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Biomedical subjects

F Lolas

Publications and source records attributed to F Lolas.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1986

Verbal measures of anxiety and hostility under monological and dialogical conditions. A study on a mixed patient sample.

Anxiety and hostility scores (Gottschalk-Gleser method of verbal content analysis) were studied in a mixed patient sample comprising psychosomatic, functional, and neurotic patients under two speech-eliciting conditions: monological and dialogical. Hostility scores did not differ between conditions. Mutilation, diffuse and total anxiety scores were significantly higher in interview than in monologue. In this condition, separation anxiety was expressed more often. Some intercorrelations between variables were found in both conditions, mostly involving hostility, while others hold either for monological or interview data. Factor analysis disclosed different factor structures for the two conditions. An interaction between speech-eliciting condition and diagnostic subgroup is suggested. The implications of these findings for descriptive psychiatric research are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Content category analysis of affective expression in irritable bowel, duodenal ulcer and anxiety disorder patients.

This paper reports on verbal content analysis measures (Gottschalk-Gleser method) of anxiety and hostility in duodenal ulcer, irritable bowel and generalized anxiety disorder patients, who were also administered the Eysenk Personality Inventory (EPI), and Beck and Zung depressiveness scales. Irritable bowel patients expressed significantly more death anxiety than the other groups in a 5-min free speech sample, while anxiety disorder patients scored highest on hostility directed inwards. In the whole sample, EPI neuroticism scores correlated with depressiveness scores and hostility measures appeared intercorrelated. Factor analyses with Varimax rotation revealed a similar clustering of variables. Results tend to suggest that irritable bowel patients are closer to anxiety disorder than to duodenal ulcer ('psychosomatic') patients in terms of intensity and patterning of affect expression.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

[Electrophysiological contributions to the study of attention].

A selective review of electrophysiological studies of attention and attentional behavior is presented. The emphasis is placed on the contribution of cerebral event-related potentials (ERP) (evoked potentials) to the clarification of major issues, such as the role of peripheral versus central mechanisms and testing of hypotheses regarding selective attention. A number of clinical studies dealing mostly with diagnostic applications and therapeutic trials is discussed. The difficulties of interpretation and integration with other sources of knowledge on behavioral physiology are briefly discussed.

Attention↗
PubMed1985

The psychosomatic approach and the problem of diagnosis.

This paper examines some of the characteristics and aims of the process of medical diagnosis and the problems posed by the seeming opposition between disease-centered and person-centered diagnosis. The latter was one of the basic tenets of the psychosomatic approach from its inception. Its application to medical practice, however, has been hindered by the lack of an appropriate theoretical framework which might help avoid the one-sidedness prevailing in the discourse of different medical specialties. The building up of an integrative medicine has proceeded on the basis of addition and not on the basis of organic development from a theory-derived set of principles. In order to circumvent the problems associated with such state of affairs, it is proposed that multiaxial systems of diagnosis, like the ones currently in use in psychiatry, be adopted. These should be improved and expanded in order to take into account additional dimensions and data sources not hitherto taken into consideration.

Humans↗
PubMed1985

The stress concept as a problem for a 'theoretical pathology'.

Theoretical pathology' is defined as the conceptual foundation of medicine. Research in this area is concerned with the analysis of explicit and implicit patterns of thought dominating research and practice. Using the example of the stress concept, it is suggested that it is a 'key word' with denotative and connotative meanings accessible to professional and laymen, contributing to explore the 'gray zone' between 'health' and 'disease' by linking psychological, social and biological determinants of 'well-being' and 'discomfort'. Examples of current research illustrate possible expansions of medical theorization.

Arousal↗
PubMed1985

Hemispheric contribution to vertex augmentation/reduction of the auditory evoked potential.

