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Biomedical subjects

V S Rotenberg

Publications and source records attributed to V S Rotenberg.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1997

First night effect in depression: new data and a new approach.

Polysomnography was performed in 20 depressed patients and 8 normal controls for 2 consecutive nights. A subset of patients had 3 consecutive nights. Patients were assigned to groups according to the presence (group I) or absence (group II) of a first night effect (REM sleep latency on the first night in the laboratory was at least 30 min longer than on the second night). The groups were equivalent with regard to gender distribution, age, and severity of depression. In group I, REM sleep latency on nights 2 and 3 was significantly shorter than in group II. REM sleep percentage on the second night in group I was increased compared to the first night. A shift of REM sleep to the first cycle was prominent on the first night only in patients with a first night effect. On average, delta sleep was preserved in group I compared to group II. We suggest that the first night effect reflects a physiological system with greater capacity to respond adaptively and to preserve homeostasis when confronted with environmental stressors.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

REM sleep in depressed patients: different attempts to achieve adaptation.

Twenty-seven depressed patients and 10 healthy subjects were investigated in the sleep laboratory during two to three consecutive nights. Eleven of the 27 patients demonstrated the "first night effect" (group I) and 11 other patients demonstrated a clear absence of the "first night effect" (group II). Five of the 27 depressed patients were omitted from the study because they did not fit criteria for first night effect. The 10 healthy controls demonstrated a first night effect. In group I, the duration of the first rapid eye movement (REM) sleep episode was increased on the first night and on the second night the REM sleep latency was decreased, whereas REM sleep duration and eye movement (EM) density was increased. The number of the short sleep cycles (less than 40 minutes) was greater in group I versus group II and the percentage of slow-wave sleep (SWS) was also higher in group I. In depressed patients with the "first night effect" the enhanced REM sleep requirement is satisfied not only by an increased REM sleep duration but also by the improved REM sleep quality that is crucial for adaptation. The adaptive role of the increased first REM period and the increased EM density in this period is very limited.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1997

To inform or not to inform--a decision with psychobiological implication.

A patient, being informed about his dangerous or even fatal disease, like cancer, has a higher chance to give up and display a renunciation of search activity. Such renunciation decreases body resistance and makes the overall situation hopeless. Thus a person has the right to be not informed about such diseases, because he has the right to use all his inner resources for survival.

Helplessness, Learned↗
PubMed1996

Psychoneuroimmunology: searching for the main deteriorating psychobehavioral factor.

Psychoneuroimmunology has become an independent science with a broad experimental basis. However, its theoretical basis is still very vague and ambiguous. There are many contradictions in the experimental data that have not been integrated into a united conception, and some accepted paradigms that remain doubtful. The present critical review suggests a conceptual approach to the problem based on the proposition of two opposite types of behavior (search activity and renunciation of search) with attempts to integrate experimental results by avoiding contradiction. The analysis of the literary data confirms that every behavior that includes search activity prevents psychoimmunological disorders, whereas renunciation of search displays a general predisposition to such disorders. Such an approach makes possible new solutions of paradoxes and broadens the possible interpretations of the alteration of immune functions in depression, anxiety, and stressful events.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1994

An integrative psychophysiological approach to brain hemisphere functions in schizophrenia.

The present paper proposes a new psychophysiological approach to the genesis of positive and negative schizophrenic symptoms. According to this approach, the initial factor in schizophrenic disorders is a functional insufficiency of the right hemisphere which can be determined by early emotional experience in combination with subtle brain damage. This functional insufficiency causes (a) the inability to grasp and select information before its realization; and (b) the inability to produce a polysemantic context which is crucial for creativity, psychological defense, and the restoration of search activity, all of which determine psychophysiological adaptation to the environment. Right hemisphere insufficiency causes left hemisphere hyperactivity as an ineffective attempt to compensate for this functional deficiency. As a result, normal search activity is replaced by artificial search activity which is represented by "positive" symptoms, and which uses the predisposition of the left hemisphere's catecholamine system for its increased activity. The suggestion is made that cognitive impairment in schizophrenia (the inability to use appropriate previous information in relation to current perceptual input) is related to the competition between information processing which requires left hemisphere activity, and the formation of positive symptoms, also based on left hemisphere activity.

Brain↗
PubMed1993

Adaptive versus maladaptive emotional tension.

The problem of emotional tension is usually discussed only with regard to its negative (maladaptive) aspects. The positive (adaptive) function of emotional tension, however, is as important as its negative function. In this article, we have examined psychophysiological outcomes of adaptive versus maladaptive emotional tension with respect to opposite forms of behavior (search activity and renunciation of search) that have an opposite outcome on body resistance and performance. Some traditional psychophysiological problems, for example, the law of initial values (Wilder, 1931), the difference between orienting and defensive reaction, or between anxiety and panic behavior, are revised on the basis of the assumption of adaptive and maladaptive emotional tension.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1992

Sleep and memory. I: The influence of different sleep stages on memory.

