THE INDEX

Every paper we have read

Each one summarised from the full article, not its abstract, and kept only if it speaks to physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology or nursing. Newest first.

35,183 PAPERS · PAGE 330 OF 704 · NEWEST FIRST

• Narrative Review2019New approaches to studying early brain development in Down syndrome.Developmental medicine and child neurologyThis review argues that brain development in Down syndrome deviates before birth, so therapies targeting cognition in older children may be too late. It suggests using advanced fetal and neonatal MRI to find earlier treatment windows, rather than reporting new clinical results.
• SLPRCT2019Using a Bone-Conduction Headset to Improve Speech Discrimination in Children With Otitis Media With Effusion.Trends in hearingChildren with glue ear heard distant speech better with a bone-conduction headset and microphone. Quiet thresholds fell from 39 to 23 dB(A); in noise from 59 to 45. It may help during watchful waiting, but long-term benefit is unproven.
• PTOTRCT2019Forced, Not Voluntary, Aerobic Exercise Enhances Motor Recovery in Persons With Chronic Stroke.Neurorehabilitation and neural repairIn 40 adults with chronic stroke, forced aerobic cycling plus upper limb task practice improved Fugl-Meyer scores by 11 points, versus 6 with voluntary cycling plus task practice and 9 with education plus task practice. The forced group improved most.
• SLPCohort2019Quantifying phonological knowledge in children with phonological disorder.Clinical linguistics & phoneticsFor preschoolers with phonological disorder, a consonant accuracy cutoff of 20.4% on a large 293-word probe correctly classifies 90.0% of sounds as present or absent in the child’s phonemic inventory. This allows clinicians to estimate functional phonological knowledge from standard accuracy scores without manual minimal-pair analysis.
• SLPOther2019Family Emotional Climate and Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disordersThe largest group of families, 43%, showed high warmth and low criticism across parent-child and couple relationships. Higher child emotional and behavioral problems and parent autism-like traits were linked to more distressed family relationships.
• OTSystematic Review2019Effectiveness of paediatric occupational therapy for children with disabilities: A systematic review.Australian occupational therapy journalTop-down, activity-based interventions like CO-OP and CIMT have strong evidence for children with disabilities, while bottom-up approaches like NDT and sensory integration lack it. Parent-led home programs are as effective as therapist-delivered care.
• SLPNarrative Review2019Community service speech language therapists practising in adult dysphagia: Is the healthcare system failing them?The South African journal of communication disorders = Die Suid-Afrikaanse tydskrif vir KommunikasieafwykingsNew speech-language therapists in South Africa often feel underprepared to manage adult dysphagia independently due to limited training and lack of supervision. The article argues that mandatory mentorship and accessible continuing education are needed to support these junior clinicians.
• PTPilot2019Dynamic neural network approach to targeted balance assessment of individuals with and without neurological disease during non-steady-state locomotion.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationA neural network predicted balance-related whole-body motion from five body segments, including during complex walking in five healthy people and five people with early Parkinson's. The test used simulated sensors, so it is not a clinical assessment yet.
• OTSLPCohort2019Can the stroke impact scale 3.0 detect cognitive impairments in patients with a recent stroke?Journal of physical therapy scienceAfter stroke rehab, 41 older survivors using the Stroke Impact Scale reported trouble with memory, concentration and everyday problem solving, and many reported low mood items. The scale flagged concerns, but the study did not prove it detects cognitive impairment.
• OTOther2019Canadian Occupational Performance Measure Supported by Talking Mats: An Evaluation of the Clinical Utility.Occupational therapy internationalFor six clients with cognitive and communication problems after brain injury, adding Talking Mats to the COPM helped most identify and rate daily activity problems, especially early steps. One client was less engaged and reflective. Use it selectively.
• OTSLPCohort2019Behavioral Health Service Utilization and Unmet Need After Traumatic Brain Injury in Childhood.Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics : JDBPYears after injury, children with traumatic brain injury had higher rates of behavioral health need than those with other injuries, but service use did not differ. Across all groups, 77% of those needing care were not receiving it. Race predicted access, with white children having higher unmet need.
