Biomedical subjects

O A Parsons

Publications and source records attributed to O A Parsons.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1993

The role of antisocial, affective, and childhood behavioral characteristics in alcoholics' neuropsychological performance.

Chronic alcoholics demonstrate cognitive deficits when compared with nonalcoholics. These deficits are typically attributed to the direct effects of ethanol and its metabolites on the central nervous system (CNS). There are other factors, however, that differentiate alcoholics from controls, such as personality or behavioral characteristics. These factors may affect neuropsychological performance and thus alter the interpretation of alcoholic cognitive deficits as resulting solely from alcohol's toxic effects. To investigate this question, male and female alcoholics and peer nonalcoholic controls were compared on personality, behavioral, and cognitive measures. Alcoholics had greater numbers of antisocial behaviors, childhood behavioral disorder symptoms (CBD), and affective symptomatology, and had poorer neuropsychological performance than controls. The three personality and behavioral factors were positively intercorrelated with each other, and were negatively related to cognitive performance. The CBD factor proved to be the most consistent predictor of neuropsychological performance for both alcoholics and controls, and males and females. While the behavioral factors differentiated alcoholics from controls and predicted performance, significant differences between the groups in cognitive performance still remained when these factors were taken into account.

Adult↗

PubMed1993

Simple reaction time event-related potentials: effects of alcohol and sleep deprivation.

The effects of two levels of alcohol intoxication and 30 hr of sleep deprivation on visual event-related potential (ERP) waveforms concomitant to simple reaction time (RT) were examined in 54 normal male subjects. In a previous study, we reported that alcohol and sleep deprivation each increased RT. At a 0.05 breath alcohol concentration (BAC), the combined treatments produced an additive increase in RT, whereas at a 0.08 BAC the combined treatments produced no increase beyond that seen with each alone. In this study we present the ERP findings. Sleep deprivation alone increased the latency of a 150 msec negative component (N1) of the ERP. Alcohol increased the latency of a 250 msec negative component (N2), but only in the absence of sleep deprivation. Furthermore, this increased latency of N2 was correlated with RT measures. These results suggested that sleep deprivation slowed initial stimulus detection, whereas alcohol slowed later processing and response activation.

Adult↗

PubMed1993

Visual-spatial learning in nonalcoholic young adults with and those without a family history of alcoholism.

Visual-spatial learning in young adult nonalcoholic men and women with (FH+) and those without (FH-) a family history of alcoholism was investigated using nonsense shapes of high and low verbal association value. Four groups of FH+ and FH- men and women, 16 subjects in each group, were tested. The male FH+ group required significantly more trials to reach learning criterion and made more errors than the male FH- group; the FH effect was not significant in females although similar trends were present. Women exhibited significantly poorer visual-spatial learning compared to the men. High compared to low verbal association shapes were learned in fewer trials with fewer errors by all groups. There were no significant FH by verbal association interactions, indicating that the impaired visual-spatial learning in the FH+ men could not be ascribed to the meaningfulness dimension of the nonsense shapes. These results suggest that the impaired visual-spatial learning found in adult children of alcoholics (ACOAs) might be due in part to premorbid cognitive deficits.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1993

Attenuated cortisol response to biobehavioral stressors in sober alcoholics.

Sober alcoholics show an attenuated hormonal response to pharmacological agents that normally stimulate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPAC) axis. To determine if this same result would be found using biobehavioral stressors, 52 detoxified (mean = 32 days) male alcoholics and 30 male nonalcoholic controls were given two moderately aversive tasks (mental arithmetic and cold pressor test). Three samples of blood were drawn during a 2.5-hour prestressor baseline, a fourth immediately following the stressors and a fifth, 20 minutes later. At each of these times, subjects were asked to report their degree of distress. Serum cortisol concentrations did not differ between groups at baseline or immediately following the stressors, but 20 minutes later alcoholics had significantly lower concentrations than controls. The groups did not differ on their degree of self-reported distress in response to the stressors. Thus, while alcoholics appeared to affectively experience stressful events in a manner similar to that of controls, they had an attenuated cortisol response. A possible pathophysiological mechanism for this dysregulation is discussed in addition to the potential existence of a premorbid condition.

Adult↗

PubMed1993

Neurobehavioral sequelae of alcoholism.

