The hoarding of possessions.

Three studies of nonfood hoarding are reported. Findings support the reliability and validity of a Hoarding Scale. Furthermore, the findings indicate a number of features of hoarding behavior. Hoarding was associated with indecisiveness, perfectionism (especially maladaptive evaluative concern) and obsessive compulsive symptoms among college students and community volunteers. Hoarders tended to buy extra things in order not to be caught without a needed item, and they carried more 'just-in-case' items in purses, pockets and cars. Onset of hoarding was childhood and adolescence. Hoarders had more first degree relatives who engaged in excessive saving than nonhoarders, and hoarders were less likely to be married. There was no evidence to suggest that hoarding was related to material deprivation. A model was suggested which conceptualizes hoarding as an avoidance behavior tied to indecisiveness and perfectionism. Saving allows the hoarder to avoid the decision required to throw something away, and the worry which accompanies that decision (worry that a mistake has been made). Also, it allows hoarders to avoid emotional reactions which accompany parting with cherished possessions, and results in increased perception of control.

The development of a format for a policy and procedure manual for allied health administration.

The purpose of this study was to develop a format for a policy and procedure manual and a plan for its development, implementation, and maintenance. The study was prompted by the need for a system to catalogue and retrieve the many directives developed since the Hahnemann University School of Allied Health Professions was formed. Relevant literature was reviewed and similar documents collected from other colleges and universities. Documents to be incorporated included school council minutes, the school catalogue, student and faculty handbooks, and the Hahnemann University Corporate Policy and Procedure Manual. An advisory committee was appointed and guided the development of this project. The final product consisted of both abbreviated and detailed tables of contents, an index, instructions for use, and a plan for implementation and maintenance. The process and format are readily adaptable for implementation by any allied health administration.

Endogenous triglyceride turnover in liver and plasma of the dog.

Radioactive glycerol and S(f) > 20 lipoproteins labeled with it were used to study turnover of plasma S(f) > 20 and hepatic triglyceride in anesthetized dogs. From specific activity-time curves of these lipids after an injection of labeled material, a tentative and incomplete model for the kinetics of endogenous hepatic and plasma triglyceride was defined and partially validated. Pool sizes and turnover rates of triglyceride in liver and S(f) > 20 lipoproteins of plasma were then calculated in seven dogs. Hepatic triglyceride was composed of two compartments: 60% metabolically inert and 40% metabolically active. Although communication between these hepatic compartments surely occurred during the time course of these studies, it was not sufficient to be detected by our present methods. The metabolically active compartment turned over as a single pool but with two destinations: a quite variable proportion (an average of 61%) was secreted into plasma as S(f) > 20 triglyceride, and an average of 39% was presumably hydrolyzed within the liver. The fractional turnover rate of plasma S(f) > 20 triglyceride was 2-3 times that of hepatic triglyceride. This finding, and the parallel decline of specific activities of plasma S(f) > 20 and liver triglyceride after injection of labeled glycerol, confirm the rate-determining role of hepatic triglyceride. In this respect the dog differs importantly from man. Though turnover rates of plasma S(f) > 20 triglyceride fell in the same range in men and dogs, the relationship of turnover rate to plasma concentration of this lipid differed greatly between them. The model for the dog does resemble that previously reported for man, however, in the lack of major recycling of intact plasma triglyceride between the liver and plasma. Lack of such recycling, however, does not exclude return of plasma triglyceride into a hepatic triglyceride sink. The amount of such unidirectional uptake, if any, could not be determined by these techniques.