Delinquency in women

From observation of some 1,000 women who were committed to a California correctional institution because of felonious offense it was concluded that:1. Delinquency results from certain identifiable factors, particularly basic defects in early family relationships, various aberrant psychological states including many forms of mental illness; physical illness or injuries, particularly those producing brain damage and resulting in abnormal psychological conditions; general environmental factors, and specific environmental factors.2. Certain personality-types and certain life-environmental situations appear to be associated with certain patterns of offenses.3. Correction and rehabilitation may be achieved to a greater degree as correctional institution treatment programs are increasingly implemented with psychiatric personnel, and as increased guidance and support are made available through parole divisions.     

Tibetan 'wind' and 'wind' illnesses: towards a multicultural approach to health and illness

This article discusses the Tibetan notion of rlung, usually translated as: 'wind', but perhaps better understood as a close equivalent of pneuma in the Greek tradition, or qi in the Chinese tradition. The article focuses on the way rlung provides a useful prism through which concepts of health, illness and disease may be observed in a cross-cultural perspective. An analysis of syndromes linked with rlung in a Tibetan cultural context illuminates some of the ways in which culture determines particular syndromes. The article raises a number of questions which are relevant for a more general multicultural approach to concepts of health, illness and disease. The article argues that notions of rlung/pneuma/wind/ qi constitute a particularly interesting area for an exploration of culture-bound syndromes, as they reside in the meeting point between material and non-material, physical and mental, as well as the psychological, spiritual and religious. They are hence fundamental for a more cross-cultural approach to the mind-body problem. The article also deals with the significance of history of medicine, particularly histories of medicine, which attempt to widen the scope of the traditional Eurocentric narrative of the history of medicine, in dealing with questions such as concepts of health and illness. Allowing alternative narratives-whether narratives of patients, other cultures or historical ones-can enhance our understanding of what health, illness and disease are. Discussing perceptions of the body as culturally defined is not only important from a philosophical or historical point of view, but also has important practical ramifications, which are particularly crucial in our global age.     

Precipitating Factors of Acute Illness in Patients with Chronic Disease

The precipitating causes of acute illness in patients with chronic organic disease can often be prevented, reversed or controlled. The various kinds of precipitating factors are described, and their anticipation and the prompt institution of remedial measures are emphasized.     

Dispositional optimism and acceptance of illness among a group of individuals with Graves-Basedow's disease

INTRODUCTION: Dispositional optimism is a general tendency to positively perceive the world and one's own future. We can consider what kind of connection with ability to cope with difficulties. One situation which is very stressful for an individual is an illness, particularly a chronic one. The aim of the paper was to define the connection between dispositional optimism and acceptance of illness among the group with Graves-Basedow disease. This is autoimmunizational illness and diseases of this kind are particularly sensitive to the influence of psychological factors, as there are many connections between the immune system and the human psyche. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study group consisted of 59 individuals with Graves-Basedow disease, 50 women and 9 men and 55 of healthy ones, 49 women and 6 men according to age, sex and a level of education. The patients filled out three psychological questionnaires: The Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R), The Acceptance of Illness Scale (AIS) and The Personal Questionnaire. RESULTS: of the study in question indicate a lack of differences between individuals with Graves-Basedow disease and healthy ones concerning the level of dispositional optimism. There no differences in the level of dispositional optimism as regards of criterion of health: by the levels of hormones TSH, fT3 and fT4, complications and a time of duration of disease. Instead, if they suffer additionally from others diseases, they have a lower level of dispositional optimism. There exist a connection between intensification of level of dispositional optimism and acceptance of illness among testing group. CONCLUSIONS: The dispositional optimism as a supply of individual helps her or his in adaptation to difficulty situation, which is a chronic disease. It is a reason way it is worth to help of patients to grow it stronger.     

New Hope for Correctional Officers: An Innovative Program for Reducing Stress and Health Risks

This study investigated the impact of a new stress management program on physiological and psychological stress and health risk factors among 75 correctional officers. The experimental group received training in emotion self-regulation techniques intended to reduce stress and health risk factors. Practice of the techniques was enhanced by heart rate variability feedback, which helped participants learn and sustain use of the self-management tools. Measures of physiological stress included cortisol, DHEA, cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting glucose levels, 10-min resting electrocardiogram, heart rate variability, and blood pressure. Three psychological questionnaires assessed emotional stress and work-related variables. There were significant improvements in the experimental group in cholesterol, glucose, heart rate, blood pressure and positive outlook and significant reductions in overall psychological distress. There were significant increases in productivity, motivation, goal clarity, and perceived support. The mean difference between pre- and post-intervention projected health care costs was calculated to be $1,179 per employee per year.     

