The effects of mirror confrontation on self-estimation of body dimensions in anorexia nervosa, bulimia and two control groups

1984 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 835-842 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. L. Norris

SynopsisUsing an apparatus which provides a continuous horizontal slit of light of variable length, self-estimations of 4 body widths were carried out before and after a mirror confrontation procedure on 4 groups of young female subjects – anorexic, bulimic, emotionally disturbed and normal. The results confirm that anorexic subjects overestimate body size, although in this study the hip diameter was frequently underestimated. Bulimic and emotionally disturbed subjects overestimate to much the same degree as anorexics, whereas normal subjects are remarkably accurate with the exception of the head width. Mirror confrontation resulted in reduced estimations in the majority of subjects, but significant differences were found in the degree to which this occurred in the 4 groups; anorexic subjects showed the greatest change and normal subjects the least. This relative instability of the anorexic subject's body image cannot be explained simply on the basis of a self-correcting experience, as many estimations which were initially below actual width were even lower on re-testing. In the anorexic and bulimic groups a significant correlation was found between the degree of overestimation after mirror confrontation and progress in treatment, as measured on a specially devised rating scale. Possible explanations for these findings and their diagnostic and prognostic implications are discussed.

1979 ◽  
Vol 134 (4) ◽  
pp. 366-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Mann ◽  
K. M. Thomas

SummaryA study was made of platelet monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity in non-medicated, newly-admitted schizophrenics and institutionalized chronic schizophrenics both on and off medication. These patients were compared to two control groups: normal subjects and brain-damaged institutionalized patients. No relationship was found between platelet MAO activity and the severity or duration of illness, duration of psychotropic medication, presence of auditory hallucinations or institutionalization. Mean platelet MAO activity did not differ significantly between the schizophrenic subgroups and control groups. Thirty-one patients studied before and after treatment with phenothiazines showed no significant change in platelet MAO activity. The findings did not indicate a relationship between schizophrenia, its treatment or outcome and platelet MAO activity.


1965 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 223-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Melnick

Five subjects with normal middle ear mechanisms, and otosclerotic patients, before and after stapedectomy, matched the loudness of their voices to the loudness of a 125-cps-sawtooth noise. The results showed loudness matching functions with gradual slopes, less than 1.00, for the normal subjects and the patients prior to stapedectomy. Post-surgically, the loudness function for the patients increased in steepness to considerably more than 1.00. These results are explained, most logically, in terms of increased sensitivity of the altered middle ear to sound energy generated by the listener’s own voice.


1963 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 437-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Daweke

Using the method of glucose-1-14C oxydation to 14CO2 on the rat epididymal adipose tissue, the insulin-like activities (ILA) in the serum have been compared before and after oral loading with glucose in normal subjects, in maturity-onset diabetics and in insulin-requiring diabetics. In maturity-onset diabetics mean fasting values were found to be 30% below normal while in insulin-requiring diabetics they were 85% above normal. In normal subjects there was observed, 30 minutes after glucose loading, a moderate increase in blood sugar together with an increase of ILA of 222% above the starting value; in maturity-onset diabetics the increase in ILA was only 106% while the blood sugar was markedly increased. After glucose loading in maturity-onset diabetics, the total amount of insulin detected during the period of the experiment was, on the average, only 45% of that found in normal subjects. In insulin requiring diabetics there was no increase but, on the contrary, a steady decrease of the ILA values, while the blood sugar excessively increased. In general ILA values were higher than those in maturity-onset diabetics. No difference in response was found between maturity-onset diabetics treated with diet alone and those treated with diet and oral hypoglycaemic drugs. In contrast to the absolute ILA values, the index of insulin reserve, is of value in assessing the functional capacity of the pancreas. This index decreases progressively with the severity of the disease and reaches a maximum of 54% of the normal in maturity-onset diabetics, which can satisfactorily be explained by pancreas insufficiency. Only in some cases of insulin-requiring diabetics was an insulin reserve still detectable. The biological inactivity of the insulin circulating in the blood can be deduced from the increased ILA-values, as compared with those found in maturity-onset diabetics. Obviously some of this insulin can be released by the addition of glucose. It is likely that, in addition to pancreatic insufficiency, insulin-binding or insulin-inactivating antibodies play a part in the pathogenesis of insulin-requiring diabetes.


