July 2006
Monthly Archive
The emergence of overweight as a disease entity: Measuring up normality.
The emergence of overweight as a disease entity: Measuring up normality.
Soc Sci Med. 2006 Jul 15;
Authors: Jutel A
As Charles Rosenberg [(2002). The tyranny of diagnosis. The Milbank Quarterly, 80, 237-260] has recently written, clinical diagnosis contributes to imposing structure on cultural reality in a manner which is not unproblematic. A social power resides in the process of naming diseases-one, which legitimises concerns, explains reality, naturalises deviance and imposes status. But clinical entities are not static, as both the concerns of society, and the technological ability of practitioners change (what Rosenberg refers to as the "iatrogenesis of nosology"), so too do the range of labels available for identifying disease. In this paper, I argue that being "overweight," once predominantly an adjectival descriptor of corpulence, a physical sign or a symptom, and even, in some cultures, a sign of wealth and status, is undergoing the transformation to disease entity. I suggest that evidence of this is present in both the frequency and the way in which the term is being used by the media, the medical establishment and the laity. I argue that this change stems from the convergence of two particular phenomena. The first is the belief in the neutrality of quantification, and the objectivity that measurement brings to qualitative description. The second is the importance attributed to normative appearance in health. I discuss some of the implications of this evolution and its impact on health practices, including the exploitation of this purported disease state for commercial benefit.
PMID: 16846671 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Subjective residual life expectancy in health self-regulation.
Subjective residual life expectancy in health self-regulation.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2006 Jul;61(4):P195-201
Authors: Ziegelmann JP, Lippke S, Schwarzer R
Applying socioemotional selectivity theory to the domain of health, we examined the interplay of social-cognitive predictors of physical exercise in two groups of people who perceived their remaining lifetime as either expansive or limited (based on subjective longevity ratings). Individuals (N = 370) who were prescribed physical exercise were assessed at discharge from orthopedic rehabilitation as well as 6 and 12 months later. Multigroup structural equation modeling showed differences in latent means, interrelations of predictors, and amount of explained variance. Individuals who perceived their time as limited reported a less favorable profile on social-cognitive variables and less exercise goal attainment. We give first insights on how health self-regulation differs in these groups, and we discuss avenues for intervention based on socioemotional selectivity theory. In contrast to chronological age, subjective life expectancy can be targeted by intervention.
PMID: 16855031 [PubMed - in process]
Volitional Processes25 Jul 2006 11:39 am
Dancing hot on Ecstasy: physical activity and thermal comfort ratings are associated with the memory and other psychobiological problems reported by recreational MDMA users.
Dancing hot on Ecstasy: physical activity and thermal comfort ratings are associated with the memory and other psychobiological problems reported by recreational MDMA users.
Hum Psychopharmacol. 2006 Jul 20;21(5):285-298
Authors: Parrott AC, Rodgers J, Buchanan T, Ling J, Heffernan T, Scholey AB
BACKGROUND: Non-drug factors such as ambient temperature can heighten the adverse effects of MDMA (3,4-methylendioxymethamphetamine) in animals. We assessed whether dancing and feeling hot on Ecstasy would be associated with more psychobiological problems in recreational users. METHODS: In an internet study, 206 unpaid participants (modal age 16-24) reported that they had used recreational Ecstasy/MDMA. They completed a drug use questionnaire, the Prospective Memory Questionnaire (PMQ), questions about dancing and feeling hot when on Ecstasy, and psychobiological problems afterwards. RESULTS: Those who danced 'all the time' when on Ecstasy, reported significantly more PMQ memory problems than the less intensive dancers. Prolonged dancing was also associated with more complaints of depression, memory problems, concentration and organizational difficulties afterwards. Feeling hot when on Ecstasy was associated with poor concentration in the comedown period, and with mood fluctuation and impulsivity off-drug. PMQ long-term problems demonstrated a significant curvilinear relationship with thermal self-ratings; more memory problems were noted by those who felt very hot, and by those who did not feel hot when on Ecstasy. CONCLUSIONS: Non-drug factors such as dancing and feeling hot are associated with the incidence of psychobiological problems reported by recreational Ecstasy/MDMA users. Copyright (c) 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
PMID: 16856221 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Temporal framing and the decision to take part in type 2 diabetes screening: effects of individual differences in consideration of future consequences on persuasion.
Temporal framing and the decision to take part in type 2 diabetes screening: effects of individual differences in consideration of future consequences on persuasion.
