Recent skin injuries in children with motor disabilities.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of recent skin injuries in children with neuromotor disabilities and its association with disability. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study of 168 children with neuromotor disabilities aged 2-16 years. SETTING: Two outpatient child rehabilitation centres. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Children were classified as unrestricted walkers, restricted walkers or wheelchair dependent. Each participant's body surface was systematically examined for recent skin injuries with the exception of the anal-genital area. RESULTS: The mean age of our sample was 7.8 (SD 3.7) years with a 3:2 male/female ratio. Overall, 64% had cerebral palsy, 17% a neuromuscular disease and 19% other motor disabilities. Participants had on average 5.3 (SD 4.5) recent skin injuries (max 19), of which 2.5 were bruises (SD 3.3, max 16), 2.4 were abrasions, scratches or cuts (SD 3.0, max 16) and 0.4 were pressure lesions (SD 0.8, max 4). There was a significant decrease in the frequency of recent skin injuries and of bruises with increasing severity of motor disability. Most of this variation was accounted for by injuries to the lower limbs. There were no significant effects of gender, learning disabilities or other comorbidities. CONCLUSIONS: Children with neuromotor disabilities present a progressive reduction in the number of skin injuries with decreasing mobility. Therefore, recent skin injuries in this population which are unusual by their number, appearance or distribution, should raise at least the same level of suspicion for physical abuse as in children without disabilities.

Improvement in gross motor performance between 3 and 5 years of age.

This study examined gross motor performance of 101 typically developing children between 3 and 5 years of age (48 boys, 53 girls, M age = 3.9 yr., SD = 0.5). All children performed 7 different gross motor tasks which were rated on a 5-point scale. Age and sex were assessed by an ordinal-logistic model, and odds ratios were calculated for each task using age and sex as covariates. For standing on one leg, walking on a beam, hopping on one leg, running, and taking stairs, statistically significant age differences were found, while for rising and jumping down, none were apparent. Mean motor performance did not differ between boys and girls on the tasks. The older the children were, the better they performed on the tasks.

Mississippi Drive (Iowa 92) from Main Street to the Norbert F. Beckey Bridge in Muscatine, Iowa, STP-U-5330(614)—27-70, Muscatine County, 2015

The proposed action consists of upgrading Mississippi Drive (Iowa Highway 92) through downtown Muscatine, Iowa. The Mississippi Drive Corridor Project begins south of the Main Street/Grandview Avenue intersection, continuing to the East 2nd Street/Norbert F. Beckey Bridge intersection, which marks the end of the project. It passes through a mix of commercial, residential, Central Business District and industrial land uses. The total length of the project is approximately 1.6 miles, including 19 intersections (6 with traffic signals). Refer to the vicinity map on Figure 1. The current roadway is a 3- to 4-lane, urban facility with both divided and undivided medians. The roadway, ranging from 40 to 64 feet wide, is considered difficult to cross for pedestrians, especially for small children or elderly. The width of this roadway is being considered to be narrowed to improve the accessibility to the downtown from the Mississippi River riverfront area by pedestrians. This project also includes accommodations for bicycles and pedestrians and measures to reduce flooding on the roadway.

West 1 St Street/ IA 57 from Highland Drive to Center Street/Franklin Street, Blackhawk County, Iowa, Project # STP-57-2(28)--2C-07, Environmental Assessment and Section 4(f) De Minimis Impact Finding, 2015

From Proposed Action: "Iowa Northland Regional Council of Governments (INRCOG) and the City of Cedar Falls, in coordination with the Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), are proposing to upgrade and modernize an approximate 4,900-foot segment of Iowa Highway 57 (IA 57), locally known as West 1st Street, in Cedar Falls, Black Hawk County, Iowa."

