São Paulo medical journal = Revista paulista de medicina
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Scoliosis is not a diagnosis, but a description of a structural alteration that occurs in a variety of conditions. Progression of the curvature during periods of rapid growth may result in severe deformity, which may be accompanied by cardiopulmonary compromise. This study had the aims of measuring the prevalence of scoliosis among students in the fifth to eighth school years and investigating possible associations between the presence of scoliosis, body overweight and the weight of school materials. ⋯ The prevalence of scoliosis in this school-based sample was low. No correlation was found between this clinical condition and the other variables.
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Writer's cramp is a kind of focal hand dystonia that appears when individuals are writing. Since pharmacological treatment has not shown the desired therapeutic response, a study on immobilization of the damaged musculature was performed on two individuals with writer's cramp, using splints with the objective of reducing the handwriting abnormalities. ⋯ Two patients presenting writer's cramp who had previously undergone different therapies, including botulinum toxin, without an adequate response, participated in a body awareness program, followed by immobilization of the hand musculature damaged by dystonia, by means of splints, with handwriting training. At the end of the procedure, objective and subjective improvements in the motor pattern of writing could be observed. The immobilization of the dystonic musculature of the hand by means of splints and the motor training of handwriting helped to improve and consequently to reduce the dystonic component observed in the writer's cramp.
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oral narrative is a means of language development assessment. However, standardized data for deaf patients are scarce. The aim here was to compare the use of narrative competence between hearing-impaired and normal-hearing children. ⋯ hearing-impaired children have abnormalities in different aspects of language, involving form, content and use, in relation to their normal-hearing peers. Narrative competence was also associated with the children's ages and the school type.