Biomedical subjects

Randy J Larsen

Publications and source records attributed to Randy J Larsen.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Smoking relapse during the first year after treatment for early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer.

BACKGROUND: Non-small-cell lung cancer patients who continue to smoke after cancer diagnosis are more likely to experience disease recurrence, decreased treatment efficacy, and treatment complications. Despite this, many continue to smoke, with estimates ranging from 13% to approximately 60%. METHODS: Participants were 154 early-stage, non-small-cell lung cancer patients who had smoked within 3 months before surgery. Patients were followed for 12 months after surgery to assess smoking status and duration of continuous abstinence after surgery. Predictors included medical, smoking history, psychosocial, and demographic characteristics. RESULTS: At some point after surgery, 42.9% of patients smoked; at 12 months after surgery, 36.9% were smoking. Sixty percent of patients who lapsed did so during the first 2 months after surgery. Smoking at follow-up was predicted by shorter quit duration before surgery, more intense Appetitive cravings (expectation of pleasure from smoking), lower income, and having a higher level of education. Time until the first smoking lapse was predicted by shorter quit duration before surgery, more intense Appetitive cravings to smoke, and lower income. Among those who lapsed, greater delay before the lapse was associated with abstinence at the 12-month follow-up assessment. CONCLUSIONS: Nearly half of non-small-cell lung cancer patients return to smoking after surgery if they have recent smoking histories. Most initial lapses happen within 2 months and occur in response to more recent smoking and more intense cravings. Findings suggest that interventions to prevent relapse should target those who wait until cancer surgery to quit smoking and should be started as soon as possible after treatment.

Attitude to Health↗

PubMed2006

Paper and plastic in daily diary research: Comment on Green, Rafaeli, Bolger, Shrout, and Reis (2006).

The authors applaud A. S. Green, E. Rafaeli, N. Bolger, P. E. Shrout, and H. T. Reis's (2006) response to one-sided comparisons of paper versus electronic (plastic) diary methods and hope that it will stimulate more balanced considerations of the issues involved. The authors begin by highlighting areas of agreement and disagreement with Green et al. The authors review briefly the broader literature that has compared paper and plastic diaries, noting how recent comparisons have relied on study designs and methods that favor investigators' allegiances. The authors note some sorely needed data for the evaluation of the implications of paper versus plastic for the internal and external validity of research. To facilitate evaluation of the existing literature and assist in the design of future studies, the authors offer a balanced comparison of paper and electronic diary methods across a range of applications. Finally, the authors propose 2 study designs that offer fair comparisons of paper and plastic diary methods.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Lexical characteristics of words used in emotional Stroop experiments.

Validity of the emotional Stroop task hinges on equivalence between the emotion and the control words in terms of lexical features related to word recognition. The authors evaluated the lexical features of 1,033 words used in 32 published emotional Stroop studies. Emotion words were significantly lower in frequency of use, longer in length, and had smaller orthographic neighborhoods than words used as controls. These lexical features contribute to slower word recognition and hence are likely to contribute to delayed latencies in color naming. The often-replicated slowdown in color naming of emotion words may be due, in part, to lexical differences between the emotion and control words used in the majority of such studies to date.

Analysis of Variance↗

PubMed2005

Affective reactivity in language: the role of psychophysiological arousal.

Several studies have found that individuals with schizophrenia and their relatives, as well as healthy controls, exhibit greater language disturbance when discussing affectively negative as compared to positive or neutral topics. The goal of this study was to test the hypothesis that negative emotion impairs language production, at least in part by increasing physiological arousal. The authors had 35 healthy adults produce speech in response to affectively negative, positive, and neutral questions while the authors recorded heart rate and skin conductance. Participants displayed greater amounts of reference errors, higher heart rates, and a higher frequency of nonspecific skin conductance responses when discussing affectively negative as compared to positive or neutral topics.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Affective personality differences in neural processing efficiency confirmed using fMRI.

To test for a relation between individual differences in personality and neural-processing efficiency, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to assess brain activity within regions associated with cognitive control during a demanding working memory task. Fifty-three participants completed both the self-report behavioral inhibition sensitivity (BIS) and behavioral approach sensitivity (BAS) personality scales and a standard measure of fluid intelligence (Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices). They were then scanned as they performed a three-back working memory task. A mixed blocked/ event-related fMRI design enabled us to identify both sustained and transient neural activity. Higher BAS was negatively related to event-related activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate, the lateral prefrontal cortex, and parietal areas in regions of interest identified in previous work. These relationships were not explained by differences in either behavioral performance or fluid intelligence, consistent with greater neural efficiency. The results reveal the high specificity of the relationships among personality, cognition, and brain activity. The data confirm that affective dimensions of personality are independent of intelligence, yet also suggest that they might be interrelated in subtle ways, because they modulate activity in overlapping brain regions that appear to be critical for task performance.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Smoking urges and relapse among lung cancer patients: findings from a preliminary retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: As part of a prospective study of relapse to smoking among previously resected lung cancer patients, we conducted a retrospective survey to examine factors that may contribute to relapse. METHODS: Patients who had smoked within 3 months before surgery completed measures assessing demographic characteristics, smoking urges, depression, social support, and psychological reactance. RESULTS: Of 43 participants, 19 had relapsed at some point since surgery and 13 were currently smoking. Patients were at relatively low risk of relapse immediately following hospitalization, but at greater risk beginning 2 months later. Younger age and lower educational level predicted current smoking and shorter time to relapse. Craving to smoke was measured as: Appetitive urge (anticipation of pleasure) and Aversive urge (avoidance of negative affect). Both were greater among current smokers. Aversive urge was significantly correlated with depression. Those high on both psychological reactance and Directive social support had heightened Appetitive urges. CONCLUSION: Among lung cancer patients, relapse to smoking may be delayed several months but remains a problem. Appetitive and Aversive motivational pathways and associated urges appear useful in organizing study of the role of psychosocial factors such as depression and social support in relapse to smoking in this group.

Age Distribution↗