Biomedical subjects

P G Gasquoine

Publications and source records attributed to P G Gasquoine.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2001

Research in clinical neuropsychology with Hispanic American participants: a review.

Research on the neuropsychological assessment of adult Hispanic Americans has used mostly elderly, poorly educated, Spanish-speaking participants, resident in the United States for more than 15 years. Studies have involved comparisons with Anglo-Americans, the effects of moderator variables (e.g., bilingualism) and test standardization and validation. Most neuropsychological studies comparing Hispanic and Anglo-Americans have methodological weaknesses, such as overly liberal Type I error rates and inappropriate statistical controls for educational differences. What intergroup discrepancies do exist are likely due to educational (quantitative and qualitative) differences, non-equivalent Spanish/English translations and/or acculturation/ bilingualism related factors. Research suggests that Spanish-language neuropsychological test battery norms should be stratified by age, education (including lower grade levels), and to a limited extent gender, but there is little data to support separation by ethnicity. Acculturation/bilingualism variables can suggest when English-language tests are more appropriate to use with Hispanic Americans.

Acculturation↗

PubMed2000

Postconcussional symptoms in chronic back pain.

Checklist measures of persisting postconcussional and control symptom change (postinjury-preinjury self-ratings on 5-point scales) were compared among selected groups of consecutive referrals with traumatic back pain and concussion. Mean symptom change was not significantly different between the 2 groups. Positive correlations were found between postconcussional symptom change and psychometric measures of emotional distress for participants with valid Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory profiles in the 2 groups combined. Results suggested that persisting postconcussional symptoms were not specific to concussion but were associated with increased emotional distress.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1999

Variables moderating cultural and ethnic differences in neuropsychological assessment: the case of Hispanic Americans.

Problems associated with the use of culture and ethnicity as independent variables in neuropsychological assessment research are reviewed. Culture and ethnicity are complex multidimensional constructs that have defied operational definition. There are no clear criteria for separating cultural and ethnic groups. Cognitive differences between culture and ethnic groups encourage speculations of cultural or ethnic superiority and race-norming. An alternative approach is to focus upon measurable psychological variables that differ between cultural and ethnic groups and potentially impact neuropsychological test scores. To illustrate, research with Hispanic Americans is reviewed to show that English language fluency, length of residence within the United States, years of education, and persistence of poverty all impact test performance.

Acculturation↗

PubMed1997

Postconcussion symptoms.

Research pertaining to the self-report of symptoms after traumatic brain injury was reviewed. Cognitive, emotional, and motivational factors have more relevance than demographic (except for female sex) and personality factors. Specific neuropsychological deficits in attention and memory have been found in the early stages after head injury of even mild severity. This is unlikely to be the only factor affecting symptom persistence. Exaggeration of cognitive dysfunction occurs in some cases, but appears unrelated to symptom overreport. Increased emotional distress typically accompanies symptom persistence. The psychological reaction of preoccupation with symptoms and emotional distress is not unique to concussion, but also occurs after severe head injury and back injury and relates more to the personal interpretation of the effect of the trauma than to objective indicators of brain injury severity.

Affective Symptoms↗

PubMed1997

Emotional, cognitive, and motivational deficits in compensation-seeking, suspected brain injury cases.

Emotional distress, neuropsychological impairment, and motivation were measured in a consecutive series of 38 individuals with suspected brain injury who are seeking compensation. Participants had no neurological or neuroradiographic abnormalities, but reported persisting symptoms. One quarter of the participants had significant neuropsychiatric histories. Poor motivation was found in 18% of participants. High rates of neuropsychological impairment (68%) in delayed verbal memory and information-processing capacity and of emotional distress (86%) were found in the remainder. Neuropsychological test scores were not correlated with measures of emotional distress. It is argued that preoccupation with symptomatology and emotional distress are not unique to mild brain trauma but also occur after severe head injury and back injury and relate more to personal interpretation than to objective indicators of injury severity or the injury to the brain itself.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1993

Alien hand sign.

Usage of the term "alien hand sign" is reviewed in 20 published cases. It refers to apparently purposeful, upper-extremity movements that the patient reports are beyond his/her control. Lesions were found in medial frontal cortex and/or the corpus callosum with presentation being unilateral and transient, unless bilateral cortical and subcortical structures were involved. There was a high co-occurrence of speech hesitation, limb dyspraxia, tactile dysnomia, muscle weakness, and grasp reflex on the alien side. Five behavioral manifestations of alien movement have been described, with grasping movements and intermanual conflict being the most common. Two manifestations, exaggerated ataxic automatisms and drifting movements, likely represent other types of movement disorders. Dysfunction of the supplementary motor area and related structures has been implicated, but the exact causal mechanism remains uncertain.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Learning in post-traumatic amnesia following extremely severe closed head injury.

Verbal and spatial tests of learning were administered in five repeated sessions to nine subjects who were in post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) following extremely severe closed head injuries. PTA was operationally defined as having a score of 75 or less on the Galveston Orientation and Amnesia Test. Subjects showed no ability to learn verbal information (free recall and recognition of a word list) but showed some savings of spatial location information over the first three sessions. Results were interpreted as suggestive of a primarily passive mode of learning during PTA, regardless of the nature of the material to be learned.

Adult↗