Outpatient Physical Therapy Management of a Chronic Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury: A Case Report

Background and Purpose. An incomplete cervical spinal cord injury is a lesion to the Cl-C7 area of spinal cord that does not result in a complete disconnection of the spinal cord and brain. Around 18,000 individuals are affected by a spinal cord injury in the United States each year, typically due to traumatic injury such as a motor vehicle accident, falls or violence. Each case presentation can be different with their impairments and functional limitations. Physical Therapists are vital in the examination and evaluation process to determine the severity of impairments secondary to the injury and the overall effects it has on their function, and screen for strength, sensation, transfer abilities, and interview for daily activities that have been affected by the injury. This article describes the 3month outpatient Physical Therapy (PT) management of a 68-year-old male who had a 2-level cervical spinal cord injury resulting in incomplete tetraplegia. The patient presented with generalized muscle weakness, fatigue, and decreased motor function. The purpose of this article was to describe the interventions used for this patient and the positive results these interventions produced to improve the patient\u27s quality of life. Description. The treatment of this patient included aquatic therapy, neuromuscular re-education, stretching, and strengthening. He started with time spend in a stander and gradually was exposed to environments that challenged his abilities. Outcomes. Following 3-months of PT intervention, patient achieved the ability to perform bed mobility and transfers safely with stand by assistance (SBA). He was able to ambulate for 30 ft with moderate assistance and an assistive device. Discussion. The client made significant strides towards his goals of modified independent walking. His combined motivation and physical therapy intervention led to a decrease in fear of falling and an increase in lower extremity strength that allowed him to progress to ambulation with moderate assistance and an appropriate assistive device (AD). Rationale for treatment was based on researched, published information on the treatment of incomplete spinal cord injuries as well as treating the patient\u27s presenting symptoms (i.e. weakness, decreased motor function) with supporting evidence from earlier case reports. Treatment was altered based on patient\u27s response. Conclusion. Aquatic therapy and land-based ambulatory activities were effective in increasing lower extremity strength and coordination. It was expected that the client would continue to improve and would be able to perform household ambulation with an appropriate AD if he continued to choose to participate in PT

Lessons Learned Implementing DOORS in a Citrix Environment

NASA's James Web Space Telescope (JWST) Project is a large multi-national project with geographically dispersed contractors that all need access to the Projects requirement database. Initially, the project utilized multiple DOORS databases with the built-in partitions feature to exchange modules amongst the various contractor sites. As the requirements databases matured the use of partitions became extremely difficult. There have been many issues such as incompatible versions of DOORS, inefficient mechanism for sharing modules, security concerns, performance issues, and inconsistent document import and export formats. Deployment of the client software with limited IT resources available was also an issue. The solution chosen by JWST was to integrate the use of a Citrix environment with the DOORS database to address most of the project concerns. The use of the Citrix solution allowed a single Requirements database in a secure environment via a web interface. The Citrix environment allows JWST to upgrade to the most current version of DOORS without having to coordinate multiple sites and user upgrades. The single requirements database eliminates a multitude of Configuration Management concerns and facilitated the standardization of documentation formats. This paper discusses the obstacles and the lessons learned throughout the installation, implementation, usage and deployment process of a centralized DOORS database solution

Historical review of the tax treatment of capital gains and losses

A strong possibility currently exists for a reintroduction of some form of preferential treatment for capital gains. This paper examines the historically uneven treatment of capital gains versus capital losses

The Star Formation Rate-Dense Gas Relation as Measured by HCN (J=3-2) Emission

We present observations made with the 10 m Heinrich Hertz Submillimeter Telescope of HCN(3-2) emission from a sample of 30 nearby galaxies ranging in infrared luminosity from 1010 to 1012.5 L☉ and HCN(3-2) luminosity from 106 to 109 K km s−1 pc2. We examine the correlation between the infrared luminosity and HCN(3-2) luminosity and find that the best-fit linear regression has a slope (in log-log space) of 0.74 ± 0.12. Including recently published data from Graciá-Carpio et al. tightens the constraints on the best-fit slope to 0.79 ± 0.09. This slope below unity suggests that the HCN(3-2) molecular line luminosity is not linearly tracing the amount of dense gas. Our results are consistent with predictions from recent theoretical models that find slopes below unity when the line luminosity depends on the average gas density with a power-law index greater than a Kennicutt-Schmidt index of 1.5

Mat, dryck och magi

Recension av: Schön, Ebbe: Mat, dryck och magi. Carlsson Bokförlag, Stockholm 2016. 226 s

