Pain and executive function:No association between remote exercise-induced hypoalgesia and cognitive inhibition in pain-free participants

Objectives: Cognitive inhibition, which denotes the ability to suppress predominant or automatic responses, has been associated with lower pain sensitivity and larger conditioned pain modulation in humans. Studies exploring the association between cognitive inhibition and other pain inhibitory phenomena, like exercise-induced hypoalgesia (EIH), are scarce. The primary aim was to explore the association between cognitive inhibition and EIH at exercising (local) and non-exercising (remote) muscles after isometric exercise. The secondary aim was to explore the association between cognitive inhibition and pressure pain sensitivity. Methods: Sixty-six pain-free participants (28.3 ± 8.9 years old, 34 women) completed two cognitive inhibition tasks (stop-signal task and Stroop Colour-Word task), a 3-min isometric wall squat exercise, and a quiet rest control condition with pre- and post-assessments of manual pressure pain thresholds at a local (thigh) and a remote site (shoulder). In addition, cuff pressure pain thresholds, pain tolerance and temporal summation of pain were assessed at baseline. Results: No association was found between remote EIH and cognitive inhibition (Stroop interference score: r=0.12, [-0.15; 0.37], p=0.405, BF01=6.70; stop-signal reaction time: r=-0.08, [-0.32; 0.17], p=0.524, BF01=8.32). Unexpectedly, individuals with worse performance on the Stroop task, as indicated by a higher Stroop interference score, showed higher local EIH (r=0.33; [0.10; 0.53], p=0.007, BF01=0.29). No associations were observed between pain sensitivity and any of the cognitive inhibition performance parameters. Conclusions: The present findings do not support previous evidence on positive associations between exercise-induced hypoalgesia and cognitive inhibition, as well as baseline pain sensitivity and cognitive inhibition.</p

Psychosocial subgroups in high-performance athletes with low back pain:eustress-endurance is most frequent, distress-endurance most problematic!

In non-athletes, fear-avoidance and endurance-related pain responses appear to influence the development and maintenance of low back pain (LBP). The avoidance-endurance model (AEM) postulates three dysfunctional pain response patterns that are associated with poorer pain outcomes. Whether comparable relationships are present in athletes is currently unclear. This cross-sectional case-control study explored frequencies and behavioral validity of the AEM-based patterns in athletes with and without LBP, as well as their outcome-based validity in athletes with LBP. Based on the Avoidance-Endurance Fast-Screen, 438 (57.1% female) young adult high-performance athletes with and 335 (45.4% female) without LBP were categorized as showing a "distress-endurance"(DER), "eustress-endurance"(EER), "fear-avoidance"(FAR) or "adaptive"(AR) pattern. Of the athletes with LBP, 9.8% were categorized as FAR, 20.1% as DER, 47.0% as EER, and 23.1% as AR; of the athletes without LBP, 10.4% were categorized as FAR, 14.3% as DER, 47.2% as EER, and 28.1% as AR. DER and EER reported more pronounced endurance- and less pronounced avoidance-related pain responses than FAR, and vice versa. DER further reported the highest training frequency. In athletes with LBP, all dysfunctional groups reported higher LBP intensity, with FAR and DER displaying higher disability scores than AR. The results indicate that also in athletes, patterns of endurance- and fear-avoidance-related pain responses appear dysfunctional with respect to LBP. While EER occurred most often, DER seems most problematic. Endurance-related pain responses that might be necessary during painful exercise should therefore be inspected carefully when shown in response to clinical pain.</p

Cognitive Inhibition Correlates with Exercise-Induced Hypoalgesia After Aerobic Bicycling in Pain-Free Participants

Purpose: Exercise-induced hypoalgesia (EIH) is the short-term reduction of pain sensitivity after a single bout of exercise. Descending pain inhibition has been proposed to at least partly underlie EIH. Cognitive inhibition is the ability to inhibit a pre-potent response and has in turn been associated with descending pain inhibition, as indexed by conditioned pain modulation. Therefore, we hypothesized that cognitive inhibition is associated with higher EIH.Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 37 pain-free participants (16 male, age 27.75 ± 9.91) completed a stop-signal task assessing cognitive inhibition ability and a control condition in the first session. In the second session, pre-post-test design EIH was assessed by means of aerobic bicycling (15 min., 75% VO2max) and isometric knee extension (90 sec, 30% MVC). EIH was assessed with pressure pain thresholds (PPT) and temporal summation of pain (TSP), each at the hand and at the leg. Correlational analyses quantified the associations between cognitive inhibition and EIH change scores.Results: Better cognitive inhibition correlated with EIH change scores in PPTs after aerobic bicycling at the hand (r = -0.35, 95% CI: -0.57; -0.08, p =0.021), but not at the leg (rho = -0.10, 95% CI: -0.36; 0.18, p = 0.277). No correlations between cognitive inhibition and change in PPTs after isometric knee extension at the hand (rho = -0.03, 95% CI: -0.30; 0.25, p = 0.857) nor at the leg (rho = -0.03, 95% CI: -0.25; 0.30, p = 0.857) were observed. There were no EIH effects after isometric exercise and, generally, no effects of exercise on TSP.Conclusion: This study provides preliminary evidence for the notion that cognitive inhibition might play a supportive role in EIH. Although these results are clearly in need of replication, they accord well with previously reported associations between cognitive inhibition, experimental pain and descending pain inhibition.</p

