Non-contact Group Research Articles

Integrating Low- and High-Level Skills in Instructional Protocols for Writing Disabilities

Twenty-four children with writing problems were given instruction in handwriting automaticity, spelling strategies, and the composing process (plan, write, review, revise) in 14 one-hour individual tutorials during the summer between third and fourth grade. Half the children (8 boys, 4 girls) received extra practice in composing, while half the children (8 boys, 4 girls) received special training in orthographic and phonological coding. Hierarchical linear modeling of growth curves was used to compare the treatment groups to a non-contact control group (10 boys, 5 girls) on a standard battery at pretest, midtest, posttest, and the two treatment groups with each other on probe measures of handwriting, spelling, and composition in each tutorial session. The treatment groups improved at a faster rate than the control group on some measures of handwriting, spelling, and composition (fluency and quality) in the standard battery, but Verbal IQ did not predict rate of improvement. Differences were found between the two treatment groups in some probe measures of writing and a motivation variable (work avoidance). Repeated-measures ANOVA was used to compare treatment groups to a non-contact control group at pretest, midtest, posttest, and follow-up. Differences between the treatment and control groups favoring the treatment groups were maintained at 6-month follow-up on some handwriting, spelling, and composition (quality) measures. Individual differences were found in learner characteristics prior to treatment and in response to the same treatment. The importance of affect and motivation as well as cognitive variables is emphasized.

Prospective comparison of contact with noncontact Nd:YAG laser therapy for palliation of esophageal carcinoma

Twenty patients with dysphagia due to inoperable esophageal cancer were randomized to receive either contact or noncontact endoscopic laser treatment. Treatment groups were similar with respect to age, dysphagia score, and tumor dimensions. The median number of initial treatment sessions was two in both groups, and the median treatment times per session were 23 min (range, 12 to 55 min) in the contact group and 19 min (range, 5 to 28 min) in the noncontact group. Median dysphagia scores were also similar in both groups 1 month after laser treatment, and no difference was apparent in the duration of palliation. There were no patient complications attributable to laser therapy, but damage to the laser wave guide occurred in three contact sessions and two noncontact sessions. These data suggest no advantage for the contact method of endoscopic Nd:YAG laser palliation of esophageal carcinoma with respect to number of treatment sessions, relief of dysphagia, or occurrence of complications.

Ulcerative Keratitis Associated With Contact Lens Wear

From October 1982 through June 1986, 658 patients developed ulcerative keratitis. In 196 of these patients it was contact lens-related. Fifty-nine patients wore extended-wear contact lenses for cosmetic purposes. On culture, Pseudomonas species was the organism most frequently isolated from the ulcers associated with contact lens wear. No cases of fungal keratitis were found in the contact lens group as compared to 40 cases (17%) in the noncontact lens group. Compared to results of a similar study covering January 1977 through September 1982, current results showed a larger number of patients using extended-wear lenses for cosmetic reasons (59 vs one) and overall younger age.

The effectiveness of the “CATCH” social skills training program with adolescents who are mildly intellectually disabled

this study employed a quasi-experimental, noncontact control group design to examine the effectiveness of the CATCH, a social skills training program, with mildly intellectually handicapped adolesc...

Proximal pancreatectomy: A comparison of electrocautery and contact and noncontact Nd:YAG laser techniques in the dog

Proximal pancreatectomy with duodenal preservation is technically difficult. It has often been performed experimentally in pancreatic transplantation studies. Preservation of the pancreaticoduodenal vessels and duodenum provides an excellent method of testing various operative techniques in pancreatic surgery which may lead to further clinical applications. The present study has compared the conventional noncontact Nd:YAG laser technique with electrocautery and a new contact Nd:YAG laser technique for proximal pancreatectomy. There were five dogs in each group, and the pancreatic duct was left open to drain into the abdominal cavity after pancreatic transection in all of the animals. Resection with the contact laser caused significantly less blood loss (109 ± 74 ml) than the noncontact laser (228 ± 81 ml), (p < 0.05). A greater number of ligatures were used in the noncontact laser group (11 ± 3 ligatures) as compared with the electrocautery group (2.2 ± 1.6 ligatures) and the contact laser group (5.2 ± 2.8 ligatures), (p < 0.005). Noncontact laser and electrocautery resection techniques resulted in necrotizing pancreatitis and death in two animals. The new contact laser system provides a safe and effective method of performing pancreatic surgery.

