Reliability of measuring thoracic kyphosis angle, lumbar lordosis angle and straight leg raise with an inclinometer

Licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution non-commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, providing that the work is properly citedPurpose: Several non-invasive measurement methods have been described in the literature for recording thoracic kyphosis, lumbar lordosis and straight leg raise (SLR). However, attempts to quantify the reliability of the inclinometer in these measurements are scarce. In addition, existing reliability studies within the literature were found to use small sample sizes. The aim of this investigation was to examine the intra-rater reliability of the chief investigator (SM), in order to provide clinicians with data that will allow them to better measure sagittal spinal posture and SLR. A blinded test-retest design was performed to determine the intra-rater reliability of thoracic kyphosis, lumbar lordosis and SLR when assessed using an Isomed inclinometer in normals. Methods. Thirty asymptomatic subjects were assessed on two occasions separated by a time interval of 1 hour to reduce investigator memory bias. Thoracic and lumbar measurements were recorded in a relaxed standing position using an inclinometer; SLR of the dominant leg was assessed with subjects in the supine position. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), 95% confidence intervals (CI), and standard errors of measurement (SEM) were analysed to determine measurement reliability. Results. The chief investigator demonstrated excellent intra-rater reliability in the measurements of thoracic kyphosis, lumbar lordosis and SLR. ICC (2,3) values for all three variables exceeded the 0.90 threshold suggesting that the reliability of these measures are acceptable for clinical application. Conclusions. The inclinometer technique employed in this study to record thoracic kyphosis, lumbar lordosis and SLR is a reliable measurement method.Peer reviewe

Heritability of sleep and its disorders in childhood and adolescence

Purpose of Review: This review summarizes recent literature on the heritability of sleep and sleep disorders in childhood and adolescence. We also identify gaps in the literature and priorities for future research. Recent Findings: Findings indicate that age, measurement method, reporter and timing of sleep measurements can influence heritability estimates. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified differences in the heritability of sleep problems when ancestral differences are considered, but sample sizes are small compared to adult GWAS. Most studies focus on sleep variables in the full range rather than on disorder. Studies using objective measures of sleep typically comprised small samples. Summary: Current evidence demonstrates a wide range of heritability estimates across sleep phenotypes in childhood and adolescence, but research in larger samples, particularly using objective sleep measures and GWAS is needed. Further understanding of environmental mechanisms and the interaction between genes and environment is key for future research

Weak field limit of Reissner-Nordstrom black hole lensing

We study gravitational lensing by a Reissner-Nordstrom (RN) black hole in the weak field limit. We obtain the basic equations for the deflection angle and time delay and find analytical expressions for the positions and amplifications of the primary and secondary images. Due to a net positive charge, the separation between images increases, but no change in the total magnification occurs.Comment: 8 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Momentum dependent quark mass in two-point correlators

A momentum dependent quark mass may be incorporated into a quark model in a manner consistent with dynamically broken chiral symmetry. We use this to study the high $Q^2$ behavior of the vector, axialvector, scalar and pseudoscalar two-point correlation functions. Expanding the results to order $1/Q^6$, we show the correspondence between the dynamical quark mass and the vacuum condensates which appear in the operator product expansion of QCD. We recover the correct leading logarithmic $Q^2$ dependence of the various terms in the OPE, but we also find substantial subleading corrections which are numerically huge in a specific case. We conclude by using the vector minus axialvector correlator to estimate the $\pi^+ - \pi^0$ electromagnetic mass difference.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX, figures in accompanying uuencoded postscript file. Published version. References adde

Near-Earth asteroid sample return missions

The rate of discovery of new NEAs and the success of D-S 1 and NEAR-Shoemaker, suggest that sample return from NEAs is now technically feasible. Here we present a summary of a recent workshop on the topic

Pool boiling on modified surfaces using R-123

Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Malta, 16-18 July, 2012.Saturated pool boiling of R-123 was investigated for five horizontal copper surfaces modified by different treatments, namely: an emery polished surface, a fine sandblasted surface, a rough sandblasted surface, an electron beam enhanced surface and a sintered surface. Each 40 mm diameter heating surface formed the upper face of an oxygen-free copper block, electrically heated by embedded cartridge heaters. The experiments were performed from the convective heat transfer regime to the critical heat flux, with both increasing and decreasing heat flux, at 1.01 bar, and additionally at 2 bar and 4 bar for the emery polished surface. Significant enhancement of heat transfer with increasing surface modification was demonstrated, particularly for the EB enhanced and sintered surfaces. The emery polished and sandblasted surface results are compared with nucleate boiling correlations and other published data.dc201

Parties, promiscuity and politicisation: business-political networks in Poland

Research on post-communist political economy has begun to focus on the interface between business and politics. It is widely agreed that informal networks rather than business associations dominate this interface, but there has been very little systematic research in this area. The literature tends to assume that a politicised economy entails business-political networks that are structured by parties. Theoretically, this article distinguishes politicisation from party politicisation and argues that the two are unlikely to be found together in a post-communist context. Empirically, elite survey data and qualitative interviews are used to explore networks of businesspeople and politicians in Poland. Substantial evidence is found against the popular idea that Polish politicians have business clienteles clearly separated from each other according to party loyalties. Instead, it is argued that these politicians and businesspeople are promiscuous. Since there seems to be little that is unusual about the Polish case, this conclusion has theoretical, methodological, substantive and policy implications for other post-communist countries

The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in individuals with pre-existing mental illness

BACKGROUND: There is evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively affected mental health, but most studies have been conducted in the general population. AIMS: To identify factors associated with mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in individuals with pre-existing mental illness. METHOD: Participants (N = 2869, 78% women, ages 18–94 years) from a UK cohort (the National Centre for Mental Health) with a history of mental illness completed a cross-sectional online survey in June to August 2020. Mental health assessments were the GAD-7 (anxiety), PHQ-9 (depression) and WHO-5 (well-being) questionnaires, and a self-report question on whether their mental health had changed during the pandemic. Regressions examined associations between mental health outcomes and hypothesised risk factors. Secondary analyses examined associations between specific mental health diagnoses and mental health. RESULTS: A total of 60% of participants reported that mental health had worsened during the pandemic. Younger age, difficulty accessing mental health services, low income, income affected by COVID-19, worry about COVID-19, reduced sleep and increased alcohol/drug use were associated with increased depression and anxiety symptoms and reduced well-being. Feeling socially supported by friends/family/services was associated with better mental health and well-being. Participants with a history of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or eating disorder were more likely to report that mental health had worsened during the pandemic than individuals without a history of these diagnoses. CONCLUSIONS: We identified factors associated with worse mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic in individuals with pre-existing mental illness, in addition to specific groups potentially at elevated risk of poor mental health during the pandemic

Asymptotics and zeros of Sobolev orthogonal polynomials on unbounded supports

In this paper we present a survey about analytic properties of polynomials orthogonal with respect to a weighted Sobolev inner product such that the vector of measures has an unbounded support. In particular, we are focused in the study of the asymptotic behaviour of such polynomials as well as in the distribution of their zeros. Some open problems as well as some new directions for a future research are formulated.Comment: Changed content; 34 pages, 41 reference