Can laterality judgment performance discriminate between people with chronic pain and healthy individuals? A systematic review and meta-analysis

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MSc Physiotherapy Johannesburg, 2017Background Chronic pain is a health problem that occurs across cultures and across the globe. Treatment of chronic pain is challenging and there is often failure of recovery, with the need to look at different approaches to understanding chronic pain. It was recently found that people with chronic pain have both central and peripheral features. Therefore, there is a need to look at central mechanisms that may be contributing to the chronicity of pain. People with chronic pain disorders experience a disturbance in body schema. Laterality judgment performance is dependent on body schema and can therefore determine the central mechanisms affected in chronic pain patients. The aim of this systematic review is to determine whether there is a difference in laterality judgment between people with chronic pain and healthy individuals. Method A comprehensive search was done of the following databases: MEDLINE (Pubmed), CINAHL Plus, Cochrane Controlled Trials Registered, Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro), Science Direct, SCOPUS, Clinical Key and Google Scholar. Combinations of the following keywords were used: ―laterality‖ ―body schema‖ ―motor imagery‖ and ―pain‖. The reference lists of all identified full text articles were searched for additional studies. Articles from inception up until December 2016 were considered for inclusion in this review. Outcome measures considered were reaction time (length of time taken to choose whether a pictured limb is right or left) and accuracy (correct number of responses). A total of 15 studies were included in this review. Methodological quality was assessed by two independent reviewers using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist for Analytical Cross Sectional Studies. Results from all the studies investigating similar conditions and using similar methodologies were analysed and pooled into statistical meta-analysis using Meta-Easy. The weighted mean differences (for continuous data) and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated for the outcome measures, namely reaction time and accuracy. The random-effects model was used, due to the variation and small sample sizes in studies. Heterogeneity was assessed by the p-value and I2 value. Thereafter, studies were divided into sub-groups (according to condition/similar laterality tasks) and further iii analysed. Statistical measures used in both meta-analyses included the probability value, mean effect size, variance effect size and maximum likelihood. Where statistical pooling was not possible the findings are presented in a narrative form. Results Forest plots of reaction time of five studies regardless of condition in terms of reaction time showed a positive relationship between decreased reaction time and chronic pain. Accuracy of five studies regardless of condition did not show a clear direction of effect. Due to the high heterogeneity, interpretation of this meta-analysis should be done with caution. The sub-group analysis for accuracy in lower limb conditions versus healthy individuals showed a medium statistically significant effect size (0.59) with a significant 95% CI (0.11 to 1.07). Results for low back pain and cervical pain could not be pooled into a meta-analysis, as there were different methods of reporting the results in the studies. However, results from individual studies showed that laterality judgment impairments are present in the low back pain, complex regional pain syndrome 1 and the upper limb pain population. It was not been shown to be impaired in whiplash associated disorders. There is no consensus in the literature whether laterality is affected in chronic cervical pain. Conclusion Laterality judgment was shown to be impaired in CPRS 1, upper limb pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and osteoarthritis of the knee and leg pain. Due to the lack of studies, low quality of evidence and differences in results between studies there are inconsistencies with regard to back pain and therefore no conclusions can be drawn from the literature. It was not been shown to be impaired in whiplash associated disorders and there is conflicting evidence in cervical pain. It is evident that the impairment of laterality judgment cannot be assumed amongst all chronic pain conditions. This systematic review can be used as a foundation for future research. Research studies can be designed to remediate laterality recognition in affected conditions and assess the effect hereof on levels of pain and functional abilities. This could solve the missing link in understanding chronic pain syndromes and its rehabilitation. Clinicians can also gain insight on incorporating techniques (e.g. graded motor imagery) to re-train the brain‘s neural plasticity, and to in turn decrease chronic pain.MT201

Improved determination of vector lithospheric magnetic anomalies from MAGSAT data

Scientific contributions made in developing new methods to isolate and map vector magnetic anomalies from measurements made by Magsat are described. In addition to the objective of the proposal, the isolation and mapping of equatorial vector lithospheric Magsat anomalies, isolation of polar ionospheric fields during the period were also studied. Significant progress was also made in isolation of polar delta(Z) component and scalar anomalies as well as integration and synthesis of various techniques of removing equatorial and polar ionospheric effects. The significant contributions of this research are: (1) development of empirical/analytical techniques in modeling ionospheric fields in Magsat data and their removal from uncorrected anomalies to obtain better estimates of lithospheric anomalies (this task was accomplished for equatorial delta(X), delta(Z), and delta(B) component and polar delta(Z) and delta(B) component measurements; (2) integration of important processing techniques developed during the last decade with the newly developed technologies of ionospheric field modeling into an optimum processing scheme; and (3) implementation of the above processing scheme to map the most robust magnetic anomalies of the lithosphere (components as well as scalar)

Investigation of source location determination from Magsat magnetic anomalies: The Euler method approach

