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The benefits of using humor in health care include stress reduction and improved psychological well-being for patients and the nursing staff. The authors discuss model to incorporate humor into a specific health-care setting, and include a detailed description of two humor programs: the Chuckle Wagon and Nursing Humor Resource Center.
The benefits of using humor in health care include stress reduction and improved psychological well-being for patients and the nursing staff. The authors discuss a model to incorporate humor into a specific healthcare setting, and include a detailed description of two humor programs: the Chuckle Wagon and Nursing Humor Resource Center.
Native proteins in the aqueous humor and serum from 4 patients with cataract and 2 patients with central artery occlusion were studied using micro two-dimensional isoelectric focusing-gradient gel electrophoresis combined with silver staining. A total of 51 protein spots were detected in the aqueous humor and the standard map of distribution pattern of the native proteins was established. Transferrin, albumin, alpha 2-macroglobulin, ceruloplasmin, haptoglobin, IgA and IgG were identified by an enzyme immunoassay. As a whole, the protein pattern of the aqueous humor is comparable with the pattern of the serum, except for marked quantitative differences. Most aqueous humor components have their corresponding spots found in the serum. However, there are some spots detected only in the aqueous humor but not in the serum. These spots were identified as transferrin. It is already known that the tau fraction (a desialized form of transferrin, absent in serum) is found in an extra band in the electrophoretic patterns of cerebrospinal fluid and vitreous humor. Therefore, the samples were treated with neuraminidase to determine whether or not the different aqueous transferrin spots were the tau fraction. Serum transferrin and certain aqueous transferrin spots (corresponding to serum transferrin in electrophoretic position) were transformed to tau fraction after treatment. However, some other aqueous transferrin spots (tau fraction and unreported transferrin) remained unchanged. This indicated that, in the aqueous humor, there are three kinds of transferrin molecules: ordinary serum transferrin, tau fraction and characteristic aqueous humor transferrin. Soluble proteins in the extracts of ciliary processes, iris, vitreous humor, sensory retina and lens were also studied. The characteristic transferrin pattern seen in the aqueous humor was observed only in the vitreous humor. The ciliary processes and iris revealed an identical transferrin pattern as in the serum. alpha 2-Macroglobulin, that has been thought to be too large to pass the blood-aqueous barrier, was detected in all of the aqueous humor samples. Certain larger serum proteins were observed to have their corresponding spots in the aqueous, whereas certain smaller ones were not found. These findings strongly suggested that the aqueous humor proteins are not a simple ultrafiltrate of the serum. Active transport and/or local synthesis of proteins may play important roles in determining the constitution of the proteins in the aqueous humor.
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The authors investigated relationships among sense of humor measured by a questionnaire, attentional bias toward humor measured by performance on a word-search task, and experimentally induced mood change through the use of sad and humorous cartoons. Mood was significantly altered in a negative direction after the sad cartoon. Coping humor, part of the sense of humor questionnaire, was associated with less negative mood ratings after the sad cartoon. In terms of main effects, only a modest change in mood was found after the humorous cartoon. Humor bias was associated with more positive mood ratings after the humorous cartoon. The authors suggest that coping humor serves a protective psychological function, helping screen the person from negative stimuli and, thus, from negative reactions. Attentional bias toward humor serves a different protective psychological function by helping the person focus on mood-enhancing stimuli in the environment.
When looking at humor of children and adolescents from a diagnostic point of view, there exist additional diagnostic possibilities other than the usual assessment methods from child and adolescent psychiatry or psychology. Spontaneous humorous behavior in everyday life and a humorous performance during assessment situations of children can provide a useful basis for further diagnostic considerations. From a developmental point of view it is important to notice what kinds of humor a child is already capable of understanding and of performing towards others. Whilst the actual readiness for cheerfulness contains information concerning the emotional state, the more general readiness for being cheerful renders insight into basic parameters of temperament. To what extent a child uses humor either supportively or destructively, contains information about psychodynamic connections, motivational aspects and active coping strategies. Concerning the diagnostic approach, reports of parents as well as humor tests or hypothesizing methods (e.g. humorous drawings) can be used. Central in using humor as a diagnostic assessment device is the knowledge of humor development and of the relations between psychiatric illnesses and humor.
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Folkman and Lazarus's transactional theory of emotion and coping was used to explain how humor influences job satisfaction among health care providers. One hundred forty-two nurses completed measures of humor orientation (HO), coping efficacy, job satisfaction, and open-ended questions about their use of humor to relieve job tensions. This produced 9 categories of producing humor and 8 types of work situations identified in which humor was used to cope. Nurses (21.4%) reported using humor the most often during "patient care" situations (e.g., providing medicines, moving patients, physical therapy, and so on). More than one third (38.66%) of the nurses reported using "word-play/language" as a humorous coping strategy. Higher HO was associated with higher ratings of humor effectiveness, greater self-perceived coping efficacy, and higher emotional expressivity. Path analysis demonstrated that, as the transactional theory would predict, trait HO influences job satisfaction through its effect on heightened coping efficacy. Study limitations include the use of self-report methods and the limited number of responses to the open-ended items. Subsequent research in this area should attempt to validate the categories identified in this study and determine the most effective means of coping. Researchers also should explore differences in health care providers' coping communication based on gender, years of experience, and profession.
