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Biomedical subjects

Bruce Bender

Publications and source records attributed to Bruce Bender.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

Amygdala and hippocampal volumes in Turner syndrome: a high-resolution MRI study of X-monosomy.

Turner syndrome (TS) results from partial or complete X-monosomy and is characterized by deficits in visuospatial functioning as well as social cognition and memory. Neuroimaging studies have demonstrated volumetric differences in the parietal region of females with TS compared to controls. The present study examined amygdala and hippocampus morphology in an attempt to further understand the neural correlates of psychosocial and memory functioning in TS. Thirty females with TS age 7.6-33.3 years (mean = 14.7 +/- 6.4) and 29 age-matched controls (mean age = 14.8 +/- 5.9; range = 6.4-32.7) were scanned using high resolution MRI. Volumetric analyses of the MRI scans included whole brain segmentation and manual delineation of the amygdala and hippocampus. Compared to controls, participants with TS demonstrated significantly larger left amygdala gray matter volumes, irrespective of total cerebral tissue and age. Participants with TS also showed disproportionately reduced right hippocampal volumes, involving both gray and white matter. Amygdala and hippocampal volumes appear to be impacted by X-monosomy. Aberrant morphology in these regions may be related to the social cognition and memory deficits often experienced by individuals with TS. Further investigations of changes in medial temporal morphology associated with TS are warranted.

Adolescent↗

Adherence intervention research: what have we learned and what do we do next?

Although there is general agreement from studies demonstrating that adherence to inhaled corticosteroid therapy is often inadequate to establish consistent control, relatively little concurrence exists in reports of interventions to correct the problem. Half of the studies reviewed found that the experimental intervention did not change adherence, and behavior change reported by patients was often not accompanied by changes in treatment success. Studies used a variety of methods that differed in quality with findings that were often contradictory. Key limitations in many studies included reliance on inadequate adherence measures, inclusion of convenience samples of well-motivated patients, and assessments of intervention outcomes artificially boosted by attrition of least adherent participants. Research is encouraged into innovative interventions that are brief, easily implemented, and can be tailored to individual patients and diverse clinical settings. Of particular importance is inclusion of hard-to-reach patients, including urban and rural poor and the use of valid measures of adherence at intervals sufficient to establish enduring benefit.

Administration, Inhalation↗

Hospitalization for asthma: atopic, pulmonary function, and psychological correlates among participants in the Childhood Asthma Management Program.

BACKGROUND: Asthma in childhood has a significant impact on children and families, in part because of the frequent need for hospital-based care for acute exacerbations. Sensitization and exposure to inhalant allergens have been identified as risk factors for asthma hospitalization. OBJECTIVE: The Childhood Asthma Management Program (CAMP), comprised of 1041 children aged 5 to 12 with mild-to-moderate asthma, provides the opportunity to identify specific risk factors for prior hospitalization for asthma. METHODS: Data gathered during the screening period from CAMP were evaluated to elucidate differences between patients who had ever been hospitalized for asthma before enrollment in CAMP and those who had never been hospitalized. RESULTS: Univariate analyses indicated that prior hospitalization for asthma was associated with a younger age of asthma onset, longer duration of asthma, greater number of positive allergy skin tests, higher serum immunoglobulin E level, greater peripheral blood eosinophilia, greater recent inhaled corticosteroid use, greater airflow obstruction, greater airway hyperresponsiveness, and lower patient intelligence quotient (IQ). Gender, race, and family income did not differ between hospitalized and never-hospitalized patients. The combination of both sensitization and exposure to high levels of dog allergen (Can f1) was associated with greater likelihood of prior hospitalization. Forward multivariate logistic regression analysis identified younger age of asthma onset, longer duration of asthma, recent use of asthma controller therapy, greater airflow obstruction, and lower patient IQ as significant risk factors for prior hospitalization when all risk factors identified by univariate analysis were included in the model. CONCLUSIONS: Children with mild-to-moderate asthma who had a past hospitalization for acute asthma had greater asthma severity, younger age of onset, and lower patient IQ at the time of entry into CAMP. They also had more markers of atopy than children without prior hospitalization, although atopy was not associated with prior hospitalization on multivariate analysis. Although we have identified these risk factors in a retrospective manner, one can speculate that the persistence of these features should alert the clinician to closely follow abnormalities on pulmonary function tests and general features of atopy to potentially identify patients at risk for future hospitalization.