Starting off from the notion that the cerebral hemispheres differ in their processing mode, this paper reports on stimulus intensity modulation of auditory evoked potentials recorded from hemispheric leads (C3 and C4 referenced to ipsilateral mastoid processes) in a sample of 40 male Ss between 18 to 40 years of age. The experimental set up involved the recording of series of 100 trials to binaural clicks of 63.5, 74.6 and 85 dB AL. Ss who were augmenters at the vertex showed positive Amplitude-Intensity function slopes over the left hemisphere; when Ss were Reducers at the vertex, the slopes were negative on the right hemisphere. These results are interpreted in terms of attention deployment or allocation to one or the other hemispheric processing mode. This might constitute a trait-like enduring subject characteristic whose relation to traditional psychometric variables needs further exploration. The modality specificity of this phenomenon is also discussed.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1979

Interhemispheric and sex differences in the visual evoked response recovery cycle.

The recovery cycle of the flash-evoked response was studied in 6 female and 6 male right-handed subjects of comparable age. The aim of the study was to evidence possible interhemispheric differences between occipital leads. Two flashes, presented at graded time intervals between 20 and 150 msec, allowed the computation of an amplitude ratio between the second and the first evoked response, considering the III--IV peak-to-peak amplitude. A faster recovery was found for the left hemisphere, with more pronounced interhemispheric differences in male than in female subjects. Women showed a more reduced amplitude recovery than men and a somewhat different time-course of the recovery function. Women also showed less waveshape similarity between evoked responses elicited by the second of a pair of flashes in the right and left hemisphere. These findings are discussed in terms of differences in speed of information processing by both cerebral hemispheres. It is suggested that recovery cycle studies may contribute to brain laterality research and be of particular relevance to psychiatric studies involving assumptions about differential hemispheric excitability.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Alexithymia: anxiety and hostility in psychosomatic and psychoneurotic patients.

Verbal samples obtained from 40 psychoneurotic and 40 psychosomatic patients, matched with respect to age, sex, intelligence and some social indicators, were examined using different methods of content analysis. According to the concept of 'alexithymia' it was postulated that the restricted fantasy life and difficulty in expressing feelings attributed to psychosomatic patients would be reflected at the speech level (psycho-analytic interviews). The measurement of anxiety and hostility using the Gottschalk-Gleser scales gave the following results: with total anxiety in particular, and its subscales guilt, shame, separation and diffuse anxiety, and with hostility, the psychosomatic patients showed lower values than the neurotic patients, which were in part highly significant. The results confirm the existence of the 'psychosomatic phenomenon' but they do not permit statements concerning its etiology.

Anxiety↗
PubMed1979

The BAER profile: a method for reporting electrophysiologic brainstem examinations in clinical practice.

We present a method for graphically reporting the results of brainstem auditory evoked response examinations on the basis of multiple parameters. The method is based on a transform that normalizes the many latency and amplitude measures obtained from the averaged evoked responses of normal subjects tested under standardized conditions. Among the advantages of the method are the simplicity of its use, the identification of disease profiles, and the isolation of relevant parameters for research and diagnosis.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

[Event-related cerebral potentials. Classification and clinical use].

Event-related potentials (ERP) constitute an heterogeneous group of brain electrical signals time-locked to sensory stimulation, motor responses, and associative processes, recorded using computer averaging. Several kinds of brain electric activity are encompassed by the generic term "event related potentials": sensory evoked potentials, time-coherent cerebral events related to motor acta, long-latency potentials associated with psychological variables, slow potential shifts linked to psychological constructs, and "emitted" cerebral events of endogenous origin. Shortcomings of this classification are pointed out and a simpler one is proposed, distinguishing between sensory, motor, and associative time-locked potentials. Their clinical use is illustrated under six major headings: testing of sensory function, localization of lesions, maturation of the central nervous system, genetic markers, evaluation of pharmacologic agents, and indicators of cognitive processes. Some methodological issues relevant to the clinical use of ERP are discussed.

Association↗
PubMed1979

[Psychiatric perspectives of ethological anthropology].

Ethological anthropology is characterized as a biologically-based discipline aimed at the study of overt behaviour. Two of its main features are presented and discussed: its historical character and its protective nature. The first is a direct result of its being based upon evolutionary principles, emphasizing the adaptive character of behaviour and tracing back its origins and causation to phylogenetic adaptation and ontogenetic modification. The protective aspect is contrasted with other approaches--reflective theories--which adding a predominant role in the causation of behaviour to environmental influences. Within ethological theory the distinction is made between peristolabile and peristostable behaviours on the basis of their liability to environmental modification during individual development. For psychiatric research, ethological concepts are relevant both from a methodological and a theoretical standpoint. Their usefulness in comparative, transcultural and psychophysiologic studies is pointed out, as well as their applicability to research on human non-verbal communication and implicit behaviour. The contention is advanced that they provide an integrative framework of reference which combined with other approaches may permit the development of a comprehensive theory of human behaviour.

