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Biomedical subjects

M Bergener

Publications and source records attributed to M Bergener.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

The Alzheimer's disease activities of daily living international scale (ADL-IS).

BACKGROUND: Activities of daily living (ADL) deficits are integral components of dementia disorders, and ADL measures are among the most robust markers of the course of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Despite this acknowledged importance, no clearly useful ADL instrument for cross-cultural application in pharmacologic trials in the early stages of AD had been available. METHOD: An international effort was launched to develop an ADL scale for pharmacologic trials in early AD. Steps taken from 1990 to the present included: (1) international scientific working group meetings and reviews, (2) reviews of existing measures, (3) collating of existent, nonredundant items, (4) querying experts for new items, (5) interviews with informants and subjects in the USA, France, and Germany, toward the identification of potential new items, (6) identification of an item pool based upon these procedures, (7) creation of a trial instrument, (8) piloting of this instrument, and (9) refinement of the scale based upon statistical analysis of the pilot data. Final item selection was based upon: (1) relevance for > or = 80% of subjects in severity-stratified USA and German samples; (2) absence of gender and national biases; (3) significant (p <.05) discrimination between (a) normal versus mildly impaired and (b) mildly impaired versus moderately to moderately severely impaired subjects; and (4) Global Deterioration Scale (GDS) scores accounting for > or = 12% of variance in the item after controlling for age and gender. RESULTS: An ADL scale consisting of 40 items that correlate with the global and cognitive progress of AD is developed for international usage in pharmacologic trials in incipient, mild, moderate, and moderately severe AD. The scale contains 40 items falling within 13 ADL categories. The 40-item scale is shown to have .81 correlation with GDS staging, .81 with mental status assessment (Mini-Mental State Examination), and .81 with a psychometric test (the SKT) (p values < .001). CONCLUSION: This scale can be used to measure therapeutic response in AD.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1992

Measurement in psychogeriatrics.

Stake's concept of Responsive Evaluation is applied in evaluating the chain of psychogeriatric services of a general psychiatric hospital. Central to the approach presented are methodological considerations in describing individual treatment courses in their objective and subjective features. This can only be accomplished by establishing multidimensional strategies, incorporating biological, mental, psychological, and sociocultural aspects.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1992

Global rating, symptoms, behavior, and cognitive performance as indicators of efficacy in clinical studies with nimodipine in elderly patients with cognitive impairment syndromes.

Nimodipine is a calcium antagonist which improves learning and memory in brain-lesioned or aged animals (LeVere & Sandin, 1989; Schuurman & Traber, 1989). It also accelerates the recovery of experimentally damaged sciatic nerves (van der Zee et al., 1987) and reduces age-associated gait abnormalities in aging rats (Schuurman et al., 1987). Selective action on cerebral vessels has also been proven. Vasoconstriction was prevented or reduced with nimodipine under experimental conditions (Toward, 1981) and cerebral blood flow could be increased (Kazda et al., 1982). The drug has been tested in subarachnoid hemorrhage, stroke, severe head injury, cerebral resuscitation after cardiac arrest, impaired brain function in old age, and dementia. Methodological aspects of clinical studies with this agent are examined in this paper.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

[The diagnosis and therapy of depressive syndromes in old age].

Although depressions are the most frequent psychic disorders in the elderly diagnosis is often delayed and differential diagnosis complicated by other functional syndromes. Prevalent somatic symptoms such as somatic dysesthesias, pain, memory disorders and disorders of performance often mislead diagnostic search particularly if depressive alterations of mood are less prominent. Therefore history gains special importance beside physical examination. Three main groups are distinguished: --symptomatic (exogenous) depression --neurotic (reactive) depression --so called tardive depression Detection of nosologic connections is difficult but a prerequisite for a successful therapeutic approach. To this end particular attention should be given to connections between development of depression and history of life and coping with special events of life.

Adaptation, Psychological↗