No abstract

This study explored how college students with (n = 80) and without disabilities (n = 76) rated themselves, how each group rated members of the other group, and how each group perceived that the other group would rate them on a 24‐item personality instrument that was designed to assess five factors of personality: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, and culture. Results revealed that the two groups rated each other in a stereotypical manner: Students with disabilities were seen as more conscientious and cultured than were students without disabilities, whereas students without disabilities were seen as more extraverted and emotionally stable than were students with disabilities. When the students rated themselves, however, no such differences between the two groups emerged. Implications of the results for clinical practice are discussed.

Ninety-eight percent (217 of 221) adult Saudi Arabian out-patients referred to the medical clinics of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre with random serum glucose >200 mg/dl during two years from 1978 to 1980 had noninsulin dependent diabetes; only four patients (two percent) had insulin dependent diabetes. Body weight was normal or below normal in 62 percent, and 77 percent were aged between 30 and 60 years. Microangiopathic complications were common but coronary and peripheral artery disease was rare. Liver disease was present in 25 percent. The random, highest serum glucose mean was 410 mg/dl. The blood levels of serum glucose (n = 125), insulin (n = 108), C-peptide (n = 105), measured during fasting and 45 minutes after 50 grams of glucose taken orally were glucose 262 ± 153 (mean ± S.D.) and 396 ± 111 mg/dl, insulin 20 ± 18 and 32 ± 28 µu/ml, and C-peptide 2.8 ± 1.6 and 3.6 ± 1.9 ng/ml. Despite exposure to stress in 64 cases (sufficiently severe to warrant hospitalization) only two patients developed ketoacidosis, and four hyperglycemic (hyperosmolar) encephalopathy during the two-year follow-up period. Ten patients each had at least one episode of ketonuria without acidosis, and serum insulin measured in seven of these patients was below 13 µu/ml. Ketonuria did not develop in other patients with higher levels of serum insulin. Diabetes in Saudi Arabian adults is therefore characterized by well-tolerated hyperglycemia and resistance to ketoacidosis. Insulin secretion is reduced but is sufficient to prevent ketoacidosis. Atherosclerosis is rare; but liver disease is an important association.

The screening value of the one-hour blood xylose test, corrected for body surface area, was prospectively studied in Saudi Arabian adults and children under investigation for suspected intestinal malabsorption. Sensitivity of discrimination between patients with and without upper small bowel disease was 91%, compared to 85% for the five-hour urine xylose test. Primary small bowel disorder was rare. In a three-year review, no cases of adult coeliac disease or tropical sprue were found. The most common causes of malabsorption were intestinal tuberculosis, abdominal lymphoma and immunoproliferative small intestinal disease. Despite its acceptability as an index of proximal small bowel function, the blood xylose test alone is an inadequate screening test for any of these conditions.