Kinematic Analysis of a Drinking Task in Chronic Hemiparetic Patients Using Features Analysis and Statistical Parametric Mapping

Objective

To compare sitting posture and movement strategies between chronic hemiparetic and healthy subjects while performing a drinking task, using statistical parametric mapping (SPM) and feature analysis.

Intrarater and Inter-rater Reliability of Maximal Voluntary Neck Muscle Strength Assessment Using a Handheld Dynamometer in Women With Headache and Healthy Women

Objective

This study aimed to determine the inter-rater and intrarater reliability, agreement, and minimal detectable change (MDC) of the neck muscle strength test using a handheld dynamometer in healthy women and women with headaches.

Tackling the Urban Health Divide Though Enabling Intersectoral Action on Malnutrition in Chile and Kenya

As momentum grows for a sustainable urbanisation goal in the post-2015 development agenda, this paper reports on an action research study that sought to tackle the urban health divide by enabling intersectoral action on social determinants at the local level. The study was located in the cities of Mombasa in Kenya and Valparaíso in Chile, and the impact of the intervention on child nutrition was evaluated using a controlled design. The findings showed that an action research process using the social educational process known as PLA could effectively build the capacity of multisectoral teams to take coordinated action which in turn built the capacity of communities to sustain them. The impact on child nutrition was inconclusive and needed to be interpreted within the context of economic collapse in the intervention area. Four factors were found to have been crucial for creating the enabling environment for effective intersectoral action (i) supportive government policy (ii) broad participation and capacity building (iii) involving policy makers as advisors and establishing the credibility of the research and (iii) strengthening community action. If lessons learned from this study can be adapted and applied in other contexts then they could have a significant economic and societal impact on health and nutrition equity in informal urban settlements.     

Ancestral contribution of the muscle-specific creatine kinase (CKM) polymorphism rs4884 in the knee osteoarthritis risk: a preliminary study

Clinical Rheumatology - Articular cartilage and periarticular muscle tissues are strongly affected during knee osteoarthritis (OA). Creatine kinase (CK) is an enzyme expressed in several tissues,...