Butler, Cynthia W.

Non-thyroidal illness (NTI) is frequently characterized by
triiodothyronemia (low T3) and abnormal thyroid function
tests. This could result in an incorrect diagnosis of
hypothyroidism. The purpose of this study was to determine
which thyroid function test or group of tests could
be used to identify those euthyroid patients with NTI. A
total of seventy patients with triiodothyronemia were
clinically evaluated and tested for: total T4 , normalized T4, "free'' T4, total T3, reverse T3 , T3 uptake, free thyroxine index, and TSH. Commercially available radioassay
kits were used in testing. The patients were separated
into four groups: primary hypothyroid, secondary
hypothyroid, hypothyroid with NTI, and euthyroid with NTI.
The results correctly identified the primary and secondary
hypothyroid patients and those hypothyroid patients with
NTI. The normalized T4 test accurately identified those
euthyroid patients with NTI and triiodothyronemia 94 percent
of the time.

The purpose of this study was to identify factors that predict the length of time a student takes to complete a bachelor's degree. Multiple regression analysis was used to predict the criterion, number of semesters to graduation, from the 33 predictors derived from a questionnaire. Seventy-four percent of the variance in semesters to graduation (F(33,40) = 3.51, p < .0002) was accounted for by the predictors. A subset analysis revealed that 43% (F(9,94) = 7.95, p < .0001) of the variance in number of semesters to graduate was accounted for by the nine predictors judged to be best. These predictors were previous credits earned, change of major, effects of major change, enrollment status, social interaction with faculty, sense of belonging, perception of the academic experience, perception of performance, and expectation of time to graduate. Cross-validation of this subset of predictors yielded an R^2 of .148. This level of shrinkage was due to the small sample size in relation to the number of predictors.