Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A Orsini

Publications and source records attributed to A Orsini.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1988

Immediate memory spans in dementia.

Spatial span (Corsi's block-tapping test) and verbal spans for digits (Wechsler Digits Forward Test) and for words were measured in 30 normal subjects and in 51 demented patients, divided into two groups (mildly demented and severely demented) according to selective clinical and neuropsychological criteria. Statistical analysis showed significant differences among the three groups for spatial span. By contrast, controls' and mildly demented patients' performances on both verbal spans were not significantly different. These findings are discussed in the light of theory about working memory.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

[Evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of school screening for hereditary hemoglobin abnormalities: prospective study in Bouches-du-Rhône. School screening for hemoglobinopathies].

Screening in schools for heterozygote carriers of haemoglobinopathies traits has been carried out experimentally in southeast France ("Bouches du Rhône", the Marseille region) since 1977. The study compares, in cost-effectiveness terms, the screening strategy now followed with 27 alternative strategies in all the pupils (14-16 years). Although the frequency of heterozygote carriers in this school population as a whole is only 7.9% carriers for beta-thalassaemia gene and 2.5% carriers for HbS, prospective costs per diagnosis still seem reasonable: from 1544 to 4997 French francs (1987) depending on the strategy, and 2099 to 7380 francs if beta-thalassaemia alone is screened. In comparison with the current screening strategy, cost-effectiveness ratios could be improved by using haemoglobin electrophoresis as a preselection test, or a blood count if beta-thalassaemia alone is screened. Further improvement of cost-effectiveness ratios could be obtained by limiting screening to ethnic groups most "at risk"; but such strategies raise ethical and acceptability issues.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Verbal and spatial immediate memory span: normative data from 1355 adults and 1112 children.

Norms are provided for verbal and visuo-spatial immediate memory span, two tasks widely used in the clinical assessment of short-term memory and its neurological disorders. Data have been collected from 1355 male and female adult subjects, with various educational backgrounds and a 20-99 years age range. Span shows a major decrement after the late sixties and is affected by educational level. Male subjects score better on the spatial task. Data collected from 1112 male and female children, 4-to-10 year-old, show that span increases with age and boys score better on the spatial test.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Verbal and spatial memory span in patients with extrapyramidal diseases.

Spatial span (Corsi's block-tapping test) and verbal span (Wechsler's Digits Forward test) were measured in 651 normal subjects and in three groups of extrapyramidal patients (Progressive supranuclear palsy, Parkinson, and Huntington's Chorea). Analysis showed Huntington's Chorea patients scored lower on both tests than did controls and other groups.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

Visuoimaginal constructional apraxia: on a case of selective deficit of imagery.

We report a case of a patient with a left occipital lesion who presented a peculiar behavioral dissociation. He was able to copy pictures but not to draw a simple object without a visual model; the relationship among the component parts was altered in drawings produced under the guidance of his mental representations. We have called this disturbance "visuoimaginal constructional apraxia." The mechanisms underlying visuoimaginal constructional apraxia are investigated in an attempt to contribute to studies on the nature of mental imagery.

Apraxias↗
PubMed1986

Genetic modelling in schizophrenia according to HLA typing.

Studying families of schizophrenic patients, we observed that the risk of developing the overt form of the illness could be enhanced by some factors. Among these various factors we focused our attention on a biological variable, namely the presence or the absence of particular HLA antigens: partitioning our schizophrenic patients according to their HLA structure (i.e. those with HLA-A1 or CRAG-A1 antigens and those with HLA-non-CRAG-A1 antigens, respectively), revealed different illness distribution in the two groups. From a genetic point of view, this finding suggests the presence of heterogeneity in the hypothetical liability system related to schizophrenia and we evaluated the heterogeneity hypothesis by applying alternative genetic models to our data, trying to detect more biologically homogeneous subgroups of the disease.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Effects of age, education and sex on two tests of immediate memory: a study of normal subjects from 20 to 99 years of age.

Spatial span (Corsi's block-tapping test) and verbal span (Wechsler Digits Forward) were measured in 1354 normal subjects, aged from 20 to 99 yr., who were subdivided into seven age groups, into three groups according to education, and according to sex. Analysis of variance showed that the three main factors were significant for the spatial span test. The two spans examined held well up to the 60s, and only after this age did significant differences appear in the other age groups. On both tests there were significant differences between the groups divided according to education.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

[Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in the treatment of acute leukemias of children. Study of 26 patients].

Twenty-six children with acute leukemia were treated with allogeneic marrow transplantation from HLA identical siblings after a conditioning regimen with Cyclophosphamide-total body irradiation (19 patients), Melphalan-total body irradiation (6 patients) or Busulfan-cyclophosphamide (1 patient). Eighteen were transplanted in complete remission (4 with acute non lymphoblastic leukemia in first remission, 14 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia: 6 in first, 6 in second and 2 in subsequent remission): 2 died of cytomegalovirus pneumoniae, 1 relapsed and 15 survive in continuous complete remission from 5 to 42 months after transplantation (median = 22 months). Eight were transplanted in relapse, 7 achieve complete remission, 5 of them relapsed, 1 died of G.V.H. and 1 survives in continuous complete remission 46 months after transplantation. Actuarial analysis shows a disease free survival rate at 3 years of 82% for patients transplanted in remission and 12% for patients transplanted in relapse (p less than 0.01).

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1985

Effect of HLA type on age at onset in schizophrenic disorders.

In a sample of 229 patients affected by schizophrenic disorders according to DSM-III, the authors tested the effect of the HLA type, sex and severity of the disease with respect to the distribution of age at onset. All the three factors reached, independently, a statistically significant value: that is, HLA A1 positive males affected by the severe form of the illness show the earliest breakdown of the disease. This finding partially confirms previous results, and particularly the importance of the HLA influence is discussed.

Adolescent↗