bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The effect of alexithymia on anxiety, depression, coping, and difficulties in daily living in oncologic patients
Authors: Romoli M. , Bernini O. , Cosci F. , Berrocal C. 
Published: May 2011

IntroductionAlexithymia is a personality trait that may influence the resilience in oncologic patients.ObjectivesData on the effect of alexithymia on anxiety, depression, coping, and difficulties in daily living in oncologic patients are lacking.AimsTo test how alexithymia may influence the development of anxiety, depression, difficulties in daily living, and coping in oncologic patients if compared to healthy volunteers.MethodsHealthy subjects with high level of alexithymia, healthy subjects with low level of alexithymia, oncologic patients with high level of alexithymia, and oncologic patients with low level of alexithymia were compared. The Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) was used to assess alexithymia, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) allowed to assess anxiety and depression, the Brief COPE was used to assess the coping, and the dimension of daily living of the Behaviour And Symptom Identification Scale (BASIS-32) was used to assess the difficulties in daily living. The differences among the groups were analysed by means of the analyses of covariance controlling for age, education, marital status, and working activity.ResultsA total of 124 subjects participated to the study (57 oncologic patients and 67 healthy subjects). Results showed a between-subjects effect of alexithymia. Subjects with higher level of alexithymia had higher scores in anxiety and depression, higher difficulties in daily living, and lower problem-focused and dysfunctional coping strategies, regardless of having cancer or not.ConclusionsAlexithymia seems to influence the development of anxiety/depression, the functional daily living, and some strategies of coping more than having cancer.
The relation between charles bonnet syndrome and brain tumors (case report)
Authors: Ghaffarinejad A. , Estilaee F. 
Published: May 2011

Charles Bonnet syndrome (CBS) is an under-diagnosed and under-reported disorder that involves formal, persistent, vivid and complex visual hallucinations in visually impaired individuals.Some neurological, psychiatric and internal disorders such as major depressive disorder, panic disorder, multiple sclerosis, temporal arthritis, delirium and type II diabetes mellitus have been reported which occur concurrently with CBS.A 72-year-old woman with a slowly progressive tumor (probably astrocytoma) in her right parietal lobe which evaluated with MRI will be described. She presents new symptoms after 2 years. These symptoms were complex, well-formed and vivid visual hallucinations. These visions were dead acquaintances. Patient was seeing them with open eyes. Visions lasted for minutes to hours. She mentioned visions she saw when she was awake. She had recognized these hallucinatory experiences were not real.The etiology of CBS is not described well and it is not recognized where the pathologic site in the brain is. Cases with CBS and concurrent brain pathologies can help us finding these relations. This is the first report of concurrent CBS and astrocytoma in parietal lobe.
Subjective functional status of the patients from gomel region of belarus operated on the thyroid cancer
Authors: Igumnov S.A. , Grigorieva I.V. 
Published: May 2011

PurposeThe investigation of peculiarities of subjective functional status including the perception of the limitations of life activity in the cohort of out- patients operated on thyroid cancer.Material and methodsWe used short form of Russian version of medical questionnaire: SF -36 to estimate the quality of life in 90 operated patients with thyroid cancer as well as the control group.ResultsThe reliable distinctions were found in the majority of aspects of the subjective functional status. The following indicators were the lowest: Role-Physical Functioning (P = 0.001) and Role-Emotional Functioning (P = 0.001) which influenced on the general health perception and determined at large extent the limitations of life activity.ConclusionsThe subjective functional status of the patients operated on the thyroid cancer is considerably lower than those without this pathology. The study showed that the indicators of life quality of the patients operated on thyroid cancer were significantly decreased mostly in physical, psycho-emotional and social spheres. The investigation allows to explore psychological problems at the cohort of the patients with thyroid cancer and to improve the innovation programs of psychological rehabilitation.
Suicide in cancer patients: a population-based retrospective cohort study in taiwan
Authors: Lin P.H. , Lee M.B. , Tseng M.C. , Lin C.C. , Chen H.C. , Liao S.C. 
Published: May 2011

