Abdominal muscle response to a simulated weight-bearing task by elite Australian Rules football players

The aim of this study was to examine the automatic recruitment of the deep abdominal muscles during a unilateral simulated weight-bearing task by elite Australian Rules football (AFL) players with and without low back pain (LBP). An observational cross-sectional study was conducted using ultrasound imaging to measure the thickness of the internal oblique (IO) and transversus abdominis (TrA) muscles. Thirty-seven elite male AFL players participated. Repeated measures factors included 'force level' (rest, 25% and 45% of body weight), 'leg' (dominant or non-dominant kicking leg) and 'side' (ultrasound side ipsilateral or contralateral to the leg used for the weight-bearing task). The dependent variables were thickness of the IO and TrA muscles. The results of this study showed that thickness of the IO (p<.0001) and TrA (p<.0001) muscles increased in response to 'force level'. During the task, the thickness of the IO muscle on the contralateral side of the trunk relative to the leg being tested, increased more in participants with current LBP (p=.034). This pattern was more distinct on the non-dominant kicking leg. Altered abdominal muscle recruitment in elite athletes with low back pain may be an attempt by the central nervous system (CNS) to compensate for inadequate lumbo-pelvic stability.     

Patterns of coping in rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

One hundred and fifty eight outpatients were assessed on a 36 item coping questionnaire in order to examine the impact of coping on the disability and psychological well being of individuals with rheumatoid arthritis. To consider the total pattern of coping strategies accepted and rejected by these individuals, the data was subjected to a cluster analysis. Hierarchical clustering techniques suggested the four group solution as optimum. Following a k means iterative solution external validity for the four groups was considered. The main findings indicate that the pattern of coping exerts a significant influence on symptom perception, disability and psychological well being. The findings are discussed in relation to two approaches to the impact of coping on chronic illness.     

Just Wars,Holy Wars,and Jihads,edited by Sohail Hashmi,Oxford University Press: New York, 2012, xvi + 434 pp. ISBN 978 019 975503 5, US$35.00 (paperback)

In recent years, academic interest in the nexus between Pentecostalism, economics, and capitalism has grown significantly. Notably, the vast majority of publications that have addressed this interface are to some degree conceptually framed by Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. In this article I consider what The Protestant Ethic might contribute to our understanding of the relationship between Pentecostalism and capitalism. First, I assess a particularly noteworthy attempt to draw Pentecostalism into Weber's genealogical account which draws a series of parallels between Pentecostalism and ascetic Protestantism. Second, I discuss the merits of an approach that is not primarily genealogical but remains indebted to the concepts that Weber introduces, elaborating a new affinity between Pentecostalism and capitalism in its present iteration. With this article, I seek to comprehensively extend the scope and sharpen the conceptual underpinnings of future analysis and empirical work in this area.     

Evaluation of counseling outcomes at a university counseling center: the impact of clinically significant change on problem resolution and academic functioning

The main purpose of this study was to investigate how receiving personal counseling at a university counseling center helps students deal with their personal problems and facilitates academic functioning. To that end, this study used both clinical and academic outcome measures that are relevant to the practice of counseling provided at a counseling center and its unique function in an institution of higher education. In addition, this study used the clinical significance methodology (N. S. Jacobson & P. Truax, 1991) that takes into account clients' differences in making clinically reliable and significant change. Pre-intake and post-termination surveys, including the Outcome Questionnaire (M. J. Lambert, K. Lunnen, V. Umphress, N. Hansen, & G. Burlingame, 1994), were completed by 78 clients, and the responses were analyzed using clinical significance methodology. The results revealed that those who made clinically reliable and significant change (i.e., the recovered group) reported the highest level of improvement in academic commitment to their educational goals and problem resolution, compared with those who did not make clinically significant change. The implications of the findings on practice for counseling at university counseling centers and for administrators in higher education institutions are discussed.     