Assessing Endogenous Pain Inhibition:Test-Retest Reliability of Exercise-Induced Hypoalgesia in Local and Remote Body Parts After Aerobic Cycling

OBJECTIVE: Acute exercise can trigger a hypoalgesic response (exercise-induced hypoalgesia [EIH]) in healthy subjects. Despite promising application possibilities of EIH in the clinical context, its reliability has not been sufficiently examined. This study therefore investigated the between-session and within-subject test-retest reliability of EIH at local and remote body parts after aerobic cycling at a heart rate-controlled intensity.METHODS: Thirty healthy adults (15 women) performed 15 minutes of aerobic cycling in two sessions. Pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) were assessed at the leg (local), the back (semilocal), and the hand (remote) before, immediately after, and 15 minutes after exercise. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were calculated for absolute and percent changes in PPT from baseline to immediately postexercise, and between-session agreement of EIH responders was examined.RESULTS: PPTs significantly increased at the leg during both sessions (all P &lt; 0.001) and at the back during session 2 (P &lt; 0.001), indicating EIH. Fair between-session reliability was shown for absolute changes at the leg (ICC = 0.54) and the back (ICC = 0.40), whereas the reliability of percent changes was poor (ICC &lt; 0.33). Reliability at the hand was poor for both absolute and percent changes (ICC &lt; 0.33). Agreement in EIH responders was not significant for EIH at the leg or the back (all P &gt; 0.05).CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest fair test-retest reliability of EIH after aerobic cycling for local and semilocal body parts, but only in men, demonstrating the need for more standardized methodological approaches to improve EIH as a clinical parameter.</p

The role of spontaneous vs. experimentally induced attentional strategies for the pain response to a single bout of exercise in healthy individuals

OBJECTIVES: Exercise-induced pain and exercise-induced hypoalgesia (EIH) are well described phenomena involving physiological and cognitive mechanisms. Two experiments explored whether spontaneous and instructed mindful monitoring (MM) were associated with reduced exercise-induced pain and unpleasantness, and increased EIH compared with spontaneous and instructed thought suppression (TS) in pain-free individuals.METHODS: Eighty pain-free individuals participated in one of two randomized crossover experiments. Pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) were assessed at the leg, back and hand before and after 15 min of moderate-to-high intensity bicycling and a non-exercise control condition. Exercise-induced pain and unpleasantness were rated after bicycling. In experiment 1 (n=40), spontaneous attentional strategies were assessed with questionnaires. In experiment 2, participants (n=40) were randomly allocated to use either a TS or MM strategy during bicycling.RESULTS: In experiment 1, the change in PPTs was significantly larger after exercise compared with quiet rest (p&lt;0.05). Higher spontaneous MM was associated with less exercise-induced unpleasantness (r=-0.41, p&lt;0.001), whereas higher spontaneous TS was associated with higher ratings of exercise-induced unpleasantness (r=0.35, p&lt;0.05), but not with pain intensity or EIH. In experiment 2, EIH at the back was increased in participants using instructed TS compared with participants using instructed MM (p&lt;0.05).CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that spontaneous and presumably habitual (or dispositional) attentional strategies may primarily affect cognitive-evaluative aspects of exercise, such as feelings of exercise-induced unpleasantness. MM was related to less unpleasantness, whereas TS was related to higher unpleasantness. In terms of brief experimentally-induced instructions, TS seems to have an impact on physiological aspects of EIH; however, these preliminary findings need further research.</p

Exercise induced hypoalgesia in pain-free and chronic pain populations:State of the art and future directions

