Norepinephrine-evoked pain in fibromyalgia. A randomized pilot study [ISRCTN70707830]

BACKGROUND: Fibromyalgia syndrome displays sympathetically maintained pain features such as frequent post-traumatic onset and stimuli-independent pain accompanied by allodynia and paresthesias. Heart rate variability studies showed that fibromyalgia patients have changes consistent with ongoing sympathetic hyperactivity. Norepinephrine-evoked pain test is used to assess sympathetically maintained pain syndromes. Our objective was to define if fibromyalgia patients have norepinephrine-evoked pain. METHODS: Prospective double blind controlled study. Participants: Twenty FM patients, and two age/sex matched control groups; 20 rheumatoid arthritis patients and 20 healthy controls. Ten micrograms of norepinephrine diluted in 0.1 ml of saline solution were injected in a forearm. The contrasting substance, 0.1 ml of saline solution alone, was injected in the opposite forearm. Maximum local pain elicited during the 5 minutes post-injection was graded on a visual analog scale (VAS). Norepinephrine-evoked pain was diagnosed when norepinephrine injection induced greater pain than placebo injection. Intensity of norepinephrine-evoked pain was calculated as the difference between norepinephrine minus placebo-induced VAS scores. RESULTS: Norepinephrine-evoked pain was seen in 80 % of FM patients (95% confidence intervals 56.3 – 94.3%), in 30 % of rheumatoid arthritis patients and in 30 % of healthy controls (95% confidence intervals 11.9 – 54.3) (p < 0.05). Intensity of norepinephrine-evoked pain was greater in FM patients (mean ± SD 2.5 ± 2.5) when compared to rheumatoid arthritis patients (0.3 ± 0.7), and healthy controls (0.3 ± 0.8) p < 0.0001. CONCLUSIONS: Fibromyalgia patients have norepinephrine-evoked pain. This finding supports the hypothesis that fibromyalgia may be a sympathetically maintained pain syndrome

Chemical pressure effects on the spectroscopic properties of Nd3+-doped gallium nano-garnets

