What individuals with rheumatic diseases know about the Americans with Disabilities Act: A survey

Individuals with rheumatic diseases often have disabilities which limit one or more major life activity. Common disabilities among individuals with rheumatic illnesses such as chronic pain, hand deformities, and fatigue may be hidden. With a hidden disability, an individual may be unaware that he or she could qualify as disabled under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA provides for reasonable accommodation for qualified individuals with disability related limitations. Accommodations under the ADA are designed to remove barriers preventing full participation in society, including employment, for individuals with disability related limitations.^ The primary objective of this study was to determine the knowledge level of individuals with rheumatic conditions about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). One hundred and seven individuals with various rheumatic illnesses participated in this survey. The forty question survey included questions about type of rheumatic condition, employment, pain level, and knowledge of the ADA. Results of this study show that individuals with rheumatic conditions are more familiar with general information about the ADA and less familiar with specific information. The longer an individual has been diagnosed with a rheumatic condition the more he or she knows about the ADA. Common sources of information about the ADA are media and networking with others, rather than health care professionals. The recommendation for occupational therapists is to include education about the ADA as an integral component of treatment for all individuals with rheumatic conditions. ^

An Analytical Workflow for Metagenomic Data and its Application to the Study of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Metagenomics is the culture-independent study of genetic material obtained directly from environmental samples. It has become a realistic approach to understanding microbial communities thanks to advances in high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies over the past decade. Current research has shown that different sites of the human body house varied bacterial communities. There is a strong correlation between an individual’s microbial community profile at a given site and disease. Metagenomics is being applied more often as a means of comparing microbial profiles in biomedical studies. The analysis of the data collected using metagenomics can be quite challenging and there exist a plethora of tools for interpreting the results. An automatic analytical workflow for metagenomic analyses has been implemented and tested using synthetic datasets of varying quality. It is able to accurately classify bacteria by taxa and correctly estimate the richness and diversity of each set. The workflow was then applied to the study of the airways microbiome in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). COPD is a progressive lung disease resulting in narrowing of the airways and restricted airflow. Despite being the third leading cause of death in the United States, little is known about the differences in the lung microbial community profiles of healthy individuals and COPD patients. Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples were collected from COPD patients, active or ex-smokers, and never smokers and sequenced by 454 pyrosequencing. A total of 56 individuals were recruited for the study. Substantial colonization of the lungs was found in all subjects and differentially abundant genera in each group were identified. These discoveries are promising and may further our understanding of how the structure of the lung microbiome is modified as COPD progresses. It is also anticipated that the results will eventually lead to improved treatments for COPD.