1968 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hironori Nakajima ◽  
Mitsunori Murala ◽  
Masumitsu Nakata ◽  
Takeshi Naruse ◽  
Seiji Kubo

ABSTRACT The in vitro resin uptake of 3H-prednisolone was used for the determination of blood cortisol after addition of radioactive prednisolone followed by Amberlite CG 400 Type 1 to the test serum, and incubation of the mixture. The radioactivity of the supernatant was compared before and after the addition of the resin. The principle of this method is similar to that of the 131I-triiodothyronine resin uptake for the thyroid function test. The tests for the specificity, reproducibility and sensitivity gave satisfactory results. The mean basal value ± SD of the 3H-prednisolone resin uptake was 35.3 ± 9.2% in normal subjects, and 27.1 ± 4.8% in pregnant women. This method was valid in various adrenal function tests, i. e. the adrenal circadian rhythm, corticotrophin (ACTH) test, dexamethasone suppression test and the adrenal response to lysine-8-vasopressin. It proved to be a sensitive indicator of the adrenal function. These results suggest that this method should be useful for a routine adrenal function test.


1984 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-30
Author(s):  
Donald S. Martin ◽  
Ming-Shiunn Huang

The actor/observer effect was examined by Storms in a 1973 study which manipulated perceptual orientation using video recordings. Storms' study was complex and some of his results equivocal. The present study attempted to recreate the perceptual reorientation effect using a simplified experimental design and an initial difference between actors and observers which was the reverse of the original effect. Female undergraduates performed a motor co-ordination task as actors while watched by observers. Each person made attributions for the actor's behaviour before and after watching a video recording of the performance. For a control group the video recording was of an unrelated variety show excerpt. Actors' initial attributions were less situational than observers'. Both actors and observers became more situational after the video replay but this effect occurred in both experimental and control groups. It was suggested the passage of time between first and second recording of attributions could account for the findings and care should be taken when interpreting Storms' (1973) study and others which did not adequately control for temporal effects.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Paul Park ◽  
Victor Chang ◽  
Hsueh-Han Yeh ◽  
Jason M. Schwalb ◽  
David R. Nerenz ◽  
...  

OBJECTIVEIn 2017, Michigan passed new legislation designed to reduce opioid abuse. This study evaluated the impact of these new restrictive laws on preoperative narcotic use, short-term outcomes, and readmission rates after spinal surgery.METHODSPatient data from 1 year before and 1 year after initiation of the new opioid laws (beginning July 1, 2018) were queried from the Michigan Spine Surgery Improvement Collaborative database. Before and after implementation of the major elements of the new laws, 12,325 and 11,988 patients, respectively, were treated.RESULTSPatients before and after passage of the opioid laws had generally similar demographic and surgical characteristics. Notably, after passage of the opioid laws, the number of patients taking daily narcotics preoperatively decreased from 3783 (48.7%) to 2698 (39.7%; p < 0.0001). Three months postoperatively, there were no differences in minimum clinically important difference (56.0% vs 58.0%, p = 0.1068), numeric rating scale (NRS) score of back pain (3.5 vs 3.4, p = 0.1156), NRS score of leg pain (2.7 vs 2.7, p = 0.3595), satisfaction (84.4% vs 84.7%, p = 0.6852), or 90-day readmission rate (5.8% vs 6.2%, p = 0.3202) between groups. Although there was no difference in readmission rates, pain as a reason for readmission was marginally more common (0.86% vs 1.22%, p = 0.0323).CONCLUSIONSThere was a meaningful decrease in preoperative narcotic use, but notably there was no apparent negative impact on postoperative recovery, patient satisfaction, or short-term outcomes after spinal surgery despite more restrictive opioid prescribing. Although the readmission rate did not significantly increase, pain as a reason for readmission was marginally more frequently observed.


2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pengyuan Wang ◽  
Mikhail Traskin ◽  
Dylan S. Small

AbstractThe before-and-after study with multiple unaffected control groups is widely applied to study treatment effects. The current methods usually assume that the control groups’ differences between the before and after periods, i.e. the group time effects, follow a normal distribution. However, there is usually no strong a priori evidence for the normality assumption, and there are not enough control groups to check the assumption. We propose to use a flexible skew-t distribution family to model group time effects, and consider a range of plausible skew-t distributions. Based on the skew-t distribution assumption, we propose a robust-t method to guarantee nominal significance level under a wide range of skew-t distributions, and hence make the inference robust to misspecification of the distribution of group time effects. We also propose a two-stage approach, which has lower power compared to the robust-t method, but provides an opportunity to conduct sensitivity analysis. Hence, the overall method of analysis is to use the robust-t method to test for the overall hypothesized range of shapes of group variation; if the test fails to reject, use the two-stage method to conduct a sensitivity analysis to see if there is a subset of group variation parameters for which we can be confident that there is a treatment effect. We apply the proposed methods to two datasets. One dataset is from the Current Population Survey (CPS) to study the impact of the Mariel Boatlift on Miami unemployment rates between 1979 and 1982.The other dataset contains the student enrollment and grade repeating data in West Germany in the 1960s with which we study the impact of the short school year in 1966–1967 on grade repeating rates.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Sanna ◽  
Paolo Follesa ◽  
Paolo Tacconi ◽  
Mariangela Serra ◽  
Maria Giuseppina Pisu ◽  
...  

