Chronic low back pain is identified by the length of time a patient suffers from low back pain, the location of the pain and the etiology of the symptoms. Approximately 5-10% of patients with low back pain develop chronic low back pain that lasts longer than 3 months. There has been no consensus regarding the definition of low back pain; therefore, there is a wide variation in the prevalence estimates reported in the literature. Commonly used drugs for chronic low back pain include antidepressants, analgesics, antiepileptic drugs and muscle relaxants. In the USA, back pain is one of the most frequent reasons for hospitalization and physician visits, resulting in high medical care costs.

Previous research examining whether bilinguals exhibit enhanced working memory (WM) compared to monolinguals has yielded mixed results. This inconsistency may be due to lack of sensitivity in behavioral and neuropsychological measures. The current study aimed to investigate the effects of bilingualism on WM by focusing on brain activity patterns (event-related potentials) in monolinguals and bilinguals during a WM task. We recorded brain activity while participants (26 monolingual English speakers and 28 English–French bilinguals) performed a delayed matching-to-sample task. Although performance measures were similar, electrophysiological differences were present across groups. Bilinguals exhibited larger P3b amplitudes than monolinguals, and smaller negative slow wave and N2b amplitudes during retrieval. These results suggest that bilinguals may have more cognitive resources available in WM to allocate to task completion, and that task completion may be less effortful for bilinguals than for monolinguals.

Fibromyalgia is a complex, chronic condition involving persistent and widespread pain of unknown origin. In the USA the syndrome affects approximately 2% of the population, with prevalence increasing with age, and has a greater predominance in females. The results of this review have found that there is a considerable economic burden associated with this disease, and in particular, the effect of the syndrome on economic losses associated with work activities is at least as important as direct medical costs. The humanistic burden is more difficult to quantify due to the numerous symptoms associated with this disease: widespread pain, persistent fatigue, feeling of weakness, sleep disturbances, morning stiffness, bowel and bladder irritability, mood disturbances, cognitive difficulties, dyesthesia/parethesia, chronic rhinitis, palpitations, auditory/vestibular/ocular complaints, regional pain and joint swelling. Overall, additional research is needed to quantify the impact of fibromyalgia on sufferers in the USA and the cost-effectiveness of alternative treatment strategies.

Final-year Pharmacy students are assumed to be at high risk for mental health problems including stress, anxiety and depression, especially during the stage prior to graduation. This study is aimed at investigating the reality of stress, anxiety, and depression suffered by final-year Pharmacy students’ (in the academic year 2019-2020) at two universities in Dongnai via a cross-sectional description based on a Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS21) survey questionnaire. The research results from 134 respondents showed that the proportions of students experiencing stress, anxiety, and depression were 16.4%, 29.8% and 38.8% respectively, of which severe anxiety accounted for 6%, and severe depression accounted for 0.7% analysis. There were also statistically significant differences among groups of students with different academic results. These findings contribute to the universities’construction of appropriate intervention strategies to improve students’ mental health with a view to eliminating their mistakes in clinical pharmaceutical practice in the future.