Evaluation of Iowa's Driver Improvement Program, 2009

This study examines the effectiveness of Iowa’s Driver Improvement Program (DIP), measured as the reduction in the number of driver convictions subsequent to the DIP. The analysis involved a random sample of 9,055 drivers who had been instructed to attend DIP and corresponding data on driver convictions, crashes, and driver education training history that were provided by the Iowa Motor Vehicle Division. The sample was divided into two groups based on DIP outcome: satisfactory or unsatisfactory completion. Two evaluation periods were considered: one year after the DIP date (probation period) and the period from the 13th to 18th month after the DIP date. The evaluation of Iowa’s DIP showed that there is evidence of effectiveness in terms of reducing driver convictions subsequent to attending the DIP. Among the 6,790 (75%) drivers who completed the course satisfactorily, 73% of drivers had no actions and 93% were not involved in a crash during the probation period. Statistical tests confirmed these numbers. However, the positive effect of satisfactory completion of DIP on survival time (that is, the time until the first conviction) was not statistically significant 13 months after the DIP date. Econometric model estimation results showed that, regardless of the DIP outcome, the likelihood of conviction occurrence and frequency of subsequent convictions depends on other factors, such as age, driver history, and DIP location, and interaction effects among these factors. Low-cost, early intervention measures are suggested to enhance the effectiveness of Iowa’s DIP. These measures can include advisory and warning letters (customized based on the driver’s age) sent within the first year after the DIP date and soon after the end of the probation period, as well as a closer examination of DIP instruction across the 17 community colleges that host the program. Given the large number of suspended drivers who continued to drive, consideration should also be given to measures to reduce driving while suspended offenses.

Spatial Scale of Clustering of Motor Vehicle Crash Types and Appropriate Countermeasures, 2009

This project analyzes the characteristics and spatial distributions of motor vehicle crash types in order to evaluate the degree and scale of their spatial clustering. Crashes occur as the result of a variety of vehicle, roadway, and human factors and thus vary in their clustering behavior. Clustering can occur at a variety of scales, from the intersection level, to the corridor level, to the area level. Conversely, other crash types are less linked to geographic factors and are more spatially “random.” The degree and scale of clustering have implications for the use of strategies to promote transportation safety. In this project, Iowa's crash database, geographic information systems, and recent advances in spatial statistics methodologies and software tools were used to analyze the degree and spatial scale of clustering for several crash types within the counties of the Iowa Northland Regional Council of Governments. A statistical measure called the K function was used to analyze the clustering behavior of crashes. Several methodological issues, related to the application of this spatial statistical technique in the context of motor vehicle crashes on a road network, were identified and addressed. These methods facilitated the identification of crash clusters at appropriate scales of analysis for each crash type. This clustering information is useful for improving transportation safety through focused countermeasures directly linked to crash causes and the spatial extent of identified problem locations, as well as through the identification of less location-based crash types better suited to non-spatial countermeasures. The results of the K function analysis point to the usefulness of the procedure in identifying the degree and scale at which crashes cluster, or do not cluster, relative to each other. Moreover, for many individual crash types, different patterns and processes and potentially different countermeasures appeared at different scales of analysis. This finding highlights the importance of scale considerations in problem identification and countermeasure formulation.

Meiotic drive favors Robertsonian metacentric chromosomes in the common shrew (Sorex araneus, Insectivora, mammalia).

Meiotic drive has attracted much interest because it concerns the robustness of Mendelian segregation and its genetic and evolutionary stability. We studied chromosomal meiotic drive in the common shrew (Sorex araneus, Insectivora, Mammalia), which exhibits one of the most remarkable chromosomal polymorphisms within mammalian species. The open question of the evolutionary success of metacentric chromosomes (Robertsonian fusions) versus acrocentrics in the common shrew prompted us to test whether a segregation distortion in favor of metacentrics is present in female and/or male meiosis. Performing crosses under controlled laboratory conditions with animals from natural populations, we found a clear trend toward a segregation distortion in favor of metacentrics during male meiosis, two chromosome combinations (gm and jl) being significantly preferred over their acrocentric homologs. Apart for one Robertsonian fusion (hi), this trend was absent in female meiosis. We propose a model based on recombination events between twin acrocentrics to explain the difference in transmission ratios of the same metacentric in different sexes and unequal drive of particular metacentrics in the same sex. Pooled data for female and male meiosis revealed a trend toward stronger segregation distortion for larger metacentrics. This is partially in agreement with the frequency of metacentrics occurring in natural populations of a chromosome race showing a high degree of chromosomal polymorphism.

