PubMed HealthSearch

Biomedical subjects

J P Harley

Publications and source records attributed to J P Harley.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

Applying psychometric criteria to functional assessment in medical rehabilitation: III. Construct validity and predicting level of care.

A discriminant analysis was performed using Rasch ability estimates derived from four Patient Evaluation and Conference System (PECS) subscales, to distinguish among the functional independence and impairment profiles exhibited by patients admitted into any of three levels of medical rehabilitation delineated by the National Association of Rehabilitation Facilities (NARF): (1) inpatient hospital, (2) atypical nursing home (intermediate), or (3) day program. Two discriminant functions accounted for 91% and 9% of the between-group variance, respectively. Cross-validated classification of patients into one of the three levels of care, based on discriminant function scores, produced 75% correct classification; a 66% improvement over the percentage of correct classification likely by chance alone. Results support the construct validity of the PECS subscales and indicate they may be useful in validating clinically-based admission decisions among three of the levels of care promulgated by NARF.

Activities of Daily Living

Trichinella spiralis: acceleration and inhibition of cyst calcification in rats.

Daily administration of vitamin D3 (75,000 IU/kg b. wt) for 7 days accelerated Trichinella spiralis cyst calcification in rats with a 14-week-old infection. When disodium ethane-1-hydroxy-1, 1-diphosphonate (EHDP) was administered (50 mg/kg b. wt) from 2 days before until 2 days after vitamin D3 treatment, cyst calcification was inhibited. Thus, the ability to inhibit E. spiralis calcification has demonstrated for the first time.

Animals

Hyperkinesis and food additives: testing the Feingold hypothesis.

Teacher ratings, objective classroom and laboratory observational data, attention-concentration, and other psychological measures obtained on 36 school-age, hyperactive boys under experimental and control diet conditions yielded no support for the Feingold hypothesis. Parental ratings revealed positive behavioral changes for the experimental diet; however, they seemed primarily attributable to one diet sequence. Parents' behavioral ratings on ten hyperactive, preschool boys indicated a positive response to the experimental diet; again, laboratory observations showed no diet effect.

Child

Synthetic food colors and hyperactivity in children: a double-blind challenge experiment.

Nine hyperactive male subjects, selected on the basis of showing a favorable "response" to the Feingold diet in an earlier study, were maintained on a strict elimination (Feingold) diet for 11 weeks, and were given multiple trials of placebo and challenge food materials. Parental and teacher ratings, classroom behavior observations, and neuropsychological test scores obtained during baseline, placebo, and challenge conditions, in general, were not found to be adversely affected by the artificial color challenge materials. As expected, comparable data gathered on a matched control group showed them to receive substantially better ratings than the hyperactive subjects on the majority of the comparison measures employed. Possible explanations for the discrepancy between the dramatic clinical-anecdotal reports that have been given and the much more equivocal findings from formal experimental projects are presented.

Child Behavior Disorders

Effect of early versus late onset of major motor epilepsy on cognitive-intellectual performance: further considerations.

Two groups of adult patients, one with early (0-5 years), the other with late (10-15 years) age of seizure onset, were compared on 14 variables derived from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and Halstead's neuropsychological measures. The groups were matched for duration of the disorder and seizure frequency, and all subjects (Ss) had unequivocal histories of major motor seizures. The group with early age of onset obtained significantly lower WAIS, Verbal IQ, Performance IQ, and Full Scale IQ values than the group with late age of onset. No significant intergroup differences were obtained on Halstead's measures, although the performances of both groups were impaired vis-a-vis non-neurological control expectancy. The results suggest that early onset age, as operationally defined in this study, has a specifc differential influence which is restricted to psychometric intellectual functions as measured by the WAIS in groups matched for seizure duration and seizure frequency.

Adolescent

Age of onset and psychometric correlates of MMPI profiles in major motor epilepsy.

The purpose of the present study was to examine the MMPI performances of patients with major motor epilepsy and of nonepileptic brain damaged patients in relation to age of onset, duration of brain dysfunction and adequacy of intellectual functions. The present results suggest that MMPI indices of emotional disturbance are more closely associated with the degree of psychometric and cognitive impairment than they are with age of onset or duration of brain dysfunction. This effect is evident both in patients with major motor epilepsy and in nonepileptic brain damaged subjects.

Age Factors

The effect of early versus late onset of major motor epilepsy upon cognitive-intellectual performance.

Performance on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and Halstead neuropsychological measures were investigated in two groups of adult subjects with major motor epilepsy of early (0 to 5 yr) and later (17 to 50 yr) onset, and in two groups with early and later onset of brain damage without epilepsy. The two groups with early onset earned poorer scores on most tests than did the two groups with later onset. The findings suggest an adverse effect of cerebral dysfunction of early onset, whether accompanied by major motor seizures or not. Subjects with early onset of major motor seizures scored significantly lower on 9 of 14 measures than subjects in any other group, none of which showed significant intergroup differences in the dependent variables employed. The results support the conclusion that early age of onset of major motor seizures is more apt to result in impairment of mental abilities in adult life than is later onset of seizures or early or late onset of brain damage uncomplicated by epilepsy.

Adolescent

Cognitive and motor-sensory performances in toxic and nontoxic epileptic subjects.

Psychometric, adaptive ability, motor proficiency, and sensory discrimination measures were administered to adult seizure patients within 36 hours of blood serum determinations of diphenylhydantoin, phenobarbital, and primidone. Thirty-five subjects in whom at least one of the three drug levels fell within stated mug per milliliter toxicity ranges were compared with 28 subjects of comparable age and IQ who were identified by the same procedure to be nontoxic. The toxic group consistently obtained poorer mean test scores, and significant intergroup differences were found on several measures of attention and concentration and on tests of motor coordination and static tremor.

Adult