Inter-rater reliability of trunk muscle morphometric analysis.

Background: Inter-rater reliability of generalised lumbar extensor muscle CSA has been identified, however, more detailed reliability metrics of individual trunk muscles are lacking.

Objective: To report muscle volume and muscle fatty infiltrate (MFI) inter-rater reliability of individual trunk muscles between two novice assessors.

Methods: Lumbar axial MRI scans from 10 healthy male participants were analysed.

Potential associations between chronic whiplash and incomplete spinal cord injury.

Study Design: This research utilized a cross-sectional design with control group inclusion.

Objectives: Preliminary evidence suggests that a portion of the patient population with chronic whiplash may have sustained spinal cord damage. Our hypothesis is that in some cases of chronic whiplash-associated disorders (WAD), observed muscle weakness in the legs will be associated with local signs of a partial spinal cord injury of the cervical spine.

Sonocrystallization yields monoclinic paracetamol with significantly improved compaction behavior.

Ultrasound-assisted crystallization (sonocrystallization) was used to prepare a mixture of nano- and micrometer-sized crystals of the monoclinic form of paracetamol-a widely used analgesic known for its particularly problematic mechanical behavior under compression (i.e. poor tabletability).

The electro-structural behaviour of yarn-like carbon nanotube fibres immersed in organic liquids.

Yarn-like carbon nanotube (CNT) fibres are a hierarchically-structured material with a variety of promising applications such as high performance composites, sensors and actuators, smart textiles, and energy storage and transmission. However, in order to fully realize these possibilities, a more detailed understanding of their interactions with the environment is required. In this work, we describe a simplified representation of the hierarchical structure of the fibres from which several mathematical models are constructed to explain electro-structural interactions of fibres with organic liquids.

Symptomatic ganglion cyst in a patient with knee pain.

The patient was a 39-year-old man who was referred to a physical therapist by his primary care physician for a chief complaint of left posterior knee pain. Radiographs of the left knee, which had been previously ordered by the patient's primary care physician, were interpreted as normal. Given the patient's worsening symptoms, no history of trauma or injury, and lack of improvement with prior conservative measures, the patient was referred to an orthopaedic surgeon.

Mechanisms underlying chronic whiplash: contributions from an incomplete spinal cord injury?

Objective: To explore the association between findings on advanced, but available, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences of the cervical spinal cord and muscular system, in tandem with biomechanical measures of maximum volitional plantar flexion torques as a proxy for a mild incomplete spinal cord injury.

Design: Observational case series.

Setting: University research laboratory.

Age and side-related morphometric MRI evaluation of trunk muscles in people without back pain.

This study evaluated lumbar spine muscle volume and Muscle Fatty Infiltrate (MFI) across two age groups of healthy adults. Twenty-four participants (young group - YG: age 18-25, n = 12; mature group - MG: age 45-60, n = 12) without low back pain underwent T1-weighted axial MRI. Muscle volume and MFI were obtained from the left and right lumbar erector spinae (ES), multifidus (M), rectus abdominis (RA) and psoas (PS) muscles.

Electric field-modulated non-ohmic behavior of carbon nanotube fibers in polar liquids.

We report a previously unseen non-ohmic effect in which the resistivity of carbon nanotube fibers immersed in polar liquids is modulated by the applied electric field. This behavior depends on the surface energy, dielectric constant, and viscosity of the immersion media. Supported by synchrotron SAXS and impedance spectroscopy, we propose a model in which the gap distance, and thus the conductance, of capacitive interbundle junctions is controlled by the applied field.

Crystal engineering of zeolites with graphene.

Achieving control over the morphology of zeolite crystals at the nanoscale is crucial for enhancing their performance in diverse applications including catalysis, sensors and separation. The complexity and sensitivity of zeolite synthesis processes, however, often make such control both highly empirical and difficult to implement. We demonstrate that graphene can significantly alter the morphology of titanium silicalite (TS-1) particles, in particular being able to reduce their dimensions from several hundreds to less than 10 nm.

