Orientation and related buoyancy effects in low-velocity flow boiling.

This work is an extension of experimental results reported previously, which might provide design guidance for approximating certain aspects of the flow boiling process in microgravity but taking place in Earth gravity. In that research the buoyancy effects on the bubble dynamics were minimized by the imposition of a liquid velocity parallel to a flat heater surface in the inverted horizontal position, or nearly horizontal (within +/-5 degrees ), thus holding the heated liquid and vapor formed close to the heater surface. For the fluid used, liquid velocities in the range U= 5-10 cm/s were judged to be critical for changes in the behavior of the flow boiling process.

Do motor control genes contribute to interindividual variability in decreased movement in patients with pain?

Background: Because excessive reduction in activities after back injury may impair recovery, it is important to understand and address the factors contributing to the variability in motor responses to pain. The current dominant theory is the "fear-avoidance model", in which the some patients' heightened fears of further injury cause them to avoid movement. We propose that in addition to psychological factors, neurochemical variants in the circuits controlling movement and their modification by pain may contribute to this variability.

The impact of disability compensation on long-term treatment outcomes of patients with sciatica due to a lumbar disc herniation.

Study Design: Prospective, observational study.

Objective: To compare long-term disability and health-related quality of life outcomes of individuals receiving or not receiving workers' compensation at baseline evaluation.

Summary Of Background Data: Disability compensation has long been associated with poor clinical outcomes.

Symptoms of distress as prospective predictors of pain-related sciatica treatment outcomes.

Prior studies evaluating predictors of pain-related outcomes following treatment for sciatica have been limited by methodological problems, including retrospective study design, use of unvalidated outcome measures, and short-term follow-up periods. Despite these limitations, some reports have suggested that symptoms of psychological distress may predict individual differences in pain treatment-related outcomes (e.g.

A clinical genetic method to identify mechanisms by which pain causes depression and anxiety.

Background: Pain patients are often depressed and anxious, and benefit less from psychotropic drugs than pain-free patients. We hypothesize that this partial resistance is due to the unique neurochemical contribution to mood by afferent pain projections through the spino-parabrachial-hypothalamic-amygdalar systems and their projections to other mood-mediating systems. New psychotropic drugs for pain patients might target molecules in such brain systems.

The effect of surgical and nonsurgical treatment on longitudinal outcomes of lumbar spinal stenosis over 10 years.

Objectives: To assess the relative effect of initial surgical and nonsurgical treatment on longitudinal outcomes of patients with lumbar spinal stenosis over a 10-year follow-up period.

Design: A prospective observational cohort study.

Setting: Enrollment from community-based specialist practices throughout Maine.

Long-term outcomes of surgical and nonsurgical management of lumbar spinal stenosis: 8 to 10 year results from the maine lumbar spine study.

Study Design: A prospective observational cohort study.

Objective: To assess long-term outcomes of patients with lumbar spinal stenosis treated surgically or nonsurgically.

Summary Of Background Data: The relative benefit of various treatments for lumbar spinal stenosis is uncertain.

Long-term outcomes of surgical and nonsurgical management of sciatica secondary to a lumbar disc herniation: 10 year results from the maine lumbar spine study.

Study Design: A prospective cohort study.

Objective: To assess 10-year outcomes of patients with sciatica resulting from a lumbar disc herniation treated surgically or nonsurgically.

Summary Of Background Data: There is little information comparing long-term outcomes of surgical and conservative therapy of lumbar disc herniation in contemporary clinical practice.

The Maine-Seattle back questionnaire: a 12-item disability questionnaire for evaluating patients with lumbar sciatica or stenosis: results of a derivation and validation cohort analysis.

Study Design: Analysis of health-related quality of life data obtained from a prospective cohort study of patients with sciatica due to an intervertebral disc herniation or lumbar spinal stenosis.

Objective: To derive and validate a shortened version of a previously validated 23-item modification of the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire.

Summary Of Background Data: For patients with low back pain, improving health-related quality of life is often the main goal of therapy.

Do osteopathic physicians differ in patient interaction from allopathic physicians? An empirically derived approach.

Colleges of osteopathic medicine teach osteopathic principles, which provide a different approach to and interaction with patients than principles taught in allopathic medical schools. The authors examined whether osteopathic primary care physicians' interactions with patients reflect the principles of osteopathic medicine when compared with allopathic physicians' interactions. The principles of osteopathic medicine were adapted to elements that could be measured from an audio recording.

Criteria for approximating certain microgravity flow boiling characteristics in Earth gravity.

The forces governing flow boiling, aside from system pressure, are buoyancy, liquid momentum, interfacial surface tensions, and liquid viscosity. Guidance for approximating certain aspects of the flow boiling process in microgravity can be obtained in Earth gravity research by the imposition of a liquid velocity parallel to a flat heater surface in the inverted position, horizontal, or nearly horizontal, by having buoyancy hold the heated liquid and vapor formed close to the heater surface. Bounds on the velocities of interest are obtained from several dimensionless numbers: a two-phase Richardson number, a two-phase Weber number, and a Bond number.

Longer distal motor latency predicts better outcomes of carpal tunnel release.

The association of preoperative median nerve distal latencies with surgical outcomes of carpal tunnel release is unclear. A total of 109 surgically treated workers with carpal tunnel syndrome across the state of Maine completed questionnaires assessing preoperative levels of symptom and functional limitations and general physical health (SF-12). A second questionnaire assessed the 6-month postoperative outcomes of symptom severity, functional limitations, and satisfaction with surgery.