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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Fear-avoidance beliefs as measured by the fear-avoidance beliefs questionnaire: change in fear-avoidance beliefs questionnaire is predictive of change in self-report of disability and pain intensity for patients with acute low back pain.

OBJECTIVES: The purposes of this study were to investigate the association among measures of fear-avoidance beliefs, pain intensity, and lumbar flexion and to determine if changes in these measures were predictive of treatment outcome following physical therapy for acute low back pain. It was hypothesized that items of the Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire would be correlated with concurrent measures of pain intensity and lumbar flexion. In addition, it was hypothesized that changes in fear-avoidance beliefs would be predictive of changes in self-report of pain intensity and disability. STUDY DESIGN: Patients underwent a standard examination that included measures of fear-avoidance beliefs, pain intensity, lumbar flexion, and disability from low back pain. Patients were then re-examined after 4 weeks of physical therapy treatment. PATIENTS: Sixty-three patients with acute low back pain enrolled in a clinical trial of physical therapy treatment. RESULTS: Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire items were consistently correlated with lumbar flexion, but not with measures of pain intensity. Pearson correlations indicated that changes in disability were significantly associated with changes in fear-avoidance beliefs and pain intensity, but not changes in lumbar flexion. Changes in fear-avoidance beliefs explained significant amounts of variance in changes in average pain intensity while controlling for changes in lumbar flexion. Changes in fear-avoidance beliefs explained significant amounts of variance in changes in disability while controlling for changes in average pain intensity. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that fear-avoidance beliefs have a similar association with pain intensity, physical impairment, and disability for patients with acute and chronic low back pain. This study provides preliminary support for the use of the Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire as an outcome measure for patients with acute low back pain.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed2000

Maternal antigen avoidance during pregnancy for preventing atopic disease in infants of women at high risk.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of prescribing an antigen avoidance diet during pregnancy on the nutritional status of the mother and newborn and on the development of atopic disease in the child. The main focus is on women at high risk for giving birth to an atopic child, based on a history of atopic disease in the mother, father, or a previous child. SEARCH STRATEGY: The register of clinical trials maintained and updated by the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group. SELECTION CRITERIA: All acceptably controlled comparisons of maternal antigen avoidance prescribed to pregnant women at high risk, regardless of the degree of antigen avoidance (number of foods eliminated from the diet) or the time of its onset during pregnancy. Data are also included on formula-fed (ie non-breastfed) infants in trials of maternal antigen avoidance intended to continue beyond pregnancy into the lactation period. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Data were extracted by the author from published reports, and supplemented by additional information from trialists contacted by the author. MAIN RESULTS: Three trials involving 504 women were included. Based on the single trial providing pertinent data, the restricted diet was associated with a small but statistically significant lower mean gestational weight gain (mean difference = -3.0% of prepregnancy weight) and a nonsignificantly higher risk of preterm birth. The combined evidence does not suggest a strong protective effect of maternal antigen avoidance on the incidence of atopic eczema or asthma during the first 12-18 months of life. Data on allergic rhinitis/conjuctivitis and urticaria are limited to a single trial each and are insufficient to draw meaningful inferences. Two trials suggest a lower incidence of skin prick tests to egg at 6 months of age, but the effect was no longer evident at 18 months, nor was any benefit apparent at either age for skin prick tests to milk. If anything, cord blood IgE levels were higher in the experimental (antigen avoidance) group. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: Prescription of an antigen avoidance diet to a high-risk woman during pregnancy is unlikely to reduce substantially her risk of giving birth to an atopic child. Moreover, such a diet may have an adverse effect on maternal and/or fetal nutrition.

Dietary Proteins↗
PubMed1990

Passive avoidance behavior, vasopressin and the immune system. A link between avoidance latency and immune response.

The relation between passive avoidance behavior and primary antibody response was studied in rats. The avoidance latency was varied by means of variation of the shock intensity during the learning trial; a higher shock intensity resulted in a longer avoidance latency at the retention test. The avoidance latencies were inversely proportional to the magnitude of the primary antibody response. Neuropeptides, such as [Arg8]-vasopressin (AVP) were shown to potentiate retrieval processes. Administration of 10 ng desglycinamide AVP (DGAVP) 1 h prior to the retention test facilitated passive avoidance behavior (increase in avoidance latency). Conversely i.c.v administration of vasopressin antiserum resulted in attenuation of the avoidance behavior. The effects of altered passive avoidance behavior as a consequence of i.c.v. administration of DGAVP or vasopressin antiserum were studied on the primary antibody response. Again an inversely proportional relationship between the avoidance latency and the magnitude of the primary antibody response was observed. The results show that the immune system can specifically react to graded environmental stimuli. It is hypothesized that vasopressin may be an endogenous mediator determining the outcome of the avoidance behavior and the primary antibody response.

