Associations between white matter integrity and postural control in adults with traumatic brain injury.

Abnormalities of postural sway have been extensively reported in traumatic brain injury (TBI). However, the underlying neural correlates of balance disturbances in TBI remain to be elucidated. Studies in children with TBI have reported associations between the Sensory Organization Test (SOT) and measures of white matter (WM) integrity with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in brain areas responsible for multisensory integration.

Linking Free Text Documentation of Functioning and Disability to the ICF With Natural Language Processing.

Background: Invaluable information on patient functioning and the complex interactions that define it is recorded in free text portions of the Electronic Health Record (EHR). Leveraging this information to improve clinical decision-making and conduct research requires natural language processing (NLP) technologies to identify and organize the information recorded in clinical documentation.

Methods: We used natural language processing methods to analyze information about patient functioning recorded in two collections of clinical documents pertaining to claims for federal disability benefits from the U.

Simple and economical HandClench Relaxometer device for reliable and sensitive measurement of grip myotonia in myotonic dystrophy.

Grip myotonia and weakness are attractive treatment response biomarkers in clinical trials of myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1). There is a need to develop simple, patient-friendly and reproducible methods of quantifying grip myotonia in multisite trial settings. We designed a HandClench Relaxometer (HCR) that measures grip myotonia and strength.

A comprehensive study of mobility functioning information in clinical notes: Entity hierarchy, corpus annotation, and sequence labeling.

Background: Secondary use of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) has mostly focused on health conditions (diseases and drugs). Function is an important health indicator in addition to morbidity and mortality. Nevertheless, function has been overlooked in accessing patients' health status.

Motor ability, function, and health-related quality of life as correlates of symptom burden in patients with sclerotic chronic graft-versus-host disease receiving imatinib mesylate.

Purpose: To explore improvement in motor ability, function, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and symptom severity in patients with sclerotic chronic graft-versus-host disease (ScGVHD) in response to treatment as well as the relationship among changes on such measures.

Methods: This study was a secondary analysis of data from 13 individuals with severe ScGVHD enrolled in a clinical trial evaluating the efficacy of imatinib mesylate (clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT00702689).

Broadening horizons: the case for capturing function and the role of health informatics in its use.

Background: Human activity and the interaction between health conditions and activity is a critical part of understanding the overall function of individuals. The World Health Organization's International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) models function as all aspects of an individual's interaction with the world, including organismal concepts such as individual body structures, functions, and pathologies, as well as the outcomes of the individual's interaction with their environment, referred to as activity and participation. Function, particularly activity and participation outcomes, is an important indicator of health at both the level of an individual and the population level, as it is highly correlated with quality of life and a critical component of identifying resource needs.

Psychosocial Characteristics of Women with a Delayed Diagnosis of Turner Syndrome.

Objectives: To characterize the psychosocial profiles of adult women diagnosed with Turner syndrome before (early diagnosis) and at or after (late diagnosis) 13 years of age.

Study Design: Women with Turner syndrome ages 22 and older at evaluation (n = 110) participated in a cross-sectional study at the National Institutes of Health. Researchers performed nonparametric and logistic regression analyses to assess early and late diagnosis cohorts on measures of depression, substance use, and perceptions of competence and identity.

Descriptive Analysis of Spinal Neuroaxial Injections, Surgical Interventions, and Physical Therapy Utilization for Degenerative Lumbar Spondylolisthesis Within Medicare Beneficiaries from 2000 to 2011.

Study Design: A retrospective, observational study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the utilization of various treatment modalities in the management of degenerative spondylolisthesis within Medicare beneficiaries.

Summary Of Background Data: Degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis is a condition often identified in symptomatic low back pain.

First in line: prioritizing receipt of Social Security disability benefits based on likelihood of death during adjudication.

Background: Given the complexity of the adjudication process and volume of applications to Social Security Administration's (SSA) disability programs, many individuals with serious medical conditions die while awaiting an application decision. Limitations of traditional survival methods called for a new empirical approach to identify conditions resulting in rapid mortality.

Objective: To identify health conditions associated with significantly higher mortality than a key reference group among applicants for SSA disability programs.

Conceptualizing disability in US national surveys: application of the World Health Organization's (WHO) International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) framework.

Purpose: Disability data inform resource allocation and utilization, characterize functioning and changes over time, and provide a mechanism to monitor progress toward promoting and protecting the rights of individuals with disability. Data collection efforts, however, define and measure disability in varied ways. Our objective was to see how the content of disability measures differed in five US national surveys and over time.

Feasibility study of home care wound management using telemedicine.

Objective: Evaluate the effectiveness of telemedicine (TM) with digital cameras in treating wounds in a home care setting.

Design: Randomized controlled study.

Participants And Setting: One hundred three subjects with 160 pressure ulcers (PrUs) or nonhealing surgical wounds referred to a metropolitan Visiting Nurse Agency.

Health and housing among low-income adults with physical disabilities.

The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of living environment on the health and access to health care of low-income working-age adults with physical disabilities. We conducted focus groups of participants with physical disabilities in the District of Columbia living in each of three housing situations (a homeless shelter, a nursing home, and an inaccessible house or apartment). Twenty-eight people participated in the focus groups.

Consumer evaluation of a disability care coordination organization.

Disability care coordination organizations (DCCOs) arrange comprehensive, disability-competent social and medical services for people with disabilities. This study used consumer ratings of access and quality to measure outcomes in one of the first operational DCCOs over a three-year period. Working-age Medicaid adults with physical disabilities reported statistically significant improvements in service coordination, patient education, system-wide disability competency, comprehensive assessment, health visit support, and self-direction of care.

The SCI Exercise Self-Efficacy Scale (ESES): development and psychometric properties.

Background: Rising prevalence of secondary conditions among persons with spinal cord injury (SCI) has focused recent attention to potential health promotion programs designed to reduce such adverse health conditions. A healthy lifestyle for people with SCI, including and specifically, the adoption of a vigorous exercise routine, has been shown to produce an array of health benefits, prompting many providers to recommend the implementation of such activity to those with SCI. Successfully adopting such an exercise regimen however, requires confidence in one's ability to engage in exercise or exercise self-efficacy.

Secondary conditions in spinal cord injury: results from a prospective survey.

Study Design: Prospective, self-report mail survey with two points of measurement one year apart.

Objectives: To determine significant predictors of pressure ulcers (PU) and urinary tract infections (UTI) in adults with spinal cord injury (SCI) over 2 years.

Setting: Non-institutionalized adults with SCI living in the United States of America.