Mental retardation is a complex, multifaceted condition. It is not a simple condition based primarily on intellectual capacities. Assessment of a retarded child should not be limited to intellectual functioning alone. It should give an idea of the individual's strength and weaknesses globally. Unfortunately, in India, assessment of mental retardation is still primarily based on intelligence tes...

INTRODUCTION Data show that 92.5% of prison inmates report drug or alcohol use. In spite of this, only 2% of dual diagnosis research has been carried out in the prison context. Therefore, the aim of this descriptive cross-sectional study was to analyze the profiles of dual diagnosis in a Spanish prison and test the feasibility of two assessment instruments. METHOD The sample was made up of 15...

The paper contributes to the current discussion on the role of participatory methods in the context of technology assessment (TA) and science and technology (S&T) governance. It is argued that TA has to be understood as a form of democratic policy consulting in the sense of the Habermasian model of a "pragmatist" relation of science and politics. This notion implies that public participation is...

BACKGROUND In order to define needs for care of people with severe mental illness, the Camberwell Assessment of Need (CAN) is focused on measuring personal and social functioning. However, previous studies of the CAN have given inconsistent results in terms of what variables are actually being measured. AIMS To investigate the factor structure of the CAN. METHOD Assessments of 741 out-patie...

Two methods of triglycerideblank measurement were critically investigated. For 38 samples a mean blank value of 7.2 mg/dl was obtained when the blanks were measured by replacingthe saponifying reagent with 80% isopropanol. For the same samples, consistently higher blank values were obtained (mean = 18.3 mg/dl) when these were determined by the Kessler-Lederer method. It is suggested that, when ...

In the last two decades, animal models have become important tools in understanding and treating pain, and in predicting analgesic efficacy. Although rodent models retain a dominant role in the study of pain mechanisms, large animal models may predict human biology and pharmacology in certain pain conditions more accurately. Taking into consideration the anatomical and physiological characteris...

The returns from the United Kingdom Cyclosporin Quality Assessment Scheme were analyzed for the period June 1987 to August 1988. During this time the number of laboratories in the Scheme increased from 102 to 124 and the proportion of laboratories using nonspecific assay methods declined, as did the proportion of them measuring cyclosporine in plasma. Seven different methods were used to measur...

I N this issue, Reynolds et al. 1 add to the legacy of anesthesiologist Virginia Apgar. Following her 1953 publication in an anesthesia journal of “A proposal for a new method of evaluation of the newborn infant,” clinicians around the world rapidly adopted the simple, 10-point score she’d proposed. Until that time, assessment of neonatal condition had been purely subjective and highly variable...