Animals↗
PubMed1993

A Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ) and the role of fear-avoidance beliefs in chronic low back pain and disability.

Pilot studies and a literature review suggested that fear-avoidance beliefs about physical activity and work might form specific cognitions intervening between low back pain and disability. A Fear-Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ) was developed, based on theories of fear and avoidance behaviour and focussed specifically on patients' beliefs about how physical activity and work affected their low back pain. Test-retest reproducibility in 26 patients was high. Principal-components analysis of the questionnaire in 210 patients identified 2 factors: fear-avoidance beliefs about work and fear-avoidance beliefs about physical activity with internal consistency (alpha) of 0.88 and 0.77 and accounting for 43.7% and 16.5% of the total variance, respectively. Regression analysis in 184 patients showed that fear-avoidance beliefs about work accounted for 23% of the variance of disability in activities of daily living and 26% of the variance of work loss, even after allowing for severity of pain; fear-avoidance beliefs about physical activity explained an additional 9% of the variance of disability. These results confirm the importance of fear-avoidance beliefs and demonstrate that specific fear-avoidance beliefs about work are strongly related to work loss due to low back pain. These findings are incorporated into a biopsychosocial model of the cognitive, affective and behavioural influences in low back pain and disability. It is recommended that fear-avoidance beliefs should be considered in the medical management of low back pain and disability.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1975

Effects of delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol on active avoidance acquisition and passive avoidance retention in rats with amygdaloid lesions.

Delta9-Tetrahydrocannabinol was administered to rats with basolateral amygdaloid lesions, control rats, and normal rats in doses of 0.75, 1.5, and 3.0 mg/kg i.v. They were trained in a one-session two-way active avoidance task. Delta9-Tetrahydrocannabinol increased the percentage of avoidance and the intertrial crossing rates in all groups, regardless of lesion treatment. Rats with basolateral amygdaloid lesions were not different from controls on any measure. In a second experiment, delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol was administered to rats with basolateral amygdaloid lesions and control rats in doses of 0.75 and 3.0 mg/kg 24 h after learning of a one-trial passive avoidance task, and retention was measured. No differences were found as a function of drug treatment or lesion condition. It was concluded that the basolateral amygdala is not a necessary condition for the action of delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol on active avoidance acquisition, that the drug has no effect on passive avoidance retention, and the basolateral amygdala is not necessary for two-way active avoidance acquisition or passive avoidance retention. Active avoidance results are discussed in terms of a possible relationship between delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol, ACTH, and avoidance learning.

Amygdala↗
PubMed2006

Is avoiding an aversive outcome rewarding? Neural substrates of avoidance learning in the human brain.

Avoidance learning poses a challenge for reinforcement-based theories of instrumental conditioning, because once an aversive outcome is successfully avoided an individual may no longer experience extrinsic reinforcement for their behavior. One possible account for this is to propose that avoiding an aversive outcome is in itself a reward, and thus avoidance behavior is positively reinforced on each trial when the aversive outcome is successfully avoided. In the present study we aimed to test this possibility by determining whether avoidance of an aversive outcome recruits the same neural circuitry as that elicited by a reward itself. We scanned 16 human participants with functional MRI while they performed an instrumental choice task, in which on each trial they chose from one of two actions in order to either win money or else avoid losing money. Neural activity in a region previously implicated in encoding stimulus reward value, the medial orbitofrontal cortex, was found to increase, not only following receipt of reward, but also following successful avoidance of an aversive outcome. This neural signal may itself act as an intrinsic reward, thereby serving to reinforce actions during instrumental avoidance.

Adult↗
PubMed1981

[The effects of acute administration of thyrotropin-releasing hormone on conditioned active avoidance learning and passive avoidance learning in rats (author's transl)].

