Longitudinal Study of the Stability of Expressed Emotion in Families of Schizophrenic Patients: A 9-Month Follow-Up

2001 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asunción Santos ◽  
Alberto Espina ◽  
Begoña Pumar ◽  
Pilar González ◽  
Ana Ayerbe ◽  
...  

The goal of this paper is to study attitude stability in schizophrenics' relatives, as reflected in the expressed emotion (EE) construct. For this purpose, the EE of 32 families of schizophrenic patients was assessed by means of the Camberwell Family Interview (CFI, Brown, Birley, & Wing, 1972; Vaughn & Leff, 1976b), both initially and at a 9-month follow-up. The results obtained indicate that EE is stable in fathers, whereas in mothers, high EE seems to be influenced by stressful situations, because, when assessed in crisis, EE was not stable, but in-between crises, it was. These results are discussed, as well as their relevance in family interventions aimed at reducing EE, where clinicians should take into account that mothers' EE may drop because of its instability, and not because of the intervention. On the other hand, clinicians should focus especially on fathers, because their high EE is constant, which is stressful to the patient during the follow-up.

1994 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 565-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jair De Jesus Mari ◽  
David L. Streiner

SynopsisThe purpose of this overview is to appraise the studies on the efficacy and effectiveness of family interventions in decreasing relapse in schizophrenic patients. The studies were identified by means of a computerized MEDLINE search, and the scanning of review articles and the reference lists of the primary articles identified. More than 300 citations were reviewed, and the potentially relevant articles revealed six randomized controlled trials that were included in this meta-analysis. The criteria for selecting potential studies as well as for the meta-analysis were tested by means of an inter-rater reliability check that showed a good agreement between two independent raters (K = 0·83, and K = 0·82, respectively). There were independent assessments of the quality of the studies selected, and data extraction comprised a descriptive information of the study population, the types of interventions, and the relevant outcome measurements. The total number of patients included in the six trials was 350 (181 in the control group and 169 in the experimental group). Regarding the decrease of relapse in the experimental group, the pooled odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals were: 0·30 (0·06, 0·71) for six months; 0·22 (0·09, 0·37) for nine months; and 0·17 (0·10, 0·35) for the 2-year follow-up. Two to five patients needed to be treated to avert one episode of relapse in a nine-month follow-up. The changes in Expressed Emotion status between experimental and control group combining nine months and one year follow-ups were shown to be marginally significant (P < 0·06), in favour of the experimental group. Emotional over-involvement was also marginally significant (P < 0·07), and there was no statistical difference in the distribution of criticism and hostility. In addition, the experimental group showed a significant increase with drug compliance and a reduction in hospitalization over time. These findings are discussed in light of the potential ingredients in the efficacy of family interventions by focusing on the limitations of using relapse as primary outcome in the assessment of efficacy trials with schizophrenic patients.


2021 ◽  
pp. 105984052110135
Author(s):  
Shima Gadari ◽  
Jamile Farokhzadian ◽  
Parvin Mangolian Shahrbabaki

Girls between the ages of 9 and 10 begin to experience physical, physiological, and hormonal changes that may lead to internal stress. At this age, children are struggling for autonomy; on the other hand, they may experience emotional instability, and for these reasons, they may be vulnerable in many ways. This experimental study aimed to investigate the effect of resilience training on assertiveness in student girls aged 9–10. Data were collected before, immediately after, and 1 month after the intervention in the control ( n = 40) and intervention ( n = 37) groups. There was a significant difference between the assertiveness of the intervention immediately (26.80 ± 3.73) and 1 month after the intervention (27.05 ± 3.73), and assertiveness significantly increased in the intervention group ( p = .0001). Resilience training leads to improvements in assertiveness in student girls aged 9–10.


Blood ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 128 (22) ◽  
pp. 3620-3620
Author(s):  
Sule Unal ◽  
Neslihan Kalkan ◽  
Mualla Cetin ◽  
Fatma Gumruk

