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Biomedical subjects

R Zagar

Publications and source records attributed to R Zagar.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Medical, family, and scholastic conditions in urban delinquents.

Effects of medical, family, and scholastic conditions were evaluated for the number and type of offenses and test score performances in 1,962 urban delinquents. Conditions were evaluated using multivariate followed by univariate analysis of variance with post-hoc tests. There were subgroup differences in the number and type of offenses and test score performances. Also, interactions of medical, family, and scholastic conditions changed the number and type of offenses and lowered test scores. Findings supported a developmental biopsychosocial model of delinquency that emphasized the predominance of medical/scholastic conditions. Orphaned or one-parent delinquents with nervous system or neonatal conditions, retardation, or hyperactivity committed assault.

Achievement↗
PubMed1990

Adolescents who kill.

From a sample of 1,956 adolescent delinquents referred to us by the court for physical, psychological, psychiatric, educational, and social examinations, 71 delinquents convicted of homicide were matched with 71 nonviolent delinquents by age, race, sex, and socioeconomic status (SES). These two groups were compared on the basis of these evaluations by stepwise discriminant analysis, matched pairs, two-tailed t-tests, and nonparametric tests. Adolescents who kill have a tetrad of symptoms: (1) criminally violent family members; (2) gang membership; (3) severe educational difficulties; and (4) alcohol abuse.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Homicidal adolescents: a replication.

30 homicidal delinquents were matched with 30 nonviolent delinquents on age, race, sex, and socioeconomic status. Both groups received physical, psychological, educational, psychiatric and social examinations. Data were evaluated using stepwise discriminant analysis. Previous research was replicated. Homicidal adolescents shared four symptoms: criminally violent families, gang participation, alcohol abuse, severe learning difficulties. In addition, when the sample and the original group of murderers were combined the contrast between groups became clearer. Juvenile murderers lived in criminally violent families learning aggression during early childhood. Cognitive and perceptual deficits associated with epilepsy and central nervous system (CNS) conditions led to difficulties in the school years. During adolescence, gang participation and alcohol abuse added to earlier risk factors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Developmental and disruptive behavior disorders among delinquents.

Medical histories, psychological tests, psychiatric examinations, and social investigations were reviewed to determine the frequency of independent diagnoses of retardation, attention deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADD-H), and attention deficit disorder without hyperactivity (ADD). In a sample of 1,956 (384 females and 1,572 males) adjudicated delinquents with a mean age of 13.9 +/- 1.9 years, 9% had ADD-H, 15% were retarded, and 46% had ADD. The reliabilities of the diagnoses were 0.95 for retardation, 0.91 for ADD-H, and 0.94 ADD. Retarded delinquents had the greatest scholastic delays followed by the ADD-H and ADD-adolescent offenders.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Developmental analysis of the Wechsler Memory Scale.

Memory functions commonly decline with age. All dimensions of memory functioning may not change equally with age. Some studies have shown declines in visual-spatial memory tasks, others in remembering stories, and another in learning pairs of associated words. The purpose of this study was to determine which dimensions deteriorate with increasing age. In addition, this study examines the construct validity of the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS), for which previous reports note two-, three- and four-factor solutions. WMS data from 1264 males and 1141 females at six age intervals, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60-69 and 70-79 years, were compared on seven subtests to assess age trends. Visual-spatial memory tasks, remembering stories, and learning pairs of associated words proved more difficult with advanced age. Using theoretical, psychometric and statistical criteria, a one-factor (cluster) solution in both sexes across all age groups shows that the WMS measures only one construct, memory. This was shown by using principal component analyses, hierarchical cluster analyses, and very simple structure.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Analysis of a short test battery for children.

Explored the hierarchical structure of mental abilities by comparing principal component analysis with a hierarchical cluster analysis algorithm on a short test battery for children. This short test battery included the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (WISC-R), the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT), the Beery Developmental Test of Visual-Motor Integration (VMI) and the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT). Scores from 182 children (116 boys and 66 girls) with a mean age of 10.83 were analyzed. The structure of the test battery included general intelligence, attention, academic achievement and perceptual-motor eye-hand coordination. Both the linear principal component analysis and the nonlinear hierarchical clustering analysis confirmed the hierarchical organization of mental abilities.

Achievement↗
PubMed1983

Clinical exercise trial for stroke patients.

This investigation evaluated the effectiveness of the traditional and facilitation approaches to therapeutic exercise in stroke patients. A total of 42 adults (24 men and 18 women) with a mean age of 61.6 years (SD = 21) were selected from a larger population of hospitalized stroke victims. Stroke patients were classified by CT scan information and judged medically fit to participate in a nonrestrictive program by neurologic examinations and laboratory tests. The Barthel Index and the manual muscle test were administered at admission and discharge. Both facilitation and traditional exercise therapies improved functional and motor performance, but there were no significant differences between these approaches. The lack of differences between the facilitation and traditional exercise therapies may be due to heterogeneity of the stroke population, the small sample size, and the measurements used. The study demonstrates the need for a measurement instrument capable of reliably assessing the facilitation approach. Future investigations should incorporate lesion type, site, and side along with global measurements in evaluating differences among motor remediation approaches.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1979

The effects of age and sex on the factor structure of the Wechsler Memory Scale.

Memory is one of the central intellectual functions characteristic of human behavior. Increasing age affects memory processes by requiring more time and increased learning trials in such tasks as memory for digits, symbols, and figures, and in the acquisition of new information. Factor analytic studies of the Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) have been contradictory because of the confounding effects of subject age and sex. Principal component analyses with oblique rotations were performed 16 times on independent and random samples of males and females, and of males and females at each of three developmental age levels: 13-39, 40-59, and 60-88 years. For total male and female samples, a two-factor structure of general retentiveness and memory was found. For both males and females at 13-39 and 40-59 years, the same factor structure was obtained. The two-factor structure did not occur at age 60-88 for males or females. These findings confirm Wechsler's hypothesis as to the structure of the WMS, and Guilford's hypothesis as to the effect of age upon memory.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Transcutaneous electrical neurostimulation in functional pain.

Transcutaneous electrical neurostimulation (TENS) has recently emerged as a distinct therapeutic modality in the alleviation of acute and chronic pain. We applied this modality to 15 nonsurgical low-back pain patients having diagnoses of functional pain, with 40% initially having significant pain relief (50% of greater). However, this pain-alleviating effect of TENS did not last longer than two months. After initiation of neurostimulation, increased pain and/or bizarre and inappropriate sensations and behavior frequently developed. We also applied this modality in the diagnostic evaluation and treatment of 24 patients having diagnoses of postsurgical chronic intractable low-back pain of psychosomatic origin and achieved similar results. In both groups, we utilized a simplified poststimulation "normal-saline-sterile-water intramuscular injection test" to confirm the findings from transcutaneous electrical neurostimulation and to verify the functional basis of the present low-back pain.

Adult↗