Measuring Pain for Patients Seeking Physical Therapy: Can Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) Help?

In the multidisciplinary fields of pain medicine and rehabilitation, advancing techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are used to enhance our understanding of the pain experience. Given that such measures, in some circles, are expected to help us understand the brain in pain, future research in pain measurement is undeniably rich with possibility. However, pain remains intensely personal and represents a multifaceted experience, unique to each individual; no single measure in isolation, fMRI included, can prove or quantify its magnitude beyond the patient self-report.

Research Priorities in the Field of Posttraumatic Pain and Disability: Results of a Transdisciplinary Consensus-Generating Workshop.

Background. Chronic or persistent pain and disability following noncatastrophic "musculoskeletal" (MSK) trauma is a pervasive public health problem. Recent intervention trials have provided little evidence of benefit from several specific treatments for preventing chronic problems.

Confirmatory Factor and Rasch Analyses Support a Revised 14-Item Version of the Organizational, Policies, and Practices (OPP) Scale.

Background The long version of the organizational, policies and practices (OPP) had a high burden and short versions were developed to solve this drawback. The 11-item version showed promise, but the ergonomic subscale was deficient. The OPP-14 was developed by adding three additional items to the ergonomics subscale.

Achieving the tobacco endgame: evidence on the hardening hypothesis from repeated cross-sectional studies in New Zealand 2008-2014.

Introduction: The hardening hypothesis proposes that as smoking prevalence declines the proportion of 'hardcore' or 'hardened' smokers will increase. The possible constructs of hardening include reduced motivation to quit, increased levels of addiction, increased levels of disadvantage and reduced quit rates among continuing smokers. Most previous studies have investigated only a single facet of the hypothesis.

HLA Matching at the Eplet Level Protects Against Chronic Lung Allograft Dysfunction.

Donor selection in lung transplantation (LTx) is historically based upon clinical urgency, ABO compatibility, and donor size. HLA matching is not routinely considered; however, the presence or later development of anti-HLA antibodies is associated with poorer outcomes, particularly chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD). Using eplet mismatches, we aimed to determine whether donor/recipient HLA incompatibility was a significant predictor of CLAD.

Evidence for a young adult-targeted tobacco control campaign stimulating cessation-related responses among adult smokers and recent quitters.

Aims: Young adults are an important group for tobacco control interventions because of their high smoking prevalence. In 2014, New Zealand launched a young adult-targeted tobacco control campaign: 'Stop Before You Start'. The evaluation undertaken with young adults (aged 18 to 24 years) showed that the campaign exerted positive impacts on this age group.

A Rasch analysis of the Brief Pain Inventory Interference subscale reveals three dimensions and an age bias.

Objectives: The Brief Pain Inventory is composed of two quantifiable scales: pain severity and pain interference. The reported factor structure of the interference subscale is not consistent in the extant literature, with no clear choice between a single- or two-factor structure. Here, we report on the results of Rasch-based analysis of the interference subscale using a large population-based ambulatory patient database (the Quebec Pain Registry).

Is Operative Treatment of Achilles Tendon Ruptures Superior to Nonoperative Treatment?: A Systematic Review of Overlapping Meta-analyses.

Background: Multiple meta-analyses have been published in efforts to determine whether operative or nonoperative treatment of Achilles tendon ruptures affords superior outcomes.

Purpose: To perform a systematic review of overlapping meta-analyses comparing operative and nonoperative treatment of Achilles tendon ruptures to determine which meta-analyses provide the highest level of evidence for treatment recommendations.

Study Design: Systematic review; Level of evidence, 3.

Lactation and Progression to Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus After Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: Lactation improves glucose metabolism, but its role in preventing type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) after gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) remains uncertain.

Objective: To evaluate lactation and the 2-year incidence of DM after GDM pregnancy.

Design: Prospective, observational cohort of women with recent GDM.

