Does exercise-induced muscle damage impair subsequent motor skill learning?

Motor skill learning is a fundamental aspect of human behavior based on the calibration of internal models via sensory information such as proprioception. Some conditions, as exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD), disrupt proprioceptive information, and may cause learning impairment. Such possible relation between EIMD and motor skill learning has not yet been investigated and it is the aim of this study. For this purpose, thirty male university students (19.3 ± 1.8 years) were equally assigned to two groups: EIMD and CON group. The EIMD group received a treatment to induce muscle damage consisting of a weight lifting protocol directed to the agonist muscles related to the task prior to the pretest and to the learning sessions. EIMD was verified and compared between groups and along the process (0–168 h) by means of the degree of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), perceived total quality recovery and maximal isometric strength (MIS). To investigate motor skill learning, both groups practiced a dart throwing task for four sessions with 150 trials in each session. Recovery status and DOMS were recovered at 96 h in the EIMD group, and MIS was not recovered throughout 168 h. In contrast, muscle damage parameters were not altered across 168 h in the CON group. Accuracy and consistency were compared within and between groups in a pretest posttest design. The EIMD group showed less accurate and consistent results on the long term (delayed posttest). Results confirmed our hypothesis that EIMD, a common condition in sports and in rehab practices, may hinder motor skill learning, possibly due to neurological aspects such as proprioceptive information, its relation to central nervous system reorganization and internal model consolidation.     

心理干预在放疗患者中的应用

探讨通过实施恰当的心理行为治疗,尤其是教育性干预措施,达到改善放疗患者情绪、提高其生活质量以及降低治疗负反应的效果.采用病例对照的临床研究方法,选用生活质量和心境问卷对160名正在进行放射治疗的住院癌症病人进行了心理干预的比较研究.结果表明,干预组患者的总体情绪和总体生活质量状况,比对照组患者有明显的改善,但愤怒、认知功能以及恶心呕吐症状在两组间的差异不显著;干预组组内比较中,角色功能没有显著性差别.其原因有待于进一步研究.     

线方向判断测验在神经内,外科临床的应用与评价

对200名正常人及168例脑损害病人分别进行了线方向判断测验的测查。发现在对照组中,年龄、性别、文化水平对测验成绩均有一定的影响,尤以文化水平的影响最为显著。各病种组与对照组比较,发现脑梗塞组与脑肿瘤组成绩比外伤组和血管畸形组为差。同时还发现所有病种组右脑损害患者分数均低于左脑损害患者。     

局限期小细胞肺癌放疗中预防野照射和累及野照射的疗效分析

局限期小细胞肺癌综合治疗中采用三维适型或调强放疗技术,按不同照射范围分为累及野照射和预防野照射2个组进行比较,分析不同照射野对预后的影响。 67例局限期小细胞肺癌患者,随机分为累及野照射组37例和预防野照射组30例。累及野照射组照射范围包括化疗前CT所见肿瘤及转移淋巴结范围,预防野照射组照射范围包括原发灶、同侧肺门、纵隔及锁骨上淋巴引流区。两组均采用三维适形或调强技术,放疗剂量为DT50Gy～66Gy/5周～6周。结果全组总有效率为82.1%,局部复发率为29.9%,远处转移率为56.7%,1年、2年、3年生存率分别为68.7%、36.2%和20.1%,分组比较以上指标均无显著性差异（P＞0.05）。而两组病例急性放射性肺炎和食道炎发生率分别为5.4%、16.7%和2.7%、20.0%,累及野照射食管炎发生率显著低于预防野（P＜0.05）。     

三维适形放疗治疗晚期腹部恶性肿瘤的临床受益和毒副反应

为观察三维适形放疗治疗晚期腹部恶性肿瘤的临床受益情况和毒副反应。对38例晚期腹部恶性肿瘤患者进行三维适形放疗,疗中和疗后进行临床受益情况和毒副反应的观察和评价。结果临床受益情况：有效为28．9％,稳定为42．1％,疼痛缓解率为28．9％;毒副反应主要为骨髓抑制、胃肠道反应、生化指标改变,除少数病例出现Ⅳ度生化指标改变外,其余均在Ⅲ度以下。结论三维适形放疗可以提高晚期腹部恶性肿瘤患者的生存质量,毒副反应轻微,是一种有效的姑息治疗手段。     

