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[317] HOST THE 9TH INTERNATIONAL MOBILITY CONFERENCE IMC 9
Bruce B. Blasch, PhD
Atlanta VA Medical Center, Rehabilitation Research and
Developmental Center on Aging, VA Medical Center, Decatur,
GA 30033; email: bearconsul@aol.com
Sponsor: Department of Veterans Affairs, VA
Rehabilitation Research and Development Service, Washington,
DC 20420
(Core Funds)
PURPOSE--An invitation was extended to Dr. Blasch at the Decatur VA Rehab R&D Center to host the 9th International Mobility Conference in Atlanta, GA in 1998. This will be the first time the IMC has been held in the United States.
BACKGROUND--The profession of Orientation and Mobility (O&M) originated at the Valley Forge Army Hospital during World War II and later moved to the Hines VAMC. Because many Americans from the Hines VABRC and Western Michigan University (WMU) were the mentors and ambassadors of mobility to other countries, they supported the advantages of professional mobility meetings. In 1979, Mr. Dennis Cory an American trained at WMU and living in Germany, established the International Mobility Conference (IMC). The following is the description of the IMC as stated in the IMC handbook:
IMC is an independent group of practitioners in mobility of the visually handicapped consisting of mobility instructors and mobility centers. Its aim is furthering the level of expertise for mobility instructors through an international exchange of ideas and information.
IMC is dedicated to co-operation with all organizations of and for the blind. In organizing a regular international meeting for mobility instructors, IMC promotes and upgrades mobility services.
Even from the very beginning of the IMC, the US has always been included. The IMC began in 1979 in Frankfurt Germany. The Keynote speaker at this conference, Dr. Richard Welsh, Co-Editor of the textbook, Foundations of Orientation and Mobility was from the USA. Each succeeding year an individual from the US was invited to be the keynote speaker. The dates and meeting places of the IMC include:
PROGRESS--The 9th International Mobility Conference will be held in Atlanta, GA July 1-6. The response from the call for papers has been overwhelming. Based on the initial review, the final program will have at least representatives from more than 30 different countries. With the large number of submissions, it is anticipated that approximately 80 percent of the presentations will be from individuals outside of the US. The first 2 days will have three concurrent seminars, including: Research in O&M, presenting the most recent research on technology and techniques for the orientation and mobility instruction of individuals who are visually impaired; Needs and Basic Skills in O&M, focusing on countries that are just beginning to introduce O&M; and Education of O&M Instructors (limited to those individuals involved in preparing O&M instructors).
The main conference will have approximately 150 sessions with a large poster session. The four keynote sessions will start with Dennis Cory (Germany) who will present some of the International factors that must be considered when listening to many of the presenters. These factors include such things as the culture, economy, and political climate. Rick Welsh will engage Russ Williams in an informal review of the contributions of Hines VA Blind Rehabilitation Center that combined the different approaches to O&M from the Valley Forge program and the Avon Old Farms program. This first-person account by Russ Williams will provide fresh insights into the history of the development of O&M.
Erik Ostergaard (Denmark) and Stanley Suterko (USA) will present personal, unique, and sometimes embarrassing experiences they have had in establishing O&M programs in other countries. The last keynote session will feature Steven LaGrow (New Zealand) who will present some of the unique customs of several subcultures in relation to the teaching of O&M.
FUTURE PLANS--The registration materials for the IMC will go out the first week of November. It is anticipated that there will be 600-1,000 individuals attending from all parts of the world. Proceedings will be published.
[318] HEALTH BEHAVIORS IN SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN WITH PHYSICAL DISABILITIES
Catherine Steele, PhD; Douglas Biggar, MD; Joseph
Bortolussi, MSW; Jeffrey Jutai, PhD, CPsych; Ilze Kalnins,
PhD; Beth Ellen Rossen, MSc
Bloorview MacMillan Centre, Toronto, ON Canada M4G 1R8;
email: ortccs@oise.utoronto.ca
Sponsor: Easter Seal Research Institute, Suite 200, Don Mills, ON M3C 3P2 Canada
PURPOSE--Children with physical disabilities are at risk for acquiring secondary disabilities in adulthood such as heart disease, stroke, respiratory problems, social, and emotional difficulties. Some secondary disabilities can be reduced by adopting healthy lifestyles during childhood. The purpose of this research is to identify the lifestyle behaviors of children with physical disabilities and to develop health promotion initiatives for these children.
METHODOLOGY--In partnership with 16 Ontario children rehabilitation centres, we administered the same questionnaire, Health Behaviour of School-Aged Children: A WHO Cross-National Study (HBSC), as a national research project to 319 children, aged 11-16, with such physical disabilities as amputation, arthritis, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, or spina bifida. We developed the required methodology for interviewing children with a variety of physical disabilities. To gain a greater understanding of the survey results, we conducted 16 focus groups with youth with physical disabilities, their parents, young adults with physical disabilities, health care professionals, and researchers.
PROGRESS--Our findings showed that lifestyle behaviors of concern to these children are: diets high in sugar and fats, lack of exercise, social isolation, and lack of access to information about relevant sexual issues. Our findings also demonstrated that these young people have some healthy lifestyle behaviors and attitudes. They are considerably less likely to smoke or drink, demonstrate no differences in self-esteem and depression, and have more positive attitudes toward parents, teachers, and school than their nonimpaired age-mates. The focus group participants offered reasons to explain our survey results. They also suggested health-promotion initiatives to maintain health-enhancing behaviors and to ameliorate health-inhibiting behaviors.
