Remedial Massage Therapy Interventions Including and Excluding Sternocleidomastoid, Scalene, Temporalis, and Masseter Muscles for Chronic Tension Type Headaches: a Case Series.

Background: Tension-type headache (TTH) is the most prevalent primary headache type world-wide. Chronic TTH (CTTH) of >15 headache-affected days per month for > 3 months can cause considerable pain and disability.

Purpose: This case series aimed to investigate whether massage therapy interventions were more effective when muscles of the anterior neck, jaw, and cranium were included.

Missed opportunity? Worsening breathlessness as a harbinger of death: a cohort study.

The aim of the study was to explore trajectories of breathlessness intensity by function and life-limiting illness diagnosis in the last 3 weeks of life in palliative care patients.A prospective, consecutive cohort study obtained point-of-care data of patients of Silver Chain Hospice Care Service (Perth, Australia) over the period 2011-2014 (n=6801; 51 494 data-points). Breathlessness intensity (0-10 numerical rating scale) and physical function (Australia-modified Karnofsky Performance Status (AKPS)) were measured at each visit.

Symptom burden of haematological malignancies as death approaches in a community palliative care service: a retrospective cohort study of a consecutive case series.

Background: Patients with haematological malignancies are less likely to use palliative care services than are patients with solid tumours. This difference might stem from differing symptom burden, care needs, disease trajectories, or a combination of these factors. We described symptom burden and physical decline over time for people with haematological malignancies compared with people with solid tumours in a consecutive case series.

An investigation of ecological correlates with hand and foot morphology in callitrichid primates.

Studies of primate taxonomy and phylogeny often depend on comparisons of limb dimensions, yet there is little information on how morphology correlates and contributes to foraging strategies and ecology. Callitrichid primates are ideal for comparative studies as they exhibit a range of body size, limb proportions and diet. Many callitrichid species exhibit a high degree of exudativory, and to efficiently exploit these resources, they are assumed to have evolved morphologies that reflect a level of dependence on these resources.

The prevalence of bowel problems reported in a palliative care population.

Context: Constipation and other disturbances of bowel function are distressing problems for people with specialist palliative care needs. Recent observations suggest that such problems may worsen as people become more unwell, but the changes in intensity over time are not well documented.

Objectives: The objectives of this work were to understand the prevalence, intensity, and progression of self-reported bowel disturbances across a community palliative care population, which included people with cancer and noncancer diagnoses.

A descriptive study of the practice patterns of massage new zealand massage therapists.

Background: Massage therapy has grown in popularity, yet little is known globally or in New Zealand about massage therapists and their practices.

Purpose And Setting: The aims of this study were to describe the practice patterns of trained Massage New Zealand massage therapists in New Zealand private practice, with regard to therapist characteristics; practice modes and settings, and therapy characteristics; referral patterns; and massage therapy as an occupation.

Research Design And Participants: A survey questionnaire was mailed to 66 trained massage therapist members of Massage New Zealand who were recruiting massage clients for a concurrent study of massage therapy culture.

Chronic disease profiles in remote Aboriginal settings and implications for health services planning.

Objective: To report the short-term experiences and outcomes of a program to support chronic disease management in three remote communities in Top End Northern Territory and in two Aboriginal Medical Services (AMSs) in Western Australia, and to discuss the implications of findings for health service delivery and policy.

Methods: Programs were health-worker centred. They espoused regular screening of all adults for chronic disease, initiation and modification of treatment where indicated and rigorous documentation.

Massage therapy services for healthcare: a telephone focus group study of drivers for clients' continued use of services.

Objective: To explore opinions of why clients use, value and continue to seek massage therapy as a healthcare option.

Design: Telephone focus group methodology was used. Current and repeat users (n = 19) of either relaxation, remedial or sports massage therapy services participated in three telephone focus groups.

The culture of massage therapy: valued elements and the role of comfort, contact, connection and caring.

Objective: To explore the attributes of the therapy encounter valued by repeat users of health-related massage therapy.

Design: A qualitative design with telephone focus group methodology was used. A total of 19 repeat users of massage therapy participated in three telephone focus groups where audiotaped semi-structured interviews were conducted.

Telephone focus groups in physiotherapy research: potential uses and recommendations.

The use of telephone focus groups as a research approach within health-related qualitative studies is emerging as a method of choice for some researchers. A variety of research applications of the telephone focus group method have been used within health settings over the last 10 years and have typically investigated specific health conditions, training needs, and resource development, as well as health practices and knowledge; these are all issues and contexts applicable to physiotherapy and rehabilitation research. The aim of this review is to explore the use of the telephone focus group methodology, update knowledge on its use in disciplines relevant to physiotherapy, and provide potential users with key information to conduct a telephone focus group.

Ultrastructure and physical properties of an adhesive surface, the toe pad epithelium of the tree frog, Litoria caerulea White.

Knowledge of both surface structure and physical properties such as stiffness and elasticity are essential to understanding any adhesive system. In this study of an adhesion surface in the tree frog, Litoria caerulea White, a variety of techniques including atomic force microscopy were used to investigate the microstructure and properties of an epithelium that adheres through wet adhesion. Litoria toe pads consist of a hexagonal array of flat-topped epithelial cells, separated by mucus-filled channels.

Status of chronic kidney disease prevention programs: International Federation of Kidney Foundation Members 2005/2007.

The International Federation of Kidney Foundations surveyed its members on chronic kidney disease 'prevention' programs in their regions and countries in 2005 and 2007. A profile was developed, representing 28 countries (56% response). Some form of screening activity was reported in 24 of the 28 countries (85.

Structural correlates of increased adhesive efficiency with adult size in the toe pads of hylid tree frogs.

Tree frogs are able to climb smooth, vertical substrates using specialised toe pads which adhere via an area-based wet adhesive mechanism. Although the link between pads and arboreality in frogs is well-established, few studies have investigated the influence of morphology on adhesion. Trinidadian tree frogs from the genus Hyla are geometrically similar.

Whole animal measurements of shear and adhesive forces in adult tree frogs: insights into underlying mechanisms of adhesion obtained from studying the effects of size and scale.

This allometric study of adhesion in 15 Trinidadian tree frog species investigates how relationships between length, area and mass limit the ability of adult frog species of different sizes to adhere to inclined and overhanging surfaces. Our experiments show that hylid frogs possess an area-based wet adhesive system in which larger species are lighter than expected from isometry and adhere better than expected from their toe pad area. However, in spite of these adaptations, larger species adhere less well than smaller species.