Differences based on fine motor behaviour in Parkinson's patients compared to an age matched control group in proprioceptive and visuo-proprioceptive test conditions

Personality differences based on fine motor precision performance were studied in early stage Parkinson's patients and an age-matched control group under two different test conditions: proprioceptive + visual information and proprioceptive information alone. A comparative data analysis for deviations of three measured movement types (transversal, frontal and sagittal) was done for both hands (dominant and non-dominant) with relation to personality dimensions. There were found significant differences between the two groups in decision making dimension and emotionality. After splitting the data for gender subgroups, some significant differences were found for men but not for women. The differences in fine motor task performance varied, being better in some directions for the Parkinson"s patients and worse in others. The findings may suggest that medication has both positive and negative effects on motor performance and provoke personality changes, being more pronounced in men.

Health consultation : Tails A Waggin' Pet Resort -- arsenic soil contamination, 210 41st Avenue Drive SW, Cedar Rapids, Linn County, Iowa (2006)

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) requested the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) Hazardous Waste Site Health Assessment Program to evaluate the health impacts of exposure to soil contaminated with heavy metals at a commercial property located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The specific request was to evaluate the health impacts from exposure to contaminants that were above IDNR statewide standards. This health consultation addresses potential health risks to people from exposure to the soil within the property. The information in this health consultation was current at the time of writing. Data that emerges later could alter this document’s conclusions and recommendations.

Time consumption and damage to the remaining stock in mechanised and motor manual pre-commercial thinning

Abstract

A Threat to a Virtual Hand Elicits Motor Cortex Activation

We report an experiment where participants observed an attack on their virtual body as experienced in an immersive virtual reality (IVR) system. Participants sat by a table with their right hand resting upon it. In IVR, they saw a virtual table that was registered with the real one, and they had a virtual body that substituted their real body seen from a first person perspective. The virtual right hand was collocated with their real right hand. Event-related brain potentials were recorded in two conditions, one where the participant"s virtual hand was attacked with a knife and a control condition where the knife only struck the virtual table. Significantly greater P450 potentials were obtained in the attack condition confirming our expectations that participants had a strong illusion of the virtual hand being their own, which was also strongly supported by questionnaire responses. Higher levels of subjective virtual hand ownership correlated with larger P450 amplitudes. Mu-rhythm event-related desynchronization in the motor cortex and readiness potential (C3C4) negativity were clearly observed when the virtual hand was threatened as would be expected, if the real hand was threatened and the participant tried to avoid harm. Our results support the idea that event-related potentials may provide a promising non-subjective measure of virtual embodiment. They also support previous experiments on pain observation and are placed into context of similar experiments and studies of body perception and body ownership within cognitive neuroscience.

Motor Grader Operator Maintenance of Granular Surfaced Roads : Tips from Iowa Operators, 1991

This booklet is a compilation of notes taken during motor grader operators workshops held at some 20 different locations throughout Iowa during the last two years. It is also the advice of 16 experienced motor grader operators and maintenance foremen (from 14 different counties around Iowa), who serve as instructors and assistant instructors at the "MoGo" workshops. The instructors have all said that they learn as much from the operators who attend the workshops as they impart. Motor grader operators from throughout Iowa have shown us new, innovative and better ways of maintaining gravel roads. This booklet is an attempt to pass on some of these "tips" that we have gathered from Iowa operators. It will need to be revised, corrected, and added to based on the advice we get from you, the operators who do the work here in Iowa.

SIRT1 Activates MAO-A in the Brain to Mediate Anxiety and Exploratory Drive.

SIRT1 is a NAD(+)-dependent deacetylase that governs a number of genetic programs to cope with changes in the nutritional status of cells and organisms. Behavioral responses to food abundance are important for the survival of higher animals. Here we used mice with increased or decreased brain SIRT1 to show that this sirtuin regulates anxiety and exploratory drive by activating transcription of the gene encoding the monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) to reduce serotonin levels in the brain. Indeed, treating animals with MAO-A inhibitors or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) normalized anxiety differences between wild-type and mutant animals. SIRT1 deacetylates the brain-specific helix-loop-helix transcription factor NHLH2 on lysine 49 to increase its activation of the MAO-A promoter. Both common and rare variations in the SIRT1 gene were shown to be associated with risk of anxiety in human population samples. Together these data indicate that SIRT1 mediates levels of anxiety, and this regulation may be adaptive in a changing environment of food availability.