The importance of skin area and gender in ticklishness.

The importance of skin area and gender in ticklishness was explored in the present study. No previous report has been published on stimulation of the body surface exposed when dressed in a swimsuit (supine and prone positions), and the use of a feather has not been reported before. Fifty-seven university students volunteered (female N = 26, age range: 19-25, mean = 22.

Sickness Absence due to Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: The Exploration of a Predictive Psychological Model Including Negative Moods, Subjective Health and Work Efficacy in an Adult County Population (The HUNT Study).

The relation between musculoskeletal pain and sickness absence was tested in an adult county population. Maximal explained variance in absence from work due to chronic musculoskeletal pain (sickness absence) was tested in a model in which subjective health was expected to mediate the associations between such pain and dysphoria, respectively, and work efficacy. In turn, work efficacy was expected to mediate the link between subjective health and sickness absence.

Consequences of Laughter Upon Trunk Compression and Cortical Activation: Linear and Polynomial Relations.

Results from two studies of biological consequences of laughter are reported. A proposed inhibitory brain mechanism was tested in Study 1. It aims to protect against trunk compression that can cause health hazards during vigorous laughter.

A 15-Year Follow-Up Study of Sense of Humor and Causes of Mortality: The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study.

Background: Associations between the sense of humor and survival in relation to specific diseases has so far never been studied.

Methods: We conducted a 15-year follow-up study of 53,556 participants in the population-based Nord-Trøndelag Health Study, Norway. Cognitive, social, and affective components of the sense of humor were obtained, and associations with all-cause mortality, mortality due to cardiovascular diseases (CVD), infections, cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases were estimated by hazard ratios (HRs).

Insulin sensitivity after maximal and endurance resistance training.

The purpose of the study was to compare the effects of maximal resistance training (MRT) vs. endurance resistance training (ERT) on improvements in insulin levels and glucose tolerance in overweight individuals at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Eighteen participants with baseline values suggesting impaired glucose tolerance were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups.

Headache and musculoskeletal complaints among subjects with self reported whiplash injury: the HUNT-2 study.

Background: To evaluate the life-time prevalence of self reported whiplash injury and the relationship to chronic musculoskeletal complaints (MSCs) and headache in a large unselected adult population.

Methods: Between 1995 and 1997, all inhabitants 20 years and older in Nord-Trondelag county in Norway were invited to a comprehensive health survey. Out of 92,936 eligible for participation, a total of 59,104 individuals (63.

Motivation for lifestyle changes to improve health in people with impaired glucose tolerance.

Aim: To identify factors that could have motivational significance for lifestyle change to facilitate the reduction of Impaired Glucose Tolerance (IGT) and, consequently, the risk of having type 2 diabetes.

Methods: Eighteen people living in a municipality in central Norway participated in the study. A large-scale public health screening study had defined them as people with IGT.

A 7-year prospective study of sense of humor and mortality in an adult county population: the HUNT-2 study.

Objective: To prospectively explore the significance of sense of humor for survival over 7 years in an adult county population.

Methods: Residents in the county of Nord-Trøndelag, Norway, aged 20 and older, were invited to take part in a public health survey during 1995-97 (HUNT-2), and 66,140 (71.2 %) participated.

Treatment of tunnel phobia: an experimental field study.

The opening of the deepest undersea tunnel in the world (264 m below sea level, 5600 m in length) replaced the ferry from the island of Hitra to the mainland in Norway. This event provoked phobic anxiety for traveling through the undersea tunnel in a number of individuals in the area. A treatment program for tunnel phobia was designed to test whether such a phobia could be mitigated by procedures previously proven effective in the treatment of other phobias.

[Health and sense of humour: mortality].

Four studies have tested the association between sense of humour and longevity. One reported that comedians and serious entertainers on average die earlier than authors. Two publications from the Terman Life-Cycle Study reported a negative association.

[Health and sense of humour: morbidity].

Three components may be identified in the sense of humour: A cognitive, social and an affective. The cognitive factor appears to be most important for health outcome parameters. Studies of small samples in a laboratory context as well large-scale population samples have failed to prove a simple and direct effect of sense of humour on health.

Some health effects of implementing school nursing in a Norwegian high school: a controlled study.

The effects of a school nursing service on health complaints and mood were investigated in a Norwegian high school. The school nursing service was delivered to students in 1 high school, and students in a comparable high school served as the comparison group. There were 41 students in the treatment group and 63 in the comparison group.

Breathing exercises with vagal biofeedback may benefit patients with functional dyspepsia.

Objective: Many patients with functional dyspepsia (FD) have postprandial symptoms, impaired gastric accommodation and low vagal tone. The aim of this study was to improve vagal tone, and thereby also drinking capacity, intragastric volume and quality of life, using breathing exercises with vagal biofeedback.

