Computer use aspects in patients with motor disabilities

Three groups of neurological patients were studied:a)25 patients with Parkinson's disease (PD),b)23 patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) and c)19 with neuromuscular disorders ((NMD).All patients were assessed by means of two scales, one referring to the contribution of the computer in social life,everyday activities,emotional well-being (CCLS) [total score:9=not important/45=very important] and the other exploring the disease impact on various aspects of computer operation (DICOS) [total score:11=no effect/55=maximum effect]. Reliability of both scales was excellent (Cronbach's alpha was 0.87 for CCLS and 0.93 for DICOS).Between groups comparisons showed that NMD patients regarded conputer use as most important and SCI patients had the major difficulty.Mean total scores (SD) were as follows for a)CCLS:PD patients=23.28(7.22);SCI patients=20.78(9.72);NMD patients=32.84(5.12) [p=0.000] and b)DICOS:PD patients=25.9(9.9);SCI patients=31.22(15.0);NMD patients=20.53(5.15)[p=0.017]. Our preliminary results show that patients with motor disabilities regard computer use as an important aspect of their life and their disability has a significant effect in their ability to operate it satisfactorily.This information is important for the development of innovating technology helping patients to overcome their specific disabilities

Differentiating embryonal stem cells are a rich source of haemopoietic gene products and suggest erythroid preconditioning of primitive haemopoietic stem cells

The difficulties associated with studying molecular mechanisms important in hemopoietic stem cell (HSC) function such as the problems of purifying homogeneous stem cell populations, have prompted us to adapt the murine ES cell system as an in vitro model of HSC generation and function. We now report that careful analysis of the time course of HSC generation in differentiating ES cells allows them to be used as a source of known and novel hemopoietic gene products. We have generated a subtracted library using cDNA from ES cells collected just prior to and just following the emergence of HSCs. Analysis of this library shows it to be a rich source of known hemopoietic and hemopoietic related gene products with 44% of identifiable cDNAs falling into these camps. We have demonstrated the value of this system as a source of novel genes of relevance to HSC function by characterizing a novel membrane protein encoding cDNA that is preferentially expressed in primitive hemopoietic cells. Intriguingly, further analysis of the known components of the subtracted library is suggestive of erythroid preconditioning of the ES cell-derived HSC. We have used dot-blot and in situ analysis to indicate that this erythroid preconditioning is probably restricted to primitive but not definitive HSC