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Objective Investigation (objective + investigation)
Selected AbstractsObjective investigation of the sleep,wake cycle in adults with intellectual disabilities and autistic spectrum disordersJOURNAL OF INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY RESEARCH, Issue 10 2006D. J. Hare Abstract Background Disturbances in circadian rhythm functioning, as manifest in abnormal sleep,wake cycles, have been postulated to be present in people with autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs). To date, research into the sleep,wake cycle in people with ASDs has been primarily dependant on third-party data collection. Method The utilization of non-invasive objective recording technologies such as actigraphy permits investigation of both sleep and circadian rhythm functioning in people with ASDs, together with the collection of data on daytime activity. Results Data were collected from 31 participants with intellectual disabilities living in supported community-based residential provision aged between 20 and 58 years, of whom 14 had an ASD. Analysis indicated that there were no significant differences in sleep patterns and circadian rhythm function between those participants with an ASD and those without. Conclusions The mean scores of the participants as a whole indicated abnormalities in the two key circadian rhythm parameters of interdaily stability and intradaily variability. The implications of these findings for both clinical practice and theory are discussed. [source] On mental events, disciplinary boundaries, and reductionism: A reply to PlaudJOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 9 2001Stephen S. Ilardi Plaud's (2001) radical behavioral manifesto suggests that a psychological science based exclusively upon the study of environment-behavior functional contingencies would yield a discipline unencumbered by mentalism, vaguely delineated disciplinary boundaries, or inappropriate reductionism. In reply, we note that: (a) mental events,e.g., thoughts and feelings,are increasingly accessible to objective investigation, and provide an observable proximal causal mechanism for the environmental selection of behavior; (b) the call for pristine disciplinary boundaries is anachronistic, inasmuch as progress in the natural sciences has engendered disciplinary boundaries that are increasingly porous; (c) cognitive neuroscience facilitates a comprehensive understanding of complex human behavior by mapping out the relationship between such behavior and underlying brain events, thereby engaging in an appropriate form of reductionism (constitutive reductionism) that has become a hallmark of the natural sciences; and (d) ironically, it is radical behaviorism, in its disavowal of the informational level of complexity instantiated in brain events, that engages in inappropriate eliminative reductionism (i.e., reducing neural information to "nothing but" its underlying bring states). © 2001 Jo n Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Psychol 57: 1103,1107, 2001. [source] Frequency of work-related respiratory symptoms in workers without asthmaAMERICAN JOURNAL OF INDUSTRIAL MEDICINE, Issue 6 2009Samah Chiry MD Abstract Background Clinicians are faced with subjects complaining of work-related respiratory symptoms (WRS) without any evidence of asthma. We sought to assess the prevalence of subjects with WRS without asthma in a cohort of workers referred for possible work-related asthma (WRA) as well as compare the characteristics and the work environment of subjects with WRS to subjects with WRA. Methods A prospective observational study of workers referred for possible WRA over a 1-year period. Detailed medical and occupational questionnaires were administered. Pulmonary function tests as well as specific-inhalation challenges were performed. Results One hundred twenty workers were investigated. Fifty-one had WRA while 69 had WRS. The type and the severity of the respiratory symptoms were similar in both groups, except for wheezing which was more frequently reported in subjects with WRA (32 (62.7%)) than in subjects with WRS (16 (23.2%)) (P,<,0.01). Both the workers with WRS and WRA were mainly employed in the manufacturing sector (64.7% (WRA) and 71% (WRS)). At the time of the first assessment 64.7% of subjects with WRA and 56.5% with WRS had left their workplace because of their bothersome respiratory symptoms. Conclusions Subjects with WRS without asthma represent a large proportion of the subjects assessed in clinics specialized in the field of WRA. Like subjects with WRA, the population with WRS is likely to represent a significant medical burden. The similarity of the symptoms between the WRA and the WRS groups emphasizes the need to perform a thorough and objective investigation to diagnose WRA. Am. J. Ind. Med. 52:447,454, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Changes in hip spasticity and strength following selective dorsal rhizotomy and physical therapy for spastic cerebral palsyDEVELOPMENTAL MEDICINE & CHILD NEUROLOGY, Issue 4 2002Jack R Engsberg PhD Hip adductor spasticity and strength in participants with cerebral palsy (CP) were quantified before and after selective dorsal rhizotomy (SDR) and intensive physical therapy. Twenty-four participants with cerebral palsy (CP group) and 35 non-disabled participants (ND controls) were tested with a dynamometer (CP group: mean age 8 years 5 months, 13 males, 11 females; ND group: mean age 8 years 6 months, 19 males, 16 females). According to the Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS), of the 24 participants with CP, eight were at level I, six were at level II, and 10 participants were at level III. For the spasticity measure, the dynamometer quantified the resistive torque of the hip adductors during passive abduction at 4 speeds. The adductor strength test recorded a maximum concentric contraction. CP group spasticity was significantly reduced following SDR and adductor strength was significantly increased after surgery. Both pre- and postoperative values remained significantly less than the ND controls. Spasticity results agreed with previous studies indicating a reduction. Strength results conflicted with previous literature subjectively reporting a decrease following SDR. However, results agreed with previous objective investigations examining knee and ankle strength, suggesting strength did not decrease following SDR. [source] | ||||||||||