Muscle-fat MRI: 1.5 Tesla and 3.0 Tesla versus histology.

Introduction: We evaluated muscle/fat fraction (MFF) accuracy and reliability measured with an MR imaging technique at 1.5 Tesla (T) and 3.0T scanner strengths, using biopsy as reference.

A week-long meditation retreat decouples behavioral measures of the alerting and executive attention networks.

PREVIOUS STUDIES HAVE EXAMINED THE INFLUENCE OF MEDITATION ON THREE FUNCTIONALLY DIFFERENT COMPONENTS OF ATTENTION: executive control, alerting, and orienting. These studies have consistently found that meditation training improves both executive attention and alerting, but there has not been a consistent and clear effect of meditation training on orienting. In addition, while previous studies have shown that the functional coupling of the alerting and executive networks increases the processing of task irrelevant stimuli, it is unknown if participating in a meditation retreat can decouple these components of attention and lead to improved performance.

Wound bed preparation 2014 update: management of critical colonization with a gentian violet and methylene blue absorbent antibacterial dressing and elevated levels of matrix metalloproteases with an ovine collagen extracellular matrix dressing.

Wound bed preparation (WBP) is a paradigm for holistic patient care that includes treatment of the cause along with patient-centered concerns before optimizing the components of local wound care (debridement, infection/inflammation, moisture balance, and, when required, the edge effect). This review incorporates a methylene blue and gentian violet bound foam dressing for critical colonization and an ovine collagen extracellular matrix dressing for reduction of elevated levels of matrix metalloproteases into the WBP paradigm.

Differential changes in muscle composition exist in traumatic and nontraumatic neck pain.

Study Design: A population based cross-sectional study.

Objective: To clarify relative constituents of viable muscle in 2-dimensional cross-sectional area (CSA) measures of ventral and dorsal cervical muscles in patients with chronic whiplash-associated disorders (WAD), idiopathic neck pain, and healthy controls.

Summary Of Background Data: Previous data using T1-weighted magnetic resonance image demonstrated large amounts of neck muscle fat infiltration and increased neck muscle CSA in patients with chronic WAD but not in idiopathic neck pain or healthy controls.

The course of serum inflammatory biomarkers following whiplash injury and their relationship to sensory and muscle measures: a longitudinal cohort study.

Tissue damage or pathological alterations are not detectable in the majority of people with whiplash associated disorders (WAD). Widespread hyperalgisa, morphological muscle changes and psychological distress are common features of WAD. However little is known about the presence of inflammation and its association with symptom persistence or the clinical presentation of WAD.

Post-perceptual processing during the attentional blink is modulated by inter-trial task expectancies.

The selective processing of goal-relevant information depends on an attention system that can flexibly adapt to changing task demands and expectations. Evidence from visual search tasks indicates that the perceptual selectivity of attention increases when the bottom-up demands of the task increase and when the expectations about task demands engendered by trial history are violated. Evidence from studies of the attentional blink (AB), which measures the temporal dynamics of attention, also indicates that perceptual selectivity during the AB is increased if the bottom-up task demands are increased.

Quantification of cervical spine muscle fat: a comparison between T1-weighted and multi-echo gradient echo imaging using a variable projection algorithm (VARPRO).

Background: Previous data using T1-weighted MRI demonstrated neck muscle fat infiltration (MFI) in patients with poor functional recovery following whiplash. Such findings do not occur in those with milder symptoms of whiplash, chronic non-traumatic neck pain or healthy controls, suggesting traumatic factors play a role. Muscle degeneration could potentially represent a quantifiable marker of poor recovery, but the temporal constraints of running a T1-weighted sequence and performing the subsequent analysis for muscle fat may be a barrier for clinical translation.

Liquid infiltration into carbon nanotube fibers: effect on structure and electrical properties.

