Attentional modulation of thermal pain during a working memory task

Evidence suggests that pain processing and cognitive task engagement compete for resources under a shared resource model of attention, and that their interaction may be influenced by sensitivity to threat and executive functions factors. We examined the dynamics of pain-related task interruption and task-related pain inhibition in 41 adults with no current pain with the aim of examining whether task-induced analgesia and pain-related task interruption were individually moderated by threat-related psychological traits and executive functions. Participants completed a task while receiving thermal stimuli, and reported significantly lower pain during a challenging task than during a control task, while on average painful stimuli did not significantly impact task performance more than warm stimuli. However, trial-by-trial analyses revealed that reported pain fully explained a trend toward an interruptive effect of pain stimulus on task performance, and conversely, task performance partly counteracted the analgesic effect of task difficulty. Interestingly, weaker divided attention predicted more analgesia while performing the more challenging task, and the mutually inhibitory effects of pain perception and task performance on each other were enhanced in those with high threat sensitivity traits and with low divided attention. Our analyses indicate that individual dynamics of attention allocation between pain and a concurrent task can be partly explained by certain traits. Our results are in support of a limited resource model, and hint that laboratory measures of individual dynamics in attentional pain modulation, along with certain psychological traits and executive functions, could predict clinical pain impairment

TINGKAT PENGETAHUAN CALON HAJI SEBELUM DAN SESUDAH MENGIKUTI PELATIHAN MANASIK HAJI

Pendahuluan: Haji adalah rukun Islam yang ke 5, yang wajib dilaksanakan bagi orang-orang Islam yang mampu. Allah menggunakan lafadj “fa Adzin” dimaksudkan agar Haji dilaksanakan dengan iman, ilmu dan amal. Ibadah haji hanya akan mendatangkan kepuasan pribadi Ketika haji dilaksanakan sebatas pemenuhan seremonial pelaksanaan rukun islam yang ke5. Pendidikan merupakan cara untuk merubah pola fikir maupun merubah tingkah laku kearah yang lebih baik. Melalui bimbingan ibadah haji , calon haji dilatih  dengan materi manasik baik teori maupun praktek.Sesuai dengan misi Muhammadiyah “Da’wah amar ma’ruf nahi Mungkar” maka  Kelompok Bimbingan Ibadah Haji (KBIH) Pimpinan Daerah Muhammadiyah Semarang berkempentingan memberikan bimbingan manasik dengan harapan dapat mengantarkn  calon jama’ah haji menjadi jama’ah yang mandiri, mengetahui syarat, rukun dan wajib haji dan dilaksanakan sesuai tuntunan Rasulullah saw. Methode: Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah diskriptif. Hasil: Dari hasil penelitian diketahui Jumlah sampel 140 orang yang terdiri dari laki-laki 60 orang dan perempuan 80 orang . Umur rata-rata calon jama’ah haji 46 th, adapun umur termuda 29 th dan tertua 76 tahun. Tingkat pengetahuan calon jama’ah haji sebelum mengikuti pelatihan  mayoritas  dengan skor tingkat pengetahuan rendah sebanyak 116 orang (82,9 %) dan tidak ditemukan calon jama’ah haji dengan skor tingkat pengetahuan baik.Setelah dilakukan pelatihan manasik, diketahui bahwa mayoritas tingkat pengetahuan calon jama’ah haji adalah 101 orang (71,2 %), adapun jumlah yang memperoleh skor tingkat pengetahuan rendah 7 orang (5 %). Kesimpulan:Tingkat pengetahuan calon jama’ah haji sebelum mengikuti pelatihan dengan skor tingkat pengetahuan  rendah menduduki   jumlah mayoritas sebanyak 116 orang (82,9 %). Tingkat pengetahuan calon jama’ah haji setelah mengikuti pelatihan dengan skor tingkat pengetahuan  cukup menduduki  jumlah mayoritas sebanyak 101 orang (71,2 %

Total myocardial revascularization for situs inversus totalis with dextrocardia: a case report

