The grant portfolio of the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research: the first five years

OBJECTIVE

To relate grant funding activities of the National Center for Medical Rehabilitation Research (NCMRR) with the Center's mission, priorities, and terminology for disability classification.

STUDY DESIGN

Retrospective review by the National Advisory Board on Medical Rehabilitation Research (NABMRR).

DATA

Abstracts of 153 research proposals and one contract funded by the NCMRR from 1992 through 1996.

METHOD

A six-member research group participated in the development of a rating form and related instructions used to evaluate each abstract. The form was piloted and revised, and interrater agreement was monitored.

RESULTS

Funded proposals reflected each of the NCMRR priorities evaluated, with the highest proportion in the areas of assistive technology and whole body system, and the lowest in the area of behavioral adaptation. Although some proposals were funded in each of the domains of the disability classification system, proportionately fewer addressed the domains of disability and societal limitations. Findings also indicated that few funded proposals addressed more than one domain in the disability classification system and that most abstracts did not address consumers' perspectives on quality of life.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The NABMRR recommended that the NCMRR (1) encourage more research in the areas of disability and societal limitations and in behavioral adaptation, (2) examine funded proposals in light of a recent Institute of Medicine report, and (3) explore quality-of-life measurements. Further, members of the rehabilitation community are encouraged to e-mail their responses to this review to NCMRR staff at (1q2n@nih.govA) and to suggest areas of research emphasis.

Properties of stretch receptors in cat extraocular muscles

1. The properties of fifty-two stretch receptors in the extraocular muscles were studied in thirty cats. Between ten and twenty-eight receptors were observed in each preparation.2. In four preparations, spontaneously discharging receptors were observed, with afferent fibre conduction velocities ranging from 16.9 to 41.1 m/sec.3. In the remaining twenty-six cats, the minimal threshold receptors ranged from 3 to 130 g, with a peak distribution between 10 and 20 g, and afferent fibre conduction velocities ranging from 6.5 to 52.0 m/sec, the peak being between 10 and 15 m/sec. Of these receptors, nineteen were quickly adapting and seven were slowly adapting.4. The dynamic and static indexes of all the receptors were essentially similar; they both increased markedly on increasing the initial length. This suggests that the receptors do not lie in contact with regions of reduced viscosity on the muscle fibres comparable to the equatorial region of the intrafusal muscle fibres.5. All of the receptors were located in the muscle; none was located in the tendon. Forty-seven of forty-nine receptors were in parallel and two receptors were in series with the contractile elements.6. The properties of all the receptors studied appeared to be similar, suggesting that a single type of stretch receptor is located in the inferior oblique muscle of cats.