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Results for “SOCIAL ISOLATION”

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PubMed1991

[Gluten-free diet in infantile autism. A therapeutic trial].

It has been postulated that there may be a connection between wheat-gluten/milk-casein and mental disorders such as schizophrenia, hyperactivity and autism. In this study seven patients with infantile autism, three before puberty and four after puberty, were given a gluten-free diet. Three children were provoked with gluten/placebo in a double-blind study. Four young patients participated in an open study and were given a gluten-free diet in six months. Behaviour was registered before, during and after the period with a gluten-free diet. Visual Analogue Scale and Real Life Rating Scale were used to register changes in behaviour. No connection was observed between gluten and behaviour typical for these patients. On the contrary, the gluten-free diet seemed to be another negative factor leading to further social isolation in this group of highly socially handicapped patients and families.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1980

Recovery of sexual activity with experience in aged male mice.

Aged CBF1 male mice that have been housed in isolation for prolonged periods of time often fail to show any sexual behavior when exposed acutely to receptive females. To separate the potential effects of social isolation from those of aging, the sexual responsiveness of aged males was tested both before and after a series of five-day pairings with young females. About one-half of the old males showed a complete recovery of their sexual responsiveness following these repeated pairings. Other aged males showed only a partial recovery and still others remained totally unresponsive. Changes in physical endurance, testicular steroid titer and arousability are posed as possible bases for those instances of sexual recovery that were observed.

Aging↗

PubMed1983

Opiate effects on isolation-induced hyperthermia.

The effect of brief separation from companions on temperature was studied in 24-day-old chickens. It was found that socially isolated animals became hyperthermic. Alternatively, control animals maintained in groups larger than 6 animals displayed no differences in temperature between the pre- and post-test. Injections of naloxone produced dose-dependent temperature increases in socially housed animals. Finally, while morphine reversed isolation hyperthermia, it had little or no effect on temperature in animals that remained in social groups throughout the experiment. The findings are discussed in terms of endogenous opioid involvement in separation distress and social bonding.

Animals↗

PubMed1982

The relationship of proximity to tension areas and size of settlement to fear levels of Israeli children.

A children's version of the Israeli Fear Survey Schedule was administered to 171 children in the central region of Israel and to 320 children along the tense Northern border. Proximity to the border and size of settlement were found to be factors in the fear levels observed. Beyond the finding that children closer to tension areas had higher fear levels, those from small settlements had higher fear levels than those from medium or large settlements. It was proposed that the variable of population size be viewed as mediated by a sense of social isolation by the subjects in small towns.

Child↗

PubMed1999

The experience of women with primary biliary cirrhosis: a literature review.

Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is a serious and life-threatening illness that mainly affects women. Epidemiological data on the prevalence of the illness are unclear. The experience of women with this chronic illness has not been explored within nursing research. A review of the literature concerning PBC therefore is based on general themes relating to chronic illness. A chronic illness has two meanings: the symbolic significance and the consequences for the individual. The symbolic significance of PBC can be related to symbolism relating to the liver in general and to the general assumption that liver disease is related to alcohol consumption. The consequences for the individual woman with PBC have been described as following a disease management trajectory. This may include appreciating the major symptoms of the illness. The main symptoms of PBC are fatigue and pruritus. These are both insidious and debilitating symptoms of unclear aetiology that can cause women with PBC problems when seeking an illness explanation. The symptoms may also interfere with the woman's body image and her caring role. It is suggested that the factors that relate to PBC may result in social isolation for women with the illness.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Relationship between the sequelae of zoosocial isolation and individual characteristics of the animal].

The changes were studied of various psychophysiological characteristics of mice behaviour, arising after prolonged solitary isolation in cages. The qualitative specificity of such changes is non-uniform and depends on the animals' individual characteristics (spontaneously aggressive or nonaggressive after isolation). Two types of the consequences of isolation are singled out: 1) General changes (non-specific) arising in all groups of mice; 2) Special changes (specific), typical of a certain group of animals only. In the group of aggressive mice there is a difference between aggression enhanced by isolation, and that which developed in the course of isolation. The most substantial qualitative changes in behaviour takes place in the latter case. It has been suggested that only individual approach makes it possible to determine exactly the qualitative aspects of social isolation consequences.

Aggression↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[The effect of intraspecies isolation in adulthood on the formation of a manipulatory habit in rats].