Die mechanismen der subitan- und dauereibildung bei Mesostoma lingua (Abildgaard, 1789) (Turbellaria,Neorhabdocoela)

Four populations of Mesostoma lingua from various geographical areas react in different ways according to certain environmental factors. The determination of the two eggtypes is particularly influenced by temperature changes and a crowding effect. The influence of other factors is of little consequence.     

HIV/AIDS among Inmates of and Releasees from US Correctional Facilities, 2006: Declining Share of Epidemic but Persistent Public Health Opportunity

Because certain groups at high risk for HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) come together in correctional facilities, seroprevalence was high early in the epidemic. The share of the HIV/AIDS epidemic borne by inmates of and persons released from jails and prisons in the United States (US) in 1997 was estimated in a previous paper. While the number of inmates and releasees has risen, their HIV seroprevalence rates have fallen. We sought to determine if the share of HIV/AIDS borne by inmates and releasees in the US decreased between 1997 and 2006. We created a new model of population flow in and out of correctional facilities to estimate the number of persons released in 1997 and 2006. In 1997, approximately one in five of all HIV-infected Americans was among the 7.3 million who left a correctional facility that year. Nine years later, only one in seven (14%) of infected Americans was among the 9.1 million leaving, a 29.3% decline in the share. For black and Hispanic males, two demographic groups with heightened incarceration rates, recently released inmates comprise roughly one in five of those groups'' total HIV-infected persons, a figure similar to the proportion borne by the correctional population as a whole in 1997. Decreasing HIV seroprevalence among those admitted to jails and prisons, prolonged survival and aging of the US population with HIV/AIDS beyond the crime-prone years, and success with discharge planning programs targeting HIV-infected prisoners could explain the declining concentration of the epidemic among correctional populations. Meanwhile, the number of persons with HIV/AIDS leaving correctional facilities remains virtually identical. Jails and prisons continue to be potent targets for public health interventions. The fluid nature of incarcerated populations ensures that effective interventions will be felt not only in correctional facilities but also in communities to which releasees return.     

Hygienic evaluation and regulation of some environmental factors to counteract their potential carcinogenic hazards

The evident growth of tumour morbidity makes analysis of the fundamental problems of neoplasm prophylaxis in man particularly urgent. The establishment of maximum permissible concentrations for carcinogenic agents calls for further exploration into the problem of threshold action of carcinogens and elaboration of a methodology for quantitative assessment of the biological effects of certain environmental factors. In particular, the available data on the ability of low-intensity environmental factors to modify the organism's general resistance and thereby produce in it conditions for materialization of the untoward effects of carcinogens invite further work in this direction. The study of environmental factors as possible modifiers of blastomatosis and investigation of the modification mechanisms involved are an immediate and topical task. Quantitative analysis of these modifying effects would allow establishment of well-grounded hygienic norms as the next step. Thus, study of the regularities involved, development of a fundamental methodology and accumulation of facts on the influence of low-intensity environmental factors on carcinogenesis and the cancer effect should be helpful in devising scientifically based measures of lowering the growth of tumour morbidity.     

Predicting the severity of everyday functional disability in people with schizophrenia: cognitive deficits, functional capacity, symptoms, and health status

Disability is pervasive in schizophrenia and is refractory to current medication treatments. Inability to function in everyday settings is responsible for the huge indirect costs of schizophrenia, which may be as much as three times larger than direct treatment costs for psychotic symptoms. Treatments for disability are therefore urgently needed. In order to effectively treat disability, its causes must be isolated and targeted; it seems likely that there are multiple causes with modest overlap. In this paper, we review the evidence regarding the prediction of everyday disability in schizophrenia. We suggest that cognition, deficits in functional capacity, certain clinical symptoms, and various environmental and societal factors are implicated. Further, we suggest that health status variables, recently recognized as pervasive in severe mental illness, may also contribute to disability in a manner independent from these other better-studied causes. We suggest that health status be considered in the overall prediction of real-world functioning and that interventions aimed at disability reduction targeting health status may be needed, in addition to cognitive enhancement, skills training, and public advocacy for better services.     

Schizophrenia Genetics

Schizophrenia is a complex multifactorial disease, in most cases manifested as a result of the interaction of genetic and psychological factors, as well as certain environmental conditions. However, genetic factors certainly play a determining role in the predisposition to schizophrenia. The coefficient of heritability of schizophrenia is about 80%, which is typical of the most highly inherited multifactorial diseases. This review presents the results of the latest world studies of genetic factors in the development of schizophrenia, including epigenetic, genome-wide association studies, and next generation sequencing.     

