Cervicogenic headache: Locus of control and success of treatment

Background.-A number of extraneous factors have been implicated in the effectiveness of treatment of headache, including patient beliefs about aspects of the treatment or persons delivering the treatment. Objective.-The concept of external locus of control for headaches refers to patients with a high level of belief that headache and relief are influenced primarily by health care professionals. The aim of this study was to examine whether external locus of control is associated with a reduction in frequency of cervicogenic headaches among patients treated by a physiotherapist. Design.-A recent randomized controlled trial of the effectiveness of physiotherapy among 200 patients with headache enabled a test of this relationship. Treatment consisted of manipulative therapy, therapeutic exercise, or a combination of the 2. Analysis of relative change in headache frequency was conducted after 6 weeks of treatment and at 3- and 12-month follow-up appointments. Results.-Results of the analysis indicated that participants with relatively high external Headache-Specific Locus of Control scores were more likely to achieve a reduction in headache frequency if they received the combined manipulative therapy and exercise therapy, compared with those who received no treatment. This was not determined for the group who received manipulative therapy, which is a treatment received passively by the patient. Conclusions.-The interpretation of these findings is considered in the context of nongeneralization to the other physiotherapy treatment groups and sustained reduction in headache frequency following withdrawal of treatment. The pattern of findings suggests that characteristics of the therapy were more pertinent than characteristics of the therapist.

Search for heavy Majorana neutrinos with the ATLAS detector in pp collisions at s√=8 TeV

A search for heavy Majorana neutrinos in events containing a pair of high-pT leptons of the same charge and high-pT jets is presented. The search uses 20.3fb−1 of pp collision data collected with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider with a centre-of-mass energy of s√=8 TeV. The data are found to be consistent with the background-only hypothesis based on the Standard Model expectation. In the context of a Type-I seesaw mechanism, limits are set on the production cross-section times branching ratio for production of heavy Majorana neutrinos in the mass range between 100 and 500 GeV. The limits are subsequently interpreted as limits on the mixing between the heavy Majorana neutrinos and the Standard Model neutrinos. In the context of a left-right symmetric model, limits on the production cross-section times branching ratio are set with respect to the masses of heavy Majorana neutrinos and heavy gauge bosons WR and Z′.

Assistive locomotion strategies for active lower limb devices

Dissertação de mestrado integrado em Engenharia Biomédica (área de especialização em Eletrónica Médica)

Determinação das raças fisiológicas do Fusarium do tomateiro de Pernambuco

Os autôres, utilizaram as variedades de tomates Santa Cruz e S-34 como variedade sdiferericiais, para determinar raças fisiológicas de Fusarium oxysporum f. lycopersici (Wr) Sny & Hans. Testaram 7 isolamentos do patógeno, retirados de material proveniente de Pernambuco, em condições de casa de vegetação com contrôle parcial de temperatura e concluiram que todos os 7 isolamentos reagiram como sendo da raça 1, e que houve variação na patogenicidade entre eles.

Nova raça de Fusarium do tomateiro em São Paulo

Os autôres, trabalhando em condições de casa de vegetação com contrôle parcial de temperatura do ar e fazendo inoculações artificiais, testaram as reações de 9 variedades, e de 10 progênies de tomateiro e da espécie L. pimpinellifolium (P.I. 126915-1-8) quanto à resistência a um isolamento de Fusarium do Estado de São Paulo. Os resultados, permitiram chegar às seguintes conclusões: 1) as variedades comerciais com resistência às, raças 1 e 2 são suscetíveis ao fungo em estudo. 2) a espécie L pimpinellifolium (P.I. 126915-1-8) possui resistência à nova raça. 3) O isolamento em estudo pode ser considerado raça 3 de Fusarium oxysporum f. lycopersici (Wr) Sny & Hans.

Variability of gait patterns during unconstrained walking assessed by satellite positioning (GPS).

