Vagal influence during worry and cognitive challenge.

The primary foci of the study were exploration of the linkage between cognitive and autonomic inflexibility of worry and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and examination of the effects of an analog cognitive restructuring task on this relationship. Cardiac responses of GAD and non-GAD participants were measured to examine the sympathetic and parasympathetic effects of worry and cognitive challenge. Diagnostic groups of undergraduate students were determined via administration of a structured interview, yielding a GAD group (n=16) and a control group (n=19) of individuals without GAD, depression, or panic disorder diagnoses.

Metal hypersensitivity: can it mimic infection?

Metal hypersensitivity leading onto hardware rejection is reported as a rare phenomenon. If not suspected, it can be a harrowing experience for the patient because it can lead to a seemingly never-ending cycle of tests and procedures. This case highlights the fact that although metal hypersensitivity is rare, it should be included in the differential once infection has been excluded.

Yearly incidence of unicompartmental knee arthroplasty in the United States.

Our purpose was to estimate the incidence of unicompartmental knee arthroplasty in the United States. Three major implant manufacturers provided data over an 8-year period from 1998 to 2005. In addition, a database from 44 hospitals was used to derive national estimates for implants manufactured by all other companies.

Detection of change in threat-related and innocuous scenes among snake-fearful and snake-tolerant participants: data from the flicker task.

Visual change detection mirrors conscious attention. In the flicker task, pairs of scenes are presented rapidly; the second scene differs from the first, and the participant identifies the change. Change occurs in either a central-interest region or marginal-interest region of the scene.

Component fears of claustrophobia associated with mock magnetic resonance imaging.

A conceptualization of claustrophobia [Rachman, S., & Taylor, S. (1993).

Comment on the status of systematic desensitization.

Articles about systematic desensitization that appeared in mainstream behavior therapy journals between the years 1970 and 2002 were counted. Graphic displays of the data point to a sudden and lasting decline of interest in systematic desensitization among academics and researchers. A questionnaire concerning clinical use of orthodox systematic desensitization was mailed to 310 selected providers.

Inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and platelet activation in patients with chronic kidney disease: the chronic renal impairment in Birmingham (CRIB) study.

Background: Studies in the general population suggest that low-grade inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and platelet activation are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events.

Methods: Markers of inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and platelet activation were measured in 334 patients with chronic kidney disease (serum creatinine >1.47 mg/dL [>130 micromol/L] at screening) and compared with 2 age- and sex-matched control groups, 1 comprising 92 patients with coronary artery disease and the other comprising 96 apparently healthy individuals with no history of cardiovascular or kidney disease.

Specific and nonspecific treatment factors in the experimental analysis of behavioral treatment efficacy.

Interest in the empirical demonstration of the clinical efficacy of psychosocial treatments has been rekindled by societal concerns over accountability and cost-effectiveness in the delivery of mental health services. Behavior therapy has had a long history of experimental research on treatment efficacy and enjoys a visible presence in contemporary mental health practice. The demonstration of behavioral treatment efficacy, however, requires experimental evidence that shows the efficacy of prescriptive structured procedures beyond nonspecific factors in delivery of such procedures.

Fear responses to mock magnetic resonance imaging among college students: toward a prototype experiment.

Two hundred randomly selected student participants (139 females, 61 males) responded initially to questionnaires that quantified variables such as state and trait anxiety, anxiety sensitivity, claustrophobia, and panic/agoraphobia. Later they were informed that a mock magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedure was upcoming, and were prompted to provide self-efficacy ratings vis-à-vis completing the procedure. Finally, the participants' behavioral reactions to a mock MRI procedure were characterized; their heart beats were recorded and ratings of fearfulness were acquired.

Heavy drinking among college students is influenced by anxiety sensitivity, gender, and contexts for alcohol use.

In order to quantify relationships between anxiety sensitivity and situational antecedents to heavy alcohol consumption, 245 university student drinkers completed the anxiety sensitivity index-revised (ASI-R) and the inventory of drinking situations (IDS-42). The observed correlations indicated that anxiety sensitivity is related to negatively reinforced drinking, positively reinforced drinking, and temptation-motivated drinking. However, anxiety sensitivity is most clearly implicated as a factor in negatively reinforced drinking, i.

Epidemiological evaluation of known and suspected cardiovascular risk factors in chronic renal impairment.

Patients with chronic renal impairment (CRI) are at greatly increased risk for premature vascular disease; however, little is known about its evolution. This paper describes a cohort of patients with CRI and reports study design, baseline demographic and biochemical data, and comparisons with two contemporaneous age- and sex-matched control groups, one with established coronary artery disease and the other without overt vascular disease. Among 369 individuals (median age, 63 years; range, 18 to 88 years; 67% men) with CRI, 34% had a history of vascular disease and 21% had electrocardiographic left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH).

