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Biomedical subjects

J Boucher

Publications and source records attributed to J Boucher.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

Unfamiliar face recognition in relatively able autistic children.

Two experiments were carried out assessing autistic children's recognition, discrimination, and fixation of unfamiliar faces and unfamiliar buildings. The experiments showed that (i) unfamiliar face recognition is impaired relative to normal peers, non-verbal ability matched and verbal ability matched controls. Relative to verbal ability matched controls (ii) recognition of buildings is normal; (iii) there is an enhanced discrepancy between face discrimination and buildings discrimination, in favour of buildings; and (iv) fixation is normal. Analysis of the results suggests that impaired face recognition does not result from impaired attention or discrimination.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

alpha-Tocopherol concentrations in serum and tissues of sheep fed different sources of vitamin E.

Thirty-five crossbred wethers were used to determine the concentrations of alpha-tocopherol in serum and tissues after oral supplementation of six different vitamin E product forms. Five wethers were assigned to each of the following treatments: 1) control, no supplemental vitamin E (C), 2) emulsifiable DL-alpha-tocopheryl acetate-dry (Rovimix E-50% SD), 3) nonemulsifiable DL-alpha-tocopheryl acetate-dry (Rovimix E-50% Ads), 4) emulsifiable DL-alpha-tocopheryl acetate-liquid (Rovimix E-40% Dispersible Liquid Concentrate [DLC]); 5) emulsifiable DL-alpha-tocopherol-liquid (Hoffmann-La Roche, E-40% DLC alcohol), 6) micellized DL-alpha-tocopheryl acetate-liquid (Bioglan, Inc., E-20%); and 7) micellized DL-alpha-tocopherol-liquid (Bioglan, Inc., E-20%). Animals were supplemented daily with 1,000 IU of their respective vitamin E sources for 56 d. Blood samples were collected daily from d 0 to 7 and weekly until d 56. Animals were subsequently killed by exsanguination after stunning and eight different tissues were collected for alpha-tocopherol analysis. There were effects of day, treatment, and day x treatment interaction on serum alpha-tocopherol. All supplemented groups were higher in serum alpha-tocopherol concentration than were the C wethers. The emulsifiable vitamin E alcohol liquid product form (Treatment 5) yielded higher (P less than .01) serum alpha-tocopherol concentration than the emulsifiable acetate liquid product (Treatment 4). Sheep on Treatment 5 reached maximum concentration on d 1, sheep on Treatment 6 on d 2, and the sheep on the remaining Treatments by d 3. Blood sera alpha-tocopherol concentrations stabilized by d 6 in all supplemented groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1992

The assessment of symbolic play in young children: a prototype test.

In this paper it is argued that assessing symbolic play (defined as one object substituting for another, a property being attributed to an object which it does not have or an absent object being referred to as if present) is particularly useful for young children in whom language and/or play is not developing normally. A new test of symbolic play is described which assesses the child's ability to substitute her- or himself, a teddy or a non-representational object such as a piece of material for another object, to attribute a property to her- or himself or a teddy, and to refer to an absent object used by her- or himself or a teddy. The play may be modelled or instructed or the child may produce examples of her or his own. Some preliminary results from a group of 43 children are reported. It is concluded that this new test of symbolic play will provide clinicians working with children whose language and/or play is impaired with information of value in reaching a diagnosis and in understanding immediate treatment needs.

Child↗
PubMed1991

Testing various methods of introducing health charts into medical records in family medicine units.

