Prevalence of depersonalization and derealization experiences in a rural population.

BACKGROUND: Dissociative symptoms are common psychiatric symptoms whose prevalence in rural (agricultural) populations is unknown. The present study examines the prevalence of depersonalization and derealization experiences in a southern rural US population as well as socio-demographic and emotional factors associated with these experiences. METHOD: A random sample of 1008 adults in rural eastern North Carolina completed a survey by telephone, which included questions about experiences of depersonalization or derealization in the past year. Demographic information was gathered on all respondents; for those reporting these dissociative experiences, information on their frequency, duration, and whether they occurred during conditions of danger, severe stress, upsetting memories, nervousness or depression, or for no apparent reason was also elicited. RESULTS: The reported prevalence rates were 19.1% for depersonalization, 14.4% for derealization, and 23.4% for either dissociative experience. Logistic regression showed that women reported a significantly higher rate of dissociative experiences (26.5%) than men (19.5%), (Odds Ratio = 1.93, 95% CI = 1.37-2.74), particularly African-American women (29.9%). Experiencing chronic pain (OR = 2.96, 95% CI = 2.05-4.28) and irregular church attendance (OR = 1.18, 95% CI = 1.07-1.31) were also associated with increased frequency of dissociation. Increasing age (OR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.65-0.81) and being employed (OR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.39-0.86) were associated with reduced frequency of dissociation. Pain, gender, and age were related to both depersonalization and derealization experiences. Employment and church attendance were related to depersonalization experiences, while ethnic minorities experienced more derealization. CONCLUSIONS: A predominantly southern rural population reported a high 1-year prevalence of depersonalization and derealization experiences. The prevalence of dissociation experiences was common in this southern sample, as was found by Ross and colleagues (1990) in an urban population in Canada. Risk factors for depersonalization and derealization experiences had considerable overlap, but differed on several variables suggesting different underlying mechanisms.

Age and responses to the Love Attitudes Scale: consistency in structure, differences in scores.

Two separate issues concerning the relation between age and love are addressed in this article. The first issue is concerned with the age generalizability of the factor structure produced by responses to the Love Attitudes Scale. The data presented indicate that the factor structure of responses to the Love Attitudes Scale is highly similar in college-aged and middle-aged participants. The second issue concerns the relation between age and actual scores on the sub-scales of the Love Attitude Scales. The data indicate that age is related to responses on the Mania and Agape sub-scales, particularly for females. Collectively, these data suggest that general structural conceptions of love remain relatively constant into middle-age, but that there is a relation between age and some specific love styles.

Effect of feeding high-oleic-acid peanuts to growing-finishing swine on resulting carcass fatty acid profile and on carcass and meat quality characteristics.

A high-oleic-acid peanut breeding line was used in a study designed to determine the effects of feeding swine diets containing elevated levels of monounsaturated fatty acids as a means to increase the level of monounsaturates and total unsaturates in the resulting carcass fat. Forty-eight pigs were allotted to four treatments that consisted of corn-soybean meal diets that contained 1) high-oleic peanuts (HOP), 2) regular commercial peanuts (RP), or 3) canola oil (CO), each added at a dietary level to provide 10% added fat/oil, and 4) a control diet with no added fat/oil. The oil of HOP averaged 75% oleic acid vs 60% for CO and 53% for RP. The pigs were fed the experimental diets from 33 to 102 kg BW, after which all pigs were slaughtered. All three dietary oil sources resulted in increases (P < .01) of monounsaturates in the backfat; the HOP diet resulted in the greatest increase (32% greater than control). Both CO and RP increased (P < .01) the level of polyunsaturates by nearly twofold; HOP resulted in a small decrease. Total unsaturates increased (P < .01) by 24, 24, and 27% for HOP, RP, and CO treatments, respectively, over that obtained from the control treatment. Carcass fat was softer/oilier (P < .05) from pigs fed CO and RP diets, but not from those fed HOP diets, compared with carcass fat of pigs fed the control diet. Dietary fat/oil source had no effect (P > .05) on other carcass compositional traits and various meat quality attributes.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Performance and carcass characteristics of swine when fed diets containing canola oil and added copper to alter the unsaturated:saturated ratio of pork fat.