Carbon nanotube (CNT) fibers consist of a network of highly oriented carbon nanotube bundles. This paper explores the ingress of liquids into the contiguous internal pores between the bundles using measurements of contact angles and changes in fiber dimensions. The resultant effects on the internal structure of the fiber have been examined by WAXS and SAXS.

Atomistic modelling of CVD synthesis of carbon nanotubes and graphene.

We discuss the synthesis of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene by catalytic chemical vapour deposition (CCVD) and plasma-enhanced CVD (PECVD), summarising the state-of-the-art understanding of mechanisms controlling their growth rate, chiral angle, number of layers (walls), diameter, length and quality (defects), before presenting a new model for 2D nucleation of a graphene sheet from amorphous carbon on a nickel surface. Although many groups have modelled this process using a variety of techniques, we ask whether there are any complementary ideas emerging from the different proposed growth mechanisms, and whether different modelling techniques can give the same answers for a given mechanism. Subsequently, by comparing the results of tight-binding, semi-empirical molecular orbital theory and reactive bond order force field calculations, we demonstrate that graphene on crystalline Ni(111) is thermodynamically stable with respect to the corresponding amorphous metal and carbon structures.

Hip fracture in Northern Ireland, 1985-2010. Are age-specific fracture rates still rising?

Background: The aims of this study were to review and update previous projections of the number of proximal femoral fractures in the Northern Ireland population and to ascertain if the trend of increasing age-specific fracture incidence was continuing.

Methods: Data from 1985 to 1997 was obtained from hospital theatre records to ascertain the number of surgical procedures for proximal femoral fracture. Data for the years 2005 and 2010 was obtained from Northern Ireland's Fracture Outcomes Research Database (FORD) and locally held records in one region not then using FORD.

Hardness and density distributions of pharmaceutical tablets measured by terahertz pulsed imaging.

We present terahertz pulsed imaging (TPI) as a novel tool to quantify the hardness and surface density distribution of pharmaceutical tablets. Good agreement between the surface refractive index (SRI) measured by TPI and the crushing force measured from diametral compression tests was found using a set of tablets that were compacted at various compression forces. We also found a strong correlation between TPI results and tablet bulk density, and how these relate to tablet hardness.

Neurocognitive and somatic components of temperature increases during g-tummo meditation: legend and reality.

Stories of g-tummo meditators mysteriously able to dry wet sheets wrapped around their naked bodies during a frigid Himalayan ceremony have intrigued scholars and laypersons alike for a century. Study 1 was conducted in remote monasteries of eastern Tibet with expert meditators performing g-tummo practices while their axillary temperature and electroencephalographic (EEG) activity were measured. Study 2 was conducted with Western participants (a non-meditator control group) instructed to use the somatic component of the g-tummo practice (vase breathing) without utilization of meditative visualization.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging to determine if cerebral hemodynamic responses to pain change following thoracic spine thrust manipulation in healthy individuals.

Study Design: Case series.

Objectives: To use blood oxygenation level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to determine if supraspinal activation in response to noxious mechanical stimuli varies pre- and post-thrust manipulation to the thoracic spine.

Background: Recent studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of thoracic thrust manipulation in reducing pain and improving function in some individuals with neck and shoulder pain.

Content not quantity is a better measure of muscle degeneration in whiplash.

Whiplash associated disorder (WAD) represents an enormous economic, social and personal burden. Five out of 10 people with WAD never fully recover and up to 25% continue to have moderate to severe pain-related disability. Unfortunately, clear and definitive reasons as to why half of individuals with WAD recover uneventfully and the other half do not, remain elusive.

Diabetes self-management and education of people living with diabetes: a survey in primary health care in Muscat Oman.

Background: Although the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in Oman is high and rising, information on how people were self-managing their disease has been lacking. The objective of this study was therefore to assess diabetes self-management and education (DSME) among people living with type 2 diabetes in Oman.

Methods: A questionnaire survey was conducted in public primary health care centres in Muscat.