IntroductionLittle is known about the suicide risk among cancer patients in Asian country.ObjectivesTo identify the risk and correlates of suicide death among cancer patients in Taiwan.AimsTo provide the references for policy-making of suicide prevention and information for clinicians and care-givers.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cohort study of cancer patients in Taiwan from 1985 to 2007 by linking two national-wide databases of the Taiwan Cancer Registry and the National Mortality File. Standardized mortality ratios (SMR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated based on the general population rates of suicide stratified by age, sex, and calendar year.ResultsAmong 930,230 registry cancer patients observed for 4,376,574 person-years, 2614 suicides were ascertained. Individuals with diagnosis of cancer had significantly higher risk to die by suicide (Man SMR = 2.46, 95% CI = 2.35–2.58; Woman SMR = 2.12, 95% CI = 1.98–2.28). Patients with cancers of head/neck, esophagus, and lung had additional higher risk to commit suicide. The risk of suicide elevated soon within first 3 months after cancer was diagnosed (Man SMR = 6.57, 95% CI = 5.82–7.41; Woman SMR = 5.83, 95% CI = 4.71–7.21).ConclusionsCompared with general population, cancer patients had significantly higher risk to commit suicide in Taiwan. In addition to the prevention works focused on common risk factors of suicide death, clinicians and caretakers should pay special attention to patients with certain types of cancers and to those who were newly diagnosed to have cancers.
Quality of life of tunisian women after the treatment of breast cancer
Authors: Mnif L. , Masmoudi J. , Charfi N. , Damak R. , Guermazi M. , Jaoua A. 
Published: May 2011

IntroductionIn Tunisia, the breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed neoplasm in women.Objectives were to- Highlight the health-related QOL of Tunisian women after the treatment of breast cancer compared with the general population.- assess the functional scales that predict the global quality of life (GQOL) scale of the QLQ - C30.MethodsWe recruited 50 patients who were in remission for at least 3 months after initial treatment of breast cancer, and 50 women with no history of cancer.Those patients were previously referred to the Department of Gynecology in Sfax University Hospital for breast surgery, and then they had all received adjuvant therapy.QOL was evaluated using the Arabic version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-C30 questionnaire.ResultsThe mean scores for QLQ - C30 indicated that the patients had poor to average functioning (GQOL, 56.7; and five functional scales, 55.6%–67.3%).Those scores showed a significant deterioration in the sample of breast cancer survivors relative to general population.Among the symptoms scales, only the financial difficulties were significantly greater in patients (p = 9.10-7).Deterioration of the GQOL was induced by the worsening of the emotional (p = 0.005) and social (p = 0.008) functioning but it was independent of symptoms scales.ConclusionThe findings indicated that, despite many treatment advances, Tunisian women had significantly poorer GQOL and functional scales scores in comparison with the general population. It seems also that improving the emotional and social functioning contribute to a better GQOL.
Psychiatric claws - mental illness in an oncological population
Authors: Roque Pereira M. , Malta Z. , Mariano S. 
Published: May 2011

ObjectivesEvaluate a population of individuals with cancer referred to a first psychiatric appointment.MethodsDescriptive and correlation analysis of first assessments of patients during three months.ResultsA significant amount of patients were referred due to prior psychiatric pathology and for being under psychopharmacotherapy. Requests demanding an evaluation under the new disease status were fewer than it would have been expected in this population. Most patients were sent with objective symptoms or high cancer stages. The most frequent diagnosis was adjustment disorder with anxiety or depression, and also depressive disorder.ConclusionsDistress levels in oncological patients demand a focused approach towards the psychological well-being.
The effects of prenatal morphine exposure on pain response
Authors: Amini M. , Alijarahi A. 
Published: May 2011

BackgroundDrug abuse during pregnancy is a growing problem in all developed countries of the world. Maternal drug abuse affects the developing system and its long-term effects can persist till adulthood so it can decreases the rate of their maturation. Since endogenous opioid induced analgesia, and morphine can interact with it, Thus the present study was designed to determine whether the exposure to the morphine during gestation permanently alter pain response.ObjectiveTo determine the effects of prenatal morphine exposure on pain responseMaterials and methods12 Pregnant rats were divided to morphine and control groups.Morphine was administrated (S.C) to female rats twice a day (08 h and 20 h) on gestational days 11–18, (5 mg/kg morphine for 3 days and 10 mg/kg for 5 days). Analgesic response of pups (P90, n = 6) were tested by formaline test.FindingThe results of our experiment demonstrated that prenatal morphine exposure rats exhibited significantly lower pain thersholds.ConclusionPrenatal morphine exposure impair pain sensitivity
Evaluating dream contents in patients with migraine
Authors: Ghaffarinejad A. , Mehdizadeh A. 
Published: May 2011

IntroductionMigraine is a common headache and sometimes it's nocturnal attack awake patients while dreaming. Some dream contents accelerate migraine attacks. In this study the relationship between dream contents and migrainous headaches was evaluated.MethodsThe study was done in 185 patients with migraine in a period of 2 years. Diagnosis of migraine had done according to IHS criteria. Dreams had been analyzed by Hall Van de castle test. Data were analyzed by Spss V.17 software.ResultsOne hundred and thirty three patients out of 185 patients were female. The average number of attacks per month was higher in group with nocturnal migraine (P = 0.006). 231 dreams were noted from 130 patients. Patients with nocturnal migraine remember and noted more dreams (P = 0.02). Aggression in dreams contents have no significant relationship with nocturnal migraine and post dreaming headaches. Dreams with contents of friendliness, Sexual and misfortune was more prevalent in patients with nocturnal migraine (P = 0.001). Contents of sadness, misfortune, confusion and sexual materials (P = 0.001) and failure (P = 0.039) accelerated the migraine attacks.DiscussionPositive and negative Emotions lead to increasing the headache attacks. Studying dream contents in different migrenous patients with different cultures is a matter of concern and may help to understand patient's psychopathology.
Cesarean labor cognitive related variables in private and public hospitals
Authors: Ghooshchianchoobmasjedi S. , Dehghani M. , Makvand Hosseini S. 
Published: May 2011