Abstract Introduction: Iron overload is one of themajor complicationsof transfusion treatment in patient with thalassemia major. Deferasirox is a once-daily orally active iron chelator and long-term efficacy and safety data are being published. Herein we report the long-term follow-up data of thalassemia major patients in a single center. Methods: Of the 67 patients with thalassemia major who were under follow-up in a single center, 42 who were on deferasirox chelation for at least three years were included in the study. Patients' initial serum ferritin, ALT, creatinine, cardiac T2* and hepatic T2* values were recorded at the time of deferasirox initiation and at last visit. Deferasirox was not initiated as an iron chelator to none of the patients with a cardiac T2* value below 8 ms. All of the patients had creatinine clearance above 40 ml/minute and had serum creatinine levels within age appropriate normals at deferasirox initiation. None of the patients received any other chelations during the follow-up period. Results: Mean age of the patients were 16±9.4 years (2-33.4 years) at initiation of deferasirox and 22 (52%) were females. Eighteen (43%) of the patients were splenectomized. Median follow-up time of deferasirox chelation was 7.9 years (3-10). The median deferasirox doses at initiation of chelation and at last visit were 20.5 mg/kg/day and 30.7 mg/kg/day (7-40), respectively. Serum ferritin levels decreased significantly with deferasirox chelation (median 1969 ng/ml (516-5404) vs 1113 ng/ml (339-4003), p<0,001). We did not find statistically significant difference between the inital cardiac T2* values and the values at the last visit (median 25 .3 ms((8.7-42) vs 32 ms (6.6-42), p=0.607), despite a dramatic increase. On the other hand, hepatic T2* values did not significantly change compared to initial values, as well (median 3.7 ms (1-13.6) vs 3.3 (1-16), p=0.865). However of the patients who had cardiac T2* value between 10-20 ms, 67% was found to have T2* value above 20 ms by the end of the follow-up duration. On the other hand 53% of the patients with hepatic T2* value below 3.5 ms, had T2* values above 3.5 ms by the end of the follow-up, indicating improvement in iron stores. None of the patients exibited an adverse event that requires cessation of the drug totally, but patients exibited transient hypertransaminasemia that required transient cessation and/or dose decrement. The changes in serum ALT and serum creatinine levels at the initiation and at last visit were not significant. Conclusions: This is a a study that includes patients with a relatively long duration of follow-up. Although the cardiac T2* values improved by the end of the follow-up, this change was not found statistically significant. This can be attributed to the sample size and in a larger sample size, the change might be found significant. Additionally, the patients included in the study were composed of not only naive patients to chelation but also of the patients who were imcomplant to previous chelation and who were highly iron loaded before initiation of deferasirox. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


1969 ◽  
Vol 24 (8) ◽  
pp. 1235-1243 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Dobrowolny ◽  
F Engelmann ◽  
A Sestero

AbstractThe stability of a plasma diode with respect to longitudinal oscillations is investigated. If there are free particles emitted by the electrodes, the perturbations do not have the same dynamics as they would in an infinite plasma, contrary to the case where only particles trapped in the diode are present. This can be interpreted as due to a coupling of plane waves of different wave lengths, introduced by the boundary conditions at the electrodes. The occurrence of resonant-particle effects, on the other hand, is subjected to precisely the same conditions as in an infinite plasma.


1980 ◽  
Vol 102 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. T. Tsui ◽  
C. C. Tsui

This paper, which is an extension of [1], treats two-dimensional aeroelastic stability of two coupled conductors. It is found that the wake-induced flutter is symmetric with respect to the horizontal axis of the wake for all cases provided that the sign of the static coupling coefficient, ε = kxy/kxx, is changed. It appears that the spacer coupling ratio, K/kxx = Ω/ωx, is the most important factor in determining stability. For practical purposes, the system is almost always stable for K/kxx = Ω/ωx = 0.8, because the frequency ratio, κ = ωy/ωx, deviates less than ten percent from unity for a typical transmission line. On the other hand, within our range of interest, damping has little or no effect on the stability of coupled conductors. When the windward conductor is fixed, i.e., K = 0, then damping does influence the stability of the leeward conductor.


1998 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
pp. 85-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. ANDERSEN ◽  
L. BERTHELSEN ◽  
B. BECH JENSEN ◽  
I. LIND

Three cohorts of Danish male military recruits (n=1069) were studied for pharyngeal meningococcal carriage during 3 months at different seasons: 39–47% of entrants were meningococcal carriers and the carriage rate remained constant over time and season. However, individual changes in the carrier state occurred frequently, and after 3 months 34% had changed carrier state on one or more occasions. Initially, a loss of carriage predominated; on the other hand almost 20% of non-carriers had acquisition of meningococci within the first month. The serological phenotypes of the 670 carrier strains were compared with those of 261 invasive strains recovered concurrently from patients with meningococcal disease country-wide. Both carrier strains and invasive strains were phenotypically heterogeneous. Almost 60% of the invasive strains belonged to three phenotypes: B[ratio ]15[ratio ]P1.7, 16, C[ratio ]2a[ratio ]P1.2, 5 and C[ratio ]2b[ratio ]P1.2, 5. In contrast, these phenotypes only amounted to 3·2% of the carrier strains, among which no phenotype was found with a prevalence above 4·9%. However, 30% of the carrier strains had serological phenotypes identical to those of 80% of the invasive strains. Our results indicated that the transmission rate of potential pathogenic carrier strains did not differ from that of other carrier strains.


