Components of Type A Behavior and Task-Induced Cardiovascular Activation

The present study sought to determine whether there are subcomponents of the Type A behavior pattern that are more closely related to cardiovascular reactivity than others. The components studied were factor analytically derived subscales of the Jenkins Activity Survey denoting Irritation and Impatience, on the one hand, and Hard-Driving and Competitive, on the other. Heart rate, pulse transit time, forearm electromyography, and palmar skin conductance were measured while the subjects performed a continuous perceptual motor task, as well as during baselines before and after the task. The Irritation and Impatience dimension was consistently related to task-induced changes in heart rate, both in regression analyses and in extreme group analyses of variance. A significant relation was also observed for pulse transit time but not for electromyography. The Hard-Driving and Competitive dimension, on the other hand, was not related to any psychophysiological measures. These results were interpreted to mean that Irritable and Impatient subjects showed a cardiovascular reaction pattern indicative of active coping processes during task performance.     

The significance of personality in pain from gallbladder stones

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to investigate the association between personality factors related to coping styles and reported pain due to gallstones. METHODS: Personality trait measures were completed by 28 consecutive gallstone patients to provide estimates of positive coping resources (Life Regard Index, Sense of Coherence Scale, Sense of Humor Questionnaire) and negative coping resources (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire on Neuroticism, Tension, and Effort Stress Inventory). An overall index of gallstone-related complaints (pain) over the past 7 days/6 months was also obtained. Ultrasonography confirmed the gallstone condition. Multiple regression analyses tested the hypothesis that pain would be moderated by positive coping resources and mediated by negative coping resources. RESULTS: Reported pain was less severe with positive coping resources (39% of pain variance explained) and more severe with negative coping resources (45% of pain variance explained). CONCLUSION: The results confirm that mental coping resources have a significant role in pain differences among gallstone patients.     

Depressed mood and subjective health symptoms as predictors of mortality in patients with congestive heart failure: a two-years follow-up study

OBJECTIVE: The present study was undertaken in order to evaluate the relationship between depressed mood (depression, emotional distress) and disease-specific subjective health symptoms upon mortality risk among patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). METHODS AND RESULTS: Proportional hazard models were used to evaluate the effects of selected biomedical, subjective health and psychological variables on mortality among 119 clinically stable patients (71.4% men; mean age 65.7 years +/- 9.6) with symptomatic heart failure, recruited from an outpatient cardiology practice. Twenty deaths were registered during the twenty-four-month period of data collection, all from cardiac causes. Results indicated that depressed mood was a significant predictor of mortality with a hazard ratio of 1.9, p .002. In contrast, subjective health was not a significant predictor of mortality in a Cox regression model that included depressed mood. The hazard ratio for a 1-point increase in Zung Depression Scale score was equal to 1.08 based on the multivariate model. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate that depressed mood is significantly related to increased mortality risk among heart failure patients. This finding is of concern to clinicians and should have implications for treatment of patients with congestive heart failure.     

Motivational differences among talented teenage athletes: the significance of gender, type of sport and level of excellence

A range of motivational characteristics were studied in a sample of 228 males and 124 females (age: 15–16 years) recruited from the most promising performers of different sports, mainly in western Norway. They all completed the Sport Orientation Questionnaire (competitiveness, win and goal orientation), the short Sensation Seeking Scale, the Life Orientation Test (optimism), a new scale on Social Reactivity (reactive and proactive negativism) and questions on the importance of friendship among sport performers and of being the best. Differences of motivational styles were tested between males and females, performers of endurance, explosive and team sports and moderately versus highly successful performers. The males scored significantly higher on competitiveness, win and goal orientation, sensation seeking and so-called reactive negativism, but scored significantly lower than females on the importance of friendship. More complex group differences were also significant. One example is the relatively high mean score for proactive negativism in males performing explosive sports and the low mean in females of team sports. Our findings indicate a role for gender, type of sport, and level of excellence in motivational differences among these promising athletes. The prospective significance of motivational differences for future success in sport competitions will be tested in a follow-up study.     