• PTOTOther2019Sensory Processing and Maladaptive Behavior: Profiles Within the Down Syndrome Phenotype.Physical & occupational therapy in pediatricsParent reports showed children with Down syndrome who seemed hard to engage or sought intense sensory experiences had more disruptive and self-absorbed behavior. This was an association, not proof that changing sensory experiences would change behavior.
• SLPOther2019Sensitivity to Interaural Phase in Older Hearing-Impaired Listeners Correlates With Nonauditory Trail Making Scores and With a Spatial Auditory Task of Unrelated Peripheral Origin.Trends in hearingIn 20 older adults with hearing loss, poor ability to detect sound timing differences correlated strongly with slow performance on a visual tracking task. This suggests the hearing test may reflect general cognitive or spatial processing speed rather than just ear damage.
• PTOTRCT2019Intensive virtual reality and robotic based upper limb training compared to usual care, and associated cortical reorganization, in the acute and early sub-acute periods post-stroke: a feasibility study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationIn people with recent stroke, adding intensive virtual reality and robotic arm training to usual inpatient therapy was associated with larger 6-month gains in arm impairment and wrist movement, but not in task performance or pinch.
• PTOTOther2019Physical fitness and executive functions in adolescents: cross-sectional associations with academic achievement.Journal of physical therapy scienceSeveral fitness scores related to school grades and some executive-function scores in 713 adolescents. Balance did not relate to grades, and this cannot show fitness improves grades.
• SLPOther2019Specificity of Phonological Representations for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disordersYoung children with autism were as affected by mispronunciations as younger typically developing children, even though they recognized words less accurately overall.
• PTOther2019Postural instability in cognitively impaired elderly during forward and backward body leans.Journal of physical therapy scienceDuring maximum forward and backward leans, older adults with cognitive impairment showed more side-to-side sway than healthy older adults. Front-to-back sway was similar.
• OTOther2019Development and Validation of the Occupational Therapy Engagement Scale for Patients with Stroke.Occupational therapy internationalA 12-item scale allowed occupational therapists to rate engagement in hospitalized subacute stroke patients. Higher scores meant more engagement, and scores were modestly related to daily-living performance two months after discharge.
• OTSurvey2019Occupational Therapists' Perceived Confidence in the Management of Concussion: Implications for Occupational Therapy Education.Occupational therapy international60% of surveyed occupational therapists had concussion experience, but confidence varied. Therapists without concussion experience reported lower confidence in all assessment and treatment areas. More continuing education was linked with higher confidence; years of experience and university concussion coverage were not.
• Cohort2019Early Intervention Referral and Enrollment Among Infants with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome.Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics : JDBPAmong 256 infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome, 77% were referred to early intervention, about half enrolled, and 38% stayed enrolled over 6 months. Referral was higher when infants went home with a biological parent.
• PTOther2019Relationship between the deep flexion of the knee joint and the dynamics of the infrapatellar fat pad after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction via ultrasonography.Journal of physical therapy scienceThree months after ACL reconstruction, patients who could sit in seiza, a Japanese kneeling position, had a thinner fat pad under the kneecap at a 10-degree bend and greater change in thickness between 10 and 90 degrees than those who could not.
• SLPOther2019Limited Pre-Speech Auditory Modulation in Individuals Who Stutter: Data and Hypotheses.Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHRAdults who stutter show absent pre-speech auditory modulation when speaking normally. However, adding a 100ms delay to their auditory feedback activates this modulation, eliminating the difference between stuttering and non-stuttering speakers. This suggests the deficit is specific to typical feedback conditions.
• OTOther2019Effects of using activity diary for goal setting in occupational therapy on reducing pain and improving psychological and physical performance in patients after total knee arthroplasty: A non-randomised controlled study.Hong Kong journal of occupational therapy : HKJOTPatients after knee replacement who added an activity diary to occupational therapy had better walking pain, anxiety, steps, and physical activity than therapy alone. Resting pain, helplessness, and pain self-efficacy did not differ.
• PTRCT2019One session of motor control exercise improves joint position sense assessed by an iPhone application: a randomized controlled trial.Journal of physical therapy scienceIn healthy adults, the exercise group did not outperform the control group at any tested angle. One 30-minute motor control exercise session reduced errors at target bend angles of 45° and 60° within the exercise group, not at 30°.
