Contaminant source apportionment by PIMMS lead isotope analysis and SEM-image analysis.

By combining scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image analysis and laser ablation plasma ionisation multi-collector mass spectrometry (LA-PIMMS), high precision lead isotope analyses can be obtained from individual metal-rich particles. Soils from Wolverhampton and Nottingham were sampled on the basis of high Pb concentrations or brownfield location. Pressed powder pellets of each were rastered by LA-PIMMS to obtain a bulk Pb-isotope signature. The results plot along an apparent mixing line between the major sources of lead contamination in the UK, that is UK ore deposits and alkyl-lead from petrol additives (Australian ore). Two particularly lead-rich soils were chosen to investigate the lead distribution and isotope variability between size and density fractions. The fine-grained and low-density fractions contained most of the lead and have Pb-isotope ratios comparable with the bulk soils. By contrast, the small, lead-enriched denser fractions contained only a minor proportion of the total lead but Pb-isotope signatures indicating relative enrichment in one or other of the end-members from the mixing line. Further characterisation of individual Pb-rich grains is in progress.

Somatothymia in chronic pain patients.

Somatothymia is the use of somatic language to communicate affective distress. A total of 152 chronic pain patients completed a systems review checklist and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. Associated features of somatic symptoms and the meaningfulness of somatic symptoms as a communication, common physical areas of somatic focus, patterns of affective distress in high and low somatothymics, and the utility of select variables classifying high and low somatothymics were evaluated. The results indicate that a systems review checklist can be used as a quick, useful, and initial screen for somatothymia and that somatic symptoms can in fact communicate affective distress.

An identification of low back pain groups using biobehavioral variables.

A multivariate predictive model of low back pain (LBP) was developed. Following a semi-structured interview, 73 participants were assigned to dysfunctional chronic low back pain (DCLBP), functional chronic low back pain (FCLBP), acute low back pain (ALBP), and healthy control (HC) groups. All participants underwent a comprehensive physical, psychophysiological, and psychological evaluation. Multivariate analyses indicated no psychophysiological, few physical, and many psychological differences among the groups. The DCLBP group was found to be most impaired in flexion (p<.001), and the HC group performed the most total work (ft-lb) in extension (p<.001). Psychologically, the DCLBP group displayed greater levels of emotional distress and characterological disturbances and were more functionally impaired (p<.001). Few differences between FCLBP and HC were found. A classification analysis using physical and psychological variables correctly classified 83.3% of DCLBP patients, and it was found that the ALBP group was heterogeneous with some patients having a dysfunctional profile and other patients having a functional profile. The psychological variables were more potent predictors of group membership than were the physical variables. These findings indicate that potential DCLBP and FCLBP patients can be identified shortly following an injury, suggesting important implications for assessment and treatment of low back pain in general, and more specifically, for reducing health care costs and human suffering.