The contribution of health and psychological factors in patients with chronic neck pain and disability: A cross-sectional study

© 2018, Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research. All rights reserved. Introduction: One approach to reduce the burden of neck pain is the management of the prognostic factors that are associated with greater disability. Studies which quantify these predictors can support interventions that attempt to modify these trajectories. Aim: The aim of the present study to determine the contribution of psychological and health factors that are commonly associated with neck pain and disability levels. Materials and Methods: Patients between 18-65 years old were recruited to participate in the present study if they had neck pain for more than three months, with a minimum score 5/50 on the Neck Disability Index (NDI). Sixty patients were included in the study and they completed four patient reported outcomes including the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), NDI, Short Form-12 (SF-12) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Multivariable regression analysis were performed to determine the contribution levels of anxiety, depression and health status on pain and disability levels. Results: There were 13 males and 47 females in the study with a mean age of 39.45±12.67 years. Pain levels were explained by physical and mental components of SF-12 and HADS subscales which accounted for 40% of the variance. SF-12 and the HADS subscales explained 50% of the variance in patients disability levels. Conclusion: The self-reported anxiety of HADS and the physical health status of SF-12 were the two significant contributors of pain and disability levels for patients with chronic neck pain. Future interventions should aim to modify these factors

Pierwszy opublikowany przypadek choroby Adamantiadesa-Behęeta w czasach nowożytnych — ponowna analiza

The first case of the so-called Adamantiades-Behęets disease was presented by Benediktos Adamantiades in the annual meeting o f the Medical Society o f Athens on 15th November 1930 under the title “A case o f recurrent iritis with hypopyon”. It was published in the proceedings of Athens Medical Society in 1930. This paper, including an English translation of this presentation, provides proof that Adamantiades was aware that he was describing a new clinical entity.Pierwszy przypadek choroby Adamantiadesa-Behęeta został przedstawiony przez Benediktosa Adamantiadesa na dorocznej konferencji Ateńskiego Towarzystwa Medycznego 15 listopada 1930 roku pod tytułem „Przypadek nawracającego zapalenia tęczówki z ropostekiem” Wystąpienie zostało opublikowane w sprawozdaniach z Ateńskiego Towarzystwa Medycznego z 1930 roku. Obecna praca dostarcza, wraz z angielskim tłumaczeniem oryginalnego tekstu, dowodu, że Adamantiades był świadomy odkrycia nowej jednostki chorobowej.Andrzej Grzybowsk

Design problems for nonlinear systems

Ιn this Dissertation the following problems are addressed: (i) the Observer Design Problem for nonlinear time-varying systems; and (ii) the Problem of Stabilizing an autonomous nonlinear system by means of sampled-data feedback. Firstly, sufficient conditions are established for the solvability of the Observer Design Problem for a wide class of triangular nonlinear control systems. The state estimation is exhibited by means of a Luenberger-type observer whose dynamics are in general time-varying and noncausal. The proof of the main results is based on a Lyapunov-like forwarding procedure which extends relative methodologies employed in the literature for the solvability of the same problem. Then, it is proved that, under weaker hypotheses, the observer design problem for triangular systems is solvable by means of a switching sequence of delayed observers. In the second part of this dissertation, a Lyapunov characterization is established for the possibility of semi-global asymptotic stabilization of general nonlinear autonomous systems by means of a time-varying sampled-data feedback. This result is then exploited in order to derive a Lie algebraic sufficient condition for sampled-data feedback semi-global stabilization of affine in the control nonlinear systems with non-zero drift term. The corresponding result constitutes an extension of the well-known Artstein-Sontag Theorem on stabilization by means of an almost smooth feedback.Στην παρούσα διατριβή μελετώνται τα εξής δύο προβλήματα: (i) Το Πρόβλημα Σχεδίασης Παρατηρητών για μη γραμμικά χρονικώς μεταβαλλόμενα συστήματα, και (ii) το Πρόβλημα Σταθεροποίησης αυτόνομων μη γραμμικών συστημάτων μέσω ανάδρασης με δειγματοληψία.Αρχικά, εδραιώνονται ικανές συνθήκες για την επιλυσιμότητα του Προβλήματος Σχεδίασης Παρατηρητή για μια μεγάλη κλάση μη γραμμικών τριγωνικών συστημάτων ελέγχου. Η κατάσταση του συστήματος εκτιμάται μέσω ενός Luenberger τύπου παρατηρητή του οποίου τα δυναμικά είναι εν γένει χρονικώς μεταβαλλόμενα και μη αιτιατά. Η απόδειξη των αντίστοιχων αποτελεσμάτων στηρίζεται σε μια Lyapunov τύπου επαγωγική διαδικασία που επεκτείνει παρόμοιες μεθοδολογίες από τη διεθνή βιβλιογραφία για την επιλυσιμότητα του ίδιου προβλήματος. Στη συνέχεια, αποδεικνύεται ότι, υπό ασθενέστερες συνθήκες, το Πρόβλημα Σχεδίασης Παρατηρητή για τριγωνικά συστήματα είναι επιλύσιμο μέσω μιας διακοπτόμενης ακολουθίας παρατηρητών με χρονική υστέρηση. Στο δεύτερο μέρος της διατριβής, εδραιώνονται Lyapunov χαρακτηρισμοί για τη δυνατότητα ημι-ολικής σταθεροποίησης μη γραμμικών αυτόνομων συστημάτων μέσω χρονικά μεταβαλλόμενης ανάδρασης με δειγματοληψία. Στη συνέχεια, αυτός ο χαρακτηρισμός χρησιμοποιείται προκειμένου να εξαχθούν ικανές Lie αλγεβρικές συνθήκες για τη δυνατότητα σταθεροποίησης μη γραμμικών συστημάτων, γραμμικών ως προς τον έλεγχο, μέσω ανάδρασης με δειγματοληψία. Το αντίστοιχο αποτέλεσμα αποτελεί επέκταση του γνωστού Θεωρήματος Artstein-Sontag για σταθεροποίηση μέσω σχεδόν λείας ανάδρασης

Family distribution of concomitant squint in Greece

From a study of a large number of brothers and sisters suffering from concomitant squint, the following data were obtained: (1) 42.9% of the patients showed congenital strabismus. (2) In 96.5% of the sibs strabismus was of the same type. (3) The presence of a significant refractive error occurred in 82.8% of the patients. (4) In all twins strabismus appeared at the same age in both twins, and the squint and the refractive error were of the same type. (5) The distance of the patients' homes from Athens had no effect on either (a) the time intervening between the onset of squint and the first visit to the eye specialist, or (b) the effectiveness of treatment