A Qualitative Study of the Massage Therapy Foundation\u27s Best Practices Symposium: Clarifying Definitions and Creating a Framework for Practice

Large numbers of individuals seek massage therapy for wellness/disease prevention purposes and research supports consumer reported benefits including physical and psychological improvements. However, challenges within the profession may be hindering the advancement of the field. To better understand the process and outcomes and ultimately develop best practices for massage therapy as well as better inform education, policy and research, it is necessary to investigate how massage and/or massage therapy are defined and operationalized in practice. This study entailed qualitative analysis of cross-sectional data using a grounded theory approach to examine the data gathered from a two-day symposium held in 2010 in conjunction with the Massage Therapy Foundation’s Highlighting Massage Therapy in Complementary and Integrative Medicine Research conference in Seattle, Washington. The intended purpose of the symposium was to gather knowledge to inform and aid in the creation of massage therapy best practice guidelines for stress and low back pain. However, upon initial analysis, the committee that arranged the symposium realized they did not have the information needed to create the intended best practices. Analysis detected emergent themes and results yielded a need for clear definitions of massage and massage therapy, contextual elements that influence practice, and a process framework for massage therapy practice. This study is significant because no study to date has used a grounded theory approach to analyze world café style conversations to define and conceptualize clinical practices in massage therapy. Understanding how experts in the field define, describe and understand massage therapy and massage therapy practice could help further the profession with potential implications to practice, education, policy, regulation and research. For example, massage therapists may need further education on areas of documentation, establishing therapeutic relationships, best ways to communicate and offer health promotion messages; additionally incorporating these changes into a practice setting may require massage therapist to reexamine their business and practice procedures. These aforementioned areas (documentation, establishing therapeutic relationships, best ways to communicate and offering health messages) would also need to be incorporated into initial education. Research may be significantly impacted; it will be necessary for scientists to indicate if they are studying massage or massage therapy, for instance. The models and definitions do need to be tested to determine their validity; and the first step would be to study all the constructs (e.g. therapeutic setting, therapeutic relationships, etc.) within the context of massage therapy to see if they do have an impact on outcomes. Then, if the constructs are found to be valid, all constructs within the definition would need to be measured when scientists are investigating massage therapy. Policy at national organizations and regulation may be impacted if is concluded that the best plan for regulation for the profession would be to initiate tiered licensure at the state and national level based on the differences between massage and massage therapy

Sodium-mediated magnesiation of thiophene and tetrahydrothiophene : structural contrasts with furan and tetrahydrofuran

Sulfur-containing heterocycles are currently attracting agreat deal of interest in several diverse fields. For instance, substituted tetrahydrothiophenes have received considerable attention due to their extremely wide-ranging chemical and biological applications.These include their use as potent a-glucosidase inhibitors, as an inhibitor of copper amine oxidases and as selective A3 agonists and antagonists. In addition, they have been utilised in chemical transformations, such as catalytic asymmetric epoxidation, catalytic intramolecular cyclopropanation, and asymmetric metal catalysis hydrogenation. From a nanochemical perspective,the adsorption chemistries and physical propertiesof various thiophenes and tetrahydrothiophenes on gold surfaces have recently come to the fore.[7] Polythiophenes are also key compounds in modern materials research, currently utilised in, for example, the fabrication of semi-conducting, fluorescent, and electronic and optoelectronic materials.[8]In this work, metallation (exchange of a hydrogen atom with a metal atom) of the parent heterocycles, tetrahydrothiophene (THT) and thiophene is considered. Metallation is one of the most fundamental reactions in modern day synthesis and is a key tool in the preparation of functionalised aromaticand heterocyclic compounds. It is usually achieved bythe utilisation of commercially accessible organolithiums (or lithium amides); however, these reactions do have theirdrawbacks, including the intolerance of certain functionalgroups, the need for cryoscopic temperatures and the inadvertent reactivity with polar reaction solvents

Major epidemiological changes in sudden infant death syndrome : a 20-year population-based study in the UK

Background Results of case-control studies in the past 5 years suggest that the epidemiology of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) has changed since the 1991 UK Back to Sleep campaign. The campaign's advice that parents put babies on their back to sleep led to a fall in death rates. We used a longitudinal dataset to assess these potential changes. Methods Population-based data from home visits have been collected for 369 consecutive unexpected infant deaths (300 SIDS and 69 explained deaths) in Avon over 20 years (1984—2003). Data obtained between 1993 and 1996 from 1300 controls with a chosen “reference” sleep before interview have been used for comparison. Findings Over the past 20 years, the proportion of children who died from SIDS while co-sleeping with their parents, has risen from 12% to 50% (p<0·0001), but the actual number of SIDS deaths in the parental bed has halved (p=0·01). The proportion seems to have increased partly because the Back to Sleep campaign led to fewer deaths in infants sleeping alone—rather than because of a rise in deaths of infants who bed-shared, and partly because of an increase in the number of deaths in infants sleeping with their parents on a sofa. The proportion of deaths in families from deprived socioeconomic backgrounds has risen from 47% to 74% (p=0·003), the prevalence of maternal smoking during pregnancy from 57% to 86% (p=0·0004), and the proportion of pre-term infants from 12% to 34% (p=0·0001). Although many SIDS infants come from large families, first-born infants are now the largest group. The age of infants who bed-share is significantly smaller than that before the campaign, and fewer are breastfed. Interpretation Factors that contribute to SIDS have changed in their importance over the past 20 years. Although the reasons for the rise in deaths when a parent sleeps with their infant on a sofa are still unclear, we strongly recommend that parents avoid this sleeping environment. Most SIDS deaths now occur in deprived families. To better understand contributory factors and plan preventive measures we need control data from similarly deprived families, and particularly, infant sleep environments