Dynamics of manipulatory habit formation was examined in white mixed-bred male rats housed in groups or isolated from community at the age of 2 months. A month later all the animals learned to reach food in a horizontal tube using a forepaw. It was shown that the social isolation of adult animals led to slowing the motor habit formation. The effect of isolation depended on paw preference of the animal, i.e., learning was the most difficult for sinistrals and ambidextrals, while the difference between dextral isolants and grouped rats was not significant. The authors consider shown disruptions to be the result of increased negative emotionality of late isolants rather than consequence of their motor disability.

Animals↗

PubMed2005

Interaction between isolation rearing and social development on exploratory behavior in male rats.

The effect of isolation on exploratory behavior has been shown to differ depending on the developmental stages of male rats. However, there has been little systematic comparison of the frequencies and the patterns of exploratory behavior across the developmental stages. The present study assessed the frequencies of exploration using the emergence test and exploratory patterns in the open-field test in three developmental stages of male rats: juvenile, post-puberty, and adult. A lower propensity for exploration was observed in rats isolated during the juvenile stage, as assessed by increased latency and decreased duration of exploratory behaviors compared to pair-reared rats, and this tendency was maintained in adulthood. Altered patterns of exploratory behavior were demonstrated both in rats isolated in adulthood, who showed an increased active pattern, and those pair-reared following puberty, who shifted to a more passive pattern. However, rats isolated during the juvenile stage did not change their exploratory patterns following puberty. These results suggest that the changes in the exploratory pattern, which can be observed in adulthood, are associated with the emergence of adult-like dominance relationships. Juvenile-isolated rats did not show these changes following puberty, suggesting the importance of social interaction as juveniles for the ontogenetic emergence of behavioral flexibility implicated in the regulation of exploratory patterns.

Aging↗

PubMed2006

The CRF1 receptor antagonist, antalarmin, reverses isolation-induced up-regulation of dopamine D2 receptors in the amygdala and nucleus accumbens of fawn-hooded rats.

We have previously shown that Fawn-Hooded (FH) rats reared in isolation display an anxiety-like phenotype and an enhanced acquisition of ethanol seeking behaviour. Furthermore, antalarmin, a selective corticotrophin-releasing factor type 1 (CRF1) receptor antagonist, reduces isolation-induced acquisition and maintenance of volitional ethanol consumption in this strain. The aim of this study was to investigate the ability of CRF1 receptor antagonism by antalarmin to impact upon brain chemistry in both isolated and group-housed FH rats. To achieve this, FH rats were reared, from weaning, in either group-housed or isolation-housed conditions and at 12 weeks of age were treated with antalarmin (20 mg/kg, i.p; n = 10 per group) or vehicle (1 mL/kg, i.p; n = 10 per group) bi-daily for ten consecutive days before being killed and their brains removed for neurochemical analyses. Autoradiography and in situ hybridization was employed to analyse changes in the dopaminergic and neurotrophin systems. Isolation rearing increased dopamine D2 receptor density in the central amygdala and nucleus accumbens, an effect reversed by antalarmin treatment. Conversely, treatment with antalarmin had no impact upon the isolation-induced alterations of the mRNA encoding brain-derived neurotrophic factor or the TrkB receptor. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that multiple signalling systems are susceptible to modulation by social isolation and that antalarmin can reverse some, but not all, isolation-induced alterations in brain chemistry.

Amygdala↗

PubMed2004

Consanguinity and endogamy in Northern Tunisia and its impact on non-syndromic deafness.

Deafness is an important health problem in the Tunisian population, especially in isolates where the prevalence ranges from 2 to 8%. To evaluate the effect of inbred unions on deafness, a study was conducted on 5,020 individuals (160 are deaf) between 2000 and 2002 in the North of Tunisia. The coefficient of inbreeding for all individuals and the levels of inbreeding in ten districts were computed. The higher levels were obtained in the rural districts. Our study revealed that geographic isolation, social traditions, and parental involvement in mode selection all contribute to increase consanguinity in these regions. The mean inbreeding seems to be similar to those estimated in highly inbred isolates in the world. The relative risk of the 35delG mutation, the single most frequent allele for non-syndromic recessive deafness in Tunisia, was estimated from the observed inbreeding coefficient and found to be 10.76 (SD 7.74) for first-cousin marriages, which are the most common form of consanguineous marriage encountered. Our knowledge of the risk rate of deafness and our understanding of consanguinity is required for the prevention of genetic deafness in the Tunisian population.

Case-Control Studies↗

PubMed1997

Weight loss in rats produced by running: effects of prior experience and individual housing.

