Comparing Treatment Groups with Linear Contrasts

Author(s):  
Hans-Michael Kaltenbach
Author(s):  
S.M. Geyer ◽  
C.L. Mendenhall ◽  
J.T. Hung ◽  
E.L. Cardell ◽  
R.L. Drake ◽  
...  

Thirty-three mature male Holtzman rats were randomly placed in 3 treatment groups: Controls (C); Ethanolics (E); and Wine drinkers (W). The animals were fed synthetic diets (Lieber type) with ethanol or wine substituted isocalorically for carbohydrates in the diet of E and W groups, respectively. W received a volume of wine which provided the same gram quantity of alcohol consumed by E. The animals were sacrificed by decapitation after 6 weeks and the livers processed for quantitative triglycerides (T3), proteins, malic enzyme activity (MEA), light microscopy (LM) and electron microscopy (EM). Morphometric analysis of randomly selected LM and EM micrographs was performed to determine organellar changes in centrilobular (CV) and periportal (PV) regions of the liver. This analysis (Table 1) showed that hepatocytes from E were larger than those in C and W groups. Smooth endoplasmic reticulum decreased in E and increased in W compared to C values.


Author(s):  
M. John Hicks

Acid-etching of enamel surfaces has been performed routinely to bond adhesive resin materials to sound dental enamel as a caries-preventive measure. The effect of fluoride pretreatment on acid-etching of enamel has been reported to produce inconsistent and unsatisfactory etching patterns. The failure to obtain an adequate etch has been postulated to be due to fluoride precipitation products deposited on the enamel surface. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of fluoride pretreatment on acid-etching of carieslike lesions of human dental enamel.Caries-like lesions of enamel were created in vitro on human molar and premolar teeth. The teeth were divided into two fluoride treatment groups. The specimens were exposed for 4 minutes to either a 2% Sodium Fluoride (NaF) solution or a 10% Stannous Fluoride (SnF2) solution. The specimens were then washed in deionized-distilled water. Each tooth was sectioned into four test regions. This was carried out to compare the effects of various time exposures (0 to 2 minutes) and differing concentrations (10 to 60% w/w) of phosphoric acid (H3PO4) on etching of caries-like lesions. Standard preparation techniques for SEM were performed on the specimens.


Author(s):  
A.M. Andrews ◽  
S.W. Wilson ◽  
A.C. Scallet ◽  
S.F. Ali ◽  
J. Bailey ◽  
...  

Exposure of rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) to marijuana via inhalation or to intravenous delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), reportedly caused ultrastructural evidence of increased synaptic width. Chronic marijuana smoke in a single rhesus monkey examined after a six month withdrawal time caused ultrastructure changes in the septal, hippocampal and amygdala regions; the synaptic cleft was widened, electron opaque material was found in the cleft and in the pre- and postsynaptic regions, with some clumping of the synaptic vesicles. The objective of our study was to assess neuropathological alterations produced by chronic inhalation of marijuana smoke.Nineteen male rhesus monkeys, 3-5 years of age and weighing 3-8 kg, were divided into four treatment groups: a) sham control, b) placebo smoke (7 days/ week) c) low dose marijuana (2 times/week with 5 days/week sham) and d) high dose marijuana (7 times/week). A smoke exposure consisted of smoke from one cigarette (2.6% THC) burned down to 10 mm butt length. Smoke was administered via smoke generator (ADL II, Arthur D. Little, Inc. Cambridge, MA) and nose-mouth only masks (local production) equipped with one-way valves.


Author(s):  
Caspar C. Berghout ◽  
Jolien Zevalkink ◽  
Abraham N. J. Pieters ◽  
Gregory J. Meyer

In this study we used a quasiexperimental, cross-sectional design with six cohorts differing in phase of treatment (pretreatment, posttreatment, 2-year posttreatment) and treatment type (psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy) and investigated scores on 39 Rorschach-CS variables. The total sample consisted of 176 participants from four mental health care organizations in The Netherlands. We first examined pretreatment differences between patients entering psychoanalysis and patients entering psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The two treatment groups did not seem to differ substantially before treatment, with the exception of the level of ideational problems. Next, we studied the outcome of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychotherapy by comparing the Rorschach-CS scores of the six groups of patients. In general, we found significant differences between pretreatment and posttreatment on a relatively small number of Rorschach-CS variables. More pre/post differences were found between the psychoanalytic psychotherapy groups than between the psychoanalysis groups. More research is needed to examine whether analyzing clusters of variables might reveal other results.