Biofeedback as therapy in Raynaud's disease

The following dimensions of Raynaud's disease are reviewed: (a) etiological factors, particularly those of a psychological nature, (b) proposed biological mechanisms of vasospastic episodes, (c) efficacy of pharmaceutical and surgical interventions, and (d) use of biofeedback as therapy. Emotional stress appears to be wholly sufficient to induce vasospastic episodes in victims. Some authors further hypothesize that suppressed anger may be involved in the phenomenon. Vehicles proposed to account for the symptoms include local vascular pathology, sympathetic discharge, and biochemical phenomena. Sympathectomy does not produce permanent remission and vasodilator medications tend to have undesirable side effects even when successful. Documented success with feedback techniques is sparse but encouraging. Published outcome studies are often confounded by the use of additional treatment modes such as relaxation training and hypnosis. The study of Raynaud's disease has enormous potential for the understanding of psychosomatic illness in a holistic fashion. Stresses induce immediate physiological responses, and corrective conditioning is easily implemented and monitored.     

Biofeedback as therapy in Raynaud's disease.

The following dimensions of Raynaud's disease are reviewed: (a) etiological factors, particularly those of a psychological nature, (b) proposed biological mechanisms of vasospastic episodes, (c) efficacy of pharmaceutical and surgical interventions, and (d) use of biofeedback as therapy. Emotional stress appears to be wholly sufficient to induce vasopastic episodes in victims. Some authors further hypothesize that suppressed anger may be involved in the phenomenon. Vehicles proposed to account for the symptoms include local vascular pathology, sympathetic discharge, and biochemical phenomena. Sympathectomy does not produce permanent remission and vasodilator medications tend to have undesirable side effects even when successful. Documented success with feedback techniques is sparse but encouraging. Published outcome studies are often confounded by the use of additional treatment modes such as relaxation training and hypnosis. The study of Raynaud's disease has enormous potential for the understanding of psychosomatic illness in a holistic fashion. Stresses induce immediate physiological responses, and corrective conditioning is easily implemented and monitored.     

A genomic point-of-view on environmental factors influencing the human brain methylome

The etiologic paradigm of complex human disorders such as autism is that genetic and environmental risk factors are independent and additive, but the interactive effects at the epigenetic interface are largely ignored. Genomic technologies have radically changed perspective on the human genome and how the epigenetic interface may impact complex human disorders. Here, I review recent genomic, environmental and epigenetic findings that suggest a new paradigm of “integrative genomics” in which genetic variation in genomic size may be impacted by dietary and environmental factors that influence the genomic saturation of DNA methylation. Human genomes are highly repetitive, but the interface of large-scale genomic differences with environmental factors that alter the DNA methylome such as dietary folate is under-explored. In addition to obvious direct effects of some environmental toxins on the genome by causing chromosomal breaks, non-mutagenic toxin exposures correlate with DNA hypomethylation that can lead to rearrangements between repeats or increased retrotransposition. Since human neurodevelopment appears to be particularly sensitive to alterations in epigenetic pathways, a further focus will be on how developing neurons may be particularly impacted by even subtle alterations to DNA methylation and proposing new directions towards understanding the quixotic etiology of autism by integrative genomic approaches.Key words: DNA methylation, copy number variation, autism, neurodevelopment, genomics, epigenomics, epigenetics, folate, folic acid, environmental exposures, Alu, MeCP2, LINE-1     

Psychological assessment of factors affecting pain

Use of traditional stimulus-response models of pain leads to differentiation between organic and psychogenic pain, which is often not helpful, if not dangerous, in treating chronic pain. Pain does not simply reflect bodily damage but also complex psychological malfunctioning. Viewing chronic pain as an obsessional state may often help in treating the entire patient and prevent the physician from being obsessed with the patient''s obsession. Psychological assessment of pain should focus on the role of psychological processes in the multifactorial causation of the illness causing the pain, notably their role in illness-proneness in general. Also, iatrogenic psychological distress, associatively precipitated psychological conflict and illness-perpetuating psychological processes should be looked for. A serious obstacle to progress with pain problems is not lack of hard data but conceptual confusion. Before medicine can meaningfully assess psychological factors in pain problems it must first learn to perceive psychological disturbances in medical and surgical patients.     

Environmental Enrichment for Laboratory Rodents: Animal Welfare and the Methods of Science

Because of the difficulty of' establishing objective measures of laboratory rodents' psychological well-being, developing environmental enrichment programs that are actually beneficial to rodents destined to participate in laboratory research is particularly challenging. Many studies of effects of environmental complexity, social housing, and increases in cage size suggest that professional judgments as to the impact of diverse types of environmental enrichment on rodent welfare are not a reliable basis for evaluating the outcomes of enrichment programs for laboratory rodents. Successful enrichment programs will vary from one rodent species to another, between sexes, as well as between age classes. There is a need for objective, measurable goals for proposed environmental enrichment programs for rodents, as well a s for empirical investigations of the beneficial and detrimental consequences of proposed environmental manipulations.     