One health-promotion initiative we have achieved is the creation and production of a poster about leisure and exercise for children with physical disabilities. We collaborated with 10 young people with spina bifida and with abilities magazine, Canada's lifestyle magazine for people with disabilities. The poster was the centerfold pullout in the Fall 1997 issue.
FUTURE PLANS During the next year, our goal is to administer the HBSC survey to adults with physical disabilities, with revisions to the survey reflective of an adult population; to compare results of the adult survey to our previous results with children; to continue developing health-promotion initiatives aimed at reducing the prevalence of secondary disabilities; and to expand our partnerships to further our research, as well as to develop and implement health-promotion initiatives.
[319] RESOURCE UNIT FOR INFORMATION AND EDUCATION
Dudley S. Childress, PhD; Jan Little, MS
Northwestern University Rehabilitation Engineering
Research Program, Chicago, IL 60611; email:
d-childress@nwu.edu;
Web: http://www.repoc.nwu.edu/
Sponsor: National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC 22202
PURPOSE--The Resource Unit for Information and Education (RUIE) disseminates information about the general area of prosthetics and orthotics, and about the research projects conducted by the Northwestern University Prosthetics Research Laboratory and Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center, to people with amputations and other disabilities, prosthetists, orthotists, students, and individuals engaged in research.
METHODOLOGY--The mission of the RUIE is to reach a geographically wide-spread audience with many levels of interest in this area. To do this, various types of media are used, including: Capabilities, a quarterly newsletter with circulation of over 2,500; Activity Report a review of progress in research projects; Resource Guide of Prosthetics & Orthotics (Guide) is a listing of support groups, assistive technology sources, suppliers of prosthetics and orthotics, components, materials and services, related agencies; our web site (http://www.repoc.nwu.edu/) features videos of research activities, annual reports of progress in research, bibliographies of selected topics in prosthetics and orthotics, listing of publications and links to the Department of Education, Department of Veterans Affairs and other related agencies, organizations and companies; our Help Line (voice: 312/908-6524, TDD: 312/908-6526, email: reiu@nwu.edu) gives direct access to the general public; and our Consumer and Technical Advisory Panel Meetings bring researchers and clients together for valuable exchanges of information.
PROGRESS--Requests for the Guide have doubled over the previous year after a press release about the publication appeared in publications for vocational counselors and case managers. As a result of word of mouth, visits to our web site and other actions, the RUIE receives 3-4 requests per week for inclusion on the Capabilities mailing list. Over 35 requests for information are processed each month as a result of inquires through Help Lines. A new feature, "The VA Presents... News from the Department of Veterans Affairs," was initiated in the July 1997 issue of Capabilities with the cooperation of the Prosthetic and Sensory Aids Service, VA Chicago Health Care System, Lakeside Division. News items are solicited from all DVA personnel through Forum.VA.Gov.
RESULTS--Feedback from consumers, prosthetists, orthotists, doctors, and others indicates that the services of the RUIE are both helpful and much needed. Use of electronic media has greatly facilitated information dissemination services. Since its launch in 1995, the web site has had 65,871 visits from 82 countries.
[320] ADAPTIVE BIOLOGICAL SIGNAL PROCESSING
P.A. Parker, PhD
Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of New
Brunswick, Fredericton, NB CANADA E3B 5A3; email:
biomed@unb.ca
Sponsor: None listed
PURPOSE--We are investigating the performance of adaptive matched filters and adaptive noise cancellation filters in evoked potential estimation
METHODOLOGY--In order to obtain useful somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP), signal enhancement methods must be applied in order to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). To date in this project, an adaptive matched filter has been investigated, and a SNR gain of 6dB has been found while tracking slow varying changes in the signal. In order to reduce the effects of large interfering myoelectric signals, adaptive noise cancellation filters are being studied.
PROGRESS--To date the performance equations have been derived, and the initial experimental work is encouraging. Cross-talk-resistant filters are being investigated, as well as multichannel filters. Application of these filters to stimulus artifact and ECG interference reduction in evoked potential measurements has been studied with good results. Artificial neural network implementations of the adaptive filters have proven very effective.
[321] FAILURE OF CRICOPHARYNGEAL MYOTOMY TO IMPROVE DYSPHAGIA FOLLOWING HEAD AND NECK CANCER SURGERY
John R. Jacobs, MD
Wayne State University Medical School, Detroit, MI
48201
Sponsor: None listed
PURPOSE--We seek to determine whether cricopharyngeal myotomy can improve dysphagia associated with head and neck cancer surgery.
METHODOLOGY--We have conducted a prospective, randomized trial in 12 clinical sites across the United States on patients undergoing combined modality therapy for squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue base and supraglottic larynx.
Intervening with cricopharyngeal myotomy on a randomized basis, we conducted videofluoroscopic examination to determine oropharyngeal swallowing efficiency. This is defined as the ratio of percentage swallowed to total swallowing time utilizing three different bolus consistencies.
PROGRESS--We followed 125 patients undergoing combined modality therapy for squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue base and supraglottic larynx between 1989 and 1994.
RESULTS--No significant difference in oropharyngeal swallowing efficiency between myotomy versus no myotomy was seen at 6 months of follow-up regardless of bolus consistency.
IMPLICATIONS--In this prospective test of cricopharyngeal myotomy, the procedure fails to significantly improve dysphagia associated with head and neck cancer surgery. The efficacy of this surgical procedure in other disease entities should be rigorously explored.
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Last revised Fri 05/21/1999