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K Cramer

Publications and source records attributed to K Cramer.

14 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2004

Measuring awareness of financial skills: reliability and validity of a new measure.

This paper examines the psychometric properties of a three-part (participant, informant, and performance) Measure for assessing Awareness of Financial Skills (MAFS). The MAFS was administered to 10 seniors with dementia and 25 well-functioning seniors, and their informants. Measures of cognitive functioning, social desirability, neuroticism, and perceived control were administered to each participant to allow for an assessment of validity. Internal consistency estimates for the participant and informant questionnaires were found to be 0.92 and 0.97, respectively. Convergent validity analysis indicated that performance on this measure was related to level of cognitive functioning, with higher level of unawareness associated with decreased cognitive ability. Discriminant validity analysis showed that performance on this measure was not related to social desirability or neuroticism. This study provides evidence that the MAFS is a reliable and valid tool for assessing awareness of financial skills in older adults.

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PubMed2004

Awareness of financial skills in dementia.

The present study examined the relations among levels of cognitive functioning, executive dysfunction, and awareness of financial management capabilities among a sample of 42 community-dwelling persons with dementia. Financial tasks on the Measure of Awareness of Financial Skills (MAFS) were dichotomized as simple or complex based on Piaget's operational levels of childhood cognitive development. Severity of global cognitive impairment and executive dysfunction were significantly related to awareness of financial abilities as measured by informant-participant discrepancy scores on the MAFS. For persons with mild and moderate/severe dementia, and persons with and without executive dysfunction, proportions of awareness within simple and complex financial task categories were tabulated. Significantly less awareness of financial abilities occurred on complex compared with simple tasks. Individuals with mild dementia were significantly less aware of abilities on complex items, whereas persons with moderate/severe dementia were less aware of abilities, regardless of task complexity. Similar patterns of awareness were observed for individuals with and without executive dysfunction. These findings support literature suggesting that deficits associated with dementia first occur for complex cognitive tasks involving inductive reasoning or decision-making in novel situations, and identify where loss of function in the financial domain may first be expected.

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PubMed2000

Disextinction, Inc

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1999

Erratum

Hahm J-O, Cramer KS, Sur M. 1999. Pattern formation by retinal afferents in the ferret lateral geniculate nucleus: developmental segregation and the role of N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors. J Comp Neurol 411:327-345. Due to a printer's error, Figures 6 and 12 were transposed after the proofs of the article had been approved by the author. The correct figures and legends are reprinted on the following pages. The publisher regrets the error.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1995

Early versus delayed treatment of severe ankle fractures: a comparison of results.

A retrospective review of 202 closed Weber B bimalleolar or bimalleolar equivalent ankle fractures treated using open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) from January 1, 1991, through January 1, 1994 was completed at our institution. A total of 105 ankles (52%) were treated using ORIF within 5 days of injury (early group), with a mean 1.5 days from injury to surgery. A total of 97 ankles (48%) were treated after 5 days (delayed group), with a mean of 13.6 days from injury to surgery. Operative time, length of hospital stay, postoperative range of motion, adequacy of reduction, wound and other complications, and other sequelae were compared between the two groups. No significant difference in range of motion at latest follow-up or in operative time was evident between the groups. Minor wound complications were present in 4.8% of the early group compared with 6.2% in the delayed group. No deep infections or osteomyelitis were present in either group. Anatomic reductions were present in 89% and poor reductions (> 2 mm displacement) in 1% of those ankles treated within 5 days versus 83% anatomic reductions and 3% poor reductions in those treated after 5 days. The differences in wound complications and anatomic reductions between groups was not statistically significant. There was a significantly longer median hospital stay in the early (3 days) versus delayed groups (2 days). We conclude that the results and complications of early versus delayed treatment is not significantly different, except for a shorter median hospital stay in the delayed group. Delayed ORIF is an acceptable alternative when soft-tissue swelling, fracture blisters, or abrasions are present that offer an undesirable environment for surgical incisions. Using contemporary, a traumatic techniques, delayed surgery can provide anatomic reduction with minimal complications in severe ankle fractures.

Ankle Injuries↗
PubMed1991

Tuberculous tenosynovitis of the wrist. Two case reports.

