Stiffness properties of the trunk in people with low back pain

The purpose of this study was to examine the dynamic properties of the trunk during unstable sitting and to determine differences between healthy and low back pain (LBP) participants.Participants sat on a custom-made chair that was able to swing freely in the sagittal plane. The chair was mounted on a force platform to measure loads acting at the trunk. Each participant was asked to find a balanced position after the chair was tilted backward and released. Movements of the trunk and chair were recorded. Effective moment of inertia, stiffness and damping coefficients were derived using a second order linear model. 10 participants were re-tested to assess reliability.Trunk stiffness was found increased for LBP subjects (p < .05) while no difference was found for damping coefficient. Gender and initial tilt angle did not affect viscoelastic properties of the spine.A second order linear model adequately described the biomechanical response of the trunk. It was shown that the trunk response was mainly elastic for all participants. The increase in trunk stiffness in LBP subjects could be a compensatory strategy to decrease pain and the risk of further injuries, but further investigations are needed to understand the nature of the viscoelastic alterations.     

红斑性肢痛症合并周围神经损害1例诊治分析

红斑性肢痛症是一种罕见的临床综合征,以肢端皮肤间歇性皮温升高、发红、肿胀及烧灼样痛为特点,病变主要累及四肢末端,尤以下肢多见,多呈对称分布,较少见于面部和耳部.其症状常因运动和遇热而加重,休息和遇冷而减轻.临床上常分为原发性和继发性两大类,其中原发性红斑性肢痛症,多认为与编码Nav1.7亚单位的SCN9A基因突变有关.目前该病发病机制尚不明确,治疗上缺乏确切有效的治疗方案,临床易误诊误治.本文报道了红斑性肢痛症合并周围神经损害1例,以期提高对该病的认识.     

红斑性肢痛症合并周围神经损害1例诊治分析

红斑性肢痛症是一种罕见的临床综合征,以肢端皮肤间歇性皮温升高、发红、肿胀及烧灼样痛为特点,病变主要累及四肢末端,尤以下肢多见,多呈对称分布,较少见于面部和耳部.其症状常因运动和遇热而加重,休息和遇冷而减轻.临床上常分为原发性和继发性两大类,其中原发性红斑性肢痛症,多认为与编码Nav1.7亚单位的SCN9A基因突变有关.目前该病发病机制尚不明确,治疗上缺乏确切有效的治疗方案,临床易误诊误治.本文报道了红斑性肢痛症合并周围神经损害1例,以期提高对该病的认识.     

Knowledge and quality-management activities’ influences on technology communication and innovation with African foreign investment experience

We examined how psychic distance moderates the association of South Korean chief executive officers’ (CEOs’) knowledge and quality management with their predisposition to invest in African technology and innovation markets. Participants were current and prospective South Korean African business investment senior managers (n = 64; 20 females; mean years in management = 19.4) or not (n = 187; 97 females, mean years in management = 15.9). Hierarchical regression analysis was used to analyse the relationships. Only quality management was significantly related to technology commercialisation capabilities and innovation performance among managers with African investment experience. However, both quality and knowledge management were significantly related to the outcomes among managers without African investment experience. The effect of psychic distance might be explained by risk averseness, in that those without experience of African investment might be with more risk avoidant than those with such experience.     

Suicide risk in the detachment from reality: failures in the quest for love that saves

Suicide is among the leading causes of death worldwide, accounting for almost one million annual deaths globally. The author presents an exploration into the suicidal mind using Freud's cathexis and decathexis theory. This model describes the patient’s withdrawal from reality and the need to gratify libidinal and aggressive drives in the internal world. Theories and beliefs of other authors are used to introduce the importance of early disturbed relationships with parental figures. Working with the particular subtype of suicidal patient described in this essay may be a challenge for clinicians. A psychodynamic approach may help in the understanding of the patient’s complex and private world of psychological pain. If unresolved, the patient’s conflicts may precipitate suicide.     

“电子钱包”让人花钱更多？——手机支付的心理账户效应

为探究手机支付使用者消费增加的现象及其心理账户效应,使用计算机程序对114名被试进行了三项模拟购物实验。实验发现：（1）手机支付组被试的商品消费次数和金额都显著高于现金支付组被试,且这种差异体现在功能型商品的消费上。（2）手机支付时被试不会倾向于对大金额的消费进行控制,对大钱和小钱的花费不存在显著差异。（3）手机支付时收到红包的被试消费次数和金额显著高于账户常规收入的被试,且更多用于享乐型消费。总的来看,手机支付减弱了对大额金钱和意外收入的消费控制,非现金支付让消费者花钱更多。     

Murder: A psychotherapeutic investigation

This paper suggests that it is theoretically necessary and clinically useful to make a distinction between two types of psychic encapsulation within the broader literature. The proposed distinction, as it relates to these psychic structural manifestations, is illustrated here as applied to anorexia. The author suggests that psychic encapsulation is commonly encountered in work with anorexics, and that each type seems to imply a somewhat different therapeutic course. The distinction is made between anorexic patients who appear to display evidence of autistic/autistoid encapsulation as opposed to those who seem to manifest non-autistoid/later traumatic encapsulation – termed secondary adjunctive encapsulation in this paper. Defensive encapsulations are associated with pathological organisations of the personality – both within and beyond these structures, they exert an organising power over central mental processes. Psychic encapsulation and pathological organisations are defensive structural developments – the result of psychic trauma. Clinical material from three cases is presented to illustrate the arguments.     

Instruction Modes for Motor Control Skills Acquisition: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Abstract

The objective was to compare two different instruction modes used to teach patients with nonspecific chronic low back pain (CLBP) to perform a lumbar motor control task. The three intervention instruction modes used were: common verbal explanation of a motor task based on a motor control therapeutic exercise (MCTE-control group), MTCE instructed using motor imagery (MI) and MCTE instructed using tactile feedback (TF). The main outcome measure was lumbar motor control of the neutral position test. Forty-eight patients with CLBP were randomly allocated into three groups of 16 patients per group. The MI strategy was the most effective mode for developing the motor control task in an accurate and controlled manner, obtaining better outcomes than TF or verbal instruction.