A systematic review and meta-analysis of qigong for the fibromyalgia syndrome

Objectives. The fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a chronic condition with only few evidence-based complementary and alternative therapies available. This paper presents a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effectiveness of Qigong for fibromyalgia syndrome. Methods. The PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, Embase, PsycINFO, and Cambase databases were screened in December 2012 to identify randomized controlled trials comparing Qigong to control interventions. Major outcome measures were pain and quality of life; and secondary outcomes included sleep quality, fatigue, depression, and safety. Standardized mean differences (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Results. Seven trials were located with a total of 395 FMS patients. Analyses revealed low quality evidence for short-term improvement of pain, quality of life, and sleep quality and very low quality evidence for improvement of fatigue after Qigong for FMS, when compared to usual care. No evidence was found for superiority of Qigong compared to active treatments. No serious adverse events were reported. Discussion. This systematic review found that Qigong may be a useful approach for FMS patients. According to the quality of evidence, only a weak recommendation for Qigong can be made at this point. Further high quality RCTs are required for the conclusive judgment of its long-term effects. © 2013 Romy Lauche et al

Validation of the Patient-Doctor-Relationship Questionnaire (PDRQ-9) in a representative cross-sectional German population survey

The patient-doctor relationship (PDR) as perceived by the patient is an important concept in primary care and psychotherapy. The PDR Questionnaire (PDRQ-9) provides a brief measure of the therapeutic aspects of the PDR in primary care. We assessed the internal and external validity of the German version of the PDRQ-9 in a representative cross-sectional German population survey that included 2,275 persons aged≥14 years who reported consulting with a primary care physician (PCP). The acceptance of the German version of this questionnaire was good. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated that the PRDQ-9 was unidimensional. The internal reliability (Cronbach's α) of the total score was .95. The corrected item-total correlations were≥.94. The mean satisfaction index of persons with a probable depressive disorder was lower than that of persons without a probable depressive disorder, indicating good discriminative concurrent criterion validity. The correlation coefficient between satisfaction with PDR and satisfaction with pain therapy was r = .51 in 489 persons who reported chronic pain, indicating good convergent validity. Despite the limitation of low variance in the PDRQ-9 total scores, the results indicate that the German version of the PDRQ-9 is a brief questionnaire with good psychometric properties to assess German patients' perceived therapeutic alliance with PCPs in public health research

Dielectric Behavior of Thin Polymerized Composite Layers Fabricated by Inkjet-Printing

A detailed study of the dielectric behavior of printed capacitors is given, in which the dielectric consists of a thin (<1 µm) ceramic/polymer composite layer with high permittivities of εr 20–69. The used ink contains surface-modified Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 (BST), a polymeric crosslinking agent and a thermal initiator, which allows the immediate polymerization of the ink during printing, leading to homogenous layers. To validate the results of the calculated permittivities, different layer thicknesses of the dielectric are printed and the capacitances, as well as the loss factors, are measured. Afterwards, the exact layer thicknesses are determined with cross sectional SEM images of ion-etched samples. Then, the permittivities are calculated with the known effective area of the capacitors. Furthermore, the ink composition is varied to obtain different ceramic/polymer ratios and thus different permittivities. The packing density of all composites is analyzed via SEM to show possible pores and validate the target ratio, respectively. The correlation between the chosen ratio and the measured permittivity is discussed using models from the literature. In addition, the leakage current of some capacitors is measured and discussed. For that, the dielectric was printed on different bottom electrodes as the nature of the electrode was found to be crucial for the performance

Network-Structured BST/MBO Composites Made from Core-Shell-Structured Granulates

A finite element method (FEM)-based simulation approach to predict the tunability in composite materials was developed and tested with analytical data. These tests showed good prediction capabilities of the simulation for the test data. The simulation model was then used to predict the tunability of a network-structured composite, where the dielectric phase formed clusters in a paraelectric network. This was achieved by simulating a reciprocal core-shell unit cell of said network. The simulation showed a high tunability for this network model, exceeding the tunability of the analytically evaluated layered, columnar, and particulate model. The simulation results were experimentally verified with a Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3/Mg3B2O6 (BST/MBO) composite, where core-shell granulates were made with a two-step granulation process. These structured samples showed higher tunability and dielectric loss than the unstructured samples made for comparison. Overall, the structured samples showed higher tunability to loss ratios, indicating their potential for use in tunable radio frequency applications, since they may combine high performance with little energy loss

Monte Carlo Simulation Calculation of Critical Coupling Constant for Continuum \phi^4_2

We perform a Monte Carlo simulation calculation of the critical coupling constant for the continuum {\lambda \over 4} \phi^4_2 theory. The critical coupling constant we obtain is [{\lambda \over \mu^2}]_crit=10.24(3).Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, LaTe

Electromagnetic modeling of tunability of Barium Strontium Titanate and Magnesium Borate composites

A complete tunability electromagnetic simulation model for the Ba$_{0.6}$Sr$_{0.4}$TiO$_3$ (BST), with ≈ 2000, and Mg$_2$B$_2$O$_6$ (MBO), with ≈ 7, composites is proposed here. The model is based on electrostatics, to simulate the effects of bias fields distribution in the composite varactor at the unbiased state to create the biased state for all volumetric mixture compositions. A bulk-ceramic varactor approach is chosen for the fabricated varactors. Varactors are fabricated with different volume compositions of BST and MBO, ranging from 10 to 100 vol-% of BST. Simulated results of the varactor model are then verified with the measured results of the varactor. The simulated and measured tunability shows considerable discrepancy at room temperature, which leads to Curie temperature _ investigation of the fabricated varactors. It has been observed that a shift in _ is directly proportional to the discrepancies in the simulated and measured tunability. After incorporating the _ shifts in the model, the results show close proximity between measured and _ -shifted simulated tunabilities with differences being reduced from around 32% to 2% for 80 vol-% BST varactor

On Semiclassical Limits of String States

We explore the relation between classical and quantum states in both open and closed (super)strings discussing the relevance of coherent states as a semiclassical approximation. For the closed string sector a gauge-fixing of the residual world-sheet rigid translation symmetry of the light-cone gauge is needed for the construction to be possible. The circular target-space loop example is worked out explicitly.Comment: 12 page

Network-Structured BST/MBO Composites Made from Core-Shell-Structured Granulates

A finite element method (FEM)-based simulation approach to predict the tunability in composite materials was developed and tested with analytical data. These tests showed good prediction capabilities of the simulation for the test data. The simulation model was then used to predict the tunability of a network-structured composite, where the dielectric phase formed clusters in a paraelectric network. This was achieved by simulating a reciprocal core-shell unit cell of said network. The simulation showed a high tunability for this network model, exceeding the tunability of the analytically evaluated layered, columnar, and particulate model. The simulation results were experimentally verified with a Ba₀.₆Sr₀.₄TiO₃/Mg₃B₂O₆ (BST/MBO) composite, where core-shell granulates were made with a two-step granulation process. These structured samples showed higher tunability and dielectric loss than the unstructured samples made for comparison. Overall, the structured samples showed higher tunability to loss ratios, indicating their potential for use in tunable radio frequency applications, since they may combine high performance with little energy loss