Perceptual and motor skills
-
The present study was done to estimate rise in skin temperature during a pain reaction time (pain RT) as a means of investigating why a pricking pain threshold, produced by thermal stimulation using time method, often increases during repeated measurements. The pain RT, or the time-delay between occurrence of pain sensation and a subsequent motor response, was measured by making EMG recording on a forearm. The radiant heat stimuli were three, 200, 300, and 350 mcal/sec./cm2, each of which was given through a round radiation window of an algesiometer head. Analysis showed that the pain RTs would be too short to explain higher pain thresholds often found using the time method.
-
The purpose of this study was to examine attitudinal factors associated with increased research productivity of individual clinical faculty in 66 United States and Canadian schools of dentistry. Thirteen variables, evaluating the subjects' perceptions of their research background, work environment, attitude and outcome effects from publishing, and the use of colleagues in conducting research, were evaluated. The 833 respondents represented a response rate of 64.9% (833/1200) from a 50% stratified random sample of faculty who (1) had full-time appointments and held at least the D. ⋯ Respondents reported a mean of 10.3 yr. (range = 1 to 45, SD = 7.3) in full-time dental education (career age) and a mean of 10.1 career publications (range = 0 to 110, SD = 13.8). Analysis of variance for mean number of career publications, by increasing agreement in response to each attitudinal variable, yielded a significant positive association for each of the 13 attitudinal variables. Implications of the findings were discussed with respect to strategies for improving research productivity of individual faculty.
-
Emergency situations often require continuous execution of one-person cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for periods of time in excess of 30 minutes. The limited research which has examined the demands of the procedure has focused on central physiological measures, despite (1) the use of a subjective end-point for termination of CPR (i.e., exhaustion) as stated in professional guidelines, and (2) significant peripheral involvement in the form of muscular exertion, a phenomenon more closely linked to Ratings of Perceived Exertion (RPE) than to central factors. To examine subjective responses to performing CPR, 8 healthy, sedentary subjects [M age = 20.8 (yr) +/- .4; weight (kg) 82.6 +/- 7.1; height (cm) 183.7 +/- 2.8] reported differentiated Ratings of Perceived Exertion (RPE) following 10 minutes of one-person CPR testing. ⋯ Over-all RPE was also significantly greater than peripheral RPE. The data suggest research investigating CPR demands based on central measures may underestimate actual as well as perceived demands of performing the procedure. In addition, the considerable interindividual variability in the relative energy cost (% VO2 max) of performing one-person CPR suggests that the fitness level of the individual may be a limiting factor in the ability to perform CPR for extended periods of time.
-
19 patients between 23 and 65 yr. of age whose chronic back pain was caused by lumbosacral disk disease and 19 healthy volunteers matched for age and sex were studied. Pain thresholds under phasic and tonic heat stimulation and thermal thresholds for warmth and cold were measured on the right hand. ⋯ Hence, current back pain and experimental tonic pain seem to have an additive effect on pain perception because perceptual qualities are similar. Reduced somatosensory perception of chronic back pain patients could be demonstrated for temperature sensitivity and to a lesser degree for phasic pain, but as a consequence of the "opposing" effect of current back pain, not for tonic pain perception.