Type A factors as predictors of changes in the metabolic syndrome precursors in adolescents and young adults--a 3-year follow-up study.

The predictive associations of Type A factors with changes in some essential parameters of the cluster of disorders known as metabolic syndrome (Syndrome X) were studied during a 3-year follow-up period in 1,147 randomly selected healthy adolescents and young adults. Type A behavior was measured with the Hunter Wolf A-B Rating Scale. Physiological parameters studied were serum insulin, high-density and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides (TG), systolic and diastolic blood pressure, body-mass index (BMI), subscapular skinfold thickness (SSF), and centrality index. Among the Type A factors in boys and men, high baseline Aggression predicted an increase in the individual parameters of metabolic syndrome (i.e., insulin, TG, SSF, and BMI) as well as a global aggravation of the cluster of metabolic parameters. In girls and women, increases in Eagerness-Energy and Responsibility across the 3 years of follow-up predicted an increase in serum insulin and a decrease in SSF, respectively.

The synchronization of electrodermal activity and heart rate and its relationship to energetic arousal: a time series approach.

We examined the synchronization between indices of autonomic nervous system (ANS) function and its relation to multiple measures of arousal in 37 middle-aged men. Electrodermal activity (EDA), heart rate (HR), and subjective and behavioral arousal were measured during administration of the Rorschach test. Prevailing mood and depression were also measured. The relationship between phasic EDA and HR activity was assessed by constructing within-subjects time series models. The results showed that phasic EDA and HR accelerations were synchronized, while there was no association between tonic EDA and HR in between-subjects analysis. In addition, EDA-HR synchronization was positively associated with verbal activity, variability of arousal experience, and activation mood, and negatively associated with depression. It is suggested that within-subjects analysis of physiological time series data can further our understanding of the individual differences in ANS function and on the correlates of effector organ synchronization.

Cardiovascular diseases, health status, brain imaging findings and neuropsychological functioning in neurologically healthy elderly individuals.

The aim of our study was to evaluate the relationship between health-related factors, brain imaging findings and cognitive functioning. We examined 113 neurologically healthy subjects from 55 to 85 years of age. Health-related variables included a clinical health evaluation, cardiovascular diseases, and other systemic diseases. The presence of white matter changes and cerebral and peripheral atrophy were obtained with magnetic resonance imaging. Neuropsychological tests measuring verbal memory, visual memory, intellectual and language functions, visuoconstructional functions, flexibility, and speed and attention were administered. Results showed that overall health status was not related to cognition. Subjects, who had both arterial hypertension and white matter changes had difficulties in flexibility. Cardiac failure and white matter changes were related to impairment in visuoconstructional functions, flexibility and attention. Significant speed and attention deficits were observed in subjects with cardiac failure and central atrophy. In conclusion, this study verifies the relationship between hypertension, white matter changes and cognitive functions. We found also specific patterns in relation with cardiac failure, brain imaging findings and cognitive functioning, the most vulnerable domains were visuoconstructional functions, flexibility and attention.

Assessment of Magical Beliefs about Food and Health.

The Magical Beliefs About Food and Health scale (MFH) was developed to assess individual differences in the tendency to adopt eating and health instructions that many magazines, health care books and food ideologies regard as valid but which obey universal laws of similarity and contagion. In a study of 216 individuals, the total MFH score showed good internal consistency and it was associated with various validity criteria as hypothesized (e.g. vegetarianism and other ideological commitments to food choice, female gender, increased neuroticism, experiential thinking, positive attitudes towards alternative medicine, low sensation seeking and endorsement of universalism values). Factor analysis yielded two factors: General Magical Beliefs and Animal Products as Food Contaminants. In addition, three other items (the Animal Products as Personality Contaminants scale) cross-loaded on the two factors. The factor structure and test-retest reliability were confirmed with separate samples. The results showed that the total MFH score is a reliable and valid measure of magical food and health beliefs, and that the subscales may prove useful when a multidimensional assessment of magical beliefs is needed.

Predictors of distress in cancer patients and their partners: the role of optimism in the sense of coherence construct.

AIM: The aim of this study was to clarify the associations between sense of coherence (SOC), dispositional optimism and distress (i.e., anxiety and depression) in cancer patients and their partners. METHODS: The associations between SOC, dispositional optimism (Life Orientation Test-Revised, LOT-R), depression (Beck Depression Inventory-14, BDI-14) and anxiety (Endler Multidimensional Anxiety Scales, EMAS-State) were studied in 147 cancer couples. The data were collected with self-report questionnaires at the time of diagnosis (2 months) and after 6 months. Path analysis was used to analyse the predictors of follow-up distress and crossover effects in the longitudinal data. RESULTS: Optimistic patients and patients with strong SOC as well as their partners reported fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety than less optimistic subjects and subjects with weaker SOC. Optimism partially explained the effect of SOC on distress and SOC seemed to be an independent factor in predicting distress. Patient and partner distress at baseline and at 8-month follow-up correlated positively. In addition, high partner optimism at baseline seemed to predict low patient anxiety at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The beneficial effects of SOC seem to include also other elements beyond optimism. In clinical practice, enhancing optimistic expectations of the future and promoting SOC could be expected to reduce distress in cancer patients and their partners.

Continuum and linearity hypotheses on the relationship between psychopathology and eating disorder symptomatology.