Chronic alcohol abuse is associated with a wide range of cognitive deficits, including impairment in perceptual-motor skills, visual-spatial functions, learning/memory, and abstraction and problem solving. In Korsakoff patients, despite normal IQs, these deficits are pronounced, especially in episodic memory and new learning. Procedural memory (learning of simple, repetitive skills), however, is relatively intact. New evidence suggests that orbitobasal frontal lobe dysfunction in addition to diencephalic lesions contributes to the deficits found in Korsakoff patients. A genetically controlled thiamine deficiency has been hypothesized to account for the development of the Wernicke-Korsakoff disorder. Prognosis for the recovery from Korsakoff's syndrome is poor, although evidence suggests that these patients should be able to learn simple repetitive tasks involving procedural memory. In non-Korsakoff sober alcoholics the aforementioned cognitive deficits are less severe but nonetheless significant. These performance deficits are not easily accounted for by the current neuropsychologic hypotheses, although neuroanatomic changes frequently accompany chronic alcohol abuse. Family history, although a significant predictor of later alcoholism, does not appear to play a major role in determining alcohol-related cognitive deficits. A history of childhood behavioral disorders is associated with greater cognitive impairment. The means by which its effect is expressed, however, is unclear. The most parsimonious explanation focuses on the possibility that these disorders are the manifestation of inherited temperament traits that increase vulnerability to a variety of negative outcomes including antisocial personality and alcoholism. Significant recovery of cognitive function can occur but may be contingent on factors such as age and continued abstinence.

Alcoholism↗

PubMed1992

Long-term test-retest reliability of event-related potentials in normals and alcoholics.

The long-term test-retest reliability of event-related potentials (ERP) measures was examined in a group of 44 controls and 71 chronic alcoholics, retested after an average of 14 months. Correlational analyses revealed moderately significant test-retest correlations for visual and auditory target N1, N2, and P3 amplitudes, with significant correlations for N1, N2 and P3 latencies. Controls and alcoholics produced similar test-retest correlations for visual and auditory ERP measures. Men and women produced equally stable ERP measures over time. Overall N1 and P3 amplitudes were most reliable in both groups followed by N2 amplitude, N1 and N2 latency, and P3 latency. The stability of ERP measures found in this study over a 14-month period in both normals and chronic alcoholics supports the use of ERPs in the study of normal and disordered cognitive functioning.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Investigation of the role of sex hormones in alcoholics' visuospatial deficits.

This study investigated whether an alcohol-related disturbance in the functioning of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis was a factor in alcoholics' visuospatial impairment. One month detoxified male alcoholics (n = 58) performed significantly poorer than peer controls (n = 30) on a battery of visuospatial and verbal tests. Serum concentrations of testosterone, estradiol, luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone were obtained at three times during cognitive testing. Previously reported correlations in healthy young male adults between visuospatial performance with testosterone and follicle stimulating hormone concentrations were replicated in control subjects. These correlations were not significant in the alcoholics. The results suggest that chronic alcoholism may disrupt the normal relationships between the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis and cognitive functioning.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Interpersonal problem-solving in male and female alcoholics.

This study compared the performance of alcoholics (18 male, 16 female) with community controls (15 male, 12 female) on the Adaptive Skills Battery (ASB), a test of interpersonal problem-solving. The ASB consists of 30 situations. Fifteen situations require subjects' typical responses and 15, their optimal responses. Male and female alcoholics were inferior to controls in their typical responses [F(1,57) = 45.22, p = 0.0001], but did not differ on the optimal responses (F less than 1). Further analyses indicated that decreased feelings of self-efficacy could not account for the alcoholic deficit. Females were superior to males in the optimal response condition [(F(1,56) = 9.90, p = 0.003]. No significant group x sex interactions were obtained. Performance on the ASB was not correlated with performance on traditional measures of problem-solving. Post-hoc correlational analyses revealed differential patterns between depression scores and performance for alcoholics and controls. These data suggest that (1) female and male alcoholics exhibit similar interpersonal problem-solving deficits, (2) alcoholic self-efficacy expectancies cannot account for the impairment, (3) the ASB appears to assess aspects of problem-solving not typically examined, and (4) the role of depression in alcoholic performance deserves continued empirical evaluation.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

The role of instructional set on alcoholic performance.