OBJECTIVE: To test three methods of introducing health charts into the medical records of six family medicine units. DESIGN: Quasi-experiment. PARTICIPANTS: The staff physicians and family medicine residents in all six units and the nurses in two units. INTERVENTIONS: Group 1 (minimal intervention): health charts, a user's guide and one training session. Group 2 (intermediate intervention): same intervention as for group 1 plus two feedback sessions at 3 and 6 months. Group 3 (maximum intervention): same intervention as for group 2 plus promotion of the team concept (nurses were included). The intervention phase lasted from September 1987 to August 1988. OUTCOME MEASURES: The frequency with which the health charts were used, the item scores of each preventive care activity and the overall unit scores. Data were gathered through chart audits at baseline and at the end of the intervention phase. RESULTS: The frequency with which the health charts were used varied from 3.9% to 26.9%. The greatest increases in item scores were observed in the use of mammography (20.0%), counselling on lifestyle (19.4%) and breast examination (17.2%). Although the overall improvement in the unit scores was statistically significant (p less than 0.05) the hypothesis of an increasing gradient of effect across the three intervention groups could not be tested because of the variation in scores across the units. CONCLUSION: Health charts and other similar tools are useful; however, they are not sufficient to change practice behaviours. The support of a "champion" on the health care team might well be a determining factor of success for the delivery of preventive services in primary care practice.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Aspirin in transient ischemic attacks and minor stroke: a meta-analysis.

An overview analysis of seven randomized controlled trials testing the effectiveness of aspirin in the treatment of patients with transient ischemic attacks and minor strokes was performed. A total of 6409 patients from the seven trials was entered in the analysis; 2182 patients received only aspirin; 1598 patients received an aspirin-combination regimen with either sulfinpyrazone or dipyridamole; and 2629 subjects received a placebo. Aspirin alone produced an 18% decrease in all strokes and cardiovascular deaths. The pooling of studies examining aspirin-combination regimens and the larger grouping of studies of aspirin and aspirin-combination regimens led to more striking results. Indeed, significant risk reductions were observed for three of the four outcomes, namely, total deaths, total strokes, and total strokes and cardiovascular deaths, with odds ratios ranging from 0.59 to 0.78. Suggestive, albeit more modest, results were obtained when examining the impact of these regimens on total cardiovascular mortality. The same tendencies have also been observed in three previously published meta-analyses.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Hand dominance of parents and other relatives of autistic children.

Hand preferences of 219 mothers and 186 fathers of autistic children were assessed using the Annett Handedness questionnaire. Subgroups of 54 mothers and 57 fathers with a family history of language-related developmental disorders were identified. Parents also reported the handedness of other relatives. Mothers (but not fathers) in the main group were significantly more likely to be consistently right-handed than females in the general population, but this was not specifically associated with a family history of language problems. There was no evidence of an increased incidence of consistent left-handedness in either the whole group of parents or the subgroups. Reported handedness of other relatives showed no abnormal distribution in relation to a comparison group. The findings are discussed in relation to theories about genetic factors in language-related developmental disorders in general, and autism in particular.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Memory impairments and communication in relatively able autistic children.

Autistic people have specific memory difficulties. The effects of these difficulties on communication in relatively able autistic children and learning impaired controls were assessed in three experiments. The experiments tested the ability to: (1) carry out instructions; (2) ask questions without repetition; and (3) answer questions about past activities. When specific memory skills were required autistic children's communication was impaired relative to controls. When the need to use these skills was eliminated from the tasks the autistic children performed as well as controls. Some practical and theoretical implications of the findings are discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

The Canadian Neurological Scale: validation and reliability assessment.

The Canadian Neurological Scale (CNS) was designed to monitor mentation and motor functions in stroke patients. We assessed its validity and reliability on a group of 157 patients with a diagnosis of acute cerebrovascular accident. We determined validity by (1) correlating scale items and total score with the standard neurologic examination; (2) exploring the scale's predictive power with different end points at 6 months--the initial CNS was a significant predictor of outcome; (3) showing that the CNS had higher correlation coefficients with the initial neurologic examination than the Glasgow Coma Scale; and (4) assessing the responsiveness of the scale to change in the neurologic status of stroke patients. Interobserver reliability, measured by kappa statistics on each scale item, was good. Accordingly, we established the validity and reliability of the CNS for its use in clinical studies and in the care of stroke patients.

Central Nervous System↗
PubMed1989

The theory of mind hypothesis of autism: explanation, evidence and assessment.

