1,720,963 research outputs found
Oral Efficiency During Swallowing In Aging
No full textThe purpose of this study was to determine oral efficiency in swallowing for older healthy persons compared with younger healthy. Oral efficiency was determined by examining bites per trial, mastication cycles per bite, and oral mastication duration in varying textures: cracker, raw carrot, steamed green bean (single bite; ½ cup serving), and chicken sandwich. Twenty-seven participants, comprised of older healthy individuals (n=14, age 51-69 yrs.) and younger healthy participants (n=13, age 21-39 yrs.) completed oral intake trials in randomized order. Surface electromyography (sEMG), with sensors placed on the masseter and suprahyoid musculature, provided muscle activation signals to determine the number of mastication cycles and oral mastication duration. Tongue strength of younger (61.51 kPa ±12.47) and older healthy participants (58.36 kPa ±10.07) was not significantly different in a maximum tongue press task, (p=.475). Independent samples t-tests revealed that older healthy participants (M=21.79, SD=8.27) had increased mastication cycles per bite consuming the sandwich compared with younger healthy (M=28.70, SD 8.54), p=.047; however, cracker (p=.071), carrot (p=.056), single bite green bean (p=.728) and half cup serving green bean (p=.728) trials were not different between older and younger participants. Bites per trial and oral mastication duration did not differ in older and younger healthy, p>.05 across textures. In this pilot study, increased mastication cycles in the sandwich condition may suggest that persons develop reduced oral efficiency with aging when eating and need to exert more effort using increased mastication cycles per bite to intake at the same rate as younger healthy
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and Swallowing: Current Trends in Speech-Language Pathology Clinical Practice Patterns
No full textChronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a progressive respiratory disease that limits a person's ability to perform everyday activities, leads to frequent disease exacerbations requiring hospitalizations, and reduces overall quality of life. COPD may co-occur with dysphagia (swallowing impairment) due to a discoordination between the respiratory and swallowing systems that can lead to aspiration and an increased risk of pneumonia. There is currently no optimal care plan for managing dysphagia in persons who have a primary diagnosis of COPD. The purpose of this study was to identify current clinical practice patterns for persons with COPD experiencing swallowing impairment. To identify different practice patterns of American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)-certified SLPs, we deployed a 35-question Qualtrics online survey with recruitment accrual through medical SLP social media sites, ASHA Special Interest Group 13 (Dysphagia) Community forum, and flyers distributed at the Texas Speech-Language Hearing Association conference. Eighty-seven SLPs initiated the survey and 49 SLPs had a complete data set that were analyzed. An SLP's years of clinical experience was strongly associated with their inclusion of respiratory measures, such as respiratory rate monitoring and pulse oximetry, in assessment. A moderate association was found between a clinician's self-reported expertise in respiratory measure interpretation and their routine use of respiratory rate monitoring and pulse oximetry while no association was found between adjunctive respiratory measure use and the percentage of persons with COPD on their caseload. Speech-language pathologists are routinely using clinical swallowing examinations paired with instrumental assessments (VFSS or FEES) in this patient group and utilizing the findings to deliver patient-centered treatment approaches based on their presenting swallow physiology. Dysphagia intervention in persons with COPD has also evolved to include options beyond compensatory strategy swallow training; SLP's use of interventions such as respiratory muscle strength training and respiratory-swallow pattern education is emerging. Additional investigation with a larger sample is needed to clearly identify clinical practice patterns for management of dysphagia in persons with COPD
Liquid bolus volume in healthy persons across the lifespan
No full textThe purpose of this study was to determine the liquid bolus volume during swallowing in older healthy adults compared with younger healthy adults. Further, we sought to identify if the method of bolus delivery and texture, common adaptations applied in clinical practice, impacted the bolus volume consumed in healthy persons. Participants were recruited from Texas Christian University faculty, staff, and students using voluntary response, convenience, and snowball sampling due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Younger healthy (n = 12, aged 20-38 years) and older healthy participants (n = 10, aged 53-70 years) completed six experimental swallow trials of a thin liquid water bolus during four counterbalanced conditions: non-cued by cup, cued by cup, straw delivery, and carbonated by cup. An independent samples t-test demonstrated that older healthy persons' bolus volume in non-cued water swallows (M=12.41 mL, SD=8.01) was not statistically different from the younger healthy persons' (M=15.04, SD=8.62), t(86)=1.47, p=.146. Paired sample t-tests to examine differences between conditions in healthy persons were also not significant: cued single sip by cup compared to non-cued single sip by cup (p= .498), single straw sip compared to non-cued single sip by cup (p= .268), carbonated single sip and non-cued single sip (non-carbonated) by cup (p=.948). The findings in this pilot study suggest that the liquid bolus volume typically consumed in single sips was not impacted by age. Further, delivery method (straw or providing verbal cues) and texture (carbonated) did not alter the bolus size compared with a natural single liquid bolus by cup. However, a future study should include a larger sample of participants over the age of 65 to examine the effects of aging on liquid bolus volume
Speech-language pathologists’ clinical practices for lingual strength assessment and exercise in adults with dysphagia
No full textBackground: The tongue plays key roles in efficient swallowing; speech-language pathologists (SLPs) utilize lingual strengthening exercises (LSE) in dysphagia rehabilitation for older adults. Though LSEs are often utilized, dosage, tool use, and implementation remain unclear.
Purpose: This study identified common dosage, clinical tools, and other factors SLPs consider when utilizing LSE.
Methods: 123 ASHA-certified SLPs participated in an online survey examining SLP demographics, lingual evaluation, treatment, home exercise, and professional development.
Results: There is no agreement among SLPs in all four parameters of dosage and tool use across the care continuum. Themes in open response data included multiple facilitators and barriers for LSE.
Discussion: Variation of LSE remains apparent in current clinical practice. Barriers faced by clinicians in their provision of LSE include tool access, patient variability, and clinical understanding of LSE.
Conclusions: Further research is needed to address these variations in dosage, tool use, and clinical factors for LSE implementation
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Get PDFWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Get PDFWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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