Biomaterial Database

Cognitive impairments in adolescent drug-abusers. 1994

B Bernal, and A Ardila, and J R Bateman

Centro Neurológico de Bogotá, Colombia.

A basic neuropsychological test battery was given to 64 adolescents (57 males and seven females; mean age = 15.5) divided in two groups: (1) drug-abusers ("experimental group," n = 26), and (2) non drug-abusers ("control group," n = 38). Psychoactive substances included marijuana, "crack," solvent inhalation, gasoline sniffing, and alcohol. The following tests were used: (1) language, (2) perceptual recognition, (3) memory, and (4) praxic abilities. In general, performance was mildly (but nonsignificantly) lower in the experimental than in the control group. Only some neuropsychological test scores correlated with lifetime and amount of psychoactive drugs used. It was proposed that cognitive impairments in this sample of young drug-abusers may have been not evident because: (1) lifetime use was limited, due to the age of the subjects; and (2) in adolescents and pre-adolescents, toxic effects of drug-abuse might be manifested as a decrease in the rate of cognitive development rather than as a general cognitive decline.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007807	Language Tests	Tests designed to assess language behavior and abilities. They include tests of vocabulary, comprehension, grammar and functional use of language, e.g., Development Sentence Scoring, Receptive-Expressive Emergent Language Scale, Parsons Language Sample, Utah Test of Language Development, Michigan Language Inventory and Verbal Language Development Scale, Illinois Test of Psycholinguistic Abilities, Northwestern Syntax Screening Test, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test, Ammons Full-Range Picture Vocabulary Test, and Assessment of Children's Language Comprehension.	Language Comprehension Tests,Vocabulary Tests,Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination,Boston Naming Test,Comprehensive Aphasia Test,Multilingual Aphasia Examination,Language Test
D007858	Learning	Relatively permanent change in behavior that is the result of past experience or practice. The concept includes the acquisition of knowledge.	Phenomenography
D008297	Male		Males
D008385	Marijuana Smoking	Inhaling and exhaling SMOKE from CANNABIS.	Cannabis Smoking,Hashish Smoking,Marihuana Smoking,Smoking Blunts,Smoking, Blunts,Blunt, Smoking,Blunts Smoking,Blunts Smokings,Blunts, Smoking,Smoking Blunt,Smoking, Cannabis,Smoking, Hashish,Smoking, Marihuana,Smoking, Marijuana,Smokings, Blunts
D008568	Memory	Complex mental function having four distinct phases: (1) memorizing or learning, (2) retention, (3) recall, and (4) recognition. Clinically, it is usually subdivided into immediate, recent, and remote memory.
D009483	Neuropsychological Tests	Tests designed to assess neurological function associated with certain behaviors. They are used in diagnosing brain dysfunction or damage and central nervous system disorders or injury.	Aphasia Tests,Cognitive Test,Cognitive Testing,Cognitive Tests,Memory for Designs Test,Neuropsychological Testing,AX-CPT,Behavioral Assessment of Dysexecutive Syndrome,CANTAB,Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery,Clock Test,Cognitive Function Scanner,Continuous Performance Task,Controlled Oral Word Association Test,Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System,Developmental Neuropsychological Assessment,Hooper Visual Organization Test,NEPSY,Neuropsychologic Tests,Neuropsychological Test,Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test,Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status,Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure,Symbol Digit Modalities Test,Test of Everyday Attention,Test, Neuropsychological,Tests, Neuropsychological,Tower of London Test,Neuropsychologic Test,Test, Cognitive,Testing, Cognitive,Testing, Neuropsychological,Tests, Cognitive
D011569	Psychiatric Status Rating Scales	Standardized procedures utilizing rating scales or interview schedules carried out by health personnel for evaluating the degree of mental illness.	Factor Construct Rating Scales (FCRS),Katz Adjustment Scales,Lorr's Inpatient Multidimensional Psychiatric Rating Scale,Wittenborn Scales,Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale,Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview
D003072	Cognition Disorders	Disorders characterized by disturbances in mental processes related to learning, thinking, reasoning, and judgment.	Overinclusion,Disorder, Cognition,Disorders, Cognition
D003105	Colombia	A country in northern South America, bordering the Caribbean Sea, between Panama and Venezuela, and bordering the north Pacific Ocean, between Ecuador and Panama. The capital is Bogota.
D005260	Female		Females