Mood congruency refers to a match in affective content between a person's mood and his or her thoughts. The mood-congruent judgment effect states in part that attributes will be judged more characteristic, and events more likely, under conditions of mood congruence. Thus, the happy person will believe good weather is more likely than bad weather (relative to such a judgment in a state of mood ^congruence). Three studies showed that the effect generalizes to non-self-relevant judgments with natural mood. Study 1 (N= 202) generalized it across a variety of specific emotions, Study 2(N=\ ,065) generalized it across a variety of tasks, and Study 3 (N= 524) generalized it to a nonlaboratory, statewide sample. The three studies redefine mood-congruent judgment more broadly and thereby inform the debate about its underlying mechanisms. The relation between mood-congruent judgment and personality is discussed.

FBSS is a syndrome consisting of a myriad of surgical and nonsurgical etiologies. Approximately one half of FBSS patients have a surgical etiology. Approximately 95% of patients can be provided a specific diagnosis.

These initial findings suggest that fluoroscopically guided therapeutic sacroiliac joint injections are a clinically effective intervention in the treatment of patients with sacroiliac joint syndrome. Controlled, prospective studies are necessary to further clarify the role of therapeutic injections in this patient population.

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Epidural steroid injections are commonly used to treat lumbosacral radicular and discogenic pain. When used in this manner, these agents can cause minor, transient systemic side effects and rarely result in any serious complications. Because adverse reactions are uncommon and transient, epidural injections are considered a safe therapeutic intervention. We describe the first case of persistent hiccups as a consequence of a thoracic epidural steroid injection in a patient with thoracic discogenic pain.