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Biomedical subjects

E B Fennell

Publications and source records attributed to E B Fennell.

34 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1991

Treating a case of surface dyslexia after closed head injury.

We describe an original treatment program for surface dyslexia in a patient with a closed head injury. Addressing the question of whether the deficient lexical reading routes could be improved in this type of case. we designed three tasks and administered them over ten consecutive treatment sessions. Results indicate improved accuracy of responses as a function of presentation times or response times, or both, on all treatment tasks. Comparisons of standardized reading comprehension and oral reading tests before and after therapy disclosed increases in reading rate, with the patient's originally high level of accuracy remaining constant. This suggests that the patient incorporated the more rapid lexical reading strategy without compromising her level of accuracy.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1990

A longitudinal study of the cognitive function of children with renal failure.

Fifty-six children with chronic renal failure who either received a kidney transplant, were hemodialyzed or peritoneally dialyzed, or who were being medically managed were given a series of neuropsychological tests every 6 months for a total of four testing sessions. Each child was matched by age, sex, and race to healthy children who received the same sequence of tests. The performance of each treatment group was compared with their controls longitudinally, using a repeated measure analysis of variance. In general, renal subjects performed at lower levels than their controls on tasks of verbal ability, visual perception, memory and visual motor skills. Visual motor performance was the most clinically affected. When compared with controls, the renal subjects did not improve as much or actually deteriorated on some measures of memory and learning skills.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Association between renal function and cognition in childhood chronic renal failure.

Forty-five children with renal failure who were either being medically managed, receiving dialysis (hemodialysis or continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis) therapy or who had received successful kidney transplants were longitudinally examined on multiple neuropsychological measures. A variety of medical parameters was also obtained at each time of testing. The neuropsychological variables were correlated with the medical variables using the repeated measures regression analysis method. There were associations between levels of renal function, short-term memory and list learning. Other neuropsychological variables did not in general correlate with the medical parameters consistently for all ages at the time of initial testing. Verbal performance decreased with increasing duration of renal failure in 6- to 11-year-olds and immediate recall decreased with increasing percentile rank of systolic blood pressure in 16- to 18-year-olds.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Correlations between performance on neuropsychological tests in children with chronic renal failure.

A series of neuropsychological tests were given every 6 months to children with renal failure for up to 4 testing periods. Controls matched to the renal failure children were also given the same series. Associations between various neuropsychological variables for both the renal and control subjects were estimated and compared by a generalized growth curve procedure. Measures of vigilance and immediate recall were significantly related to more complicated measures of memory; vigilance and reaction time were significantly related to speed of decision making. Where differences occurred, the renal subjects more often exhibited correlations between neuropsychological variables than the controls, suggesting that renal failure has an impact on both generalized arousal and on other higher order complex brain functions.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Effects of kidney transplantation on cognitive performance in a pediatric population.

The cognitive functioning of 20 children and adolescents with end-stage renal disease was assessed 1 to 3 weeks prior to the onset of hemodialysis, and at 1 month and 1 year after successful kidney transplantation, and results were compared with those of a matched control group. A battery of intelligence, achievement, problem solving, learning, memory, and attention tasks were administered. Both groups had significantly improved scores over time on most measures. The group with renal disease exhibited significantly greater improvement than the control group from initial testing to 1 month after transplantation on the performance IQ and full-scale IQ as well as in mathematics achievement. This significant difference was not maintained, however, at 1 year after transplantation. Cognitive performance was less impaired the later the onset of renal failure or the fewer the years in end-stage renal disease. BUN nitrogen, serum creatinine levels, and BP did not consistently correlate with any of the cognitive or academic achievement measures.

Achievement↗
PubMed1983

The development of handedness and dichotic ear listening asymmetries in relation to school achievement: a longitudinal study.

