Stability In People Research Articles

Obama's Vision and the Prospects for Health Care Reform

In a rare address to Congress, designed to consolidate support among Democrats behind one health care reform plan, reassure people with insurance that they would benefit from reform, and offer conciliatory gestures to skeptical Republicans, President Barack Obama sought to rebuild momentum among legislators for pursuing reform. By emphasizing in his prime-time address on September 9 that “now is the season for action,” Obama signaled that he was taking command of his primary domestic initiative after months of urging Congress to craft a reform proposal. Obama set out three basic goals for reform: increasing security and stability for people with . . .

FIXATION STABILITY MEASUREMENT USING THE MP1 MICROPERIMETER

The Nidek microperimeter (MP1, Nidek Instruments, Italy) is a microperimetry device that also assesses fixation stability. The MP1 does not use the method of quantifying fixation stability by calculating a bivariate contour ellipse area (BCEA). Here we compare the MP1 fixation quantification with the BCEA technique by correlating these values to various parameters of reading known to be related to fixation stability. Twenty-five people with age-related macular disease were assessed. Eye position was recorded using the MP1 during a fixation task. Fixation score and central 2 degrees and central 4 degrees values were obtained from the MP1. Bivariate contour ellipse area values were calculated from raw fixation data. Reading was assessed using MNREAD, Rapid Serial Visual Presentation, and European reading tests. Fixation data could not be collected for two observers. For the other 23 participants, the MP1 fixation scores were very poorly related to reading parameters. In contrast, there was a significant relationship between fixation stability assessed using the BCEA technique and Rapid Serial Visual Presentation reading speed (r = -0.59, P < 0.01), European reading test reading error rate (r = 0.66, P < 0.01), and MNREAD peak reading speed (r = 0.55, P < 0.05). Using the software supplied with the MP1 does not adequately quantify fixation stability in people with age-related macular disease. We recommend that the BCEA technique is used to quantify fixation stability when using the MP1 microperimeter.

Balance-Based Torso-Weighting May Enhance Balance in Persons With Multiple Sclerosis: Preliminary Evidence

Widener GL, Allen DD, Gibson-Horn C. Balance-based torso-weighting may enhance balance in persons with multiple sclerosis: preliminary evidence. Objective To determine whether weight placed on the trunk in response to directional balance loss would enhance function and stability in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Design Quasi-experimental study in which subjects served as their own controls. Setting Research laboratory. Participants Subjects (N=16) age 20 to 65 years with MS recruited through the Northern California Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Interventions Balance-based torso-weighting where up to 1.5% body weight was placed in a garment on the trunk. Subjects were tested at baseline and then in randomly ordered balance-based torso-weighting and nonweighted garment conditions. Main Outcome Measures Sharpened Romberg, eyes open (SREO) and Sharpened Romberg, eyes closed, computerized dynamic platform posturography (CDPP), Timed Up & Go (TUG), and 25-foot timed walk. Results Significant improvement ( P<.014) was found with SREO in the balance-based torso-weighting compared with nonweighted conditions. CDPP eyes open and TUG showed improvements ( P<.03) from baseline to balance-based torso-weighting and nonweighted conditions. Conclusions Improved performance in a group of adults with MS was seen when light weights were placed on the torso to counteract balance loss. Placement of weights may have the potential to produce immediate improvements in balance in this population.

A tactile stimulus applied to the leg improves postural stability in young, old and neuropathic subjects

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the application of passive tactile cues to the lower limb could improve postural stability in healthy young controls, older people and people with diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Antero-posterior sway was measured with eyes open and closed in 10 healthy young subjects (mean age 27 years, 5 male, 5 female), 10 older subjects without diabetic peripheral neuropathy (mean age 88 years, 2 male, 8 female) and 10 subjects with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (mean age 65 years, 6 male, 4 female) while a small piece of Velcro ® attached to a flexible mount was applied to three different sites on the leg (ankle, calf, and knee). Across all conditions, the mean sway of the neuropathic subjects was 93% greater than for the young subjects and 11% more than the older subjects. On average, subjects swayed 10% more with the eyes closed than with the eyes open. Each stimulus reduced sway, but the effect increased approximately in proportion to the height of the stimulus above the ankles (ankle 7.6%, calf 13.5%, knee 20.1% reduction compared to the no stimulus condition). This experiment demonstrates that a passive stimulus applied to the skin of the leg, which provides sensory information about body movement, significantly reduces body sway during standing. This applies to older subjects and subjects with peripheral neuropathy as well as healthy young subjects. These results have implications for novel approaches for improving stability in people with peripheral sensory loss.

Comparison of head- and body-velocity trajectories during locomotion among healthy and vestibulopathic subjects

The optimal strategies for improving locomotor stability in people with vestibulopathy remain unclear. To help identify likely targets for intervention, we sought to determine whether vestibulopathic postural control impairment during locomotor activity was more localized to either the head or the whole body. We used high curvature analysis (HCA) to quantify the smoothness of head- and body-velocity trajectories during repeated stepping in 18 vestibulopathic and 17 healthy subjects. We employed a mixed-model repeated measures analysis of variance to compare differences in head- and body-trajectory HCA scores. Pearson coefficients were used to describe relationships between head- and body-trajectory HCA scores within each group. The results revealed that neither head- nor body-velocity trajectories were relatively more impaired in subjects with vestibulopathy. Importantly, however, the smoothness of head and body trajectories was more strongly related in subjects with vestibulopathy compared with healthy subjects, suggesting that the fundamental motor control impairment produced by vestibulopathy may be related to an abnormal coupling of head and body motion. We discuss implications for locomotor training in patients with vestibulopathy.

