Hands Support and Postural Oscillation During Sit-to-Stand Movement in Children With Cerebral Palsy and Typical Children

The authors aimed to compare the weight bearing on hands during sit-to-stand (STS) movement in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and typical children (TC), verify its effect on postural oscillation, and analyze the relationship between weight bearing on hands and postural oscillation. Twenty children with CP (Gross Motor Function Classification System levels I and II) and 35 TC performed STS with and without anterior hands support. Mann-Whitney test compared weight bearing between groups. Wilcoxon test investigated differences in postural oscillation between the conditions with and without anterior hand support for both groups. The Spearman correlation tested the relationship between weight-bearing and postural oscillation during the hand support condition. Children with CP bore more weight on hands than TC to perform STS. The hand support reduced postural oscillation during the second phase of STS in both groups. In the CP group, greater weight bearing was related with lower postural oscillation in the beginning of STS. Although children with CP were able to perform STS without support, they bore more weight on their hands to perform the task than TC. Moreover, children with CP and TC use mechanical and somatosensory information to modulate their postural control during STS in different ways.     

Task instructions for persons with severe intellectual disability: reducing the number of instruction occasions after the acquisition phase

During the first part of the study, eight tasks were taught to four participants with severe intellectual disability. A portable computer‐aided system was used that presented one pictorial instruction per task step, individually. During the second part of the study, the same computer‐aided system was used but the number of instruction occasions available for the tasks was reduced. In one condition, the system presented all the step instructions but mostly in small clusters rather than individually. In another condition, the system presented only some of the instructions. Data for the first part of the study showed that the participants managed to perform 83–97% of the task steps correctly. Data for the second part of the study showed that the condition in which instructions were clustered was more effective in maintaining high percentages of correct performance. Implications of the findings are discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dialectical Negations,Absolute Affirmation

Studies in Philosophy and Education -     

Introduction: Review Symposium on Morton’s Moving Up without Losing Your Way

Studies in Philosophy and Education -     

Family perceptions and coping strategies in cases of intersexuality: understanding their significance

Considering that the intersexual condition has a negative impact on the individual, their family, and society, health professionals and researchers have dedicated themselves to is to describe and understand the perceptions of primary caregivers regarding intersexuality and its developmental aspects. Six mothers and one grandmother of school age children were interviewed. The data indicated that living with the stigma of intersexuality can mean a permanent state of crisis within the family system. Issues such as guilt about the child's suffering and questions related to the choice of gender follow the family from the moment of diagnosis. It is suggested that the therapeutic follow-up should foster the necessary conditions for the family group to be organized as a model of competence, replacing the model of guilt.     

Predictors of quality of life of Portuguese Americans: identity,acculturation, and religiosity

ABSTRACT

Utilising the Multicultural Assessment-Intervention Process (MAIP) framework, the present study examined the effects of acculturation, ethnic identity, and religiosity on Portuguese Americans’ perceptions of their quality of life. Several culturally-sensitive variables were used to predict quality of life attitudes among a convenience sample of 305 Portuguese American adults. A structural model with quality of life as the outcome variable, Portuguese identity as the predictor, and Anglo orientation and religious faith as separate mediators was tested and a simple mediation structure involving religious faith was confirmed. While Portuguese identity predicts quality of life directly, when religious faith was added into the model as a mediator, much of the predictive value of Portuguese identity on quality of life was funnelled through religious faith. Implications for future Portuguese American research were discussed.     

Cortisol and dehydroepiandosterone sulfate plasma levels and their relationship to aging,cognitive function,and dementia

We have studied the relationship between dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), cortisol, and cognitive function in a population of demented patients (n=29), age-matched controls (n=46), and younger subjects (n=11). All were submitted to morning collection of blood for determination of plasma cortisol and DHEAS measured by 125I radioimmunoassay. DHEAS levels and cortisol/DHEAS ratios were significantly different among groups with higher DHEAS levels and lower cortisol/DHEAS ratios in younger people (Bonferroni p<.05). Cortisol levels were associated to the presence of dementia (Odds ratio=.93; 95% CI,.86-1.01). There was no difference between DHEAS levels of demented and age-matched controls; however, demented patients showed a trend for higher cortisol/DHEAS ratios than age-matched controls and the latter showed higher ratio values than younger subjects. DHEAS and cortisol plasma values were significantly correlated in all individuals (p<.01). In this study cortisol was independently associated to the presence of dementia.     

Undernutrition during suckling and latent learning ability of rehabilitated adult male rats

The present report investigates the effects of early undernutrition on the latent learning ability of rehabilitated adult male rats in a simple maze task. Rats were undernourished during suckling by feeding their dams an 8% casein diet. Well-nourished dams received a 25% casein diet during the same period. Rats were weaned at 21 days of age and nutritionally rehabilitated until they became adults, when behavioral task was conducted. Under a nonappetitive condition, rats were exposed either to an open field or to a maze apparatus. They were thereafter deprived of water and tested in the maze apparatus. Both well-nourished and undernourished rats that had been previously exposed to the maze performed better than those exposed to the open field. Nutritional treatment had no effect on performance of either the latent learning or of the open-field groups. These results suggest that rehabilitated adult rats are able to learn about the environment when no immediate reinforcement is involved. The discrepancy between our findings and results reported by others may be due to differences in task complexity and/or perhaps to the fact that nutritional rehabilitation also plays a role in reversing some of the deleterious effects of early undernutrition on learning ability of rats.