IntroductionRecent clinical reports show a sharp rise in the cesarean section rate, particularly in the private hospitals that might be affected by the cognitive variables.ObjectivesThis research was to compare fear of pain, pain catastrophizing, catastrophic cognition and also childbirth attitude in private and public hospitals.AimsThe main aim of this research was to compare fear of pain, pain catastrophizing, catastrophic cognition and also childbirth attitude in private and public hospitals.MethodsParticipants were (n = 150) pregnant women from private hospitals who were selected using available sampling method as well as (n = 150) pregnant women from public hospitals who were counter balanced on the basis of the age, education, previous number of deliveries, previous number of cesarean and type of hospital variables. Three questionnaires of fear of pain (FPQ) and catastrophic cognition (CCQ) and childbirth attitude (CAQ) as well as scale of pain catastrophizing (PCS) were administrated.ResultsMultivariate analyses of variance were shown significantly differences for two cognitive variables of “fear of pain” and “catastrophic cognition”, while no significant difference were observed for other variables.ConclusionsThese results suggested fear of pain and catastrophic cognition as important cognitive factors in the increase rate of cesarean labor in private hospitals.
Fear of pain and related cognitive variables predict the cesarean labor
Authors: Ghooshchianchoobmasjedi S. , Dehghani M. 
Published: May 2011

IntroductionPrevalence of the cesarean labor in Iran has reported 41percent in recent studies which is really higher than expected rate compare to other countries.ObjectivesOur purpose in this research was to examine the role of “fear of pain” and related cognitive variables such as pain catastrophizing, catastrophic cognition and also childbirth attitude in prediction of the cesarean labor.AimsIn this research was to examine the role of “fear of pain” and related cognitive variables in prediction of the cesarean labor.MethodsParticipants were 300 pregnant women from two private (n = 150) and public (n = 150) hospitals who were selected using available sampling method. After informed consent provided from all participate, variables such as age, level of education, month of pregnancy, previous number of deliveries, previous number of cesarean, tendency to cesarean and type of hospital were control for using counter balancing method. Three questionnaires of fear of pain (FPQ) and catastrophic cognition (CCQ) and childbirth attitude (CAQ) as well as scale of pain catastrophizing (PCS) were administrated.ResultsA Regression Binary Logistic was revealed that month of pregnancy, previous number of cesareans and also the type of hospital could predict the tendency to cesarean. Further, a significant predictive value were also found for cognitive variables of pain catastrophizing, catastrophic cognition and childbirth attitude.ConclusionsThese results showed that increase in the month of pregnancy, pain catastrophizing, catastrophic cognition and childbirth attitude and also decrease in the previous number of cesareans and selection of private hospital, predict the cesarean delivery among women.
Alexithymia, assertiveness and headache impact
Authors: Grisales Valencia A. , González Menacho J. , Olivé i Plana J.M. , Gaviria Gómez A.M. , Monge Osorio R. , Casaus Samatán P. , Labad Alqueázar A. 
Published: May 2011

IntroductionHigh levels of alexithymia as well as low scores on assertiveness have been described in patients with chronic pain and headache.ObjectivesTo determine alexithymia and assertiveness scores and to explore their association with headache impact, in primary chronic headache patients.AimsThis study aims to advance knowledge of the emotional expressiveness in headache impact.MethodsIn a sample of 62 outpatients, we used the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), the Rathus Assertiveness Scale and the Headache Impact Test (HIT-6) and applied the Pearson correlation index.Results77.4% of women, 36.3 years mean age. The most prevalent diagnoses are migraine combined with tension type headache (33.9%), migraine alone (32.3%) and tension-type headache alone (22.6%). Most of the patients have not any psychiatric comorbidity (77.8%). We observe a direct linear relationship and statistically significant difference, between the total impact of headache and the total score of alexithymia (r = 0.27 p = 0.03) and there is an inverse correlation between the impact of headache and the total score of the scale of assertiveness, not statistically significant (r = −0.004 p = 0.97).Discriminated by diagnostic groups, we found that the association between assertiveness and headache impact remains only in patients with migraine alone, while that between alexithymia and headache impact is preserved in all subgroups.ConclusionTwo indirect measures of the difficulties in emotional expressiveness such as alexithymia and assertiveness, show the expected association with headache impact. The sample size can influence some of the correlations not statistically significant.
The effect of virtual reality (VR) used as a distraction method in pain response
Authors: Cabas-Hoyos K. , Gutiérrez-Maldonado J. , Loreto-Quijada D. , Gutiérrez-Martínez O. , Peñaloza-Salazar C. 
Published: May 2011

