bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Attitudes about Impairment and Depression in Elders Suffering from Chronic Heart Failure
Authors: Turvey Carolyn L. , Klein Dawn M. , Pies Carla J. , Arndt Stephan 
Published: May 2005

Objectives: This study examines the relationship between functional impairment and depression in patients with heart failure using a new measure of Attitudes about Impairment. Methods: Sixty-nine patients with chronic heart failure completed diagnostic interviews and questionnaires about mood, comorbid illness, functional impairment, and social support. Study design was case-control with cases selected because they met criteria for DSM-IV major or minor depression ( n = 23). Controls reported no or very few depressive symptoms ( n = 46). A preliminary study of the psychometric properties of a new 15-item measure of Attitudes about Impairment was conducted. Results: The Attitudes about Impairment measure had a Cronbach's alpha = 0.81. A factor analysis revealed content domains of negative attitudes about dependency, lack of recreational activities, and concerns about being a burden both currently and in the future. This measure correlated highly with the Geriatric Depression Scale ( r = 0.61) and remained high even after controlling for medical burden and social support. Patients were diagnosed with either major, minor or no depression using a DSM-IV based structured interview. Depressed patients had significantly more negative attitudes about impairment and the association between depression and physical impairment was no longer significant after controlling for scores on the Attitudes about Impairment measure. Discussion: Negative attitudes about loss of autonomy, concerns about being a burden and having few recreational activities are strongly associated with depression in patients with heart failure. These attitudes account, in part, for the association between impairment and depression in these patients. The Attitudes about Impairment measure has adequate internal consistency and both convergent and discriminant validity with related measures of social support, functional disability and depression.
The Technical Supervisor and the Writing Process
Authors: Souther James W. 
Published: May 2005

Report writing is often inadequate because misunderstanding arises over what the supervisor thinks he assigned and what the writer thinks he was asked to do. The responsibilities of the supervisor are examined in relation to the writing process with emphasis on directive and feedback techniques. The author cites four points at which the supervisor can bring direction to the writing process—assigning work, when the technical work is on the way to completion, before the report is written, and when the report is reviewed.
Employment and Women's Health: An Analysis of Causal Relationships
Authors: Waldron Ingrid 
Published: May 2005

Housewives report more chronic illness than employed women, and housewives are more likely than employed women to rate their health as poor or fair. Poor health can deter a woman from seeking or keeping a job, and this appears to be one important reason why poor health is reported more frequently by housewives than by employed women. The differences between housewives and employed women in self-reported health do not appear to be due to differences in marital status, race, or education. The available data do not provide an adequate basis for estimating the overall effects of employment on women's health in the contemporary United States. Women in certain jobs are exposed to serious occupational hazards, including carcinogens, cotton dust, and infectious agents. Employment may result in increased stress for certain groups of women, but decreased stress for other groups, such as women who are employed part-time. Increased social contact and social support on the job may reduce the risk of illness for employed women. The net effect of employment on women's health appears to vary, depending on the type of job, and probably also on the woman's family situation.
Community Medicine under Imperialism: A New Medical Police?
Authors: Breilh Jaime 
Published: May 2005

This paper explains the historical reasons for the reappearance, since the middle of the 20th century, of social issues in the medical context of capitalist countries. The author interprets the rise of a community trend in medicine as one of the solutions that capitalism is proposing for the problems of public health. He considers that primary care coverage extension projects provide a means to attend to minimal levels of social demand, as well as basic conditions for the protection of previously neglected populations, without changing social relations or significantly diminishing productive investment. On the contrary, the consumer market will in many cases be expanded by new forms of demand. The contradictory nature of “community” services under capitalism is analyzed so as to provide a basis for the design of a strategy that takes into account the interests of the people.
Detecting Depression in Chinese Stroke Patients: A Pilot Study Comparing Four Screening Instruments
Authors: Tang Wai Kwong , Ungvari Gabor S. , Chiu Helen F. K. , Sze Kai-Hoi 
Published: May 2005

Objective: To determine which screening instrument is most suitable for detecting depression in Chinese stroke patients. Method: A random sample of 60 Chinese subjects recruited from consecutively admitted patients with first-ever stroke to a rehabilitation facility were assessed using the Visual Analogue Mood Scale (VAMS), the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), and the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Psychiatric diagnoses, which served as a benchmark for the comparison of screening instruments, were made using the SCID-DSM-III-R. Rating instruments were compared with respect to response rate, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Results: The VAMS was not useful in screening for depression in Chinese stroke patients while both the HADS and the GDS demonstrated satisfactory accuracy in detecting depression in Chinese stroke patients. Conclusions: Screening instruments for poststroke depression are culture-specific and even scales well established in other cultures should be tested before being used in clinical practice and research.
Minor Depression: A Review of the Literature
Authors: Beck David A. , Koenig Harold G. 
Published: May 2005

