Let's read! We will often find out this sentence everywhere. When still being a kid, mom used to order us to always read, so did the teacher. Some books are fully read in a week and we need the obligation to support reading. What about now? Do you still love reading? Is reading only for you who have obligation? Absolutely not! We here offer you a new book enPDFd the perception of the visual world to read.

The Perception of the Visual World. By James J. Gibson. U.S.A.: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1950 (George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., London). Price 35s.

This guideline from the ACP provides clinical recommendations about noninvasive pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic treatment of low back pain.

Noninvasive Treatments for Acute, Subacute, and Chronic Low Back Pain: A Clinical Practice Guideline From the American College of Physicians

The article reviews the book "Alone Together: Why We Expect More From Technology and Less From Each Other," by Sherry Turkle.

Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.

Exploring pathways linking greenspace to health: Theoretical and methodological guidance.

Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder

Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out

A randomized crossover study explored whether viewing different scenes prior to a stressor altered autonomic function during the recovery from the stressor. The two scenes were (a) nature (composed of trees, grass, fields) or (b) built (composed of man-made, urban scenes lacking natural characteristics) environments. Autonomic function was assessed using noninvasive techniques of heart rate variability; in particular, time domain analyses evaluated parasympathetic activity, using root-mean-square of successive differences (RMSSD). During stress, secondary cardiovascular markers (heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure) showed significant increases from baseline which did not differ between the two viewing conditions. Parasympathetic activity, however, was significantly higher in recovery following the stressor in the viewing scenes of nature condition compared to viewing scenes depicting built environments (RMSSD; 50.0 ± 31.3 vs 34.8 ± 14.8 ms). Thus, viewing nature scenes prior to a stressor al...

Viewing nature scenes positively affects recovery of autonomic function following acute-mental stress.

The studies of human and environment interactions usually consider the extremes of environment on individuals or how humans affect the environment. It is well known that physical activity improves both physiological and psychological well-being, but further evidence is required to ascertain how different environments influence and shape health. This review considers the declining levels of physical activity, particularly in the Western world, and how the environment may help motivate and facilitate physical activity. It also addresses the additional physiological and mental health benefits that appear to occur when exercise is performed in an outdoor environment. However, people’s connectedness to nature appears to be changing and this has important implications as to how humans are now interacting with nature. Barriers exist, and it is important that these are considered when discussing how to make exercise in the outdoors accessible and beneficial for all. The synergistic combination of exercise and exposure to nature and thus the ‘great outdoors’ could be used as a powerful tool to help fight the growing incidence of both physical inactivity and non-communicable disease.

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The great outdoors: how a green exercise environment can benefit all.

Previous evidence suggests that the heart rate (HR) increase observed with isometric exercise is dependent on different afferent mechanisms to those eliciting the increase in blood pressure (BP). Central command and muscle metaboreceptors have been shown to contribute to this differential effect. However, in experimental animals passive stretch of the hindlimb increases HR suggesting that small fibre mechanoreceptors could also have a role. This has not been previously shown in humans and was investigated in this study. Healthy human volunteers were instrumented to record BP, ECG, respiration, EMG of rectus femoris and gastrocnemius and contraction force of triceps surae. Voluntary isometric contraction of triceps surae elicited a significant HR change in the first three respiratory cycles at 40 % of maximum voluntary contraction whereas BP did not change significantly until after 30 s. This suggests that different mechanisms are involved in the initiation of the cardiovascular changes. Sustained passive stretch of triceps surae for 1 min, by dorsiflexion of the foot, caused a significant (P < 0.05) increase in HR (5 ± 2.6 beats min−1) with no significant change in BP. A time domain measure of cardiac vagal activity was reduced significantly during passive stretch from 69.7 ± 12.9 to 49.6 ± 8.9 ms. Rapid rhythmic passive stretch (0.5 Hz for 1 min) was without significant effect suggesting that large muscle proprioreceptors are not involved. We conclude that in man small fibre muscle mechanoreceptors responding to stretch, inhibit cardiac vagal activity and thus increase HR. These afferents could contribute to the initial cardiac acceleration in response to muscle contraction.

https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1113/jphysiol.2001.013486

Heart rate at the onset of muscle contraction and during passive muscle stretch in humans: a role for mechanoreceptors

Objective: To evaluate the effect of a program of modifi ed Pilates for active individuals with chronic non-specifi c low back pain. Design: A single blind randomized controlled trial. Participants: 49 individuals with chronic low back pain were randomly allocated to control (n = 24) or Pilates group (n = 25). Thirty-four individuals completed the study (14 and 20 individuals for control and Pilates group, respectively). Intervention: The Pilates group undertook a six week program of Pilates. Both groups continued with normal activity. Main Outcome Measures: An assessor blinded to group allocation conducted functional and questionnaire-based assessments pre- and post- intervention. Results: Improvements were seen in the Pilates group post- intervention period with increases (P < 0.05) in general health, sports functioning, fl exibility, proprioception, and a decrease in pain. The control group showed no signifi cant differences in the same measures post- intervention. Conclusions: These data suggest that Pilates used as a specifi c core stability exercise incorporating functional movements can improve non-specifi c chronic low back pain in an active population compared to no intervention. Additionally, Pilates can improve general health, pain level, sports functioning, fl exibility, and proprioception in individuals with chronic low back pain. Key Words: back pain, exercise therapy, rehabilitation. Back pain is one of the most widely experienced health-related problems in the western world. In a recent survey, for the United Kingdom, 40% of 5500 people interviewed had experienced back pain within a single year, with pain existing throughout the year in 15% of these cases. 1 In 1998, the direct health care costs of back pain within the United Kingdom, including visits to the general practitioners and referral to therapists, was estimated to be £1632 million. 2 Even greater, though, is the expense to the economy caused by informal care and lost working days, calculated to be approximately 5.7 million days during 2001. 3 There is a vital need, therefore, for effective but also affordable treatments for back pain and strategies to help prevent it.

Valerie Gladwell

Papers

Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out

Viewing nature scenes positively affects recovery of autonomic function following acute-mental stress.

The great outdoors: how a green exercise environment can benefit all.

Heart rate at the onset of muscle contraction and during passive muscle stretch in humans: a role for mechanoreceptors

Does a program of pilates improve chronic non-specific low back pain?