The growing number of studies indicates increasing interest in the WHODAS 2.0 for assessing individual functioning and disability in different settings and individual health conditions. The WHODAS 2.0 shows strong correlations with several other measures of activity limitations; probably due to the fact that it shares the same disability latent variable with them. Implications for Rehabilitation WHODAS 2.0 seems to be a valid, reliable self-report instrument for the assessment of disability. The increasing interest in use of the WHODAS 2.0 extends to rehabilitation and life sciences rather than being limited to psychiatry. WHODAS 2.0 is suitable for assessing health status and disability in a variety of settings and populations. A critical issue for rehabilitation is that a single "minimal clinically important .difference" score for the WHODAS 2.0 has not yet been established.

The WHODAS II is a useful instrument for measuring disability and functioning in normal and disabled people. It shows high reliability and a stable factor structure; although an additional psychometric evaluation of a representative sample of Italian disabled should be carried out in order to reach standard scores for each macro-category of disability.

Exoskeletons provide a safe and practical method of neurorehabilitation which is not physically exhausting and makes minimal demands on working memory. It is easy to learn to use an exoskeleton and they increase mobility, improve functioning and reduce the risk of secondary injury by reinstating a more normal gait pattern. A limitation of the field is the lack of experimental methods for demonstrating the relative effectiveness of the exoskeleton in comparison with other rehabilitative techniques and technologies.

The present research tested whether children’s disability representations are influenced by cultural variables (e.g., social activities, parent education, custom complex variables) or by cognitive constraints. Four questionnaires were administered to a sample of 76 primary school aged children and one of their parents (n = 152). Questionnaires included both open-ended and closed-ended questions. The open-ended questions were created to collect uncensored personal explanations of disability, whereas the closed-ended questions were designed to elicit a response of agreement for statements built on the basis of the three most widespread disability models: individual, social, and biopsychosocial. For youngest children (6–8 years old), people with disabilities are thought of as being sick. This early disability representation of children is consistent with the individual model of disability and independent from parents’ disability explanations and representations. As children grow older (9–11 years old), knowledge regarding disability increases and stereotypical beliefs about disability decrease, by tending to espouse their parents representations. The individual model remains in the background for the adults too, emerging when the respondents rely on their most immediately available mental representation of disability such as when they respond to an open-ended question. These findings support that the youngest children are not completely permeable to social representations of disability likely due to cognitive constraints. Nevertheless, as the age grows, children appear educable on perspectives of disability adhering to a model of disability representation integral with social context and parent perspective.

Play is a natural mode of children’s expression and constitutes a fundamental aspect of their life. Cognitive, affective, and social aspects can be assessed through play, considered as a “window” to observe a child’s functioning. According to Russ’s model, cognitive and affective components and their reciprocal connections can be assessed through the Affect in Play Scale (APS). The aim of the present study was to investigate children’s representations of the three main models of disability (medical, social, and biopsychosocial) and how these models affected cognitive and affective components of children’s play. Sixty-three children, aged 6–10 years, were assessed by means of the APS. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two APS task orders: the standard APS task followed by the modified APS task (including a wheelchair toy), or vice versa. The standard and modified APS sessions were coded according to the APS system. The modified APS sessions were also coded for the model of disability expressed by children. A one-way ANOVA conducted on the APS affective and cognitive indexes revealed an effect of condition on the affective components of play and no effect on cognitive components and variety of affect as assessed by the APS. In addition, when children are involved in pretend play from which concepts of disability emerge, these concepts are almost exclusively related to the medical model of disability. Results suggested implications for intervention with children in educational contexts that aim to teach children about disability.

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The ability of trimetazidine (2,3,4, trimethoxybenzylpiperazine dihydrochloride, TMZ) to protect the myocardium against anthracycline (ANT)-induced cardiotoxicity during chemotherapy has been evaluated in female patients with breast cancer. A clinical trial was conducted in 61 patients subdivided into three groups: group 1 (n = 15, G1 ) treated with standard ANT protocol and cardioprotection by dexrazoxane (DEX) plus TMZ (60 mg, daily dose); group 2 (n = 22, G2) treated with ANT and cardioprotection by TMZ only; and group 3 (n = 24, G3) scheduled to receive ANT therapy and DEX. All the patients submitted to an echocardiographic evaluation of diastolic function (E wave velocity, A wave velocity, isovolumetric relaxation time [IVRT], deceleration time [DT]) at enrollment (T0), at T1 time, at T2 time, and at T3 time. After a 12-month follow-up period, the patients showed a good conservation of diastolic function both in G1 and G2 groups. No statistically significant difference was observed in E wave and A wave velocity and E/A ratio after ANT treatment. TMZ produced a cardioprotective effect, comparable to DEX protection, against subacute and chronic subclinical cardiotoxicity with no significant changes in diastolic function after 1 year of follow-up.

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