Chronic pain self-management support with pain science education and exercise (COMMENCE): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Previous research suggests that self-management programs for people with chronic pain improve knowledge and self-efficacy but result in negligible effects on function. This study will investigate the effectiveness self-management support with pain science education and exercise on improving function for people with chronic pain in comparison to a wait-list control. A secondary objective is to determine which variables help to predict response to the intervention.

Evaluation of the Role for Synovial Aspiration in the Diagnosis of Aseptic Loosening After Total Knee Arthroplasty.

Background: Aseptic prosthetic loosening is known to be an inflammatory, cellular process. We hypothesized that the synovial cell count would significantly differ among normal controls, patients with aseptic loosening, and patients with other etiologies of aseptic failure after total knee arthroplasty and thus that the cell count would be useful in the diagnosis of aseptic loosening.

Methods: Over a six-year time period, all patients undergoing revision total knee arthroplasties at our institution underwent prospective intraoperative aspiration by the two senior authors.

Regulation of the Flt3 Gene in Haematopoietic Stem and Early Progenitor Cells.

The MYB transcription factor plays critical roles in normal and malignant haematopoiesis. We previously showed that MYB was a direct activator of FLT3 expression within the context of acute myeloid leukaemia. During normal haematopoiesis, increasing levels of FLT3 expression determine a strict hierarchy within the haematopoietic stem and early progenitor compartment, which associates with lymphoid and myeloid commitment potential.

Sex Differences in Patients With CAM Deformities With Femoroacetabular Impingement: 3-Dimensional Computed Tomographic Quantification.

Purpose: To determine if significant differences exist between male and female CAM deformities using quantitative 3-dimensional (3D) volume and location analysis.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of preoperative computed tomographic (CT) scans for 138 femurs (69 from male patients and 69 from female patients) diagnosed with impingement from November 2009 to November 2011 was completed. Those patients who presented with hip complaints and had a history, physical examination (limited range of motion, positive impingement signs), plain radiographs (anteroposterior pelvis, 90° Dunn view, false profile view), and magnetic resonance images consistent with femoroacetabular impingement (FAI) and in whom a minimum of 6 months of conservative therapy (oral anti-inflammatory agents, physical therapy, and activity modification) had failed were indicated for arthroscopic surgery and had a preoperative CT scan.

Barriers to successful cessation among young late-onset smokers.

Aims: To understand the barriers to cessation among young late-onset smokers (young adults who started smoking daily after turning 18). Such information is crucial to the development of interventions aimed at reducing the high smoking prevalence among young adults.

Method: The New Zealand Smoking Monitor is a fortnightly telephone survey of current smokers and recent quitters.

Goniotomy for Steroid-Induced Glaucoma: Clinical and Tonographic Evidence to Support Therapeutic Goniotomy.

Purpose: To report the surgical results of goniotomy for corticosteroid-induced glaucoma and to provide evidence to support its use as initial surgical therapy.

Methods: The medical records of 5 patients with a history of goniosurgery for steroid-induced glaucoma were reviewed. Preoperative and postoperative clinical findings were reviewed, including the topical use of steroids, tonometric and gonioscopic findings, goniosurgery, and postoperative results.

Evaluating the reliability of a novel neck-strength assessment protocol for healthy adults using self-generated resistance with a hand-held dynamometer.

Purpose: To evaluate the intra- and inter-session test-retest agreement of a novel neck-strength assessment protocol using a hand-held dynamometer.

Background: A literature review found a lack of neck-strength assessment protocols that are both portable and reliable. Hand-held dynamometry is a portable and inexpensive method of assessing muscle strength, but it is not commonly used for neck-strength assessment.

Tripling use of electronic cigarettes among New Zealand adolescents between 2012 and 2014.

Purpose: Use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) among adults has flourished in recent years. However, little is known about their use among adolescents. This article reports on data collected from a New Zealand national youth tobacco use survey in 2012 and 2014.