1930 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 516-518 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Staudinger ◽  
E. O. Leupold

Abstract Varied views prevail as to the structure of the colloidal particles present in a rubber solution. According to Harries, Pummerer, and many others, these colloidal particles are formed through the association or aggregation of smaller molecules. According to Meyer and Mark they have a micellar structure, the micelles forming through the apposition of main valence chains. On the other hand, it was assumed by one of the present authors that the elementary particles in a colloidal solution of rubber are identical with the rubber molecules, these large, especially labile molecules being called macromolecules. Thus the existence of much larger molecules than any hitherto known was postulated. This view was confirmed by the conversion of rubber to hydro-rubber capable of forming colloidal solutions, and also by the pyrogenic decomposition of rubber. In order to decide definitely between the two conceptions, the stability of the colloidal particle in a rubber solution was studied by means of viscosity measurements at various temperatures as was done in the case of the polystyrols. If these colloidal particles form aggregates or if they have a micellar structure, they should decrease in size with increase in temperature, and this change should be evidenced by a diminution of the specific viscosity of the colloidal solution. On the other hand, if such a solution is composed of molecules, the specific viscosity at various temperatures is the same, provided that the molecules are not decomposed at higher temperatures. This line of research led to an explanation of the constitution of the colloidal particles in a polystyrol solution and was now applied to balata, since the latter is especially easily purified.


1924 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 745-755 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oswald T. Avery ◽  
James M. Neill

In the present work on oxidation and reduction by sterile extracts of pneumococcus, the preparations employed contain among other constituents, a hemolytic substance the properties of which have been described by Cole (1, 2) in his studies on pneumococcus hemotoxin. Pneumococcus extracts prepared by the methods described are actively hemolytic, 0.005 cc. of extract causing complete lysis of 2.5 cc. of a 1 per cent suspension of red cells from rabbit blood. This hemolytic property of pneumococcus extracts is destroyed by 10 minutes exposure to 55°C. When pneumotoxin-containing extracts are protected from the action of molecular oxygen, their hemolytic activity remains unimpaired for considerable periods of time. In the presence of air, on the other hand, the stability of the hemolytic substance depends upon whether the particular type of extract contains a "complete" or "incomplete" oxidation-reduction system. Sterile broth extracts of unwashed pneumococci are reactive with molecular oxygen, and as a result of this union peroxide is formed whenever these extracts are exposed to air. The hemolytic activity of "complete" extracts of this type is rapidly decreased and finally destroyed in the presence of molecular oxygen. On the other hand, the "incomplete" type of extract prepared by saline extraction of washed pneumococci may be exposed to air with little or no loss of hemolytic power. This "incomplete" washed cell extract, unless reactivated, does not undergo autoxidation in the presence of air; under these circumstances peroxide is not formed and the hemolytic activity of this type of extract is not impaired by exposure to air. The stability of the hemolytic agent in the "incomplete" type of extract is evidence that this substance is itself not reactive with or affected by molecular oxygen, even in the presence of the cell enzymes. The destruction of the same hemolytic substance in extracts capable of undergoing autoxidation may be ascribed to the action of some peroxide formed by the union of molecular oxygen with easily oxidized or autoxidizable substances of the extract. It is now known that a peroxide, having the reactions of hydrogen peroxide, accumulates in sterile pneumococcus extracts during oxidation. It has been shown in the present study that the addition of preformed hydrogen peroxide destroys the hemolytic activity of pneumococcus extracts, although higher concentrations were required than were detected in oxidized extracts themselves. These facts and the known action of superoxides in analogous types of reaction make it seem not unlikely that the active agent in the destruction of pneumotoxin in oxidized cell extracts may be a peroxide; either hydrogen peroxide or some higher organic peroxide formed during autoxidation of the extract.


2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 319-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolina M. Duvall Antonacopoulos

This longitudinal study examined the effect of acquiring a dog using both an indirect and a direct measure of loneliness. The loneliness levels of 31 adults who acquired a dog and a control group of 35 non-dog guardians (non-dog owners) were assessed at baseline and 8 months. Results revealed that changes in loneliness over time differed for the two groups when loneliness was assessed through a 1-item direct measure. Participants who acquired a dog experienced reduced loneliness levels from baseline to 8 months and were less lonely at 8 months than non-dog guardians, even though the two groups did not differ at baseline. On the other hand, when loneliness was assessed through a multi-item indirect measure, acquiring a dog had no effect on loneliness. These results highlight the importance of the type of measure used to assess loneliness when examining changes in loneliness following the acquisition of a companion animal.


1975 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 401-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. Zizioulas

Theology, unlike other disciplines dealing with man, is faced with a fundamental methodological problem in its attempt to understand the human being. This problem is due to the Christian view of the Fall. Whatever we may wish to mean by the Fall, the fact remains that there is something which can be called ‘sin’, and which gives rise to the question: is man that which we know and experience as ‘man’? If we answer the question in the affirmative, then we are bound to imply that sin is not an anthropological problem and redemption from sin does not essentially alter our view of man; in fact if we follow up the consequence of this position, we are bound to say that unfallen man or man restored by redemption is not properly speaking ‘man’ but something of a super-man. If, on the other hand, we do not approach man from the angle of his actual sinful situation, how can we approach him? Is there another angle from which to look at man except from that of what we actually see as man?


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