1967 ◽  
Vol 06 (02) ◽  
pp. 45-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Kent ◽  
J. Belzer ◽  
M. Kuhfeerst ◽  
E. D. Dym ◽  
D. L. Shirey ◽  
...  

An experiment is described which attempts to derive quantitative indicators regarding the potential relevance predictability of the intermediate stimuli used to represent documents in information retrieval systems. In effect, since the decision to peruse an entire document is often predicated upon the examination of one »level of processing« of the document (e.g., the citation and/or abstract), it became interesting to analyze the properties of what constitutes »relevance«. However, prior to such an analysis, an even more elementary step had to be made, namely, to determine what portions of a document should be examined.An evaluation of the ability of intermediate response products (IRPs), functioning as cues to the information content of full documents, to predict the relevance determination that would be subsequently made on these documents by motivated users of information retrieval systems, was made under controlled experimental conditions. The hypothesis that there might be other intermediate response products (selected extracts from the document, i.e., first paragraph, last paragraph, and the combination of first and last paragraph), that would be as representative of the full document as the traditional IRPs (citation and abstract) was tested systematically. The results showed that:1. there is no significant difference among the several IRP treatment groups on the number of cue evaluations of relevancy which match the subsequent user relevancy decision on the document;2. first and last paragraph combinations have consistently predicted relevancy to a higher degree than the other IRPs;3. abstracts were undistinguished as predictors; and4. the apparent high predictability rating for citations was not substantive.Some of these results are quite different than would be expected from previous work with unmotivated subjects.


1997 ◽  
Vol 77 (05) ◽  
pp. 0845-0848 ◽  
Author(s):  
B G Koefoed ◽  
C Feddersen ◽  
A L Gulløv ◽  
P Petersen

SummaryThe efficacy of conventional dose adjusted oral anticoagulation for stroke prevention in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation is well- documented but not considered ideal as primary antithrombotic treatment in elderly patients. The antithrombotic effect of fixed minidose warfarin 1.25 mg/day alone or in combination with aspirin 300 mg/day, of conventional dose adjusted warfarin (INR 2.0-3.0), and of aspirin 300 mg/day have been investigated in outpatients with chronic nonvalvular atrial fibrillation in the second Copenhagen Atrial Fibrillation, Aspirin and Anticoagulant Therapy Study (AFASAK 2). In order to investigate the effect on the coagulation system of the treatments, the International Normalized Ratio of the prothrombin time (INR) and prothrombin fragment 1 + 2 (F1 +2) were monitored at baseline and after three months of treatment in 100 patients consecutively included in the trial. At baseline no differences in INR and F1+2 between the four treatment groups were present. After three months of therapy the level of INR increased significantly from baseline in patients receiving warfarin in any dose and the level of F1+2 decreased significantly by combined minidose warfarin-aspirin and by dose adjusted warfarin. When comparing the changes over time in FI +2 (three-month value minus baseline value) during therapy with fixed minidose warfarin, combined minidose warfarin-aspirin and aspirin alone no significant difference between the groups was found. In conclusion, INR was changed by all three warfarin regimens but only dose adjusted warfarin (INR 2.0-3.0) had a marked effect on F1+2.


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 22-30
Author(s):  
A K Paul ◽  
S M T Rahman

Hormonal treatment of cows at the coastal region of Barisal district of Bangladesh was performed to assess the improvement of pregnancy rate. A total of 100 cows and heifers with irregular history of cyclicity were selected randomly and divided into five treatment groups. The groups were A (treated with anthelmintic), B (treated with anthelmintic, vitamin ADE and multivitamin powder), C (treated with PGF2α), D (treated with GnRH) and E (treated with GnRH and PGF2α). Each group comprised of 20 animals. The age, breed and parity of experimental cows were considered during treatment. In the study, the cows treated with both GnRH and PGF2α (group E) showed significantly (p<0.05) higher estrus (80%) and pregnancy rate (60%) than that of group A, B, C and D. The overall estrus rates of local and crossbred cows were 64% and 70%, respectively and the pregnancy rates were 40 and 52%, respectively. The crossbred cows responded significantly (p<0.05) to hormonal treatment than that of local cows. Parity-2 cows showed higher estrus sign than that of other parities. However, the pregnancy rates were higher significantly (p<0.05) in parity-2 and parity ≥4 cows than that of parity-0, parity-1 and parity-3 cows. The pregnancy rate was also found higher in case of 4 to <5 years old cows than that of 2 to <3, 3 to <4, 5 to <6, and ≥6 years old. It may conclude that the hormonal regimen increases the pregnancy rate as well as decreases the undesired waiting of estrus and conception. Further study with more sample size will reveal the more effective treatment for cows at the coastal areas of Bangladesh.