It is established that the ratio between step length (SL) and step frequency (SF) is constant over a large range of walking speed. However, few data are available about the spontaneous variability of this ratio during unconstrained outdoor walking, in particular over a sufficient number of steps. The purpose of the present study was to assess the inter- and intra-subject variability of spatio-temporal gait characteristics [SL, SF and walk ratio (WR=SL/SF)] while walking at different freely selected speeds. Twelve healthy subjects walked three times along a 100-m athletic track at: (1). a slower than preferred speed, (2). preferred speed and (3). a faster than preferred speed. Two professional GPS receivers providing 3D positions assessed the walking speed and SF with high precision (less than 0.5% error). Intra-subject variability was calculated as the variation among eight consecutive 5-s samples. WR was found to be constant at preferred and fast speeds [0.41 (0.04) m.s and 0.41 (0.05) m.s respectively] but was higher at slow speeds [0.44 (0.05) m.s]. In other words, between slow and preferred speed, the speed increase was mediated more by a change in SF than SL. The intra-subject variability of WR was low under preferred [CV, coefficient of variation = 1.9 (0.6)%] and fast [CV=1.8 (0.5)%] speed conditions, but higher under low speed condition [CV=4.1 (1.5)%]. On the other hand, the inter-subject variability of WR was 11%, 10% and 12% at slow, preferred and fast walking speeds respectively. It is concluded that the GPS method is able to capture basic gait parameters over a short period of time (5 s). A specific gait pattern for slow walking was observed. Furthermore, it seems that the walking patterns in free-living conditions exhibit low intra-individual variability, but that there is substantial variability between subjects.

The presence of Fasciola hepatica (Liver-fluke) in humans and cattle from a 4,500 Year old archaeological site in the Saale-Unstrut Valley, Germany

During an excavation of a site of the corded ware culture in the Saale-Unstrut-Valley (ca. 3000 BC) in Germany, a soil sample from the pelvis of a human skeleton was studied under palaeoparasitological aspects. Eggs of the trematode Fasciola hepatica and of the nematode genus Capillaria were found. This is the first case of a direct association of a F. hepatica-infestation to both a prehistoric human skeleton and domesticated animal remains. Sheep and cattle bones were present at the same site and F. hepatica eggs were found in bovine samples. This strongly points toward an existing infection cycle, involving humans as a final host.

Guía práctica para el control de piojos. 3ª ed

Publicado en la página web de la Consejería de Salud y Bienestar Social: www.juntadeandalucia.es/salud (Consejería de Salud y Bienestar Social / Ciudadanía / Nuestra Salud / Medio ambiente y Salud / Los piojos y la pediculosis)

Validation and reproducibility of a semi-quantitative Food Frequency Questionnaire for use in elderly Swiss women.

OBJECTIVE: The principal aim of this study was to develop a Swiss Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) for the elderly population for use in a study to investigate the influence of nutritional factors on bone health. The secondary aim was to assess its validity and both short-term and long-term reproducibility. DESIGN: A 4-day weighed record (4 d WR) was applied to 51 randomly selected women of a mean age of 80.3 years. Subsequently, a detailed FFQ was developed, cross-validated against a further 44 4-d WR, and the short- (1 month, n = 15) and long-term (12 months, n = 14) reproducibility examined. SETTING: French speaking part of Switzerland. SUBJECTS: The subjects were randomly selected women recruited from the Swiss Evaluation of the Methods of Measurement of Osteoporotic Fracture cohort study. RESULTS: Mean energy intakes by 4-d WR and FFQ showed no significant difference [1564.9 kcal (SD 351.1); 1641.3 kcal (SD 523.2) respectively]. Mean crude nutrient intakes were also similar (with nonsignifcant P-values examining the differences in intake) and ranged from 0.13 (potassium) to 0.48 (magnesium). Similar results were found in the reproducibility studies. CONCLUSION: These findings provide evidence that this FFQ adequately estimates nutrient intakes and can be used to rank individuals within distributions of intake in specific populations.

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of Waldeyer's ring has distinct clinicopathologic features: a GELA study.