The effects of acute administration of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) on the fear motivated learning of male Wistar rats were studied using a shuttle box. Two kinds of experiments - active avoidance learning (shuttle avoidance learning) and passive avoidance learning were performed. TRH (500 microgram/kg) was injected subcutaneously 40 to 50 minutes before the test trials. 1. In shuttle avoidance learning, TRH facilitated the acquisition after 8 sessions-pretraining and retarded the extinction after 8 approximately 12 sessions-pretrainings compared with saline. In passive avoidance learning, however, the reverse results were obtained: TRH retarded the acquisition and facilitated the extinction. 2. In shuttle avoidance learning, the acquisition facilitating effect of TRH was seen only in poor performer rats (poor performer was defined as less than 37 median score of conditioned avoidance responses in 8 sessions-pretraining), but not in good performer rats (more than 37 conditioned avoidance responses). 3. In shuttle avoidance learning, the acquisition facilitating effect of TRH was not seen in poor performer rats after 15 sessions-pretrainings, and the extinction retarding effect of TRH was not seen in the rats after 28 sessions-pretrainings. 4. From the above results it can be concluded that TRH possesses a fear reducing effect, and the behavioral changes brought about by TRH are seen most obviously in the rats which are in highly fearful conditions.

Animals↗
PubMed1982

Forebrain serotonin and avoidance learning: behavioural and biochemical studies on the acute effect of p-chloroamphetamine on one-way active avoidance learning in the male rat.

The acute effects of p-chloroamphetamine (PCA) on one-way active avoidance learning and on central monoamine concentrations were examined in the male rat. The 5-HT specificity of the acute behavioural effect of PCA was examined in several experiments. PCA (0.08-5 mg/kg IP) injected 30-60 min before testing produced a dose-related impairment of both avoidance acquisition and retention. Pretreatment with the selective serotonin (5-HT) uptake inhibitors fluoxetine and zimelidine, but not the noradrenaline (NA) uptake inhibitor desipramine, resulted in a blockade of the avoidance deficit. Degeneration of brain 5-HT neurons by a high neurotoxic dose of PCA (2 x 10 mg/kg IP) 7 days prior to the administration of PCA also blocked the avoidance deficit. There was also a complete blockade of the PCA-induced avoidance deficit by pretreatment with metergoline, a central 5-HT receptor blocking agent. A 2.,5 mg/kg dose of PCA examined 60 min after injection produced regional changes in the 5-HT-levels preferentially in the forebrain region with significant reductions in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus and striatum while marginal effects were observed in the hypothalamus, midbrain and spinal cord. PCA failed to reduce dopamine and noradrenaline concentrations in the time- and dose-range of the avoidance deficit. Thus, the avoidance learning impairment appears to be specifically related to the acute release of endogenous 5-HT from presynaptic nerve endings possibly in the forebrain resulting in stimulation of postsynaptic 5-HT receptors. These findings indicate that 5-HT neurons in the forebrain play a role in active avoidance learning possibly by an involvement in memorial and/or retrieval processes.

Amphetamines↗
PubMed2004

Avoidance and depression: the construction of the cognitive-behavioral avoidance scale.

Previous research has demonstrated a relationship between avoidance and depression, although the nature of this relationship has been confused by inconsistent definitions of avoidance. Following a review of the construct of avoidance and an examination of past research, a new multidimensional measure of avoidance was developed and validated using an undergraduate student sample (245 females and 146 males). Four reliable factors reflecting combinations of cognitive/behavioral and social/nonsocial dimensions of avoidance were obtained from the factor analysis of the new scale, entitled the "Cognitive-Behavioral Avoidance Scale" (CBAS). The scale showed the predicted relationships with convergent and divergent measures used for construct validation. As predicted, subscales of the CBAS, as well as the overall scale score, were significantly related to the depression and anxiety criterion measures. The findings from this study suggest that avoidance may be an important construct in the psychosocial conceptualization of depression. In addition, this integrated measure of avoidance has potential utility for depression researchers. Suggestions for further scale development and research are provided.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2004

Threat appraisal and avoidance after traumatic brain injury: why and how often are activities avoided?

OBJECTIVE: Goldstein emphasized the anxiety-related avoidance of activities after brain injury, but such avoidance has rarely been systematically investigated. This study aimed to compile a list of specific threat appraisals that may lead to avoidance and to obtain data on the frequency with which these appraisals and consequent avoidance occur. DESIGN: Survey. METHOD: Qualitative methodology was used to obtain an account of threat appraisals. These data were then used to compile two questionnaires that asked about the experience of these appraisals and consequent avoidance. Fifty individuals with a TBI completed the questionnaires. RESULTS: A varied list of threat appraisals was obtained. Appraisals and consequent avoidance were frequent in the sample. Males and those whose TBI resulted from an assault reported more avoidance. CONCLUSIONS: A core aim of rehabilitation is to facilitate participation in valued roles and activities. Threat appraisals and avoidance deserve more attention in research and practice because they may constitute a significant obstacle to achieving this.