Health Psychol. 2006 Jul;25(4):537-48
Authors: Orbell S, Hagger M
Reliable individual differences in the extent to which people consider the long- and short-term consequences of their own behaviors are hypothesized to influence the impact of a persuasive communication. In a field experiment, the time frame of occurrence of positive and negative consequences of taking part in a proposed Type 2 diabetes screening program was manipulated in a sample of 210 adults with a mean age of 53 years. Individual differences in consideration of future consequences (CFC; A. Strathman, F. Gleicher, D. S. Boninger, & C. S. Edwards, 1994) moderated (a) the generation of positive and negative thoughts and (b) the persuasive impact of the different communications. Low-CFC individuals were more persuaded when positive consequences were short term and negative consequences were long term. The opposite was true of high-CFC individuals. Path analyses show that net positive thoughts generated mediated the effect of the CFC x Time Frame manipulations on behavioral intentions.
PMID: 16846330 [PubMed - in process]
Changes in finding benefit after cancer surgery and the prediction of well-being one year later.
Changes in finding benefit after cancer surgery and the prediction of well-being one year later.
Soc Sci Med. 2006 Jun 8;
Authors: Schwarzer R, Luszczynska A, Boehmer S, Taubert S, Knoll N
Critical life events, such as cancer surgery, may result in finding some benefit in one's fate. In this longitudinal study with 117 cancer patients (73 men, 44 women) in hospitals in Berlin, we addressed three questions. (1) Do patients report benefit finding after surgery? (2) Are changes in benefit finding related to patients' well-being? (3) Is social support associated with finding benefits in cancer? Patients were interviewed and completed a questionnaire in the week before cancer surgery. They were invited to participate in the follow-up by letter with a questionnaire at one month and again at 12 months postsurgery. Benefit finding was measured by a seven-item scale assessing different facets of positive changes attributed to experiencing grave illness. Although benefit finding increased over one year, change was substantial only for those who started off at a low level. Well-being was not associated with benefit finding at any point in time. However, changes in benefit finding predicted subsequent well-being. Received support was associated with benefit finding. Changes in benefit finding as well as initial support emerged as joint predictors of well-being.
PMID: 16765495 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Assessing attention control in goal pursuit: a component of dispositional self-regulation.
Assessing attention control in goal pursuit: a component of dispositional self-regulation.
J Pers Assess. 2006 Jun;86(3):306-17
Authors: Diehl M, Semegon AB, Schwarzer R
We examined the psychometric properties of the Self-Regulation Scale (SRS; Schwarzer, Diehl, & Schmitz, 1999), a measure of attention control in goal pursuit, in 2 independent studies. Study 1 included young adults (N = 443), whereas Study 2 included young, middle-aged, and older adults (N = 330). In both studies, the SRS showed good internal consistency. In Study 1, the SRS also showed satisfactory test-retest reliability over a 6-week period. We found support for the criterion validity of the SRS in terms of positive correlations with measures of general and domain-specific self-efficacy, proactive coping, and positive affect and in terms of negative correlations with depressive symptoms and negative affect. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that attention control accounted for unique portions of variance in relevant outcome variables above and beyond measures of self-efficacy and proactive coping.
PMID: 16740114 [PubMed - in process]
The role of action control in implementing intentions during the first weeks of behaviour change.
The role of action control in implementing intentions during the first weeks of behaviour change.
Br J Soc Psychol. 2006 Mar;45(Pt 1):87-106
Authors: Sniehotta FF, Nagy G, Scholz U, Schwarzer R
Prevailing social cognition models consider behavioural intentions as immediate precursors of actions. This view ignores the role of more proximal self-regulatory processes, such as action control. The latter emerges after an intention has been formed and is supposed to maintain the level of intentions over time and to translate them into action. Three facets of action control were examined in terms of their predictive power for changes in intentions and for physical exercise: (a) awareness of standards, (b) self-monitoring, and (c) self-regulatory effort. A parsimonious 6-item instrument was administered to 122 cardiac patients at six weekly measurement points in time following rehabilitation. A distinction was made between the level of action control and the degree of change in action control, applying a latent growth model. While awareness of standards remained stable, the other two facets exhibited a linear change over the six-week period. Level and change were distinct predictors of physical exercise and changes in intentions. These findings emphasize the importance of self-regulatory mechanisms in the first weeks of trying to overcome a sedentary lifestyle. Action control may be a promising construct to narrow the intention-behaviour gap.
PMID: 16573874 [PubMed - in process]
fMRI environment can impair memory performance in young and elderly adults.
fMRI environment can impair memory performance in young and elderly adults.
Brain Res. 2006 Jul 12;1099(1):133-40
Authors: Gutchess AH, Park DC
The influence of the fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) scanning environment on working memory and long-term memory performance was investigated. We predicted that performance would be impaired on memory tasks in the distracting fMRI environment relative to laboratory performance. Results indicated that both young and old adults showed performance decrements in the scanning environment compared to the laboratory for a long-term memory task, but not for a passive working memory task, consistent with the idea that divided attention costs occur for more difficult tasks. In addition, elderly adults were disproportionately impaired by the scanning environment on the long-term memory task, congruent with the finding that divided attention costs at encoding are larger for older than younger adults. The findings suggest that performance may be changed by the scanning environment and that, in some circumstances, the fMRI environment may have a disproportionate effect on cognitive performance of older adults.