Lifestyle and fertility: the influence of stress and quality of life on male fertility

Background

Male infertility is a widespread condition among couples. In about 50% of cases, couple infertility is attributable to the male partner, mainly due to a failure in spermatogenesis. In recent times, the crucial role that modifiable lifestyle factors play in the development of infertility have generated a growing interest in this field of study, i.e. aging, psychological stress, nutrition, physical activity, caffeine, high scrotal temperature, hot water, mobile telephone use. Several studies have investigated associations between semen quality and the presence of lifestyle stressors i.e. occupational, life events (war, earthquake, etc.) or couple infertility; overall, these studies provide evidence that semen quality is impaired by psychological stress. In this review, we will discuss the impact of quality of life (modifiable lifestyle factors) and psychological stress on male fertility. In addition, the role that increased scrotal temperature along with inappropriate nutritional and physical exercise attitudes exert on male fertility will be presented.

Conclusion

The decline of male fertility, particularly associated with advancing age, incorrect lifestyles and environmental factors plays an important role on natality, and its consequences on the future on human population makes this an important public health issue in this century. Thus, modification of lifestyle through a structured program of educational, environmental, nutritional/physical exercise and psychological support, combined with the use of nutraceutical antioxidants can prevent infertility and therefore, may help couples to obtain better quality of life and improved possibility to conceive spontaneously or optimize their chances of conception.

     

Further Than the Eye Can See: Psychological Distance and Perception of Environmental Threats

The deteriorating state of the environment and global warming pose a serious and unprecedented threat to humanity. Yet, public response and personal behavior do not reflect the proportions of such a threat. In the present research we explored possible reasons for this discrepancy. Past research has shown that people perceive events as more threatening based on their immediacy, certainty, or personal implications. Liberman and Trope (2008) developed the concept of “psychological distance” (PD), according to which more immediate events are seen as “closer in time,” more certain events as “closer in probability,” and events with greater potential for personal harm as “socially closer.” Adopting this concept, we examined how distant, in terms of PD, people perceive environmental threats to be. Using a structural equations model, we measured how PD influences environmental threat perception. In a sample of 305 Israeli students who completed a computerized questionnaire, we found that environmental threats were perceived as psychologically distant in all of the PD dimensions, and that PD strongly affected perceived severity of environmental threats and willingness to engage in pro-environmental behavior. The reasons for the psychological remoteness of environmental threats and possible approaches to cope with its implications are discussed.     

Morbidity in Canadian Indian and non-Indian children in the first year of life.

A cohort study of health status was undertaken to determine the patterns of morbidity in the first year of life for Indian and non-Indian infants living in southern Ontario. The annual incidence of office-reported health problems was 8.0 episodes for the 99 Indians and 4.5 for the 316 non-Indians studied. The risk of illness of most diagnostic categories was more than 1.5 times greater and the rate of hospital admission 4 times greater for the Indian infants. There was no difference between the two cohorts in the rates of visits to hospital emergency departments. The main cause of illness in both cohorts was respiratory tract infection; lower respiratory tract infections, particularly pneumonia, were a major health problem among the Indian infants. Only 36% of the Indian infants compared with 68% of the non-Indian infants attended five or more well-baby examinations. Part of the difference in morbidity between the Indian and non-Indian infants may be attributed to environmental factors, health care behaviour and geographic constraints.     

Determinants of Physiological and Perceived Physiological Stress Reactivity in Children and Adolescents

Aims

Abnormal physiological stress reactivity is increasingly investigated as a vulnerability marker for various physical and psychological health problems. However, studies are inconsistent in taking into account potential covariates that may influence the developing stress system. We systematically tested determinants (individual, developmental, environmental and substance use-related) of physiological and perceived physiological stress reactivity. We also examined the relation between physiological and perceived physiological stress reactivity.

Method

In a stratified sample of 363 children (7–12 years) and 344 adolescents (13–20 years) from the general population, we examined cortisol, heart rate, respiratory sinus arrhythmia and perceived physiological stress reactivity to a psychosocial stress procedure.

Results

Using multivariate linear regression models, we found that individual, developmental, environmental and substance use-related factors were related to each of the stress response indices. These determinant factors were different for each of the stress reactivity indices, and different in children versus adolescents. Perceived physiological stress reactivity predicted cortisol reactivity in adolescents only. All other relations between perceived physiological and physiological stress reactivity were not significant.

Conclusions

As physiological stress variables are often examined as vulnerability markers for the development of health problems, we maintain that it is essential that future studies take into consideration factors that may account for found relations. Our study provides an overview and indication of which variables should be considered in the investigation of the relation between physiological stress indices and illness.