Previous research has indicated a connection between the appreciation of different content types of humor and the effectiveness of laughter to reduce a hostile mood. Although a person's state of arousal can influence the preferences shown for a particular type of humor, little research has examined how sexual desire may contribute to preferences for humor. Anger was experimentally induced in 180 men and 180 women who had noted sexual desire before exposure to humor with sexual, sexist, and neutral content. Assessment of appreciation scores showed that angered men and women preferred sexual and sexist humor when they reported high sexual desire. Mood assessment indicated this appreciation related to the removal of anger and the reporting of a happy state with low ratings of sexual desire. Participants preferred neutral humor and showed least appreciation of sexist humor. Also, they did not enjoy a reduction in their hostile mood following exposure to humor.
OBJECTIVES: To investigate the intracorneal, aqueous, and vitreous penetration of ofloxacin, and to assess the concentration of the drug after topical administration alone and after combined topical and oral administration. METHODS: Twenty consecutive patients undergoing penetrating keratoplasty with vitrectomy for bullous keratopathy received 2 drops of 0.3% ofloxacin every 30 minutes starting 4 hours before surgery. Group A (10 patients) received topical therapy alone. Group B (10 patients) received an additional 3 doses of oral ofloxacin, 400 mg, every 12 hours starting 26 hours before surgery. Aqueous humor, vitreous humor, and corneal specimens were analyzed for ofloxacin levels. RESULTS: For group A, the mean intracorneal ofloxacin level was 4.51 micrograms/mL (range, 0.58-8.77 micrograms/mL; 10 specimens), the mean aqueous humor level was 1.34 micrograms/mL (range, 0.07-4.98 micrograms/mL; 8 specimens), and the mean vitreous humor level was 0.37 micrograms/mL (range, 0.05-0.90 micrograms/mL; 8 specimens). For group B, the mean intracorneal ofloxacin level was 8.59 micrograms/mL (range, 1.18-23.24 micrograms/mL; 10 specimens), the mean aqueous humor level was 2.77 micrograms/mL (range, 0.25-5.80 micrograms/mL; 10 specimens), and the mean vitreous humor level was 2.55 micrograms/mL (range, 0.28-4.97 micrograms/mL; 9 specimens). CONCLUSIONS: Topically applied ofloxacin achieves therapeutic levels in the cornea and aqueous. Mean levels achievable are well above the 90% minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC90) for the majority of bacteria responsible for endophthalmitis and corneal ulceration. The addition of oral ofloxacin to topical therapy increased vitreous penetration 7-fold in this assay trial.
The polypeptides of vitreous humor, aqueous humor and iris-ciliary complex cells of eyes were phosphorylated with [gamma-32P]ATP without exogenous protein kinase. Phosphorylated polypeptides were analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate gel electrophoresis and autoradiography. The phosphorylated polypeptides of rabbit vitreous humor showed many high molecular weight prominent bands, but no detectable phosphoproteins were found in the 12 kDa or lower range. Bovine vitreous humor has predominantly acidic polypeptides and some of them are below 20 kDa. Rabbit and bovine iris-ciliary complex and rabbit aqueous humor showed a prominent common 4 kDa phosphopolypeptide which could also be synthesized by cloned populations of cells from the bovine iris and the rabbit iris-ciliary body. It is possible that the 4 kDa phosphopolypeptide of the aqueous humor is synthesized by the iris-ciliary complex cells.
The objective of this study was to characterize the pharmacokinetic parameters and penetration of fluconazole following a single dose in the serum, aqueous humor, vitreous humor and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of non pigmented rabbits using serial sampling techniques and to determine if the pharmacokinetic parameters in the eye and CSF are similar. Twenty healthy male rabbits received intravenous fluconazole 20 mg/kg as a single dose or 20 mg/kg every 12 hours for 4 doses. Serum, aqueous humor, vitreous humor and CSF samples were taken 15 minutes after the initial intravenous injection and hourly thereafter for six hours. Fluconazole concentrations were determined by microbiological assay. Pharmacokinetic analyses were performed using a nonlinear least-square regression program. Fluconazole's penetration in all anatomical compartments was > 70% than in the serum. Similar elimination half-lives and time to reach maximum concentrations were noted in all compartments. While mean concentrations in each anatomical compartment were similar in animals receiving a single dose or among those at serum steady state, the mean concentrations achieved in the serum, aqueous and vitreous humors and CSF were between 1.82 and 2.17 times higher at serum steady state than following a single dose. At serum concentrations that are comparable to those in humans, the penetration of fluconazole into the noninflamed aqueous and vitreous humors and CSF were > or = 70%. The CSF and ocular pharmacokinetic parameters closely resembled each other, so that either could be used as a surrogate for the other.