SLE患者焦虑抑郁影响因素调查分析

为了探讨SLE（systemic lupus erythematosus）即系统性红斑狼疮患者焦虑抑郁心理影响因素,应用Zung焦虑自评量袁（Self—rating anxiety scale,SAS）和抑郁自评量表（self—rating depression scale,SDS）,对36例系统性红斑狼疮患者进行检测,辅以自行设计因素调查表进行相关因素调查。结果显示,SDS和SAS均分为49．70±11．3和42．13±8．9,与国内常模比较,差异有统计学意义,P〈0．01。单因素分析显示：对疾病的恐惧感、对病情了解程度、治疗效果、药物副作用、家庭经济状况、家庭支持、婚姻关系、睡眠质量、担心事业受影响、躯体症状的反复出现、社交娱乐活动受限、担心医护不精心12项因素与SLE患者抑郁焦虑状态的发生显著相关,P〈0．01。证明SLE患者抑郁焦虑心理与对疾病的恐惧感、治疗效果、家庭经济状况、睡眠质量等因素相关,这为心理干预提供了依据。     

Sensitivity to local sentence context information in lexical ambiguity resolution: evidence from left- and right-hemisphere-damaged individuals

Using a cross-modal semantic priming paradigm, the present study investigated the ability of left-hemisphere-damaged (LHD) nonfluent aphasic, right-hemisphere-damaged (RHD) and non-brain-damaged (NBD) control subjects to use local sentence context information to resolve lexically ambiguous words. Critical sentences were manipulated such that they were either unbiased, or biased toward one of two meanings of sentence-final equibiased ambiguous words. Sentence primes were presented auditorily, followed after a short (0 ms) or long (750 ms) interstimulus interval (ISI) by the presentation of a first- or second-meaning related visual target, on which subjects made a lexical decision. At the short ISI, neither patient group appeared to be influenced by context, in sharp contrast to the performance of the NBD control subjects. LHD nonfluent aphasic subjects activated both meanings of ambiguous words regardless of context, whereas RHD subjects activated only the first meaning in unbiased and second-meaning biased contexts. At the long ISI, LHD nonfluent aphasic subjects failed to show evidence of activation of either meaning, while RHD individuals activated first meanings in unbiased contexts and contextually appropriate meanings in second-meaning biased contexts. These findings suggest that both left (LH) and right hemisphere (RH) damage lead to deficits in using local contextual information to complete the process of ambiguity resolution. LH damage seems to spare initial access to word meanings, but initially impairs the ability to use context and results in a faster than normal decay of lexical activation. RH damage appears to initially disrupt access to context, resulting in an over-reliance on frequency in the activation of ambiguous word meanings.     

Mortgaging the future: Dumping ethics with nuclear waste

On August 22, 2005 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued proposed new regulations for radiation releases from the planned permanent U.S. nuclear-waste repository in Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The goal of the new standards is to provide public-health protection for the next million years — even though everyone admits that the radioactive wastes will leak. Regulations now guarantee individual and equal protection against all radiation exposures above the legal limit. Instead E.P.A. recommended different radiation exposure-limits for different time periods. It also recommended using only the arithmetic mean of the dose distribution, to assess regulatory compliance during one time period, but using only the median dose to assess compliance during another period. This piece argues that these two changes — in exposure-limits and in methods of assessing regulatory compliance — have at least four disturbing consequences. The changes would threaten equal protection, ignore the needs of the most vulnerable, allow many fatal exposures, and sanction scientifically flawed dose calculations.     

Expect the Best and Prepare for the Worst: Anticipatory Coping and Preparations for Y2K

The Y2K Bug, the programming glitch expected to derail computerized systems worldwide when the year changed from 1999 to 2000, provided a rich context for examining anticipatory coping and preparatory behaviors. In the last 2 months of 1999, 697 respondents completed an online survey of proactivity, worry about Y2K, dispositional optimism, primary and secondary control-oriented coping efforts, estimates of Y2K-related disruptions, and household preparations. Higher levels of proactivity, worry, and optimism were independently associated with greater self-reported preparations. These predictors were positively associated with greater primary control-oriented coping efforts, but showed differential relations to secondary control efforts, such as accepting the situation or trusting a higher power, especially among participants who thought the damage would be severe and lasting. Implications for understanding multiple ways of coping with potential stressors are discussed.

Time ordering in frontal lobe patients: a stochastic model approach

Frontal lobe patients reproduced a sequence of capital letters or abstract shapes. Immediate and delayed reproduction trials allowed the analysis of short- and long-term memory for time order by means of suitable Markov chain stochastic models. Patients were as proficient as healthy subjects on the immediate reproduction trial, thus showing spared encoding and short-term memory. They failed, instead, on the delayed trials with capital letters, but not with random shapes, suggesting that their long-term memory impairment did not depend on primary deficits for ordering, but on inability to benefit from the organisational strategies that improve the retention and retrieval in normal subjects.