This study was conducted to determine whether alcoholic and control subjects respond differently to manipulations that either enhance personal involvement (PI) or reduce negative affect (R, relaxation) on tests of neuropsychological function. In Phase 1, 48 male alcoholics and 36 male control subjects completed neuropsychological tasks under standard instructional sets. In Phase 2, subjects completed equivalent forms of these tests under one of three randomly assigned conditions; the PI condition in which subjects were encouraged to identify specific ways of improving their performance, the R condition in which subjects participated in a short relaxation exercise designed to reduce anxiety, or a No Treatment (NT) condition in which no attempt to manipulate the subjects' involvement or affect was made. Alcoholics were inferior to controls in both Phase 1 and Phase 2 [Fs (1,82) > 5.03, ps < 0.03]. The experimental manipulation differentially affected measures of negative affect and effort in the predicted direction. There were no group x condition interactions. Alcoholic and control subjects responded comparably to the experimental manipulations. This investigation, in combination with others using related manipulations, reinforces the hypothesis that alcohol-related cognitives dysfunction reflects an underlying deficit in brain states.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Neuropsychological efficiency measures in male and female alcoholics.

The role of time in performance on many neuropsychological tests has been relatively neglected in the literature to date. Neuropsychological functioning in 90 male and female alcoholics and 65 peer controls was examined using both accuracy and time measures for four basic types of neuropsychological functioning: verbal skills, learning and memory, problem-solving and abstracting, and perceptual-motor skills. Alcoholics had significantly lower efficiency ratios (accuracy/time) than controls in each of the four areas, and had significantly lower overall accuracy and time scores. There were no significant Group x Gender interactions for efficiency, speed or accuracy scores, indicating that male and female alcoholics have similar deficits as a result of chronic alcoholism. The study is the first to apply systematically an empirical measure of neuropsychological efficiency to different areas of cognitive function; the results have implications for neuropsychological testing procedures.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Resting cardiovascular activity and antisocial behavior in Essential and Reactive alcoholic men.

This study showed that 10 men identified as Essential alcoholics had significantly lower resting systolic and diastolic blood pressures and significantly higher scores on Latcham's measure of antisocial behavior than 11 Reactive alcoholics. For all alcoholics the antisocial measure was positively correlated with the total score on the Rudie-McGaughran questionnaire. Also, the antisocial measure was negatively correlated with diastolic blood pressure and heart rate. If lower resting cardiovascular activity were a psychophysiological indicator of more antisocial behavior, change on both variables could be associated with initiation and maintenance of alcoholic drinking by Essential alcoholic men.

Adult↗

PubMed1992

Factor analysis of the Rudie-McGaughran Essential-Reactive questionnaire for VA alcoholic men.

In this study factor analysis was used to estimate the validity of the Rudie-McGaughran Essential-Reactive questionnaire. Answers of VA alcoholic men were tape-recorded and scored using the Rudie and McGaughran criteria. Only 2 factors, economic dependence and gastrointestinal symptoms, were validated using factor analysis. Five of the remaining six factors evaluated dimensions of dependence unique to the Essential alcoholic men.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1992

Performance of alcoholic and brain-damaged subjects on the Luria Memory Words test.

Verbal memory was evaluated in groups of 36 community controls, 50 pseudoneurological controls, 50 alcoholics, and 50 brain-damaged patients. All participants were men between the ages of 22-61. Groups did not differ in age or educational levels (F < 1). Groups were compared on their performance on the Luria Memory Words Test. Dependent variables included the number of correct words over learning trials, the trial of best performance, and the number of words recalled at three delayed trials (2, 8, and 30 min after learning). Brain-damaged subjects were inferior to community controls on all measures. Pseudoneurological controls were inferior to community controls on delayed recall, but were equivalent on measures of learning. Alcoholics were inferior to controls on measures of learning but did not differ on measures of recall. Implications regarding the underlying deficit in alcoholics' verbal memory, the use and interpretation of the Luria Memory Words test, and the use of pseudoneurological patients as controls are discussed.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1991

The influence of depressive symptomatology on alcoholics' locus of control: a methodological note and a correction.

