Rehabilitation goals of people with spinal cord injuries can be classified against the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Core Set for spinal cord injuries

Objectives: To establish whether inter-professional rehabilitation goals from people with non-traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) can be classified against the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) SCI Comprehensive and Brief Core Sets early postacute situation. Setting: Neurological rehabilitation unit. Methods: Rehabilitation goals of 119 patients with mainly incomplete and non-traumatic SCIs were classified against the ICF SCI Core Sets following established linking rules. Results: A total of 119 patients generated 1509 goals with a mean (and s.d.) of 10.5 (9.1) goals per patient during the course of their inpatient rehabilitation stay. Classifying the 1509 rehabilitation goals against the Comprehensive ICF Core Set generated 2909 ICF codes. Only 69 goals (4.6%) were classified as ‘not definable (ND)’. Classifying the 1509 goals against the Brief ICF Core Set generated 2076 ICF codes. However, 751(49.8%) of these goals were classified as ‘ND’. In the majority of goals (95.7%), the ICF code description was not comprehensive enough to fully express the goals set in rehabilitation. In particular, the notion of quality of movement or specificity and measurability aspects of a goal (usually described with the criteria and acronyms SMART) could not be expressed through the ICF codes. Conclusion: Inter-professional rehabilitation goals can be broadly described by the ICF Comprehensive Core Set for SCI but not the Brief Core Set

Inhibitory effects of inhaled complex traditional Chinese medicine on early and late asthmatic responses induced by ovalbumin in sensitized guinea pigs

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Many formulae of traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) have been used for antiasthma treatment dating back many centuries. There is evidence to suggest that TCMs are effective as a cure for this allergenic disease administered via gastric tubes in animal studies; however, their efficacy, safety and side effects as an asthmatic therapy are still unclear.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this study, guinea pigs sensitized with ovalbumin (OVA) were used as an animal model for asthma challenge, and the sensitization of animals by bronchial reactivity to methacholine (Mch) and the IgE concentration in the serum after OVA challenge were estimated. Complex traditional Chinese herbs (CTCM) were administered to the animals by nebulization, and the leukocytes were evaluated from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results showed that inhalation of CTCM could abolish the increased lung resistance (13-fold increase) induced by challenge with OVA in the early asthmatic response (EAR), reducing to as low as baseline (1-fold). Moreover, our results indicated higher IgE levels (range, 78-83 ng/ml) in the serum of sensitized guinea pigs than in the unsensitized controls (0.9 ± 0.256 ng/ml). In addition, increased total leukocytes and higher levels of eosinophils and neutrophils were seen 6 hours after challenge, and the increased inflammatory cells were reduced by treatment with CTCM inhalation. The interleukin-5 (IL-5) level in BALF was also reduced by CTCM.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our findings indicate a novel method of administering traditional Chinese medicines for asthma treatment in an animal model that may be more effective than traditional methods.</p

A meta-analysis of the relationship between brain dopamine receptors and obesity: a matter of changes in behavior rather than food addiction?

Addiction to a wide range of substances of abuse has been suggested to reflect a ‘Reward Deficiency Syndrome'. That is, drugs are said to stimulate the reward mechanisms so intensely that, to compensate, the population of dopamine D(2) receptors (DD2R) declines. The result is that an increased intake is necessary to experience the same degree of reward. Without an additional intake, cravings and withdrawal symptoms result. A suggestion is that food addiction, in a similar manner to drugs of abuse, decrease DD2R. The role of DD2R in obesity was therefore examined by examining the association between body mass index (BMI) and the Taq1A polymorphism, as the A1 allele is associated with a 30–40% lower number of DD2R, and is a risk factor for drug addiction. If a lower density of DD2R is indicative of physical addiction, it was argued that if food addiction occurs, those with the A1 allele should have a higher BMI. A systematic review found 33 studies that compared the BMI of those who did and did not have the A1 allele. A meta-analysis of the studies compared those with (A1/A1 and A1/A2) or without (A2/A2) the A1 allele; no difference in BMI was found (standardized mean difference 0.004 (s.e. 0.021), variance 0.000, Z=0.196, P<0.845). It was concluded that there was no support for a reward deficiency theory of food addiction. In contrast, there are several reports that those with the A1 allele are less able to benefit from an intervention that aimed to reduce weight, possibly a reflection of increased impulsivity

Physiotherapists' experiences of physiotherapy interventions in scientific physiotherapy publications focusing on interventions for children with cerebral palsy: a qualitative phenomenographic approach

Background: Physiotherapy research concerning interventions for children with CP is often focused on collecting evidence of the superiority of particular therapeutic methods or treatment modalities. Articulating and documenting the use of theory, instrumentation and research design and the assumptions underlying physiotherapy research interventions are important. Physiotherapy interventions focusing on children with Cerebral Palsy should, according to the literature, be based on a functional and environmental perspective with task-specific functional activity, motor learning processes and Family-Centred Service i.e. to enhance motor ability and improve capacity so that the child can perform the tasks necessary to participate actively in everyday life. Thus, it is important to coordinate the norms and values of the physiotherapist with those of the family and child. The aim of this study was to describe how physiotherapists' experiences physiotherapy interventions for children with CP in scientific physiotherapy publications written by physiotherapists. Methods: A qualitative phenomenographic approach was used. Twenty-one scientific articles, found in PubMed, strategically chosen according to year of publication (2001-2009), modality, journals and country, were investigated. Results: Three qualitatively different descriptive categories were identified: A: Making it possible a functional-based intervention based on the biopsychosocial health paradigm, and the role of the physiotherapist as collaborative, interacting with the child and family in goal setting, intervention planning and evaluation, B: Making it work an impairment-based intervention built on a mixed health paradigm (biomedical and biopsychosocial), and the role of the physiotherapist as a coach, leading the goal setting, intervention planning and evaluation and instructing family members to carry out physiotherapist directed orders, and; C: Making it normal an impairment-based intervention built on a biomedical health paradigm, and the role of the physiotherapist as an authoritative expert who determine goals, intervention planning and evaluation. Conclusions: Different paradigms of health and disability lead to different approaches to physiotherapy which influence the whole intervention process regarding strategies for the assessment and treatment, all of which influence Family-Centred Service and the child's motor learning strategies. The results may deepen physiotherapists' understanding of how different paradigms of health influence the way in which various physiotherapy approaches in research seek to solve the challenge of CP

The functional brain networks that underlie Early Stone Age tool manufacture

After 800,000 years of making simple Oldowan tools, early humans began manufacturing Acheulian handaxes around 1.75 million years ago. This advance is hypothesized to reflect an evolutionary change in hominin cognition and language abilities. We used a neuroarchaeology approach to investigate this hypothesis, recording brain activity using functional near-infrared spectroscopy as modern human participants learned to make Oldowan and Acheulian stone tools in either a verbal or nonverbal training context. Here we show that Acheulian tool production requires the integration of visual, auditory and sensorimotor information in the middle and superior temporal cortex, the guidance of visual working memory representations in the ventral precentral gyrus, and higher-order action planning via the supplementary motor area, activating a brain network that is also involved in modern piano playing. The right analogue to Broca’s area—which has linked tool manufacture and language in prior work1,2—was only engaged during verbal training. Acheulian toolmaking, therefore, may have more evolutionary ties to playing Mozart than quoting Shakespeare

The virtual patient model for correction of facial deformity and accuracy of simulation and surgical guide construction

10.1016/B978-0-12-823913-1.00024-5Digital Human Modeling and Medicine: The Digital Twin783-80