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One of the components of a dementia diagnosis is the assessment of functional abilities. These abilities are measured via screeners, such as the Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL) scale. The IADL scale is a valid tool that has been adapted in many languages. This study aimed to provide a cut-off point and validate the Greek version of the IADL scale in populations with cognitive impairment. IADL data were collected from 132 individuals: 24 PD patients, 24 Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD) patients, and 24 AD patients. The remaining 60 participants were cognitive healthy adults (CHAs). The CHA group and the PD group served as the cognitively unimpaired group (CUG), while the PDD and AD groups served as the cognitively impaired group (CIG). Additionally, the MMSE, the AMTS, the Clock Drawing Test CDT, the Arizona Battery for Communication Disorders of Dementia (ABCD), the NPI, and the GDS-15 were administered to the participants. Statistically significant differences in the IADL scores were exhibited between all subgroups. The IADL scale showed high internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.890). A threshold equal to 6.00 (AUC = 0.888, p < 0.001) was estimated between the CUG and the CIG. Significant positive correlations were observed between IADL and MMSE (r = 0.764, p < 0.001), IADL and AMTS (r = 0.724, p < 0.001), IADL and ABCD (r = 0.702, p < 0.001), and IADL and CDT (r = 0.627, p < 0.001) results. Given the obtained results, the IADL scale is a valid tool for clinical use with high reliability and sensitivity. Also, the IADL scale is a valuable instrument for screening functional abilities associated with cognitive impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: Cervical spondylosis and cervical disk herniation are the most frequent forms of degenerative disease in the cervical spine. Surgical treatment mainly includes anterior cervical disk fusion. However, information concerning vestibular-evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) recording in patients undergoing cervical spine surgery is limited. The present prospective study aimed to investigate the effect of anterior disk fusion surgery on cervical VEMP (cVEMP) parameters. MATERIALS and METHODS: Twenty-five patients were enrolled in this study, and 20 patients (10 men and 10 women) completed cVEMP testing. Patient ages ranged from 29 to 76 y (mean, 52 y). Patients with conductive hearing loss or vestibular dysfunction were excluded. The cVEMP test was recorded preoperatively and 1 and 4 months postoperatively. Air-conducted tone-bursts of 500 Hz were used. RESULTS: We found no statistically significant difference between the preoperative and postoperative cVEMP values. CONCLUSION: Cervical spine surgery (anterior cervical disk fusion) for treating cervical spondylosis does not appear to affect the presence of cVEMP or the parameters of cVEMP, when using air-conducted tone-bursts of 500 Hz. Moreover, cVEMP testing can be used in the postoperative phase for evaluating vertigo in patients who have undergone anterior cervical disk fusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voice disorders often remain undiagnosed. Many self-perceived questionnaires exist for various medical conditions. Here, we used the Greek Voice Handicap Index (VHI) to address the aforementioned problem. Everyone can fill in the VHI questionnaire and rate their symptoms easily. The innovative feature of this research is the global cut-off score calculated for the VHI. Therefore, the VHI is now capable of helping clinicians establish a more customizable treatment plan with the cut-off point identifying patients without normal phonation. For the purpose of finding the global cut-off point, a group of 180 participants was recruited in Greece (90 non-dysphonic participants and 90 with different types of dysphonia). The voice disordered group had higher VHI scores than those of the control group. In contrast to previous studies, we provided and validated for the first time the cut-off points for all VHI domains and, finally, a global cut-off point through ROC and precision-recall analysis in a voice disordered population. In practice, a score higher than the well-estimated global score indicates (without intervention) a possible voice disorder. Nevertheless, if the score is near the threshold, then the patient should definitely follow preventive measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]