Exercise is considered an important component of effective chronic pain management and it is well-established that long-term exercise training provides pain relief. In healthy, pain-free populations, a single bout of aerobic or resistance exercise typically leads to exercise-induced hypoalgesia (EIH), a generalized reduction in pain and pain sensitivity that occurs during exercise and for some time afterward. In contrast, EIH is more variable in chronic pain populations and is more frequently impaired; with pain and pain sensitivity decreasing, remaining unchanged or, in some cases, even increasing in response to exercise. Pain exacerbation with exercise may be a major barrier to adherence, precipitating a cycle of physical inactivity that can lead to long-term worsening of both pain and disability. To optimize the therapeutic benefits of exercise, it is important to understand how EIH works, why it may be impaired in some people with chronic pain, and how this should be addressed in clinical practice. In this article, we provide an overview of EIH across different chronic pain conditions. We discuss possible biological mechanisms of EIH and the potential influence of sex and psychosocial factors, both in pain-free adults and, where possible, in individuals with chronic pain. The clinical implications of impaired EIH are discussed and recommendations are made for future research, including further exploration of individual differences in EIH, the relationship between exercise dose and EIH, the efficacy of combined treatments and the use of alternative measures to quantify EIH. PERSPECTIVE: This article provides a contemporary review of the acute effects of exercise on pain and pain sensitivity, including in people with chronic pain conditions. Existing findings are critically reviewed, clinical implications are discussed, and recommendations are offered for future research.status: publishe

HOW TO CREATE AN ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE IN A MODERN ORGANIZATION

V diplomske seminarju smo raziskali pojem organizacijske kulture, njen pomen v sodobni organizaciji in proces oblikovanja ustrezne kulture. Ob tem smo se srečali tudi z izhodiščnimi dejavniki oblikovanja, njenimi značilnimi vsebinami ter nekaterimi tipologijami različnih avtorjev. Obstajajo številne opredelitve organizacijske kulture. V diplomskem seminarju smo navedli le bistvene. Poleg bistva organizacijske kulture smo predstavili tudi njeno vlogo, ki zajema različne funkcije vse od orientacije, legitimnosti, motivacije pa do velika vpliva na uspešno vodenje. Predstavili smo različne vire organizacijske kulture in podrobneje opisali najpomembnejše tri. To so nacionalna kultura, močni voditelji in panoga. Ti izhodiščni dejavniki predstavljajo sestavine, iz katerih organizacijska kultura izvira, hkrati pa ti vplivajo na njen proces nastajanja. V nadaljevanju smo se seznanili z značilnostmi, ki so skupne vsem oblikam organizacijske kulture in te so kolektivnost, interakcije med posamezniki, emocionalnost in dinamičnost ter spremenljivost. Seznanili smo se tudi z različnimi tipologijami, posameznih avtorjev, ki so jih oblikovali zaradi lažjega razumevanja in poenotenja. Prikazali smo tudi pomembno vlogo, ki jo ima lastnik ali manager pri oblikovanju kulture. Prišli smo do ugotovitve, da bolj kot je manager ali lastnik močna, izrazita osebnost, toliko bolj se vidi njegov vpliv. Če je pri oblikovanju organizacijske kulture uspešen, to obliko utrdi in obdrži tudi po pritegnitvi drugih članov v organizacijo. Ključno je timsko delo. V zadnjem poglavju smo prišli do pomembne ugotovitve, da če organizacija nima ustrezne organizacijske kulture, ki bi zadovoljevala vse člane, ni sposobna v celoti izrabiti svojih potencialov. Kar pomeni, da ni za uspešnost dovolj samo močna kultura, ampak mora biti ta tudi ustrezno oblikovana in usmerjena.In the graduation seminar we explore the concept of organizational culture and its importance in the modern organization and the process of creating organizational culture. We also explore sources of the organizational culture, its specific content and some typologies of different authors. There are many definitions of organizational culture. In the graduate seminar are listed only the essential. We also present its role in organization, which covers different functions of guidance, legitimacy, motivation and the major impact on successful leadership. We presented the different sources of organizational culture and describe the main three. These are national culture, strong leaders and industry. These factors represent the basic sources which the organizational culture came from, and they have affect on the process of its creation. In addition, we note the common characteristics of all forms organizational culture and these are the collective, the interaction between individuals, emotion and dynamics and variability. We also note the different typologies from individual authors, which have been formed to ease the understanding and unification. We also demonstrate the important role of the owner or manager in creating the culture in a modern business. We came to the conclusion that more the manager is powerful and have strong personality, so much more he can influence on organizational culture. If the organizational culture is successfully made in process of creating, will this form also be keep in future, after attracting other members of the organization. Teamwork is the key. In the last chapter, we also come to the important conclusion that if the organization does not have the appropriate culture that would satisfy all members, will not be able to fully exploit its potential. This means that successful organization do not only need a strong culture, but must also be properly designed and targeted