Material And Methods: Forty FD patients were randomized to either a biofeedback group or a control group.

Sense of humor and survival among a county cohort of patients with end-stage renal failure: a two-year prospective study.

Objective: To explore the significance of sense of humor for survival in a county cohort of patients diagnosed with end-stage renal failure. This diagnosis is a life-threatening condition that calls upon coping skills and regular dialysis.

Method: All patients receiving dialysis in the county of Sør-Trøndelag during February of one year (N= 52) were invited.

Incidence of musculoskeletal complaints in a large adult Norwegian county population. The HUNT Study.

Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Between 1995 and 1997, all inhabitants aged 20 years and older in the Nord-Trøndelag county in Norway were invited to fill in 2 different questionnaires at different times concerning musculoskeletal complaints.

Objective: To estimate the incidence of musculoskeletal complaints lasting at least 15 days during the past month at 9 different anatomic sites in relation to age and gender.

Low socioeconomic status is associated with chronic musculoskeletal complaints among 46,901 adults in Norway.

Aims: A study was undertaken to evaluate the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and chronic musculoskeletal complaints (MSC), and to determine how this relationship is influenced by change in SES.

Methods: Two consecutive public health surveys within the county of Nord-Trøndelag, Norway, were conducted in 1984-86 (HUNT-1) and 1995-97 (HUNT-2). Among 46,901 adults who participated in both surveys, 24,127 persons (51%) in HUNT-2 who reported MSC continuously for at least 3 months during the past year were defined as having chronic MSC.

Attention to affective pictures in closed head injury: event-related brain potentials and cardiac responses.

We examined whether closed head injury patients show altered patterns of selective attention to stimulus categories that naturally evoke differential responses in healthy people. Self-reported rating and electrophysiological (event-related potentials [ERPs], heart rate [HR]) responses to affective pictures were studied in patients with mild head injury (n = 20; CT/MRI negative), in patients with predominantly frontal brain lesions (n = 12; CT/MRI confirmed), and in healthy controls (n = 20). Affective valence similarly modulated HR and ERP responses in all groups, but group differences occurred that were independent of picture valence.

Does hypertension protect against chronic musculoskeletal complaints? The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study.

Background: Although an inverse relationship between pain sensitivity and hypertension has been described, it is still unknown whether hypertension may protect against chronic musculoskeletal complaints (MSCs). The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between blood pressure (BP) and prevalence of chronic MSCs at various anatomical sites.

Methods: Two consecutive public health studies within the county of Nord-Trøndelag, Norway, were conducted between January 5, 1984, and February 15, 1986 (Nord-Trøndelag Health Study [HUNT] 1), and from August 1995 to June 1997 (HUNT-2).

Do high TSH values protect against chronic musculoskeletal complaints? The Nord-Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT).

The aim of this large cross-sectional population-based study was to examine a possible positive or negative association between thyroid dysfunction and chronic musculoskeletal complaints (MSC). Between 1995 and 97, all 94,197 adults in Nord-Trøndelag County in Norway were invited to participate in a health survey. A total of 64,787 (69%) responded to questions related to MSC, whereof thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) was measured in 34,960 individuals.

Effects on sick-leave of a multidisciplinary rehabilitation programme for chronic low back, neck or shoulder pain: comparison with usual treatment.

Objective: To test the outcome of active multidisciplinary treatment in an outpatient setting upon sick-leave status among patients with neck, shoulder and low back pain.

Design: Multidisciplinary treatment was administered to 121 patients (intervention group) over 4 weeks of structured intervention, followed by 8 weeks of less structured consultations. Effects of treatment were compared with usual treatment (control group: n = 97).

[Quality of life, gender, complaints and humor among dialysis patients].

Background: This study tested the correlation between quality of life and sense of humour as well as the sociodemographic and biomedical characteristics of patients in dialysis due to renal failure. Gender differences in all these variables were also tested.

Material And Methods: All patients in need of dialysis in Sør-Trøndelag county, Norway in February 1998 (N = 52) were recruited; 46 patients completed the survey (32 males and 14 females).

Effects of different psychological interventions on neck, shoulder and low back pain in female hospital staff.

One hundred and eleven females volunteered to take part in this intervention study of musculoskeletal pain. They all completed a survey of pain among five hundred and eighty-six female hospital staff and presented mild to severe pain in the neck, shoulder and/or low back. They were randomly assigned to one of the following groups; Focus on job-stress and psychosocial coping (Cognitive), relaxation training (Relaxation), the combination of the two (Combined) or to a control group (Control).