Incorporating family function into chronic pain disability: the role of catastrophizing

Background. Observers' responses to pain are recently investigated to more comprehensively explain chronic pain (CP) and disability. However, the role of family context, defined as interference in roles, communication, and problem-solving, and how (i.e., through which mechanisms) these variables contribute to CP related disability have yet to be examined. Objectives. The aim of the present study is to examine family context in relationship to pain catastrophizing, fear of movement, and depression and its role in understanding CP disability. Three different models were examined. Methods. A total sample of 142 patients with musculoskeletal chronic pain was recruited to examine the role of fear of movement, pain intensity, pain catastrophizing, and depression in relationship to family functioning as predictors of disability. Results. Findings indicated that two models showed acceptable fit, but one of them revealed superior fit indices. Results of the model with superior fit indices indicated that family dysfunction may contribute to catastrophic thinking, which, in turn, contributes to patients' disability through increasing fear of movement and depression. Discussion. The current study provides further support for the notion that the impact of emotional and cognitive variables upon CP-related disability can be better understood when we consider the social context of pain patients and family function in particular

Neoadjuvant ifosfamide and epirubicin in the treatment of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors

Background and Objectives. Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs) are aggressive soft tissue sarcomas with poor overall survival. Response to chemotherapy has been debated for these tumors. Methods. We performed a retrospective analysis of the patients at our institution with a biopsy-proven diagnosis of MPNST that underwent neoadjuvant chemotherapy prior to surgery. Results. We retrospectively identified five patients who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy with epirubicin and ifosfamide that demonstrated a 30% reduction in tumor growth and a 60% response rate by RECIST criteria. Additionally, a metabolic response was observed in all three patients who received serial PET scans during neoadjuvant treatment. The clinical benefit rate, which includes stable disease, was 100%. Conclusions. Our data suggest that MPNSTs do respond to epirubicin and ifosfamide based chemotherapy and prospective studies are warranted to further define the clinical benefit

Hubungan Antara Konsep Diri Dengan Keefektivan Komunikasi Antarpribadi: Studi Pada Anggota Aiesec Local Committee (Lc) Bandung

Konsep diri merupakan faktor yang sangat menentukan dalam komunikasi antarpribadi, karena setiap orang bertingkah laku sedapat mungkin sesuai dengan konsep dirinya. Setiap manusia memiliki konsep diri, maka hal tersebut juga berlaku pada anggota AIESEC Local Commitee (LC) Bandung. Metode korelasional digunakan untuk mengetahui sejauhmana hubungan antara konsep diri anggota AIESEC dengan keefektifan komunikasi antarpribadi.Populasi penelitian ini adalah anggota AIESEC Local Committee (LC) Bandung. Sampel penelitian diperoleh dengan menggunakan teknik sampling acak (random). Hasil penelitian menunjukkan hubungan antara konsep diri anggota AIESEC dengan keefektifan komunikasi antarpribadi adalah sangat kuat dengan koefisien korelasi 0,839. Nilai korelasi positif menunjukkan hubungan yang searah. Uji hipotesis menghasilkan penolakan H0 sehingga terdapat hubungan yang signifikan diantara keduanya

A new species of Gyrodactylus (Monogenea, Gyrodactylidae), an ectoparasite from the endemic Iranocichla hormuzensis (Teleostei, Cichlidae), the only Iranian cichlid

Iranocichla hormuzensis occupies a biogeographically peculiar position. This endemic of southern Iran is the only Iranian cichlid. While it is phylogenetically related to African oreochromine members of the cichlid family, it remains unclear how it has dispersed into its current range. It is one of the many lasting enigmas of cichlid biogeography. Monogenean fish parasites may provide useful additional information in such cases. Therefore, I. hormuzensis was examined for these flatworms. A gyrodactylid parasite is reported and compared to congeners from the Palearctic and from cichlids. In this way, we verify whether it shows affinities to parasites from fishes that are either biogeographically or phylogenetically close to Iranocichla hormuzensis. The species is new to science and is described as Gyrodactylus jalalii sp. nov. This is the first description of a parasite infecting I. hormuzensis. Because of the fixation method or age of the material, DNA could not be isolated. Due to the lack of genetic data, no conclusions can be drawn on its phylogenetic positioning. Indeed, Gyrodactylus phylogeny cannot be inferred from morphological characteristics alone. Moreover, the congeners phenotypically reminiscent of the new species belong to a Gyrodactylus clade which is highly diverse in geographic range and host choice. Hence, there is no evidence linking the new species to an exclusively African or cichlid-bound Gyrodactylus lineage

A new coupling solution for G3-PLC employment in MV smart grids

This paper proposes a new coupling solution for transmitting narrowband multicarrier power line communication (PLC) signals over medium voltage (MV) power lines. The proposed system is based on an innovative PLC coupling principle, patented by the authors, which exploits the capacitive divider embedded in voltage detecting systems (VDS) already installed inside the MV switchboard. Thus, no dedicated couplers have to be installed and no switchboard modifications or energy interruptions are needed. This allows a significant cost reduction of MV PLC implementation. A first prototype of the proposed coupling system was presented in previous papers: it had a 15 kHz bandwidth useful to couple single carrier PSK modulated PLC signals with a center frequency from 50–200 kHz. In this paper, a new prototype is developed with a larger bandwidth, up to 164 kHz, thus allowing to couple multicarrier G3-PLC signals using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) digital modulation. This modulation ensures a more robust communication even in harsh power line channels. In the paper, the new coupling system design is described in detail. A new procedure is presented for tuning the coupling system parameters at first installation in a generic MV switchboard. Finally, laboratory and in-field experimental test results are reported and discussed. The coupling performances are evaluated measuring the throughput and success rate in the case of both 18 and 36 subcarriers, in one of the different tone masks standardized for the FCC-above CENELEC band (that is, from 154.6875–487.5 kHz). The experimental results show an efficient behavior of the proposed coupler allowing a two-way communication of G3-PLC OFDM signals on MV networks