Accidental Falls↗
PubMed1982

Mathematical modelling of the reaction latency. Part III: A model of avoidance reaction latency and avoidance learning.

The linear-dynamic-stochastic model of a reaction latency as applied to avoidance experiment is presented. Reactions are classified on the basis of the model into following classes: escape, avoidance, late avoidance, three types of inter-trial responses and "no reaction". The experimental latency distribution is split into latency distributions of the escape, avoidance and late avoidance responses, providing a new insight into latency distribution. The results of fitting the model to latency measurements obtained in the avoidance conditioning experiment are presented. The same processes of the parameter changes as in the escape conditioning are discovered, one causing a latency to decrease and the other causing a latency to increase during learning. The first process affects a latency stronger than the second and, consequently, the latency decreases during learning. The second process is responsible for a decay of inter trial-responses during experiment. The value of the correlation coefficient between the threshold of avoidance reaction and the threshold of escape reaction was also estimated. Negative values of this coefficient were obtained, therefore, on the average, the greater the avoidance reaction threshold the smaller the escape one. In the course of learning the correlation coefficient tends to be equal to - 1, i.e., as a result of training, both thresholds became dependent in a functional (non-random) way. This result may provide an objective index of the "state of learning". The model provides a new tool for analysis of results of latency-based experiments.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

Psychophysiological responses to presentation of a caged snake among behaviorally avoidant and non-avoidant college students.

Sixty-six coeds who reported fear of snakes on a paper-and-pencil fear inventory were exposed to a Physiological Response Test, during which their electrodermal and cardiac responses to a neutral stimulus and a caged snake were recorded. Half of these coeds then were exposed to a representative Behavioral Avoidance Test, on the basis of which they were classified as avoidant, as non-avoidant, or as neither. Those remaining were classified similarly with an Incentive Behavioral Avoidation Test, before which each was offered an incentive for displaying non-fearfulness. The electrodermal response data showed that students classifed as avoidant had not been more responsive to snake confrontation than the the students classified as non-avoidant. The cardiac response data showed that avoidant Ss had been relatively more responsive to the snake cue, but that differential responsiveness was not robust. These results held for both behavioral avoidance tests.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Excess mortality from avoidable and non-avoidable causes in men of low socioeconomic status: a prospective study in Korea.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to evaluate the magnitude and contributory factors of socioeconomic differentials in mortality in a cohort of Korean male civil servants. DESIGN: A prospective observational study of male civil servants followed up for five years after baseline measurement. SETTING: All civil service offices in Korea. PARTICIPANTS AND MEASUREMENTS: The study was conducted on 759,665 Korean male public servants aged 30-64 at baseline examination in 1992. The grade of monthly salary of these participants divided into four groups, a proxy indicator of socioeconomic status (SES), was the main predictive variable. Mortality of the participants was followed up from 1992 to 1996. The causes of deaths were categorised into four groups according to the medical amenability: avoidable, partly avoidable, non-avoidable, and external causes of death. The risk of mortality associated with SES was estimated using the Cox proportional hazard model. MAIN RESULTS: Lowest SES group had significantly higher risk of mortality from most causes compared with the highest SES group in the order of external cause (relative risk (RR): 2.26), avoidable (RR: 1.65), all cause (RR: 1.59), and non-avoidable mortality (RR: 1.54). With the adjustment of known risk factors, significantly higher risks of mortality in lowest SES group were attenuated but persisted. Looking at the deaths from partly avoidable causes, significantly higher risks of mortality in the lowest SES group was observed from cerebrovascular disease but not from coronary heart disease. CONCLUSIONS: Socioeconomic differentials in non-avoidable as well as avoidable mortality, persisting even under the control of risk factors, suggest that mortality is influenced not only by the quality of health care and different distribution of risk factors but also by other aspects of SES that are yet unknown.

Administrative Personnel↗
PubMed1979

Dose-related effects of ethanol on avoidance-avoidance conflict behavior in the rat.

The effects of ethanol on avoidance-avoidance conflict behavior were examined, utilizing a 3- x -3 factorial design in which rats were trained and tested after drinking sugar-water solutions containing 0, 3, or 6% ethanol. Avoidance tendencies were established by initially training rats to escape from electric shock by running in one direction in a white alley, and in the opposite direction in a black alley. In subsequent shock free conflict tests, the rats were placed into an alley with one black wall and one white wall, an environment in which incompatible tendencies to avoid both ends of the alley were aroused. During training, ethanol decreased the speeds with which rats escaped shock. In the subsequent avoidance-avoidance conflict tests, rats that previously received shock escape training after drinking ethanol ran more slowly, and exhibited lower total movement and oscillation range scores than did animals trained after drinking plain sugar-water. Administration of ethanol just prior to the conflict tests resulted in dose-related increases in running speeds, total movement scores, and oscillation ranges. These results suggest that moderate doses of ethanol increased responding by differentially weakening conflicting avoidance tendencies.

