Search Results (50)

While studies consistently show that the popular media often provide medicalized images of disabled people as “other” or inferior, dynamic societal changes, such as the diffusion of human rights laws, increasing public awareness, and the mediatization of disability activism, also influence media representations. The present research aims to identify relevant discursive practices in Hungarian online news media, a non-Western European country with about 50 years of a state party system under communism, and offer insight into how progressive policy changes and mediatized activism shape media features on disability. To establish the dataset, the most visited and independent online news media portal in Hungary (24.hu) was searched for articles discussing disability between 2019 and 2022. The 481 relevant articles extracted were analyzed using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) with the help of MAXQDA 2020. The findings reveal a multiplicity of disability representations: medicalized and victimized images on the one hand, and reports of resilience and “heroism” on the other. Three distinct discursive practices are identified: (1) traditional/ableist representations, (2) alternative representations with ableist framing, and (3) agency and the co-creation of disability representations. Results suggest that even 30 years after the political changes, disabled people’s collective agency is marginal in Hungary, and that socio-legal changes and mediatized disability activism are yet to influence news media features. Full article

Osteoarthritis (OA) remains a leading cause of disability worldwide, with no disease-modifying therapies currently available for treatment. The infrapatellar fat pad (IFP) harbors mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSC) with potent immunomodulatory and regenerative properties, making them a promising candidate for OA treatment. A growing body of evidence suggests that the therapeutic effects of MSC are largely mediated by their extracellular vesicles (EVs), which carry bioactive cargo that modulates inflammation and tissue repair. However, optimizing MSC-derived EVs as a cell-free therapeutic approach requires an in-depth understanding of how culture conditions and inflammatory/hormonal priming influence their functional properties. In this study, IFP-MSC were expanded in regulatory-compliant human platelet lysate (HPL) and xeno-/serum-free (XFSF) media and primed with an inflammatory/fibrotic cocktail (TIC) with oxytocin (OXT) to assess the impact on their immunophenotypic profile and EV cargo. The immunophenotype confirmed that TIC+OXT-primed MSC retained key immunomodulatory surface markers, while EV characterization verified the successful isolation of CD63+/CD9+ vesicles. Pathway enrichment analysis of both HPL- and XFSF- TIC+OXT EVs cargo identified key miRNAs associated with immune regulation, tissue repair, and anabolic signaling. Functional assays revealed that TIC+OXT EVs promoted M2-like anti-inflammatory macrophage polarization and exhibited chondroprotective properties in chondrocytes/synoviocytes inflammatory osteoarthritic assay. These findings highlight the therapeutic potential of TIC+OXT-primed IFP-MSC-derived EVs as immunomodulatory and chondroprotective agents, offering a promising strategy for OA treatment through a clinically viable, cell-free approach. Full article

Research has largely focussed on public perceptions of people with disabilities, particularly in the media. However, there is a lack of studies exploring how individuals with disabilities themselves experience public disability representation. This scoping review examines the lived experiences of individuals with disabilities regarding such representations. Eligible studies were peer-reviewed, published between January 1948 and July 2024, and presented qualitative findings on experienced public disability representation. A systematic search was conducted across PubMed, Scopus, ProQuest, OVID, EBSCO, and Web of Science using variations of the terms ’representation’ and ‘disability’, yielding 32 relevant studies. Data were analysed using both deductive and inductive methods. Deductive thematic analysis aligned the findings with two established media disability representation typologies: traditional and contemporary. Inductive thematic analysis identified three key themes—ignorance, incapability, and otherness—that illustrate how individuals with disabilities experience public representations. Overall, the review found that despite the absence of comparative studies, individuals with diverse disabilities report similar, predominantly negative experiences of public disability representation. Future studies should adopt an intersectional, cross-disability framework to better capture the experiences of people with disabilities, including those with intellectual disabilities. Full article

In Mexico, around 2.4 million people (1.9% of the national population) are deaf, and Mexican Sign Language (MSL) support is essential for people with communication disabilities. Research and technological prototypes of sign language recognition have been developed to support public communication systems without human interpreters. However, most of these systems and research are closely related to American Sign Language (ASL) or other sign languages of other languages whose scope has had the highest level of accuracy and recognition of letters and words. The objective of the current study is to develop and evaluate a sign language recognition system tailored to MSL. The research aims to achieve accurate recognition of dactylology and the first ten numerical digits (1–10) in MSL. A database of sign language and numeration of MSL was created with the 29 different characters of MSL’s dactylology and the first ten digits with a camera. Then, MediaPipe was first applied for feature extraction for both hands (21 points per hand). Once the features were extracted, Machine Learning and Deep Learning Techniques were applied to recognize MSL signs. The recognition of MSL patterns in the context of static (29 classes) and continuous signs (10 classes) yielded an accuracy of 92% with Support Vector Machine (SVM) and 86% with Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) accordingly. The trained algorithms are based on full scenarios with both hands; therefore, it will sign under these conditions. To improve the accuracy, it is suggested to amplify the number of samples. Full article

