Upper Extremity Evaluation & Intervention through the Utilization of Occupation-based Activities within the Model of Human Occupation Perspective

Title: Upper Extremity Evaluation & Intervention Through the Utilization of Occupation-based Activities within the Model of Human Occupation Perspective. Background: The importance of upper extremity rehabilitation is vital for clients to be able to reengage in their valued occupations that were affected due to a recent injury, illness, or surgery. Upper extremity fractures make up approximately 590,000 fractures annually in the USA (Napora et al., 2020). Clients with these types of conditions seek therapy to help improve their ability to gain back function within their body and daily lives. Through this process, clients are asked to perform various exercises that can assist with range of motion, strength, and endurance. However, upper extremity practitioners tend to rely on the use of rote exercises to help clients gain the skills they need to participate in daily activities (Hanson & Maudal, 2020; Robinson et al., 2016). Such reliance on biomechanical interventions is problematic as research has shown clients are more motivated when they perform activities that they find meaningful within their lives than when they perform exercises (Grice, 2015; Robinson et al., 2016; White, 2013). These exercises are often packaged in a program clients complete at home, called home exercise programs (HEPs). These programs are given to clients to perform at home so that they can work on their skills at home that are needed for safe engagement in daily activities. However, adherence to HEPs that supply rote exercises was found to be less compared to an occupationbased approach that allowed clients to engage in daily activities that also combined the targeted skill (White, 2013). The lack of time and resources can disrupt a client’s ability to practice on the skills they need, however, creating occupation-based HEPs can help assist with adherence while providing activities at home that the client can incorporate into their daily routines. Purpose: The purpose of this scholarly project was created to provide clients with occupationbased HEPs that will allow them to engage in valued activities that will assist them in gaining skills that they need. The intended audience for this product is for students currently working in their fieldwork placements and new occupational therapists to provide clients with different HEPs, while also creating their own based on the client’s interests and roles within their lives. Methodology: The product was developed following a review of literature that showed need for increased occupation-based approaches within the upper extremity rehabilitation setting. The product materials were organized based on the Model of Human Occupation (MOHO; O’Brien, 2017), biomechanical frame of reference (Grice, 2021), and the andragogical learning theory (Bastable et al., 2020). Conclusion: The results of the literature review and direct interactions with clients who had varying upper extremity conditions guided the development of the product, the Occupationbased Home Exercise Programs. This product contains occupation-based HEPs that target a variety of skills while incorporating daily activities that the client can practice at home within their daily routines. Additionally, the product includes a background on MOHO and the biomechanical frame of reference that helps justify the occupation-based approach to better assist clients with reengagement in valued activities. Instructions are provided for future students and new practitioners to create occupation-based HEP. This product assists with solving the problem of reduced adherence to HEPs by incorporating activities within a client’s routine to work on skills that are functional and valu

SATCON2: Executive Summary

About twenty years ago, rapid advances in technology led to the viability of lightemitting diodes (LEDs) as outdoor lighting. With compelling operational and economic reasons to make the shift from legacy gas-discharge systems, communities around the world began installing white LEDs as their lighting of choice. In time, the side effects of the vastly increased sky glow and blue-rich spectral distribution of white LEDs became apparent, negatively impacting not only ground-based professional and amateur astronomy but also casual appreciation of the sky, flora and fauna, and human health. Today, we are in the initial years of an analogous watershed moment, this time not on the ground but in space. The rapid development of efficient and in one case reusable rockets by private-sector companies has made Earth orbit no longer the exclusive realm of national agencies like NASA, and a steadily increasing number of entities is now launching both people and hardware into space. The result is exponential growth in the density and variety of satellites at a wide range of altitudes. As the glowing nighttime landscape on Earth has been transformed over the past two decades, so the sky is now being similarly transformed. It is incumbent on all who use space and the night sky as a resource — professional and amateur astronomers, satellite operators, policymakers, environmentalists, people who observe the night sky and who preserve their culture in stories in the stars, and more — to consider the myriad impacts on humanity of the industrialization of space and to establish a shared vision for the use of space that supports and respects all its users. Many efforts today to address the impact of rapidly growing light domes over cities and towns are reactive to already-deployed networks of white LEDs. In the realm of low-Earth orbit (LEO), there is a window of opportunity — albeit narrow and closing — to address the impact of thousands of new satellites proactively. The SATCON workshops are meant to set the foundation for this work