• OTNarrative Review2019Can Occupational Therapy Address the Occupational Implications of Hoarding?Occupational therapy internationalThere is almost no occupational therapy evidence on hoarding, and existing responses often focus on psychology or forced clearing. A client-centred approach is proposed that helps people build safer, meaningful daily activities instead of only removing possessions.
• SLPOther2019The Parallel Auditory Brainstem Response.Trends in hearingA new hearing test recorded brainstem responses to five frequencies in both ears at once. In normal-hearing adults, it produced standard waveforms and reached a preset noise level in a median 4.6 min, versus 30.1 min for serial testing.
• PTOther2019Validity and reliability study of the motor accuracy test in Turkey.Journal of physical therapy scienceIn 100 Turkish children with no disabilities, the Motor Accuracy test gave consistent scores after two weeks and its scores moved in line with an eye-hand coordination test. It can help assess ages 6 to 8 years, 11 months, not prove treatment benefit.
• OTQualitative2019Experience of Occupations among People Living with a Personality Disorder.Occupational therapy internationalPeople living with Cluster B personality disorder described both disapproved and valued occupations as ways to cope, control distress, or gain approval. Socially valued occupations could also bring stigma, overwork, and exclusion.
• PTSystematic Review2019Review of scoliosis-specific exercise methods used to correct adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.Archives of physiotherapyNo reliable combined evidence was found that scoliosis-specific exercises reduce adolescent spinal curve angles compared with no treatment or standard exercise. Some individual studies favoured exercise, but the review could not combine them reliably and rated the evidence as insufficient or limited.
• SLPOther2019Searching for the Sound of a Cochlear Implant: Evaluation of Different Vocoder Parameters by Cochlear Implant Users With Single-Sided Deafness.Trends in hearingCochlear implant users judged a pulsatile vocoder carrier closer to their implant sound than sinusoidal or noise carriers. They also preferred lower frequency mismatch, but the simulations still sounded different from the real implant.
• PTOther2019Effects of short-term immobilization of the upper limb on the somatosensory pathway: a study of short-latency somatosensory evoked potentials.Journal of physical therapy scienceAfter 10 hours of upper limb immobilization in healthy adults, a peripheral sensory nerve response increased, while later spinal and brain responses showed no clear change.
• PTSystematic Review2019Minimal Clinically Important Difference of Shoulder Outcome Measures and Diagnoses: A Systematic Review.American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitationThe smallest score change considered important on common shoulder outcome measures varies widely by diagnosis. Do not apply one fixed threshold to all shoulder patients; match the value to rotator cuff, fracture, instability, or arthroplasty status.
• OTOther2019Assessment of Usability and Task Load Demand Using a Robot-Assisted Transfer Device Compared With a Hoyer Advance for Dependent Wheelchair Transfers.American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitationCaregivers rated the robot-assisted transfer device as safer for themselves and less physically demanding than the Hoyer lift when moving a mannequin between a wheelchair, toilet, tub chair, and clinic bench.
• SLPCohort2019Reduced frontal gamma power at 24 months is associated with better expressive language in toddlers at risk for autism.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchHigh-risk toddlers without later ASD had lower frontal gamma power at 24 months, and lower power was linked to better expressive language. Toddlers with ASD did not differ from low-risk controls, so this single EEG measure was not a clear ASD marker.
• Other2019Gastrointestinal dysfunction in patients and mice expressing the autism-associated R451C mutation in neuroligin-3.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism ResearchTwo brothers with an autism-associated neuroligin-3 mutation had diarrhea, regurgitation, and gut pain. Mice carrying the same mutation had faster small-intestinal transit and altered colon movement when gut nerve signals were blocked.
• PTCase Report2019Synergistic effects of vacuum therapy and laser therapy on physical rehabilitation.Journal of physical therapy sciencePain was reported to decrease 100% and some shoulder, lumbar and hip movements increased after 10 sessions combining vacuum and laser therapy. Because both treatments were given together and neither was tested alone, this does not show either one worked.
• SLPSurvey2019Relationship Between Subjective Reports of Temporary Threshold Shift and the Prevalence of Hearing Problems in Military Personnel.Trends in hearingService members who reported temporary muffled hearing after loud noise were more likely to report tinnitus and everyday hearing difficulties. These reports were more closely linked with hearing problems than reported exposure to continuous, firearm, or heavy weapon noise.
