What rehabilitation counselors should know to assist Social Security beneficiaries in becoming employed.

The 1999 Ticket to Work and Work Incentive Improvement Act (TTWWIIA) has opened new employment opportunities for vocational rehabilitation professionals. The legislation minimized longstanding disincentives in the return to work efforts of beneficiaries collecting Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI). Although some of these key disincentives have been eliminated, rehabilitation counselors working with this population will find some interesting new challenges posed by this population.

The impact of diabetes on adult employment and earnings of Mexican Americans: findings from a community based study.

Epidemiological studies indicate that minority populations in the US - including African Americans, Native Americans and Mexican Americans - are particularly at risk for diabetes and that their complications are more frequent and severe. Using microdata from a 1994-1999 population based study of middle aged and older Mexican Americans in the Southwest, this study analyzes the impact of diabetes on the employment and earnings outcomes of adults 45 years of age and older. The empirical results from estimating maximum likelihood employment and earnings models suggest that diabetes leads to lower productivity and earnings for women but has no statistically significant impact on their employment probability.

Determinants of coping responses among Mexican American adolescents.

This study examined relationships among perceived stress, self-esteem, acculturation, and gender with the coping response of 472 Mexican American adolescents aged 14 to 16 years. Subjects were drawn from a predominantly Mexican American population located in the Lower Rio Grande Valley region of Texas. Data were collected through a self-report instrument consisting of perceived stress, acculturative status, self-esteem, and coping strategy scales.

Relativistic calculations using Monte Carlo methods: one-electron systems.

Variance minimization and Monte Carlo integration are used to evaluate the four-component Dirac equation for a number of one-electron atomic and diatomic systems. This combination produces accurate energies, is relatively simple to implement, and exhibits few of the problems associated with traditional techniques.

Taking your medicine: relational steps to improving patient compliance.

Patient non-compliance with physicians' instructions is a major problem that costs billions of dollars each year. This study supports a significant role for communication, both as a form of information exchange and social support, and participative decision-making in improving patient compliance. These results, based on structural equation modeling, also support the interaction of communication and participative decision-making positively affecting compliance.

Influence of microgravity on ultrastructure and storage reserves in seeds of Brassica rapa L.

Successful plant reproduction under spaceflight conditions has been problematic in the past. During a 122 d opportunity on the Mir space station, full life cycles of Brassica rapa L. were completed in microgravity in a series of three experiments in the Svet greenhouse.

Penis size: Survey of female perceptions of sexual satisfaction.

BACKGROUND: Does the size of the male penis, in terms of length or width, make a difference in female sexual satisfaction? METHOD: To study the effect of penis width vs. length on female sexual satisfaction, 50 sexually active female undergraduate students were asked which felt better, i. e.

Prevalence of diabetes mellitus and related conditions in a south Texas Mexican American sample.

The prevalence of self-reported diabetes mellitus in a Mexican American sample population living in Hidalgo County in south Texas was examined along with risk for related sequelae. Data from a stratified random sample of 849 Mexican American men and women ages 45 and older were examined. A subsample of 193 diabetics was compared to 656 nondiabetics with respect to hospitalization, reasons for hospitalization, and other related medical conditions.

Comparison of palm and mixtures of refined palm and soybean oils on serum lipids and fecal fat and fatty acid excretions of adult humans.

The effects of palm (P) and mixtures of palm and soybean (PS), palmolein and soybean (POS), palmstearin and soybean (PSS) oils on serum lipids and fecal fat and fatty acid excretions of humans were studied. Each oil was the dominant fat in diets consumed by ten normolipidemic live-in individuals. Test diets were assigned by randomization.

Perspectives on faculty clinical practice: views of occupational therapy curriculum chairpersons and faculty members.

Objective: This study investigated whether and how faculty clinical practice (FCP) was being implemented in occupational therapy professional education programs.

Method: Chairpersons and faculty members from all accredited entry-level occupational therapy curricula in the United States were asked to complete questionnaires about their involvement in FCP. The chairperson questionnaire consisted of primarily closed-ended questions that addressed the organization of faculty practice within their programs, whereas the faculty questionnaire was primarily open-ended and addressed faculty members' individual involvement in FCP as well as the perceived benefits and drawbacks.

Performance of children with and without learning disabilities on Canter's Background Interference Procedure and Koppitz's scoring system for the Bender test.

Performance of 66 children, 30 with and 36 without learning disabilities, in four ways using the Bender Visual-motor Gestalt Test was compared. First, the test with the standard Koppitz scoring procedure, second with the Canter Background Interference Procedure sheet using the standard Koppitz scoring procedure; third, the Bender test on a standard sheet of paper using Canter scoring procedure; and fourth, the Canter Background Interference Procedure (BIP) sheet using the Canter scoring procedure. The effectiveness of the Canter procedure was examined when scored with an age-appropriate normative scoring system.