Contingent Kernel Density Estimation

Kernel density estimation is a widely used method for estimating a distribution based on a sample of points drawn from that distribution. Generally, in practice some form of error contaminates the sample of observed points. Such error can be the result of imprecise measurements or observation bias. Often this error is negligible and may be disregarded in analysis. In cases where the error is non-negligible, estimation methods should be adjusted to reduce resulting bias. Several modifications of kernel density estimation have been developed to address specific forms of errors. One form of error that has not yet been addressed is the case where observations are nominally placed at the centers of areas from which the points are assumed to have been drawn, where these areas are of varying sizes. In this scenario, the bias arises because the size of the error can vary among points and some subset of points can be known to have smaller error than another subset or the form of the error may change among points. This paper proposes a “contingent kernel density estimation” technique to address this form of error. This new technique adjusts the standard kernel on a point-by-point basis in an adaptive response to changing structure and magnitude of error. In this paper, equations for our contingent kernel technique are derived, the technique is validated using numerical simulations, and an example using the geographic locations of social networking users is worked to demonstrate the utility of the method

Deweyan tools for inquiry and the epistemological context of critical pedagogy

This article develops the notion of resistance as articulated in the literature of critical pedagogy as being both culturally sponsored and cognitively manifested. To do so, the authors draw upon John Dewey\u27s conception of tools for inquiry. Dewey provides a way to conceptualize student resistance not as a form of willful disputation, but instead as a function of socialization into cultural models of thought that actively truncate inquiry. In other words, resistance can be construed as the cognitive and emotive dimensions of the ongoing failure of institutions to provide ideas that help individuals both recognize social problems and imagine possible solutions. Focusing on Dewey\u27s epistemological framework, specifically tools for inquiry, provides a way to grasp this problem. It also affords some innovative solutions; for instance, it helps conceive of possible links between the regular curriculum and the study of specific social justice issues, a relationship that is often under-examined. The aims of critical pedagogy depend upon students developing dexterity with the conceptual tools they use to make meaning of the evidence they confront; these are background skills that the regular curriculum can be made to serve even outside social justice-focused curricula. Furthermore, the article concludes that because such inquiry involves the exploration and potential revision of students\u27 world-ordering beliefs, developing flexibility in how one thinks may be better achieved within academic subjects and topics that are not so intimately connected to students\u27 current social lives, especially where students may be directly implicated

Distribution of \u3cem\u3eCotesia rubecula\u3c/em\u3e (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) and Its Displacement of \u3cem\u3eCotesia glomerata\u3c/em\u3e in Eastern North America

A survey was conducted from May to Oct of 2011 of the parasitoid community of the imported cabbageworm, Pieris rapae (Lepidoptera: Pieridae), in cole crops in part of the eastern United States and southeastern Canada. The findings of our survey indicate that Cotesia rubecula (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) now occurs as far west as North Dakota and has become the dominant parasitoid of P. rapae in the northeastern and north central United States and adjacent parts of southeastern Canada, where it has displaced the previously common parasitoid Cotesia glomerata (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). Cotesia glomerata remains the dominant parasitoid in the mid-Atlantic states, from Virginia to North Carolina and westward to southern Illinois, below latitude N 38° 48′. This pattern suggests that the released populations of C. rubecula presently have a lower latitudinal limit south of which they are not adapted

Genomic rearrangements of the PRPF31 gene account for

PURPOSE. To determine whether genomic rearrangements in the PRPF31 (RP11) gene are a frequent cause of autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (adRP) in a cohort of patients with adRP. METHODS. In a cohort of 200 families with adRP, disease-causing mutations have previously been identified in 107 families. To determine the cause of disease in the remaining families, linkage testing was performed with markers for 13 known adRP loci. In a large American family, evidence was found of linkage to the PRPF31 gene, although DNA sequencing revealed no mutations. SNP testing throughout the genomic region was used to determine whether any part of the gene was deleted. Aberrant segregation of a SNP near exon 1 was observed, leading to the testing of additional SNPs in the region. After identifying an insertion-deletion mutation, the remaining 92 families were screened for genomic rearrangements in PRPF31 with multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification (MLPA). RESULTS. Five unique rearrangements were identified in the 93 families tested. In the large family used for linkage exclusion testing, an insertion-deletion was found that disrupts exon 1. The other four mutations identified in the cohort were deletions, ranging from 5 kb to greater than 45 kb. Two of the large deletions encompass all PRPF31 as well as several adjacent genes. The two smaller deletions involve either 5 or 10 completely deleted exons. CONCLUSIONS. In an earlier long-term study of 200 families with adRP, disease-causing mutations were identified in 53% of the families. Mutation-testing by sequencing missed large-scale genomic rearrangements such as insertions or deletions. MLPA was used to identify genomic rearrangements in PRPF31 in five families, suggesting a frequency of approximately 2.5%. Mutations in PRPF31 now account for 8% of this adRP cohort