IntroductionCognitive strategies have received considerable attention in the field of pain management, together with more traditional approaches based on physical interventions and behavior modification. Distraction is a technique that lately has been often studied.Distraction is based on an individual's limited attention capacity; it diminishes attention aimed to a painful stimulus with a subsequent pain reduction (Wismeijer & Vingerhoets, 2005).ObjectiveTo study the effect of VR as a distraction technique in an experimental pain task.Method37 healthy participants were induced pain through two consecutive immersions using the cold-pressor test. All participants went through two experimental conditions: VR and black screen. The order of conditions was counterbalanced and a design of repetitive measures was used.A virtual environment “Surreal World” was developed based on distraction techniques designed to surprise participants. The effect of VR as a distraction technique was evaluated using objective measures of pain (threshold, tolerance, pain intensity and time estimation) and other cognitive measures (self-efficacy and catastrophic thinking in vivo).ResultsVR significantly decreased tolerance and pain intensity, influenced participants to underestimate the length of immersion. A higher self-efficacy in VR and a lower rumination and helplessness were registered in the pain experience. Thus, VR may help improve the efficacy of cognitive strategies.PerspectivesThe study shows the relevance of VR as an adjunctive method in the treatment of acute pain and allows studying its efficacy in patients with chronic pain.
Dispositional optimism as a predictor of health related quality of life in patients with chronic musculoskeletal disorders
Authors: Lyrakos G. , Tsakogia Z. , Damigos D. , Dimoliatis I. 
Published: May 2011

IntroductionPsychological factors are predictive of long term disability for many pain syndromes as well as for pain severity emotional distress and treatment seeking. It is known that fear of pain leads to avoidance of pain-related experiences and contributes to disability.AimsTo determine if there is a significant relationship between optimism/ pessimism, HRQOL and pain in a group of musculoskeletal patients referred to a rehabilitation center, because of chronic pain and mobility difficulties when controlling for fear of pain and pain reduction coping strategies.MethodsThe sample consisted of 96 patients. The questionnaires that were used are the Short Form health questionnaire (12 questions; SF12), the Pain Anxiety Symptoms Scale (PASS), the life orientation test-revised (LOT-R) and a VAS scale for pain measurement. Two separate linear regression analyses were conducted to examine the effects of optimism on each of the two main domains of SF12 with optimism entered in the last step of each model.ResultsAccording to the regression analysis performed, dispositional optimism (β = ,284) is an independent factor affecting the mental composite score in patients with musculoskeletal problems, even after controlling for the effect of pain intensity. Pain -related escape and avoidance is the only factor affecting both physical (β = −,300) and mental health (β = −,192).ConclusionsThe consistent indications that fear is associated with the suffering and disability that often accompany pessimistic patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain, suggests that clinicians working with these individuals should conduct a careful assessment of fear and avoidance, both pain-related and otherwise.
Psycho-functional pain in depressed patients
Authors: Ben Thabet J. , Elleuch M. , Halouani N. , Masmoudi J. , Zouari L. , Zouari N. , Maâlej M. 
Published: May 2011

Somatic symptoms are the main complaint of depressed patients in two thirds of cases. The objectives of this study were to assess the prevalence of psycho-functional pain in depressed patients consulting in psychiatry, and to identify factors associated with algic depression.We conducted a cross-sectional study, which involved depressed patients who consulted in psychiatry, in February 2010, at Hedi Chaker University hospital in Sfax, Tunisia. For each patient, we collected demographic, clinical and therapeutic data. We used the VAS to evaluate the intensity of pain, the HDRS to assess the severity of depression and the magnitude of improvement under treatment. The statistical analysis was performed by SPSS. The comparative study was based on the Chi2 test and Fischer test.We collected 36 cases of patients suffering from depression. Their average age was 48.2 years. Depression was minor in 33.3% and major in 50% of cases. The prevalence of psycho-functional pain was 80,6%. The pain was described as intolerable by 41.4% patients, agonizing by 17.2% patients and exhausting by 17.2% patients. The intensity and duration of pain were correlated to the severity of depression (p respectively: 0,006 and 0,008) Our study showed that the psycho-functional pain were very common in depressed patients, which is consistent with literature data. On the therapeutic level, it is important to take into account the algic symptomatology in the treatment of depressive episode. The emergence of new molecules mixing monoaminergic action would provide an effective response to the depressed patients with psycho-functional pain.