Psychomotor Disorders

ObjectiveTo establish whether people exposed to drinking water contaminated with 20 tonnes of aluminium sulphate in the Camelford area of Cornwall in the south west of England in July 1988 had suffered organic brain damage as opposed to psychological trauma only.DesignRetrospective study of affected people.Participants55 affected people and 15 siblings nearest in age to one of the group but who had not been exposed to the contaminated water were studied.Main outcome measuresVarious clinical and psychological tests to determine medical condition and anxiety levels in affected people. Assessment of premorbid IQ (pFSIQ) with the national adult reading test, a computerised battery of psychomotor testing, and measurement of the difference in latencies between the flash and pattern visual evoked potentials in all participants.ResultsThe mean (SE) pFSIQ was above average at 114.4 (1.1). The most sensitive of the psychomotor tests for organic brain disease was the symbol digit coding (SDC) test (normal score 100, abnormal <85). Participants performed less well on this test (54.5 (6.0)) than expected from their pFSIQ (P<0.0001) and a little less poorly on the averaged less discriminating tests within the battery (86.1 (2.5), P<0.0001). In a comparison with the 15 sibling pairs (affected people’s age 41.0 (3.3) years v sibling age of 42.7 (3.1) years (P=0.36) the exposed people had similar pFSIQ (114.7 (2.1)) to their siblings (116.3 (2.1), (P=0.59) but performed badly on the symbol digit coding test (51.8 (16.6)) v (87.5 (4.9) for siblings, P=0.03). The flash-pattern differences in exposed people were greater than in 42 unrelated control subjects of similar age (27.33 (1.64) ms v 18.57 (1.47) ms, P=0.0002). The 15 unexposed siblings had significantly better flash-pattern differences than their affected siblings (13.4 (2.4) ms v 29.6 (2.9) ms, P=0.0002). No effect of anxiety could be shown on these measurements from the analysis of the anxiety scores of exposed people.ConclusionPeople who were exposed to the contaminated water at Camelford suffered considerable damage to cerebral function, which was not related to anxiety. Follow up studies would be required to determine the longer term prognosis for affected individuals. Key messagesAluminium is a well established neurotoxinAccidental contamination of drinking water in Camelford by aluminium sulphate led to symptoms of loss of concentration and short term memory that were initially attributed to anxietyIn residents exposed to the contaminated water psychomotor performance was poorer than predicted from premorbid IQ and the difference between flash-pattern visual evoked potentials was greater than normalAnxiety did not influence either of these measures of cerebral functionAluminium sulphate poisoning probably led to long term cerebral impairment in some people in Camelford

In the present paper, we review the main concepts of the dynamical systems approach to bimanual coordination and propose applications to therapeutic intervention for functional recovery of coordinated movements in stroke. Further, we describe the behavioral alterations of discrete bimanual coordination resulting from cerebral vascular accident (CVA) lesions and speculate on the possibility of mimicking the mechanisms of CVA lesions via symmetry breaking in dynamic systems.

Despite the widespread abuse of marijuana, knowledge about its effects in the human brain is limited. Brain glucose metabolism with and without Δ 9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (main psychoactive component of marijuana) was evaluated in eight normal subjects and eight ...

Psychomotor retardation (PMR) is a main symptom of depressive illness. In the elderly, it is associated with the severity of depression and poor prognosis. However, PMR is also commonly associated with normal aging, Therefore, depressive PMR is frequently misinterpreted as the age-related slowing in the elderly, which contributes to poor recognition of depression. Moreover, neurobiological and neuroanatomical studies on PMR hardly allowed to discriminate geriatric depression from normal aging. Reaction time experiments have rarely been tested in elderly population although they are particularly suited for examining PMR. We performed two reaction time experiments using an additive factor analysis in healthy and depressed old individuals with the hypothesis that PMR associated to depression differed from that of normal aging. Results showed that age-related PMR affected all stages of central nervous system information processing, while PMR associated with depression is limited to the ...

