A retrospective cohort study to evaluate the impact of meaningful weight loss on fertility outcomes in an overweight population with infertility.

Objective: To determine if meaningful weight loss (≥10%) improved conception and live birth rates of overweight patients with infertility.

Design: A retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Academic medical center.

Light-emitting diodes and cool white fluorescent light similarly suppress pineal gland melatonin and maintain retinal function and morphology in the rat.

Background And Purpose: A novel light-emitting diode (LED) light source for use in animal-habitat lighting was evaluated.

Methods: The LED was evaluated by comparing its effectiveness with that of cool white fluorescent light (CWF) in suppressing pineal gland melatonin content and maintaining normal retinal physiology, as evaluated by use of electroretinography (ERG), and morphology.

Results: Pineal melatonin concentration was equally suppressed by LED and CWF light at five light illuminances (100, 40, 10, 1, and 0.

Effects of housing density on mouse physiology and behavior in the NASA Animal Enclosure Module simulators.

Space flight studies using the Animal Enclosure Module (AEM) make it possible to investigate the role of microgravity on animal physiology and behavior. In this study, we compared the health and well-being of mice housed at different densities in AEM simulators (AEMS), to vivarium shoebox (control) cages (VSBC). A stress assessment battery (SAB) of measures was developed to evaluate mouse health and well-being, and to determine if any of the population sizes resulted in a stressful environment.

Separation anxiety in panic disorder.

Objective: A number of researchers have provided evidence that separation anxiety is an important antecedent or current affect in panic disorder. The objective of this pilot study was to test this hypothesis by comparing dreams, screen memories, and life situations of panic disorder patients with those of comparison patients.

Method: A recent dream with associations, screen memories with associations, and life situations at onset of symptoms were recorded verbatim during semistructured interviews with 20 patients with DSM-III-R panic disorder and 20 comparison subjects upon referral to a private outpatient practice.

New findings regarding light intensity and its effects as a zeitgeber in the Sprague-Dawley rat.

Circadian rhythmicities are oscillations of physiological cycles designed to create temporal organization. Circadian rhythms ensure that physiological mechanisms are expressed in proper relationship to each other and the 24 hour day. Light is the main zeitgeber ("time giver") for biological clocks.

The occupational hazards of jury duty.

Jurors on criminal trials carry a considerable burden of responsibility. They determine the defendant's fate. Additionally, during trials they can be exposed to stressful, frightening, and sordid aspects of life.

Psychiatrists' beliefs about gender-appropriate behavior.

Psychiatrists' beliefs regarding gender-appropriate behavior may influence their treatment of patients. Psychiatrists of both sexes (men: N = 76; women: N = 57) were asked to characterize optimal mental health for hypothetical female and male patients on the Bem Sex Role Inventory. The subjects' ratings for men and women were similar with two exceptions: more of the female psychiatrists rated masculine traits as optimal for female patients, and more male psychiatrists chose traits characteristic of Bem's undifferentiated category (low levels of both masculine and feminine traits) as optimal for both male and female patients.

Buffalo Creek survivors in the second decade: stability of stress symptoms.

A follow-up study of 120 adult survivors of the Buffalo Creek dam collapse of 1972 showed group changes 14 years after the event. Decreased symptoms were noted in all areas, although significant psychopathology remained in about one-quarter of the survivors. A small group with delayed onset of symptoms was identified.

Circadian rhythms and athletic performance.

Daily or circadian rhythmical oscillations occur in several physiological and behavioral functions that contribute to athletic performance. These functions include resting levels of sensory motor, perceptual, and cognitive performance and several neuromuscular, behavioral, cardiovascular, and metabolic variables. In addition, circadian rhythms have been reported in many indices of aerobic capacity, in certain physiological variables at different exercise levels, and, in a few studies, in actual athletic performance proficiency.

Effect of cholesterol oxidation products on cholesterol metabolism in the laying hen.

Two experiments were conducted to determine the effect of purified cholesterol and oxidized cholesterol in the diet of the laying hen on egg production characteristics, in vitro - in ovo utilization of acetate for cholesterol biosynthesis, and the activity of hepatic 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase, the rate-limiting enzyme in biosynthesis of cholesterol. Previous work has demonstrated inhibition of cholesterol synthesis by cholesterol oxides in tissue culture cells but not in hepatic tissues of animals through dietary administration. Feeding .

A review of human physiological and performance changes associated with desynchronosis of biological rhythms.

This review discusses the effects, in the aerospace environment, of alterations in approximately 24-h periodicities (circadian rhythms) upon physiological and psychological functions and possible therapies for desynchronosis induced by such alterations. The consequences of circadian rhythm alteration resulting from shift work, transmeridian flight, or altered day lengths are known as desynchronosis, dysrhythmia, dyschrony, jet lag, or jet syndrome. Considerable attention is focused on the ability to operate jet aircraft and manned space vehicles.

Learned illness behavior in patients with irritable bowel syndrome and peptic ulcer.

Chronic illness behavior is defined by frequent visits to physicians, multiple somatic complaints, and disability disproportionate to physical findings. The prevalence of chronic illness behavior in people with irritable bowel syndrome and peptic ulcer was studied in a telephone survey of 832 people from metropolitan Cincinnati. People with irritable bowel syndrome (8% of the sample) were more likely than people with peptic ulcer (10% of the sample), and also more likely than the general population, to have multiple somatic complaints, to view their colds and flus as more serious than those of other people, and to consult a physician for minor illnesses.

Mental health care in an adolescent medical setting.

Two hundred sixty-four troubled adolescents referred to a medical adolescent clinic were randomly assigned to one of three therapies and to one of four conditions defined by whether treatment was delayed for 6 weeks or not, and whether or not the case was presented to a psychiatrist. Patients were assessed by parents and self-reports at intake and at 6, 12, and 24 weeks, using the Adolescent Life Assessment Check List (ALAC). This 40-item instrument yielded a total and six subscores.

Bioinstrumentation for evaluation of workload in payload specialists: results of ASSESS II.

ASSESS II (Airborne Science/Spacelab Experiments System Simulation) was a cooperative NASA-ESA project which consisted of a detailed simulation of Spacelab operations using the NASA Ames Research Center CV-990 aircraft laboratory. The Medical Experiment reported on in this paper was part of the complex payload consisting of 11 different experiments. Its general purpose was to develop a technology, possibly flown on board of Spacelab, and enabling the assessment of workload through evaluating changes of circadian rhythmicity, sleep disturbances and episodical or cumulative stress.

Parents view their adolescents' mental health.

A 40-item behavioral checklist was devised for use with adolescent patient and nonpatient samples. A comparable form is used to obtain information about the offspring from the parent or guardian. This report presents the responses of parents and compares them with those of their offspring in two samples.

Content scaling of affect in adolescent speech samples.

Data are reported which extend the applicability of the Gottschalk-Gleser scales for the content analysis of speech samples to adolescents. The data were gathered on 112 youngsters aged 11-18 stratified by age, race, and sex in a balanced design. Girls had higher Anxiety scores and relatively lower scores on Hostility Directed Inward, Ambivalent Hostility, and Social Alienation and Personal Disorganization than did boys.