We report our experience of two patients suffering from severe coronary artery disease and situs inversus totalis with dextrocardia. The surgeon, standing on the right side of the patients, performed coronary artery bypass grafting by harvesting the right internal mammary artery in lieu of the left one

Coronary artery bypass surgery in a patient with Kartagener syndrome: a case report and literature review

Kartagener syndrome consists of congenital bronchiectasis, sinusitis, and total situs inversus in half of the patients. A patient diagnosed with Kartagener syndrome was reffered to our department due to 3-vessel coronary disease. An off-pump coronary artery bypass operation was performed using both internal thoracic arteries and a saphenous vein graft. We performed a literature review for cases with Kartagener syndrome, coronary surgery and dextrocardia. Although a few cases of dextrocardia were found in the literature, no case of Kartagener syndrome was mentioned

Update on Anal Fistulae: Surgical Perspectives for the Gastroenterologist

Anal fistulae are common and debilitating; they are characterized by severe pain and discharge. They arise following infection near the anal canal, or as a primary event from an abscess in the abdomen, fistulating into the vagina or perianal skin. The term ‘cryptoglandular’ is given to abscesses arising from the anal glands

The influence of vision on sound localization abilities in both the horizontal and vertical planes

Numerous recent reports have suggested that individuals deprived of vision are able to develop heightened auditory spatial abilities. However, most such studies have compared the blind to blindfolded sighted individuals, a procedure that might introduce a strong performance bias. Indeed, while blind individuals have had their whole lives to adapt to this condition, sighted individuals might be put at a severe disadvantage when having to localize sounds without visual input. To address this unknown, we compared the sound localization ability of eight sighted individuals with and without a blindfold in a hemi-anechoic chamber. Sound stimuli were broadband noise delivered via two speaker arrays: a horizontal array with 25 loudspeakers (ranging from -90o to + 90 o; 7.5 o) and a vertical array with 15 loudspeakers (ranging from -45 o to +67.5 o). A factorial design was used, where we compared two vision conditions (blindfold vs. non-blindfold), two sound planes (horizontal vs. vertical) and two pointing methods (hand vs. head). Results show that all three factors significantly interact with one another with regards to the average absolute deviation error. Although blindfolding significantly affected all conditions, it did more so for head-pointing in the horizontal plane. Moreover, blindfolding was found to increase the tendency to undershoot more eccentric spatial positions for head-pointing, but not hand-pointing. Overall, these findings suggest that while proprioceptive cues appear to be sufficient for accurate hand pointing in the absence of visual feedback, head pointing relies more heavily on visual cues in order to provide a precise response. It also strongly argues strongly against the use of head pointing methodologies with blindfolded sighted individuals, particularly in the horizontal plane, as it likely introduces a bias when comparing them to blind individuals

Rising Strong: The Interplay between Resilience, Social Support, and Post-Traumatic Growth among Teachers after the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: When schools reopened for face-to-face classroom instruction following the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers faced many professional challenges. Most studies examining teachers’ psychosocial condition after school reopening predominantly focused on negative aspects of their emotional well-being, leaving a gap in the understanding of the potential positive effects. This study is grounded in the theory of post-traumatic growth, which suggests that growth and development can occur alongside difficulties. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to shed light on the lesser explored associations between resilience, social support, and post-traumatic growth among teachers after the COVID-19 pandemic. It also examined the differences in post-traumatic growth between teachers in special education and those in general education. Methods: The participants in this cross-sectional study were recruited by convenience sampling. A self-report online survey was used to collect data from 208 Israeli teachers during November 2022. Results: Most of the participants (79.4%) reported experiences of post-traumatic growth during the pandemic. The findings revealed that post-traumatic growth exhibited a positive association with social support (r = 0.23, p r = 0.18, p p 0.001]. Finally, special education teachers exhibited higher levels of post-traumatic growth than general education teachers (t = −2.36, p < 0.05). Conclusions: Social support for teachers must be provided during and after traumas caused by crises and pandemics similar to COVID-19. Intervention programs and ongoing training should offer effective tools to help teachers balance their professional and personal lives. Promoting positive changes in teacher well-being must be a priority in the education system