Infanticide of defective newborns: an old midwife's story.

The story of how a midwife many years ago dealt with defective newborns is used to illustrate complete control by a system external to the family. Similarities exist with current public policy concerning the interrelated issues of abortion, neonatal euthanasia, and infanticide in which the family system is often ignored. It is argued that the family's values, expectations, and desires are relevant to the establishment of public policy in this sensitive domain.

Leisure motivation in relation to psychosocial adjustment and personality in young offender and high school samples.

The Jackson Personality Inventory (JPI), Holden Psychological Screening Inventory (HPSI), and the Leisure Motivation Scale (LMS) were administered to samples of 66 young offenders and 67 high school students. Significant between sample differences occurred for the HPSI Depression and Social Symptomatology scales, the JPI Responsibility and Risk Taking scales, but none of the 4 LMS scales. Statistically significant correlations were obtained for the LMS with 13 of the 15 JPI scales, with the HPSI Psychiatric, Social, and Depression Symptomatology scales, and with gender and sample.

Serum testosterone in violent and nonviolent young offenders.

Single morning serum testosterone samples from 194 15-17 year old male young offenders were compared between subgroups based on violent (n = 75), non-violent (n = 102), and sexual (n = 17) offenses. The violent group had the highest level of testosterone and differed significantly from both the nonviolent and sexual offender groups which were statistically equivalent. The offenders were also classified according to native/metis (n = 68) and Caucasian (n = 126) groups, and the native/metis group had significantly higher testosterone than the Caucasian group.

Improvement in psychosocial adjustment for psychiatric patients after a 16-week life skills education program.

The Holden Psychological Screening Inventory, a 36-item screening inventory for psychosocial adjustment, was administered pre- and posttreatment to 31 psychiatric patients enrolled in a 16-week life skills education program. Statistically significant improvements in the Depression Symptomatology, Social Symptomatology, and Total scores were obtained, but the Psychiatric Symptomatology scale did not improve significantly. Size of effect was larger for Depression Symptomatology (.

Attrition from a male batterer treatment program: client-treatment congruence and lifestyle instability.

Although patient compliance is a problem for almost all forms of therapy, treatment programs for male batterers face special concerns. Male batterers are often perceived as coming to therapy only because of the external pressures of courts or intimate partners. In the present study, we examined the rates at which male batterers failed to attend treatment following an initial assessment interview.

Cytodiagnostic urinalysis is very useful in the differential diagnosis of acute renal failure and can predict the severity.

Cytodiagnostic urinalysis was tested to determine its utility in the differential diagnosis of acute renal failure (ARF). Fifty-one patients with acute renal failure were included and evaluated clinically with regard to the etiology of the renal failure, whether underlying chronic renal failure was present, and if dialysis was required. Urine specimens were macroscopically examined and subjected to a multiparameter reagent-strip analysis.

Is a diagnosis-based classification system appropriate for funding psychiatric care in Alberta?

Objective: This study evaluated the appropriateness of the Refined Group Number (RGN) classification system for funding psychiatric discharges in Alberta.

Method: Multiple regression was used to calculate the amount of variation explained (R2) in length of stay by RGNs for psychiatric discharges. The distribution of short-stay cases (less than 5 days) was also reviewed.

Principal-component localization of the sources of the background EEG.

A method, based on principal components for localizing the sources of the background EEG, is presented which overcomes the previous limitations of this approach. The spatiotemporal source model of the EEG is assumed to apply, and the method involves attempting to fit the spatial aspects of this general model with an optimal rotation of a subset of the principal components of a particular EEG. The method is shown to be equivalent to the subspace scanning method, a special case of the MUSIC algorithm, which enables multiple sources to be localized individually rather than all at once.

Systematic comparisons of interpolation techniques in topographic brain mapping.

The performance of one local interpolation technique, the nearest neighbors, and two global spline techniques, one planar and the other spherical, commonly used for topographic mapping of brain potential data has been quantitatively evaluated. The method of evaluation was one of cross-validation where the potential at each site in a 31-electrode full scalp recording montage is predicted by interpolation from the other sites. Errors between the measured potentials and those predicted by interpolation were quantified using 4 measures defined as inaccuracy, precision, bias and tolerance.

