Mary V Spiers | PubMed Health

PubMed2005

The effect of familial sinistrality and academic experience on cognition in right-handed women.

Research in sex, brain lateralization, and cognition suggests that right-handed women vary in cognitive ability according to handedness inheritance patterns. Right-handed college women with positive familial sinistrality (FS+; i.e., the presence of at least one left-handed biological relative; n=30) were compared with right-handed women with negative familial sinistrality (FS-; n=30) by means of visuospatial (the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale--Revised Block Design subtest), verbal (the California Verbal Learning Test and Animal Naming), and motor performance tests (Finger Tapping and Grooved Pegboard). FS+ women outperformed FS- women on spatial tasks and used more efficient spatial strategies. The FS- group showed no corresponding verbal advantage. Spatial differences were not accounted for by motor skill, intellectual ability, or academic major.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Variation in medication understanding among the elderly.

PURPOSE: Types of medication misunderstanding among community-dwelling elderly people were studied. METHODS: Community-dwelling people who were at least 65 years of age and who volunteered to participate in a medication-review program were recruited for the study. A structured interview including a background interview, attitudinal questions, and questions related to dosage, frequency, timing, and what to do if a dose was missed was conducted. RESULTS: A total of 375 people were included in the study. Of these, 232 (62%) showed perfect understanding of their medication regimens. Twenty-eight (7.5%) of the subjects with less than perfect understanding misunderstood a limited aspect of their regimens across multiple medications, most frequently what to do if a dose was missed. These subjects had the least complex regimens, could name their medications and describe their purpose, and rated themselves as having few medical problems. Their lack of knowledge was not attributed to cognitive problems. Twenty-seven subjects (7%) did not know multiple aspects of at least one medication and appeared to be at high risk for nonadherence. These individuals had the most complex regimens, had difficulty naming and explaining the purpose of their medications, and rated themselves as less adherent. Eighty-eight subjects (23.5%) demonstrated mixed problems with understanding; they did not show a defined pattern attributable to cognitive or noncognitive factors. CONCLUSION: A majority of people over the age of 65 years had good understanding of the drugs they were taking.

Aged↗