Development of a standardised Occupational Therapy--Driver Off-Road Assessment Battery to assess older and/or functionally impaired drivers.

Introduction: Research has been conducted over several years to develop a new off-road assessment battery referred to as the Occupational Therapy - Driver Off-Road Assessment Battery. This article documents the development of the Battery, and provides preliminary research evidence to support its content and predictive validity.

Methods: Literature reviews and a focus group with nine driver assessor occupational therapists were undertaken, as well as data collection using the Occupational Therapy - Driver Off-Road Assessment Battery with 246 clients.

Bony observations of some morphological variations and anomalies of the craniovertebral region.

Human skeletons (214) belonging to a South African black and white cadaver population were pooled and examined for malformations of the craniovertebral region. Four crania, presenting with various manifestations of an occipital vertebra, such as a paracondylar process, epicondylar process, hypocondylar arch, and a third condyle were identified as well as two crania showing various degrees of assimilation of the atlas to the basicranium. Of particular interest was the identification of a cloverleaf-shaped foramen magnum in a cranium of an individual with achondroplasia as well as a cranium with marked asymmetry of both foramen magnum and occipital condyles.

Osteophytosis of the cervical spine in South African blacks and whites.

Cervical vertebral columns (214) of adult human skeletons belonging to South African blacks and whites were examined for the presence of osteophytes. It was found that the cervical vertebrae of the black samples were significantly less affected by degenerative changes than in the whites. This finding has specific clinical implications in that the distribution of osteophytosis in the blacks also follows a different pattern than in the whites; osteophytes appear to affect either the vertebral body or apophysial joint facets in the cervical vertebrae of the blacks.

Anatomic variant of the median nerve in the carpal tunnel.

Forty-six hands of 23 cadavers (15 female and 8 male) were dissected to observe the patterns of distribution of the median nerve. The findings showed that in 33 hands the median nerve had a normal distribution of its branches. Also identified was the commonly recognized transligamentous variant, where the recurrent branch pierces the carpal ligament 2 to 4 mm proximal to the distal end of the carpal tunel.

Anatomical observations of the developmental and spondylotic cervical spinal canal in South African blacks and whites.

Cervical vertebral columns (214) of South African black and white cadaver populations were examined and measured to determine the mean midsagittal and transverse diameters of cervical vertebral foramina. Findings reveal that blacks have significantly narrower midsagittal and transverse diameters of their cervical vertebral foramina than do whites. The significance of the findings with particular regard to spondylosis is discussed in some detail.