PMID: 16765326 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
(”Soc Sci Med.”[Journal]); +135 new citations
135 new PubMed citations were retrieved for your search.
Click on the search hyperlink below to display the complete search results:
("Soc Sci Med."[Journal])
These PubMed results were generated on 2006/07/18
PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine, includes over 15 million
citations for biomedical articles back to the 1950's.
These citations are from MEDLINE and additional life science journals.
PubMed includes links to many sites providing full text articles and other related resources.
Role of radiotherapy in supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumor in young children: results of the German HIT-SKK87 and HIT-SKK92 trials.
Role of radiotherapy in supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumor in young children: results of the German HIT-SKK87 and HIT-SKK92 trials.
J Clin Oncol. 2006 Apr 1;24(10):1554-60
Authors: Timmermann B, Kortmann RD, Kühl J, Rutkowski S, Meisner C, Pietsch T, Deinlein F, Urban C, Warmuth-Metz M, Bamberg M
PURPOSE: To assess the outcome of young children with supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumor (stPNET) treated by intensive postoperative chemotherapy alone compared with treatment with chemotherapy and delayed radiotherapy (RT). PATIENTS AND METHODS: From 1987 to 1992, children younger than 3 years of age with stPNET were enrolled in the HIT-SKK87 trial in Germany and Austria. After surgery, low-risk patients received maintenance chemotherapy before RT. In high-risk patients, intensive induction chemotherapy was followed by maintenance chemotherapy until delayed RT was initiated. In the following trial, HIT-SKK92 methotrexate-based chemotherapy was applied. In children with complete remission after three cycles, therapy was finished without irradiation. Otherwise, radiotherapy or salvage chemotherapy was administered. RESULTS: Twenty-nine children were eligible (age, 3.0 to 37.0 months). All children received chemotherapy. In 15 children, no RT was administered. Four children had tumor progression during chemotherapy and underwent irradiation. In 10 patients, RT was given after chemotherapy. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) rates after 3 years were 17.2% and 14.9%, respectively. Twenty-four children relapsed (13 at the tumor site only, three at distant site, and eight at both local and distant sites). Positive impact on survival was observed in children with complete resection but without statistical significance. Administration of RT was the only significant predictive factor for OS and PFS. Only one child not having RT survived. CONCLUSION: Outcome of infants and babies with stPNET is unsatisfactory. Omission of RT jeopardizes survival, even if intensive chemotherapy is applied. We suggest to limit any delay of RT to a maximum of 6 months even in young children.
PMID: 16575007 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Social-cognitive determinants of hoist usage among health care workers.
Social-cognitive determinants of hoist usage among health care workers.
J Occup Health Psychol. 2006 Apr;11(2):182-96
Authors: Rickett B, Orbell S, Sheeran P
Injuries caused by unsafe manual handling of patients are a major source of ill health in health care workers. The present study evaluated the ability of 4 classes of variable to predict use of a hoist when moving a heavily dependent patient. Variables examined were occupational role characteristics, such as hours of work and type of shift worked; biographics, including age and height; aspects of occupational context, such as number of hoists available and number of patients; and motivational variables specified by the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1985) and protection motivation theory (Rogers, 1983). Regression analyses showed that background and social-cognitive variables were able to account for 59% of variance in intention to use a hoist and 41% of variance in use of the hoist assessed 6 weeks later. Height, hoist availability, coworker injunctive norm, perceived behavioral control, response cost, response benefits, and social and physical costs of not using the hoist each explained independent variance in motivation to use a hoist at work.
PMID: 16649851 [PubMed - in process]
Combined treatment with exercise training and acarbose improves metabolic control and cardiovascular risk factor profile in subjects with mild type 2 diabetes.
Combined treatment with exercise training and acarbose improves metabolic control and cardiovascular risk factor profile in subjects with mild type 2 diabetes.