This article discusses various notions of continuity and discontinuity relating to eating disorders, and suggests that current research on the subject is implicitly based on hypotheses on linearity. In this study, we tested these hypotheses by asking 265 female participants to complete the Eating Attitude Test (EAT) and Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI). We found a linear increase in psychological disturbances from normalcy to the milder forms of disordered eating, but a sharp and non-linear increase among the women with more severe signs of eating disorders. The results indicate that neither linearity nor non-linearity alone sufficiently describes the relationship between predisposing factors and eating disorder symptomatology.

Hippocampal and temporal lobe atrophy and age-related decline in memory.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the relationship of memory decline that accompanies aging with structural changes in the medial temporal lobe, in healthy middle-aged and older subjects. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A sample of 35 neurologically non-diseased subjects, between 55 and 70 years of age, were examined in a 5-year follow-up study. Neuropsychological investigation included tests of learning, verbal memory, and visual memory. MRI was performed with a superconducting MRI system operating at 1.0 T, using coronal slices of T1-weighted images. Medial temporal lobe atrophy was rated separately in the neocortical, entorhinal and hippocampal regions. RESULTS: We did not find any statistically significant relationship between mild hippocampal or temporal atrophy and memory test performance. Nor did the longitudinal decline in memory show a relationship with temporal lobe atrophy. CONCLUSIONS: The main outcome of our study was that age-related memory decline was not related to mild temporal lobe atrophy in healthy subjects without mild cognitive impairment. There could be other factors influencing memory functions besides age-related structural changes in temporal lobes.

Psychophysiological arousal related to Type A components in adolescent boys.

The association between psychophysiological responses (heart rate, skin conductance and blood volume) and Type A behavior was studied in adolescent boys (n = 48) in computer-controlled experiments. Although psychophysiological arousal was related to the type of stress-evoking element, task-specificity did not result in significant psychophysiological differences between Type As and Nontype As. The indication is that physiological arousal may be a constitutional characteristic of Type A behavior. The multidimensionality of type A behavior must be considered in any investigation examining the psychophysiological Type A-Nontype A differences. Different Type A dimensions, together with previously found psychological differences, were related to specific psychophysiological reactions.

Differences in neuropsychological functioning associated with age, education, neurological status, and magnetic resonance imaging findings in neurologically healthy elderly individuals.

In a cross-sectional study, a sample of 113 individuals, 55 to 85 years old, without any neurological diseases was investigated. The study provides information on differences associated with age, education, and gender, and in relation to neurological status, magnetic resonance imaging, and cognitive functioning. Differences between age groups were shown in memory, constructional, and language functions, and especially in tests related to speed and attention. Education was related to most of the cognitive functions, but especially to verbal intellectual functions, visual and logical memory, language functions, and calculation. Gender differences were found in finger tapping, constructional functions, and verbal intellectual functions. Primitive reflexes showed a tendency to correlate with comprehension and memory of sentences. Extrapyramidal signs were related to psychomotor speed, and attention, verbal fluency, and set shifting together with intellectual functions and learning. Central atrophy on magnetic resonance imaging was related to memory functions in those 65 and 70 years of age, whereas in the oldest age groups immediate recall was associated with the severity of lesions.

Heterogeneity of cognitive profiles in aging: successful aging, normal aging, and individuals at risk for cognitive decline.

Neuropsychological clinical decision-making is complicated by the fact that variability in test performance increases with advancing age. This research explores the presence of homogeneous subgroups in 120 neurologically healthy individuals, from 55 to 85 years of age. Subjects at risk for dementing diseases were diagnosed as Aging-Associated Cognitive Decline (AACD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). Cluster analysis was applied on 11 neuropsychological variables assessing logical memory immediate recall and retention percentage, visual memory immediate recall and retention, conceptual thinking, naming, verbal fluency, constructional functions, motor speed, flexibility and finger tapping. Five clusters were extracted, one representing cognitively successfully aged, and two consisting of individuals with normal or average level of performance. One cluster was characterized by older subjects with difficulties in visual memory, visuoconstructional functions, and speed and attention, most of the younger subjects in the same cluster had a diagnosis of AACD or MCI. The fifth cluster represented individuals at risk for dementing diseases; most of them were diagnosed having AACD and more than half had a diagnosis of MCI. Age, activity and intellectual levels, and to a lesser degree education, were significantly related to the cluster solution. The present findings caution against treating samples of elderly individuals as homogeneous.

Predictive validity of preadolescent type A determinants for type A dimensions in young adulthood--a 6-year follow-up.

This study examined the predictive validity of preadolescent Type A determinants for Type A dimensions in young adulthood (n = 375). Predictive variables, i.e. hyperactivity, aggression, social maladjustment and self-esteem were measured when the subjects were aged 12. Type A dimensions, i.e. hard-driving, competitiveness plus aggression and impatience were measured in the same subjects when they were aged 18. "Impatience" was predicted by means of preadolescent hyperactivity, and "competitiveness-aggression" by social maladjustment. "Hard-driving", which was most strongly related to CHD risk factor levels in young adulthood, was anteceded by the subject's feeling that he or she could not cope with life. This supports the hypothesis that Type A behaviour is a coping mechanism: a person tries to cope with stress by increasing his or her level of achievement.