Moving beyond the function of the health behaviour: the effect of message frame on behavioural decision-making.

Health messages that provide gain- or loss-framed arguments have a differential impact on behavioural decision-making (Rothman & Salovey, 1997). Typically, gain-framed messages more effectively promote preventive health behaviours, which maintain health and minimise the risk of a health problem, whereas loss-framed messages more effectively promote detection behaviours, which involve the risk of finding a health problem. Two experiments tested the thesis that the risk implications of the behaviour are an important determinant of the persuasive impact of gain- and loss-framed appeals.

The rationale of postoperative radiographs after cervical anterior discectomy with stand-alone cage for radicular pain.

Object: Cervical anterior discectomy with stand-alone cage (CADC) placement is a known treatment for cervical radiculopathy due to a herniated intervertebral disc or an osteophyte. Routine radiographs are obtained at regular postoperative intervals, but the consequences of routinely obtained radiographs are not known. In this study, the authors evaluated whether postoperative plain radiographs influenced the medical or surgical treatment of patients who underwent CADC placement.

The perioperative use of oral anticoagulants during surgical procedures for carpal tunnel syndrome. A preliminary study.

Background: To evaluate the feasibility of designing a randomized controlled study whether open carpal tunnel release (OCTR) surgery can be performed safely under systemic anticoagulant therapy using acetylsalicylacid (ASA) or acenocoumarol (ACM), this preliminary, observational study was performed.

Methods: Prospectively, during 1 year, data were collected from all patients who underwent conventional OCTR at the neurosurgical department of the Canisius Wilhelmina Hospital, Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Patients continued anticoagulant treatment perioperatively.

Transforaminal endoscopic surgery for lumbar stenosis: a systematic review.

Transforaminal endoscopic techniques have become increasingly popular in surgery of patients with lumbar stenosis. The literature has not yet been systematically reviewed. A comprehensive systematic literature review up to November 2009 to assess the effectiveness of transforaminal endoscopic surgery in patients with symptomatic lumbar stenosis was made.

Radicular dysfunction due to spinal deformities in Marfan syndrome at older age: three case reports.

Marfan syndrome is a inherited connective tissue disorder due to mutations in fibrillin-1. It presents with cardiovascular, ocular, skeletal, pulmonary and dural signs and symptoms. Some of the symptoms of later onset are those associated with scoliosis and dural ectasia.

Transforaminal endoscopic surgery for symptomatic lumbar disc herniations: a systematic review of the literature.

The study design includes a systematic literature review. The objective of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of transforaminal endoscopic surgery and to compare this with open microdiscectomy in patients with symptomatic lumbar disc herniations. Transforaminal endoscopic techniques for patients with symptomatic lumbar disc herniations have become increasingly popular.

Propagation of spatial coherence in fast pulses.

Diffraction and interferometry with fast pulses are analyzed for the case that the fields are partially correlated in time and in space. This generalizes a previous work [Schoonover, J. Mod.

Tubular diskectomy vs conventional microdiskectomy for sciatica: a randomized controlled trial.

Context: Conventional microdiskectomy is the most frequently performed surgery for patients with sciatica due to lumbar disk herniation. Transmuscular tubular diskectomy has been introduced to increase the rate of recovery, although evidence is lacking of its efficacy.

Objective: To determine outcomes and time to recovery in patients treated with tubular diskectomy compared with conventional microdiskectomy.

Stem cell-based therapies for spinal cord injury.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) results in loss of nervous tissue and consequently loss of motor and sensory function. There is no treatment available that restores the injury-induced loss of function to a degree that an independent life can be guaranteed. Transplantation of stem cells or progenitors may support spinal cord repair.

Simplified ultrafast pulse shaper for tailored polarization states using a birefringent prism.

A new polarization pulse shaping method utilizing a birefringent prism as both the spectrally dispersing and polarization separating element is presented and analyzed. The method of appropriate prism design is first examined, followed by calibration technique and experimental demonstration of the pulse shaper. Using phase-only modulation by means of a spatial light modulator, we obtain near-transform limited pulses.

Enhanced spatial resolution in third-harmonic microscopy through polarization switching.

Enhanced spatial resolution in third-harmonic generation (THG) microscopy is demonstrated through manipulation of the polarization state across the focal field of a microscope. Enhancements in resolution of up to a factor of 2 are observed for a focal field linearly polarized at the center and switched to circularly polarized at the beam edges. As THG scattering is suppressed for circular polarization, the THG signal diameter is reduced, improving spatial resolution.

Control and measurement of spatially inhomogeneous polarization distributions in third-harmonic generation microscopy.