Acquisition of cytomegalovirus infection among female employees at a pediatric hospital

Of 842 female employees at a pediatric hospital who were tested for cytomegalovirus antibody, 487 (57.8%) were seronegative. We also studied 228 females who had been employed for 3 or more months, and 139 (61.0%) were seronegative. One year after the initial serum 173 seronegative women provided a second sample. Eleven (6.4%) had seroconverted to cytomegalovirus, and none gave a history of significant illness in the interval. Of the 173 women 138 had patient contact jobs and 35 had noncontact jobs. In the contact group 10 of 138 (7.2%) seroconverted including 5 of 46 (10.9%) intensive care nurses, 2 of 11 (18.2%) women on the blood drawing or intravenous insertion team and 3 of 81 (3.7%) nurses on medical and surgical wards. In the noncontact group 1 of 35 (2.9%) seroconverted. Among female employees at a pediatric hospital the risk of cytomegalovirus is substantial and appears to be related to the type of patient contact.

Imitation of a passive avoidance response in the rat

Rats learned a candle-flame avoidance task following observation of a demonstrator rat (1) learning to avoid the flame, with flame contacts by the demonstrator visible to the observer (experimental group), (2) learning to avoid the flame, with flame contacts by the demonstrator concealed (nonvisual control group), or (3) unable to make contact with the flame (noncontact control group). Experimental observers learned faster than nonvisual and noncontact controls, and the control groups learned faster than the two avoidance-trained demonstrator groups. The results suggest that facilitated learning by the experimental group was due to true imitation, and not to an increase in fear or general arousal produced by nonspecific demonstrator-provided auditory, olfactory, or visual “alarm signals.”

Desensitization of test anxiety: hypnosis compared with biofeedback.

Abstract Two groups of college students scoring high on a test anxiety questionnaire were treated by desensitization under hypnosis or desensitization after relaxation training with biofeedback. Both groups showed significant reduction of test anxiety after treatment when compared with a noncontact control group (p > .01), but there was no difference between groups. In economy of time and effort hypnosis was superior.

Neither non-contact exposure nor mating affect serum LH and FSH in male B6D2F 1 house mice

Sexually experienced male B6D2F 1 mice were allowed to copulate until ejaculation (equivalent to time 0) and then bled at subsequent times (0, 15, 60 min) after ejaculation. In another portion of the experiment sexually experienced males of the same strain were separated from estrous females by a double-walled hardware cloth and permitted 40 min exposure. Controls were placed in the same situation without a female present. Serum LH and FSH were assayed using radioimmunoassay techniques. No significant differences in LH or FSH were found among mated groups, non-contact exposure groups or controls in the non-contact exposure test. These data are in agreement with studies in the male rat which indicate that no acute changes in gonadotropins occur post-coitally.

Ten years' experience with BCG (experimental and clinical)

Summary In a study with BCG vaccination where special emphasis was placed on having adequate controls and where the multiple puncture technique was used to introduce the vaccine, the following results were obtained: 1. BCG has been found to be entirely innocuous both locally and generally in animals studied over a period of ten years and in infants studied over a period of seven years. 2. In 1,204 vaccinated children where no source of contact with tuberculosis was known, there were three cases of tuberculosis and one death from the disease; whereas in 1213 controls there were twenty-three cases of tuberculosis and four deaths from the disease. 3. In ninety-eight vaccinated newborn infants who were in contact with tuberculosis following vaccination there was one case of tuberculosis and no deaths; whereas in sixty-three controls there were four cases of tuberculosis and three deaths. 4. Considering the contact and noncontact group as a whole, there were twenty-seven cases of tuberculosis in the control group against four cases in the vaccinated; there were seven deaths from tuberculosis in the control group and one in the vaccinated. 5. There were ten cases of tuberculosis in siblings not included in the control groups, and one death from tuberculosis in this group. 6. From these results, it may be concluded that in the first seven years of life BCG vaccination is of definite value in the prevention of tuberculosis.