Background/Objectives: Growing interest in post-viral conditions following COVID-19 infection has led researchers and clinicians to develop several definitions of post-COVID-19 syndrome. This study aimed to understand the meaning given to post-COVID-19 syndrome by individuals who survived the first wave of the pandemic two years after its onset. Methods: A descriptive qualitative study was performed according to the Standards for Reporting Qualitative Research guidelines. An inductive and content analysis were adopted on narratives collected via the interview of patients who had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 during the first pandemic wave in the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region (Italy). Results: This study included 230 patients, of whom 158 experienced post-COVID-19 syndrome, and 46 (29.1%) reported suffering from this condition 24 months after the infection. On average, patients experienced three symptoms, with most of them experiencing at least one. Seventy-five patients reported being familiar with the definition of the post-COVID-19 syndrome, mainly through media and the internet (28.9% and 28.2%, respectively). The post-COVID-19 syndrome was described as characterized by two themes: (a) the experience of interrelated physical and psychological symptoms and (b) the experience of fighting like warriors for a long time. Conclusions: The post-COVID-19 syndrome is highly prevalent but poorly understood. Patients rely on low-quality information rather than that offered by clinicians. The post-COVID-19 syndrome appears to be a complex syndrome encompassing physical and mental symptoms, as well as those disabling the person with an unclear trajectory. There is a need to focus on the long-term consequences of COVID-19, incorporating insights from individuals’ lived experiences. Full article

Mobility limitations due to congenital disabilities, accidents, or illnesses pose significant challenges to the daily lives of individuals with disabilities. This study presents a novel design for a multifunctional intelligent vehicle, integrating head recognition, eye-tracking, Bluetooth control, and ultrasonic obstacle avoidance to offer an innovative mobility solution. The smart vehicle supports three driving modes: (1) a nostril-based control system using MediaPipe to track displacement for movement commands, (2) an eye-tracking control system based on the Viola–Jones algorithm processed via an Arduino Nano board, and (3) a Bluetooth-assisted mode for caregiver intervention. Additionally, an ultrasonic sensor system ensures real-time obstacle detection and avoidance, enhancing user safety. Extensive experimental evaluations were conducted to validate the effectiveness of the system. The results indicate that the proposed vehicle achieves an 85% accuracy in nostril tracking, over 90% precision in eye direction detection, and efficient obstacle avoidance within a 1 m range. These findings demonstrate the robustness and reliability of the system in real-world applications. Compared to existing assistive mobility solutions, this vehicle offers non-invasive, cost-effective, and adaptable control mechanisms that cater to a diverse range of disabilities. By enhancing accessibility and promoting user independence, this research contributes to the development of inclusive mobility solutions for disabled and elderly individuals. Full article

First-year university students face mental health challenges like adjusting to independence, forming new friendships and coping with academic pressures. Research highlights mixed findings on social media use; some students use social media to connect with family and/or friends while experiencing mental health issues (i.e., loneliness, depression and anxiety), and others turn to social media for support. This study explores the associations between problematic social media use, mental health and perceived support from university, friends and family while considering EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) factors such as age, gender and disability. EDI promotes fairness and equal opportunities for learning and support ensuring all students receive equitable access to resources regardless of their individual differences. A total of 158 first-year student participants from the Psychology, Electrical Engineering and Electronics and Computer Science departments completed an online questionnaire. Regression analysis revealed that females used social media more frequently than males and problematic social media use was linked to higher levels of anxiety and depression, but not loneliness. University and friend support was associated with depression only, while family support showed no significant relationship with anxiety, depression and loneliness. Addressing these issues is critical to promoting student well-being and academic success. Full article

Digital storytelling has been applied in research in varied contexts and with varied purposes. Implicit in the process of digital storytelling is the potential to develop and/or enhance a range of individual skills (e.g., multimedia, literacy, communication, etc.). However, further research is needed to gain a deeper understanding of the potential impact of digital storytelling on skill enhancement for disabled youth. This paper provides an overview of Phase 1 of the study “My life. My story: The Youth Digital Storytelling Project” that utilized elements of a community-based participatory action research approach to host a peer-facilitated digital storytelling workshop for young adults with developmental disabilities aimed at capturing and sharing their lived experiences with, knowledge of, and perspectives on significant life-stage transitions in the areas of education, employment, or living. The results from the pre- and post-workshop questionnaires suggest that the participants improved skills in media literacy, communication, and leadership. Additionally, the participants highlighted the importance of considering the delivery format, fostering connections, and enhancing self-confidence in the development of the workshop’s design and delivery. This research adds to the extant literature demonstrating the potential of digital storytelling as a pedagogical tool, offering implications for the design and implementation of online workshops for disabled youth. Full article