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1-4) ◽  
pp. 22-30
Author(s):  
A K Paul ◽  
S M T Rahman

Hormonal treatment of cows at the coastal region of Barisal district of Bangladesh was performed to assess the improvement of pregnancy rate. A total of 100 cows and heifers with irregular history of cyclicity were selected randomly and divided into five treatment groups. The groups were A (treated with anthelmintic), B (treated with anthelmintic, vitamin ADE and multivitamin powder), C (treated with PGF2α), D (treated with GnRH) and E (treated with GnRH and PGF2α). Each group comprised of 20 animals. The age, breed and parity of experimental cows were considered during treatment. In the study, the cows treated with both GnRH and PGF2α (group E) showed significantly (p<0.05) higher estrus (80%) and pregnancy rate (60%) than that of group A, B, C and D. The overall estrus rates of local and crossbred cows were 64% and 70%, respectively and the pregnancy rates were 40 and 52%, respectively. The crossbred cows responded significantly (p<0.05) to hormonal treatment than that of local cows. Parity-2 cows showed higher estrus sign than that of other parities. However, the pregnancy rates were higher significantly (p<0.05) in parity-2 and parity ≥4 cows than that of parity-0, parity-1 and parity-3 cows. The pregnancy rate was also found higher in case of 4 to <5 years old cows than that of 2 to <3, 3 to <4, 5 to <6, and ≥6 years old. It may conclude that the hormonal regimen increases the pregnancy rate as well as decreases the undesired waiting of estrus and conception. Further study with more sample size will reveal the more effective treatment for cows at the coastal areas of Bangladesh.


2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  

Background: Commercial broiler is a rapidly growing sector in Bangladesh. The broilers are supplied with the balanced ration prepared from a number of ingredients which are not available uniformly throughout the years. On the other hands, manufactured feeds are costly and inconvenient for the rural farmers. This study is undertaken to use unconventional feed ingredients aiming to decrease the broiler production cost. Method: A total of ninety-nine day- old broiler chicks (Hubbard) of either sex were used in this study in 3 treatment groups to assess processed unconventional feed item (shoti, blood meal, poultry dropping and molasses) on growth and profitability upon rearing for 60 days. Broilers were reared in dip litter system and were fed ad libitum on conventional and unconventional diet dividing into 3 treatment diets namely, treatment diet 1 (T1: Conventional as control), treatment diet 2 (T2: unconventional with blood meal and shoti), and treatment diet 3 (T3: unconventional with blood meal, shoti, poultry droppings and molasses) throughout the trial period. Treatment group 1 (T1) was used as control. Results: Broilers fed on control diet (conventional feed) achieved higher (P<0.01) body weight, while the broilers offered diets with the highest amount of unconventional feed had the lowest body weight. Increased (P<0.01) feed intake was observed during 21days and 49 days of age when broilers fed diets with the supplementation, but no significant differences were found among the groups in terms of feed consumption during 33 day of age. FCR differed significantly (P<.01) throughout the trial period with the broilers fed diets without supplementation of unconventional feed item had the superior FCR than the others. Mortality rate was 6.06%,9.09%, and 9.09% in treatment group I, treatment group II, and treatment group III respectively while live weights, feed conversion and feed consumption was unaffected by all the dietary groups with/without incorporation of unconventional feed item up to day 60 days of age. Statistically significant (P<0.01) decreased live weight was observed among the treatment groups in 60-day-old birds. Productivity and cost-benefit analysis were performed. Conclusion: Use of unconventional feed ingredients in broiler production greatly reduces the feed cost with little hampering the growth rate and hence, it is profitable for the farmers.


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