A new approach to the sleep stages role in memory is discussed in the context of the two opposite patterns of behavior-search activity and renunciation of search. Search activity is activity designed to change the situation (or the subjects attitudes to it) in the absence of a definite forecast of the results of such activity, but with the constant consideration of these results at all stages of activity. Search activity increases general adaptability and body resistance while renunciation of search decreases adaptability and requires REM sleep for its compensation. Unprepared learning, which is often accompanied by failures on the first steps of learning, is suggested to produce renunciation of search, which decreases learning ability, suppress retention, and increase REM sleep requirement. A prolonged REM sleep deprivation before training causes learned helplessness and disturbs the learning process, while short REM sleep deprivation cause the "rebound" of the compensatory search activity that interferes with passive avoidance. REM sleep deprivation performed after a training session can increase distress caused by a training procedure, with the subsequent negative outcome on retention.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Sleep and memory. II: Investigations on humans.

The positive effect of delta-sleep on retention depends on REM sleep, which facilitates this positive effect, but at the same time has its own inhibitory effect on retention. The nature of this double influence of REM sleep on retention is discussed in the context of the restoration of search activity being the main REM sleep function. Such restoration can explain the indirect positive effect of REM sleep on retention, especially on retention of the unusual and emotionally meaningful information that can cause distress. Psychic activity in REM sleep (dreams) has a direct negative effect on retention, which may be due to the interference between dream images and learned material.

Humans↗
PubMed1985

The structure of night sleep and cardiac rhythm in patients suffering for many years from hypo- and akinesia.

The polygram of night sleep was studied in 3 patients, who due to a lesion to the CNS and peripheral nervous system were in a state of long-term akinesia and artificial lung ventilation. The cyclic organization of sleep and its transition from stage to stage, as a whole corresponded with those in healthy subjects. However, there was a general tendency in all patients to a reduction of sleep spindles. There was also a tendency to the stability of heart rate during night sleep. The relationship between delta-sleep and sleep spindles and motor activity is discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

[Clinico-physiologic analysis of sleep disorders among patients with borderline states].

In patients with an anxious syndrome of the neurotic genesis, complaints of sssleep disorders correlate with the clinical pattern of asthenic disturbances and objective changes in the sleep character (a reduction in delta-leep, frequent awakenings). In cases of hysterical neuroses, there is a dissociation between the intact structure of sleep and the absence of asthenic symptomatology on the one hand and complaints of marked sleep disturbances on the other. In cases of neurosis-like schizophrenia despite a reduction in delta-sleep, asthenic symptomatology is almost absent and complaints of sleep problems are rather formal in nature. The pathogenesis of sleep disorders in neurotic patients, including the role of anxiety in objective sleep pattern alternations, is discussed. A hypothesis relating the specific characteristics of thought to a diminished need for delta-leep in schizophrenics is proposed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1980

[Structure of nocturnal sleep in akinesia of many years duration and artificial pulmonary ventilation].

The polygram of night sleep was studied in 4 patients, who due to a lesion to the CNS and peripheral nervous system were in a state of long-term akinesia and artificial lung ventilation. The cyclic organization of sleep and its transition from stage to stage, as a whole corresponded with those in norm. However, there was a deficit of delta-sleep, differently expressed in each patient with a general tendency in all patients to a reduction of sleep spindles. The relationship between delta-sleep spindles and motor activity is discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

REM sleep, stress and search activity. A short critical review and a new conception.

Basing themselves on an analysis of data cited by other researchers and the results of their own investigation, conducted on man and animals, the authors disclose that sleep changes are determined by the type of behavioural reaction to emotional stress: the behaviour that includes components of search activity directed at changing the situation is accompanied by a reduction of REM sleep time; renunciation of search, as in the cases of passive avoidance, neurotic anxiety and depression, is attended by an increase in REM sleep requirement. Presumably, the function of REM sleep is to compensate for renunciation of search in the waking period. The authors suggest a method of appraising the character of reaction to stress by sleep changes--calculation of the time ratio of REM sleep to delta-sleep in the first two cycles.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1976

[Dreams under normal conditions and in pathology].

Experiments on wakening from "rapid" and "slow" sleep, as well as clinical and epidemiological studies revealed differences in the reports of dreams. These differences were in correlation with the character of cerebral or somatical pathology and with the representativeness of phasic components of "rapid" sleep.

Adult↗