This study describes preliminary stages of developing a checklist to enable practitioners to determine the behavioural responses of children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities to sensory stimuli. Reliability of currently used checklists is low, with a focus on the child&amp;#39;s sensory integration instead of perception. The inter-rater reliability of a checklist was determined, and adjustments were made to improve reliability. Strikingly, the reliability decreased for all components after adjustment. The effect of a smaller item pool was ruled out. The effect of familiarity of teachers as raters was examined. Results show that teachers who know a child well could interpret that child&amp;#39;s behaviour more accurately than persons who were unfamiliar with the child. However, reliability of the checklist remains a problem.

L’originalité de sa conception permet une analyse enrichie des erreurs commises afin de mettre à jour les processus défaillants et d’orienter les prises en charge thérapeutiques. Il est également utilisé pour suivre l’évolution des dispositifs de soins mis en oeuvre.
Dépister les troubles des fonctions exécutives et mesurer les progrès
Le Laby 5-12 évalue la capacité à planifier une action motrice, après analyse perceptive et cognitive de la tâche.
Il est particulièrement pertinent dans le dépistage du Trouble Déficit de l’Attention avec ou sans Hyperactivité (TDA/H) et dans le suivi des effets du traitement. Les troubles des fonctions exécutives sont également présents dans différentes pathologies rencontrées au cours du développement chez l’enfant (Trouble Envahissant du Développement, Trouble Oppositionnel avec Provocation, Trouble des Conduites, Troubles Spécifiques des Apprentissages) ainsi que dans le cadre de la prématurité et des traumatismes crâniens. Il est essentiel pour une consultation orientée sur les troubles des apprentissages ou les troubles envahissants du développement, en complément de l’évaluation des fonctions attentionnelles.

La référence en France
Inspiré de l’épreuve des labyrinthes de Porteus, le Laby 5-12 propose différents types de labyrinthes (angulaires ou circulaires) et un mode de cotation faisant intervenir la vitesse de résolution et les erreurs commises. La résolution des labyrinthes nécessite également l’inhibition des mouvements conduisant à des impasses et constitue donc une mesure de l’impulsivité.
L’évolution des concepts et des modèles théoriques du Trouble Déficit de l’Attention/Hyperactivité a mis l’accent sur le déficit des fonctions exécutives (Barkley, 1997) ainsi que sur l’aversion pour le délai (Sonuga-Barke, 2003). Le Laby 5-12 met l’enfant en situation de résolution de problèmes et sollicite une partie des fonctions exécutives que l’analyse des erreurs commises permet d’étudier de façon spécifique.

Clinical and cytogenetic data of two related patients, both trisomic for the segment 4q27→qter, are reported. Familial studies determined that the mothers of the two probands were carriers of the same balanced translocation between chromosomes 4 and 18. Altogether, two partial trisomies 4q, five balanced karyotypes, and one 45,XO karyotype were found in the family. The 18 cases reported to date are reviewed with respect ot the karyotype-phenotype correlation.

Although there is currently no epidemiological data on backward disequilibrium, this disturbance of posture does not seem to be rare in frail elderly. Backward disequilibrium is characterized by the following criteria: the location of buttocks on the anterior side of the seat while the trunk rested at the back of the armchair in the sitting position; an inadequate forward of the trunk and a backward projection of the trunk outside the base of support during sit-to-stand; and a posterior projection of the center of mass outside the base of support in the standing position. Several pathological situations either somatic (degenerative, ischemic and traumatic brain lesions), psycho-somatic (psychomotor disadaptation syndrome, extended bed confining, non-use) or psychological (depression) affections can entail backward disequilibrium. Falls, loss of autonomy and the risk of the vicious circle with its causes are the main consequences of backward disequilibrium. Although the geriatrician ...

Based on an experience of a novice primary stage physical education (PE) teacher that starts to work as a psychomotrician in the early childhood education (ECE) stage, this chapter describes the possibilities of free and spontaneous play as a PE tool in 0 to 6 year olds education period. To do so, the text goes through the Catalan education system that, as a body approach curriculum subject, has integrated PE primary school teachers into the ECE period delivering psychomotor intervention (PI). In particular, this chapter focuses on the instructional conditions that the PI didactics uses, and PE teacher can add to his/her knowledge, for making the free and spontaneous children playing context, a true development engine instead of a naïve laissez faire playing environment