Potential Benefits and Withdrawal Effects of Cranial Nerve Non-invasive Neuromodulation on Functional Mobility for Individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury

Objective: Document and describe benefits and withdrawal effects of the Cranial Nerve Non-Invasive Neuromodulation (CN-NINM) intervention. Background: Neuromodulation techniques can be used for the treatment of many diagnoses and conditions. Many current neuromodulation techniques have or can have negative consequences such as high cost, risk of surgical complications or infections, effects not lasting without the drug or stimulation presence, and need for medical experts\u27 direct oversight. A new rehabilitation intervention called CN-NINM may eliminate these negative factors, making it a promising tool for clinicians and participants. CN-NINM combines targeted training activities with mild, portable, electrical stimulation of the tongue to facilitate learning. It was created after repeated clinical observations and functional improvements were noted in related research. However, a great deal is not known about the intervention mechanisms. To date, no negative consequences have been documented. Methods: An A-B-A-B-A single case experimental design five week intensive protocol was implemented with one participant with a TBI. Seven measures were collected including the Timed Up and Go, Romberg, Sharpened Romberg, 4 components of the Dynamic Gait Index, 5 components of the Community Balance & Mobility Scale, Gait Efficacy Scale-modified, Community Integration Questionnaire, and Participation Objective, Participation Subjective. Results: While several assessments suggested improved function over the study period, quantitative measures did not demonstrate statistically significant improvement across phases of the study. No quantitative decline in functional gait was evident during withdrawal phases. The participant reported improvements during intervention weeks, including reduced tone and pain, increased gait confidence, and increased activity tolerance. Conclusion: CN-NINM warrants additional research. While this study demonstrated no statistically significant effects during either intervention or withdrawal phases, several qualitative observations suggest that the intervention can potentially provide fast results with little to no risk and comparatively small cost. Further research should involve multiple individuals with a number of repeated baseline and outcome measures sufficient to attain pre- and post- treatment stability

La Universidad para el cambio: el caso de <i> “El cine, la escuela y los barrios”</i>

La UNLP se consolida como proyecto sociopolítico promoviendo el trabajo con los sectores más vulnerables de la sociedad. El caso del proyecto de extensión ejecutado por la Facultad de Periodismo y Comunicación Social de la UNLP, brinda a las escuelas secundarias de distintos barrios, el espacio para un debate acerca de las problemáticas que afrontan cotidianamente. Asimismo, profesionales y estudiantes universitarios aportan las herramientas básicas para que los jóvenes puedan difundir sus opiniones acerca de sus propias realidades, y así promover nuevas posibilidades de transformación y desarrollo, con las bases del trabajo conjunto y participativo

Continuing education programme "Pädagogik für Gesundheitsberufe" (Pedagogy for Health Professions). An example of adult education at the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences

Die Fachhochschule Kärnten bietet neben regulären Studiengängen in den letzten Jahren vermehrt auch berufsbegleitende Weiterbildungslehrgänge an. Als ein Beispiel (erwachsenen-)pädagogischer Bildungsarbeit wird im vorliegenden Beitrag der berufsbegleitende Weiterbildungslehrgang „Pädagogik für Gesundheitsberufe“ vorgestellt und es wird der Frage nachgegangen, welchen Stellenwert hochschulische Weiterbildungsangebote im Kontext der Erwachsenenbildung haben. (DIPF/Orig.)In addition to its regular full-time study programmes, the Carinthia University of Applied Sciences has started to offer more and more part-time continuing education programmes. This article presents an example of (adult) educational work in the part-time continuing education programme “Pädagogik für Gesundheitsberufe” (Pedagogy for Health Professions), asking what status university continuing education offerings have in the context of adult education. (DIPF/Orig.

Establishing the European Norm for the health-related quality of life domains of the computer-adaptive test EORTC CAT Core

Objective The computer-adaptive test (CAT) of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), the EORTC CAT Core, assesses the same 15 domains as the EORTC QLQ-C30 health-related quality of life questionnaire but with increased precision, efficiency, measurement range and flexibility. CAT parameters for estimating scores have been established based on clinical data from cancer patients. This study aimed at establishing the European Norm for each CAT domain based on general population data. Methods We collected representative general population data across 11 European Union (EU) countries, Russia, Turkey, Canada and the United States (n ≥ 1000/country; stratified by sex and age). We selected item subsets from each CAT domain for data collection (totalling 86 items). Differential item functioning (DIF) analyses were conducted to investigate cross-cultural measurement invariance. For each domain, means and standard deviations from the EU countries (weighted by country population, sex and age) were used to establish a T-metric with a European general population mean = 50 (standard deviation = 10). Results A total of 15,386 respondents completed the online survey (n = 11,343 from EU countries). EORTC CAT Core norm scores for all 15 countries were calculated. DIF had negligible impact on scoring. Domain-specific T-scores differed significantly across countries with small to medium effect sizes. Conclusion This study establishes the official European Norm for the EORTC CAT Core. The European CAT Norm can be used globally and allows for meaningful interpretation of scores. Furthermore, CAT scores can be compared with sex- and age-adjusted norm scores at a national level within each of the 15 countries

Central serous chorioretinopathy

The pathogenesis of central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) is still not fully understood. The involvement of corticosteroids is undisputed, although their exact role has not been clarified; other parts of the underlying mechanism of CSC have been mainly elucidated by imaging techniques such as fluorescein and indocyanine green angiography. Even though most cases of CSC are self-limiting, severe as well as recurrent courses exist, and for these patients only a limited number of treatment options are available: laser photocoagulation, with a risk of scotoma and choroidal neovascularization, and photodynamic therapy. In this review article, we give an overview of its epidemiology, the current understanding of its pathogenesis as well as systemic and ocular risk factors. We illuminate modern diagnostic tools as well as current treatment options in the context of CSC, particularly in the light of a better understanding of corticosteroids and their receptors involved in its pathogenesis

Ethically aware IT design for emergency response:from co-design to ELSI co-design

The latest EU funding framework, ‘Horizon 2020’, has moved consideration of ethical and societal implications of technology development to the fore. Yet, there is little guidance on how to do such research in practice, let alone how to innovate in ethically and socially sound ways. This paper addresses these issues in the context of a large scale EU funded project developing system of system innovations in IT supported emergency response. Building on collaborative design and a range of other approaches, the paper argues that just like ‘usability’, ethics cannot be invented or decided by experts, but has to be the product of engagement with the technology by directly or indirectly implicated publics. Facilitating such publics is a central element of what we call ‘ELSI Co-Design’. The paper outlines the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of this approach

Don’t drone?:negotiating ethics of RPAS in emergency response

This paper explores discourses of automation as a key ethical concern in the development of Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems for disaster response. We discuss problems arising from ‘humanistic’ dichotomies that pit human against machine, military against civil uses and experts against laypersons. We explore how it may be possible to overcome human-technology dichotomies

Where Is Waldo? Visual search behavior in "Wimmelpictures"

In order to explore an image, the human eye functions like a spotlight, scanning the content from one object to the next. This visual search behavior is implemented with the help of attention control. The following work surveys the visual search behavior in "Wimmelpictures", a special type of busy pictures. The research objective is to analyze different search strategies and to work out possible differences concerning age and gender. The university experiment is carried out by an eye tracker that records the fixations and saccades of the test persons. The results indicate three forms of search strategy: based on a pattern, based on feature selection, or a mixture of both. Our data shows the search for special features of the target is the most successful. Furthermore there are no differences concerning gender but some concerning age. All age groups need more time to locate the target with an increasing number of distractors in the image. The size of the target is also relevant as a larger target is found more quickly than the smaller one