(1) Background: Studies on women with disabilities (WwD) are rare and tend to reveal certain representation patterns. This study aims to understand how and to what extent WwD and chronic diseases are deemed newsworthy in the Portuguese public news TV station RTP1 primetime news program. Feminist disability, standpoint, agenda-setting, and framing theories are used alongside the concept of intersectionality. (2) Methods: A mixed-method approach is adopted, combining quantitative content analysis of all broadcasted news in January 2020 (n = 704), and qualitative discourse analysis of news items on PwD (n = 5). (3) Results: The results reveal that disability is a reduced issue in Telejornal’s agenda. PwD, in general, are often portrayed in secondary roles and without a voice. The protagonists of news stories about disability or persons with disabilities are predominantly women without disabilities, occupying traditional roles as caregivers (mothers, nurses), while men are more often portrayed as public agents. Discourse analysis deepens understanding by uncovering the prevalence of negative news values and a problem-centred framing, often associated with negativity, rather than presenting solutions. (4) Conclusions: Consequently, WwD were found to be deprived of news representation with a more positive or ‘normal’ focus and an intersectional approach reveals a lack of inclusion, with the few existing news tending to focus on exclusion issues, portraying only white Portuguese women. This study underscores the urgent need for a more equitable approach in media representation, recognising the diversity and positive contributions of WwD to promote an inclusive narrative. Full article

Background: There has been an increase in people with disabilities who require continuous care, which often falls to informal carers (ICs). Stroke is one of the conditions where ICs are most needed. Therefore, it is necessary for ICs to improve their caregiving skills and self-care capacity. Telehealth (TH) can facilitate them. The aim of this systematic review is to summarize the evidence of the effects of interventions on ICs of stroke patients. Methods: The search was conducted in Pubmed, Scopus, Web of Science, CINALH, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, and APA PsycInfo. Key search terms included “stroke”, “informal caregiver” and “telemedicine”. Only randomised clinical trials were included. Results: A total of 2031 articles were found in the databases, 476 were screened and 19 clinical trials met the eligibility criteria. Different TH programmes have evaluated many outcomes related to physical and emotional health. The TH tools included phone, videophone, web-based interventions, and social media. The most investigated outcome was depression; although contradictory results were found, the TH may have helped to prevent an increase in depressive symptoms. There were inconsistent results on the caregiving burden and the preparedness of the IC. However, TH has positive effects on the health of the ICs, reducing the number of unhealthy days, anxiety, task difficulty perception, and improving psychological health. Conclusions: TH may be a useful tool to improve the abilities and health of ICs of SS. No adverse effects have been reported. More quality studies evaluating the effects of telemedicine on the ICs of stroke survivors, as well as the most appropriate doses, are needed. Full article

Neurological disorders represent the primary cause of disability and the secondary cause of mortality globally. The incidence and prevalence of the most notable neurological disorders are growing rapidly. Considering their social and public perception by using different platforms like Twitter can have a huge impact on the patients, relatives, caregivers and professionals involved in the multidisciplinary management of neurological disorders. In this study, we collected and analyzed all tweets posted in English or Spanish, between 2007 and 2023, referring to headache disorders, dementia, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury or Parkinson’s disease using a search engine that has access to 100% of the publicly available tweets. The aim of our work was to deepen our understanding of the public perception of neurological disorders by addressing three major objectives: (1) analyzing the number and temporal evolution of both English and Spanish tweets discussing the most notable neurological disorders (dementias, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, epilepsy and headache disorders); (2) determining the main thematic content of the Twitter posts and the interest they generated temporally by using topic modeling; and (3) analyzing the sentiments associated with the different topics that were previously collected. Our results show that dementias were, by far, the most common neurological disorders whose treatment was discussed on Twitter, and that the most discussed topics in the tweets included the impact of neurological diseases on patients and relatives, claims to increase public awareness, social support and research, activities to ameliorate disease development and existent/potential treatments or approaches to neurological disorders, with a significant number of the tweets showing negative emotions like fear, anger and sadness, and some also demonstrating positive emotions like joy. Thus, our study shows that not only is Twitter an important and active platform implicated in the dissemination and normalization of neurological disorders, but also that the number of tweets discussing these different entities is quite inequitable, and that a greater intervention and more accurate dissemination of information by different figures and professionals on social media could help to convey a better understanding of the current state, and to project the future state, of neurological diseases for the general public. Full article

