Exercise-Induced Hypoalgesia Is Not Influenced by Physical Activity Type and Amount.

Physical activity (PA), especially vigorous-intensity PA, has been shown to be related to pain sensitivity. The relationship among PA levels and PA types on endogenous pain inhibition after exercise, termed exercise-induced hypoalgesia (EIH), remains unclear. PURPOSE: This studied examined the EIH response to pressure stimuli among college-age women of differing activity levels. METHODS: Fifty women were tested. Pressure pain threshold (PPT) values were assessed before and immediately after isometric handgrip exercise to exhaustion in the right and left forearms. Participant's PA levels were assessed by wearing an accelerometer for seven consecutive days during waking hours, excluding water activities. Participants were classified into four PA groups: met the American College of Sports Medicine aerobic recommendations (AERO), met aerobic and resistance training recommendations (AERO + RT), insufficiently aerobically active but resistance trained (RT), and insufficiently active (IA) based on their measured and self-reported PA level and type. RESULTS: AERO and AERO + RT had greater vigorous (P < 0.001) and total PA (P < 0.001) compared with RT and IA. EIH was observed for PPT in both right and left arms (P < 0.001), with PPT increasing 7.7% (529 ± 236 vs 569 ± 235 kPa) and 7.0% (529 ± 299 vs 571 ± 250 kPa) in the right and left forearms, respectively. EIH did not differ among activity groups (P = 0.82). PPT values were found to be inversely related to vigorous-intensity PA (r = -0.29). CONCLUSIONS: PA levels and types had no effect on endogenous pain inhibition after exercise in college-age women.

Smoking and membership in a fraternity or sorority: a systematic review of the literature.

OBJECTIVE: Fraternity and sorority members have higher rates of smoking than other college students. This systematic review examines studies that included fraternity/sorority membership in their investigation of smoking behaviors. PARTICIPANTS/METHODS: Studies identified in MEDLINE, PsychInfo, JSTOR, CINAHL, ERIC, and Google Scholar published between 2003 and 2013 were included if they included fraternity and/or sorority membership, were written in English, published in a peer-reviewed journal, and had smoking as an outcome variable. Nineteen studies were identified for the review. RESULTS: Fraternity/sorority members were more likely to be nondaily smokers. Members who lived in the fraternity/sorority house had higher rates of smoking than members who lived elsewhere. Fraternity/sorority member smoking was associated with alcohol and other substance use. The influence of no-smoking policies on fraternity/sorority member smoking was also examined. CONCLUSIONS: Fraternity/sorority membership was associated with higher rates of smoking, but this association was influenced by other substance use and environmental factors.

Emotional stimuli and context moderate effects of nicotine on specific but not global affects.

The authors tested the hypothesis that the effects of nicotine on affect are moderated by the presence or absence of emotionally positive and negative stimuli and by attentional choice to avoid attending to emotionally negative stimuli. Thirty-two habitual smokers were assigned to tasks allowing attentional freedom to look back and forth at 2 simultaneously presented pictures, whereas another 32 habitual smokers viewed single pictures without attentional choice. Picture contents in both tasks were 1 of 4 combinations: emotionally negative + neutral, negative + positive, positive + neutral, or neutral + neutral. Participants wore a nicotine patch on 1 day and placebo patch on another day. Nicotine reduced anxiety most when negative pictures were presented in combination with neutral pictures, but it had no effect on anxiety when negative pictures were presented in combination with positive pictures and when negative pictures were not presented. In contrast, nicotine only reduced depressive affect when the participant had attentional choice between positive and negative pictures. Nicotine also enhanced positive affect and reduced negative affect as measured by the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, but these effects were not moderated by task manipulations. Overall, the findings support the view that nicotine's ability to reduce specific negative affects is moderated by emotional context and attentional freedom. Nicotine tended to enhance eye-gaze orientation to emotional pictures versus neutral pictures in women, but it had no significant effect on eye-gaze in men.