Psychotherapy in dizziness: a systematic review

About 30-50% of complex dizziness disorders are organically not sufficiently explained or related to a psychiatric disorder. Of patients with such dizziness disorders, 80% are severely impaired by dizziness in their daily and working lives; nevertheless, they are often not diagnosed or treated adequately

Shear wave experiments at the US site at the Grimsel laboratory

As part of the United States Department of Energy (USDOE) cooperative project with the National Cooperative for the Storage of Radioactive Waste (Nagra) of Switzerland, there have been a series of studies carried out at the Nagra underground test facility at Grimsel. The Grimsel test facility is several 3.5 meter diameter tunnels excavated with a tunnel boring machine in the southern Swiss Alps. The rock type is granitic, although there is a large variation in the granitic fabric throughout the facility. The work described here was the first phase of a multiyear project to evaluate and develop seismic imaging techniques for fracture detection and characterization for the use in siting underground nuclear waste facilities. Data from a crosshole tomographic survey in the Underground Seismic (US) site at the Nagra Grimsel test facility in Switzerland and successfully reprocessed to enhance the S-wave arrivals. The results indicate that in a saturated granite Vp/Vs ratios approach 2.0 in the fractured rock. These results indicate that S-wave data would be very useful for fracture detection, especially in detecting thinner fractures

The CIPRUS study, a nurse-led psychological treatment for patients with undifferentiated somatoform disorder in primary care: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Background: Up to a third of patients presenting medically unexplained physical symptoms in primary care may have a somatoform disorder, of which undifferentiated somatoform disorder (USD) is the most common type. Psychological interventions can reduce symptoms associated with USD and improve functioning. Previous research has either been conducted in secondary care or interventions have been provided by general practitioners (GPs) or psychologists in primary care. As efficiency and cost-effectiveness are imperative in primary care, it is important to investigate whether nurse-led interventions are effective as well. The aim of this study is to examine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a short cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT)-based treatment for patients with USD provided by mental health nurse practitioners (MHNPs), compared to usual care. Methods: In a cluster randomised controlled trial, 212 adult patients with USD will be assigned to the intervention or care as usual. The intervention group will be offered a short, individual CBT-based treatment by the MHNP in addition to usual GP care. The main goal of the intervention is that patients become less impaired by their physical symptoms and cope with symptoms in a more effective way. In six sessions patients will receive problem-solving treatment. The primary outcome is improvement in physical functioning, measured by the physical component summary score of the RAND-36. Secondary outcomes include health-related quality of life measured by the separate subscales of the RAND-36, somatization (PHQ-15) and symptoms of depression and anxiety (HADS). Problem-solving skills, health anxiety, illness perceptions, coping, mastery and working alliance will be assessed as potential mediators. Assessments will be done at 0, 2, 4, 8 and 12 months. An economic evaluation will be conducted from a societal perspective with quality of life as the primary outcome measure assessed by the EQ-5D-5L. Health care, patient and lost productivity costs will be assessed with the Tic-P. Discussion: We expect that the intervention will improve physical functioning and is cost-effective compared to usual care. If so, more patients might successfully be treated in general practice, decreasing the number of referrals to specialist care. Trial registration: Dutch Trial Registry, identifier: NTR4686, Registered on 14 July 2014. © 2017 The Author(s)

Gender differences in conversation topics, 1922–1990

Gender differences in conversation topics were first systematically studied in 1922 by Henry Moore, who theorized that the gender differences in topic choice he observed in a field observation study would persist over time, as they were manifestations of men's and women's “original natures.” In this paper, I report a 1990 replication of Moore's study, in which similar but smaller gender differences in topic choice are found. In order to explore further the apparent trend toward smaller gender differences, reports of quantitative observation studies conducted between 1922 and 1990 are examined. Other explanations besides change over time—such as variations in conversation setting and audience, target populations, and researcher's intentions—may account for the decline in gender differences in topic choice. Social influences are seen more clearly in the discourse about gender differences in conversation than in gender differences in conversation topics themselves.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45599/1/11199_2004_Article_BF00289744.pd

A case study of AEM bathymetry in Geographe Bay and over Cape Naturaliste, Western Australia, Part 2: 25 and 12.5 Hz GEOTEM

We interpret airborne EM response data recorded by the GEOTEM 12.5 and 25 Hz systems flown over shallow seawater, using conductivity-depth imaging (CDI) to estimate sea depths to 65 m. We observed non-monotonic decay in the vertical component of the 25 Hz data recorded at survey altitude. Non-monotonic decay had an adverse effect on the CDI results when the processing was run with positivity constraints. The removal of positivity constraints resulted in significant improvements in the quality of CDIs for interpreting water depth. Layered-earth modelling further showed that this non-monotonic decay in the 25 Hz data was due to variations in the transmitter-receiver geometry over the highly conductive seawater. Currently, 12.5 Hz airborne EM is unsuitable for bathymetric mapping unless late-time system noise can be reduced. CDIs from dBx/dt component data at 25 Hz provide the most accurate interpreted sea depths. For this dataset, the use of B-field responses computed from dB/dt observations does not offer any clear advantage over dB/dt data for interpreting sea depths from CDIs