Objective: The clinical experience of the authors has suggested there is a significant group of elderly and individuals with medical illness and depressive symptoms who do not meet DSM-IV criteria for major depression. We were interested in all available data regarding minor depression in both the medically ill and community individuals. Methods: MEDLINE was searched from 1965 to 1995, using the terms “depressive disorders” and “medical illness,” as well as “atypical depression” and “elderly.” Relevant references from these primary articles were also utilized. Results: In medical patients, depressive symptoms were associated with decreased likelihood of discharge to home. Although diagnostic criteria vary, some suggest anhedonia as the central feature. From 3 to 16 percent of medical outpatients suffer from minor depression. Up to 64 percent of medical inpatients will complain of depressed mood. Studies in community samples found that minor depression was responsible for 9 to 16 percent of total disability days, and was associated with absenteeism from work, as well as separation and divorce. Little is known about the natural history and prognosis of minor depression. Conclusions: Minor depression is both common and has a significant impact on the health care system, and therefore deserves further study.
Expressive Disclosure and Health Outcomes in a Prostate Cancer Population
Authors: Rosenberg Harriet J. , Rosenberg Stanley D. , Ernstoff Marc S. , Wolford George L. , Amdur Robert J. , Elshamy Mary R. , Bauer-Wu Susan M. , Ahles Tim A. , Pennebaker James W. 
Published: May 2005

Objective: This pilot study explored the feasibility and the efficacy of a brief, well-defined psychosocial intervention (expressive disclosure) in improving behavioral, medical, immunological, and emotional health outcomes in men with diagnosed prostate cancer. Method: Thirty prostate cancer patients receiving outpatient oncology care were randomized into experimental (disclosure) and control (non-disclosure) groups. All had been previously treated by surgery or radiation within the last 4 years and were being monitored without further intervention for change in PSA levels. Psychological and physical health surveys were administered and peripheral blood for PSA levels and immune assays was obtained upon study enrollment and again at 3 and 6 months post enrollment. Multivariate analyses were used to examine how the expressive disclosure impacted the hypothesized domains of functioning: physical and psychological symptoms; health care utilization; and immunocompetence. Results: Compared to controls, patients in the expressive disclosure condition showed improvements in the domains of physical symptoms and health care utilization, but not in psychological variables nor in disease relevant aspects of immunocompetence. Conclusions: Study results support the feasibility of an expressive disclosure intervention for men with prostate cancer. The intervention was well accepted by this population, and participation/adherence was quite high. Results provide only limited support for the hypothesis that a written emotional disclosure task can positively impact health outcomes in a cancer population. However, this pilot study may have lacked adequate power to detect possible intervention benefits. Further studies with larger samples are needed to better assess the intervention's impact on psychological well-being and immunocompetence.
The Use of an Emergency Ward by Patients with Depressive or Anxiety Disorders: A One Year Follow-up Study
Authors: Marchesi Carlo , Brusamonti Elisabetta , Giannini Alfredo , Di Ruvo Roberto , Mineo Francesco , Maggini Carlo 
Published: May 2005

Objective: The present study examined patients during the year after the index hospitalization in an Emergency Ward (ED) to determine whether patients with depressive or anxiety disorders have a higher rate of readmission than patients without these conditions. Method: For this purpose, 165 subjects (85 diagnosed with DSM-IV depressive or anxiety disorders and 80 controls) were evaluated with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and with the Duke Severity of Illness Scale both during the index hospitalization and one year later. Hospitalizations during the follow-up period were determined using the hospital database. Results: During the follow-up period, depressed and anxious patients were more frequently rehospitalized in ED wards than controls ( p = 0.006), after controlling for the effect of medical illnesses severity, marital status, living arrangement, and employment status. No difference was found regarding the admissions to wards different from ED. Conclusions: Patients with depressive or anxiety disorders use the ED ward more frequently than controls for the diagnosis and treatment of somatic symptoms.
New Responsibilities for the Technical Writer
Authors: Schmelzer Richard W. 
Published: May 2005