Women and Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development refers to a development process which enhances people's capacity to create and consume wealth on a lasting basis. It requires, among other things, a socioeconomic political and cultural environment which enables people to engage and sustain the development process. The political system should provide stability for people to engage in production. Intra‐ethnic conflicts, tribal wars and social tensions, as well as denial of basic human rights, constrain efforts to promote sustainable development. The social relationships between individuals and communities can either promote or constrain sustainable development. Social security is thus one of the necessary prerequisites for promoting such development.

On confidence and consequence: The certainty and importance of self-knowledge.

Belief certainty and belief importance represent 2 relatively independent forms of investment in the self-concept. Three studies suggested that whereas certainty is associated with epistemic (i.e., rational or informational) factors, importance is more closely associated with emotive (i.e., emotional and motivational) factors. A 4th study explored the implications of certainty and importance for the temporal stability of people's self-views and revealed that whereas belief certainty was associated with the stability of both positive and negative beliefs, belief importance was associated with the stability of positive beliefs only. The implications of belief investment for the verification-enhancement debate and for the structure and measurement of the self-concept are discussed.

Price Fluctuations and Changes in People's Livelihood in China in the Past Six Years

From 1978 to 1984, price and people's livelihood in China underwent marked changes. On the one hand, prices rose. On the other hand, people's livelihood improved. Prima facie, price rise and people's well-being are in conflict with each other. For a long time, we have publicized that to maintain stable price is a basic principle of the party. It guarantees stability in people's well-being. This line of reasoning has taken root in people's hearts. As a result, people are worried whenever prices rise. It is their conviction that price rise inevitably leads to lower living standards. Since the Third Plenum of the Party's Eleventh Central Committee, growth of national economy in general and agricultural development in particular has been accelerated through a series of systematic price readjustments, in an effort to rationalize the interrelationships in the national economy. In the past several years, prices of farm produce were raised by a considerable margin. This has enabled agriculture to develop rapidly....

Some Determinants of Marriage Stability in Busoga: A Reformulation of Gluckman's Hypothesis

Opening ParagraphIn a recent paper Gluckman puts forward a general hypothesis to account for the wide variation in the frequency of divorce among some African societies. Contrasting the bilateral kinship system of the Lozi of Northern Rhodesia with the strongly agnatic one of the Zulu of Natal, he notes that divorce is common among the former, rare among the latter, and suggests the general hypothesis that stable marriage is associated with patriliny. Gluckman tests this hypothesis against a substantial body of comparative data, drawn mainly from trans-Saharan Africa, and concludes that the available evidence seems generally to support it. He notes, however, that data for many areas are inadequate and he is properly cautious in the face of the methodological difficulties involved in putting such hypotheses to decisive test:I am aware of the difficulties of establishing the validity of the hypothesis, but even if it is wrong it may be useful. Some of the difficulties are inherent in sociological analysis, since in this there are always complicating variables. Others arise from the vague and embracing use of categories and concepts (of which I too am guilty) such as patrilineal, lineage, marriage, divorce, &amp;c….I am myself uncertain whether it is the stability of people's attachment to specific areas, or patriliny or father-right itself, or the agnatic lineage, or all of these together, which, whatever the other variables are, tend to be associated with a strong marriage tie.He concludes by inviting further testing and reformulation of the hypothesis.

Some persistent problems of rural life and education in the south

Special attention should be given to the rapid and material changes which rural life has undergone in recent years. The agency that should have made and should continue to make the most significant contribution to the general improvement of rural life-the rural school-is the agency that seemingly understands least the changing pattern of country life; and has apparently made the least effort to adapt its program to present-day conditions and needs of country people. Except in a few notable instances, the schools have not made maximum use of opportunities to help improve actual life conditions. If education in rural areas is to accept this challenge and be instrumental in raising the cultural and economic standards of country life, it must be greatly improved. A program of improvement based on a sound foundation can be instituted. It is necessary to begin with feasible things and to capitalize on what has been done. The rural school as it is found today is the starting point. Its teachers, pupils and parents should cooperate in an effort to improve rural living. Efforts should be made to develop plans and formulate programs designed to help people to help themselves. The problems of rural education are inseparable from the social and economic problems of the region. The major problems of the people grow out of the low economic level of a rural population. The South, potentially rich in natural resources, soil, climate, and people, is now, in large part, a wasted land. In many rural areas poverty with all its attendant evils is the rule rather than the exception. Measured in terms of annual income, diet, general health, comforts, and luxuries the South lags far behind every other major region of the nation. The steady increase in farm tenancy has drained resources from rural areas and has been detrimental to wholesome home life and community pride. Soil erosion and depletion of soil fertility, and the exhaustion of natural resources have seriously affected the stability of people and the standards of living. Measured in terms of the training and pay of its teachers, the length of the school term, its holding power, and certainly what it has done to improve the living conditions of its supporters, the