AbstractSpinocerebellar ataxia 38 (SCA 38) is an autosomal dominant disorder caused by conventional mutations in the ELOVL5 gene which encodes an enzyme involved in the synthesis of very long fatty acids, with a specific expression in cerebellar Purkinje cells. Three Italian families carrying the mutation, one of which is of Sardinian descent, have been identified and characterized. One session of cerebellar intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) was applied to 6 affected members of the Sardinian family to probe motor cortex excitability measured by motor-evoked potentials (MEPs). Afterwards, patients were exposed to ten sessions of cerebellar real and sham iTBS in a cross-over study and clinical symptoms were evaluated before and after treatment by Modified International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale (MICARS). Moreover, serum BDNF levels were evaluated before and after real and sham cerebellar iTBS and the role of BDNF Val66Met polymorphism in influencing iTBS effect was explored. Present data show that one session of cerebellar iTBS was able to increase MEPs in all tested patients, suggesting an enhancement of the cerebello-thalamo-cortical pathway in SCA 38. MICARS scores were reduced after ten sessions of real cerebellar iTBS showing an improvement in clinical symptoms. Finally, although serum BDNF levels were not affected by cerebellar iTBS when considering all samples, segregating for genotype a difference was found between Val66Val and Val66Met carriers. These preliminary data suggest a potential therapeutic use of cerebellar iTBS in improving motor symptoms of SCA38.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxime Fieux ◽  
Antoine Gavoille ◽  
Fabien Subtil ◽  
Sophie Bartier ◽  
Stéphane Tringali

Abstract Background The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the surgical training of residents. There is a real concern that trainees will not be able to meet their training requirements. Low-fidelity surgical simulation appears to be an alternative for surgical training. The educational benefits of repeating ossiculoplasty simulations under a microscope have never been evaluated. With this study we aimed to evaluate the differences in performance scores and on a global rating scale before and after training on an ossiculoplasty simulator. Methods In this quasi-experimental, prospective, single-centre, before-after study with blinded rater evaluation, residents performed five microscopic ossiculoplasty tasks with a difficulty gradient (sliding beads onto rods, the insertion of a partial prosthesis, the insertion of a total prosthesis, and the insertion of a stapedotomy piston under microscopic or endoscopic surgery) before and after training on the same simulator. Performance scores were defined for each task, and total performance scores (score/min) were calculated. All data were collected prospectively. Results Six out of seven intermediate residents and 8/9 novices strongly agreed that the simulator was an effective training device and should be included in the ENT residency program. The mean effect of training was a significant increase in the total performance score (+ 0.52 points/min, [95 % CI, 0.40–0.64], p < 0.001), without a significant difference between novice and intermediate residents. Conclusions This preliminary study shows that techniques for middle-ear surgery can be acquired using a simulator, avoiding any risk for patients, even under lockdown measures.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-yi Kuai ◽  
Xiao-han Yao ◽  
Li-juan Xu ◽  
Yu-qing Zhou ◽  
Li-ping Zhang ◽  
...  

AbstractParkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder and 70–80% of PD patients suffer from gastrointestinal dysfunction such as constipation. We aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) for treating PD related to gastrointestinal dysfunction. We conducted a prospective, single- study. Eleven patients with PD received FMT. Fecal samples were collected before and after FMT and subjected to 16S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) gene sequencing. Hoehn-Yahr (H-Y) grade, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) score, and the Non-Motion Symptom Questionnaire (NMSS) were used to assess improvements in motor and non-motor symptoms. PAC-QOL score and Wexner constipation score were used to assess the patient's constipation symptoms. All patients were tested by the small intestine breath hydrogen test, performed before and after FMT. Community richness (chao) and microbial structure in before-FMT PD patients were significantly different from the after-FMT. We observed an increased abundance of Blautia and Prevotella in PD patients after FMT, while the abundance of Bacteroidetes decreased dramatically. After FMT, the H-Y grade, UPDRS, and NMSS of PD patients decreased significantly. Through the lactulose H2 breath test, the intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) in PD patients returned to normal. The PAC-QOL score and Wexner constipation score in after-FMT patients decreased significantly. Our study profiles specific characteristics and microbial dysbiosis in the gut of PD patients. FMT might be a therapeutic potential for reconstructing the gut microbiota of PD patients and improving their motor and non-motor symptoms.


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