A possible role for Phlebotomus (Anaphlebotomus) rodhaini (Parrot, 1930) in transmission of Leishmania donovani

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Visceral leishmaniasis (VL, kala azar), caused by <it>Leishmania donovani </it>is a major health problem in Sudan and other East African countries. In this region the only proven vectors of <it>L. donovani </it>are <it>Phlebotomus orientalis </it>in eastern Sudan, Ethiopia and Upper Nile areas of Southern Sudan and <it>Phlebotomus martini </it>in Ethiopia, Kenya and Southern Sudan. In this report, we present the first evidence that <it>Phlebotomus rodhaini </it>may also play a role in maintaining transmission of <it>L. donovani </it>between animal reservoir hosts in eastern Sudan. The study was conducted in a zoonotic focus of visceral leishmaniasis in Dinder National Park, eastern Sudan, where previous work showed high infection rates of <it>L. donovani </it>in <it>P. orientalis</it>. Sand flies, captured by CDC traps were dissected and examined for infection with <it>Leishmania </it>parasites. Parasite isolates were subjected to <it>L. donovani </it>specific PCR. Field experiments were also carried out to compare efficiency of rodent baited and un-baited CDC traps in collection of <it>P. rodhaini </it>and determine its man-biting rate.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Three female <it>P. rodhain</it>i were found infected with <it>Leishmania </it>parasites in an astonishingly small number of flies captured in three separate field trips. Two of these isolates were typed by molecular methods as <it>L. donovani</it>, while the third isolate was inoculated into a hamster that was subsequently lost. Although <it>P. rodhaini is </it>generally considered a rare species, results obtained in this study indicate that it can readily be captured by rodent-baited traps. Results of human landing collection showed that it rarely bites humans in the area.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>It is concluded that <it>P. rodhaini </it>is a possible vector of <it>L. donovani </it>between animal reservoir hosts but is not responsible for infecting humans. It is suggested that the role of <it>P</it>. <it>rodhaini </it>in transmission of <it>L. donovani </it>in other zoonotic foci of visceral leishmaniasis in Africa should be re-examined.</p

Jimmy Swaggart's Secular Confession

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The published version is available from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02773940902766748 .Following the exposure of televangelist Jimmy Swaggart’s illicit rendezvous with a New Orleans prostitute, the Assemblies of God simultaneously orchestrated a massive attempt to silence those who would discuss the tryst and arranged the most widely publicized confession in American history theretofore. The coincidence of a “silence campaign” with the vast distribution of a public confession invites us to reconsider the nature of the public confession. For what place has a public confession, the discourse of disclosure par excellence, in a silence campaign? This question is best answered, I argue, if we understand public confession not as a stable a-historical form, but as a practice that is informed by multiple, competing traditions. I argue that by situating Swaggart’s performance in a philosophically modern and secular tradition of public confession we can understand both its complicity in a silence campaign and, more generally, the political logic of the modern public confession

Early Clinical Manifestations Associated with Death from Visceral Leishmaniasis

The visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is a disease potentially fatal if not diagnosed and treated opportunely. This article presents the results of the study on the manifestations identified at the time of the clinical suspicion of the VL cases. This study was conducted in Belo Horizonte, the capital of the State of Minas Gerais, located in southeastern Brazil. This study is both timely and substantive because the Belo Horizonte is an area of transmission of VL, with one of the highest VL-death proportions of Brazil. The patients with higher risk of death had at least one of the following characteristics: ≥60 years, weakness, HIV co-infection, bleeding, jaundice and other associated infections. During the period 2002–2009, 8% to 22% of the patients with VL progressed to death in Belo Horizonte, whilst the proportion in the country was much lower and varied between 5% and 9%. This study has identified vulnerable patients who are at higher risk of death from VL and who would benefit from early predictive evaluation of the prognostic. Hence, the knowledge regarding the factors associated with death may contribute for clinical management and for reduction of deaths from VL