Comparing high school and college students' leisure interests and stress ratings.

We compared a large high school area sample with normative data from prior research with college students on the Leisure Interests Checklist (LIC) factor scales, and on the BAROMAS. Whether combined or separated by sex, the college sample displayed far more interest in the LIC activities than the high school students (all P << 0.001). On the BAROMAS, differences were more complex. The teenagers expressed more confidence about dismissing time pressures, sleeping soundly and finding time to do sports, but college students were more confident about falling asleep and sticking to set priorities. The high school data replicated the previous pattern of LIC x BAROMAS relationships, with most scales significantly inter-correlated within inventories, but mainly the sports scales covarying across the two inventories. Numerous differences between the sexes emerged from the high school student sample.

The effects of resection of the proximal part of the fibula on stability of the knee and on gait.

We studied six patients to determine the effects of unilateral marginal resection of the proximal part of the fibula on stability of the knee and on gait. At the time of the operation, the fibular collateral ligament and the tendon of the biceps femoris were reattached, but no attempt was made to stabilize the fibula otherwise. The patients were tested an average of sixty-one months after operation. Stability of the knee was measured with an instrumented system. Gait was evaluated with an optical electronic three-dimensional digitizing system and a multicomponent force-platform. The gait of six healthy control subjects of similar age was also studied, and the reproducibility of measurements of stability of the knee was investigated in four healthy adults. There were significant differences between the side on which an operation had been done and the contralateral side with regard to the extent of anterior translation and of total anterior-posterior translation of the tibia at both 20 and 90 degrees of flexion of the knee, and in total varus and valgus rotation of the knee (the number of degrees from a position of maximum varus to one of maximum valgus angulation) at 20 degrees of flexion. The measurements of gait and of motion of the knee were found to be normal when compared with those in the control subjects. In the ground-reaction measurements, there were some significant differences from normal in the medial-lateral plane, but they were clinically unimportant. Resection of the proximal part of the fibula can lead to instability of the knee.

The association of pathologic and mammographic characteristics of primary human breast cancers with "slow" and "fast" growth rates and with axillary lymph node metastases.

This article reports statistically significant associations existing between the clinical, mammographic and histopathologically classified properties of mammary cancers occurring in the population of 10,120 women screened in the BCDDP at the University of Louisville over a 5-year period and the propensity to grow "fast" and "slow" and metastasize or not metastasize to the axillary lymph nodes. Fast cancers, divided into two defined subsets as "fast 1" and "fast 2," are those surfacing in the intervals between mammograms. The faster cancers exhibited a significant absence of calcification, were discovered in younger patients and resulted in a shorter 5-year cumulative survival rate (fast 1 = 74 +/- 9% to slow = 94 +/- 4%). In addition to growth rates, another index of virulence in small cancers is the early appearance of metastases in the axillary lymph nodes. The absence of microscopic calcifications and the presence of lymphatic invasion around the primary cancer site were significantly associated with the presence of axillary metastases. Other factors associated with the occurrence of axillary metastases were a higher mitotic index, poor cellular differentiation and a larger size of cancer at diagnosis. The author's results confirm that interval surfacing cancers are biologically different and are not comparable to cancers discovered by scheduled screens. Cancers that metastasize to lymph nodes while very small have properties in common with these interval surfacing and, presumably, faster growing cancers.

Acute carcinoma of the breast.

The timely discovery of curable carcinoma through screening and early treatment is compromised by the existence of acute carcinoma with adverse properties. The existence of an acute carcinoma must be considered in planning and promoting any public health program for the control of carcinoma of the breast. These carcinomas will surface under any contemporarily available screening or detection program through no physician or patient error. These carcinomas have identifiable properties, and their occurrence should not be the basis of a malpractice suit, since their evolution is not presently preventable. The available data on actual doubling times obviously provide truncated distributions, since they contain no data on the faster subsets of carcinomas that surface in the intervals between screenings too quickly to permit measurement of size and calculation of DT (act).

Psychological status among female candidates for surgical treatment of obesity.

The identification of patients who suffer psychosocial complications after surgical treatment for obesity remains an unresolved problem. Some researchers have tried to identify the psychological status of patients prior to surgery, but have been hampered by lack of an adequate methodology to handle surgical candidates as a psychologically heterogeneous group. The present studies of this problem utilized the multivariate method of profile analysis. This method, when successfully applied, has the advantage of recognizing different subgroups. If reliable psychological subgroups of the population of candidates for surgical treatment can be determined, the prediction of psychological casualties may be significantly advanced. Minnesota Multidimensional Personality Inventory (MMPI) profiles of 199 hyperobese women were analyzed using a principal components procedure for profile analysis. Three subgroups were derived, each with unique psychological characteristics. The first group was essentially without deviation from the norm; the second was characterized by neurotic features; and the third group was identifiable by anger and hostile acting-out. The comparability of these profiles with the clinical literature was encouraging. Therefore, the authors conducted a second study with the purpose of determining whether the obtained profiles were usable by clinicians without cumbersome statistical formulas. Two groups of clinical psychologists were asked to sort 17 randomly selected profiles into the three subgroups. They successfully classified 75 percent of the profiles. The results of both studies are considered sufficiently encouraging to warrant further work.

A further look at the Institutionalized Chronic Alcoholic Scale.

Investigated a newly developed MMPI scale--the Institutionalized Chronic Alcohol Scale (ICAS)--designed to separate alcoholics from neurotics. With a sample of 75 alcoholic and 50 neurotic male Veterans Administration Hospital inpatients, the ICAS was found to separate the two groups, correctly identifying 78%, but was slightly less effective than two other previously used alcoholism scales by MacAndrew (Amac) and Holmes (Am). Data from 30 male Veterans Administration Hospital heroin addicts lend some support to the statement, which appears in the original article, that the ICAS should not be used to distinguish between alcoholics and people other than neurotics.

Developing a rural mental health service from a base in an academic clinical psychology program.

The development of a Community Mental Health Service for a multiethnic rural area by an academic psychology department clinical program was carried out for the purpose of providing relevant training for grauate students through realistic service functions. The population served was largely lower socioeconomic, and the available resources very limited. The Community Psychology course was used to assist the planning and negotiating for the clinic. Services provided during the first year are summarized. The graduate students' not-too-happy view of the program is presented. The problems and issues raised by this experience, for both training and service, are discussed.

A laboratory investigation of telepathy: the study of a psychic.

A series of experiments in psychic phenomena were undertaken with a 21-year-old man who claimed to have telepathic ability. An elaborate procedure was devised to render collusion between Transmitters and Receiver ineffective, if not impossible. Results tended to support the subject's claims. Several single responses are reported which seemed particularly noteworthy with respect to correlation in time and content. A Control subject, duplicating the experimental procedure, did not have the overall success rate demonstrated by the experimental subject. The authors conclude that this experiment strongly suggests the possibility of telepathy, but does not prove it.