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Biomedical subjects

S S Kupietz

Publications and source records attributed to S S Kupietz.

17 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1990

Sustained attention in normal and in reading-disabled youngsters with and without ADDH.

Three groups of children-one normal, one reading-disabled, and one reading-disabled with an additional diagnosis of attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADDH)-were administered the Continuous Performance Test and compared on correct detections and three types of commission errors. All three groups showed a decline in sustained attention over the course of the task but not differentially according to diagnostic group. When younger and older subgroups were compared, the reading-disabled children were found to make significantly more correct detections with increased age, but not when the reading disability was accompanied by ADDH. The latter group of children also were differentiated by a type of commission error, previously associated with impulsive responding, that remained prominent in the older subgroup of dually diagnosed children. Reading-disabled children were differentiated by a second type of commission error which possibly was associated with inattention or short-term memory deficit and which diminished with age.

Attention↗
PubMed1985

Psychostimulant plasma concentration and learning performance.

Six normal adults were administered an oral dose of 0.25 mg/kg of dextroamphetamine, and their learning performance on a paired-associate task and drug blood level were measured at hourly intervals for 5 hours postdrug intake. Dextroamphetamine plasma concentration peaked at 2 to 3 hours following the oral dose, and learning errors were lowest during the same period. A self-report measure of mood also yielded findings consistent with peak plasma concentration. Similar findings obtained with hyperactive children treated with methylphenidate (Ritalin) lead the authors to conclude that the paired-associate learning task may be useful as an indicator of psychostimulant plasma levels, as a predictor of clinical response after an acute dose, and as a highly controlled task for studying psychostimulant drug effects on learning.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1982

Methylphenidate oral dose plasma concentrations and behavioral response in children.

The relationship between methylphenidate (MP) oral dose and plasma concentration to social and cognitive behaviors was studied in 25 boys diagnosed as having "attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity". Children were administered successive 1-week treatment conditions under the following schedule of fixed oral doses given twice daily: placebo; 0.25 mg/kg; 0.50 mg/kg; 1.0 mg/kg; placebo. Teacher and parent ratings showed increased improvement in social behavior as a function of MP dose. No drug effects were obtained on cognitive performance. MP plasma concentrations were significantly associated with oral dose and with measures of social behavior. No relationship was found with cognitive behavior. Side effects at the largest dose were severe enough to require discontinuation of treatment for five children, but were relatively mild for the remaining children.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1980

Effects of methylphenidate on learning a 'beginning reading vocabulary' by normal adults.

The effects of methylphenidate on reading was studied by having nine adults learn a beginning vocabulary of 96 Chinese characters under placebo and 5 mg and 10 mg methylphenidate by two teaching methods which differed in the rate at which new items were introduced for practice. Using lists composed of 12 characters and their English equivalents, all items were presented prior to the start of practice trials (simultaneous method), or each item was introduced only as the subject practiced items previously presented (progressive method). Learning performance was analyzed in terms of total errors and errors made at two criterion stages in list acquisition. Overall performance was significantly facilitated by the low (5 mg) dose or methylphenidate, but only with the simultaneous method. Significant drug effects were also obtained at criterion stages which were associated with high error rates. It was concluded that drug effects are likely to be most pronounced in difficult learning situations and that dosage appears to be an important variable for consideration in further studies.

Adult↗
PubMed1980

Ineffectiveness of imipramine in children who fail to respond to methylphenidate.

Ten hyperactive children who had failed to respond to methylphenidate were treated with imipramine in a placebo-controlled, crossover design. No significant drug effects were obtained either on parent and teacher ratings of the child's behavior or on the child's performance in a laboratory measure of sustained attention. Findings suggest that imipramine has limited clinical usefulness in the treatment of hyperactive children who fail to respond to methylphenidate.

Aggression↗
PubMed1978

Effects of L-5-hydroxytryptophan in autistic children.

Behavioral effects of L-5-Hydroxytrophan (L-5-HTP), administered in combination with carbidopa, were evaluated in three autistic children using direct behavioral observation and parent ratings. Children were assessed under each of four experimental conditions: Baseline, Placebo I, L-5-HTP plus carbidopa, and Placebo II. During the 20-week study two children showed behavioral change that appeared to be unrelated to drug treatment. The findings did not support the hypothesis that a functional deficit in brain 5-HT underlies the autistic syndrome.

5-Hydroxytryptophan↗
PubMed1976

Alterations in the vigilance performance of children receiving amitriptyline and methylphenidate pharmacotherapy.

The effects of amitriptyline (Elavil) and methylphenidate (Ritalin) on the vigilance of 20 hyperactive/aggressive children was investigated using an auditory version of the Continuous Performance Test (CPT). Over the course of this letter-detection task, correct detections tended to return to pretreatment levels under placebo, but were maintained at significantly improved levels under amitriptyline and methylphenidate. The relatively steep performance decrement which occurred in the placebo condition was found to be associated with a progressive increase in responses to the letter which immediately followed a target letter. Treating these 'late' responses as slow but 'correct' detections failed to eliminate the treatment effects obtained with amitriptyline and methylphenidate. It was concluded that in addition to keeping detection response latencies from increasing, the medications produced a heightened level of vigilance which resulted in an absolute increase in the number of correct detections. The facilitation of vigilance performance by amitriptyline was in apparent contradiction to reports by parents and teachers that children appeared 'drowsy' while receiving this medication. Findings of the study suggested that children's ability to process information was unaffected by the reported side effect.

Amitriptyline↗
PubMed1976

Attentiveness in behaviorally deviant and nondeviant children: I. Auditory vigilance performance.

The present study examined the vigilance performance of 16 behaviorally deviant and 16 nodeviant children and suggested that the vigilance paradigm might serve as a basis for a standardized test of continuous attention in children. The deviant and nondeviant children performed an auditory vigilance task administered on two separate occasions, 4 days apart. Performance during the first administration of the task deteriorated significantly for the deviant children as a function of time but not for the nondeviant ones. This finding was consistent with several prior clinical studies with children and suggested that the behaviorally deviant children were relatively less able to maintain a continuous level of attention. In addition, the vigilance procedure yielded relatively high test-retest reliability coefficients for both groups of children as well as performance which tended to vary as a function of chronological age.

Attention↗