Testing Methods

Physiological Methods of Testing

General

When the size on the group is larger than 20 it makes it economical for our staff to travel which can reduce the per person cost of testing. Places we have visited for studies include Paulding OH, Allen TX, Lovington NM, Little Rock AR, Baton Rouge LA, and New York City. Contact us for discussion of your needs and a quotation.

The exposed subjects are compared to 264 men and women unexposed to chemicals for measures of balance, reaction time, blink reflex latency R-1, color discrimination, cognitive, perceptual motor, recall embedded memory and profile of mood states (POMS). Scores are converted to percent of predicted which adjust for age, sex and other factors when appropriate and the groups compared by analysis of variance, P values <0.05 are considered significant.

Questionnaires

Subjects complete questionnaires which are checked by computer guided card reading. Included are the frequencies of 33 common health complaints on a scale from rare equals 1 to frequently or daily equals 11, the American Rheumatism Association lupus erythematosus questions, a standard respiratory questionnaire, histories of occupational and other exposed to chemicals, pesticides and herbicides, tobacco, alcohol and drug use (prescription and illicit), unconsciousness, anesthesia, and head trauma and neurologic and medical histories. The questionnaires and the neurophysiological and neuropsychological test battery had been tested through studies of histology technicians, fire fighters exposed to thermolysis products of PCBs, a TCE solvent exposed population, and people exposed to toluene rich chemicals waste and several groups of unexposed reference subjects. All subjects give informed consent.

Alcohol is measured in air expired after a 20 second breath hold using a fuel cell analyzer.