Psychopathic and nonpsychopathic inmates differ from normal controls in tolerance levels of electrical stimulation.

With a Tursky electrode applied to the ventral surface of the forearm two samples of inmates (28 psychopaths and 28 nonpsychopaths) were compared to 29 normal controls. No differences were found among the three groups in lower detection thresholds. While there was no difference between the inmate groups in terms of pain tolerance, both inmate groups had a higher tolerance for pain than did the controls.

Sadism and other paraphilias in normal controls and aggressive and nonaggressive sex offenders.

Penile circumference responses (PCRs) to a visual age/gender erotic preference battery were analyzed from 60 normal controls and 227 sexual offenders. Sixty offenders were classified as sexual aggressives on the basis of their behavior and damage to their victims. The mean PCR to sadism slides (visual portrayals of nonsexual violence against fully clothed females) was significantly larger for the sexually aggressive group compared to the sexual nonaggressive offender and normal control groups.

Quantitative EEG studies of pedophilia.

Ninety six pedophiles, whose sexual orientation was confirmed by phallometric response to sexual stimuli, were investigated with quantitative EEG and compared to age- and sex-matched healthy controls. The EEG analysis showed a pattern of increased frontal delta, theta and alpha power (especially during verbal processing) and a pattern of reduced interhemispheric and increased intrahemispheric-interhemispheric coherence, right and left (only during verbal processing), an effect that was restricted to those who showed maximal erotic arousal for sexual partners aged 6-12 years. These findings will be discussed in the context of recent studies which suggest that sexual deviations in the male relate to altered dominant hemispheric functions with disruption of frontal interhemispheric relationships.

Neurophysiological and neuropsychological study of two cases of multiple personality syndrome and comparison with chronic hysteria.

Two cases of multiple personality were studied neurophysiologically and neuropsychologically. Bilateral frontal (Right greater than Left) and left temporal dysfunction was present in both cases, on neuropsychological indicators. Both cases on EEG analysis, were in a state of relative left hemisphere activation, across all cerebral regions and task conditions.

Neuropsychology and psychopathology: a progress report.

This paper summarizes and discusses the contributions of neuropsychological assessment to various forms of psychopathology. Emphasis is placed upon studies done with the Halstead-Reitan battery and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, but studies done with other neuropsychological test procedures are also reviewed. The conclusions reached are that neuropsychological tests are sensitive to functional regional brain disorganization in psychopathology, and that they are useful in the diagnostic process for a number of disorders including schizophrenia, psychopathy, mood disorders, and other psychiatric conditions.

Influence of gender in schizophrenia as related to other psychopathological syndromes.

The evidence indicating that the forms of schizophrenia in men and women represent different morbid states is reviewed. Age of onset and gender are considered to be of fundamental importance in determining the different symptomatological and evolutionary features of the syndrome in the two sexes. Early-onset forms in males are associated with chronicity, absence of familial predisposition for psychosis, and the presence of structural cerebral pathology specifically involving the dominant hemisphere.

Speech Sounds Perception Test: nonrandom response locations form a logical fallacy in structure.

The response format of the Speech Sounds Perception Test confounds speech perception with irrelevant method variance. To rectify this problem the response format was revised by randomizing the response locations. An empirical comparison of the revised and original forms was undertaken with forensic (n=59) and psychiatric (n=67) samples.

Choosing the components of an occupational therapy work assessment program for a psychiatric hospital.

Guiding adult psychiatric patients back to competitive employment is a challenge to any occupational therapist. This paper describes how a work assessment program was developed for an adult population in a long-term psychiatric care center despite the lack of applicable models for doing so. The resulting "common sense" approach, a "how to" for those searching for programming guidelines, is presented with recommendations for the development of similar programs in Occupational Therapy Departments.

Finger tapping: effects of trials and sessions.

18 normal, self-reported dextral subjects (9 men, 9 women) were assessed with a Halstead Manual Finger Tapping device, with 10 trials per hand for 10 consecutive wk. The test-retest reliability of the 10-trial average between the 10 sessions averaged .94 for men and .