浙江淳安小学生流行性癔病的心理社会因素探讨

本文报告对前文所述文昌乡中心小学四个流行性癔病发病班137名学生进行了问卷调查,其中曾发病者36人(女31,男5)与未发病的45人(女38,男7)对照组进行比较。结果显示发病组 EPQ 测定 N 分(神经质)高,平时情绪消极,应对能力差,依赖性强,体质较差,关系密切同学中患病者多,害怕鬼神等特点,与对照组相比,均有显著性差异。     

Superstition and post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: The objective was to determine whether post-tonsillectomy hemorrhages occur more frequently in redheaded children, in patterns of threes, on Friday-the-13th days, or with the full moon. STUDY DESIGN: Case-control analysis. METHODS: The authors performed multiple statistical analyses of all children undergoing tonsillectomy at Temple University Children's Medical Center (Philadelphia, PA) during a 29-month period. Children readmitted to the hospital with or without surgical control of bleeding were compared with children who did not bleed. Relation of post-tonsillectomy hemorrhages to the phase of the moon was evaluated using a standard normal deviate. The frequency of surgery performed on Friday-the-13th days was compared with a differently dated Friday chosen at random. Clusters of three hemorrhages in a 7-day period were recorded. Families of children were contacted and asked whether their child had red hair. A chi analysis compared redheaded and non-redheaded tonsillectomy patients. RESULTS: Twenty-eight of 589 tonsillectomy cases performed required readmission for bleeding events. Twenty tonsillectomies occurred on a full-moon day, resulting in one bleeding event. One cluster of three post-tonsillectomy hemorrhages occurred in a 7-day period. Four of the children who bled had red hair. Two tonsillectomies occurred on Friday the 13th, with no associated hemorrhage. Statistical analysis revealed a random pattern to post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage. CONCLUSION: Post-tonsillectomy hemorrhages do not occur in clusters of three and are not more frequent with the full moon or on Friday the 13th. The bleeding rate among children with red hair is similar to that of non-redheaded children.     

The tooth-worm: historical aspects of a popular medical belief

The concept of a tooth-worm, which according to popular belief, caused caries and periodontitis, has existed in diverse cultures and across the ages. During the Enlightenment, however, the theory of the tooth-worm was assigned by medical doctors almost exclusively to superstition. Even so, the idea that toothache was caused by gnawing worms held on even into this century. There were many different ideas with regard to the appearance of tooth-worms. In England, for instance, it was thought that the tooth-worm looked like an eel. In Northern Germany, people supposed the tooth-worm to be red, blue, and gray and in many cases the worm was compared to a maggot. The gnawing worm was held responsible for many evils and, in particular, was blamed for toothache provoked by caries. The question is discussed of how the belief in the existence of the tooth-worm in former times can be explained. In popular medicine, numerous therapies were applied in order to eradicate the tooth-worm. In addition to the fumigations with henbane seeds, which allowed the “tooth-worm” to develop in the form of burst seeds, there were also magical formulas and oaths. Received: 18 February 1998 / Accepted: 19 October 1998     

EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS IN MORALITY,RELIGION, AND PARANORMAL BELIEFS

Moral, religious, and paranormal beliefs share some degree of overlap and play important roles in guiding peoples' behavior. Although partly cultural phenomena, they also have neurobiological components based on functional neuroimaging studies and research in clinical populations. Because all three show relationships to prefrontal system functioning, the current study examined whether they related to executive functions as measured by the Executive Function Inventory in a community sample. As in previous research, religious beliefs related positively to both moral attitudes and paranormal beliefs. Moral attitudes, however, did not relate to paranormal beliefs. Paranormal beliefs related inversely to impulse control and organization, whereas small positive correlations occurred between traditional religious beliefs, impulse control, and empathy. Moral attitudes, on the other hand, showed consistent positive correlations with all executive functions measured, independent of demographic influences. These findings concordantly support that prefrontal systems play a role in morality, religion, and paranormal beliefs.     

Some observations and comments on the psychosocial profile of first-ever referrals to the psychiatric hospital,Enugu, Nigeria

The psychosocial characteristics of 126 consecutive first-ever referrals over a 30-day period to a psychiatric hospital in Nigeria are analysed. There was a male to female ratio of 1.7:1. The largest age group was of those aged 20–29 who constituted about 37.3 % of the total sample. The great majority were aged below 50 years. There were more married females (14.3 %) than single ones (11.9 %); while more men (34.1 %) were single than married (19.1 %). The majority (76.2 %) had received varying degrees of formal education in a country where there is a literacy rate of only about 20 %. About 50 % were unemployed at the time of referral while the majority of those employed were either farm workers or small tradesmen and artisans. The largest diagnostic category was schizophrenia, followed by the affective psychoses. Paranoid and catatonic schizophrenias were diagnosed more commonly than the other types of schizophrenia. Neurotic disorders were the third commonest group. An unclassified group consisting of those presenting with states of acute excitement was also delineated. There was a predominance of persons from the rural areas. Generally, violence, disruptive and abnormal behaviour were the main reasons for referral to hospital. The results obtained are compared with the results of studies from various other workers, while some of the problems hindering systematic field studies in psychiatric epidemiology in Africa are mentioned, as well as certain socio-cultural characteristics of the target population (of this study) which might be affecting the course of mental disorder occurring in its members.     

Superstition,witchcraft and HIV prevention in sub-Saharan Africa: the case of Ghana

Belief in superstition and witchcraft is central to many African conceptions of illness, disease causation and etiology. While a number of anthropological studies have alluded to a theoretical link between such beliefs and HIV prevention in particular, there is limited empirical assessment of the association. Using data from the 2008 Ghana Demographic and Health Survey and applying random-effects logit models, we investigate whether the belief that AIDS can spread through witchcraft associates with the sexual decision making of never-married men and women. The results show that men who believed AIDS can spread through witchcraft and other supernatural means were less likely to have used condoms at last sexual intercourse, controlling for other socioeconomic and cultural variables. Women with similar beliefs were more likely to have experienced sexual intercourse but less likely to have used condoms at last sex. For women, however, the relationship between such superstitious beliefs and condom use was somewhat attenuated after controlling for ethnicity and region of residence. From a policy perspective, the findings suggest that local beliefs regarding AIDS causation must be considered in designing HIV/AIDS programmes and interventions.