More is less: Learning but not relaxing buffers deviance under job stressors.

Workplace deviance harms the well-being of an organization and its members. Unfortunately, theory and prior research suggest that deviance is associated with job stressors, which are endemic to work organizations and often cannot be easily eliminated. To address this conundrum, we explore actions individuals can take at work that serve as buffering conditions for the positive relationship between job stressors and deviant behavior. Drawing upon conservation of resources theory, we examine a resource-building activity (i.e., learning something new at work) and a demand-shielding activity (i.e., taking time for relaxation at work) as potential boundary conditions. In 2 studies with employee samples using complementary designs, we find support for the buffering role of learning but not for relaxation. When employees learn new things at work, the relationship between hindrance stressors and deviance is weaker; as is the indirect relationship mediated by negative emotions. Taking time for relaxation at work did not show a moderating role in either study. Therefore, although relaxation is a response that individuals might be inclined to turn to for counteracting work stress, our findings suggest that, when it comes to addressing negative emotions and deviance in stressful work environments, building positive resources by learning something new at work could be more useful. In that way, doing more (i.e., learning, and not relaxing) is associated with less (deviance) in the face of job stressors. (PsycINFO Database Record

Spatial patterns of spinal cord [14C]-2-deoxyglucose metabolic activity in a rat model of painful peripheral mononeuropathy.

Spatial patterns of spinal cord glucose metabolic activity were examined in unanesthetized rats with painful peripheral mononeuropathy produced by sciatic nerve ligation (chronic constrictive injury, CCI). Spinal cord metabolic activity was assessed 10 days after nerve ligation by using the fully quantitative [14C]2-deoxyglucose technique. This technique allows simultaneous examination of both neural activity inferred from local glucose utilization and its spatial distribution in multiple spinal regions previously implicated in nociceptive processing. Rats used in the experiment exhibited thermal hyperalgesia to radiant heat applied to the hind paw ipsilateral to nerve ligation and behaviors indicative of spontaneous pain. Sciatic nerve ligation produced a significant increase in spinal cord metabolic activity in four sampling regions (laminae I-IV, V-VI, VII and VIII-IX) of lumbar segments compared to sham-operated rats. The pattern of altered metabolic activity in CCI rats presented 3 distinct features. (1) The spinal cord grey matter both ipsilateral and contralateral to nerve ligation exhibited substantial increases in metabolic activity compared to sham-operated rats. (2) This increase in metabolic activity was somatotopically specific, i.e., higher metabolic rates were observed on the side ipsilateral to nerve ligation than on the contralateral side, and higher metabolic rates were seen in the medial portion of the ipsilateral spinal cord dorsal horn than in the lateral portion. The peak metabolic activity occurred in laminae V-VI of CCI rats, a region involved in nociceptive processing. (3) The increase in spinal cord metabolic activity of CCI rats extended from lumbar segment L1 to L5 in all 4 sampling regions. The substantial increase in metabolic activity in both the ipsilateral and contralateral spinal cord that occurs over an extensive rostro-caudal area in CCI rats may represent a unique pattern of spinal cord metabolic activity distinct from that observed in rats exposed to acute thermal pain. This pattern of spinal cord neural activity in CCI rats may reflect possible radiation of neuropathic pain. In addition, the procedure of curare-induced paralysis in a separate group of CCI rats did not change the extent and patterns of metabolic activity seen in non-paralyzed CCI rats, reflecting a minimal influence of the afferent feedback from flexor motor reflexes on spinal cord metabolic activity following sciatic nerve ligation. This chronic increase in spinal cord neural activity in the absence of overt peripheral stimulation suggests a spinal cord hyperactive state and may account for behaviors suggestive of spontaneous pain in CCI rats.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Evaluation of the efficacy and neural mechanism of a hypnotic analgesia procedure in experimental and clinical dental pain.

Previous research implicates an endogenous central pain inhibitory mechanism in opiate analgesia, analgesia produced by focal electrical stimulation of the brain, and acupuncture analgesia. This investigation evaluates the possibility that analgesia produced by hypnosis is also mediated by such a mechanism. Results suggest that hypnotic analgesia is unlikely to involve this central pain inhibitory mechanism since hypnotic analgesia is not altered by naloxone hydrochloride, a specific narcotic antagonist. Results further demonstrate that the hypnotic procedure used produces an unusually effective and reliable increase in pain threshold. This finding generalizes to the control of clinical dental pain, and suggests that hypnotic pain control is a more widespread phenomenon in the population than has been thought.