BACKGROUND The free fibula flap has become popular for mandibular reconstruction. The purpose of this study was to propose comprehensive functional assessments of the donor site. METHODS Thirty free fibula flaps for mandible reconstruction were prospectively enrolled in the study. Objective assessments included isokinetic testing of the ankle joint, electromyographic examination of the superf...

Minshew and Goldstein (1998) postulated that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a disorder of complex information processing. The current study was designed to investigate this hypothesis. Participants with and without ASD completed two scene perception tasks: a simple "spot the difference" task, where they had to say which one of a pair of pictures had a detail missing, and a complex "which one...

Changes in health, functional abilities, and behavior problems among 150 adults with Down syndrome and 240 adults with mental retardation due to other causes were examined with seven assessments over a 9-year period. Adults were primarily younger than 40, the age at which declines begin to be evident in individuals with Down syndrome. Adults with Down syndrome were advantaged in their functiona...

O ccupational therapists, physical therapists, nurses, social workers, psychologists, and physicians all share a common concern with promoting functional independence of their clients. In addition, members of each profession might administer functional assessments or implement interventions intended to enhance the functional independence of their clients. This often makes us uneasy or results i...

We sought to explore the relationship between two subjective falls-risk assessment tools (Falls Efficacy Scale-International [FES-I] and Activities-Specific Balance Confidence [ABC] Scale) and functional, health-related, and body composition characteristics. A total of 245 community-dwelling people aged 60 to 88 years underwent assessments for subjective falls risk (using the FES-I and ABC Scal...

OBJECTIVES To determine if mild cognitive impairment (MCI) represents a continuum of cognitive and functional deficits. METHODS Clinical data of 164 subjects with no dementia (ND, n = 52), uncertain dementia (n = 69), and mild probable Alzheimer's disease (AD, n = 43) were reviewed. Uncertain dementia patients were classified as pre-MCI (n = 11), early amnestic MCI (e-aMCI, n = 15) and late a...

Cruciate-retaining total knee arthroplasty has had high success rates but does not always have optimal functional outcomes. The purpose of this study was to compare 2 polyethylene inserts of varying constraint that were used in a new cruciate-retaining total knee arthroplasty design to determine whether differences were found in clinical or functional outcomes. The use of the newer cruciate-ret...

In the past two decades, structural and functional neuroimaging findings have greatly modified longstanding notions regarding the pathophysiology of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Neuroimaging studies have shown that anatomical and functional lesions spread beyond precentral cortices and corticospinal tracts, to include the corpus callosum; frontal, sensory, and premotor cortices; thalamu...

Volume 6, Number 2, Spring 2004, pages 67–82 Abstract: The passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act of 1990 mandated the provision of interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) under the age of 3 years. Although Strain, McGee, and Kohler (2001) suggested that children with autism benefit from inclusive programming, inclusive early intervention progra...

Clinical and laboratory assessments in rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis precede imaging methods in both defining diagnosis and determining response to therapy. Some assessments are similar in both diseases, e.g. measuring joint pain, the number of involved joints and functional impairment. There are also areas of difference; for example, rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic disease with im...