Lead in New York City community garden chicken eggs: influential factors and health implications.

Raising chickens for eggs in urban areas is becoming increasingly common. Urban chickens may be exposed to lead, a common urban soil contaminant. We measured lead concentrations in chicken eggs from New York City (NYC) community gardens and collected information on factors that might affect those concentrations.

Investigating occupant safety through simulating the interaction between side curtain airbag deployment and an out-of-position occupant.

The objective of this research is to elucidate the effect of side curtain airbag deployment on occupant injuries and safety when the occupant is either in-position or out-of-position (OOP). We used side impact vehicle collision simulations with a 1996 Dodge Neon model, which was further modified to include a side curtain airbag, a seatbelt, and a 50th percentile Hybrid III dummy. The airbag used in the study was inflated using both the uniform pressure (UP) and smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) methods.

Earthquakes on dipping faults: the effects of broken symmetry.

Dynamic simulations of earthquakes on dipping faults show asymmetric near-source ground motion caused by the asymmetric geometry of such faults. The ground motion from a thrust or reverse fault is larger than that of a normal fault by a factor of 2 or more, given identical initial stress magnitudes. The motion of the hanging wall is larger than that of the footwall in both thrust (reverse) and normal earthquakes.

EEG power spectra of adolescent poor readers.

EEG power spectra were studied in two poor-reading adolescent groups (dysphonetic and phonetic) as the students viewed strings of letters and easy words (seven categories). The students ranged in age from 12 to 16 years; 29 were male, 9 were female. Bilateral results are reported from frontal, parietal, and occipital regions.

An event-related brain potential investigation of PTSD and PTSD symptoms in abused children.

We tested 186 children ranging in age from 6 years, 10 months to 13 years, 7 months; 174 suffered either physical and/or sexual abuse, and 12 were nonabused children. Abused subjects were grouped in four different ways. The primary grouping was based on whether subjects satisfied the DSM III-R criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Event-related brain potentials elicited by rhyming and non-rhyming pictures differentiate subgroups of reading disabled adolescents.

Event-related brain potentials were recorded while disabled adolescent subjects read and judged whether two sequentially presented pictures had names that rhymed. Subjects with relatively good phonetic skills displayed an N400 priming effect, i.e.

EEG power spectra of dysphonetic and nondysphonetic poor readers.

Two subtypes of poor readers, dysphonetic and phonetic, were compared on EEG spectral values obtained as they viewed strings of letters and short words. Dysphonetic poor readers had significantly higher values than phonetics in the theta and delta bands. Both phonetic and dysphonetic poor readers had lower beta values than adequate reading children with Attention Deficit Disorder.

EEG power spectra of children with dyslexia, slow learners, and normally reading children with ADD during verbal processing.

EEG power spectra were studied in two poor reader groups (with dyslexia and slow learning) and a normally reading clinic control group (with attention deficit disorder) as the children viewed strings of words and letters (seven categories). The children ranged in age from 7.5 to 12 years; 33 were girls, 86 were boys.

Visual event-related potentials of dyslexic children to rhyming and nonrhyming stimuli.

In a visual event-related potential (ERP) study, children diagnosed as dyslexic in terms of both age and IQ discrepancy criteria were compared with two contrast groups: poor for age (SLOW) readers and normal reading children with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). The children viewed 200 stimulus pairs and judged whether the second stimulus of each pair rhymed with the first. The first stimulus was always a three-letter word, while half of the second stimuli were pronounceable nonsense words and half were real words.

Visual slow brain potentials in children with attention deficit disorder.

Using a two-stimulus reaction time paradigm, with two separate reward conditions (contingent and noncontingent), we compared slow wave brain potentials (ERPs) in 144 children with attention deficit disorder (ADD) and 30 normal control children. This article reviews the findings during the 900 msec visual warning stimulus. As we had expected, based on ERP work of Forth and Hare (1989) and Raine, Venables and Williams (1990), and on previous work from our own laboratory, the group differences were found in the negative slow wave portions of the ERP complex during the contingent reward condition but not during the noncontingent condition.

Heart rate reactivity in attention deficit disorder subgroups.

Beat-to-beat heart rate (HR) was analyzed for 9 contiguous seconds in a warned reaction time (RT) paradigm. Imperative stimuli were tones of three intensity levels (55, 78, and 100 db); a visual warning signal occurred 5 sec before tone onset. Baseline and reward conditions were run.

Administrative ethics in the 1990s: CEOs confront payment, access dilemmas.

The 1990s are presenting new challenges to hospital CEOs. One theme currently emerging is the ethics of resource allocation. As they search for ways to fulfill their community responsibilities under pressures related to reimbursement, technology and community desires, hospitals are finding that they must make some very tough choices in how they allocate resources.

Auditory stimulus intensity gradients and response to methylphenidate in ADD children.

Using an auditory stimulus intensity paradigm, we obtained both event related potentials (ERPs) and press and release reaction times (RT) from a large sample of children with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). The ERP gradients to three tone intensities were used to classify the children as augmenters (steep gradients), moderates, or reducers (shallow or negative gradients). The RT data were used to classify the children as strong or sensitive, following neo-Pavlovian guidelines.

Tailor resources to community's health agenda. Interview by Frank Sabatino.

D. Kirk Oglesby, Jr., president of Anderson (SC) Memorial Hospital, is the new chairman-elect designate of the American Hospital Association.

Collaborative Behavioral Teratology Study: programmed data entry and automated test systems.

The automated laboratory systems described in this paper were developed for use at the National Center for Toxicological Research (NCTR) and each of five collaborating laboratories. These laboratories participated in a study designed to evaluate the intra- and interlaboratory reliability and sensitivity of several behavioral test methods used in developmental toxicity studies. This paper describes two microcomputer systems.

Autonomic responsivity during visual search of hyperactive and reading-disabled children.

Heart rate and skin conductance measures, recorded during a visual search task, were compared for hyperactive, reading-disabled, hyperactive reading-disabled, and control elementary school boys. As shown in past work, basal autonomic levels did not statistically differentiate groups. In all groups, heart rate levels increased with task complexity, but more so on reward than on nonreward trials.