POETICS OF ANDREJ BLATNIK\u27S SHORT STORIES

Diplomsko delo z naslovom Poetika kratke proze Andreja Blatnika preučuje pet Blatnikovih do sedaj napisanih zbirk kratke proze, in sicer Šopki za Adama venijo (1983), Biografije brezimenih (1989), Menjave kož (1990), Zakon želje (2000) in Saj razumeš? (2009). Andrej Blatnik je, skupaj z Igorjem Bratožem, Alešem Debeljakom, Juretom Potokarjem in drugimi, ena osrednjih osebnosti tako imenovane slovenske postmoderne generacije. Mlajša generacija začne v osemdesetih in devetdesetih letih 20. stoletja uvajati postmodernistično prozo, ravno vzpon postmodernizma pa je eden izmed glavnih razlogov za razširitev kratke zgodbe. Blatnik pri opredeljevanju kratke zgodbe postavi samo dve določili, in sicer da je kratka in da je zgodba. Blatnikove kratke zgodbe se najbolje pokažejo na ravni teme, ki je vedno marginalija, ta premik od velikih zgodb k majhnim pa prinaša tudi spoznanje o enakovrednosti in enakopomenskosti velikega ter majhnega. Tematski premik v intimizem v ospredje postavi majhne in intimne zgodbe o vsakdanjih ljudeh. Minimalizem odlikuje čut za atmosfero in zanimanje za intimne podrobnosti medčloveških odnosov, Blatnikove kratke zgodbe pa prikazujejo minimalistični subjekt, pri katerem je njegov intimni svet vedno pomembnejši od zunanjega dogajanja. Subjekti, ki so pri Blatniku večinoma moškega spola, odražajo vsakdanje preproste ljudi, ki se ukvarjajo z običajnimi problemi sodobnega človeka. Največji težavi se kažeta v minevanju, saj je subjekt nenehno ujet v labirinte časa, ter v nezmožnosti medsebojne komunikacije, ki še dodatno zaostri partnerske odnose in je tematska stalnica v vseh Blatnikovih zbirkah kratke proze.This thesis entitled Poetics of Andrej Blatnik’s short stories examines five collections of short stories written so far. Those are Šopki za Adama venijo (1983), Biografije brezimenih (1989), Menjave kož (1990), Zakon želje (2000) and Saj razumeš? (2009). Andrej Blatnik is along with Igor Bratož, Aleš Debeljak, Jure Potokar and some others one of the central figures of the so-called Slovenian postmodern generation. Younger generation starts introducing postmodern fiction in the eighties and nineties of the 20th century, and it is an increase of postmodernism that is one of the main reasons for the extension of short stories. Blatnik sets only two terms in identifying short stories: it needs to be short and it needs to be a story. Blatnik’s short stories are most evident at the level of theme - it is always Marginalia. This shift from long to short stories also brings recognition of equivalence of big and small. Furthermore, the thematic shift to intimism puts short and intimate stories of everyday people in the forefront. Minimalism is distinguished by a sense of atmosphere and interest in the intimate details of human relationships. Blatnik’s short stories show the minimalist subject whose intimate world is always more important than external events. Generally, subjects in Blatnik’s short stories are mostly malethey reflect ordinary people dealing with the usual problems of a modern man. The biggest problem is reflected in passing, since the subject is constantly caught in the labyrinths of time and in the inability to communicate with each other, which further complicates a partnership and is a constant theme in all Blatnik’s collections of short stories

