Timing Differences Between Cued and Noncued Swallows in Healthy Young Adults.

Timing Differences Between Cued and Noncued Swallows in Healthy Young Adults.

Dysphagia. 2013 Mar 1;
Nagy A, Leigh C, Hori SF, Molfenter SM, Shariff T, Steele CM

Temporal parameters such as stage transition duration, bolus location at swallow onset, and pharyngeal transit time are often measured during videofluoroscopy, but these parameters may vary depending on assessment instructions. Specifically, “command” (cued) swallows have been observed to alter timing compared to spontaneous (noncued) situations in healthy older adults. The aim of our study was to confirm whether healthy young people show timing differences for thin liquid swallows between cued and noncued conditions. Twenty healthy young adults swallowed 10-cc boluses of ultrathin barium in videofluoroscopy. The cued condition was to hold the bolus in the mouth for 5 s before swallowing. Three noncued swallows were also recorded. In the cued condition, bolus advancement to the pyriform sinuses prior to swallow initiation was seen significantly less frequently. Stage transition durations showed a nonsignificant trend toward being shorter. Pharyngeal transit times and pharyngeal response time (a measure capturing the interval between hyoid movement onset and bolus clearance through the upper esophageal sphincter) were both significantly longer in the cued condition. Our study in healthy young adults confirms findings previously observed in older adults, namely, that swallow onset patterns and timing differ between cued and noncued conditions. In particular, bolus advancement to more distal locations in the pharynx at the time of swallow onset is seen more frequently in noncued conditions. This pattern should not be mistaken for impairment in swallow onset timing during swallowing assessment. HubMed – rehab

 

Decreased Physical Effort, Fatigue, and Mental Distress in Patients with Coronary Artery Disease: Importance of Personality-Related Differences.

Int J Behav Med. 2013 Feb 28;
Bunevicius A, Brozaitiene J, Staniute M, Gelziniene V, Duoneliene I, Pop VJ, Bunevicius R, Denollet J

BACKGROUND: Identification of cardio-toxic psychological symptoms in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients is important. PURPOSE: We examined the association of negative affectivity (NA), social inhibition (SI), and their combination in the distressed (Type D) personality with functional status, fatigue, and mental distress in CAD patients. METHOD: Following acute coronary syndrome, 690 consecutive CAD patients agreed to participate in this cross-sectional study and were evaluated for clinical characteristics, including left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and for NA, SI, and Type D personality (i.e., NA and SI; DS14 scale) when they entered a cardiac rehabilitation program in Lithuania. Patient-centered outcomes included functional status (bicycle ergometer), symptoms of fatigue (Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory-20), and mental distress (Beck Depression Inventory-II and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale). RESULTS: The reference subgroup (neither NA nor SI) included 34 % of patients; 13 % had NA only, 19 % had SI only, and 34 % had Type D profile. Type D patients had worse functional status, and Type D patients and NA-only patients had higher symptom levels of fatigue and mental distress. In multivariate regression models that included LVEF, clinical characteristics, and depressive symptoms, Type D personality was an independent predictor of decreased exercise capacity (OR?=?1.77, 95 % CI 1.06-2.95, p?=?.03) and decreased motivation for activity (OR?=?3.14, 95 % CI 1.73-5.73, p?HubMed – rehab

 

Becoming men: Gender, disability, and transitioning to adulthood.

Health (London). 2013 Mar 1;
Gibson BE, Mistry B, Smith B, Yoshida KK, Abbott D, Lindsay S, Hamdani Y

Children and youth with progressive conditions are living longer, and there is increased interest in designing programs that will assist them with “transitioning” to adulthood. Almost none of the transitions research to date, however, has attended to the experiences of disabled boys in “becoming men,” nor has there been critical conceptual work problematizing notions of “normal” adulthood or theorizing the complex, diverse, and gendered experiences of transitioning. In this Canadian study, we investigated the intersectionality of gender, disability, and emerging adulthood with 15 young men with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Participants created audio diaries and photographs that were explored in in-depth interviews. Using a Bourdieusian lens and Arthur Frank’s notion of the narrative habitus, we examined how participants re/negotiated identities in everyday practices. Our analysis suggested that disability, masculinities, and generational (life stage) identities intersected through “narratives of nondifference,” wherein participants worked to establish identities as typical “guys.” Within limited fields of school and work, participants distanced themselves from the label of “disabled” and discussed their successes and challenges in terms of normative developmental trajectories. We suggest that the pursuit of “normal” is reproduced and reinforced in health and social programs and closes off other narratives and possibilities. HubMed – rehab

 

Association between ultrasound measurements of muscle thickness, pennation angle, echogenicity and skeletal muscle strength in the elderly.

Age (Dordr). 2013 Mar 2;
Strasser EM, Draskovits T, Praschak M, Quittan M, Graf A

The increase of elderly in our society requires simple tools for quantification of sarcopenia in inpatient and outpatient settings. The aim of this study was to compare parameters determined with musculoskeletal ultrasound (M-US) with muscle strength in young and elderly patients. In this prospective, randomised and observer blind study, 26 young (24.2?±?3.7 years) and 26 old (age 67.8?±?4.8 years) patients were included. Muscle thickness, pennation angle and echogenicity of all muscles of musculus quadriceps were measured by M-US and correlated with isometric maximum voluntary contraction force (MVC) of musculus quadriceps. Reproducibility of M-US measurements as well as simple and multiple regression models were calculated. Of all measured M-US variables the highest reproducibility was found for measurements of thickness (intraclass correlation coefficients, 85-97 %). Simple regression analysis showed a highly significant correlation of thickness measurements of all muscles of musculus quadriceps with MVC in the elderly and in the young. Multiple regression analysis revealed that thickness of musculus vastus medialis had the best correlation with MVC in the elderly. This study showed that measurement of muscle thickness, especially of musculus vastus medialis, by M-US is a reliable, bedside method for monitoring the extent of sarcopenia. HubMed – rehab