Chronic back pain (CBP) is a leading cause of disability and results in considerable socio-economic burdens worldwide. Although CBP patients are commonly diagnosed and treated with a focus on the ‘end organ dysfunction’ (i.e., peripheral nerve injuries or diseases), the evaluation of CBP remains flawed and problematic with great challenges. Given that the peripheral nerve injuries or diseases are insufficient to define the etiology of CBP in some cases, the evaluation of alterations in the central nervous system becomes particularly necessary (...) and important. With the development of advanced neuroimaging techniques, extensive studies have been carried out to identify the cortical abnormalities in CBP patients. Here, we provide a comprehensive overview on a series of novel findings from these neuroimaging studies to improve our understanding of the cortical abnormalities originated in the disease. First, CBP patients normally exhibit central sensitization to external painful stimuli, which is indexed by increased pain sensitivity and brain activations in pain-related brain regions. Second, long-term suffering from chronic pain leads to emotional disorders, cognitive impairments, and the abnormalities of the relevant brain networks among CBP patients. Third, CBP is associated with massive cortical reorganization, including structural, functional, and metabolic brain changes. Overall, a deep insight into the neural mechanisms underlying the development and outcome of CBP through more sophisticated neuroimaging investigations could not only improve our current understanding of the etiology of CBP but also facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of CBP based on precision medicine. (shrink)

The present study sets out to investigate the role of ‘culture’ as one of the many important factors that influence the evaluation of politeness in Persian from a Cultural Linguistics perspective. The paper argues that Cultural Linguistics, and in particular the notion of cultural schema, has the potential to offer a robust analytical framework for the exploration of polite use of language. We elaborate on this proposal by presenting examples of data from Persian in which speakers interpret impolite behaviour in (...) light of a number of Persian cultural schemas. The study also offers a novel three-layered approach for the analysis of politeness data that combines metadiscourse analysis with the ethnography of cultural conceptualisations, while highlighting the importance of the notion of ‘heterogeneous distribution’ of cultural conceptualisations, a pivotal theoretical concept in Cultural Linguistics which accounts for the variations in speakers’ evaluation of politeness. (shrink)

The post-September 11th era has presented immense challenges and disappointing setbacks for the advancement of human rights. Yet, the era has also been marked by complexity, paradoxes and ample opportunities for introspection as events expose contemporary human rights' various weaknesses and contradictions. This article provides an overview of the interplay between the human rights concept's various instrumental appropriations and its more autonomous emancipatory capacity manifested in post-September 11th developments. Instead of an exhaustive examination, the article simply poses and juxtaposes different (...) dimensions and layers of the formidable presence of the human rights idea in post-September 11th developments impacting the Middle East. To this end, it places a particular emphasis on human rights' capacity to simultaneously aid, transcend and confront local and international power structures.The article begins with a discussion of the ways in which American hegemony is both bolstered and challenged through human rights discourses after September 11th. It then turns to the Middle Eastern encounter with human rights amidst the American "War on Terror." It is argued that while widespread Middle Eastern consciousness of American appropriations of human rights foster cynicism about the promise and legitimacy of human rights, post-September 11th dynamics have also resulted in greater Middle Eastern engagement with the human rights concept and international human rights norms. In subsequent sections, the article presents a brief outline of the various challenges and openings presented for human rights advocacy in the last few years followed by a discussion of the renewed imperative for a genuine international human rights dialogue. Throughout the article, examples are presented of how pre-existing human rights geographies and hierarchies ascribing relativism to the East and universalism to the West have been unsettled during this period. (shrink)

Undoubtedly, environmental damage is one of the most important challenges facing contemporary human beings. This is important because the signs that threaten this damage have now become apparent, threatening humans with widespread environmental pollution. On the other hand, humanity will not be able to live a normal life without a safe and healthy environment. Therefore, preservation and protection of the environment, as the most important basic needs of survival, are considered by everyone, including researchers. As a consequence, various studies aim (...) to identify the factors that play a role in how humans and the environment interact. To this end, the present study considered the comprehensiveness of Islam and paid attention to all human needs, and intended to examine the role of religious beliefs on how to interact with the environment. It is worth mentioning that the statistical population of this study comprised 387 Iranian Muslim students from different universities in Iran. After the distribution of standardised research questionnaires whose validity and reliability was confirmed, the collected data were analysed by statistical software. Finally, the results concluded the following: The investigated statistical population pledged and bonded to religious instructions, the investigated statistical population had an appropriate interaction with the environment and the obligation and pledge to religious beliefs had a positive and significant role in people interacting with the environment so that people with strong religious beliefs had a more appropriate interaction with the environment, in opposition to people with less religious beliefs whose interaction with the environment was not apt.Contribution: This research provides further insight into the relations between Theology, religious beliefs and the interaction of people with the environment. (shrink)

This article is aimed to rephrase and critique the arguments presented by Joseph LaPorte about the truth of theoretical identity statements in natural sciences. LaPorte is classified as an essentialist who accepts the real kinds, but he denies the essence of the kinds to be discovered. His arguments are based on the vagueness of the terms of kinds. In his view while science progress we convention (not discover) what is related to the kinds. I evaluate LaPorte's arguments and show they (...) can be applied only for the border terms in scientific theories and so the generalization of the claim is not defensible. (shrink)

With the fantastic features of smartphones, smartphone addiction is a prevalent phenomenon. However, there is a lack of theory-based understanding of how smartphone addiction affects employees’ personal and work lives. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of smartphone addiction in reinforcing techno exhaustion and life invasion and the final effects of these factors on job performance, and this study applied stress–strain-outcome (SSO) as the foundation of the model. In total, 475 responses were obtained from office and (...) service workers in Iran by a survey. Our findings show that smartphone addiction leads to enhancement in job performance, whereas it significantly strengthens life invasion and techno exhaustion, and thereby life invasion and techno exhaustion dramatically reduce job performance. Our findings indicate the two-sided role of direct and indirect effects of smartphone addiction. Implications for both organizations and employees are discussed. • Stressor-strain-outcome framework is utilized to examine smartphone addiction. • Smartphone addiction leads to enhancement in job performance. • Smartphone addiction significantly strengthens life invasion and techno exhaustion. • Life invasion and techno exhaustion dramatically reduce job performance. • The negative indirect effects of smartphone addiction are more powerful than its positive direct influence. (shrink)

Anxiety is a common unpleasant reaction among patients undergoing surgery. Many non-pharmacological methods such as spiritual strength are effective in preoperative anxiety management. This study aimed to assess the effects of listening to Quran recitation on reducing preoperative anxiety. A systematic review was performed in Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, Arab World Research Source, and other relevant databases to collect the data. Randomized controlled trials about the effects of listening to Quran recitation on preoperative anxiety reduction in elective surgery were (...) selected without any language and date restriction. Interventions with self-reading/self-recitation were excluded. The Cochran’s Q statistic and the I2 index with 50% threshold were used for calculating the heterogeneity and inconsistency index. Subgroup analysis was conducted based on the surgery type. The funnel plot was used to evaluate the possibility of publication bias. Twelve studies were included in the qualitative synthesis and nine studies in the quantitative synthesis. The meta-analysis showed a significant anxiety reduction with listening to Quran recitation. The heterogeneity between the included studies was statistically significant. The pooled effect size of anxiety was d = −8.893 = −10.763 to −7.022). The subgroup analysis showed that listening to Quran recitation reduces anxiety in major and minor surgeries. There was no publication bias in the studies. The findings indicated that listening to Quran recitation can be considered a non-invasive and peaceful intervention to reduce preoperative anxiety in elective surgery. (shrink)