Maintaining a balance: a focus group study on living and coping with chronic whiplash-associated disorder

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is little qualitative insight into how persons with chronic Whiplash-Associated Disorder cope on a day to day basis. This study seeks to identify the symptoms persons with Whiplash-Associated Disorder describe as dominating and explore their self-initiated coping strategies.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Qualitative study using focus groups interviews. Fourteen Norwegian men and women with Whiplash-Associated Disorder (I or II) were recruited to participate in two focus groups. Data were analyzed according to a phenomenological approach, and discussed within the model of Cognitive Activation Theory of Stress (CATS).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Participants reported neck and head pain, sensory hypersensitivity, and cognitive dysfunction following their whiplash injury. Based on the intensity of symptoms, participants divided everyday life into good and bad periods. In good periods the symptoms were perceived as manageable. In bad periods the symptoms intensified and took control of the individual. Participants expressed a constant notion of trying to balance their three main coping strategies; rest, exercise, and social withdrawal. In good periods participants experienced coping by expecting good results from the strategies they used. In bad periods they experienced no or negative relationships between their behavioral strategies and their complaints.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Neck and head pain, sensory hypersensitivity, and cognitive dysfunction were reported as participants' main complaints. A constant notion of balancing between their three main coping strategies; rest, exercise, and social withdrawal, was described.</p

Streets, skollies and coons in district six : on narratives and identity related to an area of forced removal in Cape Town, South Africa

In post-apartheid South Africa there has been an ongoing process of renegotiating history since the abolishment of the white minority rule. South Africans are coming to terms with who they were, are and are becoming. As a part of the nation-building project the Truth and Reconciliation Commission facilitated the narration of the gross violations of apartheid. Hence, former silenced voices could present their versions of the past. Critics, however, have called for a more positive shared history for the rainbow nation to build on. In this thesis I focus on another set of memories - the memories of District Six. The multicultural urban area of inner city Cape Town was destroyed during apartheid and the residents were forcibly removed as a result of the Group Areas Act of 1966. Today the residents have the possibility to return following the land restitution process, and District Six has come to national fame as a symbol of hope. I look into the narratives of the former residents as they are presented on various arenas. In narrating their lives people are positioning themselves in history and in the same time negotiating identity. My focal point of study has been the District Six Museum, where the different representations of the past, as told by the former residents, have been organized to make up a pattern of “district sixness”. In scrutinizing these narratives I show that the stories are not merely nostalgic accounts of the past, but in them are also aspects of diaspora thinking, contestation of history, identity making, a critique of society today, and finally a vision for the future. Treating the human mind as having common underlying properties (Lévi- Strauss 1966) makes it possible to say that these narratives can have resonance with other South Africans that were victims of apartheid

Simulation based optimization of petroleum production problems: Development of a special purpose B&B for a non-convex MINLP

This work is concerned with the upstream and operational planning of petroleum fields. The short-term production optimization problem is modeled here as a simulation based non-convex MINLP problem. A special purpose B&B algorithm fit for manipulation is developed to allow sophisticated operations on each node of the B&B tree, such as running heuristics or implement non-convexity measures designed specifically for this problem.Two types of heuristics are included to help obtain good feasible solutions quickly. A generic feasibility pump heuristic is modified to fit non-convex production allocation problems, creating high quality solutions. This heuristic can also function as a standalone solution method. In addition, two problem specific heuristics are made based on problem case knowledge and data analysis, giving good solutions fast. Specific non-convexity measures are included to avoid eliminating interesting parts of the solution space and help push towards finding the global solution. Pruning poses a challenge when solving non-convex problems with B&B, therefore negative gaps are allowed in order to assess the impact on the solution found. Further, the influence of including several starting points is studied. Two different versions of the algorithm with different emphasis are designed, the first one on solution time, and the second more sophisticated one on solution quality. The results show quite a dramatic increase in solution time for the sophisticated version. The proposed algorithm is compared to other existing methods for optimizing the production allocation problem. In comparing emphasis has been on the tradeoff between solution time and quality, in addition to integration of the method into the daily work process of operating an offshore production platform. The version focusing on solution time is considerably faster, although both versions prove better than the other methods in terms of solution quality

Correlation of endogenous hormonal levels, fibroglandular tissue volume and percent density measured using 3D MRI during one menstrual cycle

BACKGROUND: We measured breast density (BD) on MRI and correlated with endogenous hormonal levels. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty-four premenopausal women received four weekly breast MRI. A blood sample was collected on the same day of MRI. BD was measured using a computer-based algorithm. The generalized estimation equation method was applied to model mean fibroglandular tissue volume (FV) and mean percent density (PD) from predictor variables including estradiol, progesterone, and week during a cycle. RESULTS: In week 3, a borderline significant correlation between estradiol and PD (r = 0.43, P = 0.04), estradiol and FV (r = 0.40, P = 0.05) and between progesterone and FV (r = 0.42, P = 0.04) was noted. The FV and PD measured in weeks 4 and 1 were higher than in weeks 2 and 3, adjusted for variation in endogenous estradiol and progesterone, indicating that the hormone change could not account for the changes in density. No lag effect of endogenous hormone on the change of FV or PD was noted (all P-values > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that BD is not strongly associated with the endogenous hormone. Their association with breast cancer risk was likely coming from different mechanisms, and they should be considered as independent risk factors