Joan Toglia, PhD, OTR, professor and program director of the Graduate Occupational Therapy Program at Mercy College recently presented to international health care professionals across diverse fields on the topic of cognitive rehabilitation with a focus on executive function. Dr. Toglia, recognized internationally as a leader in rehabilitation of persons with cognitive perceptual deficits, presented at numerous high-level conferences, including those at the prestigious Ono Academic College in Tel ...

The rate of leg and foot amputations among U.S. adults ages 40 and older with diagnosed diabetes declined by 65 percent between 1996 and 2008, according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and published today in the journal Diabetes Care.Age-adjusted nontraumatic lower-limb amputations occurred at a rate of 3.9 per 1,000 people with diagnosed diabetes in 2008 compared to 11.2 per 1,000 in 1996. Non-traumatic lower-limb amputations refer to those caused by circulatory problems that ...

Col. Geoffrey Ling, MD, PhD, leader of prosthetics research at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and Hugh Herr, PhD, director of the biomechatronics group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will deliver the keynote addresses at Neuroprosthetics 2012, an international symposium organized by the Bioengineering Institute (BEI) at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI). The symposium will take place on February 23, 2012, on the WPI campus in Worcester, Mass., and will bring ...

Beginning this summer, Towson University will have something new to offer TU students and the community. The College of Health Professions will establish the Institute for Well-Being in the Towson City Center, currently under renovation, at One Olympic Place (formerly One Investment Place). The institute will serve people of all ages from the community and will partner with health and community organizations. The new institute will comprise four centers including: The Center for Adults with Autism; ...

The prescribed use of stimulant medications to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) rose steadily from 1996 to 2008, according to a study conducted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (American Journal of Psychiatry, 2011). ADHD is one of the most common childhood disorders. It can continue through adolescence and adulthood. Symptoms include difficulty staying focused and paying attention, difficulty controlling behavior and ...

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine, in St. Louis, have shown that a protein may help prevent the kind of brain damage that occurs in babies with cerebral palsy.Using a mouse model that mimics the condition in newborns, the researchers found that high levels of the protective protein Nmnat1 substantially reduce damage that develops when the brain is deprived of oxygen and blood flow. The finding offers a potential new strategy for treating cerebral palsy, stroke and perhaps Alzheimer's, ...

Faced with inadequate progress on nuclear weapons reduction and proliferation, and continuing inaction on climate change, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (BAS) announced January 10 that it has moved the hand of its famous "Doomsday Clock" one minute forward, to five minutes to midnight. The last time the Doomsday Clock minute hand moved was in January 2010, when the clock's minute hand was pushed back one minute from five to six minutes before midnight. In a formal statement the Bulletin noted: "Two ...

Students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends are invited to the Winter Signature Event, "Sensory Processing Disorder: Persistence & Passion ─ Caring for Individuals with Challenges in Responding to Sensation," sponsored by the Morgridge College of the University of Colorado-Denver. The program, scheduled for January 26, will feature an interview with alumna Lucy Jane Miller, PhD, OTR. Miller founded the Sensory Processing Disorder Foundation (SPDF) in 1979 and has served as its executive director ...

In his State of the State address Jan. 4, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo called for a transformation in the way New York delivers services to its more than two million residents with disabilities. Syracuse University Professor Peter Blanck, chairman of the Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) at SU, says he is "encouraged by Governor Cuomo's administrations recognition of the importance of providing support for people with disabilities.""We at BBI look forward to helping inform the administration's ...

The Charcot-Marie-Tooth Association, a national non-profit for Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disorder, announced today an initiative with renowned outpatient rehabilitation, orthotics and prosthetics service provider Physiotherapy Associates, Inc. (PTA). The initiative will focus on developing improved patient treatments for CMT through an educational module that was developed by the CMTA, and will be delivered by PTA's clinicians.  "Physiotherapy Associates is uniquely positioned to provide services to ...

Laurent Mottron, MD, PhD, believes that the different brain structure of individuals with autism should not be considered a deficiency.Research reveals that many of these individuals-not just "savants"-have qualities and abilities that may exceed those of people who do not have the condition, said the director of the autism program at Rivière des Prairies Hospital in Montreal, Canada, and professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Montreal (Nature, 479: 33-35)."Recent data and my own ...

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of people age 90 and older in the United States grew from 720,000 in the 1980 report to 1.9 million in 2010's Census. By 2050 this rapidly growing segment of the population may reach 9 million, according to a report commissioned by the National Institute on Aging (NIA). The report, titled "90+ in the United States: 2006-2008," details the demographic, health and economic status of America's oldest adults and suggests that the designation of oldest-old ...

It's still unclear what's different in the brains of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), but evidence from genetic and cell studies points to abnormalities in how brain cells (neurons) connect to each other. A study at Children's Hospital Boston now provides visual evidence associating autism with a disorganized structure of brain connections, as well as defects in myelin -- the fatty, insulating coating that helps nerve fibers conduct signals and that makes up the brain's white ...

Researchers at Marcus Autism Center, Emory University, and Yale University have discovered a new way to measure how engaged people are with what they're watching. The new method relies on measuring the precise timing of when people blink, and when they don't. More importantly, they can use this new method to learn how children with autism engage in the world around them. The results are reported in the December 12, 2011 online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.If you are ...

Therapists from across the globe will gather in San Diego for the American Society of Hand Therapists' (ASHT) 35th Annual Meeting, scheduled from October 18-21, 2012 in San Diego, CA.This year's event, entitled "Making Waves in Hand Therapy" is an opportunity to gain knowledge of a wide range of specialties, including orthotic fabrication, anatomy / surgery, evidence-based research, and coding and reimbursement issues. Throughout the four-day event, participants will network with fellow professionals, ...