Biomedical subjects

P Denzler

Publications and source records attributed to P Denzler.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2002

Do psychological variables modify motor recovery among patients with mild arm paresis after stroke or traumatic brain injury who receive the Arm Ability Training?

PURPOSE: The Arm Ability Training improves motor function among stroke and traumatic brain injury patients with mild arm paresis. There is, however, a considerable variability in motor recovery among patients receiving the Arm Ability Training. The study investigated whether psychological variables can explain the variability in motor recovery. METHODS: In a sample of 33 patients receiving the Arm Ability Training both motor performance (by use of the standardised arm function test TEMPA) and cognitive functions (attention, perceptual abilities, and learning) as well as depression were assessed before training was commenced. Both univariate correlational analyses and stepwise multiple regression were used to investigate these variables' ability to predict motor improvement (TEMPA difference scores from pre to post test after 3 weeks). RESULTS: The degree of motor dysfunction of the affected arm explained most (70%) of the variance of motor improvement scores of the standardised arm function test (TEMPA). Psychometric scores showed no or at the most weak associations with motor improvement (explaining at the most 10% of the variance). CONCLUSIONS: Psychological variables had not been critical modifiers of motor recovery among stroke and traumatic brain injury patients with mild arm paresis receiving the Arm Ability Training.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1999

Testing a motor performance series and a kinematic motion analysis as measures of performance in high-functioning stroke patients: reliability, validity, and responsiveness to therapeutic intervention.

OBJECTIVE: To assess measurement properties of motor performance tests when used with high-functioning stroke patients. DESIGN: Test-retest reliability study with an interval of 2 days; responsiveness study with assessment before and after training; validity study assessing the tests' ability to discriminate between the high-functioning stroke patients and healthy subjects. SETTING: Referral center for neurorehabilitation. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-nine high motor-functioning stroke patients and 20 healthy control subjects. INTERVENTION: Two special training sessions per day on 5 consecutive days, plus regular therapy. OUTCOME MEASURES: Scores on the motor performance series, a two-dimensional tracking test, and a kinematic task analysis. RESULTS: All tests (except the bimanual test) were able to document performance deficits with these patients and showed a moderately high to high test-retest reliability without systematic trend from test to retest (intraclass correlation coefficients for main variables, .61 to .89). The kinematic task especially demonstrated changes after training (standardized response means for timing variables, .53 to .66). A subset of variables indicated a modifying effect of limb side, age, and gender. CONCLUSION: All tests (except the bimanual test) can be used for both cross-sectional and follow-up group studies with high-functioning stroke patients. Measurement properties and the lack of comprehensive normative data limit their use with individual patients.

Adult↗

PubMed1995

Repetitive training of isolated movements improves the outcome of motor rehabilitation of the centrally paretic hand.

The effect of a standardized training on movements of the affected hand has been studied in 27 hemiparetic patients using a multiple baseline approach across individuals. The training consisted of repetitive hand and finger flexions and extensions against various loads and was carried out twice daily during 15-min periods. Grip strength (p < 0.006), peak force of isometric hand extensions (p < 0.05), peak acceleration (p < 0.05) of isotonic hand extensions as well as contraction velocities as indicators of motor performance significantly improved during the training period. In contrast to the standardized training of hand and finger movements, therapeutic strategies following the Bobath concept aim at reducing enhanced muscle tone without reinforcing the activity in centrally paretic distal muscle groups directly. Patients undergoing this treatment approach alone did not experience a significant improvement in the motor capacity of the hand. Therefore, the results of the present study emphasize the importance of frequent movement repetition for the motor rehabilitation of the centrally paretic hand and challenge conventional physiotherapeutic strategies that focus on spasticity reduction instead of early initiation of active movements.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Motor learning after recovery from hemiparesis.

Twenty patients who had almost completely recovered from hemiparesis following unilateral cerebrovascular accident and 16 control subjects had to perform motor learning tasks including a three-dimensional motor problem and two standard precision tests. The ability of hemiparetic patients to solve simple spatial-motor problems and to gain by training was preserved with limitations concerning high precision control. However, hemiparetic patients had a higher demand for time and corrections, as well as a reduced consistency of performance. Thus recovery from hemiparesis was accompanied by reduced skillfulness and automaticity of motor control.

Adult↗

PubMed1988

Cognitive functioning of juveniles with Down syndrome and other forms of mental retardation.

The performance of juvenile Down syndrome individuals and two groups of oligophrenes was compared in several cognitive tests. All three groups of subjects were of the same CA, the Down's and one group of mentally retarded non-Down's had an average MA of 62, the other group an MA of 86 months. Though the group with the highest mental age usually outperformed the other two, significant differences were rare. It is concluded that at this age Down's and mentally retarded with different etiologies generally have rather similar cognitive abilities and that the intellectual deterioration of Down's, which at a later age inevitably leads to Alzheimer's disease, indeed starts only at a later CA.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1986

[Possibilities and weaknesses of psychopathometric diagnosis of dementia].

As cognitive deficiencies in aged people constitute a growing factor in our societies, the possibilities for diagnosing dementia are described and analyzed critically. Based on a discussion of those changes in intellectual performance which are typical for normal aging (e.g., reduction in so-called fluid intelligence combined with preservation of so-called crystallized intelligence), the pathological forms of aging, especially Alzheimer's disease, are outlined. The present, internationally favored psychometrical measures for recording dementia in the aged and for evaluating and diagnosing it differentially are listed. Finally, certain requirements which have to be imposed on a diagnostic test for dementia are discussed.

Aged↗

PubMed1986

Recognition memory and psychophysiological responses to stimuli with neutral or emotional content: a study of Korsakoff patients and recently detoxified and longterm abstinent alcoholics.

Possible relations between chronic alcohol abuse and impairments in cognitive functioning were tested in six groups of subjects, groups A1, A2, CGy, AA, KO, and CGo: The first three groups were about 35 years old, the last three about 50 years. Groups A1 and A2 each consisted of ten men hospitalized for the treatment of alcohol dependency, group A1 having been detoxified for less than one week, and group A2 for more than five months. Group CGy constituted the matched control group. Group AA consisted of six Alcoholics Anonymous, sober for more than five years, nine Korsakoff patients made up group KO, and group CGo was the control group matched for groups AA and KO. As the main tests, all subjects were given a number of slides showing scenes, humans, or animals, half of which had been rated as neutral while the other half was emotionally arousing (in either a negative or a positive way). In two tests, one after ten minutes, and one after two days, the subjects were required to reidentify those slides which they had seen before, and their galvanic skin response was measured simultaneously. Several psychological tests including one for paired associate learning were given as well. The main results were that alcoholics, whether they had been abstinent for a longer time or not, were inferior to nonalcoholics, but that a prolonged period of soberness nevertheless most likely leads to the recovery of cognitive functions. Though the underlying causes of the cognitive deficits found in the four experimental groups (A1, A2, AA, KO) may be due at least in part to different or even contradictory underlying causes, they provide support for "simple versions" of the so-called continuity and premature aging hypotheses.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Cognitive and mnemonic information processing in institutionalized and noninstitutionalized elderly patients].

Older subjects (institutionalized in a home for the aged and non-institutionalized) were compared in a test battery according to the recommendations of the NINCDS-ADRA. The institutionalized subjects were not distinguishable from the controls when only a small amount of information was to be processed or when the information had to be recalled with no distraction. Possible reasons for the observed differences are discussed.

Aged↗