The hypothesis that autistic people have impaired metarepresentational ability (and, as one result, lack a 'theory of mind') is described in the context of other psychological work concerning the development and function of the human mind. Evidence for the hypothesis is outlined and evaluated. The claim that impaired metarepresentational ability underlies the social, communicative and imaginative deficits of autism (see paper by Uta Frith in this issue) is discussed. It is concluded that impaired metarepresentational ability is unlikely to be the primary, or fundamental, behavioural difficulty in autism, but that the hypothesis provides an important new way of looking at and understanding autistic behaviour.

Autistic Disorder↗
PubMed1989

[Epidemiology of Haemophilus influenzae type b infections (excluding meningitis) in 2 French departments].

The spectrum of severe Haemophilus influenzae type b disease exclusive of meningitis includes: epiglottitis, pneumonia, arthritis, septicemia, cellulitis and pericarditis. The results of a 7 year-epidemiologic study (Jan 1980 to Dec 1986) performed in 2 French departments are reported. Sixty-nine cases were detected, representing a yearly rate of 9/100,000 children aged 0 to 4 years. The real incidence is probably higher and was estimated as 11/100,000. In all of France, it corresponds to 382 annual cases and, more specifically to 60 to 70 annual cases of epiglottitis. No deaths were recorded and only 2 cases with minor sequelae were documented in this series. These results, as compared with those of previous studies, show that the incidence is lower than that in other countries, especially with regard to epiglottitis which is more frequent in North America and in Scandinavian countries.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1988

Word fluency in high-functioning autistic children.

The performance of a group of seven high-functioning autistic children on tests of word fluency was compared with that of controls of similar age and vocabulary level. The two groups performed equally well when generating words in response to familiar category cues. However, autistic children performed significantly less well than controls when generating miscellaneous words. Results are discussed in relation to semantic organization and memory in autism.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

[Radiological demonstration of an intradural epidermoid cyst rupture].

We report an unusual lumbar intradural epidermoid cyst found in an eight-year-old boy. At the age of 11 months, the child had one lumbar puncture to exclude possible meningitis, but seven years later he was experiencing pain. Lumbar myelography showed three intradural lesions, two of which were mobile in the subarachnoid space. Surgery revealed the presence of a single epidermoid ruptured cyst with free detached subarachnoid fragments, the dissemination of which had not caused aseptic meningitis.

Child↗
PubMed1981

Memory for recent events in autistic children.

An experiment is reported in which autistic children's memory for recent events was compared with that of normal age-matched and retarded age-and ability-matched controls. The autistic subjects' recall was significantly inferior to that of normal controls. Recent event memory correlated with a language measure in the autistic group and with a nonverbal measure in the retarded control group. These findings are discussed in terms of relationships between language and memory, and possible mechanisms underlying the distinctive pattern of memory ability and disability that occurs in autism.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Immediate free recall in early childhood autism: another point of behavioural similarity with the amnesic syndrome.

Autistic children were compared with age and ability matched controls on a test of immediate recall of word lists. Overall performance in the two groups was very similar. However, the overall recall scores were achieved differently by the two groups, the autistic subjects recalled significantly fewer earlier presented items and more later presented items than did controls. This finding is discussed in relation to the memory disabilities of adults suffering from the amnesic syndrome.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

[Electromyographic validation of exercise for physical conditioning].

This study attempted to investigate on ten male subjects the intensity of muscular activity during the execution of various physical fitness exercises. Each subject executed thirteen exercises of different types which were selected because of their popularity in physical fitness programs. The various exercises involved muscles of the shoulder, elbow, knee and hip joints as well as abdominal and back muscles. The electrical activity of four muscles for each joint or muscular area was investigated by surface electromyography. The statistical analysis showed that the various exercises solicitated the participation of the same muscles at a given joint or muscular area. However, the intensity of solicitation, varied significantly between the various exercises. The results imply that the selection of various exercises should be carefully considered by physical fitness instructors.

Abdominal Muscles↗