Assessing the Impact of Atopic Dermatitis on the Patients' Parents with the Visual Instrument 'Caregiver-PRISM'.

Background: There is a need to improve the quality of communication between clinicians and parents of young patients with atopic eczema (AE).

Objective: To create a tool to measure the suffering that caregivers experience in association with their child's AE (Caregiver Pictorial Representation of Illness and Self-Measure, Caregiver-PRISM), assess the validity and reliability, and identify factors associated with caregiver suffering.

Methods: Caregiver-PRISM was administered to 45 parents of patients from an AE outpatient service (Padua, Italy).

Association of Stress Coping Strategies with Immunological Parameters in Melanoma Patients.

In this exploratory case control study the association between stress coping strategies and lymphocyte subpopulations was calculated in 18 non-metastatic melanoma patients and 18 controls with benign skin diseases. Coping strategies were assessed using the German version of the stress-coping questionnaire (SVF 120). While in the control group patients showed significant negative correlations of lymphocyte subpopulations (CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, CD19+, CD45+ cells) with coping strategies that refer to defence, in melanoma patients significant positive correlations between lymphocyte subpopulations (CD3+, CD4+, CD19+, CD45+ cells) were found with regard to coping strategies that are characterized by diversion from stress and focusing on stress-compensating situations.

The Importance of a Biopsychosocial Approach in Melanoma ResearchExperiences from a Single-center Multidisciplinary Melanoma Working Group in Middle-Europe.

The biopsychosocial model represents a very important theoretical framework developed in the 21th century. According to a body mind unity theory, it postulates that research must focus not only on biomedical but also on other aspects in order to understand complex interactions occurring on different system levels. With regard to the occurrence of melanoma, both immunologic surveillance and a lack of cancerogenic factors are crucial in the suppression of tumor development.

Psychological Stress and Immunological Modulations in Early-stage Melanoma Patients.

Mental stress may have a negative impact on the immune state of cancer patients, in whom immunologic surveillance is essential for survival. This study investigated the immunological response of 19 patients with early-stage melanoma and a matched control group undergoing the Determination Stress Test before surgery. Cytokine and chemokine levels and lymphocyte subpopulations were measured at baseline and post-stress test time-points.

Autonomic nervous tone in vitiligo patients--a case-control study.

In this cross-sectional, exploratory case-control study the vegetative arousal in vitiligo patients compared to an age and gender matched healthy control group was assessed. Forty-eight participants (24 outpatients with generalised vitiligo and 24 healthy controls) completed a test procedure consisting of an initial period of rest (R1), a defined mental stress task (the d2 test of attention), a second period of rest (R2) followed by an individually, age adapted physical stress task (bicycle ergometry) and a final period of rest (R3). Based on a continuously recorded electrocardiogram, heart rate variability, in particular high frequency (HF) and low frequency (LF) components were determined.

Impact of mental and physical stress on blood pressure and pulse pressure under normobaric versus hypoxic conditions.

Objective: Hypobaric hypoxia, physical and psychosocial stress may influence key cardiovascular parameters including blood pressure (BP) and pulse pressure (PP). We investigated the effects of mild hypobaric hypoxia exposure on BP and PP reactivity to mental and physical stress and to passive elevation by cable car.

Methods: 36 healthy volunteers participated in a defined test procedure consisting of a period of rest 1, mental stress task (KLT-R), period of rest 2, combined mental (KLT-R) and physical task (bicycle ergometry) and a last period of rest both at Graz, Austria (353 m asl) and at the top station Dachstein (2700 m asl).

Higher psychological and psychovegetative strain in adolescents with atypical pigment naevi.

An observational, exploratory, cross-sectional study was performed to assess whether the presence of atypical naevi (AN) in adolescents is associated with psychological and psychovegetative stress parameters. Fifty-one students of a secondary school in Graz, Austria, completed a defined test procedure consisting of an initial period of rest, a standardised mental stress task, another period rest and a questionnaire, the change-sensitive symptom list (ASS-SYM). Electrocardiogram and blood pressure were recorded continuously.

The impact of severe preeclampsia on maternal quality of life.

Purpose: Preeclampsia (PE) is a serious life event that can change women's psychological profile. The aim of this study was to evaluate the physical and mental health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) in women after PE and the impact of contributing factors.

Methods: Ninety-five women who had suffered from PE answered the Short-Form-12 Health Survey on general state of health.

Coping strategies in melanoma patients.

An observational, questionnaire-based, cross-sectional study was performed to assess whether differences in coping behaviour (positive and negative strategies) between patients with either a recent diagnosis of malignant melanoma (MM) or with benign dermatological disease, were predictive of the diagnosis. Coping strategies were assessed with the German version of the stress-coping questionnaire (SVF 120) in 46 inpatients for whom surgery was planned at the Department of Dermatology, Medical University of Graz, Austria. Subjects were divided into two groups: patients with non-metastatic MM, and patients with benign dermatological diseases (controls).