• PTOTCohort2019Evaluating the Influence of Social Engagement on Cognitive Impairment and Mobility Outcomes Within the Boston RISE Cohort Study.American journal of physical medicine & rehabilitationIn older adults at risk for mobility decline, mild cognitive impairment was linked to worse mobility and lower social engagement. Higher social engagement was linked to better mobility and was associated with the cognitive impairment-mobility link, but this cannot prove causation.
• SLPOther2019No Effect of Interstimulus Interval on Acoustic Reflex Thresholds.Trends in hearingLengthening the pause between sounds during acoustic reflex testing did not lower thresholds or improve reliability in young adults with normal hearing. A short 2.5-second interval is sufficient for accurate testing at both 1 kHz and 4 kHz frequencies.
• SLPNarrative Review2019Speech Production From a Developmental Perspective.Journal of speech, language, and hearing research : JSLHRThis is a theoretical review, not a test of therapy. It proposes how speech production develops and suggests ideas for future research, not evidence that any treatment works.
• SLPCohort2019Persistence of dysfunctional natural killer cells in adults with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders: stigma/consequence of unresolved early infectious events?Molecular autismAdults with high-functioning autism showed persistent natural killer cell activation and altered function, including links to language and social awareness scores. This is a biomarker association, not a tested treatment or clinical test.
• OTCohort2019Co-occurrence of Sensory Overresponsivity with Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in Childhood and Early Adolescence.Journal of developmental and behavioral pediatrics : JDBPSensory overresponsivity was linked to OCD symptoms at the same age, not to later OCD symptoms. Tactile and auditory symptoms were associated with concurrent OCD symptoms at ages 8 and 13.
• SLPCase-Control2019Impaired auditory processing and neural representation of speech in noise among symptomatic post-concussion adults.Brain injuryOverall early brain responses did not clearly differ between concussion and controls, but noise affected concussion participants more, and active listening responses to speech were poorer than controls. This does not show all concussion patients have auditory processing deficits.
• PTPilot2019Voluntary control of wearable robotic exoskeletons by patients with paresis via neuromechanical modeling.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitationPatients with stroke or spinal cord injury could control a robotic leg exoskeleton from seated knee and ankle movements. Muscle activity fell with higher assistance, but this small study did not test walking or recovery.
• PTOTRCT2019Effects of Whole-Body Vibration on Upper Extremity Function and Grip Strength in Patients with Subacute Stroke: A Randomised Single-Blind Controlled Trial.Occupational therapy internationalAdding whole-body vibration before task-oriented training improved upper extremity function and grip strength more than upper- and lower-cycle training, but both groups also had task-oriented and conventional therapy, so vibration alone is not proven.
• PTSystematic Review2019Effects of McKenzie and stabilization exercises in reducing pain intensity and functional disability in individuals with nonspecific chronic low back pain: a systematic review.Journal of physical therapy scienceMcKenzie and stabilization exercises were reported to reduce pain and disability in chronic nonspecific low back pain, but direct comparison evidence is limited and mixed.
• OTSurvey2019Deimplementing Untested Practices in Homecare Services: A Preobservational-Postobservational Design.Occupational therapy internationalNo Quebec homecare service replaced its local bathing-equipment tool with Algo after the project. 25 of 87 services had reached the first Algo step; local tools remained common.
• SLPCase-Control2019An In-Depth Analysis of Expository Writing in Children With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder.Journal of autism and developmental disordersChildren with autism wrote shorter essays with more grammar errors but used more rare words. Their overall essay quality matched peers. They struggled more with starting, staying on task, and generating ideas during the writing process.
• PTOTOther2019Effects of liaison between physiotherapists and occupational therapists for home-visit rehabilitation: preliminary study.Journal of physical therapy scienceBasic daily living did not differ between older adults receiving coordinated physiotherapy and occupational therapy and those receiving one discipline alone. The coordinated group had higher activity and social participation. This is a small cross-sectional study.
• OTPilot2019Evaluation of conventional training in Clinical Breast Examination (CBE).Work (Reading, Mass.)Ten novice medical students were wrong in 66% of breast examinations after training. They missed 6 of 10 true cancers and falsely referred 27 normal breasts. Existing tests checked hand technique and confidence, not ability to detect lumps.