As questions of public policy become more involved with the uses of scientific and technological knowledge, the public must increasingly rely upon interpreters of that knowledge to be able to form and express valid opinions. Here is a new and important role for the technical writer. The President's Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island stated that the most serious effect of that accident was severe mental stress. The stress was caused by incompetent reporting by people who lacked the necessary scientific and technological knowledge, or by people who possessed that knowledge but who were unable to express it in terms that lay people could understand.
Historical Perspectives and Comments on the Current Status of Death-Related Literature for Children
Authors: Johnson Joy 
Published: May 2005

The children found a dead bird. They wrapped it up. They buried it. They said some words and felt sad. They brought flowers for a few days. Then they forgot. This is the theme of the story in the first modern, in-print, actual hold-in-your-hands children's book about grief in my memory— The Dead Bird, by Margaret Wise Brown. It was dear to me because she wrote the first edition the year I was born, 1938, making me one of the gray-haired grandmothers and leaving Wise Brown dead now for more than 45 years. When my husband, Marv, and I founded Centering Corporation in 1977, The Dead Bird was the only book we could find for children. I'm sure there were others; we just didn't find them. They were hidden. Grief wasn't “in” then, and definitely not for children.
Acute Dementia with Delirium Due to Vitamin B12 Deficiency: A Case Report
Authors: Lerner Vladimir , Kanevsky Michael 
Published: May 2005

Objective: Vitamin B12 (cobalamin) is a key component in the catabolism of monoamines. B12 deficiency is associated with various neuropsychiatric disorders and may be more frequent in psychiatric inpatients. The authors describe a case report of a newly admitted and relatively young patient (52 years old) with organic psychosis secondary to vitamin B12 deficiency. No other overt clinical features of cobalamin deficit were observed. Symptoms were resolved with B12 and folate replacement. The patient's mental status remained stable over the 3 months after the treatment. The authors note that organic mental changes were reversible with B12 replacement. Conclusions: The authors propose that determination of serum vitamin B12 and folic acid levels should be recommended as routine screening in all new admissions of psychiatric patients regardless of their age or previous state of health.
The Effect of Cimetidine and Ranitidine on Cognitive Function in Postoperative Cardiac Surgical Patients
Authors: Kim Kelly Y. , McCartney James R. , Kaye William , Boland Robert J. , Niaura Ray 
Published: May 2005

Objective: To compare the incidence of delirium in postoperative cardiac surgical patients treated with either cimetidine or ranitidine. Method: Cardiac surgery patients were randomized to receive either cimetidine or ranitidine postoperatively. Each patient underwent three Mini-Mental Status Examinations (MMSE) and the medical record was reviewed for pertinent past medical history, laboratory data, and evidence of delirium on three occasions: one day preoperatively (before H-2 blocker was given), in the early postoperative period (while receiving the H-2 blocker); usually two days postoperatively on the day of hospital discharge (several days after the H-2 blocker had been discontinued). Results: Overall, both groups in the early postoperative period showed a significant decrease in the MMSE score (27.11 ± 4.44 to 25.38 ± 2.87, mean ± SD; t = 5.16, p < .0005), which resolved by the time of hospital discharge. There was no significant difference between cimetidine and ranitidine. Both age and preoperative MMSE score were strongly associated with the development of delirium. Conclusions: We found no significant difference between cimetidine's versus ranitidine's effect upon cognitive functioning in the postoperative cardiac surgical patient. This was true even when controlling for age and length of stay.
A Multi-City Community Based Smoking Research Intervention Project in the African-American Population
Authors: Darity William A. , Tuthill Robert W. , Winder Alvin E. , Cernada George P. , Chen Ted T. L. , Buchanan David R. , Stanek Edward , Pastides Harris 
Published: May 2005

Objective: To carry out a community-based research approach to determine the most effective educational interventions to reduce smoking among African-American smokers. The intervention included preparation of the community, planning and developing a model of change, and developing a community-based intervention. The study population consisted of 2,544 randomly selected adult African-American smokers residing in four sites in the northeastern and southeastern parts of the United States. The research design provided a comparison of active intervention sites with passive control sites as well as low income and moderate income areas. Major Outcome Measures: Point prevalence of non-smoking at the time of interview; Period prevalence of non-smoking at the time of interview; Period prevalence of quit attempts in the prior six months; Number of smoke-free days in the prior six months; Number of cigarettes smoked daily at the time of interview. Results: Based upon a survey eighteen months after baseline data was collected, all four measures of cigarette smoking behavior showed a strong statistically significant reduction of personal smoking behavior among those receiving active interventions versus the passive group. On the basis of process variable analysis, direct contact with the project staff in the prior six months was significantly higher in the active intervention areas. There was only a small non-significant increase in personal smoking behavior in moderate income groups as opposed to low income groups. Conclusion: An analysis of process variables strongly suggests that, within this African-American Community, “hands on” or “face to face” approaches along with mass media, mailings, and other less personal approaches were more effective in reducing personal smoking behavior than media, mailings, and other impersonal approaches alone addressed to large audiences.
Human Rights, Health, and Capital Accumulation in the Third World
Authors: Chossudovsky Michel 
Published: May 2005

