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Background: The objective of this paper was to determine the validity, reliability and internal consistency of the translated FILIPINO DASH (FIL-DASH) questionnaire in patients with traumatic brachial plexus injuries.

Methods: Thirty-five adult patients with traumatic brachial plexus injury were enrolled in the validation stage. The same questionnaire was given to the patient between 7 to 14 days for the test-retest reliability. The validated Filipino version of the SF-36 was used as the gold standard to determine the construct validity of the translated DASH. We also compared the DASH score with the SF-36 total and subscale, validated Brief Pain Inventory Severity and Interference Scale and the Visual Acuity Scale (VAS) for Pain.

Results: The internal consistency was adequate, with Cronbach’s Alpha for the 30 items of 0.93 and an average inter-item covariance of 0.399. The test-retest reliability was 0.87 (p < 0.001). There was no significant difference in establising the validity of the translated DASH against SF-36 total and Subscale, validated Brief Pain Inventory Severity and Interference Scale and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS).

Conclusions: The translated DASH (FIL-DASH) questionnaire was internally consistent and showed no difference in testing for test-retest reliability and validity against functional outcome measures and pain scales validated for adult Filipinos.

Background: Clinical outcomes are very important in clinical assessment, and responsiveness is a component inside the outcome measures that needs to be investigated, particularly in chronic nonspecific low back pain (CNSLBP).

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the responsiveness of pain, functional capacity tests, and disability in individuals with CNSLBP.

Methods: Twenty subjects were assessed in pain using the following methods: visual analog scale (VAS) and numeric pain rating scale (NPRS), functional capacity tests: functional reach test (FRT), five-time sit-to-stand test (5 TSST), and two-minute step test (2 MST), and disability level: modified Oswestry Disability Questionnaire (MODQ), Thai version before and after 2-week intervention session. For interventions, the subjects received education, spinal manipulative therapy, and individual therapeutic exercise twice a week, for a total of two weeks. The statistics analyzed were change scores, effect size (ES), and standardized response mean (SRM).

Results: The most responsive parameter for individuals with CNSLBP was pain as measured by numeric pain rating scale (NPRS) (ES $-$0.986, SRM $-$0.928) and five-time sit-to-stand test (5 TSST) (SRM $-$0.846).

Conclusion: This study found that NPRS pain and 5 TSST were responsive in individuals with CNSLBP at two weeks after the beginning of interventions.

Data mining is a method that gives valuable information where we can improve and achieve the goal. Existing data mining techniques are applied in education for analyzing the performance of students, classes, and institutions. This helps the teachers and management to identify where they lag and improvise. Some mining techniques are used to predict and identify special children’s categories. In this paper, data mining techniques are applied for the special children to predict the achievement in special school study for child categories like Mental Retardation (MR), autism, and cerebral palsy using the collected assessment detail. Vocational training is considered an essential aspect for special school children for their future survival. Data mining methods are applied to mine the most achievable and essential training factors as a pattern by apriori rule mining and high utility pattern mining algorithms, based on their assessment achieved from the age 10–14, where Madras developmental programming scale is followed in special schools. We can predict which category children are achieving necessary factors, which helps identify the alternate methods to train the particular activity. Essential factors that cannot achieve at the same level will be trained in the next prevocational level to reach their vocational training. The prediction that we have made will be helpful for the teachers to train the children concerning their achievements.

Background: We aimed to determine the degree of contracture in the ring and little fingers at which hand function became importantly impaired.

Methods: Five activities of daily living were incorporated into a newly developed and validated Dupuytren’s assessment tool (DAT). Sixty healthy participants were assessed with the DAT wearing a range of 12 dorsal blocking splints. Half wore them on their right little finger, the other half on their ring finger. These induced flexion deformities mimicking DC of the MCPJ, PIPJ and a combination of the two. The angles of flexion deformity at which important hand disability occurred were calculated using receiver operating characteristic curves.

Results: Clinically important hand disability occurred for the little finger MCPJ, PIPJ and combined MCPJ and PIPJ angulation at 52.5, 67.5, and 75 degrees respectively. For the ring finger joint, the angulations were 52.5, 67.5 and 75 degrees respectively.