In this study, we constructed a scale to measure individual preference for supportive humor, and examined whether the preference related to mental health. Two samples of female undergraduates cooperated with survey studies. In the first, a scale was constructed to measure preference for supportive kinds of humor, and relationships were examined between its score, hardiness to negative events, and depression, together with preference for other types of humor identified in a previous study (Ueno, 1992). In the second, the preference was correlated with hedonistic attitudes and private self-consciousness. Main findings were as follows: (1) Of the three types of humor (aggressive, playful, and supportive), only preference for supportive humor correlated with depression. (2) Hedonistic attitudes correlated with preference for each of the three types. (3) Private self-consciousness correlated only with preference for supportive humor.
This study was designed to investigate whether sense of humor moderates immunosuppressive effects of stress. At two time periods one and one-half months apart, forty subjects completed the Daily Hassles Scale and provided saliva samples for determining secretory immunoglobulin A (S-IgA) levels. Four scales were used to assess different aspects of the sense of humor. A negative correlation was obtained between frequency of hassles at time 1 and S-IgA levels at time 2 (r = -.32, p less than .05), suggesting an immunosuppressive effect of hassles. In support of our hypothesis, hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed significant moderating effects of three of the four humor measures on this relationship between hassles and S-IgA. Subjects with low scores on the humor scales revealed a stronger negative relationship between hassles and S-IgA than did those with high humor scores. These results are discussed in terms of other research examining psychological influences on immune function.
The effects of humor on increasing discomfort thresholds were tested with Transcutaneous End Nerve Stimulation (TENS). Undergraduate students (n = 31) with high or low scores on Martin and Lecourt's Situational Humor Questionnaire were randomly assigned to a humor or nonhumor condition. Discomfort thresholds for TENS were assessed before and during treatment. There was a significant increase in discomfort thresholds in the humorous treatment compared to the nonhumorous condition. Evidence was found for subjects to smile "wryly" (an increase in zygomatic and corrugator tensions) more during humorous stimuli than nonhumorous stimuli when they were waiting to be stimulated with the TENS.
Examined humor appreciation of cartoons as a function of sex of subject and type of humor. Four broad types of humor were presented: sexual-exploitative, sexual-nonexploitative, nonsexual-hostile, and nonsexual-nonhostile. Sexual-nonexploitative humor was rated as funnier than the other three types but nonsexual-nonhostile humor was given a more positive overall rating than the other types. Relative to males, females gave greater ratings of hostility to the cartoons and rated them less positively. Correlational analyses further suggested that females were not as affected as males by variations in sexuality, exploitation, and hostility. For males, greater ratings of sexuality were associated with greater funniness ratings while the reverse was true for greater ratings of hostility. Possible interpretations of these data were discussed.
Brown-Norway (BN) rats develop tubulointerstitial nephritis (TIN) after immunization with bovine tubular basement membrane (TBM) and adjuvants. Daily subcutaneous injections (either on Days 0-7 or Days 0-14) of (15S)-15-methyl prostaglandin E1 (M-PGE1) at a dose of 1 mg/kg/day markedly inhibited or completely abrogated the development of both the acute polymorphonuclear (Day 10) and the subsequent mononuclear (Day 14) inflammatory phases of BN rat TIN. Circulating anti-TBM antibody in Days 0-7 M-PGE1-treated rats was moderately diminished on Day 8 after immunization but not on Day 14. Circulating anti-TBM antibody in Days 0-14 M-PGE1-treated rats was only slightly diminished on Day 14. In experiments to test the effect of M-PGE1 on the elicitation phase of humorally mediated inflammation, M-PGE1 inhibited the acute inflammatory response observed 6 hours after intradermal injection of particulate TBM into TBM-sensitized BN rats. The inflammation in these skin tests was demonstrated by passive transfer experiments to be humorally mediated. The inhibition of acute humorally mediated intradermal inflammation was not attributable to neutropenia, because M-PGE1 caused a significant neutrophilia as demonstrated by peripheral blood smears. Although the inhibition of TIN in Days 0-14 M-PGE1-treated rats may have been due, in part, to dysfunction of the elicitation phase of humorally mediated inflammation, the inhibition of TIN in Days 0-7 M-PGE1-treated rats was more likely secondary to the diminished induction of either humoral or cellular immunity.
Types of humor as used by crisis interveners and first responders to emergency situations will be reviewed. Various disciplines, authors, researchers, and practitioners will be cited to help explain and clarify issues related to the use of humor in such situations and settings. The main focus is on the use of humor as a cognitive and/or behavioral coping strategy which is considered by many to be a reaction to stress events. The article proposes a model including progressive steps of humor, ranging from a respectful to a sarcastic.