A follow-up study of seven siblings with unusual sound preferences.

This is a follow-up descriptive study of seven siblings, ranging in age from 6 to 14 years who had never attended school or received speech therapy until these ages. Five of the seven siblings, along with their parents, and paternal grandmother were located in the Spring of 1997. All siblings have achieved normal weight and stature.

Memory representation of alphabetic position and interval information.

The authors conducted 3 sets of experiments. In the 1st set of experiments, participants made alphabetic position estimations. In the 2nd set, participants made interletter distance estimations.

Glutathione S-transferase of goat lens: evidence for expression of only class mu isoenzymes.

Purpose: It has been suggested that glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) of the mammalian ocular lens detoxify various toxicants and cataractogens; therefore, it provides protection against cataractogenesis. In this study the GST isoenzymes of goat lens have been purified and characterized.

Methods: The goat lens homogenate was subjected to affinity chromatography over GSH-linked epoxy activated Sepharose 6B.

Statistical and clinical evaluation of the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale-Spanish adaptation: an initial investigation.

The usefulness of the Mattis Dementia Rating Scale (MDRS) for Spanish dominant elderly adults has seen little empirical documentation, though there is considerable reason to hypothesize its value with this diverse and growing population. A Spanish adaptation of the MDRS (MDRS-SA) was developed for the present study in a manner to facilitate linguistic equivalence. Reliability for the MDRS-SA showed high split half internal consistency across all scales and Total Score.

Serum phenytoin levels of patients on gastrostomy tube feeding.

Serum phenytoin levels of two groups of brain-injured patients on gastrostomy tube (GT) feeding were retrospectively examined. In the first group (group C = clamped, n = 13), GT was clamped for one hour after the phenytoin dose (2-3 doses per day), and in the second group (group NC = not clamped, n = 9) GT feedings were continued without interruption. Mean +/- SD of the serum phenytoin levels was 14.

Why is the alphabetically middle letter in a multiletter array so hard to determine? Memory processes in linear-order information processing.

In 3 experiments, participants identified target letters in multiletter strings of different interletter steps. Results show that the alphabetically extreme targets in the arrays (A or C in BCA) were consistently identified faster than were the interior letters, with the alphabetically middle target (B in BCA) identified most slowly. Distance effects were not consistent across different targets.

Description of phonological patterns for nineteen elementary-age children with hearing losses.

The speech productions of 19 hard of hearing children between 5 and 12 years of age were examined for errors related to phonological process categories. For comparison, the subjects were divided into groups of 9 with Profound and 10 with Moderate to Severe hearing losses. There was a significant relationship between hearing loss and phonological errors.

Preferential overexpression of a class MU glutathione S-transferase subunit in mouse liver by myristicin.

The present studies were undertaken to elucidate the mechanism of induction of glutathione S-transferase (GST) in mouse liver by myristicin, an active constituent of parsley leaf. A/J albino mice, given 5 to 50 mg doses of myristicin, showed 4- to 14-fold increase in liver GST specific activity over the control. GST purified from equal amounts of control and myristicin-treated livers indicated a marked increase in the GST activity.

Stress and social support among Hispanic student nurses: implications for academic achievement.

This article describes two studies examining the effects of stress and social support on the academic achievement of Hispanic associate degree nursing students. The first study investigated stress, measured by the Life Experiences Survey (LES), and its relationship to academic achievement. Data analysis revealed a relationship between negative stress and academic achievement.

Body image perception in female Mexican-American adolescents.

This study examined the relationship of body image perception to self-esteem, physical activity involvement, and body composition among female Mexican-American adolescents. Subjects (N = 254) ranged in age from 13 to 15 years, mean age 14.4, and were drawn from a predominantly Mexican-American population located in the lower Rio Grande Valley region of Texas.

Simulated disability exercises and their impact on attitudes toward persons with disabilities.

Two separate graduate rehabilitation counselling groups from a mid-south university either did or did not take part in a wheelchair sensitivity training pilot study designed to enhance their understanding as to what life might be like for persons who use a wheelchair. Twenty students were individually accompanied on a designated route across campus by a non-disabled graduate researcher. Eighteen other graduate students formed a control group and did not participate.

An information processing view of framing effects: the role of causal schemas in decision making.

People prefer a sure gain to a probable larger gain when the two choices are presented from a gain perspective, but a probable larger loss to a sure loss when the objectively identical choices are presented from a loss perspective. Such reversals of preference due to the context of the problem are known as framing effects. In the present study, schema activation and subjects' interpretations of the problems were examined as sources of the framing effects.