BackgroundTranscutaneous vagal nerve stimulation has analgesic potential and might be elicited by abdominally administered low-frequency vibrations. The objective was to study the safety and effect of a combination of music and abdominally administered low-frequency vibrations on pain intensity in elderly patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain.MethodsThis trial was an international multicenter, randomized controlled pilot study. Patients at age ≥ 65 years with musculoskeletal pain for ≥ 3 months and a daily pain score ≥ 4 out of 10 were recruited at three centers. They were randomized to receive either a combination of music and low-frequency (20–100 Hz) vibrations administered to the abdomen, or a combination with the same music but with higher frequency (200–300 Hz) vibrations administered to the abdomen. Low-frequency vibrations were expected to result in pain reduction measured with a numeric pain rating scale (NRS). Patients in both groups received eight treatments of the music combined with the vibrations in three weeks. Primary outcomes were safety (Serious Adverse Events) and pain intensity measured at baseline, after the last treatment and at six weeks follow-up. Multilevel linear model analyses were performed to study group and time effects.ResultsA total of 45 patients were analyzed according to intention-to-treat principle. After 344 treatments, 1 Adverse Event was found related to the intervention, while 13 Adverse Events were possibly related. A multilevel linear model showed that the interaction effect of group by time did not predict pain intensity (F[1, 45.93] = 0.002, p = 0.97) when comparing pain intensity at baseline, after the last treatment and at follow-up.ConclusionsThe combination of music and abdominally administered vibrations was found to be safe and well tolerated by the elderly patients. However, over time, neither the low-frequency treatment group nor the high-frequency treatment group provided clinically meaningful pain relief. There is no evidence that the low-frequency treatment elicited vagal nerve stimulation.
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Teacher shortages are a significant concern in many countries. Hiring pre-service teachers could help to alleviate this problem while providing students an opportunity to develop skills in a realwork context. However, being employed alongside full-time studying might compete with attendance or self-study and, thereby, hinder study progress. This study analyzed the effect of student employment on the study progress of 132 pre-service teachers, using 25 repeated measures over 4 years (n = 3,245). Employment hours, remuneration, domain-relevance, and timing (year of college) were taken into account. Multilevel growth analyses showed that students who spent more time on a paid teaching job in year 3 or 4 obtained significantly more study credits compared to those who were not paid or got paid for a job outside of education. Overall, student employment did not relate to less study progress and depending on domain-relevance, timing and remuneration, the effect can even be positive.
Objective: This study evaluated the effect of an after-school group-based medium-intensity multicomponent behavioural intervention programme for children aged 8–12 years classified as overweight, obese or at risk for overweight on body mass index standard deviation score (BMI SDS). In accordance with standardized protocols body weight and height were measured in 195 participants (88 boys, 107 girls) at baseline and at the end of the programme. A total of 166 children derived from a school-based monitoring system served as control group. Multivariate regression analyses examined the effect of the intervention and the independent factors associated with better outcomes in the intervention group. Results: Analysis of covariance showed a significant intervention effect on BMO SDS in favour of the intervention group (b-coefficient - 0.13 ± 0.03; p < 0.01) compared with the control group. Change in BMI SDS between baseline and follow-up in the intervention group was associated with baseline age (b-coefficient 0.03 ± 0.02; p=0.04) but was independent from gender, ethnicity, baseline BMI SDS, time between baseline and follow-up, school year and attendance rate.
