State of Evidence for Everyday Technology Use in Upper Extremity Motor Recovery Post-Stroke

The research team, in consultation with collaborating clinician Sarah Bicker, an OTR/L at Harborview Medical Center, researched everyday technology applications. The team conducted a systematic review considering what evidence exists about the effectiveness of commercially available everyday technology (ET) for improving upper extremity motor control and/or motivation to participate in therapy in clients post-stroke. The evidence was promising in support of the use of ET as indicated by improved upper extremity motor control outcomes and client and clinician reports of satisfaction, motivation, and engagement in post-stroke rehabilitation. Clinicians should consider the benefits of implementing ET for upper extremity motor recovery for clients post-stroke. Due to the changing nature of ET, the research team chose to minimize recommendations of specific applications. Instead, the team created a decision chart to help therapists identify what elements to consider when choosing a technology application to address the upper extremity motor control conditions/impairments with clients post-stroke. The decision tree considers performance skills according to the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework (OTPF), and includes current applications as examples. The research findings and decision chart were presented as an in-service to occupational therapy (OT) practitioners at Harborview Medical Center. Feedback from the in-service indicated that practitioners were positively receptive to the information provided and were more likely to incorporate ET into rehabilitation with their clients as a result of learning the research findings. Reviewing the literature indicates the need for more research regarding technology use for rehabilitation of individuals post-stroke

Interpopulation variation in the prevalence and intensity of parasitic mite infection in the land snail Arianta arbustorum

The parasitic mite Riccardoella limacum sucks blood in the lung of its host, the land snail Arianta arbustorum. The infection of various host populations was examined in Switzerland. In a lowland snail population, prevalence of infection did not vary among seasons. However, intensity of mite infection in dissected individuals of A. arbustorum was high in autumn, but low in winter and spring when ≤100 mite eggs were found attached to the lung epithelium. A novel, non-invasive parasite screening method was used to estimate the number of mites on living host snails. An analysis of repeatability revealed that 92.9% of the snails were correctly classified as infected or non-infected with this non-invasive method. Prevalence of mite infection was examined in 997 adults of A. arbustorum from 11 natural populations distributed over an altitudinal gradient ranging 335–2360 m. No infected snails were found in 7 populations, while in the remaining 4 populations the prevalence of mite infection ranged 45.8–77.8%. Intensity of infection also differed among the 4 host populations. No geographic pattern in prevalence of infection was found. However, parasitic mites did not occur in snail populations situated at elevations of 1290 m or higher. A possible explanation for this finding could be that the host's hibernation period may be too long at high elevations for mites and their eggs to survive. At low elevations, other factors may affect the presence of R. limacum in the lung of A. arbustorum