Pilot Study: Can a Short-term Complementary and Alternative Medicine Intervention Combat Stress?

A major public health concern is the debilitating effect of chronic stress, leading to lower performance and productivity at work and school, thus affecting quality of life. Addressing this crisis, a stress reduction pilot program was designed based on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) strategies as an effective, quick, and relatively inexpensive health promotion strategy for chronic stress. The intervention, a four-session yoga and meditation regimen, was created to give participants the acquired skills and comprehension for performing seven breathing exercises, two meditation techniques, and 14 simple yoga postures to combat stress in their daily lives. The design was a quasi-experimental, with a pretest and posttest, and non-equivalent control group. Data were analyzed using five repeated measure ANOVAs. The intervention group experienced greater decreases in stress-related variables from pretest to posttest compared to the control group. Preliminary findings indicate promise for introducing yoga and meditation among a variety of schools, workplace settings, and preventive care clinics. as an effective, simple, and relatively inexpensive health promotion strategy to negate the debilitating effects of chronic stress, and to enhance well being and performance

Enhancing wellness by therapeutic lifestyle change: Does cost determine program commitment?

Wellness programs based on therapeutic lifestyle change (TLC) interventions have recently demonstrated potential in combating stress and anxiety disorders. Despite this trend, a limited evidence-base exists on whether charging a fee for such programs impacts participant behavior by increasing attendance and retention. This pilot study therefore determined if attendance rate differed for a fee-based program as opposed to a free program amongst a heterogeneous group of participants who had previously experienced significant benefits from an identical stress reduction program. The design was a quasiexperimental, non-equivalent control group pretest-posttest. Data were analyzed using an independent samples t-test. Our preliminary findings demonstrated that participants in the fee-based group had a significantly higher mean of program attendance than those in the free attendance group. Charging fees for wellness programs may be a promising behavior change strategy, increasing attendance and participation, and maximizing program benefits. Nevertheless, more in-depth research is needed to examine participant attitudes toward paid versus free programs

Longitudinal T1 relaxation rate (R1) captures changes in short-term Mn exposure in welders

We demonstrated recently that the T1 relaxation rate (R1) captured short-term Mn exposure in welders with chronic, relatively low exposure levels in a cross-sectional study. In the current study, we used a longitudinal design to examine whether R1 values reflect the short-term dynamics of Mn exposure

Superficial simplicity of the 2010 El Mayor–Cucapah earthquake of Baja California in Mexico

The geometry of faults is usually thought to be more complicated at the surface than at depth and to control the initiation, propagation and arrest of seismic ruptures. The fault system that runs from southern California into Mexico is a simple strike-slip boundary: the west side of California and Mexico moves northwards with respect to the east. However, the M_w 7.2 2010 El Mayor–Cucapah earthquake on this fault system produced a pattern of seismic waves that indicates a far more complex source than slip on a planar strike-slip fault. Here we use geodetic, remote-sensing and seismological data to reconstruct the fault geometry and history of slip during this earthquake. We find that the earthquake produced a straight 120-km-long fault trace that cut through the Cucapah mountain range and across the Colorado River delta. However, at depth, the fault is made up of two different segments connected by a small extensional fault. Both segments strike N130° E, but dip in opposite directions. The earthquake was initiated on the connecting extensional fault and 15 s later ruptured the two main segments with dominantly strike-slip motion. We show that complexities in the fault geometry at depth explain well the complex pattern of radiated seismic waves. We conclude that the location and detailed characteristics of the earthquake could not have been anticipated on the basis of observations of surface geology alone

Imprints, [Vol. 5]

This 1989 edition includes winners of the T. E. Ferguson writing Contest, two honorable mentions, and a number of other entries that we felt deserved to be published. I would like to give special thanks to all the judges of the Ferguson Writing Contest who helped make this publication possible, and especially to Dr. Patricia Russell, who one again proved to be an invaluable asset. Her dedication and love for the organization and all it stands for has made this one of the most successful years ever.https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/imprints/1000/thumbnail.jp

Evolution in the Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders: From Psychosurgery to Psychopharmacology to Neuromodulation

The treatment of psychiatric patients presents significant challenges to the clinical community, and a multidisciplinary approach to diagnosis and management is essential to facilitate optimal care. In particular, the neurosurgical treatment of psychiatric disorders, or “psychosurgery,” has held fascination throughout human history as a potential method of influencing behavior and consciousness. Early evidence of such procedures can be traced to prehistory, and interest flourished in the nineteenth and early twentieth century with greater insight into cerebral functional and anatomic localization. However, any discussion of psychosurgery invariably invokes controversy, as the widespread and indiscriminate use of the transorbital lobotomy in the mid-twentieth century resulted in profound ethical ramifications that persist to this day. The concurrent development of effective psychopharmacological treatments virtually eliminated the need and desire for psychosurgical procedures, and accordingly the research and practice of psychosurgery was dormant, but not forgotten. There has been a recent resurgence of interest for non-ablative therapies, due in part to modern advances in functional and structural neuroimaging and neuromodulation technology. In particular, deep brain stimulation is a promising treatment paradigm with the potential to modulate abnormal pathways and networks implicated in psychiatric disease states. Although there is enthusiasm regarding these recent advancements, it is important to reflect on the scientific, social, and ethical considerations of this controversial field