ULTRASONICS

Ultrasonics is a form of physical therapy which has been considerably developed in recent years on the Continent, and the European medical press has made great claims for this new type of treatment. This publicity, much of it grossly exaggerated in its claims, has latterly reached the lay press, and hence the patient. We are therefore likely to be asked by the intelligent and well-read patient all kinds of searching questions about this therapy, and for this reason alone, if for no other, it behoves us to have a reasonable knowledge of it and a balanced outlook on the problem. This short paper is designed to present briefly the physics and biological effects of ultrasonics and to give a fair and impartial view of the clinical use and limitations of this method of treatment

Leadership Development Training: Its Impact on Middle Managers in Law Enforcement

The purpose of this study was to explore leadership development training as it relates to the attributes and skills of middle managers in law enforcement agencies. The Skills Approach theory will be discussed relating to how middle managers in a county in New York State, with no middle management leadership development training, assume their positions. A qualitative method was used to capture data about the need for leadership development training versus the attributes and skills law enforcement middle managers already possess. The result of this study revealed that leadership development for this county is cultivated, not through formal training, but from attributes, skills, and informal development. Middle managers in this county seek ways in which to develop their attributes and skills to reach their full potential. Many depend on their life experiences, guidance from their superiors and some have turned to a graduate level of study. Recommendations for this study include leadership training courses geared to middle manager concerns; the use of Mumford’s Skills Inventory to evaluate promoted lieutenants; future research in other geographic areas in New York State; research conducted to capture a larger sample size and also to obtain the views of female middle managers who were not included in this study. This study concludes that law enforcement middle managers in a county in New York State are performing their duties based on attributes, skills, and informal training

Leadership Development Training: Its Impact on Middle Managers in Law Enforcement

The purpose of this study was to explore leadership development training as it relates to the attributes and skills of middle managers in law enforcement agencies. The Skills Approach theory will be discussed relating to how middle managers in a county in New York State, with no middle management leadership development training, assume their positions. A qualitative method was used to capture data about the need for leadership development training versus the attributes and skills law enforcement middle managers already possess. The result of this study revealed that leadership development for this county is cultivated, not through formal training, but from attributes, skills, and informal development. Middle managers in this county seek ways in which to develop their attributes and skills to reach their full potential. Many depend on their life experiences, guidance from their superiors and some have turned to a graduate level of study. Recommendations for this study include leadership training courses geared to middle manager concerns; the use of Mumford’s Skills Inventory to evaluate promoted lieutenants; future research in other geographic areas in New York State; research conducted to capture a larger sample size and also to obtain the views of female middle managers who were not included in this study. This study concludes that law enforcement middle managers in a county in New York State are performing their duties based on attributes, skills, and informal training

THE USE OF COLD INSTEAD OF HEAT FOR THE RELIEF OF MUSCLE SPASM1 1Reprinted from The Medical Journal of Australia by kind permission of the Editor.

For centuries, man has appreciated the beneficial effects of heat in relieving pain, and various forms of heat have been widely used in physiotherapy techniques to ease pain and facilitate movement. However, the results in relief of muscle spasm have not been uniformly good In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the use of cold to relieve muscle spasm and pain. J. Travell (1949, 1952) reported on the use of cold in the relief of painful muscle spasm and regarded “trigger” points as of major importance. M. Ellis (1961) commented on the effect of cold in painful muscle spasm, and put forward the theory that relief was effected by bombarding the skin with such a barrage of cold impulses that the pain was obliterated, with a resultant relaxation in the restricted area. The relevant value of heat and cold in the treatment of muscle spasm has been reviewed recently by Don Tigny and Sheldon (1962)

Evaluation of Robotic Needle Steering in Ex Vivo Tissue

Insertion velocity, tip asymmetry, and shaft diameter may influence steerable needle insertion paths in soft tissue. In this paper we examine the effects of these variables on needle paths in ex vivo goat liver, and demonstrate practical applications of robotic needle steering for ablation, biopsy, and brachytherapy. All experiments were performed using a new portable needle steering robot that steers asymmetric-tip needles under fluoroscopic imaging. For bevel-tip needles, we found that larger diameter needles resulted in less curvature, i.e. less steerability, confirming previous experiments in artificial tissue. The needles steered with radii of curvature ranging from 3.4 cm (for the most steerable pre-bent needle) to 2.97m (for the least steerable bevel needle). Pre-bend angle significantly affected needle curvature, but bevel angle did not. We hypothesize that biological tissue characteristics such as inhomogeneity and viscoelasticity significantly increase path variability. These results underscore the need for closed-loop image guidance for needle steering in biological tissues with complex internal structure