To assess the development of dichotic ear asymmetries and handedness, 208 male school children were evaluated in kindergarten and at Grades 2 and 5 (ages 66, 92, and 130 months of age, respectively) with a dichotic listening task and a hand preference test. The Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) also was administered at each of the three grade levels. There was significant variability in handedness scores over time only for those subjects whose scores at initial testing, that is, in kindergarten, identified them as non-right-handers. Both right and left handers had a significant increase in dichotic listening scores over time; however, only right handers had a significant right ear advantage at each evaluation. Regression analyses showed that combined hand preference scores and ear recall scores at each probe when combined accounted for almost 44% of the variance in WRAT achievement scores at Grade 5. Ear asymmetry scores, however, were not predictive of school achievement.

Achievement↗
PubMed1982

Problems associated with establishing a clinic for the elderly.

Actual use of a newly established geriatric clinic in a low-cost housing unit was appreciably below projected numbers, even though cost and transportation were removed as barriers to care. In a survey of building occupants, 20% were unaware of the clinic's existence. More than 90% of the occupants did not know clinic hours but a third could identify clinic staff. About half of the occupants had used the clinic, often for minor services. The major reason for lack of use of the clinic was an established pattern of receiving medical care which occupants were reluctant to risk or abandon. Needs must be appropriately assessed before service programs are designed for the elderly. Assumptions may at times be incorrect. A thorough understanding of needs and existing methods of meeting them leads to more appropriately designed programs.

Aged↗
PubMed1977

Within-modal and cross-modal reliabilities of two laterality tests among left handers.

20 left handers were administered four repeat testing of a dichotic listening task and a verbal visual half-field task. Scores on the dichotic task were reliable between Days 1 and 4 while visual half-field performance did not stabilize until two testing sessions. Left handers showed a clear right channel, superiority of the right visual half field for the verbal material. No significant cross-model reliabilities were observed. It was also found that, in comparison to right handers, left handers show more variability in channel/visual half field than right handers on the same procedures.

Auditory Perception↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Effects of changing therapy on cognition of children in renal failure.

To assess the effects of changing therapy for treatment of chronic renal failure on cognitive function, 56 renal failure children were matched to healthy control subjects. Neuropsychological tests were administered every 6 months for up to four testing sessions. The renal subjects had reduced function on medical management, were being dialyzed or had transplants. Those renal patients who changed treatment groups over the course of the study were classified as good or bad change depending upon medical criteria. Those patients who remained in the same treatment group were classified as no change. Differences in performance between last and first sessions were analyzed for each pair. Renal subjects exhibited less improvement on memory function than controls but greater improvement on choice reaction time and vigilance. Renal subjects making a good change did not exhibit significantly greater improvement than other groups on neuropsychological tests.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The effects of various modes of therapy for end stage renal disease on cognitive performance in a pediatric population--a preliminary report.

Visuomotor, visuoanalytic, vigilance, and verbal memory functions of sixty-eight children and adolescents with renal disease were assessed. All patients with renal disease either had successful kidney transplants, were receiving dialysis therapy by hemodialysis or continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD), or had advanced renal failure not yet requiring dialysis. The patients showed a deficit in visuomotor skills related to attentional and visuoanalytic function. The transplant recipients appeared to be the least affected. Children undergoing dialysis therapy by CAPD or who had received a successful kidney transplant showed better performance on vigilance and memory tasks than the patients who received therapy by hemodialysis. There were correlations in all groups between performance on the memory tasks and performance on the vigilance tasks suggesting that the memory dysfunction in uremia is related in part to an attentional deficit.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Cognitive functioning in children with end stage renal disease pre- and post-dialysis session.

Eighteen ESRD and 18 Control subjects equated for age and intellectual level were assessed pre- and post-dialysis on measures of learning, problem solving and immediate memory. No significant differences were found between ESRD and Control subjects on any of the measures. Both groups showed significant learning over trials on the Paired Associate Learning Task. No correlational associations of statistical or clinical significance were found between the cognitive measures and blood pressure, blood urea nitrogen or serum creatinine. There was no difference between pre- and post-dialysis session performance by the ESRD subjects. These findings were inconsistent with prior research showing immediate improvement in cognition post-dialysis.

Adolescent↗