In a previously published experiment from our laboratory, we reported two findings. First, controls showed the expected negative correlation between internal and external LOC dimensions, while alcoholics did not. Second, a difference score between LOC-internal and LOC-external was correlated significantly and positively with alcoholics' abstracting impairment. Data from two new independent samples of alcoholics and controls confirmed the first finding, but not the second; further, a calculation error was discovered in the previously published data that invalidated the second result. However, in all three studies, depressive symptomatology was found to be correlated negatively with the internal-external LOC difference score in both alcoholics and controls. It is suggested that depressive symptomatology be assessed in any study that investigates LOC.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Verbal fluency deficits in female alcoholics.

Verbal fluency deficits in female alcoholics (n = 48) were investigated using Thurstone's Word Fluency Test (TWFT) and a category fluency test. Overall, alcoholics performed less well than did controls (n = 36). Simple effects indicate that although controls performed less well on category fluency than on the TWFT, alcoholics did not differ between the two tests. Simple effects also show that controls' performance was superior to that of alcoholics on the category fluency test, but the groups did not differ on the TWFT. The pattern of results suggests that the process of shifting rapidly between categories is more difficult than perusing a mental lexicon. Correlations between these tasks and other tests of cognitive functioning suggest that the TWFT and the category fluency test may be assessing different types of verbal fluency.

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Antihypertensive efficacy of guanfacine and methyldopa in patients with mild to moderate essential hypertension.

Guanfacine, an alpha-2 adrenoceptor agonist, was compared with methyldopa as step-2 therapy for patients with mild-to-moderate essential hypertension in a 12-week, double-blind, randomized, parallel evaluation of efficacy and safety. The study consisted of a 2-week screening/weaning period (phase I), a 3-week treatment period with a diuretic (phase II), and a 12-week treatment period with a diuretic plus methyldopa or guanfacine (phase III). Patients were weaned from prior anti-hypertensive medication during the screening/weaning period and began receiving chlorthalidone 25 mg every morning. Patients received only 25 mg of chlorthalidone each morning during the phase II period. Those who had an average seated diastolic blood pressure (BP) of 95-114 mm Hg at the end of the phase II period were eligible to enter the phase III period and were randomly assigned to chlorthalidone plus guanfacine, 1 mg every night, or methyldopa, 250 mg tid. Seated and standing systolic and diastolic BP and pulses were measured biweekly for 12 weeks after randomization. Of the 112 patients who were randomly assigned to guanfacine or methyldopa, 87% completed the entire study. The mean seated systolic and diastolic BP were reduced 13/13 mm Hg by guanfacine administration and 15/13 mm Hg by methyldopa administration. No significant changes in seated pulse were seen in either group. Similar changes occurred in the standing position. Very few adverse effects were reported during the study, the most prevalent side effect was xerostomia (13% guanfacine, 9% methyldopa). No significant differences were observed between treatment groups for the incidence of cardiac arrhythmias after methyldopa or guanfacine administration was stopped.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗

PubMed1991

Clinical validity of the Speech-Sounds Perception Test and the Seashore Rhythm Test.

The interpretive significance of the Speech-Sounds Perception Test (SSPT) and the Seashore Rhythm Test (SRT) was evaluated through literature review and empirical investigations. Subjects were 43 pseudoneurologic controls and 81 brain-damaged persons, divided into subgroups of subjects with left-hemisphere damage (n = 20), diffuse brain damage (n = 31), and right-hemisphere damage (n = 30). Our data indicate that the SSPT and SRT failed to discriminate left- and right-hemisphere damage. Furthermore, discriminant analyses demonstrated that these tests make no unique diagnostic contribution within the context of a neuropsychological battery. We question whether these tests should be routinely used.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1991

Impaired efficiency in female alcoholics' neuropsychological performance.

Forty-eight female detoxified alcoholics and 36 female nonalcoholic controls were administered a short computerized neuropsychological test battery; accuracy and speed were assessed for each item. The accuracy and speed scores were used to create summary efficiency ratios (accuracy/speed) for each test. Alcoholics had significantly lower efficiency ratios than controls on each of the tests, and this deficit was maintained across instructional conditions (emphasizing speed, accuracy, or speed and accuracy equally) and level of task difficulty. In addition, alcoholics and controls manifested similar types of relationships between response speed and correctness of the response, with these relationships varying as a function of type of task. The results of this study illustrate the benefits of including speed of response as a performance variable, and provide further support for the use of efficiency as a measure sensitive to alcoholic neuropsychological impairment.

Adult↗