Hospital patient satisfaction: correlates, dimensionality, and determinants.

This paper investigates the correlates, dimensionality, and determinants of patient satisfaction in the hospital health care encounter. All of the individual hospital characteristics assessed were found to be significantly related to patient satisfaction. The findings suggest that patients evaluate hospital service quality along four distinct dimensions.

Relationships among selected attributes and three measures of upper body strength and endurance in elementary school children.

The purpose of this investigation was to assess (a) proportions of children unable to perform each of three measures of upper body strength and endurance--pull-up, flexed-arm hang, and modified pull-up; (b) relationships among selected attribute variables of age, weight, percent body fat, and body mass index, and the three measures of upper body strength and endurance; and (c) the attribute variables which best predict scores for the three measures of upper body strength and endurance. Subjects were 104 elementary school children in Grades 1 through 6. Percentages of children obtaining zero scores were computed.

Gentisate pathway in Salmonella typhimurium: metabolism of m-hydroxybenzoate and gentisate.

Salmonella typhimurium was shown to use the gentisate pathway to metabolize m-hydroxybenzoate and gentisate, m-Hydroxybenzoate hydroxylase and gentisate 1,2-dioxygenase were induced by growth on either gentisate or m-hydroxybenzoate. These enzymes were not detected when the bacteria were grown with glucose or glucose and either m-hydroxybenzoate or gentisate. However, both enzymes were induced when the bacteria were grown on succinate with either substrate.

Decrease of Salmonella typhimurium in Skim Milk and Egg by Heat and Ultrasonic Wave Treatment.

Ultrasonic waves induce cavitation which is lethal for many bacteria. When Salmonella typhimurium was suspended in skim milk or brain heart infusion broth and placed in an ultrasonicating water bath, the number of bacteria decreased by 2 to 3 log CFU in a time dependent manner. The killing by ultrasonic waves was enhanced if the menstruum was simultaneously maintained at 50°C.

Ethical issues in the treatment of severe psychopathology in university and college counseling centers.

Increasing numbers of students with severe personality disorders are presenting for psychological services at college and university counseling centers. The influx of these students poses a number of ethical dilemmas for counseling centers. Clinical decisions about appropriate treatment modalities, philosophical decisions about agency mission, and available resources to carry defined missions converge and influence ethical decisions in this area.

The role of catecholamines in gram-negative sepsis.

Recently obtained in vitro evidence has demonstrated that neurochemicals such as the catecholamines can dramatically increase the growth of Gram-negative bacteria. Depending on the catecholamine, an up to 100,000-fold increase in the in vitro growth rate of pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria such as Escherichia coli and Yersinia enterocolitica can be observed. Dramatic elevations in the levels of plasma catecholamines have been amply demonstrated to occur as part of the neurophysiological response to infection.

Catecholamine induced growth of gram negative bacteria.

The addition of various catecholamines to cultures of gram negative bacteria resulted in dramatic increases in growth. The ability of norepinephrine, epinephrine, dopamine and dopa to enhance the growth of Escherichia coli, Yersinia enterocolitica and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was observed to be dependent on the bacterium employed with each strain showing marked preference for one or more of the catecholamines. Catecholamine induced increases in growth were confirmed by one or more of the following methods: uptake of tritiated thymidine into newly synthesized DNA, changes in optical density or pour plate analysis.

Treatment satisfaction with an asthma management program: a "five"-year retrospective assessment.

The results of a five-year follow up of asthmatic children and parents who had completed a structured asthma management program are reported. The purpose of this project is (1) to assess treatment satisfaction, and (2) to identify which of the training components are considered most useful and/or which components are still being used by the participants. Eight families are interviewed.

Group caregiver language checklist.

Because young children with language disabilities frequently are placed in group-care settings, there is a need to make judgments concerning the language environment of those settings. The GCLC is offered as one procedure for assessment of the language environment provided by the caregiver(s) in a group setting. The assessment provides information that may assist in matching the environment to a particular child's needs and may provide a basis for assisting caregivers in improving the language environment and addressing a child's needs.

Service quality in the health care industry: how are hospitals evaluated by the general public?

This paper investigates the "expectations" aspect of service quality in the health care industry. Specifically, an examination is made of the importance of various hospital characteristics to consumers, the dimensionality of service quality, and the relative importance of these dimensions across demographic groups. The results suggest that the competency and the behavior of physicians are the most important characteristics in the minds of consumers.

Variables related to the type of postsecondary education experience chosen by young adults with learning disabilities.

This article examines selected variables related to the type of postsecondary education experience chosen by young adults with learning disabilities (N = 225). A one-way analysis of variance was utilized to identify significant differences between groups participating in alternative postsecondary education experiences. Variables related to use of community resources, community mobility, participation in vocational education while in high school, autonomy, peer influence, and gender were found to be significant factors that differentiate among groups.

Effects of in vitro electrical stimulation on enhancement and suppression of malignant lymphoma cell proliferation.

