Biomedical subjects

S M Malone

Publications and source records attributed to S M Malone.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

Knowledge management: white knight or white elephant?

Knowledge management (KM) is a new management theory embraced by hundreds of writers in multiple countries and industries. Although a single fixed methodology does not exist, several methodological elements are common to most KM writtings. KM has a number of similarities to and differences from quality improvement and reengineering. It can be applied to at least two universes in health care organizations. Applying KM to a case study in health information management (HIM) departments yielded much useful information but also proved unable ultimately to resolve the problem being studied. HIM professionals can embrace elements about KM that are good and useful, while ignoring elements that do not work.

Delivery of Health Care↗

PubMed2001

Event-related potentials and comorbidity in alcohol-dependent adult males.

The present study examined event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by a visual discrimination task in a community sample of adult males with a lifetime diagnosis of alcohol dependence. Study participants were subtyped by the presence of additional comorbid disorders (antisocial personality, depression, and drug abuse or dependence). In all groups of alcohol-dependent subjects, even those without any additional comorbid disorders, P3 amplitude differed from that of a comparison group. Alcohol-dependent subjects with a diagnosis of illicit drug abuse or dependence, especially if they had antisocial personality as well, had the smallest amplitude responses. The amplitude profile of the P3 across the parietal electrodes used as active sites was flattened among alcoholic subjects, with P3 amplitude disproportionately reduced at the midline. Among alcoholic subjects with a lifetime diagnosis of depression, the flattened amplitude profile was due to elevated mean amplitude of the P3 at lateral leads, especially P4, relative to the comparison group. Alterations in ERP responses appear to be a general characteristic of alcoholism in men, although the presence of other comorbid disorders, particularly drug abuse or dependence together with antisocial personality, results in the greatest reductions in P3 amplitude.

Adult↗

PubMed2000

Identifying a multivariate endophenotype for substance use disorders using psychophysiological measures.

This investigation examined how reduced amplitude of the P300 event-related potential (elicited from a visual oddball task) can be used together with an electrodermal response modulation measure (indexing the ability to inhibit responsivity to a temporally predictable aversive stimulus) to identify adolescents at especially high risk to develop substance dependence. One hundred and twenty-nine 17-year-old boys were divided into groups characterized as low risk (high amplitude P300 and good electrodermal modulation), high risk (reduced amplitude P300 and poor modulation), or intermediate risk (a high or good score on one measure and a low or poor score on the other). P300 amplitude and electrodermal modulation were uncorrelated. High-risk boys had 4-6 times more alcohol dependence than intermediate or low-risk boys and 2-3 times more nicotine dependence. Performance on an antisaccade eye-tracking task in which participants directed their gaze in a direction opposite to target movement was related to electrodermal modulation but not P300 amplitude. The results from all three psychophysiological measures together suggest that the neural circuits affecting P300 amplitude and electrodermal response modulation are different and that poor electrodermal response modulation may reflect an inhibitory control deficit mediated by the frontal lobes.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Quantitative EEG in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Electroencephalograms (EEGs) were recorded from 13 unmedicated and nondepressed patients with DSM-III-R obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and from 10 age-matched controls. All subjects were also administered the Wechsler Memory Scale Delayed Logical Memory and Delayed Visual Reproduction tests. Quantitative analysis of the EEG revealed lower log absolute power in the delta, beta 1, and beta 2 bandwidths for OCD patients at frontal and right-hemisphere locations. OCD patients displayed greater hemispheric asymmetries in EEG activity based on difference measures of EEG power from homologous electrode pairs, indicative of severe right hemisphere EEG hypoactivity. Standardized measures of hemispheric asymmetry for the beta 2 bandwidth accurately predicted group membership and were correlated both with poorer patient performance on the visual-spatial memory task and better performance on the verbal memory task. OCD patients were significantly impaired on the visual-spatial task, but not on the verbal memory test, relative to controls.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Longitudinal measurements of brainstem auditory evoked potentials in patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type.

Brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs) were recorded from 33 patients with mild-to-moderate dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) and 16 age-matched normal controls. There were no significant differences between the two groups on any latency measure (wave V latency, I-V and III-V interpeak latencies). Within the DAT group, there was no association between BAEP latency measures and cognitive status, indexed by scores on the Mini-Mental Status Exam (MMSE). Eight of the DAT subjects were retested 6 months and one year later. Despite significant evidence of continued cognitive decline, there were no changes in BAEP latency measures over time. Furthermore, BAEP latency measures at initial testing did not predict the degree of cognitive decline over the one year time interval. The results show that BAEP latency is unaffected in patients with mild-to-moderate DAT.

Aged↗

PubMed1989

Smooth pursuit eye movements in dementia of the Alzheimer type.

Smooth pursuit eye movements (SPEM) to a sinusoidally modulated target moving horizontally across a cathode ray tube screen were examined for 17 patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) and for 14 age-matched control subjects. There were 3 target-motion conditions at frequencies representing varying ranges of target velocity. DAT patients differed from controls on all measures of smooth pursuit quality: their gain was reduced at high target velocities and lower target accelerations, they made more frequent directionally appropriate saccades and had more saccadic intrusions, they led the target with their eyes (phase lead) in all 3 conditions, and lag-adjusted cross-correlation coefficients, computed between digitized eye-movement and target signals, were lower among patients. The cross-correlation measure was most sensitive to between-group variability. These results suggest that the impaired SPEM observed in DAT patients reflect degeneration of cortical oculomotor centers, either through inappropriate saccadic intrusions in smooth pursuit as a result of physiologic disinhibition or through effects on attentional processes or both.

Acceleration↗

PubMed1985

Adrenocortical and behavioral responses to limb restraint in human neonates.

Two experiments were conducted on human neonates examining their behavior and adrenocortical activity in response to physical restraint. In both experiments, newborns (9 per condition in Experiment I; 10 per condition in Experiment II) were tested in one of three conditions: Restraint, which involved strapping newborns to a circumstraint board for 20 min; Strapping Control, which involved strapping newborns to the board and then immediately taking them off the board and returning them to their cribs; and Control, which did not involve any restraining manipulation. In Experiment I, blood samples for plasma cortisol determination were obtained via heel-stick immediately prior to the assigned manipulations and 30 min later. In Experiment II, only the postmanipulation blood sample was taken. Two behavioral states, Active Awake and Crying, were examined as indices of behavioral distress. In Experiment I, the effects of the blood sampling procedure on behavioral distress and plasma cortisol were significant; however, no significant effects of restraint were observed. In Experiment II, restraint was associated with small but significant increases in behavioral distress and in plasma cortisol levels.

Circumcision, Male↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Rate of cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease is associated with EEG alpha power.

Fifteen patients with Alzheimer's disease who were initially mildly or moderately impaired were followed for up to 4 years. Scores of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) were regressed on time of examination (measured at 6-month intervals) to estimate cognitive progression rates in individual patients. A quantitative electroencephalographic (EEG) examination was administered to each patient. Log-absolute EEG power in the alpha bandwidth (8-12 Hz) was found to be correlated with the computed rate of MMSE decline. This association was present for electrode sites across all regions of the scalp and remained significant when the effects of current cognitive severity were partialled out. These data suggest that a quantitative EEG measure (absolute alpha power) is related to the rate of cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Alpha Rhythm↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Hydergine treatment and psychophysiological measures in primary degenerative dementia.

Changes in smooth pursuit eye movements and the P300 component of the auditory evoked potential were studied in patients with primary degenerative dementia during a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of ergoloid mesylates (Hydergine). After 18 weeks of treatment, P300 latency and amplitude, recorded at three scalp electrode sites, had not changed significantly. Smooth pursuit gain was elevated for the drug group under some stimulus conditions, suggesting a normalization of pursuit eye movement functioning. However, the results of several other measures of the quality of pursuit eye movements failed to corroborate this finding.

Aged↗