As physical therapists are becoming more involved with the pregnant population both in traditional patient care as well as in childbirth education, a better understanding of the influence of pregnancy on the pain system is needed. The purpose of this study was to determine if an endogenous analgesia system is present in pregnant humans as has been shown to be present in animals (Ginzler, 1980). Women's affective and intensity responses were measured during late pregnancy, labor and post-partum. Using a repeated measures design, fifteen women responded to thermal stimuli (43-52 degrees C) by marking a visual analogue scale. No significant difference was found to exist demonstrating that stages of pregnancy have no effect on subjects' responses to thermal stimuli. Additional research has shown that levels of endorphins in the cerebrospinal fluid also do not change with stages of pregnancy (Steinbrook et al, 1982). This study provides a behavioral measurement of pain perception that supports the clinical finding that no endogenous analgesia is present in humans during stages of pregnancy. Lastly, by reviewing research examining levels of endorphins present in the plasma and cerebrospinal fluid during stages of pregnancy, this study also supports the growing body of knowledge which suggests that pain mediation by endorphins occurs centrally and not in the periphery.

The purpose of this research was to determine if there was a relationship between physical therapy students' personalities and their preferences in clinical education. Associated problems addressed by the research were to determine if there were differences in personality measures between the physical therapy students as well as differences from one another in how they rank ordered a list of clinical education methods and behaviors. Thirty-four senior physical therapy students who had completed the academic and clinical requirements of the curriculum rank ordered a list of twenty clinical education methods and behaviors which was compiled from factors cited in the literature. During the same session, they also completed the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientations-Behavior (FIRO-B) Questionnaire. A master list of the mean rank s of the clinical education preferences was calculated and examined for content. The students seemed to prefer behaviors which were passive and related to communication and security. Non-metric three-dimensional multidimensional scaling procedures were used to examine whether there were clusters of students near any of the clinical education behaviors and to interpret similarities and differences between the clinical education methods and behaviors. Continuums between active and passive behaviors, student or professional behaviors, and needs for security and communication were identified along with some clusters of related clinical behaviors; there were no different clusters of students. Multiple analysis of variance and canonical correlations computed showed no significant relationship between the manner by which the students rank ordered the list of behaviors and their FIRO-B scores. Profiles for the student group based on their FIRO-B scores in each of the need areas were described and discussed. The group demonstrated moderate to high needs for affection and inclusion and low needs in control. Describing the entire group based on the mean scores was potentially misleading as there was much variability between students except in the area of control. The implications of the personality profiles was discussed related to stability and normative scores, the admissions process, and professional development.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The purpose of this study was to examine in a naturalistic setting, how four physical education teachers planned for their classes. The questions which guided this study were: (1) How do each of the subjects plan? (a) What variety of forms do plans take? (b) In what settings does planning take place? (c) When do physical education teachers plan? (d) How much time do the teachers spend planning? (e) What resources are used by the teachers when planning? (f) What planning decisions are made by the teachers? (g) What is the focus of planning? (2) What are the influences on the subjects' planning? The methodology employed was participant observation. Three data sources were used, field notes from observations, documents and an interview following the two-week observation period. The results indicate that the teachers did not follow an ends-means model of planning, but focused on activities for students. Although the amount of written planning varied by teacher, three teachers made decisions about specific activities to teach immediately prior to class. The fourth teacher wrote lesson plans a week ahead but felt free to improvise if the teaching situation was different than expected. Long-range planning occurred prior to school beginning in the fall, and if any product developed from this planning, it consisted of a listing of activities to be taught over the course of the year. The twin themes of unpredictability and sensitivity to student reactions were identified as major influences on the four teachers' planning. These influences affect both the amount of planning that occurs and decisions made by the teachers. The teachers' planning based in part on unpredictability was very short term in focus. The teachers made explicit decisions dealing with activities and equipment, but decisions about diagnosis, objectives and evaluation were given very little attention. As a result, the decisions anticipated students' reactions and focused on keeping students happy, busy and compliant rather than focusing on student learning.

