Emotional states predict cellular immune system activity under conditions of life as it is lived: A multivariate time-series analysis approach.

The relationship between emotional states and immune system activity is characterized by bidirectional influences; however, limited information is available regarding the temporal dynamics of these effects. The goal of this investigation was to examine how these psychoimmunological interdependencies unfold over time under conditions of "life as it is lived". For this purpose, three healthy women collected their entire urine over a period of approximately two months at 12-h intervals (8 am-8 pm, 8 pm-8 am), resulting in a total of 112 to 126 consecutive measurements per subject.

A Qualitative Literature Search and Pilot Study of Online Support Groups for Patients With Dementia and Their Carers.

The ever-growing group of people living with dementia (PLWD) and their relatives face great challenges. The Covid 19 pandemic has once again placed a particular challenge on this vulnerable group. What started a decade earlier with telephone-based support groups experienced a real push during the pandemic in the form of video-based self-help services.

About-Weekly Pattern in the Dynamic Complexity of a Healthy Subject's Cellular Immune Activity: A Biopsychosocial Analysis.

In a previous integrative single-case study, we collected biological, psychological and social time-series data on a 25-year-old healthy woman over the course of 126 12-h intervals (63 days) and used urinary neopterin as an indicator of cellular immune activity [Schubert et al. 2012 (1)]. The present re-evaluation introduced Dynamic Complexity (DC) as an additional non-linear and non-stationary measure to further investigate the subject's biopsychosocial dynamics during the study.

Investigating Object Files in Spatial Cueing.

In spatial cueing, cues presented at target position (valid condition) can capture visual attention and facilitate responses to the target relative to cues presented away from target position (invalid condition). If cues and targets carry different features, the necessary updating of the object representation from the cue to the target display sometimes counteracts and even reverses facilitation in valid conditions, resulting in an inverted validity effect. Previous studies reached partly divergent conclusions regarding the conditions under which object-file updating occurs, and little is known about the exact nature of the processes involved.

Case Report: Dynamic Interdependencies Between Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) Practice, Urinary Interleukin-6 Levels, and Fatigue in a Breast Cancer Survivor.

This study investigated the influence of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) techniques (i.e., Jin Shin Jyutsu, music, physiotherapy, Tai Chi, and energy healing) on urinary interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels and fatigue in a 49-year-old breast cancer survivor suffering from cancer-related fatigue and depression.

Neural Processing of Cognitive Control in an Emotionally Neutral Context in Anxiety Patients.

Impaired cognitive control plays a crucial role in anxiety disorders and is associated with deficient neural mechanisms in the fronto-parietal network. Usually, these deficits were found in tasks with an emotional context. The present study aimed at investigating electrophysiological and vascular signatures from event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in anxiety patients versus healthy controls during an inhibition task integrated in an emotionally neutral context.

Dynamic Effects of CAM Techniques on Inflammation and Emotional States: An Integrative Single-Case Study on a Breast Cancer Survivor.

Background: This study on a breast cancer survivor investigated how episodic practice of various complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) techniques affected the dynamics of emotional states and urinary neopterin-an inflammation marker.

Methods: The 49-year-old female patient (diagnosis: ductal breast carcinoma 5 years before study start, suffering from chronic fatigue and depression) collected her entire urine in 12-hour intervals (from about 8 a.m.

Fear acquisition and extinction in elderly patients with depression.

Background: Depression in elderly patients is common and characterized by anxiety symptoms and cognitive impairment. To our knowledge, no studies have yet investigated the process of fear extinction in these patients. We investigated fear extinction with a paradigm consisting of habituation, acquisition and extinction.

Cochlear implantation in adults with single-sided deafness: generic and disease-specific long-term quality of life.

Purpose: To determine the 2-year outcome of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in adults who received a cochlear implant (CI) for single-sided deafness (SSD).

Methods: Twenty adults (mean age at implantation: 47 ± 11 years) with SSD (PTA worse ear: 113 dB HL, PTA better ear: 14 dB HL) were administered the Nijmegen Cochlear Implant Questionnaire (NCIQ), and the Health Utility Index 3 (HUI 3). Questionnaire administration occurred before cochlear implantation and 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after implant activation.

[Validation of a German-Language Version of the Multidimensional Offline and Online Peer Victimization Scale (MOOPV) in Adolescent Students].

Peer victimisation (PV) in childhood and adolescence can come along with psychological stress through the life span. Even though there exist a large number of questionnaires that measure PV, evidence of the use is often missing. Particularly instruments for capturing cyberbullying lack psychometric calculations such as factor analysis for investigating scales and data on validity and reliability.

How Therapeutic Tapping Can Alter Neural Correlates of Emotional Prosody Processing in Anxiety.

Anxiety disorders are the most common psychological disorders worldwide resulting in a great demand of adequate and cost-effective treatment. New short-term interventions can be used as an effective adjunct or alternative to pharmaco- and psychotherapy. One of these approaches is therapeutic tapping.

[Prevalence and characteristics of peer victimisation in adolescent psychiatric inpatients].

Prevalence and characteristics of peer victimisation in adolescent psychiatric inpatients Repeated and long-lasting victimisation, as defined by bullying, represents a wide spread health hazard. The aim of the present study was to present the prevalence of bullying in adolescent psychiatric inpatients. We analysed relations between bullying and sociodemographic and psychopathological variables.

Validation of the Internal Structure of a German-Language Version of the Gender Role Conflict Scale - Short Form.

The Gender Role Conflict Scale - Short Form (GRCS-SF) assesses a person's masculine gender role conflict. Masculine gender role conflict results when a person experiences discomfort showing a certain behavior because it is in conflict with masculine norms. The aim of the study was to test the questionnaire's psychometric properties in an Austrian sample of older men.

