Hemispheric contributions to manual communication (signing and finger-spelling).
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This study investigated the acquisition and use of American Sign Language (ASL) and American Indian Gestural Code (Amerind) in 8 aphasic adults. Subjects received 2 hours of instruction for 4 weeks in 20 signs from each system. No difference was found in ease of acquisition between the sign systems in these subjects. However, when specific subject characteristics were noted, auditory comprehension skills wer significantly related to subjects' abilities to learn the signs. Subjects' residual expressive language skills were found not to be related to their abilities to learn either sign system.
Sign language is the fourth most commonly used language in the United States. Despite the frequent need for this unique upper limb function, little is known regarding the demands and consequences of signing. This article (1) reviews 15 signers with upper limb abnormalities to determine how the abnormalities affect their signing, and (2) explores overuse syndromes in six sign language interpreters. Because of the way the sign language is constructed, only the most severe, bilateral limb abnormalities affect signing, and no extraordinary measures beyond standard, high quality hand care is required to improve function. To treat overuse syndromes in sign language interpreters, customary conservative treatments have generally been useful, but prevention is greatly preferable to treatment.
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The basic impoverishment of deafness is not lack of hearing but lack of language. To illustrate this, we have only to compare a 4-year-old hearing child, with a working vocabulary of between 2,000 and 3,000 words, to a child of the same age, profoundly deaf since infancy, who may have only a few words at his command. Even more important than vocabulary level, however, is the child's ability to use his language for expressing ideas, needs, and feelings. By the age of 4 years, the hearing child in all cultures has already grasped the rules of grammar syntax that enable him or her to combine words in meaningful ways.
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For 84 years, The Control of Communicable Diseases Manual has provided public health practitioners with relevant and timely information on infectious diseases. An examination of the contents of the Manual's 17 editions provides insight into the changes in medical understanding of infectious diseases. This article provides an evolution of the manual and examines the diseases described in each edition.
BACKGROUND: Spasticity is a common problem in MS patients causing pain, spasms, loss of function and difficulties in nursing care. A variety of oral and parenteral medications are available. OBJECTIVES: To assess the absolute and comparative efficacy and tolerability of anti-spasticity agents in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. SEARCH STRATEGY: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of anti-spasticity agents were identified using MEDLINE, EMBASE, bibliographies of relevant articles, personal communication, manual searches of relevant journals and information from drug companies. SELECTION CRITERIA: Double-blind, randomised controlled trials (either placebo-controlled or comparative studies) of at least seven days duration. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two independent reviewers extracted data and the findings of the trials were summarised. Missing data were collected by correspondence with principal investigators. A meta-analysis was not performed due to the inadequacy of outcome measures and methodological problems with the studies reviewed. MAIN RESULTS: Twenty-three placebo-controlled studies (using baclofen, dantrolene, tizanidine, botulinum toxin, vigabatrin, prazepam and threonine) and thirteen comparative studies met the selection criteria. Only thirteen of these studies used the Ashworth scale, of which only three of the six placebo-controlled trials and none of the seven comparative studies showed a statistically significant difference between test drugs. Spasms, other symptoms and overall impressions were only assessed using unvalidated scores and results of functional assessments were inconclusive. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: The absolute and comparative efficacy and tolerability of anti-spasticity agents in multiple sclerosis is poorly documented and no recommendations can be made to guide prescribing. The rationale for treating features of the upper motor neurone syndrome must be better understood and sensitive, validated spasticity measures need to be developed.
The use of manual communication and sign languages for language education of autistic, deaf retarded, and mentally retarded individuals is receiving increasing attention by educators. Modifications of sign systems for this purpose emphasize simplicity, redundancy, and English word order. Effective utilization of manual communication for these populations requires a better understanding of the physical and linguistic bases of sign languages than now exists. Preliminary evidence from studies of oral-only, manual-only, and oral-manual modes of communication suggests that flexibility in utilizing all modes is the most effective teaching method. The present paper will consider the possible utilization of modifications of the American Sign Language for use in three general areas: instruction of deaf students in the classroom, communication between hearing parents and young deaf children, and communication with individuals with handicaps other than deafness.