[EN] Nd3+-doped RE3Ga5O12 (RE = Gd, Y, and Lu) nano-crystalline garnets of 40-45 nm in size have been synthesized by a sol-gel method. With the decrease of the RE atom size, the chemical pressure related to the decreasing volumes of the GaO4 tetrahedral, GaO6 octahedral and REO8 dodecahedral units drive the nano-garnets toward a more compacted structure, which is evidenced by the change of the vibrational phonon mode frequencies. The chemical pressure also increases the crystal-field strength felt by the RE3+ ions while decreases the orthorhombic distortion of the REO8 local environment. These effects alter the absorption and emission properties of the Nd3+ ion measured in the near-infrared luminescence range from 0.87 to 1.43 ¿m associated with the 4 F3/2¿4 IJ (J = 9/2, 11/2, 13/2) transitions. The 4 F3/2 luminescence decay curves show non-exponential behavior due to dipole-dipole energy transfer interactions among Nd3+ ions that increases with pressure.Authors are grateful to The Governments of Spain and India for the Indo-Spanish Joint Programme of Bilateral Cooperation in Science and Technology (PRI-PIBIN-2011-1153/DST-INT-Spain-P-38-11). Dr. Venkatramu is grateful to DAE-BRNS, Government of India for the award of DAE Research Award for Young Scientist (No. 2010/20/34/5/BRNS/2223). This work have been partially supported by MINECO under The National Program of Materials (MAT2013-46649-C4-2-P/-3-P/-4-P), The Consolider-Ingenio 2010 Program (MALTA CSD2007-00045), by Fundacion CajaCanarias (ENER-01), and by the EU-FEDER funds. V. Monteseguro wishes to thank MICINN for the FPI grant (BES-2011-044596). Authors also thank Agencia Canaria de Investigacion, Innovacion y Sociedad de la Informacion for the funds given to Universidad de La Laguna, co-financed by The European Social Fund by a percentage of 85%.Monteseguro, V.; Rathaiah, M.; Linganna, K.; Lozano-Gorrin, AD.; Hernandez-Rodriguez, MA.; Martin, IR.; Babu, P.... (2015). Chemical pressure effects on the spectroscopic properties of Nd3+-doped gallium nano-garnets. Optical Materials Express. 5(8):1661-1673. https://doi.org/10.1364/OME.5.001661S1661167358Pollnau, M., Hardman, P. ., Clarkson, W. ., & Hanna, D. . (1998). Upconversion, lifetime quenching, and ground-state bleaching in Nd3+:LiYF4. Optics Communications, 147(1-3), 203-211. doi:10.1016/s0030-4018(97)00524-5Brandle, C. D., & Barns, R. L. (1974). Crystal stoichiometry of Czochralski grown rare-earth gallium garnets. Journal of Crystal Growth, 26(1), 169-170. doi:10.1016/0022-0248(74)90223-1Venkatramu, V., Giarola, M., Mariotto, G., Enzo, S., Polizzi, S., Jayasankar, C. K., … Speghini, A. (2010). Nanocrystalline lanthanide-doped Lu3Ga5O12garnets: interesting materials for light-emitting devices. Nanotechnology, 21(17), 175703. doi:10.1088/0957-4484/21/17/175703Speghini, A., Piccinelli, F., & Bettinelli, M. (2011). Synthesis, characterization and luminescence spectroscopy of oxide nanopowders activated with trivalent lanthanide ions: The garnet family. Optical Materials, 33(3), 247-257. doi:10.1016/j.optmat.2010.10.039Krsmanović, R., Morozov, V. A., Lebedev, O. I., Polizzi, S., Speghini, A., Bettinelli, M., & Tendeloo, G. V. (2007). Structural and luminescence investigation on gadolinium gallium garnet nanocrystalline powders prepared by solution combustion synthesis. Nanotechnology, 18(32), 325604. doi:10.1088/0957-4484/18/32/325604Naccache, R., Vetrone, F., Speghini, A., Bettinelli, M., & Capobianco, J. A. (2008). Cross-Relaxation and Upconversion Processes in Pr3+ Singly Doped and Pr3+/Yb3+ Codoped Nanocrystalline Gd3Ga5O12: The Sensitizer/Activator Relationship. The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 112(20), 7750-7756. doi:10.1021/jp711494dAntic-Fidancev, E., Hölsä, J., Lastusaari, M., & Lupei, A. (2001). Dopant-host relationships in rare-earth oxides and garnets doped with trivalent rare-earth ions. Physical Review B, 64(19). doi:10.1103/physrevb.64.195108Rodríguez-Carvajal, J. (1993). Recent advances in magnetic structure determination by neutron powder diffraction. Physica B: Condensed Matter, 192(1-2), 55-69. doi:10.1016/0921-4526(93)90108-iMonteseguro, V., Rodríguez-Hernández, P., Ortiz, H. M., Venkatramu, V., Manjón, F. J., Jayasankar, C. K., … Muñoz, A. (2015). Structural, elastic and vibrational properties of nanocrystalline lutetium gallium garnet under high pressure. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 17(14), 9454-9464. doi:10.1039/c4cp05903dRay, S., León-Luis, S. F., Manjón, F. J., Mollar, M. A., Gomis, Ó., Rodríguez-Mendoza, U. R., … Lavín, V. (2014). Broadband, site selective and time resolved photoluminescence spectroscopic studies of finely size-modulated Y2O3:Eu3+ phosphors synthesized by a complex based precursor solution method. Current Applied Physics, 14(1), 72-81. doi:10.1016/j.cap.2013.07.027Nekvasil, V. (1978). The Crystal Field for Nd3+ in Garnets. Physica Status Solidi (b), 87(1), 317-323. doi:10.1002/pssb.2220870137Rodríguez-Mendoza, U. R., León-Luis, S. F., Muñoz-Santiuste, J. E., Jaque, D., & Lavín, V. (2013). Nd3+-doped Ca3Ga2Ge3O12garnet: A new optical pressure sensor. Journal of Applied Physics, 113(21), 213517. doi:10.1063/1.4809217Kaminska, A., Buczko, R., Paszkowicz, W., Przybylińska, H., Werner-Malento, E., Suchocki, A., … Saxena, S. (2011). Merging of the4F3/2level states of Nd3+ions in the photoluminescence spectra of gadolinium-gallium garnets under high pressure. Physical Review B, 84(7). doi:10.1103/physrevb.84.075483Allik, T. H., Stewart, S. A., Sardar, D. K., Quarles, G. J., Powell, R. C., Morrison, C. A., … Pinto, A. A. (1988). Preparation, structure, and spectroscopic properties ofNd3+:{La1−xLux}3[Lu1−yGay]2Ga3O12crystals. Physical Review B, 37(16), 9129-9139. doi:10.1103/physrevb.37.9129Wu, K., Yao, B., Zhang, H., Yu, H., Wang, Z., Wang, J., & Jiang, M. (2010). Growth and properties of Nd:Lu3Ga5O12 laser crystal by floating-zone method. Journal of Crystal Growth, 312(24), 3631-3636. doi:10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2010.09.029Jia, Z., Arcangeli, A., Tao, X., Zhang, J., Dong, C., Jiang, M., … Tonelli, M. (2009). Efficient Nd3+→Yb3+ energy transfer in Nd3+,Yb3+:Gd3Ga5O12 multicenter garnet crystal. Journal of Applied Physics, 105(8), 083113. doi:10.1063/1.3115442Guillot-Noel, O., Bellamy, B., Viana, B., & Gourier, D. (1999). Correlation between rare-earth oscillator strengths and rare-earth–valence-band interactions in neodymium-dopedYMO4(M=V,P, As),Y3Al5O12,andLiYF4matrices. Physical Review B, 60(3), 1668-1677. doi:10.1103/physrevb.60.1668Demidovich, A. A., Shkadarevich, A. P., Danailov, M. B., Apai, P., Gasmi, T., Gribkovskii, V. P., … Batay, L. E. (1998). Comparison of cw laser performance of Nd:KGW, Nd:YAG, Nd:BEL, and Nd:YVO 4 under laser diode pumping. Applied Physics B: Lasers and Optics, 67(1), 11-15. doi:10.1007/s003400050467Inokuti, M., & Hirayama, F. (1965). Influence of Energy Transfer by the Exchange Mechanism on Donor Luminescence. The Journal of Chemical Physics, 43(6), 1978-1989. doi:10.1063/1.1697063Lupei, V., & Lupei, A. (2000). Emission dynamics of the4F3/2level ofNd3+in YAG at low pump intensities. Physical Review B, 61(12), 8087-8098. doi:10.1103/physrevb.61.8087Maeda, K., Wada, N., Umino, M., Abe, M., Takada, Y., Nakano, N., & Kuroda, H. (1984). Concentration Dependence of Fluorescence Lifetime of Nd3+-Doped Gd3Ga5O12Lasers. Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 23(Part 2, No. 10), L759-L760. doi:10.1143/jjap.23.l759Geusic, J. E., Marcos, H. M., & Van Uitert, L. G. (1964). LASER OSCILLATIONS IN Nd‐DOPED YTTRIUM ALUMINUM, YTTRIUM GALLIUM AND GADOLINIUM GARNETS. Applied Physics Letters, 4(10), 182-184. doi:10.1063/1.1753928Löhring, J., Nicklaus, K., Kujath, N., & Hoffmann, D. (2007). Diode pumped Nd:YGG laser for direct generation of pulsed 935 nm radiation for water vapour measurements. Solid State Lasers XVI: Technology and Devices. doi:10.1117/12.708220Maunier, C., Doualan, J. L., Moncorgé, R., Speghini, A., Bettinelli, M., & Cavalli, E. (2002). Growth, spectroscopic characterization, and laser performance of Nd:LuVO_4, a new infrared laser material that is suitable for diode pumping. Journal of the Optical Society of America B, 19(8), 1794. doi:10.1364/josab.19.00179

