Reorganised motor control strategies of trunk muscles due to acute low back pain

This study assessed how the low back motor control strategies were affected by experimental pain. In twelve volunteers the right m. longissimus was injected by hypertonic and isotonic (control) saline. The pain intensity was assessed on a visual analog scale (VAS). Subjects were seated on a custom-designed chair including a 3-dimensional force sensor adjusted to the segmental height of T1. Electromyography (EMG) was recorded bilaterally from longissimus, multifidus, rectus abdominis, and external oblique muscles. Isometric trunk extensions were performed before, during, and after the saline injections at 5%, 10%, and 20% of maximum voluntary contraction force. Visual feedback of the extension force was provided whereas the tangential force components were recorded. Compared with isotonic saline, VAS scores were higher following hypertonic saline injections (P < .01). Experimental low back pain reduced the EMG activity bilaterally of the rectus abdominis muscles during contractions at 10% and 20% MVC (P < .01) although force accuracy and tangential force variability was not affected. Increased variability in the tangential force composition was found during pain compared with the non-painful condition (P < .05). The immediate adaptation to pain was sufficient to maintain the quality of the task performance; however the long-term consequence of such adaptation is unknown and may overload other structures.     

The Symptom as Ally,not Enemy

The practice of the Western medicine often identifies the symptom with the disease itself, but a current of thought and medical practice considers it as the important message of an organic imbalance. In fact, in standard therapies symptoms are usually suppressed, thus interrupting a normal physiological process and risking severe reactions due to the organic imbalance. Dr. Hahnemann, the father of homeopathy, founded his diagnostic and therapeutic model on the interpretation of the symptoms and maintained that symptoms are an expression of altered physiology. The same concept is to be found in Dr. Reckeweg's “reactivity” and homotoxicology; he believed that diseases are the expression of the struggle of the body against toxins. Reckeweg's contribution was particularly important in considering the inflammation process as a biologic process through which the body restores its health. Also PNEI (psycho-neuro-endocrino-immunology) proposes a model where the symptom is interpreted as information and as the result of an imbalance. Several other medical approaches address particular attention to the meaning of symptoms. The Bach Flower Therapy, for instance, is guided exclusively by the negative moods, which can become the cause of functional and organic diseases; balance is restored thanks to superior harmonic energetic vibrations conveyed by the superior energy living in some flowers. This interpretation of the nature of symptoms is becoming a more and more relevant issue among both the specialistic and the general public.     

Adapting relative phase of bimanual isometric force coordination through scaling visual information intermittency

Visual information plays an adaptive role in the relation between bimanual force coupling and error corrective processes of isometric force control. In the present study, the evolving distribution of the relative phase properties of bimanual isometric force coupling was examined by scaling within a trial the temporal feedback rate of visual intermittency (short to long presentation intervals and vice versa). The force error (RMSE) was reduced, and time-dependent irregularity (SampEn) of the force output was increased with greater amounts of visual information (shorter intermittency). Multi-stable coordination patterns of bimanual isometric force control were differentially shifted toward and away from the intrinsic dynamics by the changing the intermittency of visual information. The distribution of Hilbert transformed relative phase values showed progressively a predominantly anti-phase mode under less intermittent visual information to predominantly an in-phase mode with limited (almost no) visual information. Correlation between the hands showed a continuous reduction, rather than abrupt “transition,” with increase in visual information, although no mean negative correlation was realized, despite the tendency towards an anti-phase distribution. Lastly, changes in both the performance outcome and bimanual isometric force coordination occurred at visual feedback rates faster than the minimal visual processing times established from single limb movement and isometric force protocols.     

JPSSM since the beginning: intellectual cornerstones,knowledge structure,and thematic developments

Bibliometric analyses are applied to 35,975 citations from 721 articles published in the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, spanning the journal’s first 35 years of existence (1980–2015). For each of three time periods (1980s, 1990s, and 2000s), the sales literature’s most influential article publications are objectively identified. Multidimensional scaling is then used to identify key intellectual themes across time. Based on the citation data, historical developments in the literature regarding (1) relationship marketing, (2) sales force technology, (3) sales force control systems, and (4) salesperson role stress are traced and briefly explored in some article-level depth. Co-citation trends and recently influential papers are used to identify opportunities for future research. Altogether, this paper presents a first-of-its-kind view of sales literature’s intellectual cornerstones, knowledge structure, and thematic developments over 35 years.     

