One of the enduring clinical issues in the assessment of plaintiffs in personal injury and workers' compensation claims, as well as applicants for social security and disablement benefits, is that of the evaluation of impairment and work incapacity. Many writers on this topic confuse the concepts of impairment and disability, and similar confusion is reflected in a number of the rating methods ...

BACKGROUND This study aimed to assess differences in Quality of Life (QoL) across eating disorder (ED) diagnoses, and to examine the relationship of QoL to specific clinical features. RESULTS 199 patients with a diagnosed ED completed the Clinical Impairment Assessment (CIA) [Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Eating Disorders, 315-318, 2008] and the Eating Disorders Examination (EDE) [Int J Eat ...

BACKGROUND Progressive MS is associated with a high frequency of cognitive impairment. However, it is not clear to what extent this reflects global dysfunction, or independent deficits in specific functions. OBJECTIVE To characterise patterns of cognitive impairment in progressive MS on a multi-dimensional cognitive assessment tool well established in neurodegenerative diseases. METHODS Pat...

Serious mental illness (SMI) results in functional disability that imposes a significant burden on individuals, caregivers, and society. Development of novel treatments is under way in an effort to improve the illness domains of cognitive impairment and negative symptoms and subsequently to improve functional outcomes. The assessment of functional outcomes in SMI faces a number of challenges, i...

Symptom validity tests (SVTs) are often used in neuropsychological assessment; however, recent studies indicate that cognitive impairment/dementia may contribute to failing scores on some effort tests. The purpose of this study was to characterize how individuals with Huntington disease (HD) perform on three SVTs and to examine the relationship between SVT performance and demographic and clinic...

Amnesia for serious offenses has important legal implications, particularly regarding its relevance in the contexts of competency to stand trial and criminal responsibility. Forensic psychiatrists and other mental health professionals are often required to provide expert testimony regarding amnesia in defendants. However, the diagnosis of amnesia presents a challenge, as claims of memory impair...

Physicians are frequently involved in the assessment of impairment and disability as the treating physician, in consultation, or as an independent medical examiner. The key elements of this assessment include a comprehensive clinical evaluation and appropriate standardized testing to establish the diagnosis, characterize the severity of impairment, and communicate the patient's abilities, restr...

Hundreds of syndromes may be associated with hearing impairment. Within recent years, there has been heightened research and clinical interest in hearing and syndromes, probably due to both advances in molecular genetics and improved techniques for auditory assessment of infants and young children. An example of the current appreciation for the possible relation between auditory dysfunction and...

purpose: the first step to manage motor impairment of upper limb in patients with subacute stroke is having an accurate assessment tool. the fugl-meyer assessment of upper extremity and 9-hole pegboard test are used to evaluate motor function and hand dexterity in stroke survivals. the present study aimed to investigate the test-retest reliability and minimal detectable change (mdc) in these tw...

Disturbances in cerebrovascular regulation in the form of diminished cerebral vasoreactivity (CVR) to carbon dioxide and an altered pressure autoregulatory response (PAR) are common after traumatic brain injury (TBI) and correlate with clinical outcome. Daily assessment of the state of cerebrovascular regulation may assist in the clinical management of TBI patients. This study examined 20 venti...