Primary physical education, coaches and continuing professional development

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Sport, Education and Society, 16(4), 485 - 505, 2011, copyright @ Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13573322.2011.589645.Physical education (PE) in primary schools has traditionally been taught by qualified primary teachers. More recently, some teaching of PE in primary schools has been undertaken by coaches (mostly football coaches). These coaches hold national governing body awards but do not hold teaching qualifications. Thus, coaches may not be adequately prepared to teach PE in curriculum time. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perceptions of a group of community-based football coaches working in primary schools for the impact of a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme on their ability to undertake ‘specified work’ to cover PE in primary schools. The programme focused on four areas identified as important to enable coaches to cover specified work: short- and medium-term planning, pedagogy, knowledge of the curriculum and reflection. Results showed that for the majority of coaches the CPD programme had made them more aware of the importance of these four areas and had helped to develop their knowledge and ability to put this into practice in covering planning, preparation and assessment time. However, further input is still required to develop coaches’ knowledge and understanding in all four areas, but especially their curriculum knowledge, as well as their ability to put these into practice consistently. These findings are discussed in relation to the implications of employing coaches to cover the teaching of PE in primary schools and, if employed, what CPD coaches need to develop the necessary knowledge, skill and understanding for covering specified work in schools

Enjoyment of the shopping experience:impact on customers’ repatronage intentions and gender influence

In this paper the authors investigate enjoyment of the shopping experience, its influence on consumers’ intention to repatronise a regional shopping centre and the effect of gender differences on shopping enjoyment. Four dimensions of shopping enjoyment are proposed and a 16-item measure is developed to assess 536 consumer perceptions of the shopping experience across five counties in the United Kingdom. Findings indicate that shopping experience enjoyment has a significant positive influence upon customers’ repatronage intentions. Furthermore, men are found to have a stronger relationship of enjoyment with repatronage than women. The implications of these results are discussed, together with managerial implications, study limitations, and future research directions

DNA resection in eukaryotes: deciding how to fix the break

DNA double-strand breaks are repaired by different mechanisms, including homologous recombination and nonhomologous end-joining. DNA-end resection, the first step in recombination, is a key step that contributes to the choice of DSB repair. Resection, an evolutionarily conserved process that generates single-stranded DNA, is linked to checkpoint activation and is critical for survival. Failure to regulate and execute this process results in defective recombination and can contribute to human disease. Here, I review recent findings on the mechanisms of resection in eukaryotes, from yeast to vertebrates, provide insights into the regulatory strategies that control it, and highlight the consequences of both its impairment and its deregulation

Draft genome sequence of antarctic psychrotroph Streptomyces fildesensis strain INACH3013, isolated from King George Island soil

The draft genome sequence of Streptomyces fildesensis strain INACH3013, a psychrotrophic bacterium isolated from Northwest Antarctic soil, was reported. The genome sequence totaling 9,306,785 bp resulted from 122 contigs characterized by a GC content of 70.55%

Precipitation frequency in Med-CORDEX and EURO-CORDEX ensembles from 0.44° to convection-permitting resolution: impact of model resolution and convection representation

Recent studies using convection-permitting (CP) climate simulations have demonstrated a step-change in the representation of heavy rainfall and rainfall characteristics (frequency-intensity) compared to coarser resolution Global and Regional climate models. The goal of this study is to better understand what explains the weaker frequency of precipitation in the CP ensemble by assessing the triggering process of precipitation in the different ensembles of regional climate simulations available over Europe. We focus on the statistical relationship between tropospheric temperature, humidity and precipitation to understand how the frequency of precipitation over Europe and the Mediterranean is impacted by model resolution and the representation of convection (parameterized vs. explicit). We employ a multi-model data-set with three different resolutions (0.44°, 0.11° and 0.0275°) produced in the context of the MED-CORDEX, EURO-CORDEX and the CORDEX Flagship Pilot Study "Convective Phenomena over Europe and the Mediterranean" (FPSCONV). The multi-variate approach is applied to all model ensembles, and to several surface stations where the integrated water vapor (IWV) is derived from Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements. The results show that all model ensembles capture the temperature dependence of the critical value of IWV (IWVcv), above which an increase in precipitation frequency occurs, but the differences between the models in terms of the value of IWVcv, and the probability of its being exceeded, can be large at higher temperatures. The lower frequency of precipitation in convection-permitting simulations is not only explained by higher temperatures but also by a higher IWVcv necessary to trigger precipitation at similar temperatures, and a lower probability to exceed this critical value. The spread between models in simulating IWVcv and the probability of exceeding IWVcv is reduced over land in the ensemble of models with explicit convection, especially at high temperatures, when the convective fraction of total precipitation becomes more important and the influence of the representation of entrainment in models thus becomes more important. Over lowlands, both model resolution and convection representation affect precipitation triggering while over mountainous areas, resolution has the highest impact due to orography-induced triggering processes. Over the sea, since lifting is produced by large-scale convergence, the probability to exceed IWVcv does not depend on temperature, and the model resolution does not have a clear impact on the results