Diabetes Care. 2006 Jul;29(7):1471-7
Authors: Wagner H, Degerblad M, Thorell A, Nygren J, Ståhle A, Kuhl J, Brismar TB, Ohrvik J, Efendic S, Båvenholm PN
OBJECTIVE: The effect of exercise training and acarbose on glycemic control, insulin sensitivity, and phenotype was investigated in mild type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Sixty-two men and women with type 2 diabetes were randomized to 12 weeks of structured exercise training with or without acarbose treatment or to acarbose alone. Glycemic control was determined by HbA(1c) (A1C), insulin sensitivity (M value) by euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp, and regional fat distribution by computerized tomography and dual X-ray absorptiometry. Physical fitness was determined as maximal oxygen uptake (Vo(2max)). All investigations were performed before and after the intervention. RESULTS: Forty-eight subjects completed the study. Exercise improved M value by 92% (P = 0.017) and decreased total and truncal fat (P = 0.002, 0.001) and systolic blood pressure (P = 0.01) but had no significant effect on Vo(2max) or A1C level. The combination of exercise and acarbose significantly decreased fasting plasma glucose, A1C, lipids, and diastolic blood pressure and increased Vo(2max), whereas effects on M value and body composition were comparable with that of exercise alone. Acarbose alone had no significant effect on either M value or A1C but decreased systolic (P = 0.001) and diastolic blood pressure (P = 0.001) and fasting proinsulin level (P = 0.009). Multiple regression analysis showed that addition of acarbose to exercise improved glycemic control. CONCLUSIONS: In subjects with mild type 2 diabetes, exercise training improved insulin sensitivity but had no effect on glycemic control. The addition of acarbose to exercise, however, was associated with significant improvement of glycemic control and possibly cardiovascular risk factors.
PMID: 16801564 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Maintenance treatment with interferon-gamma and low-dose cyclophosphamide for pediatric high-grade glioma.
Maintenance treatment with interferon-gamma and low-dose cyclophosphamide for pediatric high-grade glioma.
J Neurooncol. 2006 Sep;79(3):315-21
Authors: Wolff JE, Wagner S, Reinert C, Gnekow A, Kortmann RD, Kühl J, Van Gool SW
BACKGROUND: The prognosis of high-grade glioma in children is poor. PURPOSE: Interferon-gamma may increase the immune surveillance of glioma cells. Earlier clinical evidence had shown that low dose cyclophosphamide (CPM) increased immune response. METHODS: After induction treatment with simultaneous radiation and chemotherapy, patients were treated with individually increasing interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) doses starting from 25 microg/m2/d s.c. increasing up to a maximum of 175 microg/m2/d within 7 weeks. Cyclophosphamide was given at 300 mg/m2 i.v. every 21 days. Forty pediatric glioma patients were enrolled (median age: 8.5 year, male: n = 22). Tumor locations included cerebral cortex (n = 8), basal ganglia (n = 4), brainstem (n = 24), cerebellum (n = 3), spinal cord (n = 1). Histologies were GBM (n = 14), AA (n = 14), LGG (n = 2, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma). There was grade IV toxicity for thrombocytopenia (10%) and leucopenia (2.5%), grade III toxicity for central nervous (2.5%) and hepatic (5%) side effects, no toxic death. The observation time of the six surviving patients was: 1.2, 1.9, 4.2, 4.4, 4.6 and 4.7 years respectively. The median overall survival (1 year) was not significantly different from a historical control group (0.8 years). The survival of pontine gliomas appeared even inferior when compared to the previous protocol (n.s.). CONCLUSION: Maintenance treatment with IFN-gamma and low dose CPM has no sufficient beneficial effect for the treatment of high-grade glioma.
PMID: 16645718 [PubMed - in process]
Volitional Processes18 Jul 2006 04:51 pm
Psychosocial stress enhances time-based prospective memory in healthy young men.
Psychosocial stress enhances time-based prospective memory in healthy young men.
Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2006 Jun 3;
Authors: Nater UM, Okere U, Stallkamp R, Moor C, Ehlert U, Kliegel M
Forgetting of intentions (such as to take one's medication) is the most frequent everyday memory failure. No study so far has looked into the possible consequences stress might exert on memory for intentions (i.e., prospective memory). Twenty healthy young male adults were exposed to a psychosocial stress test and a non-stress condition. After a delay of 15min, a time- and an event-based prospective memory task were administered during the peak of cortisol concentrations. Results show that participants performed significantly better in the time-based memory task after stress in comparison to the non-stress condition. In contrast, there was no stress effect on event-based prospective memory. The results demonstrate that prospective memory might be enhanced when participants are exposed to stress prior to the memory task and that this effect is associated to stress-related glucocorticoid effects.
PMID: 16753313 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Volitional Processes18 Jul 2006 04:51 pm
“prospective memory”; +15 new citations
15 new PubMed citations were retrieved for your search.
Click on the search hyperlink below to display the complete search results:
"prospective memory"
These PubMed results were generated on 2006/07/18
PubMed, a service of the National Library of Medicine, includes over 15 million
citations for biomedical articles back to the 1950's.
These citations are from MEDLINE and additional life science journals.
PubMed includes links to many sites providing full text articles and other related resources.
— Next Page »
