Biomedical subjects

H C Dijkerman

Publications and source records attributed to H C Dijkerman.

21 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Disentangling perceptual and response bias in unilateral neglect: a methodological proposal.

Bisiach and his colleagues have developed a new version of Milner's "landmark task" for the purpose of separating "perceptual" and "response" biases in neglect patients. Subjects are required to decide which is the longer (or the shorter) of the two portions of a pre-bisected horizontal line. The authors proposed two indices to measure perceptual and response bias respectively. However, these indices are not mathematically independent of one another. Moreover, they do not exploit all of the information available in the data, since they do not consider the effect of the different transection locations across trials. We now propose an alternative means of analyzing data from the revised Landmark task, which generates independent estimates of perceptual and response biases. The method and its theoretical foundation are summarized, and illustrative data obtained from brain damaged patients and control subjects are presented.

Brain↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Prehension and perception of size in left visual neglect.

Right hemisphere damaged patients with and without left visual neglect, and age-matched controls had objects of various sizes presented within left or right body hemispace. Subjects were asked to estimate the objects' sizes or to reach out and grasp them, in order to assess visual size processing in perceptual-experiential and action-based contexts respectively. No impairments of size processing were detected in the prehension performance of the neglect patients but a generalised slowing of movement was observed, associated with an extended deceleration phase. Additionally both patient groups reached maximum grip aperture relatively later in the movement than did controls. For the estimation task it was predicted that the left visual neglect group would systematically underestimate the sizes of objects presented within left hemispace but no such abnormalities were observed. Possible reasons for this unexpected null finding are discussed.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Long-term outcome after discharge from a stroke rehabilitation unit.

The evidence is compelling that stroke units are effective when compared to management of patients on general medical wards. However, the evidence remains equivocal that better outcome is sustained in the longer term. This paper reports an investigation of cognitive and emotional outcome, environmental consequences, social activities, and physical outcome in 57 consecutive one-year survivors of a stroke discharged from a stroke and neurological rehabilitation unit. Satisfaction with inpatient and outpatient services was also investigated. Results were compared with previously reported studies of long-term outcome after stroke. Mean Barthel activities of daily living score at one year or more post-stroke was 16.8. Arm function was impaired in 43% of the participants in the study. Nearly half had cognitive and emotional problems, 19% communication problems, and 25% problems with access both inside and outside their house. All but four of the one-year survivors were less active after their stroke than before. More than 40% were dissatisfied with at least one aspect of inpatient and/or outpatient services. The long-term consequences of stroke in all areas investigated were considerable and in line with previous reports. Some suggestions for reducing these effects are made, including better information for patients about stroke and rehabilitation, improved access to psychology services, detailed assessment prior to hospital discharge of the patient's living environment and effective coordination with social services to improve access to their living environment.

Activities of Daily Living↗