ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The aim of the present study was to investigate whether term infants with feeding difficulties who received either a 5-minute premature infant oral motor intervention (PIOMI) or a 15-minute Fucile treatment had different outcomes, compared to term infants in a nontreatment group. METHOD: Stable term infants (N = 51) born between 37-41 weeks of gestational age with feeding difficulties were randomly assigned into one of two intervention groups and a control group. One intervention group received PIOMI and the other group received Fucile treatment once a day for seven consecutive days; the control group received usual care only. The volume of milk intake, the amount of weight gain, and the length of hospital stay were compared across all groups. RESULT: Findings indicated that the volume of milk intake and weight gain showed significant improvement in all three groups. However, pairwise comparison revealed that infants in the Fucile group had significantly higher volume of milk intake and weight gain compared to infants in both the control and PIOMI groups. Length of hospital stay was not significantly different amongst all groups. CONCLUSION: The effects of Fucile treatment were more considerable than for usual care or PIOMI. This finding raises the possibility that prolonged exercise may facilitate improvement in feeding skills for term infants with feeding difficulties.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: A plethora of vocal enhancement and rehabilitation programs for voice professionals define vocal exercises irrespective of analyzing their effects on the specific population on which they are applied, in the established dose and often without considering the presence and absence of vocal alteration. So, in this study we investigated the impact of warm-up exercises (WUE) on the acoustic features of the gym coaches. OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of WUE on the acoustic characteristics of the voice in gym coaches. STUDY DESIGN: This was a Quasi-experimental control group design study. METHOD: The study was carried out through participation of forty-five female gym coaches with a mean age of 31.4 years (range: 19-44 years) in Mashhad gym salon. Participants were recruited into two conditions. In the first condition, participants did not receive the exercises for a week and were acoustically evaluated at the beginning and end of the week. In the second condition, participants received the exercises once a day for a week and were acoustically evaluated at the beginning and end of the week. Voice samples were included: at least 3 vowels / a / for at least five seconds. The voice samples analyzed by the Praat software recorder (Version 6.0.23) were collected to detect the acoustic characteristics of voice including fundamental frequency (f0) (Hz), jitter (%), shimmer (dB) and noise to harmonic ratio (NHR) (dB). Finally, the data obtained from these two condition were compared. RESULTS: After WUE, a significant increased f0, decreased jitter, decreased shimmer and decreased NHR were measured. (p-value < 0.005). CONCLUSION: The WUE had an immediate positive effect on acoustic characteristics of voice)f0, jitter, shimmer and NHR(in the short term and this study suggests that the WUE is an effective technique for enhancing the overall voice quality of gym coaches.
