The Effects of Massage on Mood State, Range of Motion, Sports Performance, and Perceived Performance

Introduction: Sports massage is commonly used to treat pain, soreness, and stiffness related to sports injury and training, as well as for injury prevention. Believed to increase blood flow, decrease swelling, reduce muscle tension, and increase a sense of well-being, massage is a widely used manual therapy across the world. Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a twenty-minute sports massage on mood state, range of motion, sports performance, and perceived performance. Methods: This repeated measures study consisted of passive recovery and massage recovery trials. Baseline testing included the Profile of Mood States questionnaire, range of motion measurements of hip flexion and extension, knee flexion and extension, and ankle plantarflexion and dorsiflexion, as well as sports performance testing of vertical jump, and perceived performance rating on a scale from 1 to 10. A five minute, 100 watt, bike warm-up was completed before a 130-foot contact plyometric workout before the randomly assigned intervention. Subjects then returned at 24 and 48 hours post intervention for repeat testing of mood state, range of motion, sport performance, and perceived performance. Analysis: Descriptive statistics were calculated using Excel. All data was analyzed in SPSS using repeated measures analysis of variance with Bonferroni adjustments when necessary. Results: No significant results were found for mood state, sport performance, or range of motion (p \u3e .05). Perceived performance was found to be significantly higher at the 24-hour time point in the massage group when compared to the passive recovery group (p = .007). Conclusions: Perceived performance after a massage intervention significantly differed from the passive recovery group. Mood state, range of motion, and sport performance provide no support for the use of sports massage, however, the psychological benefits of the perceived performance may be beneficial enough to warrant the use of the manual therapy

Improving the psychological understanding of young people's risk of suicide and associated treatments

This volume comprises of three chapters. The first is a meta-analysis of 25 research papers investigating the effectiveness of family-based interventions on youth suicidal ideation and behaviours. The second chapter is an empirical project exploring how young people who consume alcohol make sense of their experiences of attempted suicide. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was utilised and identified: the role of relationships, alcohol and substances, recovery and the build up to the attempts as being most significant. The third chapter is a press release providing an accessible overview of previous chapters

The association between subcortical and cortical fMRI and lifetime noise exposure in listeners with normal hearing thresholds

In animal models, exposure to high noise levels can cause permanent damage to hair-cell synapses (cochlear synaptopathy) for high-threshold auditory nerve fibers without affecting sensitivity to quiet sounds. This has been confirmed in several mammalian species, but the hypothesis that lifetime noise exposure affects auditory function in humans with normal audiometric thresholds remains unconfirmed and current evidence from human electrophysiology is contradictory. Here we report the auditory brainstem response (ABR), and both transient (stimulus onset and offset) and sustained functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) responses throughout the human central auditory pathway across lifetime noise exposure. Healthy young individuals aged 25–40 years were recruited into high (n = 32) and low (n = 30) lifetime noise exposure groups, stratified for age, and balanced for audiometric threshold up to 16 kHz fMRI demonstrated robust broadband noise-related activity throughout the auditory pathway (cochlear nucleus, superior olivary complex, nucleus of the lateral lemniscus, inferior colliculus, medial geniculate body and auditory cortex). fMRI responses in the auditory pathway to broadband noise onset were significantly enhanced in the high noise exposure group relative to the low exposure group, differences in sustained fMRI responses did not reach significance, and no significant group differences were found in the click-evoked ABR. Exploratory analyses found no significant relationships between the neural responses and self-reported tinnitus or reduced sound-level tolerance (symptoms associated with synaptopathy). In summary, although a small effect, these fMRI results suggest that lifetime noise exposure may be associated with central hyperactivity in young adults with normal hearing thresholds

Impaired speech perception in noise with a normal audiogram:No evidence for cochlear synaptopathy and no relation to lifetime noise exposure

In rodents, noise exposure can destroy synapses between inner hair cells and auditory nerve fibers (“cochlear synaptopathy”) without causing hair cell loss. Noise-induced cochlear synaptopathy usually leaves cochlear thresholds unaltered, but is associated with long-term reductions in auditory brainstem response (ABR) amplitudes at medium-to-high sound levels. This pathophysiology has been suggested to degrade speech perception in noise (SPiN), perhaps explaining why SPiN ability varies so widely among audiometrically normal humans. The present study is the first to test for evidence of cochlear synaptopathy in humans with significant SPiN impairment. Individuals were recruited on the basis of self-reported SPiN difficulties and normal pure tone audiometric thresholds. Performance on a listening task identified a subset with “verified” SPiN impairment. This group was matched with controls on the basis of age, sex, and audiometric thresholds up to 14 kHz. ABRs and envelope-following responses (EFRs) were recorded at high stimulus levels, yielding both raw amplitude measures and within-subject difference measures. Past exposure to high sound levels was assessed by detailed structured interview. Impaired SPiN was not associated with greater lifetime noise exposure, nor with any electrophysiological measure. It is conceivable that retrospective self-report cannot reliably capture noise exposure, and that ABRs and EFRs offer limited sensitivity to synaptopathy in humans. Nevertheless, the results do not support the notion that noise-induced synaptopathy is a significant etiology of SPiN impairment with normal audiometric thresholds. It may be that synaptopathy alone does not have significant perceptual consequences, or is not widespread in humans with normal audiograms