THE INFLUENCE OF EMOTION ON EMPLOYEES\u27 BEHAVIOUR

Emocije nas ne spremljajo samo v našem zasebnem vsakdanjiku, ampak so prisotne tudi na delovnem mestu. Ugotovitev, da so tudi emocije pomemben del organizacijskega vedenja, je osvetlila pozornost managerjev na pomen socialnega kapitala, torej zaposlenih, njihovega zadovoljstva in medsebojnih odnosov. Na tem mestu je bilo smiselno razmisliti o povezavi med emocijami in vedenjem zaposlenih, saj nove raziskave potrjujejo, da investiranje v socialni kapital prinaša kratkoročne in dolgoročne koristi za poslovanje organizacij. Tako smo se usmerili na povezavo osebnih vrednot in emocij zaposlenih z organizacijskim vedenjem ter preučili njihove medsebojne vplive. V teoretičnem delu magistrskega dela smo najprej predstavili organizacijsko vedenje in značilnosti delovanja zaposlenih, pomen, funkcije in značilnosti emocij ter pomen osebnih vrednot. Osredotočili smo se samo na značilnosti vedenja, emocije in osebnih vrednot, ki so bile relevantne za potrebe raziskave. Prikazali smo velik pomen osebnih vrednot in emocij v sklopu organizacijskega vedenja, saj novi časi izpostavljajo potrebo po določenih socialnih kompetencah zaposlenih in ustreznem znanju s področja medčloveških odnosov. Sprejemanje in obravnavanje emocij na delovnem mestu vodi do upoštevanja zaposlenih kot celovitih osebnosti, kar pomeni tudi njihovo zadovoljstvo na delu. Zadovoljni zaposleni pa učinkoviteje opravljajo delo in naloge v organizaciji. Z raziskovalnimi vprašanji smo dodatno podkrepili povezavo med osebnimi vrednotami in emocijami ter povezavo med emocijami in organizacijskim vedenjem. Ugotovili smo, da so emocije in osebne vrednote tesno povezane, saj brez vrednot emocij ne doživljamo. To smo potrdili s procesom valorizacije, ki predstavlja nastanek emocij zaradi vzdraženja ali zbujanja katere od pomembnih vrednot. Vrednostni sistem posameznika je ravno tista osnova, na podlagi katere določimo pomen in pomembnost situacije v fazi vrednotenja. Emocije se tako pojavijo kot povezava ali odziv na določeno vedenje in predstavljajo osrednjo komponento posameznikovega vedenja. Zaradi tega so emocije dobile pozornost tudi v organizacijskem vedenju. Emocije lahko vplivajo na posameznikovo vedenje s tem, da neposredno sprožijo določeno vedenje in z vplivom na vedenje preko posrednih mehanizmov, kot so kognitivni procesi in motivacija. V zaključku magistrskega dela smo na osnovi teoretičnih in empiričnih spoznanj predstavili vpliv emocij na organizacijsko vedenje. Ker so osebne vrednote in emocije tesno povezane, smo vpliv emocij na vedenje lahko raziskali s posrednimi vplivi. Vplive smo raziskali s pomočjo empirične raziskave, s katero smo prikazali in potrdili povezavo med osebnimi vrednotami in organizacijskim vedenjem. Osredotočili smo se na področja organizacijskega vedenja, ki se dotikajo načina organiziranosti dela, sodelovanja med managementom in zaposlenimi ter inovativnosti v organizaciji. Tako smo posredno predstavili vplive izbranih emocij na določena področja organizacijskega vedenjaEmotions are not with us only in our private life, but also at our workplace. Determining that they too are an important part of the organizational behaviour, helped managers to realise the importance of the social capital, i.e. their employees and their happiness and interpersonal relationships. This was also a good starting point to think about the relations between emotions and the behaviour of employees, as new research suggests that investments in the social capital have short-term as well as long-term benefits for the performance of organizations. Therefore, we focused on the relations between personal values and emotions of employees and organizational behaviour as well as studied how they affect one another. The theoretical part of this paper introduces the organizational behaviour and the characteristics of the functioning of employees, the meaning, functions and characteristic of emotions, as well as the importance of personal values. We focused strictly on the characteristics of behaviour, emotions and personal values, relevant to the research. We showed that personal values and emotions have great importance for organizational behaviour, as modern times point out the need for certain social competences of employees and appropriate knowledge of interpersonal relationships. The acceptance and handling of emotions at the workplace leads to treating employees as complete personalities, incorporating also their satisfaction at the workplace. In addition, happy employees carry out their tasks in the organization faster. Our research questions further supported the connection between personal values and emotions as well as that between emotions and organizational behaviour. We determined that emotions and personal values are tightly connected, as we would not experience emotions without values. This was confirmed by the process of valorisation, which introduces the formation of emotions due to stimulation of or inducing one of the important values. The value system of an individual is the basis to determine the meaning and importance of a situation in the evaluation phase. Thus, emotions occur as a connection or a response to certain behaviour and represent a central component of an individual’s behaviour. This led to emotions being studied in the context of organizational behaviour. Emotions can affect an individual’s behaviour by directly triggering certain behaviour as well as through indirect mechanisms, such as cognitive processes and motivation. The final part of this paper shows the effects of emotions on organizational behaviour on the basis of theoretical and empirical findings. Because personal values and emotions are tightly connected, we were able to research the effects of emotions on behaviour by indirect effects. The effects were researched by empirical research, with which we showed and confirmed the relation between personal values and organizational behaviour. We focused on the areas of organizational behaviour connected with the ways of organizing work, cooperation between management staff and employees, as well as innovation inside the organization. By doing that, we indirectly showed the effects of selected emotions on certain areas of organizational behaviour