Do Personality Factors Assessed Before Cochlear Implantation Predict Hearing-Related Quality Of Life After Cochlear Implantation in Postlingually Deafened Adults?

Background: Studies have shown that cochlear implants improve deaf patients' hearing-related quality of life (hrQoL), but the degree of improvement varies considerably between patients. This study investigated whether personality factors contribute to hrQoL outcome after cochlear implantation.

Method: Fifty adult patients with postlingual hearing loss who received a unilateral cochlear implant were administered the Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI; a personality inventory) and the Nijmegen Cochlear Implant Questionnaire (NCIQ; a hrQoL questionnaire).

Subjective Positive and Negative Sleep Variables Differentially Affect Cellular Immune Activity in a Breast Cancer Survivor: A Time-series Analysis Approach.

This study on a breast cancer survivor suffering from cancer-related fatigue (CaRF) and depression investigated the bidirectional relationship between cellular immune activity and subjective sleep. The 49-year-old patient (breast cancer diagnosis 5 years before the study, currently in remission) collected her full urine output for 28 days in 12-h intervals (8:00 p.m.

Auditory and cognitive development in a partially deaf child with bilateral electro-acoustic stimulation: a case study.

Objective: To study the long-term evolution of speech and intelligence in a child with partial deafness and normal hearing in the low frequencies after sequentially receiving cochlear implants in both ears.

Design: Retrospective chart review.

Study Sample: Male child aged 6 years was followed over a time period of four years.

Psychophysiological Effects of a Single, Short, and Moderately Bright Room Light Exposure on Mildly Depressed Geriatric Inpatients: A Pilot Study.

Background: Light interventions typically exert their mood-related effects during morning bright light exposures over several weeks. Evidence about immediate ambient room light effects on depressed individuals is still sparse.

Objective: The present study aimed at examining the acute effects of a single moderately bright room light exposure on mood, and behavioural and cardiac stress reactions of mildly depressed geriatric inpatients during a short cognitive stimulation and while resting.

Cholinergic neurodegeneration in an Alzheimer mouse model overexpressing amyloid-precursor protein with the Swedish-Dutch-Iowa mutations.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder that is mainly characterized by beta-amyloid (Aβ) plaque deposition, Tau pathology and dysfunction of the cholinergic system causing memory impairment. The aim of the present study was to examine (1) anxiety and cognition, (2) Aβ plaque deposition and (3) degeneration of cholinergic neurons in the nucleus basalis of Meynert (nbM) and cortical cholinergic innervation in an Alzheimer mouse model (APP_SweDI; overexpressing amyloid precursor protein (APP) with the Swedish K670N/M671L, Dutch E693Q, and Iowa D694N mutations). Our results show that 12-month-old APP_SweDI mice were more anxious and had more memory impairment.

Acute effects of different light spectra on simulated night-shift work without circadian alignment.

Short-wavelength and short-wavelength-enhanced light have a strong impact on night-time working performance, subjective feelings of alertness and circadian physiology. In the present study, we investigated acute effects of white light sources with varied reduced portions of short wavelengths on cognitive and visual performance, mood and cardiac output.Thirty-one healthy subjects were investigated in a balanced cross-over design under three light spectra in a simulated night-shift paradigm without circadian adaptation.

The Development of Acceptance of Chronic Tinnitus in the Course of a Cognitive-Behavioral Group Therapy.

Objective: Cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) is an effective treatment for tinnitus distress. Recently, acceptance-based approaches have received growing attention within the treatment of chronic tinnitus. The development of tinnitus acceptance within CB treatment remains unclear.

The influence of tinnitus acceptance on the quality of life and psychological distress in patients with chronic tinnitus.

Recent findings show the importance of acceptance in the treatment of chronic tinnitus. So far, very limited research investigating the different levels of tinnitus acceptance has been conducted. The aim of this study was to investigate the quality of life (QoL) and psychological distress in patients with chronic tinnitus who reported different levels of tinnitus acceptance.

Happy and sad judgements in dependence on mode and note density in patients with mild cognitive impairment and early-stage Alzheimer's disease.

Background: In Western cultures it has often been assumed that the experience of happy or sad emotions while listening to music is clearly correlated to the key (mode) and the tempo of the musical piece. Recent studies point towards more complex dependencies, but knowledge in this line of research is still very limited, especially regarding the experience of music for persons with memory-related disorders such as dementia.

Objective: This pilot study explores the emotional content of music for patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early-stage Alzheimer's disease (AD) and compares them to healthy subjects.

Explicit (semantic) memory for music in patients with mild cognitive impairment and early-stage Alzheimer's disease.

Unlabelled: BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: Explicit memory for music was investigated by using a new test with 24 existing and 3 newly composed pieces.

Methods: Ten patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 10 patients with early stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD) were compared with 23 healthy subjects, in terms of verbal memory of music by the identification of familiar music excerpts and the discrimination of distortion and original timbre of musical excerpts.

Results: MCI and Alzheimer's patients showed significantly poorer performances in tasks requiring verbal memory of musical excerpts than the healthy participants.

[Working memory for music in patients with mild cognitive impairment and early stage Alzheimer's disease].

A variety of studies demonstrated that some forms of memory for music are spared in dementia, but only few studies have investigated patients with early stages of dementia. In this pilot-study we tested working memory for music in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and early stage Alzheimer's disease (AD) with a newly created test. The test probed working memory using 7 gradually elongated tone-lines and 6 chords which were each followed by 3 similar items and 1 identical item.