Anthropology, Cultural↗
PubMed1978

Event-related slow potential (ERSP) correlates of thyroid gland function level.

This study shows an association between thyroid gland function level and event-related slow brain potential (ERSP) parameters (peak amplitude and area under the curve), obtained during "classical" and "operant" reaction-time paradigms. A significant positive correlation between ERSP parameters and 24-hr I131 uptake and a negative nonsignificant one between them and ankle jerk reflex were found. Organismic factors related to thyroid function had greater influence upon ERSP amplitude and area than situational ones, for no significant effect of task was evidenced and no interaction between them was found under the conditions employed. Hyper- and hypothyroids showed also a tendency to present longer reaction times than euthyroids. These results are discussed within the framework of the arousal-distraction coupling hypothesis as proposed by Tecce and Cole (1976) and compared to those previously obtained in high-neuroticism anxiety-prone indivuduals. Although these and hyperthyroids do show indications of similar behavioral manifestations (excessive reactive arousal), both groups are considered to differ regarding empirical referennts of anticipatory arousal (ERSP parameters). A major difference seems to be the absence of a "ceiling effect" in hyperthyroids. This hypothetical phenomenon can be expected on the basis of the inverted U-shaped relation between ERSP amplitude and arousal level. A stronger "distraction" effect associated with increased arousal in anxiety neurotics is postulated and tentatively attributed to covert verbalizations of worry and feelings added to increased awareness of autonomic input. The contention is advanced that similar behavioral manifestations could be distinguishable at the physiological level employed and this might add further insights to diagnostic typologies (e.g., "psychosomatic" vs. "psychoneurotic" patients).

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Visual evoked responses and visual symptoms in multiple sclerosis.

Absolute latency, interocular difference in latency, and waveform of visual evoked responses (VER) to checkerboard reversal stimuli recorded from the midline of the skull were studied in 104 multiple sclerosis patients, 25 to 50 years of age, classified according to visual symptomatology. Group 1 had strong evidence of past or present optic neuritis. Patients with blurring of vision, diplopia, and undefined visual complaints were assigned to group 2, while group 3 contained patients with no visual symptoms but suspected diagnosis of multiple sclerosis on other grounds. The three parameters explored showed consistent association with the degree of visual involvement, as assessed by clinical impression, but their discriminatory power was diverse. Absolute latency was significantly longer in group 1 patients compared with groups 2 and 3, but it did not discriminate between the last two, whereas interocular difference in latency proved to be sensitive to differences between symptomatic (diplopia, blurring) and asymptomatic groups (2 and 3). Waveshapes were grouped into three categories based upon degree of distortion of the major positive peak, and their relative distribution among the three patient groups was found to be associated with symptomatology. We suggest that, in the production of symptoms such as diplopia, a temporal disparity of afferent impulses might be involved in much the same way that spatial incongruities between both eyes lead to impaired function. In this regard, interocular difference in latency rather than absolute latency would be a more accurate predictor of symptom development. The analysis of VER waveshape suggests, in addition, the importance of inhomogeneous involvement of the visual pathways in the production of symptoms during the evolution of multiple sclerosis.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Event-related slow brain potentials, cognitive processes, and alexithymia.

A psychophysiological approach to alexithymia involves the search for reliable neural correlates of cognitive and symbolic processes rendering meaningful indicators that can be entered as elements into the diagnostic process, framed within a theory, and tested against the clinical experience. Relevant work on event-related slow brain potentials is reviewed, and some recent data bearing on a psychophysiological differentiation between psychosomatic and psychoneurotic patients are presented and discussed within the framework of a modified concept of activation. In outlining certain research strategies and goals it is contended that they may provide an experimental data base complementing and expanding psychodynamically derived formulations.

Action Potentials↗