Parental, Behavioral, and Psychological Factors Associated with Cigarette Smoking among Secondary School Students in Nanjing, China

We designed this study to assess parental, behavioral, and psychological factors associated with tobacco use among Chinese adolescents. The data were collected from 995 middle school students in Nanjing, China. Both smoking experimentation and current smoking (smoking in the past 30 days) were assessed among the study sample. Psychosocial measures include family structure, problem behaviors, social influence of smoking (both parental and friends’ approval of smoking), depressive symptoms, social alienation, self-esteem, parental monitoring (social monitoring and academic monitoring) and parenting style (responsiveness and demandingness). Among the study sample (mean age 15.16 years and 50% females), 24% ever smoked and 15% smoked in the past 30 days. Advanced age, male gender, low family SES, low school performance and low educational aspiration were associated with both smoking experimentation and current smoking. Depressive symptoms, social alienation, low self-esteem, low social and academic monitoring, problem behaviors, low maternal and paternal responsiveness, peer smoking, parent smoking, and parental and friends’ approval of smoking were positively associated with current smoking among Chinese adolescents. Future tobacco use prevention efforts among Chinese adolescents need to consider the parental, behavioral, and psychological correlates identified in the current study.     

Expressive disclosure and benefit finding among breast cancer patients: mechanisms for positive health effects.

A randomized trial (n = 60; A. L. Stanton, S. Danoff-Burg, L. A. Sworowski, et al., 2002) revealed that 4 sessions of written expressive disclosure or benefit finding produced lower physical symptom reports and medical appointments for cancer-related morbidities at 3-month follow-up among breast cancer patients relative to a fact-control condition. The goal of this article is to investigate mechanisms underlying these effects. Within-session heart rate habituation mediated effects of expressive disclosure on physical symptoms, and greater use of negative emotion words in essays predicted a decline in physical symptoms. Postwriting mood and use of positive emotion and cognitive mechanism words in essays were not significant mediators, although greater cognitive mechanism word use was related to greater heart rate habituation and negative emotion word use.     

Identifying trajectories of adolescent smoking: an application of latent growth mixture modeling.

The goal of the current study was to identify discrete longitudinal patterns of change in adolescent smoking using latent growth mixture modeling. Five distinct longitudinal patterns were identified. A group of early rapid escalators was characterized by early escalation (at age 13) that rapidly increased to heavy smoking. A pattern characterized by occasional puffing up until age 15, at which time smoking escalated to moderate levels was also identified (late moderate escalators). Another group included adolescents who, after age 15, began to escalate slowly in their smoking to light (0.5 cigarettes per month) levels (late slow escalators). Finally, a group of stable light smokers (those who smoked 1-2 cigarettes per month) and a group of stable puffers (those who smoked only a few puffs per month) were also identified. The stable puffer group was the largest group and represented 25% of smokers.     

An emotional processing writing intervention and heart rate variability: the role of emotional approach

Expressing and understanding one's own emotional responses to negative events, particularly those that challenge the attainment of important life goals, is thought to confer physiological benefit. Individual preferences and/or abilities in approaching emotions might condition the efficacy of interventions designed to encourage written emotional processing (EP). This study examines the physiological impact (as indexed by heart rate variability (HRV)) of an emotional processing writing (EPW) task as well as the moderating influence of a dispositional preference for coping through emotional approach (EP and emotional expression (EE)), in response to a laboratory stress task designed to challenge an important life goal. Participants (n?=?98) were randomly assigned to either EPW or fact control writing (FCW) following the stress task. Regression analyses revealed a significant dispositional EP by condition interaction, such that high EP participants in the EPW condition demonstrated higher HRV after writing compared to low EP participants. No significant main effects of condition or EE coping were observed. These findings suggest that EPW interventions may be best suited for those with preference or ability to process emotions related to a stressor or might require adaptation for those who less often cope through emotional approach.     

Parental loss, trusting relationship with current caregivers, and psychosocial adjustment among children affected by AIDS in China

The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between parental loss, trusting relationship with current caregivers, and psychosocial adjustment among children affected by AIDS in China. In this study, cross-sectional data were collected from 755 AIDS orphans (296 double orphans and 459 single orphans), 466 vulnerable children living with HIV-infected parents, and 404 comparison children in China. The trusting relationship with current caregivers was measured with a 15-item scale (Cronbach's α?=?0.84) modified from the Trusting Relationship Questionnaire developed by Mustillo et al. in 2005 (Quality of relationships between youth and community service providers: Reliability and validity of the trusting relationship questionnaire. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 14, 577-590). The psychosocial measures include rule compliance/acting out, anxiety/withdrawal, peer social skills, school interest, depressive symptoms, loneliness, self-esteem, future expectation, hopefulness about future, and perceived control over the future. Group mean comparisons using analysis of variance suggested a significant association (p?相似文献