Emergency endovascular repair of acute descending thoracic aortic dissection

Muhammad Anees Sharif, Mark Edward O&rsquo;Donnell, Paul Henry Blair, Peter KennedyDepartment of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, Royal Victoria Hospital, Grosvenor Road, Belfast, BT12 6BA, United KingdomBackground: Acute descending thoracic aortic dissection is a life-threatening emergency. It is not often considered as the initial diagnosis in patients presenting with epigastric pain and could easily be missed in a busy casualty department.Aim: This case report is aimed to highlight the feasibility of the technique and the need for long-term surveillance following endovascular repair of acute thoracic aortic dissection.Results: The patient presented with epigastric pain radiating to the interscapular region with a stable hemodynamic status. A computerized tomography (CT) scan demonstrated type B thoracic aortic dissection of the proximal descending thoracic aorta. A successful endovascular repair was carried out with uneventful recovery and follow-up CT scan six years after stent-grafting shows satisfactory position of the stent-graft, patent false lumen in the abdominal aorta perfusing the right kidney, and progressively enlarging diameter of the abdominal aorta.Conclusion: Thoracic aortic dissection should be considered as a differential diagnosis in patients presenting with epigastric and interscapular chest pain. Emergency endovascular repair of acute thoracic aortic dissection is feasible and relatively safe. Regular follow-up with CT scan is required to evaluate the long-term effi cacy and identify the need for re-intervention.Keywords: aortic, dissection, endovascular, thoraci

Strategic Cognitive Maps of Small Business Leaders

Cognitive maps influence organizational strategic behaviors by guiding the perceptions of key decisions makers. This paper empirically examines these maps in small business leaders who have the ability to strongly influence an organization's attributes and actions. Results demonstrate that two distinct and polar orientations develop from small business leaders' self-identity with their organization, overall assessments of external stakeholders, and general perceptions of the environment. The strategic implications of these findings suggest that small business leaders should be mindful of their own viewpoints and biases since they can greatly influence organizational behaviors and subsequent performance

From Skeptic to Vital Partner in Massage Therapy Research: an Interview with Mark Hyman Rapaport, MD

Mark Hyman Rapaport, MD is a highly accomplished researcher, academician, and clinician. Dr. Rapaport has more than 180 publications, and his main research interests include biologic genesis of anxiety disorders, as well as immunity abnormalities and depression in mood disorders. His research investigating massage therapy has included study of inflammatory biomarkers, cancer related fatigue, and generalized anxiety disorder. He hascreated a successful partnership with the Atlanta School of Massage for the implementation of his research inquiry. Dr. Rapaport discusses with us a wide range of topics on massage therapy, including from where his inspiration for research comes

Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the International Journal of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork

From an informal conversation to a peer reviewed, open-access, indexed journal, we are now celebrating the 10th anniversary of the International Journal of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork: Research, Education, and Practice. We celebrate the uniqueness of the Journal as the only fully open-access journal that addresses massage therapy and bodywork. Scholarly open-access journals have changed the face of scientific publishing in recent years: providing wider dissemination, allowing findings from taxpayer supported research to be available for free, and providing an avenue for researchers in the developing world to connect with researchers in developed countries. The editors of the Journal are regularly looking and soliciting articles from massage therapy researchers. This editorial describes the progress of the last ten years— from an article and readership standpoint—including changes in partnerships and increased visibility through social media

Bolstering the Three Pillars of the Essential Architecture of the Massage Therapy Profession: An Interview with Glenn M. Hymel, EdD, LMT

As part of our interview editorial series, we bring forth a discussion with Dr. Glenn M. Hymel, the Founding Executive Editor of the International Journal of Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork. Dr. Hymel embodies the qualities set forth for the American Massage Therapy Association Dianne Polseno Lifetime Achievement Award, which he received in 2017. He has provided leadership and shown outstanding professionalism, and is a dedicated volunteer and a fervent advocate for research and education in the massage therapy profession. In this interview he discusses his massage therapy research, his interests, and his hopes for the future and the profession

Journal Aspirations: Improving Scientific Writing and Publication Through a Writing Mentorship Program

Looking to help novice scientific writers improve their skills and enhance the likelihood of scientific publication, the IJTMB launched a writing mentorship program. Research indicates that when novice writers have a mentor and work on writing as a team, the authors can gain self-efficacy, manuscripts are improved, thoughts and writing are clarified, and differing perspectives are added. This editorial identifies the process for being recommended to use a writing mentor, discusses recommendations in the forming of a mentor/mentee relationship, describes the qualities of good mentors and mentees, and offers suggestions for improving writing for scientific publication. As our database of writing mentors grows, we encourage those who join this program both as mentors and as mentees to consider what it means to be in these roles and that the suggestions herein help in developing the relationships