A comparison of experienced and novice drivers’ rear-end collision avoidance maneuvers under urgent decelerating events

A leading vehicle’s sudden deceleration can lead to a rear-end collision. Due to a lack of driving experience, novice drivers have a greater tendency to be involved in these accidents. Most previous studies have examined driver response time and braking behaviors, but few researchers have focused on what experienced and novice drivers did after their feet touched the braking pedal and their hands turned the steering wheel. These braking and steering parameters are essential in understanding driver avoidance behavior during emergencies. We programmed rear-end crash risk scenarios to examine experienced and novice drivers’ behaviors thoroughly using a driving simulator. Twenty experienced and twenty five novice subjects participated in our experiments, and their braking and steering maneuvers were recorded when leading vehicles ran at 60 km/h, 80 km/h and 100 km/h. The results showed that the two groups of subjects tended to execute two kinds of maneuvers to avoid crashes: braking only (novice 33%, experienced 19%) and the combination of braking with steering (novice 22%, experienced 26%). When the novice drivers executed braking with steering, their response time and steering duration were significantly longer than those of the experienced drivers who executed braking with steering. As the speed increased, the novice drivers’ response time, maximum braking force and maximum steering angle were significantly affected. These results showed that novice drivers should brake only when the leading vehicle suddenly decelerates. The experienced drivers executed steadier maneuvers. Their risk perception time was shorter, and their maximum braking force and the maximum steering angles were smaller. The response time, braking intensity and steering wheel angle should be considered when developing rear-end collision warning systems.     

Early-extinction effects on a force response of humans

Humans were used to investigate changes in response force occurring soon after reinforcement was eliminated. In Experiment 1, in a 300-s baseline phase, 10 participants received a point for holding down a pressure sensor set to operate at a force equal to 85% of the maximum force the participants exerted during a pretest. Following this, during a 600-s extinction phase, criterion responses had no consequence. In Experiment 2, 6 participants worked on the same task, but (a) points were exchangeable for money and (b) after extinction, the reinforcement baseline phase was reinstated. In Experiment 3, 6 participants completed the same task as in Experiment 2, but the required minimum force was 60% of the maximum force exerted during the pretest. In each experiment, increases in response force relative to the mean and peak force exerted during the last 100 s of baseline were observed in most participants when force responses were aggregated into short sample intervals, but less so with longer ones. The increases, however, were not systematic across or within participants, questioning the generality of and the criteria for demonstrating an extinction burst.     

The Factors that Motivate Law Enforcement's Use of Force: A Systematic Review

Media attention relevant to law enforcement use of force in the last decade finally alerted the scientific community to the need for more research regarding law enforcement discretion and decision making. The purpose of this study was to synthesize the existing literature to explore the motivating factors for law enforcement use of force. This study will utilize a social–ecological framework to systematically examine factors that impact officer decisions to use force at the individual and community levels. The paper includes recommendations for research and practice through an equity lens that highlights the disparate use of force against men of color in particular. Interventions, trainings, education, and research to stop the promotion of perceived safety over justice will be highlighted.     

The illocutionary force of laws

This article provides a speech act analysis of ‘crime-enacting’ provisions in criminal statutes, focusing on the illocutionary force of these provisions. These provisions commonly set out not only particular crimes and their characteristics but also their associated penalties. Enactment of a statute brings into force new social facts, typically norms, through the official utterance of linguistic material. These norms are supposed to guide behaviour: they tell us what we must, may, or must not do. Our main claim is that the illocutionary force of such provisions is primarily ‘world-creating’, i.e. effective, or declarational, rather than directive (behaviour-guiding). We assume that directive illocutionary force is either direct or indirect, showing that provisions need not contain the linguistic items that make for direct directives and that according to standard tests no indirect directive is present. A potential counter-argument is that any utterance serving to direct behaviour is necessarily a directive. We show that this behaviour-directing property is shared by some clear non-directives.     

Changing the System by Changing the Workforce: Employing Consumers to Increase Access, Cultural Diversity, and Engagement

Services to families have traditionally been delivered in a medical model. This presents challenges including workforce shortages, lack of cultural diversity, lack of training in strength-based work, and difficulty in successfully engaging and retaining families in the therapy process. The system of care (SOC) effort has worked to establish formal roles for caregivers in SOC to improve services. This paper provides an example of one community's efforts to change the SOC by expanding the roles available to caregivers in creating systems change. It describes the model developed by Communities of Care (CoC), a SOC in Central Massachusetts, and its evolution over a 10 year period. First person accounts by system partners, caregivers hired into professional roles as well as a family receiving services, demonstrate how hiring caregivers at all levels can change systems and change lives, not only for those being served but for the caregiver/professionals doing the work. It also demonstrates, however, that change at the system level is incremental, takes time, and can be fleeting unless an ongoing effort is made to support and sustain those changes.