To investigate factors affecting activity-based anorexia (ABA) or activity-stress (AS), rats were given 2-hr access to a running wheel immediately prior to their daily 1.5-hr food access during the light cycle. This produced a reduction in food intake, a steady increase in running, and a large drop in body weight with a prolonged delay before weight recovery began. Experiment 1 found that these effects were reduced in rats with prior experience of eating at this time of day. In contrast, prior experience of running in the wheel when on ad lib food enhanced these effects in Experiment 2, where a subsequent change for half the subjects to individual housing produced a further decrease in body weight. The latter factor was investigated from the outset of Experiment 3 and again individually housed rats showed greater weight loss than did group-housed rats. This experiment also found that in rats of the same age a low initial body weight predicts greater vulnerability to ABA. It was concluded that ABA results from activity-induced reduction of feeding, which prolongs adaptation to a new feeding schedule and is accentuated by social isolation.

Animals↗

PubMed2002

Specific abnormalities in serotonin release in the prefrontal cortex of isolation-reared rats measured during behavioural performance of a task assessing visuospatial attention and impulsivity.

RATIONALE: Rats reared in social isolation exhibit hyperactivity and specific attentional disturbances in later adult life. These behavioural abnormalities may be relevant to impulsivity and other neuropsychiatric syndromes such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and schizophrenia where disturbances in circuitry involving the prefrontal cortex have been identified. OBJECTIVE: To establish whether isolation-reared rats show a differential susceptibility to cognitive processes that depend on the prefrontal cortex and its monoaminergic innervation. METHODS: Rats were reared in isolation from postnatal day 28 or in social groups of four and trained on the five-choice serial reaction time task, which assesses spatially divided visual attention. Following a range of manipulations designed to tax visual attention and response control, in vivo microdialysis was used in conjunction with behavioural testing to assess dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT) release in the prefrontal cortex, either under baseline conditions prior to task initiation, or during task performance. Subjects were challenged with amphetamine (0.125 mg/kg intravenously) every 15 min, commencing 15 min after the start of the task. RESULTS: Apart from being consistently slower to collect food rewards and showing more perseverative responses to an auditory distractor, isolates were unimpaired on accuracy, impulsivity and correct latency measures on the five-choice task. Basal levels of DA and 5-HT in the prefrontal cortex were also unaffected by isolation rearing. Amphetamine increased the speed of responding in control and isolation-reared animals and increased premature (impulsive) responding, but only in socially-reared animals. Cortical DA release increased to a similar extent in both groups following amphetamine challenge. By contrast, 5-HT release was attenuated in isolates under these conditions. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight a rather specific deficit in 5-HT release in the prefrontal cortex of isolation-reared rats, although this appears not to affect visual attentional function. Rather, these data may be relevant to reduced impulsiveness of isolation-reared rats on the five-choice task. These findings are important in the context of animal models of attentional disturbances in schizophrenia.

Amphetamine↗

PubMed2003

Life as mothers in a new land: the experience of motherhood among Thai women in Australia.

In this article, we examine the accounts of 30 migrant Thai women in Australia who had become mothers. The women recognized that they had entered a new environment, which was different from their previous one. This had a marked impact on their lives as wives and mothers. Cultural differences play a major role in their coping with motherhood and the mothering role. We find that the women had several main concerns in their new land: social isolation, different childrearing and child disciplinary practices, and the desire to preserve Thai culture. Most women wish to have more children in their new land, but others are concerned about social and political environments in Australia. We also find that the social class of the women and the ethnic background of their spouses play an important role in their coping with motherhood and childrearing. We conclude that motherhood and mothering is a great challenge, which is made more complex when it is combined with migration. This is important if we are to understand motherhood from an ethnicity perspective. Only then may we see better health care for immigrant women who choose to become a mother in their new land.

Adult↗

PubMed1985

Loneliness: a concept relevant to the care of dying persons.

Loneliness, whether conceptualized as a basic "fact" of human existence or as a painful, subjective experience in response to changes or deficiencies in the quality or quantity of a person's social relationships, has been recognized as an experience feared or felt by human beings since antiquity. As health care professionals, nurses have observed and responded to loneliness as an actual or potential problem amenable to nursing intervention. Being a subjective experience and one which may or may not be connected to the more objective condition of social isolation or aloneness, loneliness has puzzled scholars and researchers across disciplines. Although the nature of loneliness as a relational deficit is beginning to be explicated, particularly through the efforts of social psychologists, there are still major questions to be answered with regard to antecedents, manifestations, and interventions. Dying persons may represent a particularly vulnerable group, especially those dying in an acute care/cure-oriented setting. Since the limited knowledge about the nature of loneliness has been acquired primarily through studying college students or young adults, the question of whether or not their experience is comparable to that of other groups remains to be answered. Nurses continue to make clinical judgments about the loneliness of their patients. They basically are guided by a knowledge of affiliative functioning, and their interventions reflect a goal of optimal, social functioning for individuals experiencing or at-risk for loneliness.

