Articulation errors of several children with severe articulation problems were analyzed for distinctive feature errors. On the basis of the analysis, children were administered training programs to teach production of features lacking in their repertoires. The study was concerned with generalization of trained features across phonemes in which the feature had been in error. During training, probes on selected phonemes were administered to test for feature generalization. Results for three children are presented to represent generalization from training on three different features. During training, feature errors deceased by 69% to 84%, indicating that a feature generalizes across several phonemes although training in only one phoneme is administered. The degree of generalization varied across phonemes and across phonemes in different positions in words. The study indicated that features have generality and that children’s feature errors are consistent and systematic. For clinical purposes, the results suggest that detailed analyses will aid in selecting items for training that may increase the efficiency of articulation training.
Rotator cuff dysfunction is common in athletes involved with overhead sports. Secondary subacromial impingement is a common cause of pain for patients with rotator cuff dysfunction. Exercise rehabilitation and manual therapy can be used in the treatment of subacromial impingement to decrease pain, increase functionality and support a return to activity. The current case report describes a 24-year-old patient with supraspinatus tendinosis and secondary subacromial impingement who was experiencing pain when playing tennis, and during daily activities involving overhead movements. Osteopathic manual therapy and rehabilitation was undertaken leading to significant improvements in pain and function over a six-week period. The current case report describes an evidence-informed approach to the management of subacromial impingement syndrome whilst incorporating a manual therapy technique, balanced ligamentous tension, that has received little attention in the literature.
Lithium has long been used to treat manic depression. Its mechanisms of action in manic depression were not understood until quite recently when many studies showed that lithium stimulates neural stem cells to proliferate, to secrete neurotrophins, and to produce more neurons. In fact, people with manic depression who have been Abstracts NP5 treated with lithium have significantly more neurons than people who have similar manic depression but were treated with serotonin uptake blockers. Usually, when neural stem cells are transplanted into injured spinal cords, they tend to respond to the inflammatory environment of the injury site by producing mostly astrocytes. However, in the presence of lithium, neural stem cells produce mostly neurons. Lithium stimulates transplanted umbilical cord blood mononuclear cells to secrete neurotrophins known to promote axonal regeneration. We are now carrying out clinical trials in China (ChinaSCINet) and the United States (SCINetUSA) to assess the effects of lithium on umbilical cord blood mononuclear cell transplant therapy of chronic spinal cord injury. The progress in these trials will be discussed, along with a review of other cell transplant therapies. These developments illustrate an important trend in stem cell therapy of central nervous system disorders. The behavior of stem cells depends on the environment into which they are transplanted. It is not surprising, for example, that neural stem cells transplanted into the injured spinal cords produce mostly glial cells. The injury site requires microglial cells to clean the injury site, astrocytes to repair the blood brain barrier and PNS/CNS barriers, and oligodendroglial cells to remyelinated demyelinated axons. The ability to control the fate and behavior of transplanted cells is key to successful stem cell therapy. Lithium is the first of an important class of stem cell modifying drugs being used to modify transplanted cells and their response to the tissue environment.
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