The effects of brief behavioral activation (BA) on children with physical disabilities: A randomized controlled trial.

The majority of children with physical disabilities experience significant restrictions in their daily lives. Notably, they are at a risk for lower levels of activity and involvement in critical life domains. To address this issue, this study investigated whether behavioral activation (BA), in tandem with the installment of power-assisted devices (PAD), would have beneficial effects on activity levels, overall involvement in life domains, mobility, and depressive symptoms among children with physical disabilities. From among 123 children with physical disabilities aged 6-13 who used a nonpowered wheelchair device, 40 who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were randomized into either the PAD-only group or the BA + PAD group. The participants were assessed at 3 time periods (pretreatment, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks), using standardized self-report measures and digital odometers. Both groups showed an increase in the distance traveled. Although BA + PAD had no additional benefits over PAD-only in improving the distance traveled and depressive symptoms, the BA + PAD group showed significantly higher levels of activity and overall involvement in life domains than the PAD-only group did. The findings provide preliminary support for the provision of BA for children with physical disabilities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Recent Demonstration Of Helminth Eggs And Larvae From Vegetable Cultivating Soil.

A survey on soil samples collected from the vegetable gardens and vinyl houses in the vicinity of Taegu was conducted for the discovery of helminth eggs and larvae from October 1981 to September 1982. The samples collected were examined utilizing the "Commonly Employed" and Kamiya's techniques. The details of comparative features of larval nematodes are taken from the handbook of parasitology by Matsubasyhi et al. (1965). The results were compared with the data obtained from soil samples collected at the same area by Lee(1976). Five kinds of helminth eggs, ascarid, hookworm, liver fluke, Trichostrongylidae, and whipworm and undetermined eggs were found. Of these, the incidence of ascarid eggs was found to be the highest, 70.5 per cent, followed by whipworm and hookworm eggs, 9.9 and 9.2 per cent, respectively. The average number of ascarid eggs per 100 grams of soil was higher in the vinyl houses, compared with the number in the vegetable gardens than in the vinyl houses. By contrast, the number of hookworm eggs was relatively high in the vegetable gardens. In the monthly incidences of helminth eggs, ascarid eggs were found every month, continuing fairly high incidences all the year round. However, hookworm eggs was found for 8 months from February and September, with low monthly incidences between 4.0 and 22.2 per cent, and Trichostrongylidae eggs were found for 6 months from April to September, with lower incidences than those of hookworm. Three kinds of larval nematodes, the filariform and rhabditoid larvae of hookworm, Trichostrongylidae, and undetermined larvae were found in the soil of farms, but the incidences of larvae were quite low. The average number of larvae per 100 grams of soil was 0.05. When the number of eggs per 100 grams of the soil in 1976 were compared with 1982, pronounced reduction of the number was encountered in all helminth eggs. However, the incidences and the average number of larvae per 100 grams of the soil were so low that it was impossible to compare the data between 1976 and 1982.

Demonstration of Metagonimus yokogawai metacercariae from Plecoglossus altivelis in river Ahnseong, Kyungpook province, Korea.

There are a number of eating-houses in the basin of river Ahnseong that sell rawsweetfish, Plecoglossus altivelis, to local residents and visitors. These facts called attention to the possibility of wide spread of metagonimiasis in that area. In an attempt to determine whether the metacercaria of Metagonimus yokogawai does present in the sweetfish caught in the river Ahnseong, a total of 77 fish were examined in the period from April to September 1978. All the fish were infected with the encysted larvae. The average number of larvae persweetfish was 1,815, of which the metacercaria rate for the fluke in the flesh was 56.9 per cent and in the scale, 30.5 per cent. These results indicate that all the sweetfish in the river Ahnseong harbour the metacercaria of Metagonimus yokogawai.