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Biomedical subjects

H C Traue

Publications and source records attributed to H C Traue.

15 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Emotion recognition in stroke patients with left and right hemispheric lesion: results with a new instrument-the FEEL Test.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a stroke event on people's ability to recognize basic emotions. In particular, the hypothesis that right brain-damaged (RBD) patients would show less of emotion recognition ability compared with left brain-damaged (LBD) patients and healthy controls, was tested. To investigate this the FEEL Test (Facially Expressed Emotion Labeling) was used, a computer based psychometric test that assesses one's ability to recognize facially displayed basic emotions via a forced-choice paradigm. We examined 24 patients after a stroke event (13 RBD, 11 LBD) and compared them with a matched group of healthy controls (HC, n=29). Results showed that the stroke patients performed significantly worse in the FEEL Test than did HC (p<.001). This deficit was especially evident for negative emotions (fear, anger, sadness, and disgust). In contrast to other studies we did not find any significant differences between RBD and LBD patients in their ability to recognize emotions. These results indicate that a stroke event has a negative effect on the recognition of facially displayed emotions but suggest that this effect is apparently not dependent on the side of the brain damage.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

[Awareness of memory deficits in patients with probable Alzheimer's disease].

Thirty-eight patients with Alzheimer's disease were asked to give a qualitative (estimation of memory changes) and quantitative assessment of their own performance on memory tasks and also of their relatives' performance. Qualitative assessment showed to be independent from measured memory-deficits, while the precision of quantitative prediction of performance deteriorated with increased cognitive impairment. Cognitive impairment of the demented patients did not influence the prediction of the performance of their relatives. Both, qualitative and quantitative assessment of memory performance were influenced by premorbid coping-strategies. Patients, who were attributed to use strategies of cognitive avoidance, more often claimed to have no changes in memory function or over-estimated their memory performance. The results of this investigation reveal that methodological issues influence studies on the association of meta-cognitive abilities with the severity of dementia to a great extent. They also suggest that awareness of deficits should be based on a complex, multi-dimensional concept.

Aged↗
PubMed1999

[Associations between back pain, quality of sleep and quality of mattresses. Double-blind pilot study with hotel guests].

BACKGROUND: Associations between back pain, the quality of sleep and the quality of mattress have not yet been investigated systematically. METHODS: At check-out we asked 265 consecutive guests of a trade fair hotel about the subjective quality of sleep in the previous night. Nine rooms had been equipped with new mattresses of three different qualities and prices, but this was kept blind to the hotel staff and the guests. Sleep quality was assessed on an analog scale between 1 (very good) and 5 (very bad) and was analyzed in comparison to the remaining 8-year old mattresses of the hotel, but also with respect to social (e.g. private vs. professional reason for the stay) as well as personal (e.g. previous experience with low back and sleep complaints) characteristics of the guests. RESULTS: The three qualities of the mattresses correlated significantly and positively with the perceived quality of sleep, but the difference to the "old" mattresses was most pronounced for those guests who were staying overnight for professional reasons, or who frequently were suffering from low back pain or sleep disturbances. CONCLUSION: At least for chronic sufferers from back pain and sleep problems, the association between sleep quality and quality of the mattress is significant.

English Abstract↗
PubMed1999

Everyday stress and Crohn's disease activity: a time series analysis of 20 single cases.

In a 84-day long-term study involving 20 patients with active Crohn's disease, the relation between daily stress and symptomatology was investigated. The diagnoses were verified clinically, endoscopically, radiologically, and histologically. The Crohn symptomatology was assessed by a daily symptoms diary. The degree of everyday stress was measured with a daily hassles scale. Additionally, the disease activity was measured 4 times. The data were evaluated using a time series analysis method following the ARIMA model (autoregressive integrative moving average model), which takes the autocorrelation of the data into account. In 55% of the cases, a significant correlation between daily hassles and disease activity was found. Patients whose symptomatology responded to stress did not differ from nonresponders in age, duration of the disease, disease activity, frequency of abdominal surgery, partnership situation, or statements concerning their average level of daily hassles. Disease activity in general did not change during the observation period. A verified influence of daily hassles on Crohn symptomatology as a rule occurs on the same day with time lag 0. According to these results, the group of Crohn's disease patients is not homogenous. The widely held assumption that daily hassles influence the symptomatology cannot generally be confirmed. Variations may result from different ways of coping with stress. Long-term effects of daily hassles on the disease are not clear.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1997

[Pain intensity, mood and pain-alleviating actions in pre-chronic low back pain patients].