Conclusions: This information will provide information for clinicians and patients as to when clinically important disability tends to occur in DC.

Chronic low back pain is one of the most common reasons that people seek medical treatment, and the consequent disability creates a great financial burden on individuals and society. The etiology of chronic low back pain is not clear, which means it is often refractory to treatment. Acupuncture has been reported to be effective in providing symptomatic relief of chronic low back pain. However, it is not known whether the effects of acupuncture are due to the needling itself or nonspecific effects arising from the manipulation. To determine the effectiveness of acupuncture therapy, a meta-analysis was performed to compare acupuncture with sham acupuncture and other treatments. Overall, 2678 patients were identified from thirteen randomized controlled trials. The meta-analysis was performed by a random model (Cohen's test), using the I-square test for heterogeneity and Begg's test to assess for publication bias. Clinical outcomes were evaluated by pain intensity, disability, spinal flexion, and quality of life. Compared with no treatment, acupuncture achieved better outcomes in terms of pain relief, disability recovery and better quality of life, but these effects were not observed when compared to sham acupuncture. Acupuncture achieved better outcomes when compared with other treatments. No publication bias was detected. Acupuncture is an effective treatment for chronic low back pain, but this effect is likely to be produced by the nonspecific effects of manipulation.

Pain and disability caused by ganglia of the hand and wrist were assessed using a patient-rated wrist evaluation questionnaire in 75 patients. Dorsal wrist ganglia were the most painful and disabling. However, the majority of ganglia cause little pain or disability. Consequently, referral by General Practitioners should be confined to those with pain, disability or failure of conservative management.

The purpose of this study was to compare the concurrent validity of four questionnaires in the assessment of outcome after rotator cuff repair. Sixty-two patients, who were at least two years post-rotator-cuff repair, completed three upper extremity scales: the Western Ontario Rotator Cuff (WORC) index, the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) and the Simple Shoulder Test (SST), and a measure of general health status (SF-36). Internal and external rotation ranges of motion and isometric strength were measured. Pearson correlations were used to evaluate the construct whereby scores should be related to the severity of measured impairments. One-way ANOVA was used to determine the ability of the questionnaires to discriminate between groups expected to have different outcomes based on measured impairment or worker's compensation status. The upper extremity questionnaires demonstrated similar response distributions and were highly correlated (0.88 < r < 0.91). The response distribution of the SF-36 was different from the other scales and its correlation with them was moderate (0.58 < r < 0.75). The upper extremity measures demonstrated better correlations with measured impairments (0.18 < r < 0.56) than the SF-36 (0 < r < 0.40). All the questionnaires were able to discriminate between levels of impairment and worker's compensation status. This study supported the validity of upper extremity scales to measure cuff-related disability and suggests that the use of both specific and general health measures provides a more comprehensive evaluation of patient outcome.

Purpose: Identifying factors related to low-back pain (LBP) can facilitate its management. However, information on how physical activity (PA) level, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and anthropometric characteristics are related to LBP-associated health indices in individuals with chronic LBP (CLBP) is scarce. This study explored how PA level, HRQoL and anthropometric indices are related to CLBP-related disability in a Nigerian population.

Methods: This cross-sectional study involved 100 individuals with CLBP who were receiving treatment in physiotherapy out-patient clinics of selected tertiary hospitals, and 95 apparently healthy individuals. PA level, disability level and HRQoL were measured using standardized procedures.

Results: Disability level inversely correlated with physical component score (PCS) of HRQoL ($r=-0.84$; $p<0.001$), mental component score (MCS) of HRQoL ($r=-0.46$; $p<0.001$), pain intensity ($r=-0.84$; $P<0.001$) and PA level ($r=-0.39$; $p<0.001$), but positively correlated with duration of pain ($r=0.81$; $p<0.001$) among individuals with CLBP. PCS of HRQoL ($\beta =-1.68$; $p<0.001$) solely accounted for 71% of the prediction of disability level.

Conclusion: PA level and HRQoL decrease with increasing CLBP-related disability with the PCS of HRQoL being mostly affected. Individuals with CLBP may need to be motivated against their health problem, and be encouraged to participate in PA.