Emotions↗

PubMed2005

Malignant wounds in women with breast cancer: feminine and sexual perspectives.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: . The aim of this article is to investigate the way malignant fungating wounds affect femininity, sexuality and daily life in women with progressive breast cancer. Malignant wounds occur when the underlying localized tumour filtrates into the skin, blood capillaries and/or lymph vessels. DESIGN: The study was a prospective and exploratory intervention study. The intervention was tested on 12 consecutively selected women with progressive breast cancer and malignant fungating wounds. METHODS: The 12 women participated in a 4-week wound care intervention programme that comprised evidence-based wound care principles and psychosocial support. Data were generated by means of interviewing prior to and following the intervention period. RESULTS: The women described how malodorous and oozing wounds trigger anxiety about seepage, prevent them from wearing feminine attire and cause them to suppress the need for physical closeness and sexual activity. The results showed that by using modern wound care products, the patients could be secured against seepage and odour. The women experienced a sense of comfort, were able to dress again as they wished, no longer felt caged in and isolated and were given a sense of freedom which they had not felt for a long time. CONCLUSIONS: The intervention succeeded in increasing breast cancer patients' psychosocial well-being and reducing social isolation. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: There is a lack of standard methods of practice for care of malignant wounds in women with breast cancer. This article describes an intervention for wound care which could improve daily live in women with progressive breast cancer.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1975

Dependence to morphine in differentially housed rats.

Although the effects of differential housing, particularly isolation, on the action of several classes of pharmacological agents have been studied, little attention has been given to this factor in regard to narcotics. The present study involves the effects of long-term social isolation on dependence to morphine produced by pellet implants in rats. When abstinence was precipitated with naloxone, isolated rats demonstrated less jumping and less diarrhea then grouped rats. No differences were found in other signs. In addition, the differences were seen both in isolates developing muricidal behavior and those not developing this behavioral pattern.

Aggression↗

PubMed1997

Effect of isolation-rearing on noradrenaline release in rat hypothalamus and hippocampus in vitro.

A fixed volume incubation method in conjunction with HPLC-ED analysis was employed to measure endogenous NA release in vitro in slices of hippocampus and hypothalamus from rats reared in either groups of five or in social isolation from weaning. NA in release supernatants from hippocampal slices was found to be increased in response to stimulation with high K+ (30 mM), an effect which was dependent on Ca2+. Basal NA release was also Ca2+ dependent. Isolation-rearing did not significantly alter either basal or K+-stimulated release. Clonidine (10 microM) caused an inhibition of basal NA release in both regions and in both rearing groups, however there was no significant effect of isolation-rearing for this response although the response tended to be greater in the hippocampus from isolates. Idazoxan (10 microM) significantly increased basal NA release in hippocampal and hypothalamic slices in both rearing groups, but this effect was significantly greater in the hippocampus from isolation-reared rats. These findings suggest there may be a region-specific change in the sensitivity of the alpha2-adrenoceptor in isolates. Taken together with previous findings, there is evidence to suggest that isolation-rearing alters the sensitivity of the presynaptic terminal alpha2-autoreceptor in the hippocampus.

Adrenergic alpha-Agonists↗

PubMed1983

Adult status of mildly retarded past-pupils from special education. II: Social adaptation.

This paper, the second in a series of two reports, on the post school adjustment of mildly retarded persons in Ireland, focuses on social adaptation. Data on marriage, children, adaptive skills, living arrangements, problem behaviours and social contact among 382 past-pupils from special schools for mildly retarded children were examined. The personal characteristics of past-pupils which correlated with success in these areas were also noted and results were related to previous findings. The results lend further support to Cobb's (1972) claim that a majority of mildly retarded persons make satisfactory adjustment in adult life. However, a considerable number still seemed to experience a degree of social isolation warranting further attention. While IQ and age were again found to relate significantly to success on most variables, sex and socioeconomic class accounted for significant differences in some aspects of social independence.

Adaptation, Psychological↗