Background: Cognitive Muscular TherapyTM (CMT) is an integrated behavioural intervention developed for knee osteoarthritis. CMT teaches patients to reconceptualise the condition, integrates muscle biofeedback and aims to reduce muscle overactivity, both in response to pain and during daily activities. This nested qualitative study explored patient and physiotherapist perspectives and experiences of CMT.Methods: Five physiotherapists were trained to follow a well-defined protocol and then delivered CMT to at least two patients with knee osteoarthritis. Each patient received seven individual clinical sessions and was provided with access to online learning materials incorporating animated videos. Semi-structured interviews took place after delivery/completion of the intervention and data were analysed at the patient and physiotherapist level.Results: Five physiotherapists and five patients were interviewed. All described a process of changing beliefs throughout their engagement with CMT. A framework with three phases was developed to organise the data according to how osteoarthritis was conceptualised and how this changed throughout their interactions with CMT. Firstly, was an identification of pain beliefs to be challenged and recognition of how current beliefs can misalign with daily experiences. Secondly was a process of challenging and changing beliefs, validated through new experiences. Finally, there was an embedding of changed beliefs into self-management to continue with activities. Conclusion:This study identified a range of psychological changes which occur during exposure to CMT. These changes enabled patients to reconceptualise their condition, develop a new understanding of their body, understand psychological processes, and make sense of their knee pain.

Colon cancer is a type of cancer that begins in the large intestine (colon). Its aggression is owing to late diagnosis so poor prognosis and higher mortality rate are reported. Colon cancer has become a thorny research region that requires more examination in cellular pathways involved in its emergency. Here we aim to investigate the possible anticancer properties of the clove oil as natural and popular oil in colon cancer CaCo-2 cells. Accordingly, cell viability rate and number of survived cells were monitored in response to the clove oil treatment compared with the black seed oil and DMSO-treatment. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) production was also considered as an indicator for necrotic event following treatment. The relative gene expression of Raf-1, MEK, and ERK was detected as proliferation effectors that linked to the expression profile of the tumor suppressor genes PTEN and TP53 using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Interestingly, here we identified Raf-1 pathway as a potential targeted singling by the clove oil resulted in controlling colon cancer cell proliferation. The current study elucidates the anticancer activities of the clove oil in colon cancer division through restoring the relative gene expression of PTEN and TP53 accompanied by over-production of interleukin 1 alpha (IL-1α) and IL-1β. Accordingly, treatment of the CaCo-2 cells with different concentrations of the clove oil increased programmed cells cell death (PCD) and inhibited the proliferation singling when compared with the black seed oil. Collectively, our results demonstrate that controlling of Raf-1 activity and PCD by clove oil treatment provide evidence for its anticancer effect in colon cancer cells.

Assessing environmental major development projects requires using advanced levels of environmental secondary data (ESD). This is particularly challenging in developing countries. Hence, a systemic literature review was performed. Along with structured interviews and online questionnaire designed for professional planners and researchers were used to investigate the factors affecting secondary data collection and processing for environmental assessment systems in Egypt as an example of developing countries revealing potentials and challenges. The results pinpointed critical problems for ESD associated with poor sufficiency, availability, relevance, and accuracy of data. Thus, using these four defined criteria, an assessment framework was developed to evaluate the status of ESD for development projects. This provides guidelines for establishing an integrated data collection and management system to support the environmental assessment process. This is further applied to 'Elqattara depression national development project' to investigate the environmental impact of various desalination development scenarios. This case study project pinpointed problems for the ESD used related to both relevance and sufficiency.

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