Effects of Age and Noise Exposure on Proxy Measures of Cochlear Synaptopathy

Although there is strong histological evidence for age-related synaptopathy in humans, evidence for the existence of noise-induced cochlear synaptopathy in humans is inconclusive. Here, we sought to evaluate the relative contributions of age and noise exposure to cochlear synaptopathy using a series of electrophysiological and behavioral measures. We extended an existing cohort by including 33 adults in the age range 37 to 60, resulting in a total of 156 participants, with the additional older participants resulting in a weakening of the correlation between lifetime noise exposure and age. We used six independent regression models (corrected for multiple comparisons), in which age, lifetime noise exposure, and high-frequency audiometric thresholds were used to predict measures of synaptopathy, with a focus on differential measures. The models for auditory brainstem responses, envelope-following responses, interaural phase discrimination, and the co-ordinate response measure of speech perception were not statistically significant. However, both age and noise exposure were significant predictors of performance on the digit triplet test of speech perception in noise, with greater noise exposure (unexpectedly) predicting better performance in the 80 dB sound pressure level (SPL) condition and greater age predicting better performance in the 40 dB SPL condition. Amplitude modulation detection thresholds were also significantly predicted by age, with older listeners performing better than younger listeners at 80 dB SPL. Overall, the results are inconsistent with the predicted effects of synaptopathy

6-benzothiazolyl ureas, thioureas and guanidines are potent inhibitors of ABAD/17β-HSD10 and potential drugs for Alzheimer's disease treatment : design, synthesis and in vitro evaluation

Background : The mitochondrial enzyme amyloid beta-binding alcohol dehydrogenase (ABAD) also known as 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 10 (17β-HSD10) has been connected with the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). ABAD/ 17β-HSD10 is a binding site for the amyloid-beta peptide (Aβ) inside the mitochondrial matrix where it exacerbates Aβ toxicity. Interaction between these two proteins triggers a series of events leading to mitochondrial dysfunction as seen in AD. Methods : As ABAD’s enzymatic activity is required for mediating Aβ toxicity, its inhibition presents a promising strategy for AD treatment. In this study, a series of new benzothiazolylurea analogues have been prepared and evaluated in vitro for their potency to inhibit ABAD/ 17β-HSD10 enzymatic activity. The most potent compounds have also been tested for their cytotoxic properties and their ability to permeate through blood-brain barrier has been predicted. To explain the structure-activity relationship QSAR and pharmacophore studies have been performed. Results and Conclusions : Compound 12 was identified being the most promising hit compound with good inhibitory activity (IC50 = 3.06 ± 0.40µM) and acceptable cytotoxicity profile comparable to the parent compound of frentizole. The satisfactory physical-chemical properties suggesting its capability to permeate through BBB make compound 12 a novel lead structure for further development and biological assessment.PostprintPeer reviewe

General practitioners’ perspectives on campaigns to promote rapid help-seeking behaviour at the onset of rheumatoid arthritis

Objective. To explore general practitioners’ (GPs’ ) perspectives on public health campaigns to encourage people with the early symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to seek medical help rapidly. Design. Nineteen GPs participated in four semistructured focus groups. Focus groups were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using thematic analysis. Results. GPs recognised the need for the early treatment of RA and identified that facilitating appropriate access to care was important. However, not all held the view that a delay in help seeking was a clinically significant issue. Furthermore, many were concerned that the early symptoms of RA were often non-specific, and that current knowledge about the nature of symptoms at disease onset was inadequate to inform the content of a help-seeking campaign. They argued that a campaign might not be able to specifically target those who need to present urgently. Poorly designed campaigns were suggested to have a negative impact on GPs’ workloads, and would “clog up” the referral pathway for genuine cases of RA. Conclusions. GPs were supportive of strategies to improve access to Rheumatological care and increase public awareness of RA symptoms. However, they have identified important issues that need to be considered in developing a public health campaign that forms part of an overall strategy to reduce time to treatment for patients with new onset RA. This study highlights the value of gaining GPs’ perspectives before launching health promotion campaigns

Supra-threshold auditory brainstem response amplitudes in humans:Test-retest reliability, electrode montage and noise exposure

The auditory brainstem response (ABR) is a sub-cortical evoked potential in which a series of well-defined waves occur in the first 10 ms after the onset of an auditory stimulus. Wave V of the ABR, particularly wave V latency, has been shown to be remarkably stable over time in individual listeners. However, little attention has been paid to the reliability of wave I which reflects auditory nerve activity. This ABR component has attracted interest recently, as wave I amplitude has been identified as a possible non-invasive measure of noise-induced cochlear synaptopathy. The current study aimed to determine whether ABR wave I amplitude has sufficient test-retest reliability to detect impaired auditory nerve function in an otherwise normal-hearing listener. Thirty normal-hearing females were tested, divided into equal groups of low- and high-noise exposure. The stimulus was an 80 dB nHL click. ABR recordings were made from the ipsilateral mastoid and from the ear canal (using a tiptrode). Although there was some variability between listeners, wave I amplitude had high test-retest reliability, with an intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) comparable to that for wave V amplitude. There were slight gains in reliability for wave I amplitude when recording from the ear canal (ICC of 0.88) compared to the mastoid (ICC of 0.85). The summating potential (SP) and ratio of SP to wave I were also quantified and found to be much less reliable than measures of wave I and V amplitude. Finally, we found no significant differences in the amplitude of any wave components between low- and high-noise exposure groups. We conclude that, if the other sources of between-subject variability can be controlled, wave I amplitude is sufficiently reliable to accurately characterize individual differences in auditory nerve function