770 research outputs found
Shoulder posture and median nerve sliding
Background: Patients with upper limb pain often have a slumped sitting position and poorshoulder posture. Pain could be due to poor posture causing mechanical changes (stretch; localpressure) that in turn affect the function of major limb nerves (e.g. median nerve). This studyexamines (1) whether the individual components of slumped sitting (forward head position, trunkflexion and shoulder protraction) cause median nerve stretch and (2) whether shoulderprotraction restricts normal nerve movements.Methods: Longitudinal nerve movement was measured using frame-by-frame cross-correlationanalysis from high frequency ultrasound images during individual components of slumped sitting.The effects of protraction on nerve movement through the shoulder region were investigated byexamining nerve movement in the arm in response to contralateral neck side flexion.Results: Neither moving the head forward or trunk flexion caused significant movement of themedian nerve. In contrast, 4.3 mm of movement, adding 0.7% strain, occurred in the forearm duringshoulder protraction. A delay in movement at the start of protraction and straightening of thenerve trunk provided evidence of unloading with the shoulder flexed and elbow extended and thescapulothoracic joint in neutral. There was a 60% reduction in nerve movement in the arm duringcontralateral neck side flexion when the shoulder was protracted compared to scapulothoracicneutral.Conclusion: Slumped sitting is unlikely to increase nerve strain sufficient to cause changes tonerve function. However, shoulder protraction may place the median nerve at risk of injury, sincenerve movement is reduced through the shoulder region when the shoulder is protracted andother joints are moved. Both altered nerve dynamics in response to moving other joints and localchanges to blood supply may adversely affect nerve function and increase the risk of developingupper quadrant pain
Observation of ferromagnetism above 900 K in Cr-GaN and Cr-AlN
We report the observation of ferromagnetism at over 900K in Cr-GaN and Cr-AlN
thin films. The saturation magnetization moments in our best films of Cr-GaN
and Cr-AlN at low temperatures are 0.42 and 0.6 u_B/Cr atom, respectively,
indicating that 14% and 20%, of the Cr atoms, respectively, are magnetically
active. While Cr-AlN is highly resistive, Cr-GaN exhibits thermally activated
conduction that follows the exponential law expected for variable range hopping
between localized states. Hall measurements on a Cr-GaN sample indicate a
mobility of 0.06 cm^2/V.s, which falls in the range characteristic of hopping
conduction, and a free carrier density (1.4E20/cm^3), which is similar in
magnitude to the measured magnetically-active Cr concentration (4.9E19/cm^3). A
large negative magnetoresistance is attributed to scattering from loose spins
associated with non-ferromagnetic impurities. The results indicate that
ferromagnetism in Cr-GaN and Cr-AlN can be attributed to the double exchange
mechanism as a result of hopping between near-midgap substitutional Cr impurity
bands.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, submitted to AP
Highly Efficient Source for Indistinguishable Photons of Controlled Shape
We demonstrate a straightforward implementation of a push-button like
single-photon source which is based on a strongly coupled atom-cavity system.
The device operates intermittently for periods of up to 100 microseconds, with
single-photon repetition rates of 1.0 MHz and an efficiency of 60 %. Atoms are
loaded into the cavity using an atomic fountain, with the upper turning point
near the cavity's mode centre. This ensures long interaction times without any
disturbances induced by trapping potentials. The latter is the key to reaching
deterministic efficiencies as high as obtained in probabalistic
photon-heralding schemes. The price to pay is the random loading of atoms into
the cavity and the resulting intermittency. However, for all practical
purposes, this has a negligible impact
Measurement of tibial nerve excursion during ankle joint dorsiflexion in a weight-bearing position with ultrasound imaging
The ability of peripheral nerves to stretch and slide is thought to be of paramount importance to maintain ideal neural function. Excursion in peripheral nerves such as the tibial can be measured by analysis of ultrasound images. The aim of this study was to assess the degree of longitudinal tibial nerve excursion as the ankle moved from plantar flexion to dorsiflexion in a standardised weight-bearing position. The reliability of ultrasound imaging to measure tibial nerve excursion was also quantified
Varenicline Reduces Alcohol Intake During Repeated Cycles of Alcohol Reaccess Following Deprivation in Alcohol-Preferring (P) Rats
Background
Most alcoholics experience periods of voluntary alcohol abstinence or imposed alcohol deprivation followed by a return to alcohol drinking. This study examined whether varenicline (VAR) reduces alcohol intake during a return to drinking after periods of alcohol deprivation in rats selectively bred for high alcohol drinking (the alcohol preferring or “P” rats).
Methods
Alcohol-experienced P rats were given 24-hour access to food and water and scheduled access to alcohol (15% and 30% v/v) for 2 h/d. After 4 weeks, rats were deprived of alcohol for 2 weeks, followed by reaccess to alcohol for 2 weeks, and this pattern was repeated for a total of 3 cycles. Rats were fed either vehicle (VEH) or VAR, in doses of 0.5, 1.0, or 2.0 mg/kg BW, at 1 hour prior to onset of the daily alcohol reaccess period for the first 5 days of each of the 3 alcohol reaccess cycles.
Results
Low-dose VAR (0.5 mg/kg BW) reduced alcohol intake during the 5 days of drug treatment in alcohol reaccess cycles 1 and 2. Higher doses of VAR (1.0 mg/kg BW and 2.0 mg/kg BW) reduced alcohol intake during the 5 days of treatment in all 3 alcohol reaccess cycles. The decrease in alcohol intake disappeared with termination of VAR treatment in all alcohol reaccess cycles.
Conclusions
The results demonstrate that VAR decreases alcohol intake during multiple cycles of alcohol reaccess following alcohol deprivation in rats and suggests that it may prevent a return to heavy alcohol drinking during a lapse from alcohol abstinence in humans with alcohol use disorder
Evidence for a common physical description of non-Fermi-liquid behavior in f-electron systems
The non-Fermi-liquid (NFL) behavior observed in the low temperature specific
heat and magnetic susceptibility of f-electron systems is
analyzed within the context of a recently developed theory based on Griffiths
singularities. Measurements of and in the systems
, , and (M = Pd,
Pt) are found to be consistent with predicted by this model with in the NFL regime.
These results suggest that the NFL properties observed in a wide variety of
f-electron systems can be described within the context of a common physical
picture.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Plasticity and memory effects in the vortex solid phase of twinned YBa2Cu3O7 single crystals
We report on marked memory effects in the vortex system of twinned YBa2Cu3O7
single crystals observed in ac susceptibility measurements. We show that the
vortex system can be trapped in different metastable states with variable
degree of order arising in response to different system histories. The pressure
exerted by the oscillating ac field assists the vortex system in ordering,
locally reducing the critical current density in the penetrated outer zone of
the sample. The robustness of the ordered and disordered states together with
the spatial profile of the critical current density lead to the observed memory
effects
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