Catastrophizing delays the analgesic effect of distraction

a b s t r a c t Behavioral analgesic techniques such as distraction reduce pain in both clinical and experimental settings. Individuals differ in the magnitude of distraction-induced analgesia, and additional study is needed to identify the factors that influence the pain relieving effects of distraction. Catastrophizing, a set of negative emotional and cognitive processes, is widely recognized to be associated with increased reports of pain. We sought to evaluate the relationship between catastrophizing and distraction analgesia. Healthy participants completed three sessions in a randomized order. In one session (Pain Alone), pain was induced by topical application of a 10% capsaicin cream and simultaneous administration of a tonic heat stimulus. In another session (Pain + Distraction), identical capsaicin + heat application procedures were followed, but subjects played video games that required a high level of attention. During both sessions, verbal ratings of pain were obtained and participants rated their degree of catastrophizing. During the other session (Distraction Alone) subjects played the video games in the absence of any pain stimulus. Pain was rated significantly lower during the distraction session compared to the ''Pain Alone" session. In addition, high catastrophizers rated pain significantly higher regardless of whether the subjects were distracted. Catastrophizing did not influence the overall degree of distraction analgesia; however, early in the session high catastrophizers had little distraction analgesia, though later in the session low and high catastrophizers rated pain similarly. These results suggest that both distraction and catastrophizing have substantial effects on experimental pain in normal subjects and these variables interact as a function of time.

Arctic Energy Technology Development Laboratory

The Arctic Energy Technology Development Laboratory was created by the University of Alaska Fairbanks in response to a congressionally mandated funding opportunity through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), specifically to encourage research partnerships between the university, the Alaskan energy industry, and the DOE. The enabling legislation permitted research in a broad variety of topics particularly of interest to Alaska, including providing more efficient and economical electrical power generation in rural villages, as well as research in coal, oil, and gas. The contract was managed as a cooperative research agreement, with active project monitoring and management from the DOE. In the eight years of this partnership, approximately 30 projects were funded and completed. These projects, which were selected using an industry panel of Alaskan energy industry engineers and managers, cover a wide range of topics, such as diesel engine efficiency, fuel cells, coal combustion, methane gas hydrates, heavy oil recovery, and water issues associated with ice road construction in the oil fields of the North Slope. Each project was managed as a separate DOE contract, and the final technical report for each completed project is included with this final report. The intent of this process was to address the energy research needs of Alaska and to develop research capability at the university. As such, the intent from the beginning of this process was to encourage development of partnerships and skills that would permit a transition to direct competitive funding opportunities managed from funding sources. This project has succeeded at both the individual project level and at the institutional development level, as many of the researchers at the university are currently submitting proposals to funding agencies, with some success

A Study on Adaptability of the Engine Control Module of an Existing Heavy Duty Diesel Engine to Optimize the Engine Performance With F-T Diesel Fuel

ABSTRACT Synthetic fuels produced from non-petroleum based feedstocks can effectively replace the depleting petroleum based conventional fuels while significantly reducing the emissions. The zero sulfur content and the near zero percentage of aromatics in the synthetic fuels make them promising clean fuels to meet the upcoming emissions regulations. However due to their significantly different properties when compared to the conventional fuels; the existing engines must be tested extensively to study their performance with the new fuels. This paper reports a detailed in-cylinder pressure measurement based study made on adaptability of the engine control module (ECM) of a modern heavy duty diesel engine to optimize the engine performance with the F-T diesel fuel. During this study, the F-T and Conventional diesel fuels were tested at different loads and various injection timing changes made with respect to the manufacturer setting. Results from these tests showed that the ECM used significantly different injection timings for the two fuels in the process of optimizing the engine performance. For the same power output the ECM used a 2° advance in the injection timing with respect to the manufacturer setting at the full load and 1° retard at the no load condition. While the injection timings used by the ECM were same for both the fuels at the 50% load condition. However, a necessity for further changes in the control strategies used by the ECM were observed to get the expected advantages with the F-T fuels