BACKGROUND: Diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCLs) arising in specific extranodal sites have peculiar clinicopathologic features. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We analyzed a cohort of 187 primary Waldeyer's ring (WR) DLBCLs retrieved from GELA protocols using anthracyclin-based polychemotherapy. RESULTS: Most patients (92%) had stage I-II disease. A germinal center B-cell-like (GCB) immunophenotype was observed in 61%, and BCL2 expression in 55%, of WR DLBCLs. BCL2, BCL6, IRF4 and MYC breakpoints were observed in, respectively, 3 of 42 (7%), 9 of 36 (25%), 2 of 26 (8%) and 4 of 40 (10%) contributive cases. A variable follicular pattern was evidenced in 30 of 68 (44%) large biopsy specimens. The 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) and the overall survival (OS) of 153 WR DLBCL patients with survival information were 69.5% and 77.8%, respectively. The GCB immunophenotype correlated with a better OS (P = 0.0015), while BCL2 expression predicted a worse OS (P = 0.037), an effect overcome by the GCB/non-GCB classification. Compared with matched nodal DLBCLs, WR DLBCLs with no age-adjusted international prognostic index factor disclosed a better 5-year PFS rate (77.5% versus 70.7%; P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: WR DLBCLs display distinct clinicopathologic features compared with conventional DLBCLs, with usual localized-stage disease, common follicular features and a high frequency of GCB immunophenotype contrasting with a low rate of BCL2 rearrangements. In addition, they seem to be associated with a better outcome than their nodal counterpart.

Breeding objectives for a Nellore cattle rearing system

Abstract:The objective of this work was to define the traits that should be included as breeding objectives for Nellore cattle, according to simulations with a bio-economic model for rearing systems. The economic values (EVs) of the traits were calculated as the differences between the profits due to an increased performance of 1% in each trait, with the others traits remaining constant. To determine the impact of each selection on the revenue system, two scenarios were simulated based on the traits being selected. In the first scenario, the adopted selection criteria were: weaning weight (WW), weaning rate (WR), yearling weight (YW), and mature cow weight (MCW). In the second scenario, the cumulative productivity (CP) of dams was used as an indirect evaluation of the performance of calves, with all the other traits included, except WW. In the first scenario, an EV of R$ 1.44 kg-1 was obtained for WW. In the second scenario, an EV of R$ 2.91 kg-1 was obtained for CP. The trait with the highest EV in both scenarios was WR, which enhanced the profits by R$ 3.21 for each 1% increased performance. The meat price paid to the producer is the factor with the greatest impact on the EVs of all examined traits.

Tuovatko pääomasijoittajat lisäarvoa? Suomessa listattujen osakkeiden tuottovertailu

Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on selvittää listautumisantien suoriutumista Suomen markkinoilla, sekä verrata pääomasijoittajien ja muiden listaamia yrityksiä. Tutkimusperiodina käytetään 36 kuukautta. Lisäksi tutkitaan lyhyen ajanjakson tuottoja näiden välillä. Tutkimuksessa selvitetään myös se, miten kansainvälisellä aineistollahavaitut, listautumisanteihin liittyvät anomaliat toteutuvat Suomessa. Tutkimuksen aineisto koostuu 48 yrityksestä, jotka listautuivat Helsingin pörssiin vuosien 1996 - 2000 välillä. Tutkimusmenetelmänä käytetään tapahtumatutkimusta. Kerätystä aineistosta lasketaan ylituotot kolmea eri menetelmää käyttämällä, eli lasketaan CAR-, BHAR- ja WR-ylituotot. Aineistolle tehdään myösregressio, jossa alisuoriutumista selitetään erilaisilla muuttujilla. Empiiristen tulosten mukaan listautumisannit keskimäärin alisuoriutuvat Suomen markkinoilla vertailukohteina käytettyihin indekseihin verrattuna. Tämän tulos tukee aiempia, kansainvälisiltä markkinoilta saatuja havaintoja. Sitä vastoin tämän tutkimuksen perusteella pääomasijoittajien listaamat yritykset alisuoriutuvat enemmän kuin muut listatut yritykset. Tämä havainto poikkeaa kansainvälisellä aineistolla tehdyistä tutkimuksista. Tutkittaessa portfolioiden ominaisuuksia, havaittiin erityisesti listautumisvuoden selittävän alisuoriutumisen voimakkuutta.

