Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability. Accurate assessment of motor function is important for documenting disability and the effectiveness of rehabilitative treatment. The Manual Function Test (MFT) was developed to evaluate unilateral manual performance in hemiparetic patients after stroke. This test consists of eight items, including the pegboard task, an item assessing dexterity. The total MFT score can range from 0 (severely impaired) to 32 (full function). We sought to determine normative data and explore infl uences of age, gender, and hand dominance. Three-hundred thirty-three healthy adult subjects between 20 and 90 years old were studied. Total MFT scores showed negative relationship to age. Compared with subjects in their 20s, those 50 or more years old had lower total MFT scores for dominant hands, as did those 40 or more years old for nondominant hands. For subjects in their 30s and 50s, total MFT scores for women were greater than for men concerning nondominant hands. No such gender difference in total MFT scores was noted for dominant hands. In the pegboard test, the number of pegs achieved for dominant hands was related to age when age was 50 or over, and when age 40 or over for nondominant hands. However, rates of decline in numbers of pegs achieved were similar between hands. In determining MFT norms, total score and items testing dexterity were infl uenced by age, gender, and hand dominance. normative data; aging; gender; dexterity; hemiplegia.Tohoku
The Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (FNPP) accident in March 2011 released substantial amounts of radionuclides into the environment. We collected 4,957 deciduous teeth formed in children before the Fukushima accident to obtain precise control data for teeth formed after the accident. Radioactivity was measured using imaging plates (IP) and epidemiologically assessed using multivariate regression analysis. Additionally, we measured 90Sr, 137Cs, and natural radionuclides which might be present in teeth. Epidemiological studies of IP showed that the amount of radioactivity in teeth from Fukushima prefecture was similar to that from reference prefectures. We found that artificial radionuclides of 90Sr and 137Cs, which were believed to have originated from past nuclear disasters, and natural radionuclides including 40K and daughter nuclides in the 238U and 232Th series contributed to the generation of radioactivity in teeth. We also found no evidence to suggest that radionuclides originating from the FNPP accident significantly contaminated pre-existing teeth. This is the first large-scale investigation of radioactivity and radionuclides in teeth. The present findings will be indispensable for future studies of teeth formed after the FNPP accident, which will fall out over the next several years and might be more contaminated with radionuclides.
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