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Biomedical subjects

S Weintraub

Publications and source records attributed to S Weintraub.

81 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
PubMed1975

Children vulnerable to psychopathology: the Stony Brook high-risk project.

The study of children at risk for the development of schizophrenia is a promising research strategy for increasing our understanding of the etiology of schizophrenia. This paper describes the methods and procedures of such an investigation. Three groups of children are being followed: those who have a schizophrenic parent, those who have a depressive parent, and tose whose parents have no psychiatric history. There are three major foci of our assessment procedures. First, the patient, spouse, and family environment are examined. Second, the children are assessed in school from the vantage point of both peers and teachers. Finally, the children are tested with several laboratory measures of cognitive processes, attention, emotional responsivity, and social interaction.

Achievement↗
PubMed1975

Comprehending a word: the influence of speed and redundancy on auditory comprehension in aphasia.

To assess the contribution of various factors to comprehension of a target word, an auditory comprehension test was devised and administered to a series of aphasic patients. Patients were required to select from an array that picture which corresponded to a spoken target word. Each patient heard the target word under five conditions: (1) target spoken alone; (2) target embedded in a neutral (low redundancy) sentence enunciated at a normal rate of speaking; (3) target in a neutral sentence enunciated at a slow rate of speaking; (4) target embedded in a sentence containing semantic support (high redundancy); (5) target embedded in a sentence containing a semantically-deceptive element. Semantic redundancy and rate of presentation made contributions to comprehensibility. Semantic confusions were prevalent among all aphasics but, contrary to earlier reports, posterior patients were especially prone to acoustic confusions. Except for conduction aphasics, patients were more likely to confuse words which began with the same sounds than words which ended with the same sounds. Patients with adequate comprehension at the start of the testing displayed a uniform tendency to improve on the conditions administered later, while those with impaired comprehension at the start usually did not.

Aphasia↗
PubMed1975

Teacher ratings of children vulnerable to psychopathology.

Teacher behavior ratings were collected on children of schizophrenic, depressed, and normal mothers. Children of schizophrenic and depressed mothers were rated higher than were children of normal mothers on classroom disturbance, impatience, disrespect-defiance, and inattentiveness-withdrawal; they were rated lower on comprehension, creative initiative, and relatedness to teacher.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

To drive or not to drive: preliminary results from road testing of patients with dementia.

There has been considerable debate about whether driving privileges should be revoked from patients with a diagnosis of dementia and whether highway safety policies should come under closer scrutiny for all elderly. Two case studies are reported of patients with a diagnosis of probable Alzheimer's disease who participated in a pilot project to assess driving. Subjects underwent neurologic and neuropsychological evaluation. Caregivers were included in psychosocial assessments. Patients participated in a specially designed driving evaluation, including an actual road test. Although both patients had mild-to-moderate cognitive impairment on standard tests, one of the patients was deemed safe to drive on the road test while the other was not. These preliminary results suggest that driving skill may not be predictable solely on the basis of the office examination. A road competency test provides a more objective and direct measure on which to base a decision of such important consequence. Implications for public policy and the role for healthcare providers in this process are discussed.

Aged↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The Activities of Daily Living Questionnaire: a validation study in patients with dementia.

This study describes the development and validation of the Activities of Daily Living Questionnaire (ADLQ), an informant-based assessment of functional abilities, in patients with probable Alzheimer disease and other forms of dementia. The ADLQ measures functioning in six areas: self-care, household care, employment and recreation, shopping and money, travel, and communication. The ADLQ was administered to 140 caregivers followed longitudinally in the Northwestern Alzheimer's Disease Center. In a subset of 28 participants, the total ADLQ score and each of the subscales were found to be highly reproducible, with average concordance coefficients of 0.86. Concurrent validity was established by comparing the ADLQ with the Record of Independent Living, a previously validated measure of level of dependency in daily living activities. The ADLQ was also compared with other measures of dementia severity on the initial and annual follow-up visits and was found to be significantly and negatively correlated with the Mini-Mental State Examination and positively correlated with the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale. The ADLQ has high test-retest and concurrent validity and is consistent with other measures of temporal decline in patients with probable Alzheimer disease and other forms of dementia.

Activities of Daily Living↗