Alcohol Drinking↗
PubMed1986

[Behavioral effects of propentofylline (HWA 285) on ambulatory activity, discrete avoidance response and passive avoidance response in mice].

Behavioral effects of propentofylline (HWA 285) were investigated by means of ambulatory activity, discrete lever-press avoidance and step-through type passive avoidance response in mice. Single administration of HWA 285 produced no marked change in the bodily condition and also produced no changes in ambulatory activity at 1.25-20 mg/kg, s.c.; the discrete avoidance response at 2.5-40 mg/kg, s.c.; and the passive avoidance response at 10-30 mg/kg, s.c. However, 5-20 mg/kg of HWA 285 attenuated the ambulation-increasing effect of methamphetamine (2 mg/kg, s.c.) and scopolamine (0.5 mg/kg, s.c.). HWA 285 tended to attenuate the avoidance-suppressing effect of chlorpromazine (2 mg/kg, s.c.) and physostigmine (0.1 mg/kg, s.c.) at 2.5 mg/kg, while it enhanced the effect of chlorpromazine at 10-40 mg/kg. The mice treated with HWA 285 (10-30 mg/kg) at 30 min before or immediately after the acquisition trial did not show a marked change in the passive avoidance response when the retention trial was done 24 hr after the acquisition trial. The treatment with scopolamine (2 mg/kg, s.c.) at 30 min before the acquisition trial suppressed the passive avoidance response, eliciting a marked shortening of the step-through latency and decrease in % of mice to the 300 sec criterion of latency. The effect of scopolamine was attenuated by combined administration of HWA 285 (30 mg/kg) and treatment with HWA 285 (30 mg/kg) after the end of the acquisition trial. The present results suggest that HWA 285 demonstrates complex behavioral effects which vary dependently on the doses and types of behaviors.

Animals↗
PubMed2006

Individual differences in approach and avoidance movements: how the avoidance motive influences response force.

The present research is based on the assumption that people differ in their responsiveness to incentives and threats. In two experiments we examined whether the trait corresponding to the responsiveness to threats (avoidance motive) and the trait corresponding to the responsiveness to incentives (approach motive) influence voluntary motor behavior toward or away from stimuli. In Experiment 1, stimuli consisted of positive and negative words within a lexical decision task. Participants moved their arms backward in order to withdraw from the stimuli or forward in order to approach them. In Experiment 2, participants responded with forward or backward arm movements to neutral sounds coming from behind or in front of them. The main dependent variable was the strength of the approach and avoidance movements. In both experiments this variable was related to participants' avoidance-motive disposition but not to their approach-motive disposition. Avoidance-motivated individuals generally showed more forceful avoidance movements than approach movements. There was no effect of stimulus valence on the strength of the movements in Experiment 1. Furthermore, the results of Experiment 2 suggest that it is not the physical direction (forward or backward) but rather the movement's effect of distance reduction (approach) or distance increase (avoidance) in regard to the stimulus that defines a movement as an approach or an avoidance movement.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Enhancement of the avoidance-suppressing effects of neuroleptic agents after repeated administration: changes in the discriminated avoidance response in rats.

Changes in the discriminated avoidance response of the rat after repeated administration of N-(1-benzyl-3-pyrrolidinyl)-5-chloro-2-methoxy-4-methylaminobenzamide (YM-08050; 0.01 mg/kg SC) and N-(1-benzyl-3-pyrrolidinyl)-5-chloro-methoxy-4-dimethylaminobenzamide (YM-08051; 0.1 mag/kg SC), potent neuroleptic agents of the benzamide derivative type, were investigated. The avoidance-suppressing effects of YM-08050 and YM-08051, i.e., decreases in the response (lever-pressing) and avoidance rates, were enhanced after repeated administration. The changes in behavior were more marked in animals exposed to the avoidance situation during the period of the drug effect than those given the drugs after the termination of each avoidance session. The enhancing effect, once it had appeared, remained even after 1 week. The present results suggest that the avoidance-suppressing effects of YM-08050 and YM-08051 are enhanced after repeated administration, and that the effect is strongly dependent on the drug experience of the experimental animals and on the experimental situation to which the animals are exposed during the period of the drug effect.

Animals↗