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Biomedical subjects

E R Blonsky

Publications and source records attributed to E R Blonsky.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

The incremental validity of lumbar surface EMG, behavioral observation, and a symptom checklist in the assessment of patients with chronic low-back pain.

This study evaluated the comparative ability of lumbar surface EMG, behavioral observation, and a symptom checklist to correctly classify three groups of participants, (1) 18 patients with chronic low-back pain (CLBP), demonstrating excessive and/or anatomically inconsistent motor, sensory, and tenderness responses during a neurological examination, (2) 33 patients with CLBP exhibiting few or no inconsistent responses, and (3) 30 healthy matched controls. Discriminant analyses were used to develop predictive models. Correct classification rates for the individual assessments and all combinations of assessments were contrasted. Each modality predicted group membership significantly better than weighted chance (23%), with the symptom checklist approach having the highest individual correct classification rate (64%). The best combination of modalities was the symptom checklist and lumbar surface EMG (70% correct classification rate). The sensitivity and specificity of the individual assessments and all combinations of assessments are also presented.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

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Humans↗
PubMed1978

Frequency and cooccurrence of vocal tract dysfunctions in the speech of a large sample of Parkinson patients.

In this study, the frequency of occurrence of speech and voice symptoms in 200 Parkinson patients was defined by two expert listeners from high-fidelity tape recordings of conversational speech samples and readings of the sentence version of the Fisher-Logemann Test of Articulation Competence. Specific phonemes that were misarticulated were catalogued. Other vocal-tract dysfunctions, including laryngeal disorders, rate disorders, and hypernasality, were also recorded. Cooccurrence of symptoms in each patient was tabulated. Examination of the patterns of cooccurring dysfunctions permitted classifying the 200 patients into five groups: Group 1 (45% of the patients) with laryngeal dysfunction as their only vocal-tract symptom; Group 2 (13.5% of the patients) with laryngeal and back-tongue involvement; Group 3 (17% of the patients) with laryngeal, back-tongue, and tongue-blade dysfunction; Group 4 (5.5% of the patients) with laryngeal dysfunction, back-tongue involvement, tongue-blade dysfunction, and labial misarticulations; and Group 5 (9% of the patients) with laryngeal dysfunction and misarticulations of the back tongue, tongue blade, lips, and tongue tip. Disfluencies and hypernasality did not follow a systematic pattern of cooccurrence with other vocal-tract dysfunctions.

Humans↗
PubMed1977

Speech and swallowing evaluation in the differential diagnosis of neurologic disease.

Examination of the speech mechanism (the vocal tract) frequently provides information about certain neurologic lesions. The speech, swallowing and respiratory patterns of patients with cerebellar, upper motor neuron, lower motor neuron and extra-pyramidal lesions (parkinsonism) were studied, 10 of each category. The patient's lingual, labial and velar movement was examined cineradiographically during production of four short speech samples and the oral, through esophageal structures, during chewing and swallowing. Videotape, with simultaneous voice recording, and 16 mm. film were used. Oral, pharyngeal and esophageal transit times during swallowing were determined. These quantified tests reveal distinctive differences in vocal tract physiology between patient groups. The specific physiologic patterns characteristic of each neurological lesion were discussed and illustrated with films. Each patient group in this study exhibited a distinctive profile distinguishing it from every other. The results also indicate that if only a portion of these studies was completed, the disorder might be erroneously classified. The findings emphasize the need for complete and detailed physiologic studies of the speech and swallowing of patients with neurologic lesions, as an aid to accurate diagnosis.

Brain Diseases↗
PubMed1976

Molecular biology of neurological and psychiatric disorders. I. Effect of parkinsonism, age, sex and L-dopa on platelet monoamine oxidase.

