Mindfulness is associated with psychological health and moderates pain in knee osteoarthritis.

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies suggest that higher mindfulness is associated with less pain and depression. However, the role of mindfulness has never been studied in knee osteoarthritis (OA). We evaluate the relationships between mindfulness and pain, psychological symptoms, and quality of life in knee OA. METHOD: We performed a secondary analysis of baseline data from our randomized comparative trial in participants with knee OA. Mindfulness was assessed using the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). We measured pain, physical function, quality of life, depression, stress, and self-efficacy with commonly-used patient-reported measures. Simple and multivariable regression models were utilized to assess associations between mindfulness and health outcomes. We further tested whether mindfulness moderated the pain-psychological outcome associations. RESULTS: Eighty patients were enrolled (60.3 ± 10.3 years; 76.3% female, body mass index: 33.0 ± 7.1 kg/m2). Total mindfulness score was associated with mental (beta = 1.31, 95% CI: 0.68, 1.95) and physical (beta = 0.69, 95% CI:0.06, 1.31) component quality of life, self-efficacy (beta = 0.22, 95% CI:0.07, 0.37), depression (beta = -1.15, 95% CI:-1.77, -0.54), and stress (beta = -1.07, 95% CI:-1.53, -0.60). Of the five facets, the Describing, Acting-with-Awareness, and Non-judging mindfulness facets had the most associations with psychological health. No significant association was found between mindfulness and pain or function (P = 0.08-0.24). However, we found that mindfulness moderated the effect of pain on stress (P = 0.02). CONCLUSION: Mindfulness is associated with depression, stress, self-efficacy, and quality of life among knee OA patients. Mindfulness also moderates the influence of pain on stress, which suggests that mindfulness may alter the way one copes with pain. Future studies examining the benefits of mind-body therapy, designed to increase mindfulness, for patients with OA are warranted.

Phospholipid coatings for the prevention of membrane fouling.

The aim of the present work was the development of phosphorylcholine-based treatments for biofiltration membranes and the demonstration that such treatments prevent or inhibit protein fouling. Microfiltration membranes of cellulose triacetate, polyether sulphone and polyvinylidene fluoride were etched with oxygen in a plasma chamber to generate surface hydroxyl groups and were then treated with the monomer 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine. These membranes were evaluated with water, buffer, bovine serum albumin (BSA), yeast fermentation broth, beer and orange juice. The treatment of cellulose triacetate membranes reduced both the initial flux and the extent of water fouling. In terms of the integrated flux, these factors tended to cancel each other out. For protein, the membranes gave similar or higher fluxes but worse fouling. The cellular feed (yeast) reacted more favourably to the coating than the BSA. The polyether sulphone was scarcely affected by the coating; fouling remaining high with most 'real' feeds. There was lower initial flux but less flux decline with water and beer. Washing with water and cleaning with Tergazyme did not restore the initial flux. Polyvinylidene fluoride membranes gave the most positive results. In most cases, the coating both increased initial flux and decreased the rate of fouling. The coating was particularly effective for BSA and for beer and orange juice, where fouling is probably caused by a polysaccharide rather than by a protein. Electron microscopy showed, nonetheless, that fouling by proteins was accompanied by protein adsorption primarily on the upper surface of the membrane and that coated membranes showed less deposition and in different places than did untreated membranes.