Optimizing the ULV-VFQ for Clinical Use Through Item Set Reduction: Psychometric Properties and Trade-Offs.

Purpose: We examine the dimensionality of the 150-item visual functioning questionnaire for individuals with ultralow vision (ULV-VFQ) and develop representative abbreviated versions, facilitating clinical use, while retaining compatibility with a 17-item performance assessment.

Methods: Subsets with 50 and 23 items covering the full difficulty range were selected, with evenly spaced item measures (IMs) and good representation of visual aspects and functional domains. Person measures (PMs) for the anchored subsets were derived through Rasch analysis of data from 80 respondents.

Development of the Ultra-Low Vision Visual Functioning Questionnaire (ULV-VFQ).

Purpose: To develop and psychometrically evaluate a visual functioning questionnaire (VFQ) in an ultra-low vision (ULV) population.

Methods: Questionnaire items, based on visual activities self-reported by a ULV population, were categorized by functional visual domain (e.g.

Living with Ultra-Low Vision: An Inventory of Self-Reported Visually Guided Activities by Individuals with Profound Visual Impairment.

Purpose: To understand how individuals with profound visual impairment (ultra-low vision, ULV) use their remaining vision.

Methods: Forty-six participants with ULV (visual acuity ≤ 200/500 in the better seeing eye) were divided into nine focus groups (4-6 individuals per group) and met either in person ( = 2) or over the phone ( = 7). Discussions were guided by the Massof Activity Inventory.

Yoga as a Therapeutic Intervention: A Bibliometric Analysis of Published Research Studies from 1967 to 2013.

Objective: A comprehensive bibliometric analysis was conducted on publications for yoga therapy research in clinical populations.

Methods: Major electronic databases were searched for articles in all languages published between 1967 and 2013. Databases included PubMed, PsychInfo, MEDLINE, IndMed, Indian Citation Index, Index Medicus for South-East Asia Region, Web of Knowledge, Embase, EBSCO, and Google Scholar.

Ashtanga-Based Yoga Therapy Increases the Sensory Contribution to Postural Stability in Visually-Impaired Persons at Risk for Falls as Measured by the Wii Balance Board: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: Persons with visual impairment (VI) are at greater risk for falls due to irreparable damage to visual sensory input contributing to balance. Targeted training may significantly improve postural stability by strengthening the remaining sensory systems. Here, we evaluate the Ashtanga-based Yoga Therapy (AYT) program as a multi-sensory behavioral intervention to develop postural stability in VI.

Intra-session test-retest reliability of magnitude and structure of center of pressure from the Nintendo Wii Balance Board™ for a visually impaired and normally sighted population.

Individuals with visual impairment (VI) have irreparable damage to one of the input streams contributing to postural stability. Here, we evaluated the intra-session test-retest reliability of the Wii Balance Board (WBB) for measuring Center of Pressure (COP) magnitude and structure, i.e.

A systematic review of yoga for balance in a healthy population.

Objective: A systematic review was done of the evidence on yoga for improving balance.

Design: Relevant articles and reviews were identified in major databases (PubMed, MEDLINE(®), IndMed, Web of Knowledge, EMBASE, EBSCO, Science Direct, and Google Scholar), and their reference lists searched. Key search words were yoga, balance, proprioception, falling, fear of falling, and falls.

Evaluation of the benefits of a kripalu yoga program for police academy trainees: a pilot study.

Background: Law enforcement ranks as one of the most stressful occupations in the world. Yoga is a mind-body practice composed of postures, breathing, and meditation techniques, and is known for its beneficial effects on stress and mood disturbance.

Objectives: This pilot study evaluated the effects of Kripalu yoga on perceived stress, mood, and mindfulness during police academy training.

Specificity of perceptual learning increases with increased training.

Perceptual learning often shows substantial and long-lasting changes in the ability to classify relevant perceptual stimuli due to practice. Specificity to trained stimuli and tasks is a key characteristic of visual perceptual learning, but little is known about whether specificity depends upon the extent of initial training. Using an orientation discrimination task, we demonstrate that specificity follows after extensive training, while the earliest stages of perceptual learning exhibit substantial transfer to a new location and an opposite orientation.

Task precision at transfer determines specificity of perceptual learning.

Perceptual learning, the improvement in performance with practice, reflects plasticity in the adult visual system. We challenge a standard claim that specificity of perceptual learning depends on task difficulty during training, instead showing that specificity, or conversely transfer, is primarily controlled by the precision demands (i.e.