Objective: To determine whether metronidazole has an adverse effect on the growth of Lactobacillus. Methods: Hydrogen peroxideand bacteriocin-producing strains of Lactobacillus were used as test strains. Concentrations of metronidazole used ranged from 128 to 7000 mg/ml. Susceptibility to metronidazole was conducted by the broth microdilution method recommended by the National Committee for Cli...

Sufferers of persistent pain have increased risk for many other health problems, including obesity. The mechanisms have not been well understood, however. In this issue, Geha et al. ask why chronic pain and obesity are so closely linked [8]. Drawing on the rich neu-roscience literature which implicates the ventral striatum and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in determining food pleasure [5], th...

as an animal that seeks pleasure and avoids pain. In this book Dr. Reik stresses the social type of masochism which tends to dominate not only the life of individuals but also social groups. His studies of the perverseness of the individual and of the behaviour of national groups forces him to the conclusion that, far from being a creature that seeks pleasure and avoids pain, man is indubitably...

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with risk for chronic pain, but the mechanisms contributing to the MDD and pain relationship are unclear. To examine whether disrupted emotional modulation of pain might contribute, this study assessed emotional processing and emotional modulation of pain in healthy controls and unmedicated persons with MDD (14 MDD, 14 controls). Emotionally charged...

We propose that aesthetic pleasure is a function of the perceiver's processing dynamics: The more fluently perceivers can process an object, the more positive their aesthetic response. We review variables known to influence aesthetic judgments, such as figural goodness, figure-ground contrast, stimulus repetition, symmetry, and prototypicality, and trace their effects to changes in processing f...

As long as there have been writers, they given advice to others on writing. Numerous academic and non-academic writers contributed how create a writing life, write well, get published. Much of this literature aims assist through the challenges encountered in process. Helen Sword’s book, Writing with Pleasure, takes an atypical approach by showing readers can their own action plan pleasure. Suit...

Fibromyalgia (FM) is characterized by widespread pain, as well as affective disturbance (eg, depression). Given that emotional processes are known to modulate pain, a disruption of emotion and emotional modulation of pain and nociception may contribute to FM. The present study used a well-validated affective picture-viewing paradigm to study emotional processing and emotional modulation of pain...