A 3 x 2 trial was conducted to determine the effects of adding canola oil (0, 5, or 10%) and copper sulfate (0 or 250 ppm Cu) to diets of growing-finishing swine on performance, carcass characteristics, and carcass fat fatty acid composition. The trial used 180 pigs (27 kg). Grower diets (.80% lysine for 0% canola oil diet) were given from 27 to 57 kg of BW and finisher diets (.64% lysine) from 57 to 102 kg. Diets were formulated to constant ME:lysine ratio within the grower and finisher phases. Over the entire growing-finishing period, the addition of canola oil to the diets resulted in linear improvements in rate of gain (P less than .05) and feed efficiency (P less than .01). Dietary additions of canola oil had no effect (P greater than .10) on resulting backfat thickness or longissimus muscle area but resulted in reductions (P less than .01) in loin marbling and color and carcass fat firmness, mostly noted in pigs fed the diets with 10% canola oil. Canola oil additions at 5 and 10% levels, respectively, resulted in a 23 and 37% reduction (P less than .01) in saturated fatty acids, 3 and 8% increase (P less than .01) in monounsaturated fatty acids, and 37 and 77% increase (P less than .01) in polyunsaturated fatty acids in the carcass fat compared with the diets without canola oil. The addition of canola oil to diets of growing-finishing swine had a favorable influence on animal performance and on increasing the unsaturated:saturated ratio of the carcass fat.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Effect of cholesterol deprivation on piglet small intestine and serum lipids.

Using the neonatal piglet, the effects of dietary cholesterol deprivation on growth, intestinal enzyme activity, intestinal and hepatic 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMG-CoA reductase), and serum lipid were studied. Six litters of piglets were randomly assigned to one of two feeding regimens: restricted (800 ml of formula/24 h) versus unrestricted (1,200 ml of formula/24 h). Within litters, piglets were separated by sex, then randomly assigned to a formula containing low cholesterol (less than 2 mg/dl) or high cholesterol (145 mg/dl). Piglets were fed for 2 weeks. Male piglets in the restricted low cholesterol group gained significantly less weight per milliliter of formula than the restricted high cholesterol males. No effect was observed in the females. Microvillus membrane lactase activity was greater in males fed a high versus low cholesterol diet. Intestinal and hepatic HMG-CoA reductase activities and serum lipid profiles showed a trend toward compensation for dietary cholesterol deprivation but did not differ statistically between the cholesterol-fed versus -deprived groups. It is concluded that dietary cholesterol deprivation in the male neonatal pig causes alterations in growth, but no other statistically significant responses were detectable in this study.

Contingency interaction analysis in psychotherapy.

This article introduces (a) a computerized coding procedure that rates words and utterances in terms of emotion, cognition, and contract and (b) a contingency method of analyzing verbal interactions. Using transcripts of sessions conducted by 3 master therapists with 1 client, the rating procedure and contingency correlation analyses supported the study's hypotheses. Therapists' utterances were characterized by significantly different amounts of emotion, cognition, and contracts, indicating that communication styles varied in the relative emphasis placed on these attributes. Differences suggest that the therapists responded differently to emotional, cognitive, and contract utterances and that the client's responses were different across the 3 therapist interviews. Split halves of the interviews within therapists and within client sessions were not different, providing further evidence of reliability of the coding and contingency procedures.

Evaluation of cimaterol for finishing swine including a drug withdrawal period.

One hundred fifty crossbred pigs (55 kg) were allotted by weight, sex and litter to a randomized complete-block design with five dietary treatments, six blocks per treatment and five pigs per pen with sex equalized across treatments. Corn-soybean meal-based diets (.65% lysine) with 0, .25 and .5 mg/kg cimaterol were fed, on an ad libitum basis, to pigs slaughtered at an average pen weight of 104 kg/pig. Drug withdrawal prior to slaughter was 1, 3 and 5 d for pigs fed cimaterol at .25 mg/kg and 1 d for those fed cimaterol at .5 mg/kg of diet. Dietary cimaterol level influenced (quadratic, P less than .01) average daily gain during the first 42 d on test; however, daily feed intake and feed conversion ratio were not affected (P greater than .1). Pigs fed .25 mg/kg cimaterol with a 1-d drug withdrawal had 6.8, 7.7 and 13.5% less 10th rib fat depth and 11.1, 6.1 and 13.3% less P2 fat depth than those subjected to either a 3- or 5-d drug withdrawal or those fed the 0 mg/kg cimaterol diet (control), respectively. Overall, pigs fed cimaterol had 7.9% larger longissimus muscle area and 2.6% more kilograms of muscle than pigs fed the control diet. Cimaterol fed at .5 mg/kg resulted in higher (P less than .05) Warner-Bratzler shear force values and altered the proportion of saturation in some long-chain fatty acids, although the total saturated:unsaturated fat ratio was not affected. Pigs fed no cimaterol had less thaw loss (P less than .05) than did those fed other treatments.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Causes of financial difficulty in Catholic hospitals.

A study was conducted to see which attributes contribute most to financial distress in Catholic hospitals. The 1982 total population of U.S. Catholic hospitals was examined. The reason for financial distress was found to be more related to management attributes than to financial variables.

Enhancing CEOs' decision making through information systems.

