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Biomedical subjects

G W Kemmler

Publications and source records attributed to G W Kemmler.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Long-term improvements in cognitive performance through computer-assisted cognitive training: a pilot study in a residential home for older people.

The aim of the present pilot study was to investigate the effects of computer-assisted cognitive training on aging-associated memory deficits, information processing speed, learning, and interference tendency in older people. Residents of a home for older people (15 women, four men; mean age 83.5; range 75-91) participated in a 14-week computer-assisted cognitive training program. The Niirnberg Aging Inventory and the California Verbal Learning Test were administered prior to the program, immediately after the program and after a period of five months to assess the effectiveness of the cognitive training. After the cognitive training program there were significant improvements in primary working memory and also secondary working memory (for verbal and visual stimuli), on parameters of information processing speed, learning and interference tendency. Improvements in the last two cognitive parameters were maintained five months after completion of the training program. The present study indicates that computerized cognitive training programs can be used in older people to achieve long-term improvements in some important aspects of fluid intelligence. It is suggested that computers could be employed more extensively to prevent and treat cognitive deficits in older people.

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PubMed1990

Slowing of high-speed memory scanning in Parkinson's disease is related to the severity of parkinsonian motor symptoms.

High-speed memory scanning (Sternberg paradigm) was tested in a collective of 20 parkinsonian patients (10 newly diagnosed, untreated patients, duration of the disease 0.5-3.8, mean 1.5 years; 10 levodopa-treated patients, duration of the disease 4.2 to 11, mean 7.6 years). The levodopa-treated patients stopped taking levodopa before the test. There was a tendency towards retarded memory scanning in the patients' collective compared with 20 healthy controls with similar ages and verbal IQs (p = 0.076, Mann-Whitney U test). The mental slowing correlated significantly with bradykinesia and the sum-score of the Columbia University Parkinson Rating Scale (p = 0.021 and 0.019; Spearman rank correlation). Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA revealed a significant mental slowing in the subgroup of patients with Parkinson's disease for greater than 4 years compared with the newly diagnosed patients and the controls (H = 8.54; p = 0.019 and 0.006, Mann-Whitney U test). The findings suggest a mental slowing in Parkinson's disease, which is associated with the progression of parkinsonian motor symptoms and not with depression.

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PubMed1988

Pharmacological study in Meige's syndrome with predominant blepharospasm.

Objective quantification of the symptoms of Meige's syndrome is difficult and has not been performed in the majority of pharmacological studies of Meige's syndrome published so far. The aim of the present study was to reexamine the therapeutic potential of biperiden, clonazepam, haloperidol, and lisuride using an objective method of quantification of the symptoms. Eleven patients received daily i.v. injections of biperiden, 5.0 mg; clonazepam, 1.0 mg; haloperidol, 2.5 mg; lisuride, 0.05 mg; and placebo in randomized order. The symptoms of the patients [idiopathic blepharospasm (IB), in 11 patients, oromandibular dystonia (OMD) in four patients] were quantified by a blind observer counting the frequencies and recording the cumulative duration of sustained spasms of IB and OMD over periods of 4 min before, and 15, 30, 60, 90, and 120 min after the i.v. challenges. Baseline quantification of IB and OMD was performed at identical intervals on randomized days of the trial. Significant improvement of the IB scores was found in response to biperiden and clonazepam and a trend toward improvement in response to lisuride (Wilcoxon test). Evaluation of the individual IB scores of each patient following the various drug challenges failed to predict the therapeutic potential of these drugs for subsequent oral treatment.

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