Since there is substantial evidence for a nigrostriatal dopamine defect in Parkinson's disease and since monoamine oxidase (MAO) appears to be essential for the degradation of dopamine, we investigated whether this enzyme is involved in the pathogenesis of this disease or in the therapeutic action of L-dopa. To gain a solid basis for our analysis we studied some properties of platelet MAO, at present the only practical in vivo source for human MAO. Substrate and inhibitor pattern clearly pointed to a predominant B-type character of this enzyme. By using 3 substrates, m-iodobenzylamine, p-methoxybenzylamine, and tyramine, we found a marked age and sex difference in MAO activity. In untreated parkinsonian patients, platelet MAO was slightly reduced as compared with age- and sex-matched controls. Treatment with L-dopa induced a further reduction of platelet MAO activity in both sexes, but more in men than in women. We conjecture that the action of L-dopa on parkisonian patients is twofold: L-dopa is known to enhance the release of gonadotropins and thus to increase the production of sex hormones which in turn are capable of reducing MAO activity. Dopamine, formed from L-dopa, may thus have a better chance for survival in reaching the dopaminergic receptor. A new form of therapy, based on this concept, is proposed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1976

Elantrine in the treatment of parkinsonism.

A new drug, elantrine, blocks the tremorogenic effect of exotremorine, nicotine and harmine in animals. A double blind study compared elantrine with trinhexyphenidyl and against a baseline placebo period, in a group of Parkinson patients. Both, elantrine and trihexyphenidyl treatment, reduced tremor scores at the conclusion of the respective treatment periods, but closer analysis revealed 65% of patients receiving elantrine had lower tremor scores compared to their baseline (placebo) opposed to only 53% receiving trihexyphenidyl. Both drugs produced aequal effect on rigidity. Another group of Parkinson patients receiving clinically optimal doses of L-dopa were treated with either elantrine or placebo, in blind fashion. Analysis of both tremor and rigidity revealed mean scores significantly lower (P less than 0.05) for those patients receiving elantrine than placebo. Also, there was a statistically significant difference in average total symptom scores favoring the elantrine group. Significant improvement with elantrine administration began after the second week for rigidity and after the third week for tremor. Elantrine is a safe, well tolerated agent which is effective alone in the treatment of parkinsonism but significantly enhances the effectiveness of L-dopa, particularly with respect to tremor and rigidity.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Comparison of speech and swallowing function in patients with tremor disorders and in normal geriatric patients: a cinefluorographic study.

In a study of vocal tract and esophageal function during speech and swallowing, unmedicated Parkinson patients were found to have specific disorders in oral and esophageal stages of deglutition and a predictable sequence of deterioration in speech. To determine whether these disorders are exclusive to parkinsonism or are typical of all patients with tremor or of geriatric patients in general, a cinefluoroscopic study was initiated to examine the physiology of speech and swallowing in these other patients. Subjects were 10 normal geriatric patients and 10 patients with essential tremor. Results of the studies for these two groups were compared with data from earlier studies on unmedicated Parkinson patients. Parkinson patients showed most severely disordered swallowing and speech function. Patients with essential tremor showed only slight slowing in esophageal transit during swallowing and vocal tremor during speech, but no progressive deterioration. Normal geriatric patients revealed no swallowing or speech disturbances.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1975

Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH): Measurements in human spinal fluid.

Levels of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) were quantitated in human lumbar spinal fluid (CSF) utilizing a sensitive and specific TRH radioimmunoassay. Endogenous TRH was sufficiently stable in CSF to permit 85% recovery of intact TRH after 48 h storage at 4 C. TRH levels in AM or PM samples obtained from 15 women and 12 men were easily detected in all CSF specimens. No significant difference between the TRH concentration in CSF of men and women was observed (44.2+/-6.8 and 38.1+/-6.5 pg/ml (mean+/-SE) respectively). TRH concentrations were 40.2+/-6.9 pg/ml (mean+/-SEM) in AM and 41.4+/-8.0 pg/ml in PM samples. By contrast, CSF cortisol levels obtained concurrently were twofold higher in AM than PM (0.68+/-0.08 vs 0.38+/-0.02 mug/100 ml (mean+/-SEM) respectively, P less than 0.001). These data are consistent with the possibility that a portion of the TRH in CSF can be derived from the central nervous system (CNS) and unrelated to the hypo-physiotropic control of thyrotropin (TSH) synthesis and secretion.

Circadian Rhythm↗