Although healthcare management information systems significantly enhance the decision-making capacity of the chief executive officer (CEO), some CEOs make limited use of this potentially powerful management ally. A central management issue is finding the optimal fit between the CEO's roles and responsibilities and the capacity of information systems to adapt to and support these functions. Thus data system designers must clearly understand the CEO's needs, management tasks, and unique responsibilities. An often misunderstood concept is that data by themselves are not immediately useful and applicable to managerial needs. To become useful information, data must be timely, accurate, relevant, and actionable. CEOs may be disappointed with management information systems because of an inherent conflict between what the computer can do best--rapid, routinized solutions--and what top management usually requires. The CEO's decisions are generally singular, and the system's data may not be structured to serve those decision-making requirements. Building a system that is responsive to the CEO's needs requires an equal partnership between the CEO, data manager, and system designer. The CEO also must be willing to invest a lot of time in shaping the facility's system. In addition, because of the considerable and escalating cost of developing, using, and maintaining organizational data systems, CEOs must assess the cost/benefit ratio of obtaining additional information from existing data bases.

Alterations in piglet small intestine after cholesterol deprivation.

Mammalian cells require cholesterol for normal cell function. This requirement can be fulfilled by endogenous biosynthesis or by extracellular supplementation. Infants fed with human milk receive greater quantities of cholesterol than those fed commercial formulas. Whether this lack of cholesterol in commercial formulas poses a threat to normal neonatal cell function is not known. We compared small intestinal microvillus membrane fluidity, hydrolase activities, protein concentration, permeability to nonabsorbable markers, and weight gain in neonatal piglets receiving restricted intake of isocaloric formulas containing either normal amounts of cholesterol (145 mg/dl) or very low levels of cholesterol (less than 2 mg/dl). Using the fluorescent probe, diphenylhexatriene, and fluorescence polarization, microvillus membranes from cholesterol deprived piglets demonstrated higher fluidities than did microvillus membranes from animals fed normal concentrations of cholesterol. Cholesterol-deprived animals, even though their caloric intake was similar to cholesterol-fed animals, demonstrated a net weight loss per animal whereas the cholesterol-fed animals demonstrated a weight gain. These results demonstrate that in a pig model on a restricted intake, cholesterol deprivation alters the biophysical properties of the microvillus membrane.

Should health care managers adopt Theory Z?

Health care administrators should carefully consider the situations in which they apply management methods used in industry, since such methods may not be effective in motivating certain groups of hospital employees. Physicians, for example, may display little loyalty to the health care organization, even though as a group they exert significant influence on policies, standards, and administration. As a result, management styles such as Theory Z that focus on holistic concern, individual decision-making responsibility, and long-term employment guarantees may fail to interest them. Nurses also may be reluctant to commit themselves to an organization because of the high rate of turnover in their profession in recent years. Support staff, however, probably would be receptive to management techniques that offer security through long-term employment guarantees. Other factors necessary for the effective use of Theory Z industrial management techniques are a clear hierarchy with well-defined reporting relationships, moderately specialized career paths, and trust among employees that the organization's concern for their welfare is genuine. The key consideration, however, in applying any theory is that only those aspects which best serve the organization's needs should be adopted.

The financial status of Catholic hospitals: 1982-1983.

Recently available figures for 1982 and 1983 show that Catholic hospitals as a whole attained positive ratios of net income to fund balances and that these gains exceeded inflation in both years. The financial picture varies, however, when data for specific categories of Catholic hospitals are examined. For example, smaller hospitals relied more on borrowed funds to finance assets and generate profits, and for many of them these profits still did not exceed the 1983 inflation rate. Hospitals particularly vulnerable to diagnosis-related group payment--that is, teaching hospitals, hospitals with negative operating income, and hospitals adding beds--possessed less liquidity than Catholic hospitals aggregately. Hospitals in each of these categories experienced less-than-average basic profitability as well.

A zomepirac reaction mimicking ectopic pregnancy.

A case is presented of a 29-year old woman who developed sudden onset of abdominal pain, vomiting, near syncope, abdominal tenderness, profound hypotension, and a late menstrual period. The patient was in good health and her only medication was zomepirac for musculoskeletal discomfort. An exploratory mini-laparotomy was performed for the suspicion of a ruptured ectopic pregnancy, but no evidence of hemoperitoneum or of ectopic pregnancy was found. A subsequent pregnancy test was negative, and the episode was attributed to a zomepirac reaction. A review of zomepirac and zomepirac reactions is included.

Biodistribution of 64Cu in rats after topical application of two lipophilic anti-inflammatory Cu(II) formulations.

64Cu(II) is extensively absorbed and excreted, mainly in the faeces, when applied to the skin of rats as complexes with (a) salicylate in ethanol with dimethylsulphoxide and glycerol or (b) phenylbutazone in dimethyl sulphoxide and glycerol, previously found to be anti-inflammatory. 64Cu distribution paralleled that observed after administering aqueous 64Cu-salicylate i.m. It is concluded that copper(II) can pass rapidly through the dermal barriers when applied with an appropriate cupriphore and presented in a medium with low water content.