Modern humans have large, encephalized neonates, delivered through an anteroposteriorly narrow maternal pelvis constrained by adaptation to bipedality. As a result, human birth is unusually laborious, difficult, and dangerous. The evolutionary background for these difficulties is unclear. Previous comparative studies of nonhuman primates have focused on the pelvic inlet, which is a region of constraint in humans but not in other primates. Therefore, the true obstetric constraints in other species remain unknown. This dissertation documents and quantifies human and other primate birth-canal morphology between the three traditional obstetric planes (inlet, midplane, and outlet). Computer-generated images of scanned specimens of 23 extant anthropoid species and five fossil hominins are used to compare the entire birth canals as three-dimensional entities, documenting and analyzing the functionally relevant metrics of the maternal pelvis and the fetus and their species-specific obstetric constraints. In fossil hominin species for which pelvic material is fragmentary, composite pelves were reconstructed. Measurements on these pelves allow for an estimation of the factors (fetal head and shoulders, pelvic morphology) that produce points of potential dystocia, and shed light on how the modern human birth mechanism evolved. The results of these analyses indicate that some non-human primates have obstetric constraints that exceed those of modern humans. The cephalopelvic disproportion in these species is alleviated through various mechanisms which are unattainable in humans, such as a face-first fetal presentation. Human childbirth can no longer be described as uniquely difficult compared to that of the other primates. Among fossil hominins, birth canal morphology exhibits shape variations that differ from those in modern humans and would have promoted different patterns and mechanisms of birth. The locations of maximum obstetric constraints also vary among hominin species, and the pattern of interspecific variation does not present a linear evolutionary trajectory from “easy” to “difficult” childbirth. The risk of prolapse that accompanies hominin bipedality does result in an adaptation to reduce obstetric constraints, fetal cranial molding, which may have arisen in the hominin lineage ~700,000 years earlier than previously thought.

Thesis (M.Sc.(Physiotherapy))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Health Sciences, 2013. / The aim of this study was to compare the effect of myofascial trigger point therapy and stretching to myofascial trigger point therapy and medicine ball exercises on elite golfers’ range of motion, biomechanics, club performance and ball flight.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of instructional methods, selected skinfold calipers, somatotypes, and skinfold sites on the testing experience necessary for inexperienced testers to obtain consistent skinfold measurements. Sixty-four undergraduate physical education majors who possessed no prior skinfold measurement experience performed skinfold measurements at the triceps and subscapular sites on five subjects representing endomorph, endomorph-mesomorph, mesomorph, mesomorph-ectomorph, and ectomorph somatotypes. The inexperienced testers were taught the skinfold measurement technique by one of five instructional methods: (a) manual; (b) marked site; (c) poster; (d) video-tape; and, (e) supervision, while utilizing the Lange, the Fat-O-Meter, or the Fat Control skinfold calipers. Five experienced testers also performed measurements on all the somatotypes at each of the sites with each caliper. The number of trials to acquire consistency and the actual measurements at this consistency were utilized in the analysis. Two weeks later, the inexperienced testers performed one trial of measurements at each of the sites on every somatotype. Comparisons were made among the inexperienced testers on the number of trials to consistency and the test-retest measurements. Additionally, comparisons were computed between the measurements of the inexperienced and experienced testers at each skinfold site. The data were analyzed by the use of analysis of variance, t tests, and Dunnett's t. Significant differences were indicated among the instructional methods and skinfold calipers on the number of trials to consistency. The endomorph somatotype required a significantly greater number of trials than the other somatotypes to reach consistency while there was no significant difference between the two skinfold sites. The video-tape and supervision / instructional methods had fewer significant differences between the inexperienced and experienced testers on the test occasions of the various skinfold measurements than the remaining three methods. The Lange caliper resulted in fewer significant differences between inexperienced and experienced testers on the various skinfold measurements at consistency whereas on the second test occasion, none of the three calipers were superior. The test-retest comparison indicated no supremacy of instructional method, skinfold caliper, somatotype, or skinfold site as the vast majority of comparisons resulted in no significant differences. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-02, Section: A, page: 0395. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.

The translational-rotovibronic Hamiltonian for a polyatomic molecule is derived by using the Schrodinger equation in tensor form and employing the Eckart conditions (determining the nuclear-framework rotational variables). The present derivation is a unified comprehensive one by a quantum-mechanical pathway and contrasts with fragmentary previous derivations via a classical-intermediate path. The method presented affords a firm conceptual picture of the nature of the transformation and the origin of coupling terms, and avoids mathematical complexities with their residue of obscurity. The Hamiltonian for the linear molecule compared with that for the non-linear molecule differs significantly in the coupling terms, in the rotational kinetic energy term and in the U(Q) term (Watson term), which is found to be non-zero in the linear case, in contrast to previous literature. The correct form of the total angular momentum operators is also derived quantum-mechanically. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-02, Section: B, page: 0436. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.