We demonstrate in situ characterization of a spatially varying polarization state of an optical field at the focus of a scanning third-harmonic generation (THG) optical microscope. Polarization projections are measured by forming THG images of a polystyrene microsphere scanned through the focused beam and combined in a noniterative phase-retrieval algorithm. Controlled spatially varying polarization states are introduced by imaging spatially inhomogeneous polarization distributions constructed with reflective spatial light modulator to the focal plane of a microscope objective.

Phase measurement of coherent Raman vibrational spectroscopy with chirped spectral holography.

We introduce a nonscanning, time-domain sensitive phase measurement of Raman-active vibrations. Coherent vibrations are set up by impulsive stimulated Raman scattering and probed by spectral interferometry using a time-delayed pair of probe and reference pulses. The probe-reference pair is chirped, and the instantaneous frequency sweep maps spectral phase encoded in the pulses to the time-domain vibrational motion, allowing measurements to be made without a time-consuming pump-probe delay scan.

Self-referenced interferometry for the characterization of axicon lens quality.

A simple interferometer for the characterization of axicon lenses is presented. The phase cone acquired by a wave propagating through an axicon, when interfered with a collinear reference wave, produces a nearly cylindrically symmetric self-referenced interference pattern from which the distortions of the axicon surface may be readily obtained. Comparison with two-dimensional off-axis interferometry is used to validate the self-referenced technique.

Comparison of biomechanical properties of cervical artificial disc prosthesis: a review.

Cervical artificial discs are frequently implanted. Clinical data are frequently presented. However, biomechanical data are scarce.

Spinal stenosis with paraparesis in albright hereditary osteodystrophy. Case report and review of the literature.

We describe thoracic spinal stenosis with progressive myelopathy in association with Albright hereditary osteodystrophy (AHO) in a 12-year-old child with delayed diagnosis and review the relevant literature in order to identify the pathophysiological mechanism. The child was successfully treated by decompressive upper thoracic laminoplasty with full neurological recovery. The pathological changes of the skin also dissolved.

Modulation of third-harmonic generation conversion in the presence of a rotational wave packet.

We report a modulation of third-harmonic generation (THG) owing to a rotational coherence in CO(2). The variation in conversion efficiency is mostly attributed to the dependence of chi(3)(tau) on the molecular alignment. THG via type I processes mainly depends on chi(3)(tau), while type II processes are influenced by the wave packet owing to both chi(3)(tau) and Delta k(tau).

Ultrasound imaging of the ulnar nerve: correlation of preoperative and intraoperative dimensions.

Objectives: Recently, ultrasonography of the ulnar nerve has been introduced to confirm the diagnosis of ulnar neuropathy at the elbow. The reported diameters appear to be small when compared to those known from surgery (=actual diameter). The actual diameter is compared with the diameter on ultrasonography.

Calibration of liquid crystal ultrafast pulse shaper with common-path spectral interferometry and application to coherent control with a covariance matrix adaptation evolutionary strategy.

An ultrafast pulse shaper for coherent control applications is described, complete with a simple, reliable calibration technique and an advanced learning control algorithm. The calibration technique makes use of a common-path interferometer, producing less noisy measurements than a conventional Mach-Zehnder interferometer. A covariance matrix adaptation evolutionary strategy (ES) is demonstrated to perform better than a traditional ES for high-dimensional search landscapes.

Spinal extradural metastasis: review of current treatment options.

Bone metastases, especially to the spine, are frequently encountered during the course of a malignancy. Due to a worldwide increase of cancer incidence and to a longer life expectancy of patients with cancer, a rise in incidence of bone metastases is observed. A brief historical overview is the base of a review of current treatment options.

Problematic retrieval of cervical polyaxial screws.

The author describes a simple solution for retrieving a cervical polyaxial screw that could not otherwise be easily extracted.

Tomographic retrieval of the polarization state of an ultrafast laser pulse.

We introduce a self-referenced method for determining the complete polarization state of an ultrafast pulse field. The algorithm is based on any well-established technique that measures both the intensity and phase of a single polarization, such as frequency-resolved optical gating (FROG). We demonstrate the retrieval of nontrivial fields generated using a polarization-amplitude-phase ultrafast pulse shaper using four standard FROG measurements.

Manipulating light waves: introduction.

This special Applied Optics issue pays tribute to an extraordinary teacher, scientist, and friend who revolutionized several fields of optics, such as holography, microscopy, and biomedical imaging, by contributing his unique and simplified perspective on complicated phenomena. We thank all the authors who have contributed papers to this special feature as a manifestation of the long and unique career of Emmett Leith.