Age of Onset↗

Predictors of protocol adherence in a pediatric asthma clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Declining protocol adherence can threaten the validity of a clinical trial. OBJECTIVE: We sought to explore patient and family factors important for protocol adherence in the 133 patients followed at one of the 8 Childhood Asthma Management Program (CAMP) clinical centers. Difficulties with timely return of diary cards (diary card problem), with keeping or frequently rescheduling appointments (appointment problem), and with commitment to all aspects of the trial (commitment problem) were tracked prospectively during the treatment phase of CAMP, which ranged from 20 to 40 months at the time of the analysis. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional analysis. RESULTS: During the course of this investigation, no St Louis CAMP patients dropped out of the study, although signs of eroding participation were observed in 44% of patients. For this cross-sectional analysis, the percentage of patients exhibiting protocol-adherence problems was greater the longer patients had been in the trial: 33.3% at 20 to 25 months, 39.5% at 26 to 30 months, 51.4% at 31 to 35 months, and 69.2% at 36 to 40 months (P <.01). The diary card problem was present in 22.2% of the patients enrolled in the trial for 20 to 25 months compared with 66.7% for patients enrolled for 36 to 40 months (P <.005). Appointment and commitment problems were present in smaller percentages of patients and did not change by time in the trial (P =.41 and.22, respectively). A logistic regression analysis of demographic characteristics indicated that age at randomization and time in the trial were significant factors: for every 2-year increase in age, a child was twice as likely to have a commitment problem (odds ratio [OR], 1.96; 95% CI, 1.50-2.57), and for each additional 5 months of participation in the study, a child was twice as likely to have a diary card problem (OR, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.76-2.07). There was no influence of family income, patient race, or patient sex on the occurrence of any of the 3 protocol-adherence problems. A similar analysis of psychologic characteristics of the child and family indicated (1) a 2-fold increase in the risk of a diary card problem with a 10% increase in the percentage of total commissions on the attention scale of the Gordon Diagnostic Study (OR, 2.18; 95% CI, 2.02-2.35), (2) a 2-fold decrease in the risk of an appointment problem with a 10-unit increase in the Child Manifest Anxiety Scale (OR, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.44-0.49), (3) a 2-fold decrease in risk of an appointment problem with a 10-unit increase in the cohesion subscale of the Family Environment Scale (OR, 0.58; 95% CI, 0.55-0.60), and (4) a 5-fold decrease in the risk of a commitment problem with a 10-unit increase in the Child Depression Index score (OR, 0.21; 95% CI, 0.18-0.24). CONCLUSIONS: Adherence and retention problems commonly occur in longer clinical trials. CAMP patients and families were selected in part on the basis of likelihood of being able to participate in the trial to enhance the conclusions of the trial. Despite this selection process, adherence problems were noted. Problems increased with duration of participation, increasing child age, and the presence of less family cohesion or attention problems in the child. In contrast, the presence of mild emotional distress (anxiety and depression) in the child was associated with fewer protocol-adherence problems. Incorporating procedures that help anticipate and identify adherence problems early might improve continued participation in all aspects of a trial and even retention in long-term clinical trials.

Adolescent↗

Monitoring adherence to the therapy of asthma.

Acceptance of current treatment guidelines by physicians and adherence to the recommended clinical regimens by patients are essential for effective asthma therapy. Treatment plans must be based on up-to-date management guidelines and should comprise a strategy for the evaluation and support of patient adherence. Monitoring of adherence with electronic devices enables physicians to base clinical decisions on reliable and objective data. Assessment of prescribing quality should be used to improve treatment of all patients.

Administration, Inhalation↗

Long-term effects of budesonide or nedocromil in children with asthma.

BACKGROUND: Antiinflammatory therapies, such as inhaled corticosteroids or nedocromil, are recommended for children with asthma, although there is limited information on their long-term use. METHODS: We randomly assigned 1041 children from 5 through 12 years of age with mild-to-moderate asthma to receive 200 microg of budesonide (311 children), 8 mg of nedocromil (312 children), or placebo (418 children) twice daily. We treated the participants for four to six years. All children used albuterol for asthma symptoms. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between either treatment and placebo in the primary outcome, the degree of change in the forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1, expressed as a percentage of the predicted value) after the administration of a bronchodilator. As compared with the children assigned to placebo, the children assigned to receive budesonide had a significantly smaller decline in the ratio of FEV1 to forced vital capacity (FVC, expressed as a percentage) before the administration of a bronchodilator (decline in FEV1:FVC, 0.2 percent vs. 1.8 percent). The children given budesonide also had lower airway responsiveness to methacholine, fewer hospitalizations (2.5 vs. 4.4 per 100 person-years), fewer urgent visits to a caregiver (12 vs. 22 per 100 person-years), greater reduction in the need for albuterol for symptoms, fewer courses of prednisone, and a smaller percentage of days on which additional asthma medications were needed. As compared with placebo, nedocromil significantly reduced urgent care visits (16 vs. 22 per 100 person-years) and courses of prednisone. The mean increase in height in the budesonide group was 1.1 cm less than in the placebo group (22.7 vs. 23.8 cm, P=0.005); this difference was evident mostly within the first year. The height increase was similar in the nedocromil and placebo groups. CONCLUSIONS: In children with mild-to-moderate asthma, neither budesonide nor nedocromil is better than placebo in terms of lung function, but inhaled budesonide improves airway responsiveness and provides better control of asthma than placebo or nedocromil. The side effects of budesonide are limited to a small, transient reduction in growth velocity.

Administration, Inhalation↗