This article explores how disabled girl handlers crip girlhood on service dog tok, the emergent subculture on TikTok comprised of disabled handlers who upload and post videos about their everyday life in partnership with a service dog. Looking at the TikTok accounts and self-representational practices of three disabled girl handlers—Ava of @avaandcheddar, Claire of @rosie.the.sd, and Lexy of @muslimservicedogmom28—this article traces how their videos evince an audio–visual representation of interspecies intimacy, a becoming with, that complicates the familiar story of the disabled girl handler/service dog dyad that one might see or scroll past online—one of rehabilitative exceptionalism, disability disavowal, and chrononormative understandings of girlhood. On service dog tok, Ava, Claire, Lexy, and their service dogs broadcast the quotidian and move against a service dog sentimentalism that seeks to depoliticize disability and the relationship between disabled handlers and their service dogs. Their videos produce and circulate a nuanced understanding of interdependence, care, and ableism forged via the mutual entanglement with their service dogs. Ultimately, this article argues that disabled girl handlers on service dog tok upend what we think we know about disabled girls and girlhoods, recasting the meanings ascribed to their bodyminds, experiences, and their relationships with their service dogs in their own terms. Full article

The global mental health crisis is a longstanding one that impacts a multitude of patient populations worldwide. Within this crisis, psychiatric medication adherence is yet another complex public health challenge that continues to persist and contribute towards the chronic nature of the increased incidence and prevalence of psychiatric morbidities, which in turn result in the sequalae of substantial costs to humanity, the healthcare system, lost productivity, functioning and disability among patients with mental disorders. Psychotropic medication adherence is a significant part of psychiatric care and treatment across severity levels of mental illness. This health behavior is also filled with complexities, given the abundance of social and behavioral determinants as well as intrinsic and extrinsic factors that surround this health behavior. Examining contexts for promoting this health behavior change is crucial in determining directions for addressing it more optimally. There have been several published studies on considerations and interventions to address this health behavior; however, to date, no studies have been published on assessing coverage and directions of content across social media platforms, which trend as a rising health communication medium in our digital era. The present study is the first of its kind to dive into exploring the nature of widely viewed content and deliverers of this content on a prominent social media platform, YouTube, as the basis to determine potential directions for future intervention that can extend to reaching more patients struggling with this high-risk health behavior across the world, given the global reach of social media. Full article

An estimated 4–8% of all women, and 16–25% of women with migraine, have menstrual migraine (MM), which causes considerable disability, but is underdiagnosed and undertreated. We investigated the burden of disease, health-care seeking behavior, and treatment practices among women with MM, using social media. In 12 days, 6246 women answered an online survey, allowing for diagnosis of MM by the International Classification of Headache Disorders third edition (ICHD-3). In total, 47% had MM, 21% had non-menstrual migraine (nMM), and 15% had probable menstrual migraine (pMM). Among women with MM, 61% had missed out on school/work and 69% on family, leisure, or social activities in the last 3 months. Fifty-four percent had consulted a health-care practitioner about their MM, of whom thirty-seven percent had received information about medical treatment of MM. A total of 85% used medicine in connection with MM, either over-the-counter medication only (57%), prescription medication only (24%), or both. Social media offers an efficient and less expensive recruitment platform for population-based studies on MM and is a useful tool to raise public awareness about MM. Moreover, this study confirms the significant impact of MM on women’s everyday lives and the challenges it poses to their regular activities. Full article

Ventilator-associated pneumonia is one of the most severe complications of critically ill patients that need mechanical respiratory support, as it poses a significant risk of prolonging hospitalization, disability, and even death. This is why physicians worldwide target newer methods for prevention, early diagnosis, and early target treatment for this condition. There are few methods for a quick etiological diagnosis of pneumonia, especially point of care, and most are only readily available in some intensive care units. This is why a new, simple, and cheap method is needed for determining the bacteria that might be infectious in a particular patient. The manner in question is sonication. Method: In this prospective, observational, single-center study, endotracheal cannula specimens will be collected from at least 100 patients in our intensive care unit. This specimen will be submitted to a specific sonication protocol for bacteria to dislodge the biofilm inside the cannula. The resulting liquid will be seeded on growth media, and then a comparison will be made between the germs in the biofilm and the ones in the tracheal secretion of the patient. The primary purpose is to determine the bacteria before the appearance of a manifest infection. Full article