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Lower Stress (lower + stress)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Polymers and Materials Science	50%
Medical Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Are Maternal Cortisol Levels Related to Preterm Birth?

JOURNAL OF OBSTETRIC, GYNECOLOGIC & NEONATAL NURSING, Issue 4 2009
Carmen Giurgescu
ABSTRACT Objective: To examine the evidence related to the relationship between maternal cortisol levels and preterm birth. Data Sources: A search of Medline, PubMed, and Cumulative Index of Nursing and Allied Health Literature was conducted using the keywords preterm birth, preterm delivery, premature birth, and cortisol. Study Selection: Fifteen studies published in English were selected based on the inclusion criteria. There were no limitations on the dates of publication. Data Extraction: The data extracted were related to the gestational age at collection of biological samples, time of day at collection, and differences in cortisol levels between preterm and full-term groups. Data Synthesis: The majority of the studies suggested that maternal cortisol levels are related to preterm birth. Women with higher levels of cortisol had higher risk of having a preterm birth. Conclusions: Researchers can use the findings of this review to develop future studies that examine the relationship between cortisol levels and preterm birth. Health care providers need to assess pregnant women's stress levels more closely and provide appropriate referrals and treatment to ensure that any actions that may possibly lower stress are being taken to reduce the likelihood of preterm birth. [source]

painACTION-Back Pain: A Self-Management Website for People with Chronic Back Pain

PAIN MEDICINE, Issue 7 2010
Emil Chiauzzi PhD
Abstract Objective., To determine whether an interactive self-management Website for people with chronic back pain would significantly improve emotional management, coping, self-efficacy to manage pain, pain levels, and physical functioning compared with standard text-based materials. Design., The study utilized a pretest,posttest randomized controlled design comparing Website (painACTION-Back Pain) and control (text-based material) conditions at baseline and at 1-, 3, and 6-month follow-ups. Participants., Two hundred and nine people with chronic back pain were recruited through dissemination of study information online and at a pain treatment clinic. The 6-month follow-up rates for the Website and control groups were 73% and 84%, respectively. Measurements., Measures were based on the recommendations of the Initiative on Methods, Measurement, and Pain Assessment in Clinical Trials and included measures of pain intensity, physical functioning, emotional functioning, coping, self-efficacy, fear-avoidance, perceived improvement with treatment, self-efficacy, and catastrophizing. Results., Compared with controls, painACTION-Back Pain participants reported significantly: 1) lower stress; 2) increased coping self-statements; and 3) greater use of social support. Comparisons between groups suggested clinically significant differences in current pain intensity, depression, anxiety, stress, and global ratings of improvement. Among participants recruited online, those using the Website reported significantly: 1) lower "worst" pain; 2) lower "average" pain; and 3) increased coping self-statements, compared with controls. Participants recruited through the pain clinic evidenced no such differences. Conclusions., An online self-management program for people with chronic back pain can lead to improvements in stress, coping, and social support, and produce clinically significant differences in pain, depression, anxiety, and global rates of improvement. [source]

Relationship between segment structures and elastic properties of segmented poly(urethane-urea) elastic fibers

POLYMER ENGINEERING & SCIENCE, Issue 11 2003
Nori Yoshihara
Studies on segmented poly(urethane-urea) (SPUU) elastic fibers having various segment structures were done in terms of elastic recovery and stress-strain relationship (S-S). Three kinds of segment structures were used: 1) the same composition having different sequences of segment units, 2) the same length of soft segments having different molecular weights of polyol, and 3) different segment structures having almost the same stress at 350% elongation. The SPUU elastic fibers having higher sequence numbers of both soft and hard segment units, that is, greater block structures, show better elastic recovery properties, especially delayed elastic recovery. The SPUU elastic fibers showing better elastic recovery take an optimum value for the number-average molecular weight (Mn) of soft segments jointed with urethane bonds. Here the optimum Mn depends on the molecular weight of polytetramethyleneglycol (PTMG) as a starting material. The hysteresis loss in S-S for the pre-elongation decreases with an increase of Mn of PTMG. The SPUU elastic fibers having greater block structures show lower stress with lower 2C1 and 2C1 + 2C2 of Mooney-Rivilin plot constants for elastic fibers having the same composition. This indicates a lower density of crosslinks for finite deformation. An increase of the urea bonds or the molar ratio of urea bond to urethane bond raises the stress. It is found that the polymerization process, as well as composition, is important for design structures of SPUU elastic fibers. [source]

Effect of Applied Stress on IR transmission of Spark Plasma-Sintered Alumina

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, Issue 4 2010
Dibyendu Chakravarty
The effect of applied stress on IR transmittance of nanocrystalline alumina prepared by spark plasma sintering was evaluated. Transparent alumina with maximum transmittance >80% was obtained over the entire mid-IR wavelength range of 3,5 ,m by applying a high stress of 275 MPa at 1150°C using specially designed high-strength compound dies. The transmittance observed was similar to previous reports at identical wavelengths, but at a lower sintering temperature. The transparent samples have an average grain size of 0.3 ,m and a hardness of 23 GPa. At lower stresses and sintering temperatures, transmittance reduced drastically due to remnant pores in the matrix as observed from the microstructural analysis. The effect of porosity was found to be critical in developing transparency as even a marginal decrease in porosity led to substantial increase in transmittance. [source]