The Impact of Heavy Load Carrying on Musculoskeletal Pain and Disability Among Women in Shinyanga Region, Tanzania.

BackgroundHeavy load carrying has been associated with musculoskeletal discomfort (MSD) and disability. However, there is a lack of research investigating this association in resource-constrained settings where heavy load carrying by women is common.ObjectivesWe assessed the impact of heavy load carrying on musculoskeletal pain and disability among women in Shinyanga Region, Tanzania, in an exploratory cross-sectional study.MethodsEligible participants were a convenience sample of women, at least 18 years of age, who passed a study recruitment site carrying a load. We collected information on load-carrying practices, including frequency and time spent carrying water, wood, agricultural products, coal, sand, or rocks, and measured the weight of the load carried at the time. Outcomes included self-reported MSDs, defined as experiencing pain lasting >3 days in the neck, head, back, knees, feet and/or ankles within the last 1 year, and related disability. Using multivariable logistic regression we assessed for associations between load carrying exposures and MSDs and disability.FindingsResults showed a high prevalence of MSDs across the body regions assessed and evidence to suggest a relationship of back pain and related disability with several measures of load-carrying, including duration, frequency, and weight. Multivariable analyses revealed associations of increased load carrying exposures with low back pain (LBP) and related disability, including statistically significant increases in odds of LBP with increasing weight, total duration of load carrying/week and cumulative loads/week.ConclusionsFindings indicate a substantial burden of MSDs and disability in this population of women who carry heavy loads daily. The extent of discomfort and disability increased with increasing exposure to various load-carrying measures, especially for LBP. Larger epidemiologic studies that definitively assess relationships of load carrying with MSDs and disability are warranted

Stefan-Boltzmann law and Casimir effect for dark photons

In this paper, the existence of a massive dark photon, associated with a new gauge group is considered. The dark photon can be kinetically mixed with the photon. To study some applications, the thermo field dynamics formalism is used. Exploring the topological structure of this approach, the influence of dark photons on the Stefan-Boltzmann law and the Casimir effect at zero and finite temperature is calculated.Comment: 14 pages, accepted for publication in EPJ

Coherent States Expectation Values as Semiclassical Trajectories

We study the time evolution of the expectation value of the anharmonic oscillator coordinate in a coherent state as a toy model for understanding the semiclassical solutions in quantum field theory. By using the deformation quantization techniques, we show that the coherent state expectation value can be expanded in powers of $\hbar$ such that the zeroth-order term is a classical solution while the first-order correction is given as a phase-space Laplacian acting on the classical solution. This is then compared to the effective action solution for the one-dimensional \f^4 perturbative quantum field theory. We find an agreement up to the order \l\hbar, where \l is the coupling constant, while at the order \l^2 \hbar there is a disagreement. Hence the coherent state expectation values define an alternative semiclassical dynamics to that of the effective action. The coherent state semiclassical trajectories are exactly computable and they can coincide with the effective action trajectories in the case of two-dimensional integrable field theories.Comment: 20 pages, no figure

Solid-state sensory properties of Calix-Poly(Phenylene Ethynylene)s toward nitroaromatic explosives

This study is primarily focused in establishing the solid-state sensory abilities of several luminescent polymeric calix[4]arene-based materials toward selected nitroaromatic compounds (NACs), creating the foundations for their future application as high performance materials for detection of high explosives. The phenylene ethynylene-type polymers possessing bis-calix[4]arene scaffolds in their core were designed to take advantage of the known recognition abilities of calixarene compounds toward neutral guests, particularly in solid-state, therefore providing enhanced sensitivity and selectivity in the sensing of a given analyte. It was found that all the calix[4]arene-poly(para-phenylene ethynylene)s here reported displayed high sensitivities toward the detection of nitrobenzene, 2,4-dinitrotoluene and 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT). Particularly effective and significant was the response of the films (25-60 nm of thickness) upon exposure to TNT vapor (10 ppb): over 50% of fluorescence quenching was achieved in only 10 s. In contrast, a model polymer lacking the calixarene units showed only reduced quenching activity for the same set of analytes, clearly highlighting the relevance of the macrocyclics in promoting the signaling of the transduction event. The films exhibited high photostability (less than 0.5% loss of fluorescence intensity up to 15 min of continuous irradiation) and the fluorescence quenching sensitivity could be fully recovered after exposure of the quenched films to saturated vapors of hydrazine (the initial fluorescence intensities were usually recovered within 2-5 min of exposure to hydrazine)

Synthesis, structure, and optical properties of an alternating calix[4]arene-based meta-linked phenylene ethynylene copolymer

Novel alternating copolymers comprising biscalix[4]arene-p-phenylene ethynylene and m-phenylene ethynylene units (CALIX-m-PPE) were synthesized using the Sonogashira-Hagihara cross-coupling polymerization. Good isolated yields (60-80%) were achieved for the polymers that show M-n ranging from 1.4 x 10(4) to 5.1 x 10(4) gmol(-1) (gel permeation chromatography analysis), depending on specific polymerization conditions. The structural analysis of CALIX-m-PPE was performed by H-1, C-13, C-13-H-1 heteronuclear single quantum correlation (HSQC), C-13-H-1 heteronuclear multiple bond correlation (HMBC), correlation spectroscopy (COSY), and nuclear overhauser effect spectroscopy (NOESY) in addition to Fourier transform-Infrared spectroscopy and microanalysis allowing its full characterization. Depending on the reaction setup, variable amounts (16-45%) of diyne units were found in polymers although their photophysical properties are essentially the same. It is demonstrated that CALIX-m-PPE does not form ground-or excited-state interchain interactions owing to the highly crowded environment of the main-chain imparted by both calix[4]arene side units which behave as insulators inhibiting main-chain pi-pi staking. It was also found that the luminescent properties of CALIX-m-PPE are markedly different from those of an all-p-linked phenylene ethynylene copolymer (CALIX-p-PPE) previously reported. The unexpected appearance of a low-energy emission band at 426 nm, in addition to the locally excited-state emission (365 nm), together with a quite low fluorescence quantum yield (Phi = 0.02) and a double-exponential decay dynamics led to the formulation of an intramolecular exciplex as the new emissive species

Sex differences in functional connectivity between resting state brain networks in autism spectrum disorder

Functional brain connectivity (FBC) has previously been examined in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) between-resting-state networks (RSNs) using a highly sensitive and reproducible hypothesis-free approach. However, results have been inconsistent and sex differences have only recently been taken into consideration using this approach. We estimated main effects of diagnosis and sex and a diagnosis by sex interaction on between-RSNs FBC in 83 ASD (40 females/43 males) and 85 typically developing controls (TC; 43 females/42 males). We found increased connectivity between the default mode (DM) and (a) the executive control networks in ASD (vs. TC); (b) the cerebellum networks in males (vs. females); and (c) female-specific altered connectivity involving visual, language and basal ganglia (BG) networks in ASD—in suggestive compatibility with ASD cognitive and neuroscientific theories.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio