A brief review of the cross-cultural literature on dissociative and somatoform disorders with emphasis on US Hispanic populations has been provided. A brief description of the psychopathology of somatizing syndromes has been given as have some critiques of current nosologic systems. Cultural influences that may color the expression of somatic manifestations have been outlined. Although it is of...

The harmful use of alcohol inflicts great deal of social and economic losses on individuals and societies. Given the increase in world population and the predicted increase in alcohol consumption, the alcohol related burden of disease progressively catches higher ranks in the list of factors threatening humans' life. It has been considered that the social and economic burden related to alcohol ...

Objective: to compare the contents of patient-reported instruments used in hip and knee arthroplasty rehabilitation with the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF). Methods: A search of PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane Central Registry, SCOPUS and PEDro identified patient-reported outcome instruments. The meaningful concepts extracted from the instruments were linked t...

effective. Some health campaigners have called for a national food and nutrition policy as the top priority for preventing and controlling cardiovascular disease in developing countriesjust as in Western ones.'2 In practice, however, undernutrition remains a major public health issue in many developing countries, and it may be unrealistic to expect a policy that encourages a low fat, low salt d...

Infrastructures for the evaluation of the state of health of individuals using a standardized communication network consisting of advanced instruments and subsequent data analysis have been developed. Here we report that this developed infrastructure has been tested in the field in 100 houses and involving almost 300 users. The communication protocol part of this infrastructure has been standar...

PURPOSE A review of existing measurement instruments was conducted to examine their suitability to measure disability prevalence and assess quality of life, protection of disability rights and community participation by people with disabilities, specifically within the context of development programs in low and middle-income countries. METHODS From a search of PubMed and the grey literature, ...

During recent years, there has been an emerging, upward trend in research and publication of studies on the effects of Ramadan fasting on the healthy population as well as on the populace diagnosed with various diseases and conditions. To publicize the outcomes of these research works, many awareness programs, symposia and conferences are being organized globally. International coordination gro...

PURPOSE This paper focuses on the construct validity of instruments measuring impairments in body structures and function in rheumatic disorders. The objective is: 1) to make an inventory of constructs, based on the domains of the International Classification of Functioning, Disabilities and Health problems (ICF), against which instruments measuring impairments in body structures and function w...