The applicability of the Euler method of source location determination was investigated on several model situations pertinent to satellite-data scale situations as well as Magsat data of Europe. Our investigations enabled us to understand the end-member cases for which the Euler method will work with the present satellite magnetic data and also the cases for which the assumptions implicit in the Euler method will not be met by the present satellite magnetic data. These results have been presented in one invited lecture at the Indo-US workshop on Geomagnetism in Studies of the Earth's Interior in August 1994 in Pune, India, and at one presentation at the 21st General Assembly of the IUGG in July 1995 in Boulder, CO. A new method, called Anomaly Attenuation Rate (AAR) Method (based on the Euler method), was developed during this study. This method is scale-independent and is appropriate to locate centroids of semi-compact three dimensional sources of gravity and magnetic anomalies. The method was presented during 1996 Spring AGU meeting and a manuscript describing this method is being prepared for its submission to a high-ranking journal. The grant has resulted in 3 papers and presentations at national and international meetings and one manuscript of a paper (to be submitted shortly to a reputable journal)

Using contingent behaviour analysis to measure the price elasticity of demand for plastic bags

Abstract : The use of plastic bags poses serious challenges to the environment. In 2003, to curb the use of plastic bags, the government of South Africa applied a minimum gauge of plastic and a levy, targeting consumers. But in the 15 years since the introduction of the plastic bag regulation, its effectiveness has diminished as consumers have grown accustomed to paying for bags. A possible reason for this is that the levy was low, relative to both income and goods per bag. Setting the price at an appropriate level now seems key. Policymakers have little experience regarding designing the right levels of pricing for plastic bags. More research is required on the correct levels of bag pricing so that policymakers can be better advised, which may ultimately result in the sustainable use of plastic bags. Consequently, assessing the prospect of increasing bag prices in the case of South Africa is crucial for developing and implementing appropriate policies that might be necessary for sustainable environmental management. Moreover, charging appropriate bag prices could alleviate the adverse effects associated with the use of substitute carrier bags. Prices for bags are generally set low; they are largely a symbolic reminder to consumers of the environmental concerns attributed to plastic bag use. The ineffectiveness of charging for bags in the long term makes it imperative that the optimal price is set. To address this issue, a survey was developed using the Contingent Behaviour (CB) approach to generate the stated preference (SP) data necessary to estimate the optimal price for bags that is likely to lead to a reduction in bag use over time. Thus, the aim of this study is to estimate the bag-use demand function for plastic shopping bags in South Africa, to determine the scope for raising prices charged to consumers that is required to reduce bag use in the long term. These estimates are done using the contingent behaviour (CB) methodology. The current price of R0.40 was found to be too low, and highly inelastic. Our analysis suggests that the price for plastic bags in South Africa should be set at R6.40. There is no danger of consumers shifting altogether or even significantly to substitutes that may be even more environmentally damaging to the environment.M.Com. (Development Economics

Geophysical Characterization of Some Terranes and the Geophysical Modeling of Candidate Suture Zones

Indian participation in this project was terminated during the last year by a sudden withdrawal of support by the Department of Science and Technology, India, to the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, Bombay. As a result, significant changes in the project focus had to be undertaken. Much of the work carried out at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale during the first year of the project anticipated the Indian participation and included development of computer programs to be used on gravity and magnetic data from the Indian subcontinent and preparations for fieldwork, tutorials, and workshops in India. Despite these setbacks, which were beyond our control, a number of significant tasks have been accomplished during the project period. These include: (1) Completion of digitization of the regional Bouguer gravity anomaly map of India and the regional ground total intensity magnetic anomaly map of India at an overdetermined spacing of 0.05 degrees. (2) We investigated and assessed the limitations of the Euler method using environmental examples because detailed aeromagnetic maps of parts of India were not available for interpretation by this method. (3) We also undertook an assessment of a suture zone between the Nyaza Craton (Archean) and the Mozambique Belt (Pan African) in the Kenya Rift, Africa, using gravity anomalies and the lithospheric seismological models. (4) We studied Magsat and high-altitude (approx. 4 km) aeromagnetic data over Canada

The Undeniable Attraction of Lunar Swirls

Lunar swirls are complex patterns on the Moon with distinct brightness signatures and magnetic characteristics. Current research has suggested that the formation of lunar swirls relies on local magnetic fields to shield impinging solar wind, based on a shift in electromagnetic wavelength peaks related to solar radiation and space weathering. Our research combined recent models and methods to characterize these anomalies at the surface of the Moon, exploring the effects of field strength and position. We have produced a high resolution map of a famous swirl named Reiner Gamma using magnetic dipole modeling. These maps and models are considered when examining lunar landing locations and potential colony locations on the Moon

Modélisation et manipulation de données historisées et archivées dans un entrepôt orienté objet

National audienceThis paper deals with temporal and archive object-oriented data warehouse modelling and querying. In a first step, we define a data model describing warehouses as central repositories of complex and temporal data extracted from one information source. The model is based on the concepts of warehouse object and environment. A warehouse object is composed of one current state, several past states (modelling value changes) and several archive states (summarising some value changes). An environment defines temporal parts in a warehouse schema according to a relevant granularity (attribute, class or graph). In a second step, we provide a query algebra dedicated to data warehouses. This algebra, which is based on common object algebras, integrates temporal operators and operators for querying object states. An other important contribution concerns dedicated operators allowing users to transform warehouse objects in temporal series as well as operators facilitating analytical treatments