Cinderella's stepmother syndrome

Society, in times and places, has seemed to perceive stepmothers in a negative way. In the past, many of these women have quietly over-compensated in an effort to find acceptance in their new family situation, but they are now coming forward with their psychological distress. On the surface they may present a clinical picture similar to depressive illness (Dysthymic Disorder or Depressive Neurosis 300.40 in DSM III classification). The symptoms include: preoccupation with position in the family, feelings of anxiety, rejection, ineffectiveness, guilt, hostility and exhaustion, loss of self-esteem and overcompensation. With further exploration it becomes clear that the majority of them are experiencing distress that is normal within the context of their adjustment reaction. Clinical findings are based on two separate studies of twelve and ten patients respectively, where two different professionals found remarkably uniform symptoms which have been conceptualized as a new syndrome. An understanding of the normal adjustment reaction of these stepmothers to a very stressful situation can provide the basis for an effective treatment of their problem.

Characterization of a transitional cell carcinoma line arising from a previously irradiated tumor

A cell line derived from a poorly differentiated transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder in a patient previously treated with external beam radiation has been established. The line has stable hyperdiploid karyotype which is distinct from other established transitional cell carcinoma lines. Injection of the cells into nude mice induces tumor with histological characteristics similar to the original tumor. This line may serve as a model to study mechanisms of radioresistance in transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder.

Effects of nu gene on the numbers of mast cells in lymph nodes

The total numbers of mast cells (MC) in popliteal lymph nodes of homozygous nude (nu/nu) and phenotypically normal, heterozygous (+/nu) BALB/c mice are greater than in normal (+/+) BALB/c mice at approximately 6 months of age. The values obtained from 4- to 7-month-old (nu/nu) and (+/nu) mice are twice as high as those from 2- to 3-month-old mice. It is concluded that the thymus does not directly determine the number of MC in lymph nodes, but the presence of the nu gene or another gene closely linked to the nu gene regulates the number of MC. 'Nude' mice infected with hepatitis virus accumulate many more MC than do healthy mice.

Patient dental values and their relationship to oral health status, dentist perceptions and quality of care

In this study, 1287 patients completed a questionnaire assessing knowledge of home care procedures, adherence to home care instructions, obstacles presented to the dentist in delivering care, and ability to pay for optimal care. Ninety-seven dentists that provided treatment for these patients completed a parallel questionnaire. Measures of oral health and the quality of restorative care were based on clinical examinations. It was found that though patient values and dental perceptions were associated, dentist perceptions did not closely match patient dental values. Analysis of variance indicated that patient dental values were related positively to both oral health measures and the quality of restorations. Patient-reported compliance with home care recommendations showed the strongest relationship to both oral health and quality of restorations.

Manual dexterity as a predictor of quality of care among dental practitioners

This study explores the relationship between time to complete a manual dexterity exercise and quality of restorative dentistry. Ninety-seven general practitioners volunteered to take part in the study. An average of 14 patients per office were recalled and an average of five recent restorations per patient were examined clinically by trained peer reviewers. Subsequently, 74 of the 97 dentists participated in a session in which the O'Connor Tweezer Dexterity test was administered. Pearson correlations between speed on the test of tweezer dexterity and quality measures indicated that, on the average, those practitioners who took longer to complete the tweezer test achieved significantly higher scores on restorative quality.

Dentists' self-evaluations: relationship to clinical performance

Today's dental practice standards are set by the individual dentist. Quality is assured, in large part, by the accuracy of self-evaluations by dental practitioners. As a result, dental educators have attempted to improve the accuracy of self-reported evaluations by dental students by teaching such skills in the laboratory and clinic. This investigation examines multiple self-evaluations of the quality of restorative practice of 1,196 general practitioners, and investigates the relationship between these ratings and actual quality of treatment by 102 dentists for 2,753 patients.

Dental examinations for quality control: peer review versus self-assessment

This paper reports the dental care norms for restorative dentistry collected from examinations of 1,466 patients in 105 dental offices in Washington State during 1976. These results are part of a larger study, "Assessment of Care and Continuing Dental Education," being conducted by the University of Washington with the endorsement and cooperation of the Washington State Dental Association. Treatments in volunteer offices were evaluated either by colleagues (peer review) or by the practitioner himself (self-assessment). Two hundred twenty-four of 1,196 eligible dentists volunteered for the study. Patients from the practitioners' offices were randomly selected from office files by project staff. The study tests the proposition that, using standardized clinical evaluation procedures and comparable samples of treatment, dentists will be more critical of their own work than that of others. Results suggest a generally high level of care provided by volunteer practitioners and that self-assessments were significantly more critical than peer review.

Dentists' perceptions of their patients relation to quality of care

This study investigates dentists' perceptions of their patients and the relation of these perceptions to measures of actual quality of restorative treatment. The results indicate that 1) though the dentists see their patients as "cooperative," they perceived a substantial number of "problems," i.e., willingness to pay for optimal care or follow professional recommendations; and 2) there are significant associations between dentists' perceptions of patients and measures of the quality of restorative treatments; higher quality scores were associated with perceptions of a more cooperative patient.

Volunteering in dental peer review: differences between volunteers and practitioners at large

This report characterizes differences among early and late volunteers, and non-volunteers for personal characteristics and situational determinants of volunteering in an experimental dental peer review study. Differences were found for volunteers/non-volunteers for some items representing subject interest, expectation of a favorable evaluation, sociability, and achievement motivation.