Tuberculosis was first described in 1756 by Acrel in a case report. Subsequent reports of musculoskeletal tuberculosis documented the uncommon occurrence of hand and wrist involvement. The two cases presented here demonstrate the difficulty in eradicating the organism even with modern regimens of chemotherapy. Intraoperative Gram's stain and frozen sections were useful to rule out other etiologies. Firm diagnosis must be established by tissue culture. The first case appeared cured after thorough initial debridement and had no recurrence for 36 years. While recurrences are common in patients treated with debridement alone, most appear within one year after the index procedure. The amount of time that elapsed in this case is unusual and serves as a sobering reminder that tuberculosis may recur at a time distant from the initial procedure. The second patient had tuberculosis diagnosed elsewhere and was treated twice with antituberculous chemotherapy. Although the first course of therapy for six months may have been inadequate, the second course with multiple drugs for 18 months would certainly be considered adequate; yet he had a recurrence in his wrist eight months after completing treatment. These two cases illustrate the fastidious nature of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis organism and the need for a combined treatment protocol of meticulous surgical debridement and combined chemotherapy.

Aged↗
PubMed1978

Selective release of excreted DNA sequences from phytohemagglutinin-stimulated human peripheral blood lymphocytes. Effects of trypsin and divalent cations.

We studied the synthesis of excreted DNA sequences and their release from phytohemagglutinin-stimulated human peripheral blood lymphocytes under conditions permitting optimal cell growth. Cells were labeled by constant exposure to low specific activity [3H]thymidine. Excreted DNA sequences were synthesized during the period of logarithmic cell growth and moved slowly from the high molecular weight chromosomal DNA fraction into the low molecular weight cell DNA fraction (Hirt supernate) from which they could be specifically released by treating the cells briefly with small amounts of various proteases; 1 microgram/ml trypsin for 5 min was optimal. On day 5 of culture, 13.3 +/- 6.9% of the total cellular acid-precipitable [3H]thymidine was released by this treatment. Trypsin-induced release was partially and reversibly inhibited by incubating the cells for 16 h with 5 mM dibutyryl-cyclic AMP. Cells incubated in the absence of divalent cations spontaneously released this Hirt supernatant DNA; after maximal release had occurred under these circumstances, additional trypsin treatment caused no further release of DNA. Trypsin-induced DNA release could be completely and reversibly inhibited by incubating the cells in the presence of 10 mM calcium. Trypsin-released DNA was isolated and analyzed by reassociation kinetics. A major component, representing 54% of the DNA, reassociated with a C0t1/2 of 68 mol.s/liter (the value at which DNA association is 50% complete). The reassociation of this DNA was studied in the presence of an excess of DNA isolated from stimulated lymphocytes on day 3 in culture, and in the presence of an excess of resting lymphocyte DNA. The high molecular weight fraction of day-3 cell DNA contained three times more copies of the trypsin-released DNA major component as compared to resting lymphocyte DNA. Hirt supernatant DNA isolated from day-5 stimulated lymphocytes reassociated in an intermediate component representing 34% of the DNA with a Cot1/2 of mol.s/liter; after cells were treated with trypsin, this component could no longer be identified in the Hirt supernatant fraction, presumably because it had been released into the incubation medium. These data describe a quantitatively reproducible system with which synthesis and release of excreted DNA sequences can be studied.

Bucladesine↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Maclean's rankings of health care indices in Canadian communities, 2000: comparisons and statistical contrivance.

A critical perspective is presented in regard to the 2000 regional rankings of Canadian health care indices by Maclean's magazine, June 5, 2000. This perspective is related in format to previous analyses of the Maclean's rankings of Canadian universities. Several pitfalls in the health care ranking procedures are summarized. The Maclean's data and general criteria appear conceptually reasonable, but their inconsistencies and limited range, together with problems in interpretation of rank data, do not allow them to be logically or empirically useful in the matter of health care evaluation, that is, in the manner portrayed for readers of Maclean's. Using a particular set of parameters defined as health "indicators," the rank data show gratuitously that communities better endowed with certain health services, such as those with medical schools, tend to provide higher levels of care.

Benchmarking↗