Procesos Quirúrgicos que afectan a la imagen corporal

En la actualidad, los estereotipos de belleza impuestos en la sociedad han despertado un interés generalizado por la imagen corporal. Se espera de nosotros que tengamos un aspecto agradable acorde con los estándares estéticos. Esta presión social está potenciada por los medios de comunicación que se encargan de difundir el ideal de belleza en las sociedades contemporáneas. El rechazo social hacia la imagen corporal o la insatisfacción con la percepción del propio cuerpo pueden conducir a una baja autoestima, estigmatización social o problemas psicológicos. Las consecuencias de la sobrevaloración de la imagen corporal se extienden con la aparición de determinadas patologías o la necesidad de aplicación de determinados procedimientos que afectan a la apariencia física del individuo. Existen algunos procesos quirúrgicos que pueden implicar importantes modificaciones en la imagen corporal. Concretamente, las lesiones por quemaduras, las ostomías y las amputaciones suponen un impacto importante para la persona y pueden afectar de forma considerable en su bienestar psicosocial y en la calidad de vida. Producen grandes repercusiones en todas las dimensiones de la persona generando una gran angustia en ella debido a las dudas sobre cómo se verá afectada su vida diaria, surgiendo sentimientos de tristeza, depresión, cambios de humor o negación al cambio. Es importante que los profesionales sanitarios sean conscientes de las diferentes repercusiones que algunas intervenciones quirúrgicas pueden desencadenar en el paciente para poder desarrollar intervenciones adecuadas. Por este motivo, el presente trabajo pretende analizar las consecuencias derivadas de determinados procesos quirúrgicos y su relación con la imagen corporal.

Kulutus- korroosionkestävien materiaalien laserpinnoitus

Diplomityössä tutkitaan kulutus- ja korrosionkestävien materiaalien laserpinnoitusta. Laserpinnoituksessa sulatetaan uutta materiaalia työkappaleen pintaan lasersäteen avulla. Tarkoituksena on yleensä parantaa pinnan korroosion, kulumisen tai pintapaineen kestävyyttä. Laserpinnoitukseen liittyy useita etuja verrattuna konventionaalisiin päällehitsausprosesseihin. Työssä tutkittavat pinnoitemateriaalit ovat kobolttipohjaiset Stellite 1 ja Stellite 6, työkaluteräkset WR 4 ja WR 6 sekä metallimatriisikomposiitti Anval50/50+30 % Cr3C2. Pinnoitettavat perusaineet ovat hiiliteräs Fe 52, ruostumaton teräs AISI 316 ja valurauta GRP 500. Työn tavoitteena on löytää kunkin pinnoite/perusaine-yhdistelmän pinnoitusparametrit. Pinnoituskokeissa käytettiin LTKK:n 6 kW:n CO2-laseria. Pinnoitetuille koekappeleille tehtiin kovuusmittaukset ja kulutuskokeet. Pinnoitteiden mikrorakenteet analysoitiin ja sekoittumisasteet laskettiin. Virheitä tutkittiin silmämääräisesti sekä radiografisella kuvauksella. Optimiparametreja pinnoitemateriaaleille ei löydetty. Pinnoitteiden sekoittumisasteet muodostuivat suuriksi liiallisen lasertehon ja/tai huonon lisäaineen kohdistuksen vuoksi. Suuri sekoittuminen alensi pinnoitteiden kovuutta ja kulumiskestävyyttä. Pinnoitusparametreja arvioidaan koetulosten perusteella ja niille annetaan korjausehdotuksia. Lopuksi esitetään suosituksia tutkimusprojektin jatkotoimille.

The radioprotective effect of a new aminothiol (20-PRA)

We examined the radioprotective effect of aminothiol 2-N-propylamine-cyclo-hexanethiol (20-PRA) on a human leukemic cell line (K562) following various radiation doses (5, 7.5 and 20 Gy) using a source of 60Co g-rays. At 5 Gy and 1 nM 20-PRA, a substantial protective effect (58%) was seen 24 h after irradiation, followed by a decrease at 48 h (11%). At the high radiation dose (20 Gy) a low protective effect was also seen (35%). In addition, the antitumorigenic potential of 10 nM 20-PRA was shown by the inhibition of crown gall formation induced by Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The radioprotective potency of 20-PRA is 105-106 times higher than that of the aminothiol WR-1065 (N-(2-mercaptoethyl)-1,3-diaminopropane) whose protective effect is in the 0.1 to 1.0 mM range.