While the development of center capitalism has evolved toward “the Welfare State” and a framework of liberal sociodemocracy, the “peripheral State” is generally characterized by nondemocratic forms of government. This bipolarity in the state structure between center and periphery is functionally related to the international division of labor and the unity of production and circulation on a world level. The programs and policies of the center Welfare State (health, education, social security, etc.) constitute an input of “human capital” into the high-technology center labor process. Moreover, welfare programs in center countries activate the process of circulation by sustaining high levels of consumer demand. In underdeveloped countries, the underlying vacuum in the social sectors and the important allocations to military expenditure support the requirements of the peripheral labor process. Programs in health in the center and periphery are related to the bipolarity (qualification/dequalification) in the international division of labor. The social and economic functions of health programs are intimately related to the organic structure of the State and the mechanics whereby the State allocates its financial surplus in support of both capitalist production and circulation.
Reaching Out with Telecommunication
Authors: Varma Indu 
Published: May 2005

Telecommunication is a very powerful vehicle of the Information Age. It is like the spaceship that has taken us on exciting odysseys through weird and wonderful territories. It has shrunken the global boundaries and has given us the feeling of living in a global village. It has literally knocked down barriers of classroom walls, distance, language, time, culture, and has extended our learning arena into the real world. In this article I will briefly share some of the telecommunication projects that my students and I have been involved in. Our telecommunication experiences in a way have been like cooking. Just as in cooking sometimes one follows a recipe and at other times one is creative and does one's own thing. Similarly sometimes we have participated in existing projects and at other times I have initiated my own.
Medical Politics, Health Policy: Party Health Platforms, Promise and Performance
Authors: Silver George A. 
Published: May 2005

Health policy in the United States is a product of medical politics. “Medical politics” includes not only traditional patterns of interest group pressures but traditional political party philosophies and patient expectations as well. Characteristic Republican politics reflects narrower governmental spending and greater emphasis on support of entrepreneurial effort. Desired effects will “trickle down” to the needy. Democratic politics tend to follow a more generous spending line, not neglecting the entrepreneurs, but spreading some of the funds around to the needy themselves. In addition, Republicans tend to distrust salaried officials, placing governmental power (through government funds) into the hands of private agencies or companies. Democrats hesitate less to build bureaucratic structures. On the record, both parties follow roughly similar lines in spite of these philosophic differences, which turn out to be differences in style. Both parties have practiced restraint in financing of medical services, only recently undertaking payment for these, and only recently undertaking to pay for medical education. Research has been a favored federal focus. Rapid and seemingly uncontrollable inflation has forced both parties to take a harder line. Political platforms are not necessarily clear signals of eventual party action. Nevertheless, they underline what the parties consider to be the problems as the voters see them and they express what the parties see as the appropriate response to these problems. This paper suggests what the party platforms will look like for the presidential election this year and also what the parties will probably do thereafter.
Freedom, Freedom…!
Authors: Vitelli James R. 
Published: May 2005

Whether engineering students should be taught English and the communication skills in separate classes is a problem that has plagued teachers for many years. The author thinks that no distinction should be made between English for engineers and English for other students. The Kitzhaber Report is cited as an argument for anti-separatism and is set off against the views of the separatists. More specific statements are examined through the evaluation of a currently used anthology of technical and professional writing.
Drug Promotion: The Third World Revisited
Authors: Silverman Milton , Lee Philip R. , Lydecker Mia 
Published: May 2005

In 1973 and 1980 surveys, much of the promotion of prescription drugs in the Third World was found to be marked by gross exaggeration of clinical claims and glossing over of possible serious or fatal adverse reactions. In an expanded survey of the information distributed in 1984 to physicians in the United States, the United Kingdom, and 28 developing nations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, striking changes were noted. Many of the pharmaceutical firms were found to be showing more restraint in limiting their claims in the Third World to those which can be supported by scientific evidence, and far more willingness to disclose serious hazards. The companies discarding a double standard in drug promotion have apparently not suffered any significant loss of profits. There is, however, evident need for further improvement by both multinational and domestic companies. The present study covered 1069 products representing 63 drug entities and fixed combinations, marketed by 303 companies.