Tau epitope display in progressive supranuclear palsy and corticobasal degeneration.

Filamentous aggregates of the protein tau are a prominent feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal degeneration (CBD). However, the extent to which the molecular structure of the tau in these aggregates is similar or differs between these diseases is unclear. We approached this question by examining these disorders with a panel of antibodies that represent different structural, conformational, and cleavage-specific tau epitopes. Although each of these antibodies reveals AD pathology, they resolved into three classes with respect to PSP and CBD: AD2 and Tau-46.1 stained the most tau pathology in all cases; Tau-1, 2, 5, and 12 exhibited variable reactivity; and Tau-66 and MN423 did not reveal any tau pathology. In addition, hippocampal neurofibrillary tangles in these cases showed a predominantly PSP/CBD-like, rather than AD-like, staining pattern. These results indicate that the patterns of the tau epitopes represented by this panel that reside in the pathological aggregates of PSP and CBD are similar to each other but distinct from that of AD.

Occupational science: academic innovation in the service of occupational therapy's future.

Occupational science is a new scientific discipline that is defined as the systematic study of the human as an occupational being. A doctoral program in occupational science has been established at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. With its emphasis on the provision of a multidimensional description of the substrates, form, function, meaning, and sociocultural and historical contexts of occupation, occupational science emphasizes the ability of humans throughout the life span to actively pursue and orchestrate occupations. In this paper, occupational science is described, defined, and distinguished from other social sciences. A general systems model is presented as a heuristic to explain occupation and organize knowledge in occupational science. The development of occupational science offers several key benefits to the profession of occupational therapy, including (a) fulfillment of the demand for doctoral-level faculty members in colleges and universities; (b) the generation of needed basic science research; and (c) the justification for and potential enhancement of practice.

The search for useful methodologies in occupational science.

Debate currently exists on the soundness of various research methodologies in the social sciences. In the present paper, this question is addressed in relation to the emerging discipline of occupational science. First, the discipline of occupational science is defined. Next, two competing methodologies--Paradigm 1, Positivistic, and Paradigm 2, Naturalistic--are contrasted. The criteria of genuineness and trustworthiness are proposed as crucial for the evaluation of the soundness of available research methodologies for the extension of occupational science. Next, exemplars of research methodologies that meet these criteria are described. In the conclusion, the role that nonscientific ways of knowing, such as art and literature, may play in the understanding of human occupation is discussed.

Performance of Japanese and Japanese-American children on the Motor Accuracy-Revised and Design Copying Tests of the Southern California Sensory Integration Tests.

This study investigates whether cultural differences affect childrens' performances on the Design Copying (DC) and Motor Accuracy-Revised (MAC-R) Tests of the Southern California Sensory Integration Tests. The DC and the MAC-R were administered to 98 children who were born in Japan and lived there at least during the first year of life and to 82 children who were of Japanese descent but who were born in America. Average test scores of the Japanese and Japanese-American children were compared with those of the American children, on whom the tests were standardized. Results of the tests requiring right-hand performance revealed that both groups of Japanese-descent children performed better than the standardization group of American children; the Japan-born children performed the best. We base these findings on the influence that culture has on the development of a child.

A comparison of operant and sensory integrative methods on developmental parameters in profoundly retarded adults.

The expertise of speech pathologists and occupational therapists was combined to compare the relative effectiveness of an operant approach, a modified sensory integrative approach, and a combination of both methods in eliciting vocalization on other developmental skills on a sample of 27 profoundly retarded, minimally vocal, institutionalized adults. The combined results indicated that the therapy programs promoted significant gains in frequency of eye contact, frequency of vocalization, and quality of postural adaptation. There were no differences in the effects of the respective therapies. The fact that the more controversial sensory integrative procedures elicited comparable gains when compared with the more widely recognized operant method lends credence to the viability of sensory integrative methods.

Sciatic artery aneurysm: a case report including operative approach and review of the literature.

A case of aneurysmal dilatation of a persistent sciatic artery is presented along with an operative approach allowing both adequate exposure of the aneurysm and the potential for proximal control of the feeding vessel in the pelvis. The embryologic origin of this residual vessel is discussed as well as the previous case reports of similar lesions.