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Biomedical subjects

J Arbit

Publications and source records attributed to J Arbit.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Medical, family, and scholastic conditions in urban delinquents.

Effects of medical, family, and scholastic conditions were evaluated for the number and type of offenses and test score performances in 1,962 urban delinquents. Conditions were evaluated using multivariate followed by univariate analysis of variance with post-hoc tests. There were subgroup differences in the number and type of offenses and test score performances. Also, interactions of medical, family, and scholastic conditions changed the number and type of offenses and lowered test scores. Findings supported a developmental biopsychosocial model of delinquency that emphasized the predominance of medical/scholastic conditions. Orphaned or one-parent delinquents with nervous system or neonatal conditions, retardation, or hyperactivity committed assault.

Achievement↗
PubMed1990

Adolescents who kill.

From a sample of 1,956 adolescent delinquents referred to us by the court for physical, psychological, psychiatric, educational, and social examinations, 71 delinquents convicted of homicide were matched with 71 nonviolent delinquents by age, race, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES). These two groups were compared on the basis of these evaluations by stepwise discriminant analysis, matched pairs, two-tailed t-tests, and nonparametric tests. Adolescents who kill have a tetrad of symptoms: (1) criminally violent family members; (2) gang membership; (3) severe educational difficulties; and (4) alcohol abuse.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Homicidal adolescents: a replication.

30 homicidal delinquents were matched with 30 nonviolent delinquents on age, race, sex, and socioeconomic status. Both groups received physical, psychological, educational, psychiatric and social examinations. Data were evaluated using stepwise discriminant analysis. Previous research was replicated. Homicidal adolescents shared four symptoms: criminally violent families, gang participation, alcohol abuse, severe learning difficulties. In addition, when the sample and the original group of murderers were combined the contrast between groups became clearer. Juvenile murderers lived in criminally violent families learning aggression during early childhood. Cognitive and perceptual deficits associated with epilepsy and central nervous system (CNS) conditions led to difficulties in the school years. During adolescence, gang participation and alcohol abuse added to earlier risk factors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Developmental and disruptive behavior disorders among delinquents.

Medical histories, psychological tests, psychiatric examinations, and social investigations were reviewed to determine the frequency of independent diagnoses of retardation, attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADD-H), and attention deficit disorder without hyperactivity (ADD). In a sample of 1,956 (384 females and 1,572 males) adjudicated delinquents with a mean age of 13.9 +/- 1.9 years, 9% had ADD-H, 15% were retarded, and 46% had ADD. The reliabilities of the diagnoses were 0.95 for retardation, 0.91 for ADD-H, and 0.94 ADD. Retarded delinquents had the greatest scholastic delays followed by the ADD-H and ADD-adolescent offenders.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

The effects of age and sex on the factor structure of the Wechsler Memory Scale.

Memory is one of the central intellectual functions characteristic of human behavior. Increasing age affects memory processes by requiring more time and increased learning trials in such tasks as memory for digits, symbols, and figures, and in the acquisition of new information. Factor analytic studies of the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) have been contradictory because of the confounding effects of subject age and sex. Principal component analyses with oblique rotations were performed 16 times on independent and random samples of males and females, and of males and females at each of three developmental age levels: 13-39, 40-59, and 60-88 years. For total male and female samples, a two-factor structure of general retentiveness and memory was found. For both males and females at 13-39 and 40-59 years, the same factor structure was obtained. The two-factor structure did not occur at age 60-88 for males or females. These findings confirm Wechsler's hypothesis as to the structure of the WMS, and Guilford's hypothesis as to the effect of age upon memory.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Psychometrics of a neuropsychological test battery.

Compared factor analysis (linear) and hierarchical cluster analysis (nonlinear) of a neuropsychological battery of tests, including the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, the Wechsler Memory Scale, the Graham-Kendall Memory for Designs Test, and the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Designs Test. The results were discussed within the framework of descriptive and predictive analysis of the major cognitive functions of verbal intelligence, perceptual performance, and memory.

Bender-Gestalt Test↗
PubMed1976

Molecular biology of neurological and psychiatric disorders. I. Effect of parkinsonism, age, sex and L-dopa on platelet monoamine oxidase.

Since there is substantial evidence for a nigrostriatal dopamine defect in Parkinson's disease and since monoamine oxidase (MAO) appears to be essential for the degradation of dopamine, we investigated whether this enzyme is involved in the pathogenesis of this disease or in the therapeutic action of L-dopa. To gain a solid basis for our analysis we studied some properties of platelet MAO, at present the only practical in vivo source for human MAO. Substrate and inhibitor pattern clearly pointed to a predominant B-type character of this enzyme. By using 3 substrates, m-iodobenzylamine, p-methoxybenzylamine, and tyramine, we found a marked age and sex difference in MAO activity. In untreated parkinsonian patients, platelet MAO was slightly reduced as compared with age- and sex-matched controls. Treatment with L-dopa induced a further reduction of platelet MAO activity in both sexes, but more in men than in women. We conjecture that the action of L-dopa on parkisonian patients is twofold: L-dopa is known to enhance the release of gonadotropins and thus to increase the production of sex hormones which in turn are capable of reducing MAO activity. Dopamine, formed from L-dopa, may thus have a better chance for survival in reaching the dopaminergic receptor. A new form of therapy, based on this concept, is proposed.

Adolescent↗