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Biomedical subjects

A Halper

Publications and source records attributed to A Halper.

9 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1993

Oropharyngeal swallowing after stroke in the left basal ganglion/internal capsule.

One of the foci of Martin Donner's work was the neural control of swallowing. This present investigation continues that work by examining oropharyngeal swallowing in 8 patients identified with a single, small, left-basal ganglion/internal capsule infarction and 8 age-matched normal subjects. Stroke patients were assessed with a bedside clinical and radiographic swallowing assessment, and normal subjects received only the radiographic study. Results revealed disagreement between the bedside and radiographic assessments in one of the 8 stroke patients. Stroke and normal subjects differed significantly on some swallow measures on various bolus viscosities, but behaved the same as normal subjects on a number of measures. Differences in swallowing in the stroke subjects were not enough to prevent them from eating orally. The significant differences seen in the basal ganglia/internal capsule stroke subjects may result from damage to the sensorimotor pathways between the cortex and brainstem. These differences emphasize the importance of cortical input to the brainstem swallowing center in maintaining the systematic modulations characteristic of normal swallowing physiology.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Effects of bolus volume, viscosity, and repeated swallows in nonstroke subjects and stroke patients.

This study examined the effects of bolus volume and viscosity and the variability of repeated swallows in ten stroke patients and ten age-matched nonstroke subjects. The ten stroke patients demonstrated single unilateral cortical (three subjects), subcortical (six subjects), or brainstem (one subject) infarcts on computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging scans at three weeks post-ictus. All subjects underwent videofluoroscopic swallow studies in which seven temporal pharyngeal swallow measures were examined. Despite the dissimilarity in lesion locations, the swallow physiology in the stroke patients was relatively homogeneous, ie, no swallowing disorders severe enough to prevent oral intake. As bolus volume increased, pharyngeal delay time diminished in stroke patients, but not in nonstroke subjects. Increasing bolus volume affected three other pharyngeal swallow measures similarly in nonstroke and stroke subjects: laryngeal closure durations and cricopharyngeal (CP) opening durations increased and duration of tongue base contact to posterior pharyngeal wall decreased. On viscosity comparisons (liquid vs paste), both subject groups displayed longer duration of base of tongue contact to posterior pharyngeal wall. On paste swallows, nonstroke subjects had longer CP opening and lower swallow efficiency, whereas stroke patients did not. This study found no statistically significant learning/repetition effect for repeated swallows in either subject group, or both groups combined.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Parent involvement in cigarette smoking prevention: two pilot evaluations of the "Unpuffables Program".

Efforts to prevent the onset of cigarette smoking with young adolescents have been primarily successful in delaying onset, particularly with classroom curricula that emphasize social competencies. Maintenance of these reductions has been difficult to sustain into later adolescence, suggesting the need for programs to complement and supplement curricula. Since one group of adolescents more difficult to influence are those whose parents smoke, parental involvement in smoking prevention may be a powerful enhancer. This paper describes the "Unpuffables Program," an activity package program around smoking, for preadolescents and their parents. Two pilot evaluation studies in Minnesota and Massachusetts focus on the feasibility of and receptivity to the "Unpuffables Program." High awareness and participation rates were found in both settings. The program appears to provide an opportunity for smoking to be discussed at home, motivating smokers to consider cessation, and reinforcing nonsmoking parents' attitudes and behaviors.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Parent involvement with children's health promotion: a one-year follow-up of the Minnesota home team.

This study compares the long-term outcomes of a school-based program to an equivalent home-based program with 2250 third-grade students in 31 urban schools in Minnesota and North Dakota in order to detect changes in dietary fat and sodium consumption. The school-based program, The Adventures of Hearty Heart and Friends, involved 15 sessions over five weeks in the third-grade classrooms. The home-based program, the Hearty Heart Home Team, involved a five-week correspondence course with the third graders, where parental involvement was necessary in order to complete the activities. Outcome measures included anthropometric, psychosocial, and behavioral assessments at school, and dietary recall, food shelf inventories, and urinary sodium data collected in the students' homes. Participation rates for all aspects of the study were notably high. Eighty-six percent of the parents participated in the Home Team and 71% (almost 1000 families) completed the five-week course. Students in the home-based program reported more behavior change at posttest, had reduced the total fat, saturated fat, and monounsaturated fat in their diets and increased their complex carbohydrate consumption. The changes derived from the dietary recall data did not maintain after one year. The data converge to suggest the feasibility and importance of parental involvement for initiating health behavior changes with children of this age.

Child↗
PubMed1989

The Communication Analysis System.

The Communication Analysis System (CAS) was developed to facilitate efficient, effective treatment of conversational performance for persons with aphasia. The CAS provides frequent, objective, accurate, ratio-quality measures of ten classes of communicative behaviors for the patient and 11 for the clinician. The clinician using the CAS records the time of occurrence of communicative behaviors by a single keystroke on a keypad attached to an inexpensive microcomputer. The CAS software permits the analysis of data before the next clinical session and includes a method for assessing accuracy and reliability. Sample between-session data show the progress of one patient over several months, whereas within-session data illustrate a use of the CAS to measure a patient's performance under different communicative conditions. Simultaneously, measures of the clinician's communicative performance provide an accurate record of the treatment. This, in turn, allows observation of changes in the patient's behavior as a function of changes in the clinician's behavior. Clinical treatment can thereby be tailored precisely to the individual, optimizing the patient's rehabilitation.

Aged↗
PubMed1986

A process evaluation study of peer leaders in health education.

Peer education is an important part of health education programs. In smoking prevention programs, peer leaders are particularly efficacious. Yet, research on peer leaders' perceptions of these programs is minimal. This study assessed the perceptions of elected peer leaders (N = 207) in one seventh grade smoking prevention program and one chemical abuse prevention program in spring 1984. Peer leaders' assessments of the adequacy of their training, the programs' components, the programs' influence on their behavior and attitudes, and the efficacy of the programs were analyzed. Differences between genders and the level of peer leader enthusiasm also were assessed. Further research with peer leaders is suggested as a way to strengthen ongoing health promotion efforts.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

The efficacy of peer leaders in drug abuse prevention.

The results from school-based, peer-led psychosocial smoking prevention programs suggest that this approach is effective in reducing smoking onset rates. This paper provides a theoretical rationale for using peer leaders as a major strategy in school-based drug abuse prevention programs and reviews the available literature assessing the impact of peer leadership in such programs. Furthermore, some of the practical issues involved in selecting and training peer leaders and teachers are discussed, and process evaluation data from studies conducted at the University of Minnesota are presented. The authors conclude that peer leadership can be an effective vehicle for drug abuse prevention among adolescents. However, increased research is necessary to clarify the conditions under which the impact of peer leaders is enhanced.

Adolescent↗