Biomedical subjects

J B Scharer

Publications and source records attributed to J B Scharer.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

Cognitive functioning in Gulf War Illness.

A comprehensive neuropsychological battery was administered to 48 veterans with Gulf War Illness (GWI) characterized by severe fatigue (GV-F) and 39 healthy veterans (GV-H). Subjects were matched on intelligence and did not differ on age, gender, race, and alcohol consumption. Compared to GVs-H, GVs-F were significantly impaired on four tasks: three attention, concentration, information processing tasks and one measure of abstraction and conceptualization. After considering the presence of post-war Axis I psychopathology, GWI remained a significant predictor of cognitive performance on one of the attention, concentration, and information processing tasks and one abstraction and conceptualization measure. Performance on the remaining two attention, concentration, and information processing tasks was only significantly predicted by Axis I psychopathology with post-war onset. The results suggest that Gulf War Illness is associated with some aspects of cognitive dysfunction in Gulf Veterans, over and above the contribution of psychopathology.

Adult↗

PubMed1994

Ivanov-Smolensky conditioning: relationship between CR and UR form and intensity.

The Ivanov-Smolensky conditioning procedure involves a CS followed by a command (US). There are two URs--an instructed UR and a reflexive UR such as an autonomic reaction. Anticipatory responses during the CS, of either the instructed or reflexive UR, provide a measure of conditioning. We examined whether the reflexive CR and UR are similar in form, and whether larger reflexive CRs and URs are associated with larger instructed URs. Subjects were asked to exhale "quickly and powerfully" (exhalation was thus the instructed UR) either following (Forward) or prior to (Backward) a light CS; a change in heart rate to the CS (reflexive CR) alone was the index of conditioning. The heart rate CR and UR were both deceleratory in nature, although the onset of the CR was faster than the UR. In addition, Backward-conditioned subjects demonstrated some degree of inhibitory control by the CS. Finally, the CR intensity was inversely related to exhalation magnitude.

Adult↗