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    Masala C , Oleszkiewicz A, Benzien C, Cuevas M, Nahrath P, Hähner A, Hummel T

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    Introduction: Few and contradictory data are available regarding the role of the olfactory and gustatory function on the body mass index (BMI) changes. Aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of olfactory and gustatory function on BMI changes in different age ranges. Materials and Methods: Four thousand three hundred and ninety patients (2564 women, 1826 men) were included in this retrospective study, with an age range from 18 to 95 years and a mean age of 56.6 years (SD 13.8). For each patient we collected detailed otorhinolaryngological examination, structured history, data on olfactory and gustatory function using the Sniffin’ Sticks test battery and the “taste sprays” test, respectively. Among 4390 patients enrolled in this study, 384 (9%) had an age range from 18-35 years, 1499 (34%) had an age range from 36-55 years and 2507 (57%) had an age range >55 years. Results: Our data indicated negative correlations between BMI and taste spray total score, thus subjects with low gustatory function being more prone to obesity. Moreover, the multivariate linear regression analyses indicated that age, sex, taste spray total score and the duration olfactory and gustatory dysfunction were predictors of BMI changes. Conclusions: Our data, in line to previous studies, suggest a significant correlation between BMI and age and sex. In addition, we observed a small but significant effect of olfactory and gustatory function on BMI changes. These data are important in order to understand the role of the chemical senses in the control weight gain and loss

    From Disablement to enablement: conceptual models of disability in the twentieth century

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    Purpose. The aim of this work is to provide a general view of the conceptual elaborations on disablement in the 20th century and to discuss the role of these different contributions in developing the current concepts of disablement. Method. A review of the literature on conceptual models of disablement in the past century has been performed. Results. The 20th century has witnessed important theoretical considerations on health, diseases and their consequences. These considerations have generated various conceptual models, some of which share the same focus and point of arrival, the so-called ‘Disablement Process’. Among the models that were developed, two stand out, which were drafted and disseminated under the aegis of the World Health Organization, namely the International Classification of Impairments, Disabilities and Handicaps (ICIDH) and the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF), but these are just one part of the conceptual elaboration in the field. Further conceptualization was produced in health and social settings by specialists, self-advocacy associations and activist groups. Conclusions. The current ICF model of the World Health Organization has been translated and recognized in 191 countries; it also incorporates the contribution of self-advocacy associations and it is now recognized by most of them. This model has enjoyed higher visibility than other conceptual models, though its level of development was not higher or more original. To our opinion the ICF is not very clear on the essential choice of the model, i.e., to see disablement as a dynamic process that happens when personal limits collide with socio-environmental needs, rather than as a personal feature. This choice is instead clearer in other models, like Nagi’s 1991, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) model by Brandt and Pope, where the identification of three dimensions (the individual, the environment and the individual-environment interaction) clarifies the role played by all three dimensions within the process of disablement and introduces major hints for further considerations on how to create virtuous processes of enablement
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