Sense of humor and survival among a county cohort of patients with end-stage renal failure: a two-year prospective study

OBJECTIVE: To explore the significance of sense of humor for survival in a county cohort of patients diagnosed with end-stage renal failure. This diagnosis is a life-threatening condition that calls upon coping skills and regular dialysis. METHOD: All patients receiving dialysis in the county of S?r-Tr?ndelag during February of one year (N= 52) were invited. Forty-one completed the survey and had complete data (78.9%). Predictors were related to survival status two years later. Three blocks of predictors were tested: 1) age, gender and education; 2) duration of disease, number of dialyses per week, and co-morbidity; and 3) quality of life and sense of humor. Confounding effects of variables in blocks one and two were controlled for using Cox survival analysis. RESULTS: Nineteen patients (46.3 %) died over the 2-year observation period. Survival decreased with higher age at time of survey (p < .044), but was not significantly predicted by variables in block two. A highly significant increase in survival was due to the psychological variables of block three (p <.001) essentially accounted for by sense of humor (p < .005). Those who scored above the median in sense of humor increased their odds for survival by on average 31%. CONCLUSIONS: Sense of humor appeared to mediate better coping and, therefore, protected against detrimental effects of disease-related stressors upon survival.     

Some health effects of implementing school nursing in a Norwegian high school: a controlled study.

The effects of a school nursing service on health complaints and mood were investigated in a Norwegian high school. The school nursing service was delivered to students in 1 high school, and students in a comparable high school served as the comparison group. There were 41 students in the treatment group and 63 in the comparison group. All students completed a survey at the beginning of 2 successive fall terms. The survey had items on common health complaints, perceived stress, efforts to cope, moods, and sense of humor. Results from multivariate analyses of variance found that test-retest variance was stable for all measures. Level of complaints tended to be reduced as an effect of access to the school nursing service. Sense of humor at follow-up tended to buffer health complaints and negative moods.     

Common Pathogenetic Mechanisms in Symptomatic, Uncomplicated Gallstone Disease and Functional Dyspepsia (Volume Measurement of Gallbladder and Antrum Using Three-Dimensional Ultrasonography)

Following cholecystectomy for uncomplicatedgallstone disease (GS) some patients experiencepersistent symptoms suggesting an underlying functionaldisorder. To study this phenomenon, we have comparedsymptomatic GS with functional dyspepsia (FD) patients andhealthy individuals (C) with respect to putativepathogenetic mechanisms. Gallbladder and gastric antrumvolumes were estimated with three-dimensional (3D) ultrasonography before and 10 min afteringestion of 500 ml meat soup in 18 patients with GS.Volume estimation was performed digitally afterinteractive manual tracing and organ reconstruction inthree dimensions. Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA)was calculated to index vagal tone. Abdominal symptomswere assessed by interview. The results were compared topreviously published data in patients with FD and C investigated with the exact samemethods. No significant differences were found betweengroups with respect to fasting gallbladder orgallbladder emptying. Antral volumes both fasting (P< 0.05) and postprandially (P < 0.01) were larger inGS and FD than in C. The soup meal induced dyspepticsymptoms in 2/18 (11% ) of C, 12/18 (67% ) of GS and15/17 (88%) of FD patients (P < 0.001). Compared with C, both GS and FD patients had significantlydecreased vagal tone (P < 0.001). There was nosignificant difference between GS and FD patients withrespect to antral volume, vagal tone, or symptoms. Weconcluded that both gallstone and functional dyspepsiapatients are characterized by dyspeptic symptoms inresponse to ingestion of 500 ml of meat soup, a widegastric antrum, low vagal tone, but normal gallbladder size and emptying. Thus, patients withsymptomatic, uncomplicated gallstone disease andfunctional dyspepsia seem to have common pathogeneticmechanisms.     

Active and passive forearm flexor tension patterns in the continuous perceptual-motor task paradigm: The significance of motivation

The psychophysiology of skeletal muscle tension patterns during goal-directed behavior was investigated by using the continuous perceptual-motor task paradigm. Subjects were recruited to form serious-minded and playful extreme groups according to their responses to the Telic Dominance Scale (10 subjects in each group). They all performed a continuous perceptual-motor task 5 times at a ‘slow’ speed followed by a final ‘fast’ task. All performance periods lasted for 150 s. Measures of passive (tonic) and active (phasic) forearm flexor EMG activity were derived. It was concluded that serious-mindedness was significant to a tonic build-up of tension in the passive forearm flexor over the course of task performance. In contrast, the playful state was associated with high phasic response amplitudes in the active forearm flexor contingent upon changing the position of the joy-stick. Training moderated the range of state-specific EMG activation. State measures confirmed that the subjects maintained their state dominance during task performance. Error-scores and scores on felt level of arousal did not discriminate between the groups.