INTRODUCTION: The present study examines the correlations between pain intensity, mood and pain-alleviating actions in pre-chronic low back pain patients. The three variables were obtained with the Ulm Pain Diary (Ulmer Schmerztagebuch, UST). METHODS: Thirty-eight patients with low back pain described pain intensity, effect of pain on mood and medication as well as other therapies over a 3-week period (21 days). The patients had a history of pain for between 6 weeks and 6 months. Clinical and orthopedic examinations revealed no relevant organic findings explaining the pain process. RESULTS: Pain occurred on 18.1 (of 21) days. Half of the patients (n=19) used medication or took other actions against their pain. Correlations between the three variables demonstrated that all three were significantly related. Partial correlations showed in addition to a high correlation between pain intensity and mood, that the frequency of pain-relieving actions was far less related to pain intensity than to mood. The group that took actions against their pain had a higher level of pain intensity than the no-action group. Furthermore, the effect of pain on mood was significantly greater in this group than in the no-action group. CONCLUSION: The findings indicate that pain intensity, mood and actions against pain are highly correlated. When pain intensity is statistically controlled, the influence of mood on taking medication or other actions against pain becomes more pronounced. It can be concluded that self-initiated actions against pain depend much more on mood than on pain intensity in pre-chronic low back pain patients.

English Abstract↗
PubMed1997

[Occupational health promotion in Germany--2: Prevention of musculoskeletal disorders].

As a major part of a detailed study about worksite health promotion and disease prevention the standard of prevention programmes for musculoskeletal disorders was investigated. Only every 10th company doesn't offer such programmes. Within these programmes the prevention concept is based on a reduced narrow understanding of musculoskeletal disorders, mainly focussed on behavioural biomechanical risk factors. The organisational aspects of the programmes are well designed. The number of programme participants in relation to epidemiological measures is low. Scientific evaluation of the health benefits of the worksite health programmes is rare.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Surface EMG topography and pain distribution in pre-chronic back pain patients.

The relationship between surface EMG recordings from paraspinalis recording sites and subjective pain ratings were examined in a group of pre-chronic back pain patients. thirty-eight back pain patients without major orthopedic diagnosis and a pain duration between 2 to 6 months participated in a three week long subjective pain rating. Following the completion of their pain diary, the paraspinal sites were assessed under the "static" postural conditions of sitting and standing using an EMG scanning procedure. Results of the correlational analysis revealed significant and positive relationships between pain and muscle activity in the upper back (Trapezius, T1 paraspinalis sites) and significant but negative relationships between erector spinae activity (L3 paraspinalis site) and pain. When considering etiological factors of pre-chronic back pain, the results support both the organicity model for upper back, as well as the biomechanical model for the lower back.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

[Inhibition of expression as a component of psychosomatic disorders].

This short and far from comprehensive survey on the rôle of inhibitory mechanisms in psychosomatic disorders is intended to draw attention to the fact that there is a large scientific interest in this issue which surpasses the classical psychodynamic aspects of deficient emotionality. From the point of view of behavioral medicine, social psychology, emotional psychology, and psychophysiology this problem is an imminent topic for scientific research. Inhibition considered as an active process in the individual must be included among those mechanisms of auto- and behavioral regulation where psychic and somatic processes are of mutual influence upon one another. It is suggested that a better understanding of this mutual influence might lead to an improvement of intervention techniques in behavioral therapy. It might, e.g., help to decide to what extent the training of an adequate expression of emotions is indicated in psychosomatic disorders, the kind of training incorporated for instance in concordance therapy (Gerber, 1982). Specific attention might be given to processes of socialization since research findings suggest that conditions of socialization characterized by a hyperactive system of behavioral inhibition make children particularly susceptible to psychosomatic disorders (Buck, 1984).

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1985

Nonverbal expressiveness and EMG activity in tension headache sufferers and controls.

This study explored the relationship between musculoskeletal responses and nonverbal expressiveness in response to psychosocial stress. Muscle-contraction headache subjects and normal controls were confronted with a psychological stressor while forehead and neck EMG activity were recorded. Indices of nonverbal expressiveness (head and hand movements, facial tension, facial activity, and facial expressiveness) were obtained concomitantly with the muscle data. The headache subjects showed greater muscle activation than the controls in response to stress, greater evidence of facial tension, and less evidence of facial and bodily expressiveness. Overall, these data provided support for the notion that under some conditions a negative relationship exists between expressiveness and somatic activation.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Work site health promotion in Germany--1: Program availability and effect on occupational characteristics].

Worksite health promotion and disease prevention is becoming more and more established in Germany. This study investigates the state of the health programmes utilising a representative sample of 116 companies with company health insurance. 105 companies answered the detailed questions during phone interviews or using written questionnaires. 60% of the companies offer worksite health promotion and disease prevention programmes. The focus is mainly on behavioural aspects, while structural aspects play a minor role within the programmes. To a great extent the health promotion and disease prevention programmes are independent of structural characteristics of the company and the company location. At present, an evaluation of the health benefits and cost-effectiveness of the health programmes is only of secondary interest.

Forecasting↗