Peer Equity Coaching to Increase Cultural Responsiveness in Teaching and Leading

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. February 2018. Major: Educational Policy and Administration. Advisor: Karen Louis. 1 computer file (PDF); x, 226 pages.Race, culture, status, and power influence teacher, student, administrator, and parent interactions in schools every day, often without acknowledgement due to implicit bias, avoidance, and personal and systemic racism. While a direct link between this context and the documented gaps between White students and students from marginalized communities cannot be drawn, the question persists of whether a relationship gap exists and its subsequent influence on students’ learning. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to investigate the nature of a peer equity coaching program to increase teachers’ racial consciousness and cultural responsiveness in one Minnesota school district with approximately forty percent students of color and Native American students. In particular, this study examined whether transformative learning occurred that led to deeper cultural responsiveness of the adults; what leadership behaviors and actions contributed to its success; and what organizational learning or systemic change was influenced by the peer equity coaching program and supporting professional learning. Grounded theory and the constant comparative method were used to analyze the data gathered in conversational interviews with twenty participating teachers, eight peer equity coaches, seven school administrators, and four district administrators. The study found that significant transformative learning for individuals and for the organization occurred through peer equity coaching, that support for teachers of color increased as a result of organizational learning, and that culturally responsive administrative leadership substantially increased teacher involvement and development of cultural responsiveness. (Key words: Equity coaching, transformative adult learning, culturally responsive teaching, equity and education

The feasibility of posture and movement detection by accelerometry

The discrimination of postures and movements using a minimal set of uniaxial accelerometers was investigated. Postures and movements were distinguished on the bitsis of the high-pm filtered, rectified and low pass filtered signal of one accelerometer. Postures were discriminated by combining the constant valued signals of the accelerometers, mounted on different segments of the body. One sensor mounted ndiully on the trunc and one mounted radially or tangentially on the upper leg appeared to be suficient to discriminate shnding, sitting and lying. Methods are proposed for the discrimination of different cyclical movements

High-Redshift Dust Obscured Galaxies: A Morphology-Spectral Energy Distribution Connection Revealed by Keck Adaptive Optics

A simple optical to mid-IR color selection, R – [24]>14, i.e., f_ν(24 μm)/f_ν(R) ≳ 1000, identifies highly dust obscured galaxies (DOGs) with typical redshifts of z ~ 2 ± 0.5. Extreme mid-IR luminosities (L_(IR) > 10^(12-14)) suggest that DOGs are powered by a combination of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and star formation, possibly driven by mergers. In an effort to compare their photometric properties with their rest-frame optical morphologies, we obtained high-spatial resolution (0."05-0."1) Keck Adaptive Optics K'-band images of 15 DOGs. The images reveal a wide range of morphologies, including small exponential disks (eight of 15), small ellipticals (four of 15), and unresolved sources (two of 15). One particularly diffuse source could not be classified because of low signal-to-noise ratio. We find a statistically significant correlation between galaxy concentration and mid-IR luminosity, with the most luminous DOGs exhibiting higher concentration and smaller physical size. DOGs with high concentration also tend to have spectral energy distributions (SEDs) suggestive of AGN activity. Thus, central AGN light may be biasing the morphologies of the more luminous DOGs to higher concentration. Conversely, more diffuse DOGs tend to show an SED shape suggestive of star formation. Two of 15 in the sample show multiple resolved components with separations of ~1 kpc, circumstantial evidence for ongoing mergers

Влияние CaO на синтез и микроструктуру керамики на основе бората алюминия

Осуществлен синтез бората алюминия на основе природных сырьевых материалов, изучено влияние добавки CaO на структуру и свойства материала. Было выявлено, что введение CaO в состав исходной сырьевой смеси способствует формированию игольчатых кристаллов и увеличению выхода фазы бората алюминия, а также снижению плотности материала. Показано, что двухстадийный обжиг позволяет повысить прочность образцов с добавкой CaO с сохранением низкой плотности

Evolution of the Most Luminous Dusty Galaxies

A summary of mid-infrared continuum luminosities arising from dust is given for very luminous galaxies, Lir > 10^12 solar luminosities, with 0.005 < z < 3.2 containing active galactic nuclei (AGN), including 115 obscured AGN and 60 unobscured (type 1) AGN. All sources have been observed with the Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph. Obscured AGN are defined as having optical depth > 0.7 in the 9.7 um silicate absorption feature and unobscured AGN show silicate in emission. Luminosity vLv(8 um) is found to scale as (1+z)^2.6 to z = 2.8, and luminosities vLv(8 um) are approximately 3 times greater for the most luminous unobscured AGN. Total infrared luminosities for the most luminous obscured AGN, Lir(AGN_obscured) in solar luminosities, scale as log Lir(AGN_obscured) = 12.3+-0.25 + 2.6(+-0.3)log(1+z), and for the most luminous unobscured AGN, scale as log Lir(AGN1) = 12.6+-0.15 + 2.6(+-0.3)log(1+z), indicating that the most luminous AGN are about 10 times more luminous than the most luminous starbursts. Results are consistent with obscured and unobscured AGN having the same total luminosities with differences arising only from orientation, such that the obscured AGN are observed through very dusty clouds which extinct about 50% of the intrinsic luminosity at 8 um. Both obscured and unobscured AGN should be detected to z ~ 6 by Spitzer surveys with fv(24 um) > 0.3 mJy, even without luminosity evolution for z > 2.5. By contrast, the most luminous starbursts cannot be detected for z > 3, even if luminosity evolution continues beyond z = 2.5.Comment: Includes corrected Figure 3, as publishe