The suppression and enhancement of proliferation of mouse EL4 lymphoma cells varied significantly when the cells were electrically stimulated within a narrow range of low-level direct current. With the use of platinum electrodes, the suppression characteristics were observed over a narrow range, or window, of direct currents centered at approximately 17 microA. Enhancement characteristics were observed over a broad range of low-level direct currents (approximately 0.

Identification, location and analysis of contamination problems associated with cell/tissue preparation, stimulation and measurement techniques.

Any time a cell suspension or tissue sample is handled, chemically treated and prepared or measured with electrical or electrochemical probes, some level of contamination will occur. Often, the level and type of contamination can lead to serious misinterpretation of experimental results. A number of specific contamination problems have been consistently observed with certain preparation, stimulation and measurement techniques utilized in cell biology, histology, microbiology and pharmacology.

Strain-specific enhancement of splenic T cell mitogenesis and macrophage phagocytosis following peripheral axotomy.

The inbred mouse strains C57BL/6 and DBA/2 were subjected to the selective depletion of peripheral nervous system norepinephrine (NE) by the administration of the neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OH-DA). Measurement of mitogen-induced lymphocyte proliferation following peripheral axotomy with 6-OH-DA revealed that significant enhancement (up to 200% of control values) of T, but not B, cell proliferative responses occurred in DBA/2, while no effect was observed in C57BL/6. Enhancement (up to 196% of control values) of luminol-enhanced chemiluminescence resulting from the phagocytosis of opsonized zymosan was also observed following 6-OH-DA treatment in DBA/2, but not C57BL/6.

Do patients understand written health information?

Long sentences, medical terms and small print make hospital information brochures and consent forms difficult for many patients to understand. There are, however, things nurses can do to make written information for patients more accessible.

Examination of the neuroendocrine basis for the social conflict-induced enhancement of immunity in mice.

Intruder DBA/2 and C57BL/6 mice, which display different neuroendocrine responses to social conflict, evidence a pronounced increase in splenocyte phagocytosis of opsonized zymosan particles as a consequence of social conflict-induced stress. Interruption of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis prior to social conflict results in an abrogation of the stress-induced enhancement of phagocytosis in DBA/2, but not in C57BL/6, mice. Administration of the opiate antagonists naloxone and naltrexone resulted in a potentiation of the stress-induced enhancement of phagocytosis in both strains.

Innate and adaptive immune responses in a social conflict paradigm.

Social conflict stress was examined for its effects on in vitro and in vivo immunity in mice. Adaptive immunity, as measured by the generation of primary IgM antibody responses to the T-dependent antigen keyhold limpet hemocyanin, was suppressed following chronic (greater than 1 day), but not acute (less than 1 day), stress periods while the IgM response to the T-independent antigen polyvinylpyrrolidone was not affected. In vitro proliferative responses of splenocytes to the T cell mitogen concanavalin A and the B cell mitogen lipopolysaccharide were unaffected.

Modulation of human lymphocyte mitogen responsiveness and interleukin-2 production by polymorphonuclear leukocytes.

The response of human peripheral blood lymphocytes to the mitogenic lectins phytohemagglutinin (PHA) and pokeweed mitogen (PWM) was examined in the presence of autologous polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN). Experiments were performed at sub-optimal and optimal mitogen concentrations employing lymphocyte: PMN ratios over a three log cell concentration range. Increases of up to 25,000-fold in mitogen stimulated lymphocyte proliferation as determined by 3H-thymidine incorporation were observed in PMN supplemented lymphocyte cultures as compared to lymphocytes cultured in the absence of PMN or with irradiated lymphocytes serving as filler cells.

The recognition and assessment of multiple dependencies among prospective clients at selected chemical dependency treatment programs.

Thirty-five licensed chemical dependency inpatient treatment programs were surveyed to determine (1) if these institutions recognize multiple dependencies and (2) how they assess multiple dependencies. While over 90% of the facilities recognized the existence of multiple dependencies, only 54.5% actually assessed clients for multiple dependencies.

The use of stress by language-impaired children.

This investigation was conducted to identify the stressing patterns of language-impaired children in the early stages of language acquisition. Based on Wieman's (1976) work with children who were acquiring language normally, it had been expected that the subjects of this study would tend to stress the new information in two-word utterances. Only one of the five preschool language-impaired children used such a pattern.

Twelve steps in developing a schoolsite health education/promotion program for faculty and staff.

A comprehensive school health program should not be limited to improving the health of children enrolled in school. Boards of education should consider protecting and improving the health of its employees. This article describes a 12-step approach to setting up a health education/promotion program for school employees.

Response reduction through the superimposition of continuous reinforcement: a systematic replication.

Prior clinical research suggests that superimposition and subsequent removal of a schedule of continuous reinforcement (CRF) may be a viable rate-decreasing procedure in that an extinction-like condition is arranged. The arrangement of similar conditions in the laboratory, however, resulted in the quick recovery of baseline rates. Lever-pressing patterns of eight male rats maintained by different schedules of variable-ratio and variable-interval food reinforcement were examined in an A-B-A experimental design of CRF food superimposition and removal.