Cardiovascular risk profile at the onset of psoriatic arthritis: a population-based cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: The role of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors in psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is poorly understood. We examined the prevalence of CVD risk factors at initial onset of PsA and compared the observed incidence of CVD events with that predicted by the Framingham Risk Score (FRS) to determine its applicability in this patient population. METHODS: A population-based incidence cohort of 158 patients with PsA who fulfilled Classification of Psoriatic Arthritis criteria for PsA in 1989-2008 was assembled. Medical records were reviewed to ascertain CVD risk factors and CVD events. Future risk of CVD was estimated using the FRS algorithm. RESULTS: Mean age was 43.4 years (range 19-74 years), 61% were men, and 44% were obese (body mass index ≥30 kg/m(2) ). Fifty-four patients (34%) presented with ≥2 CVD risk factors at PsA incidence. Among 126 patients ages ≥30 years at PsA incidence with no prior history of CVD, 33% had an FRS ≥10%, with 11% having an FRS ≥20%, and 18 experienced a CVD event in the first 10 years of disease duration. The 10-year cumulative incidence of CVD events was 17% (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 10%-24%), almost twice as high as the predicted incidence based on the FRS (standardized incidence ratio 1.80, 95% CI 1.14-2.86; P = 0.012). CONCLUSION: The majority of newly diagnosed PsA patients have a >10% risk of CVD within 10 years of PsA incidence. The CVD risk in these patients is higher than expected and underestimated by the FRS.

Personal computers and process writing: a written language intervention for deaf children.

This study was concerned with the effectiveness of word processing as a written language intervention for primary-age deaf children. Subjects were 14 children in two primary school deaf-unit classes matched in terms of age, gender, and degree of hearing loss. A quasi-experimental design incorporating multiple-group baselines with pre- and post-tests enable all subjects to receive the intervention while maintaining experimental control. Samples of children's written language were collected at the end of each phase in the study. Experienced teachers of deaf children rated five dimensions of the quality of the written language samples, while a speech and language therapist judged other linguistic qualities of the writing. Significant improvements in quality ratings over the course of the study indicated that the word processing intervention had led to improvements in the children's written language skills. These results confirm the effectiveness of word processing as an adjunct to the process writing approach to written language instruction for deaf children.

Children's attitudes toward peers with intellectual disability.

The policy of inclusion (mainstreaming) of children with an intellectual disability in regular schools has raised questions about the extent to which 'true' integration is possible. One important aspect of integration is social acceptance by the regular class children. The purpose of this study was to determine the attitudes of children in primary and intermediate classrooms towards children with an intellectual disability housed in satellite classrooms at public schools. Teachers in the satellite classrooms completed a school integration questionnaire. Attitudes towards and the social distance afforded children in satellite classrooms were relatively positive across all children, especially girls. In particular, attitudes were more positive in schools which had more vigorous administrative policies concerning academic and social integration. The results are discussed in terms of current mainstreaming policies for children with intellectual disabilities.

Nutritional intakes of socioculturally mentally retarded children vs. children of low and average socioeconomic status.

The adequacy of dietary intakes of socioculturally mentally retarded children, nonretarded children of low socioeconomic status (SES), and nonretarded children of average SES were studied. The socioculturally retarded children showed significantly lower daily intakes of almost all basic nutritional substances than did the nonretarded children in either the low- or average-SES groups. We also found that the socioculturally retarded group's intake of iron, calcium, thiamine, and ascorbic acid was below National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council recommended daily allowance levels, a finding that did not occur for either of the other groups. Although the precise developmental significance of these findings is somewhat unclear, it seems prudent to incorporate a focus on dietary provisions (as well as on other home conditions) in future intervention programs for children at high-risk for sociocultural mental retardation.

Eye movements and conservation acceleration in mildly retarded children.

Thirty mildly retarded elementary-school children, 15 of whom had received perceptual/attentional training, were tested on four Piagetian conservation tasks (number, length, and continuous quantity solid/liquid) presented on 16 mm movie film with taped instructions. Eye movements were recorded during the response period for each task. Subsequent analyses of eye-movement patterns showed clear differences between the training and control groups. Trained conservers showed more visual exploratory activity and less perceptual centration than control group subjects. Moreover the eye-movement patterns of trained conservers closely approximated those shown by natural (i.e., untrained) retarded conservers in a previous study. The findings were discussed in terms of possible cognitive structural changes resulting from training and possible cognitive structural differences between mildly retarded and nonretarded children.