Cost-effectiveness of physical fitness training for stroke survivors

Background Physical fitness is impaired after stroke, yet fitness training after stroke reduces disability. Several international guidelines recommend that fitness training be incorporated as part of stroke rehabilitation. However, information about cost-effectiveness is limited. Methods A decision tree model was used to estimate the cost-effectiveness of a fitness programme for stroke survivors vs. relaxation (control group). This was based on a published randomised controlled trial, from which evidence about quality of life was used to estimate Quality Adjusted Life Years. Costs were based on the cost of the provision of group fitness classes within local community centres and a cost per Quality Adjusted Life Year was calculated. Results The results of the base case analysis found an incremental cost per Quality Adjusted Life Year of £2,343. Conclusions Physical fitness sessions after stroke are a cost-effective intervention for stroke survivors. This information will help make the case for the development of new services

Anniversary March

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-ps/1769/thumbnail.jp

Winners and Losers in Reforestation Efforts in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, and the Predictive Power of Xylem Anatomy on Long-Term Growth and Survival

Reforestation has been ongoing in the Lower Rio Grande Valley annually since the 1980s, and to date over 6400 ha of land has been reforested in this area. However, there has been little subsequent study of the change and development of those forests as they mature. This thesis consists of two, interrelated, studies: (1) surveys of a five-site chronosequence of restored forests and (2) quantification of xylem anatomical traits of a subset of species present at the reforestation sites. Surveys showed a consistent reduction in species diversity and stem number density on the landscape, and identified a suite of species which predictably persist or increase on the landscape. Analysis of xylem anatomical results are ongoing

Amanda Ann

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/5250/thumbnail.jp

A Decade of Hard Work and Success, 2010–2020

This article1 is an account of the archives and museum at the Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf (SJW) in Belleville, Ontario, which has a long history dating back to 1870. The deaf community affectionately calls this school “Belleville” in American Sign Language after the city where it is located, and so references to the school in this article are also to “the Belleville school.” It is also important to understand that the Belleville school had different names over the years: The school was first called the Ontario Institution for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb (OIDD) from 1870 to 1913, and then the Ontario School for the Deaf (OSD) from 1913 to 1974. The year 2020 marked the school’s sesquicentennial and the 10th anniversary of the archives. A former classroom, room no. 13 holds a historical collection of school materials (e.g., artifacts, photographs, documents, and other valuable items) to ensure their preservation and maintenance. Many of them are culturally sensitive to Deaf History, deaf people in general, and the school alumni. Since the archives’ inception three decades ago, employees and volunteers from the deaf community have enthusiastically assisted in the task. As it is known, the OSD-SJW Archives were started in earnest not long after the OSD-SJW Alumni Association came into existence in 1989. Keith George Charles Dorschner, ’56, an alumnus and residential counselor at the school from 1984 to 2001, conceived both schemes with the support and assistance of his wife, the former Christine Margaret Bennett, ’56. (Keith can be seen in Figure 1.) They publicly encouraged the school and alumni communities to donate any physical materials (e.g., records, uniforms, photos, building plans, letters, and graduation certificates) to build an archival collection about the school. However, financial resources for archival showcases and supplies were limited, and they frequently had to move all holdings from one room to another when the school needed the space

Wartime Emergency and the Education of Deaf Children, 1941–1944

According to historical accounts, three Canadian schools for deaf children temporarily vacated their premises during World War II (1939–1945). Under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, the Manitoba School for the Deaf in Winnipeg was the third wireless school site for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), from February 17, 1941, to December 31, 1944. In Vancouver, British Columbia, the RCAF took over the grounds of Jericho Hill School for the Deaf, which was in proximity to the RCAF Station Jericho Beach, from early 1942 to December 1945. And the Ontario School for the Deaf (OSD) in Belleville was home to the RCAF No. 5 Initial Training School (RCAF #5 ITS) for potential aircrew from August 1, 1941, to July 15, 1944 (Figure 1). (Please note that the Ontario School for the Deaf [OSD] is currently named Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf.

John Barrett McGann, Pioneer in Canadian Deaf Education

This article1 is one of several sesquicentennial projects undertaken by staff of the OSD-SJW Archives to commemorate the 150th anniversary (1870–2020) of the Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf (SJW) in Belleville, Ontario. Initially known as the Ontario Institution for the Education and Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb (OIDD), it opened on Thursday, October 20, 1870. This article includes a condensed history of the life of John Barrett McGann, an Irish-born immigrant to Canada in 1855, and his founding of schools for deaf children in Toronto (1858), Hamilton (1864), and Belleville (1870), taken from a forthcoming book by the first author of this article