A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial of the effect of homocysteine-lowering therapy with folic acid on endothelial function in patients with coronary artery disease.

Objectives: This study was designed to determine the effects of folic acid therapy on endothelial function in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).

Background: Hyperhomocysteinemia, a risk factor for CAD, may cause atherosderosis by oxidative endothelial injury. Folic acid reduces plasma homocysteine, but the effect on adverse vascular events is unknown.

Does folic acid decrease plasma homocysteine and improve endothelial function in patients with predialysis renal failure?

Background: Considerable evidence suggests that hyperhomocysteinemia is an independent vascular risk factor that promotes atherosclerosis by inducing endothelial dysfunction. Although folic acid reduces hyperhomocysteinemia, the effect on adverse vascular events is unknown. We hypothesized that in patients with chronic renal failure, a condition associated with both hyperhomocysteinemia and atherosclerosis, treatment with folic acid would improve endothelial function.

Research on posttreatment return of claustrophobic fear, arousal, and avoidance using mock diagnostic imaging.

Fear sometimes returns after attenuation via exposure. Return of fear is poorly understood due to conflicting results from diverse experiments. This article reports on two experiments in which claustrophobic fear during mock diagnostic imaging was attenuated and allowed to return so the experiments could be evaluated and return of fear studied.

Abnormalities of endothelial function in patients with predialysis renal failure.

Background: Endothelial dysfunction plays an important role in the development of atherosclerotic vascular disease, which is the leading cause of mortality in patients with chronic renal failure.

Objective: To examine the relation between predialysis renal failure and endothelial function.

Design: Two groups were studied: 80 patients with non-diabetic chronic renal failure and 26 healthy controls, with similar age and sex distributions.

Relaxation training inhibits fear and arousal during in vivo exposure to phobia-cue stimuli.

Twenty carefully selected snake phobics were exposed to a caged snake for eight trials via a conveyor apparatus. During the first and eighth trials the subjects brought the snake toward themselves as closely as tolerable; records were kept of the end-of-trial distances remaining between the subject and the snake. For the six intervening trials the experimenter placed the snake a standard distance away; records were kept of the subjects' heart rates and skin-conductance levels before and during the exposures, and of their self-reported fear intensities after the exposures.

Pelvic gliomatosis within foci of endometriosis.

The third reported case of pelvic gliomatosis found within foci of endometriosis is documented 16 years after the removal of a benign cystic teratoma. Grossly at laparoscopy the lesions appear as typical deep fibrotic endometriotic implants.

Toward a standard experiment for studying post-treatment return of fear.

Fear sometimes returns after successful fear attenuation via in vivo exposure to fear signals. Post-treatment return of fear is of considerable interest both practically and theoretically, but factors associated with return of fear are poorly understood due to conflicting results from procedurally diverse experiments. This paper reports two very similar experiments in which fear of animal specimens was weakened then allowed to return so that factors associated with return of fear could be studied.

Effects of relaxation training on fear and arousal during in vivo exposure to a caged snake among DSM-III-R simple (snake) phobics.

Eight pairs of DSM-III-R snake phobic subjects (Ss) were exposed to a caged snake while seated in front of a package-conveyor apparatus during eight 4-minute trials. Heart rates and skin-conductance levels were recorded before and during each of the eight trials. Self-reports of fear were obtained after each trial.

Control and attention during exposure influence arousal and fear among insect phobics.

Heart beats, skin conductance, and subjective fear levels were recorded among eight pairs of DSM-III-R spider-phobic subjects (Experiment 1) and among eight pairs of DSM-III-R cockroach-phobic subjects (Experiment 2) who were exposed simultaneously to an approaching specimen during eight 4-minute trials. Control over the approach of the specimen alternated between subjects over trials. On different trials, both subjects were instructed either to attend closely to the features of the specimen or to attend closely to their bodily fear reactions.

Ovarian Preservation at Hysterectomy for Endometriosis.

Traditionally, definitive treatment for symptomatic endometriosis has been total abdominal hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. However, aggressive excision of all endometriotic implants at the time of hysterectomy with preservation of one or both ovaries may be an acceptable alternative. All hysterectomies performed between 1988 and 1993 were retrospectively reviewed.

Laparoscopic tubal anastomosis.

We conducted a retrospective chart review of 22 laparoscopic tubal anastomoses performed between May 1987 and May 1991. The procedures were modeled after the two-stitch technique of Swolin. Overall fertility rates were disappointing in this small series, although the first live birth has occurred.