mothers (36 cases), mentally ill mothers (24 cases), neonaticides (11 cases), retaliating mothers (9 cases), women who killed unwanted children (8 cases) and mercy killing (1 case). Types of filicide were compared on a number of social and psychiatric characteristics and on their offence patterns and court disposals. The operation of the Infanticide Act is discussed in the light of these findings.

Analysis of six hundred and twenty-two intertrochanteric hip fractures.

Abstract: Of 622 intertrochanteric fractures, 57% were stable (Types I and II). Twenty-eight per cent were Type III, and 15% were Type IV (the unstable types). The 150-degree telescoping Massie nail proved superior to the fixed 135-degree Jewett nail (particularly for unstable fractures) because it allowed a controlled impaction of the fracture fragments to a stable position. In about one-third of the fractures, some medial displacement occurred. With anatomical reduction and the use of the Massie or ASIF nails, we achieved a decrease in the morbidity and mortality and 96% satisfactory results. Our prospective study was compared with a retrospective study in which other devices were used. Early ambulation and weight-bearing also was a major contributing factor to the improved results in the prospective study. Intertrochanteric hip fractures that are unstable can be fixed with a collapsible nail, and that treatment appears to give as good or better results than the displacement method of Dimon and Hughston or Sarmiento.

On the Use of a Concurrent Memory Load to Measure Attention and Automaticity

Abstract: The concurrent-memory-load technique identifies attention demands with interactions between reaction-time-task parameters and the size of the load. Three experiments with a total of 18 undergraduates are reported in which a multiple-choice reaction time task involving 2, 4, and 8 stimulus-response (S-R) alternatives was performed alone and in the retention interval of a short-term memory task involving ordered recall of 8 digits. In Exp I assignment of stimulus letters to response buttons (S-R mapping) was consistent for 6 days but varied on the 7th. Memory load and number of alternatives interacted early in practice, but the interaction diminished over days, and the effects were additive on Day 6. When the S-R mapping changed on Day 7, the interaction returned. In Exp II, S-R mapping varied daily for 6 days, and the interaction remained stable throughout practice. In Exp III, S-R mapping was consistent for 6 days and varied on the 7th, but the memory task was not introduced until Days 6 and 7. The interaction between memory load and number of alternatives was stronger on Day 7, after the mapping had changed, than it was on Day 6, after practice with consistent mapping. (69 ref)(PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved) Keywords: Driver distraction; Language: en

Game theory and the evolution of behaviour.

Abstract: How far can game theory account for the evolution of contest behaviour in animals? The first qualitative prediction of the theory was that symmetric contests in which escalation is expensive should lead to mixed strategies. As yet it is hard to say how far this is borne out, because of the difficulty of distinguishing a 'mixed evolutionarily stable strategy' maintained by frequency-dependent selection from a 'pure conditional strategy'; the distinction is discussed in relation to several field studies. The second prediction was that if a contest is asymmetric (e.g. in ownership) then the asymmetry will be used as a conventional cue to settle it. This prediction has been well supported by observation. A third important issue is whether or not information about intentions is exchanged during contests. The significance of 'assessment' strategies is discussed.

A Depression Rating Scale for Children

Abstract: A rating scale is needed for clinical and research studies of depression in childhood. A Children9s Depression Rating Scale (CDRS) was devised and tested on 30 inpatient children in a medical hospital. A high correlation was found between the global ratings by two psychiatrists of the severity of depression and the scores on the CDRS. The items on the CDRS which had the highest correlation with a global rating of depression were social withdrawal, capacity for fun, irritability, schoolwork, expressive communication, general somatic features, hypoactivity, and depressed mood. The syndrome of depression in childhood can be characterized and rated primarily by observed behaviors.