Brief ICF Core Set for patients in geriatric post-acute rehabilitation facilities.

Objective: To identify candidate categories for International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Core Sets for the reporting and clinical measurement of functioning in older patients in early post-acute rehabilitation facilities.

Design: Prospective multi-centre cohort study.

Patients: Older patients receiving rehabilitation interventions in early post-acute rehabilitation facilities.

Validation of the comprehensive ICF Core Set for patients in geriatric post-acute rehabilitation facilities.

Objective: To examine the relevance and completeness of the comprehensive International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Core Set for patients in geriatric post-acute rehabilitation facilities.

Design: Multi-centre cohort study.

Patients: A total of 209 patients (67% female, mean age 80.

Patients' functioning as predictor of nursing workload in acute hospital units providing rehabilitation care: a multi-centre cohort study.

Background: Management decisions regarding quality and quantity of nurse staffing have important consequences for hospital budgets. Furthermore, these management decisions must address the nursing care requirements of the particular patients within an organizational unit. In order to determine optimal nurse staffing needs, the extent of nursing workload must first be known.

Criteria for validating comprehensive ICF Core Sets and developing brief ICF Core Set versions.

Objective: To describe the empirical processes used to (i) validate the comprehensive International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Core Sets, and (ii) develop brief ICF Core Sets from the ICF Categories of these more comprehensive ICF Core Sets.

Design: Prospective multi-centre cohort study.

Patients: PATIENTS receiving rehabilitation interventions for musculoskeletal, neurological or cardiopulmonary injury or disease in acute hospitals or early post-acute rehabilitation facilities.

Latent Class Factor Analysis of the Functional Independence Measure confirmed four distinct dimensions in patients undergoing neurological rehabilitation.

Aim: The FIM instrument is broadly applied in varying rehabilitation services for outcome assessment. Thus, it is important to examine its applicability for services which may differ from the situations and patients for which it was originally developed. The aims of the present study were to examine 1) whether the four FIM dimensions "activities of daily living", "sphincter management", "mobility", and "executive function" can be retrieved by Latent Class Factor Analysis (LCFA); and 2) whether the four dimensions show floor effects in patients with acquired brain injuries undergoing intensive post-acute rehabilitation.

Intervention goals determine physical therapists' workload in the acute care setting.

Background: Investigating determinants of physical therapy workload in the acute care setting is essential for planning interventions, for justifying resource allocation, and for reimbursement.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine whether International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) intervention goals (ICF categories representing goals of physical therapy interventions typical for an acute care hospital) could predict physical therapy workload in the acute care hospital setting.

Design: This investigation was a multicenter, observational cohort study.

Combined application of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health and the NANDA-International Taxonomy II.

Aim: This paper presents a discussion of the conceptual and practical relationships between the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health and the NANDA-International Taxonomy II for nursing diagnoses, and their use in nursing practice.

Background: The ICF provides a common classification framework for all healthcare professionals, including nurses. Nursing care plans can be broadly based on NANDA-I taxonomies.

[The gastric bypass banding for morbid obesity in a patient with situs inversus].

The gastric bypass is a good option in the therapy of morbid obesity. Nevertheless, it must be considered the rare condition as occurred in a patient with previous abdominal surgery with Situs Inversus Totalis. A 24 year-old male patient with body mass index of 40 Kg/ m(2), multiple dietary failures, and arterial hypertension as co-morbidities, with a anterior paramedial right incision due to a previous appendicectomy (8 years ago).

[Introduction to the international classification of functioning, disability and health (ICF)].

The WHO International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) allows a standardized description of functioning and disability based on individual and contextual factors. The ICF adopts a biopsychosocial model of disability and functioning and is complementary to the ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases). For its implementation in clinical practice ICF-based instruments, such as the ICF core sets were developed in a standardized scientific process.

[Using the international classification of functioning, disability and health (ICF) in trauma care].

The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) provides a comprehensive and structured treatment management and outcome evaluation in trauma care based on specific ICF core sets and the ICF-based Rehab-CYCLE. The Rehab-CYCLE allows the problem-based assessment of functioning in a multi-professional team under physician-guidance and the definition of long-term, intervention and cycle goals. Defined intervention goals are assigned to the appropriate intervention principles and techniques as well as the specific evaluation instruments.

[Systematic review of measurement instruments and concepts used for functioning outcome in multiple trauma].

Multiple trauma and injuries are the main causes for mortality and long term disability in the younger population under 50 years old. Monitoring patient-relevant long term consequences after an acute event is therefore of high importance. However, there is no systematic overview on the assessment instruments and their concepts used to monitor long term outcome of multiple trauma.

ABA perception and signalling.

Plant productivity is continuously challenged by pathogen attack and abiotic stress such as drought and salt stress. The phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) is a key endogenous messenger in plants' responses to such stresses and understanding ABA signalling is essential for improving plant performance in the future. Since the discovery of ABA as a leaf abscission- and seed dormancy-promoting sesquiterpenoid in the 1960s, our understanding of the action of the phytohormone ABA has come a long way.

Functioning and health in patients with cancer on home-parenteral nutrition: a qualitative study.

Background: Malnutrition is a common problem in patients with cancer. One possible strategy to prevent malnutrition and further deterioration is to administer home-parenteral nutrition (HPN). While the effect on survival is still not clear, HPN presumably improves functioning and quality of life.

