List 229: Irish and English Dendrochronology

These results cover dating undertaken since the last published list of dated building from Ireland (Brown (2002)); one English church building is also included in the list. Thanks are due to the owners of the buildings and especially to everyone who assisted in taking of the samples: Phil Barrett, Sapphire Mussen, Charles Lyons, Jon Pilcher and Mike Baillie, Amanda Pedlow, Caimin O’Brien and Martin Timoney. Most of the descriptions of the buildings are taken from the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage http://www.buildingofi reland.ie/. The correlation values were generated by CROSS84 (Munro, 1984), which provides a signifi cance level for the date to be correct; *** (extremely signifi cant), ** (very signifi cant), * (signifi cant), nsm (not signifi cant). Estimated felling date ranges are based on the Belfast sapwood estimate of 32 ± 9 years. Date ranges have been calculated by adding and subtracting 9 years from the calculated estimated felling dates. Timbers from the following buildings could not be dated. Cork: St Finbarre’s Cathedral (W 675 715); Dublin: Christchurch Cathedral (O 152 341); Galway: Cloghan Castle (M 972 119); Kilkenny: Rothe House (S 506 563); Offaly: Boveen House (S 075 956); Waterford: Christchurch Cathedral (S 616 121). Generally only single oak samples were recovered from these structures. References: D.Brown, ‘Dendrochronological dating building from Ireland’, VA 33 (2002), 71–3; M. Munro, ‘An improved algorithm for crossdating tree-ring series’, Tree-Ring Bulletin 44 (1984), 17–27.

Exercise and Auricular Acupuncture for Chronic Low Back Pain: A Feasibility Randomised Controlled Trial

Objectives: To evaluate the feasibility of a randomized-controlled trial (RCT) investigating the effects of adding auricular acupuncture (AA) to exercise for participants with chronic low-back pain (CLBP). Methods: Participants with CLBP were recruited from primary care and a university population and were randomly allocated (n=51) to 1 of 2 groups: (1) "Exercise Alone (E)"-12-week program consisting of 6 weeks of supervised exercise followed by 6 weeks unsupervised exercise (n=27); or (2) "Exercise and AA (EAA)"-12-week exercise program and AA (n=24). Outcome measures were recorded at baseline, week 8, week 13, and 6 months. The primary outcome measure was the Oswestry Disability Questionnaire. Results: Participants in the EAA group demonstrated a greater mean improvement of 10.7% points (95% confidence interval, -15.3,-5.7) (effect size=1.20) in the Oswestry Disability Questionnaire at 6 months compared with 6.7% points (95% confidence interval, -11.4,-1.9) in the E group (effect size=0.58). There was also a trend towards a greater mean improvement in quality of life, LBP intensity and bothersomeness, and fear-avoidance beliefs in the EAA group. The dropout rate for this trial was lower than anticipated (15% at 6 mo), adherence with exercise was similar (72% E; 65% EAA). Adverse effects for AA ranged from 1% to 14% of participants. Discussion: Findings of this study showed that a main RCT is feasible and that 56 participants per group would need to be recruited, using multiple recruitment approaches. AA was safe and demonstrated additional benefits when combined with exercise for people with CLBP, which requires confirmation in a fully powered RCT.