Guard cell anion channel SLAC1 is regulated by CDPK protein kinases with distinct Ca2+ affinities.

In response to drought stress, the phytohormone abscisic acid (ABA) induces stomatal closure. Thereby the stress hormone activates guard cell anion channels in a calcium-dependent, as well as -independent, manner. Open stomata 1 protein kinase (OST1) and ABI1 protein phosphatase (ABA insensitive 1) represent key components of calcium-independent ABA signaling.

A cross-sectional study of the psychosexual impact of cancer-related infertility in women: third-party reproductive assistance.

Introduction: This study empirically assessed emotional and sexual functioning, reproductive concerns, and quality of life (QOL) of cancer-related infertile women in comparison to those without a cancer history and explored awareness of third-party reproduction options in cancer survivors.

Methods: One hundred twenty-two cancer survivors (Gynecologic and Bone Marrow/Stem Cell Transplant) with cancer-related infertility and 50 non-cancer infertile women completed a self-report survey assessing: reproductive concerns (RCS), mood (CES D), distress (IES), sexual function (FSFI), menopause (SCL), QOL (SF 12), relationships (ADAS), and exploratory (reproductive options) items.

Results: Cancer survivors exhibited greater sexual dysfunction and lower physical QOL than non-cancer infertile women (P < 0.

Cytosolic action of phytochelatin synthase.

Glutathionylation of compounds is an important reaction in the detoxification of electrophilic xenobiotics and in the biosynthesis of endogenous molecules. The glutathione conjugates (GS conjugates) are further processed by peptidic cleavage reactions. In animals and plants, gamma-glutamyl transpeptidases initiate the turnover by removal of the glutamate residue from the conjugate.

Understanding human functioning using graphical models.

Background: Functioning and disability are universal human experiences. However, our current understanding of functioning from a comprehensive perspective is limited. The development of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) on the one hand and recent developments in graphical modeling on the other hand might be combined and open the door to a more comprehensive understanding of human functioning.

Incremental cost-effectiveness analysis of a multidisciplinary renal education program for patients with chronic renal disease.

Aim: The aim of this economic evaluation is to address the economic impact of a multidisciplinary renal patient education on the work maintenance of patients with chronic renal disease.

Method: A total of 281 patients were recruited. An incremental cost-effectiveness analysis considering direct medical costs and days in the work force was performed.

Dissection of glutathione conjugate turnover in yeast.

Xenobiotics are widely used as pesticides. The detoxification of xenobiotics frequently involves conjugation to glutathione prior to compartmentalization and catabolism. In plants, degradation of glutathione-S-conjugates is initiated either by aminoterminal or carboxyterminal amino acid cleavage catalyzed by a gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase and phytochelatin synthase, respectively.

Expression of the Arabidopsis mutant ABI1 gene alters abscisic acid sensitivity, stomatal development, and growth morphology in gray poplars.

The consequences of altered abscisic acid (ABA) sensitivity in gray poplar (Populus x canescens [Ait.] Sm.) development were examined by ectopic expression of the Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) mutant abi1 (for abscisic acid insensitive1) gene.

Closely related receptor complexes differ in their ABA selectivity and sensitivity.

The recent discovery of a variety of receptors has led to new models for hormone perception in plants. In the case of the hormone abscisic acid (ABA), which regulates plant responses to abiotic stress, perception seems to occur both at the plasma membrane and in the cytosol. The cytosolic receptors for ABA have recently been identified as complexes between protein phosphatases 2C (PP2C) and regulatory components (RCAR/PYR/PYL) that bind ABA.

Graphical models illustrated complex associations between variables describing human functioning.

Objective: To examine whether graphical modeling is a potentially useful method for the study of human functioning using data collected by means of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF).

Study Design And Setting: The applicability of the method was examined in a convenience sample of 616 patients from a cross-sectional multicentric study undergoing early postacute rehabilitation. Functioning was qualified using 115 second-level ICF categories.

Regulators of PP2C phosphatase activity function as abscisic acid sensors.

The plant hormone abscisic acid (ABA) acts as a developmental signal and as an integrator of environmental cues such as drought and cold. Key players in ABA signal transduction include the type 2C protein phosphatases (PP2Cs) ABI1 and ABI2, which act by negatively regulating ABA responses. In this study, we identify interactors of ABI1 and ABI2 which we have named regulatory components of ABA receptor (RCARs).

Are GTGs ABA's biggest fans?

The search for receptors for abscisic acid (ABA), a phytohormone central to the response of plants to biotic and abiotic stress, has been controversial. In this issue, Pandey et al. (2009) report the identification of two membrane proteins from Arabidopsis, GTG1 and GTG2, that bind ABA in vitro and mediate ABA responses in vivo.

Scales could be developed based on simple clinical ratings of International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health Core Set categories.

Objective: The aim of the study was to examine whether clinical ratings of International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health categories can be integrated into parametric scales, which provide a reliable estimation of specified patient problems and rehabilitation goals using the example of mobility of the upper and lower extremities in the acute hospital situation.

Study Design And Setting: Psychometrical study based on data from a prospective multicentric cohort study in patients with musculoskeletal conditions in the acute hospital.

Results: Two hundred thirty-four patients were included (mean age 56, 50% female.